Venezuelan popular movements and political organizations held a demonstration this Thursday morning (3) in Bolívar Square in Caracas, capital of Venezuela, to reiterate their rejection of the normalization of the country’s relations with Israel. During the activity, the activists read a document, signed by several revolutionary fronts.
In the text, the organizations express their “firm and categorical rejection of any initiative, approach or negotiation aimed at reestablishing diplomatic, consular or commercial relations with the State of Israel”. The demonstrations come after the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry reported, on August 11, that it had begun dialogues for the reestablishment of Israeli consular services in the country.
“Normalizing relations in the current context is not an act of sovereign neutrality, but a concession of impunity” in the face of violations suffered by the Palestinian people, warns the letter signed by the movements. The protesters base their official petition on articles of the Venezuelan Constitution, demanding that the country’s foreign policy preserve international solidarity and the self-determination of the people.
Venezuela severed relations with Israel in 2009, when then-president Hugo Chávez cut ties in solidarity with the Palestinian people following military attacks in the Gaza Strip.
For Eliezer Arrieche, a member of the International Platform for Solidarity with Palestine and present at this Thursday’s event, getting closer to Israel is a mistake.
“They want to reopen consular relations to serve the Jewish community, and that is a political error, because Judaism and Zionism are not the same thing. There are anti-Zionist Jews. Furthermore, we, historically, for more than 17 years, have been denouncing that Israel is not a legitimate State. Reestablishing consular relations is legitimizing it as a State and we do not intend to do that”, he argues.
For the activist, the recent decision by Venezuelan diplomacy is the product of a state of coercion, inaugurated by the bombing carried out by the United States on January 3, which ended with the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, the first combatant and deputy Cilia Flores.
“It is no secret to anyone what happened on January 3rd and that this [aproximação com Israel] is under coercive measures for the Venezuelan State, under a lot of political pressure. If you are negotiating with one of the greatest enemies of the country, the world, the empire, the North American empire. However, social movements have their militant, historical responsibility, human responsibility, including constant denunciation”, points out Arrieche.
Low adherence
This Thursday’s mobilization had, however, a noticeably smaller public participation than the previous protest, held on July 24th. On that date, popular outrage had been driven by the presence of an Israeli technical mission of 30 experts to work on rebuilding the country after the double earthquake of June 24, which resulted in 6,000 deaths and more than 23,000 people left homeless.
Laura Peña Betancourt, one of the organizers of the activity, reinforced that the work of the collectives in defense of the Palestinian cause is permanent, in the country’s neighborhoods, schools and communities.
“Despite the low attendance, we have many organizations present here. This activity includes, for example, the Popular Anti-Imperialist Front, the Venezuelan Solidarity Movement with Palestine, the International Platform for Solidarity with Palestine, representatives of the Communist Party of Venezuela Dignity, the organizational committees, the grassroots movements”, he explains.
Mauz Mussa is a Palestinian refugee and has lived in Venezuela for 13 years. For him, the fight against Zionism goes beyond passive solidarity. Mussa stressed that “the theme is not to show solidarity with the Palestinian people for someone else’s cause or for having feelings towards these children and women, but rather a defense of these people for their sovereignty and resources”.
“Zionism tries to reinstall and redefine humanity so that there is an elite that continues to impoverish our people,” he states. “What children and women in Palestine are going through could be going through all of humanity, and they are already going through it. They are different forms of oppression. In Palestine, it translates into genocide; in Brazil, it translates into further impoverishing the marginalized classes throughout history and continuing to convert them into slaves in the 21st century version. But we refuse that. We are not separate peoples”, adds the Palestinian refugee.
For Mussa, the world is at a historical crossroads. “Either the barbarism of Zionism and North American imperialism is imposed, or the resistance of our people in defense of humanity is victorious”, he concludes.
Crack in the movement
Supporters of Delcy Rodríguez’s government and critics of the incumbent president’s administration discussed at an open microphone during this Thursday’s event. It all started when Rafael Uzcátegui, leader of the Patria Para Todos Party (PPT) took the floor and harshly criticized the oil agreement signed between the United States and Venezuela last week.
Activist Hindu Anderi, coordinator of the International Platform for Solidarity with the Palestinian Cause and defender of national management, got excited, took the microphone in hand and warned of the risk of instrumentalizing the act against the central government.
“They can’t put us all in the same bag against the national government,” he declared. Anderi highlighted the importance of preserving the cohesion of the movement around the Palestinian cause.
“If unity is a value, let’s not break it, comrades, let’s not break it. Let’s be clear: we don’t all have the same understanding of the situation we are experiencing now, and it is necessary to respect the mottos that are established for this mobilization”, said the activist. “It is a trap that they bring us to this call and then place us here against the government. This is a trap. We cannot accept it, because there is diversity within this movement, there is diversity within this space. Let us therefore respect diversity”, he pleaded.
Subsequently, May Day Movement activist Zuleika Matamoros refuted Anderi’s position and stated that the oil “stolen” by the United States from the agreements signed with the Venezuelan government fuels the genocide in Gaza.
“The unity of action welcomes us and we are diverse, but it unites us in what we have to face today, which is the reestablishment of relations with the genocidal and Zionist State of Israel and the tutelage of Donald Trump. So, don’t worry too much if you ever see someone you don’t like, because what really needs to be observed is where they are sitting, in Miraflores, making big oil agreements to continue murdering children in Gaza”, replied the activist from neighborhood 23 of Enero.
Despite internal disagreements over national political conduct, the protesters promised to continue mobilizing in the streets against external interference and the normalization of relations with Israel and to carry out more marches in defense of the Palestinian people and against Israel and the United States.
Source: www.brasildefato.com.br
