April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

support, well ahead of any others (pdf).
The only base of support on which the Venezuelan revolution can count are
the masses of workers and youth in the Middle East and North Africa, and
throughout the world, who feel sympathy and solidarity with the Bolivarian
revolution because they would like a similar revolution to take place in
their own countries. Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian revolution should
come out clearly in favour of the revolutionary wave sweeping the Arab
world, because it is part of the world revolution of which Latin America
was for some years the advanced guard. This includes giving support to the
Libyan people rising up against Gaddafi, while at the same time opposing
any imperialist intervention.
In his attempts to prevent foreign military intervention in Libya, Hugo
Chavez has proposed an international mediation commission to go to Libya.
Latest reports in the media indicate that while Gaddafi is said to have
accepted this, his son Saif al-Islam has firmly rejected the proposal. "We
have to say thank you, but we are able and capable enough to solve our
issues by our own people". Venezuelans, he added, "are our friends, we
respect them, we like them, but they are far away. They have no idea
about Libya. Libya is in the Middle East and North Africa. Venezuela is in
Central America." For Saif’s information, Venezuela is not in Central
America, but now doubt his mind is concentrated on other matters.
On their part, the Libyan rebels have also rejected the mediation, saying
they have not heard about it, but that it is too late for negotiations
anyway, and that too many people have been killed by Gaddafi. If one
understands the real essence of the situation in Libya, one of a
government brutally putting down peaceful demonstrations of his own
people, which then becomes a popular armed uprising with sections of the
army and the police going over to the people, then one can understand
why this proposal is wrong. It is as if in the last days of the Cuban
revolution, when the revolutionary army was about to overthrow Batista,
someone had said, “wait a second, let’s have international mediation so
that there can be an understanding between Batista and the M26J
movement.”
The only position a revolutionary can take in a situation like this is one of
support for the revolutionary uprising of the Libyan people. If Hugo Chavez
does not come out clearly in favour of the revolutionary masses of the
Arab world then he would be making a serious mistake, one for which the
Venezuelan revolution can pay dearly. Hugo Chavez is looking at the
Libyan situation through Venezuelan lenses, making the wrong
comparisons. The Libyan rebels cannot be compared to the Venezuelan
opposition and the position that regime of Gaddafi finds itself in cannot in
any way be compared to that facing Chavez.
We must be clear: what we are seeing in Libya and the rest of the Arab
world is not an April 11, 2002 coup justified with media manipulation, but
rather a February 27, 1989, a Caracazo-like uprising, in which the
governments are using the Army against unarmed demonstrators. While
opposing imperialist intervention, we must be clear what side we are on:
that of the Libyan people against the Gaddafi regime.
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