“This is the most vital moment to raise awareness of the importance of the Latin American Left’s struggles.”
Matt Willgress spoke at an online international forum on Trump’s war on Venezuela last week. You can read the full transcript of his speech below.
I want to open this speech by paying tribute to the former Sinn Féin MP Micky Brady, who tragically passed away. Micky was a great friend of both the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and ‘Arise – a Festival of Left Ideas’, who have put on this international forum tonight, and I last saw him speaking on a panel about Hugo Chavez at the Latin America 2024 Conference, where he enthusiastically relayed his memories of a trip to Venezuela as an election observer.
We continue to support the struggles of oppressed people everywhere – including that for a united Ireland and of course the cause of Venezuela – in his honour.
Tonight is a particularly urgent and timely event, in the midst of global economic, military and climate crises that are on a scale unprecedented in many of our lifetimes.
And into this scenario entered the returning Trump, launching a new phase in the ongoing war of US imperialism against the majority of humanity, which has now seen the monstrous attacks on Venezuela and kidnapping of Nicolas Maduro – part of his imperial plans not only to steal Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, but ultimately to dominate the whole of Latin America by force.
We must be alert. There is a real, current threat of more military actions on Venezuela – Cuba has been hit with being back on the ridiculous State Sponsors of Terrorism list and is clearly in Trump’s sights. New sanctions on Nicaragua are also coming.
To fully understand why the issues we are discussing tonight, we also need to understand what’s going on with US imperialism under Trump, and what motivates this war on Venezuela.
Once we do this, we can see that the aforementioned agenda is not the actions of the world’s mightiest power in its prime. Instead, they are those of an increasingly desperate Empire seeking unsuccessfully to reverse its relative economic decline and hold off the emerging new global economic reality, not least the rise of China.
For us here, it’s also important to understand that the crisis of the US is reflected deeply in its so-called special partner Britain, which remains in deep crisis, and where the decline of the first dominant imperialist power continues unabated, and has seen Keir Starmer’s disgraceful backing of Trump’s agenda on Venezuela.
Amazingly, it is now 20 years since I have worked with the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and this is the most vital moment to build that campaign and raise awareness of the importance of the Latin American Left’s struggles, as I can remember in that time.
So, my concluding message is clear – keep fighting imperialism here, including by urgently joining and building the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign and building a left through initiatives such as ‘Arise’ that has internationalist, anti-imperialist politics at its core.
- You can watch the full online international forum with Jeremy Corbyn, Vijay Prashad and others here.
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