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Saturday 1 November / 2:00-5:00pm
Southall Seminar: Why is the west targeting Venezuela?

Venezuela is now into a people-oriented revolutionary process aimed at bringing first sovereignty and then socialism to the mass of the people. But every step of its progress has been hampered by the bitter animosity and outright sabotage of the west. From suffocating sanctions to coups, invasion plots, assassination attempts and fascist street thugs, no stone has been left unturned to foil the Bolivarian process that was launched by President Hugo Chávez in 1999 and which has been continued for the last 12 years under the leadership of his successor President Nicolás Maduro. As Venezuela gets ready to launch its new Comuna constitution, one that aims to shift the centre of power further from the hands of the rich and closer to the grassroots organisations of the poor masses, the country is once again under extreme attack. The USA has loudly , put a “bounty” on the head of its president and in international waters – taking imperial arrogance to brazen new heights. But since we now know that the so-called ‘war on drugs’ (waged, we note, by the world’s biggest drug-pushers) has only ever been a pretext for aggressive imperialist military actions, what is really behind the redoubling of imperialist hostility toward this Latin-American nation? And how are the Venezuelan people responding to the latest threats of invasion? Come and join us as we discuss the roots of the west’s relentless animosity towards Venezuela, the meaning of the country’s new constitution and more. Speeches from comrades who have been to Venezuela and toured some of its communes. Chair: Joti Brar