En sus distintas labores como intelectual comprometido el profesor Renán ha participado en infinitas charlas, conferencias y seminarios ante estudiantes, trabajadoras, profesoras, en general miles de personas interesadas en el cambio social, contribuyendo enormemente al afianzamiento del pensamiento crítico en la academia en el país. Rechazamos decididamente las campañas difamatorias y las amenazas contra el profesor Renán, nos solidarizamos con él y todas las personas perseguidas por pensar en el territorio colombiano y llamamos a la defensa del pensamiento crítico, condición fundamental para el avance de un proceso de cambio social libertario en Colombia.

Ver también:

• Elogio del pensamiento crítico
• El dolor ronda la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional: Un testimonio personal
• Colombia: Capitalismo gangsteril y despojo territorial
• La burocracia intelectual de la guerra en Colombia
• La máquina de terror en Colombia (Bacrim)
• La aplicación ilegal de la pena de muerte en Colombia

For many people on the left, within and outside of Southern Africa, the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’ is seen as a beacon of socialist hope in a sea of capitalist despair. The reason why many leftists feel so strongly attached to this project, and promote it as an alternative, is because they have come to view it as a move by the Venezuelan state towards creating a genuine, free form of socialism or at the very least an experiment that profoundly breaks with the tenets of neo-liberalism.

This article, however, questions the assumption that the Venezuelan state is embarking upon a path to create a truly egalitarian and free socialist society. It will, therefore, be argued that Venezuela is not in a transitional phase to socialism; rather it is a capitalist country where the private sector and important state-owned companies seek to maximise profits.

It is argued that while some welfare is handed out by the State, this often sits side by side with other policies that are outright neo-liberal. In order to make the argument that Venezuela cannot be considered as heading in a socialist direction, this article engages and examines issues around the State’s nationalisation programme, its relations to multinational corporations, its community councils project and its social service programmes.

Aporte para la formulación de las proyecciones del movimiento estudiantil nacional elaborado por el Frente de Estudiantes Libertarios (FEL) de la Universidad de Chile.

Global Crisis; American Nightmare

A global economic crisis has brought a new Great Depression to the doorsteps of working class families. While the corporations, government officials, and bureaucracies are experiencing record profits and compensation, those who are least able to pay are expected to shoulder the majority of the burden. This collapse is placed upon the backs of workers, and even more to the most oppressed in working class communities, for example: working class women, immigrants, blacks, and latinos. Despite the promises of a Democratic congress and presidency, deportations of undocumented immigrants have dramatically increased since Obama took office, tearing communities apart and criminalizing whole populations. If we don’t fight back, the crisis may drive a permanent decline in our standard of living, deepen the domination over the oppressed, and widen the gaps in American society.

But people are coming together and finding ways to support and struggle alongside each other in ways that haven’t been seen in generations. The potential of a mobilized, conscious, and active movement frightens those in power, and they are pouring money, resources, and repression into diverting potential movements. People all over the world are building new struggles: turning vacant foreclosures into homes, resisting tuition hikes and worsening education in universities, fighting cuts and injustice at work, resisting ICE deportations and challenging second class status for immigrants, launching fare strikes on transit against service cuts and fare hikes, and resisting racialized police brutality and violence against oppressed communities. Attempts to coopt these potential movements are coming out of the unions who fear changes in the comfortable relationships they have with management, from the NGOs who are funded by and keep their jobs through all those who profit off our suffering, and from the political machinery that wants to channel our anger into their careers.

[Castellano]

Other May Day statements

North America:

• Mayday. The First of May. The coming of Spring. The day of the workers First of May Anarchist Alliance
• May Day In Vermont-Put People and The Planet First! David Van Deusen - Vermont Sierra Club
  
• Grève sociale, solidarité et lutte de classe Collectif Emma Goldman - Union Communiste Libertaire

Latin America:

• (Perú) 1º de Mayo: Internacionalista, solidario, libertario y de clase Union Socialista Libertaria
  
• ¡Por un 1° de Mayo internacionalista, libertario y de clase! Union Socialista Libertaria
  
• El carácter de las transformaciones sociales en Chile ante un nuevo 1º de Mayo Periódico Solidaridad
• [Argentina] 1° de Mayo: Organizar para avanzar Grupo Comunista Libertario
• Circular de Opinión de la OSL (Uruguay) - 1º de Mayo de 2012 Organización Socialista Libertaria -Uruguay
• [Argentina] 1° de Mayo: obreros y estudiantes en una misma lucha Frente de Estudiantes Libertarios
• Ayiti, Premye Me 2012 Batay Ouvriye
  
• Primero de Mayo, Dia internacional de lxs trabajadorxs-Madrid (Colombia) Colectivo Libertario Thrash Iria
  
• [Santiago de Chile] 1º de Mayo Alternativo: Acto Clasista, Solidario y Revolucionario La Batalla de los Trabajadores
• Orígenes del 1ro de Mayo en Puerto Rico Colectivo Autónomo C.C.C.
• 1º de Maio: Dia do Trabalhador! Coletivo Anarquista Bandeira Negra

Europe

• The Anarchist Origins of Mayday Workers Solidarity Movement
• 1° Maggio 2012 - "l'emancipazione dei lavoratori deve essere opera dei lavoratori stessi" Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici
• Le vrai changement se fera par les luttes" Alternative Libertaire
• 1η ΜΑΗ Ε.Σ.Ε.
  
• CGT-CNT-SO: 1º de Mayo, continuamos en lucha Organizaciones sindicales combativas [Italiano]
• Velkommen til Syndikalistisk 1. maj! Libertære Socialister

En los últimos meses se han sucedido los titulares relacionados con el País Vasco en los medios corporativos de todo el mundo. Sin embargo, tanto éstos como las grandes agencias de prensa de las que se nutren han tendido a transmitir una visión muy parcial y limitada, servil a los intereses capitalistas en juego, ocultando o tergiversando aspectos cruciales para entender dicha realidad.

Es debido a este vacío y al gran interés y necesidad de información verídica y actualizada existente en la izquierda latinoamericana que decidimos ofrecerles a los lectores de Anarkismo.net, fundamentalmente a quienes nos leen desde estas latitudes, un punto de vista militante pero no por ello menos riguroso sobre la historia y la actualidad del País Vasco.

Para ello hemos entrevistado a un compañero que conoce en profundidad las claves del conflicto y que gestiona un blog imprescindible para seguir la actualidad política vasca, “Borroka Garaia Da!”.