On Wednesday 8 May 2024 Rock Around the Blockade hosted an international online meeting, drawing out the connections between the struggles for self-determination against imperialism in Palestine, Cuba and Venezuela.
The meeting was attended by over 100 people connecting from across the globe, including student activists from the Palestine Solidarity encampment in Manchester, who made a contribution to the meeting:
The meeting heard from Ivan Ernesto of the Union of Young Communists in Cuba. During his speech Ivan spoke of the deep connections between the Palestinian and Cuban struggles: “Cuba defends the legitimate cause of the Palestinian people with such effervescence precisely due to the similarities of our struggles and the condition under which imperialism has tried to submit us”.
Next the meeting heard from Khaled Barakat of Masar Badil, Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement. On the subject of the student solidarity movements in Britain, the US, and across the world, Khaled said: “For us, for Palestinians, this student uprising is part of our resistance, and we are part of their movement. Together we will be victorious.”
Jorge Vilalta from the Venezuelan Movimiento Otro Beta and Alba Movimientos spoke next, highlighting the impact of US economic warfare on the Bolivarian revolution: “We affirm that the cause of the blockade against our country is that Western Imperialism could not allow a revolutionary process that managed money and natural resources in abundance to succeed.”
The last speaker was Soma Kisan from the editorial board of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! the newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Group. Soma pointed out the integral connections between these political struggles: “As anti-racists, anti-imperialists, and as socialists, it is our imperative to support movements and countries on the frontlines of anti-imperialist struggle. Their fight is not theirs alone but is part of a broader battle for a just world order.”
This meeting made clear the need to get politically organised in countries like Britain in order to properly support countries and peoples under the boot of imperialism. Don't just get angry, get active - contact us today to get involved with our anti-imperialist, anti-racist campaigning in Britain!
“Los pueblos que no se conocen han de darse prisa por conocerse, como quienes van a pelear juntos."
“The peoples that do not know each other, must hurry to get to know each other, like those who are going to fight together.” – José Martí