September 24th in Washington DC: Join the Bolivarian Contingent
The U.S. Bolivarian Circles and the Colombia Action Network are organizing a joint contingent for the September 24th, 2005, March on Washington to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq. We will announce our rallying point at a later date, but we promise to be visible on the streets in front of the White House!
We unite in protesting the U.S. occupation of Iraq under the banner “No Blood for Oil! In Iraq, Venezuela, or Colombia.” We unite to defend the pro-people Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela from the Bush administration’s attacks and intrigues. We call for the end of the U.S. government’s deadly Plan Colombia. We support self- determination for Iraq, Venezuela, and Colombia!
No Blood for Oil! Support Self-determination!
The U.S. invaded Iraq for its oil. Bound together with oil is Iraqi national sovereignty—the right of the Iraqi people to decide their destiny. Today, Bush and company try to control Iraq through their puppet government. Bush’s occupation is failing—the resistance is strong and the people want independence.
Likewise, the people of Venezuela are traveling their own road to freedom. President Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian revolution accomplish great tasks: Oil revenues serve the people to build new schools and medical offices. Millions learn to read and write. Workers reopen and run abandoned factories. Farmers harvest crops on forgotten land. The poor and oppressed are becoming the masters of Venezuelan society. The Bush administration labels democratically elected President Chavez a “dictator” and orchestrate attempts to remove him from power. Bush and the big oil companies are threatened by the pro-people and anti-free trade agenda of the Chavez administration.
Colombia , in stark contrast, is suffering and its people are dying. Colombia’s President Uribe works in the service of U.S. corporations and oil companies like Occidental and BP/Amoco. Uribe directs a fascist-type terror in the countryside and wages a losing military campaign against the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia)—the largest insurgency in Latin America. Plan Colombia has already spent over $4 billion of U.S. taxpayers' money on chemical fumigation of poor peasants' survival crops and on weapons for the Colombian Military. The Colombian Military operates death squads that kill trade unionists, peasants, student activists, and indigenous people. The U.S. government's Plan Colombia is a plan for misery, poverty, and death.
Get Your Black and Red On!
We call for Bolivarian contingent marchers to wear black and red: black for mourning, red for anger. We mourn the dead from the Bush administration’s criminal negligence at home and from U.S. aggression overseas. From the Persian Gulf to the Gulf Coast we angrily protest Bush’s policies.
This summer youth from around the US went to Venezuela for the International Youth Festival and saw first hand that the Venezuelan social projects are truly for the people. Young people and other allies of Venezuela will march in DC to defend Venezuela’s right to self-determination. Similarly, just as the people of Colombia keep fighting for peace and justice, we also stand in solidarity with the movement in Colombia against US government and corporate intervention.
This is a historic time. Not since the Vietnam War has this many people in the US questioned the direction of US foreign policy. We join with the hundreds of thousands of people in Washington, DC on September 24th 2005 to say “No Blood for Oil! End the Occupation of Iraq NOW! Bring the troops home now!” We call on progressive forces in the anti-war movement to raise the issue of US foreign policy in Colombia and Venezuela to demonstrate that the US’ thirst for oil and empire needs to be stopped, in Iraq and around the world!
Shout it out:
No Blood for Oil! U.S. Out of Iraq! U.S. Hands Off Venezuela! Stop Plan Colombia!
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