On Sunday 30 July, the Revolutionary Communist Group, Rock around the Blockade and Viva Venezuela, alongside supporters of the Bolivia Solidarity Campaign, Gran Polo Patriotico Venezuela, Marcha Patriotica UK, éirígí, the Italian Partito Comunista, and Venezuela Direct Action, stood in solidarity with the Bolivarian Revolution outside the Venezuelan embassy in Kensington.
This was the day of the National Constituent Assembly elections in Venezuela, so it was vital that socialists mobilised to counter the lies that the imperialist media has spread about the election and the PSUV government.
A reactionary counter-protest outside the embassy claimed that the PSUV were killers while bearing the image of viscious right-winger Leopoldo López, who was convicted of leading violent protests in 2014. López has since been arrested again, accused of inciting violence on the day of the election, when 10 people were killed. The opposition protestors also called for British state intervention against Venezuela, and showed a racist depiction of President Maduro as an ape.
Supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution stood their ground, taking to the RCG’s open mic to hail the huge gains made by the Venezuelan working class, farmers and indigenous people since the first election of Hugo Chávez in 1999. All of these groups will have specific representation in the assembly.
The protest was visibly internationalist, with the fraternal Cuban flag flown, alongside the Wiphala of the Andean indigenous peoples and the Palestinian flag.
Hands off Venezuela! Victory to the Bolivarian Revolution!
Matt Glass
