Concerted Action by the Right Wing

Editorial of the weekly En Marcha
No. 1457, September 12 2009

Concerted Action by the Right Wing

A concerted action is underway by the forces of the right wing at the international level; the call several days ago for a “global protest” against the Venezuelan Government is an expression of this. Although on this occasion the target was Hugh Chavez, the aim is to create a mass movement to confront the democratic, progressive and left-wing current that is taking shape in Latin America. After a period of relative tolerance by oligarchic sectors and U.S. imperialism itself towards some of the democratic governments in the region, there is a change in their political behavior: the big bourgeoisie which has lost space in several countries is trying to get out of the political corner and the United States government wants to put its “back yard” in order.
We said previously that the coup d'état in Honduras was a trial balloon. The right wing and imperialism hoped that after an initial condemnation of the coup, things would return to normal, however they ran into heavier resistance by the Honduran people than they expected and continental solidarity of the peoples and inter-state agencies such as the OAS [Organization of American States], UNO [United Nations Organization], ALBA [Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas], UNASUR [Union of South American Nations] and others.
Now they are trying to form a mass movement that meets specific political aims in each country. In Colombia – where the initiative “arose” – they are trying to strengthen the social base of the pro-Uribe right wing that supports his counter-insurgency policy and his subjection to U.S. imperialism; in other countries such as ours, under the banner of condemning the supposed interventionism of Chavez, it is seeking to organize a movement of opposition to local governments. That has happened here, where known exponents of the right wing, direct opponents of the Rafael Correa government, spearheaded the paltry protest.
In this international strategy of the right wing and imperialism, the media plays a fundamental role; it fulfills the role of active promoters and disseminators of the “international protest”. An example of this is how they exaggerated the actions of that day.
The workers and peoples must block the actions of the right wing, and the best way to do this is by raising the levels of their own organizations. But in the country this is somewhat difficult because while the popular movement is ready to confront the onslaught of the right and of imperialism, it must also take care to confront the government’s action launched against the popular movement. Rafael Correa is mistaken here.