Socialist Party General Secretary Dr Cosmas Musumali speaks about the forthcoming international assembly in February 2019. In a pre-conference interview, Dr Musumali reaffirms Africa’s commitment to international solidarity and the expectations of the conference.
Full statement:
Greetings Dear comrades
I am Cosmas Musumali, I am the General Secretary of the Socialist Party in Zambia
I am speaking on behalf of Sub Saharan Africa
Sub Saharan Africa is going to be represented by over 200 delegates in the Caracas meeting
We are looking forward to coming to Caracas
We just had our pan African conference in Ghana in September this year, and the theme of that conference was Uniting the struggle of the masses against capitalism and imperialism. We drew a lot of conclusions; we gained a lot of insights in that conference. And this is the value addition that we are bringing as a continent to Caracas.
We see the situation as one that involves us merging our forces, bringing together diverse struggles of the masses and coming up with a global anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist front. This is necessary, it is also timely, we live in a world today that is fragmented. A world in which globalised capitalism is creating havoc in all communities. We live in times of uncertainty, times of war and times of increased poverty of the masses.
We see everywhere in Europe, in Latin America and even in Africa, rightist parties, parties that are anti-democratic coming into power. And this is not a good development for the entire humanity. As sub Saharan Africa we stand firm with the people of Venezuela, we support and are confident that the aims of the Bolivarian revolution will prosper and will triumph.
We fight for justice, we fight for equity, and we fight for peace. And this is what the Bolivarian revolution stand for. So as we come into Caracas in February 2019, it is going to be a joyous occasion. We would want to celebrate the victories of the Bolivarian revolution. A lot has happened over the past years, despite the siege, despite all the troubles that have been brought in against the people of Venezuela. But they have stood firm and they are still resisting. And this has to be celebrated.
But this conference or the international assembly is also for us, a journey. It’s a journey that’s not going to end with that conference, with that international assembly in Caracas. It’s a journey that we have to walk for the years to come. And we will be giving each other ideas in terms of how to continue those diverse struggles.
We also want the world to know, we want the capitalist world to understand that we would not stand by as Sub Saharan Africa and allow the destruction of a wonderful project that the Bolivarian revolution began. Africa has suffered from capitalism, the past 400 years we have drawn lessons. It is a continent that has been plundered, it has been brutalized, and we understand very well.
We know what the people of Venezuela are going through and we want to use that occasion when we come there to offer that solidarity. The world must know Africa is behind Venezuela and the international assembly is there for us to make this point clear to everyone.
