For the first time in decades, leftist revolutionaries unite in a display of solidarity. It almost seems like a distant flashback from the days of the Tri-Continental in Algiers during the days of Ahmed Ben Bella.
As I was flipping through the New York Time over breakfast, I was astonished to end up on a page titled "Venezuela Positions Itself As a Salon for the Left." I always had a hunch that a international revolutionary fervor was bubbling from below, but I never thought that it would actually solidify into forum to discuss the Latin American socialist model. The conference has attracted everything from Maoists from Nepal to authors from Egypt, and everything in between.
This conference could not have taken place at a better time, during the wake of the Western financial crises, but there's more to discuss than economics. This conference seems to have more an revolutionary twist to it with discussions ranging from women's rights to poets. I was also astonished to see how flamboyantly radical some of the comments made were, such as "We must help the current capitalist model collapse, for on its own this will not happen," a Spanish economist was quoted. It might seem a bit conceited of me, but I actually took pride that Egypt took a part in this conference with the contribution of Mostafa el-Gammal, who wrote a widely acclaimed book on Chavez. His reflections on the conference were, "It's wonderful to be in Caracas. The city has some nice nature and less traffic than in Cairo."
My perception of the whole conference is that Venezuela must be the ideal revolutionary tourist destination. If I could, I would jet my way there right away, but instead I am stranded here in Yankee land. In any case, this is a mere indicator of the Left's revival on the global level. As an Indian revolutionary put it, "The important point is that Chavez has taken on the mantle of crystallizing forces in opposition to the [American] empire."
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