Ahmad Fauzan, Bandung – Scores of youth activists from the Solidarity Committee for Venezuela (KSV) held a protest action in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung on Monday March 19 to express the solidarity of Bandung youth with the economic crisis being suffered by the people of Venezuela.
The action, which was held on the sidewalk at Jl. Asia Afrika Bandung in front of the City Bank building, was held to coincide with the Global Day of Solidarity with Venezuela.
Similar actions were also held in several other cities including Jakarta, Yogyakarta in Central Java, Malang in East Java, Palu in Central Sulawesi, Manado in North Sulawesi, Makassar in South Sulawesi and Ternate in North Maluku.
During the action, the participants brought a banner with the message “End United States Imperialist Intervention! Defend the Bolivarian Revolution!”. They also held a theatrical action which ended with the burning of the US flag.
Action coordinator Nanang Kosim said that the protest was an expression of resistance against the US’s behaviour around the world, particularly what is happening in Venezuela. The US has enforced an economic blockade on Venezuela and created an economic crisis in the Latin American county.
“America does not want countries such as Venezuela to have national sovereignty, because they are deemed to disrupt the market and their supply of raw materials. Because Venezuela had earlier nationalised its oil industry which then became the country’s largest source of income”, said Kosim.
This, said Kosim, made the US try to ruin Venezuela. The US then colluded with Saudi Arabia to increase crude oil production to force the price of oil down.
Then, continued Kosim, the US blockaded Venezuela by prohibiting the import of goods such as medical equipment and food. It also applied economic sanctions such as the preventing international banks from conducting transactions with Venezuelan banks.
“Meaning they isolated the circulation of money in Venezuela and caused the circulation of money in Venezuela to be obstructed. As a result an [economic] crisis has occurred”, said Kosim.
Kosim said that Venezuela has tried overcoming this by printing more money which has resulted in inflation. The US has then taken advantage of this situation to ferment a political crisis.
Klara, another protester at the rally, said that with the momentum of the Global Day of Solidarity for Venezuela they are declaring their opposition to US imperialist intervention in Venezuela. They are also calling on the US to immediately end the blockade and economic war against Venezuela.
“We support the Venezuelan people who are resisting American intervention and sabotage by the right-wing opposition”, explained Klara.
Klara and her friends intentionally held the action in front of the City Bank because they said it is a symbol of Bank America. The action proceeded peacefully under the watchful eye of police.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Anak Muda Bandung Bersolidaritas Atas Krisis di Venezuela”.]
Source: http://kabarkampus.com/2019/03/anak-muda-bandung-bersolidaritas-atas-krisis-di-venezuela/
