The first Preparatory Reunion for the International PSOL Meeting, planned for 2021, took place last December 12, bringing together representatives from various struggling countries of the American continent. As a first step towards the construction of an international meeting that will take place at the next congress of the party, this meeting demonstrated a great space of convergence for the construction of new relations among the internationalists of the three Americas.
The debate had a great deal of political unity based on the exchange of information on the situation of each country, reflecting the deepening of the capitalist crisis in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic and the new political situation experienced in Latin America and the United States since the struggles that developed in 2020 in the continent. Reflecting on the idea of a radical new anti-capitalist left proposed by the hosts, the debate was marked by the affirmation of an independent and differentiated position both from the old “progressive” and sectarian positions, seeking the construction of new international synthesis oriented towards the future.
More than sixty participants in four hours of debate included such prominent names as Venezuelan sociologist Edgardo Lander of the Citizen Platform in Defense of the Constitution, Puerto Rican senator-elect Rafael Bernabe of the Citizens’ Victory Movement, Ecuadorian CONAIE representative Blanca Chancosa, Paraguayan congressman Ricardo Canese of the Guassú Front, Mexican CUT president Juan Perez Medina. From Brazil we had important presences of the PSOL like the federal deputies Fernanda Melchionna and Talíria Petrone, the national president Juliano Medeiros and the secretary of international relations Israel Dutra.
Also present were comrades of the DSA from the United States Marianela D’Aprile, Lala Peñaranda, Walé Ogundipé and Neal Meyer, from Mexico we were with Jose Luiz Ayala from CSR and Edgar Sanchez from PRT, from Panama Aurelio Robles from MAS and Olmedo Beluche, from Colombia Maria Angelica Rodrigues from Polo Democrático Alternativo, from Venezuela Oly Millán from Plataforma Cidadã and Stalin Borges from LUCHAS, from Ecuador Napoleon Saltos from the Commune and Jorge Estrella from the Popular Front of Organizations of Guayaquil, from Peru Tito Prado and Evelyn Captchi from the New Peru Movement, from Chile Cristian Cuevas from the Popular Victory Movement, Karina Nohales from the 8M Coordinator and Leonardo Rissetti, Sol Rolando and Marisol Céspedes from the Democratic Revolution, and from Paraguay also accompanied Juan Perez from the Guassú Front. In addition, national leaders of the PSOL and several other comrades from outside Brazil also accompanied and contributed to the meeting.
In addition to indicating the political bases for the construction of our International PSOL Meeting in 2021, an international campaign against political violence was approved, reflected in the threats against our Congresswoman Talíria Petrone , as well as the incorporation and solidarity in the national campaigns in defense of new constituents in Chile and Peru, for justice to the victims of the Senkata Massacre in Bolivia, among others.
This first meeting was the initial stage of a broad preparation process for our International Meeting, which will continue in early 2021 with the development of continental campaigns, preparatory debate cycles and more internationalist construction activities. The PSOL International Observatory will be the website to concentrate the information and publish the new reflections and collaborations, making the texts available in Portuguese, Spanish and English. Any questions or contributions for publication in the PSOL International Observatory should be sent to observatoriointernacionalpsol@gmail.com.
On behalf of all the PSOL militancy, we greet the participants and thank them all for their presence. We are just getting started! Until victory always!
Israel Dutra – Secretary of International Relations of the PSOL
Ana Carvalhaes – Organizing Committee of the International Meeting of PSOL
Bruno Magalhães – PSOL International Observatory
