the Green Left and Socialist Resistance.
His first appearance will be at the Green
Party Conference in Birmingham and then
at a seminar on Latin America in London
on September 18 jointly organised by the
Green Left and Socialist Resistance. He
will subsequently be speaking at various
venues throughout Britain until the end of
October, with a break to do meetings in
Hugo Blanco is a legendary figure in the
struggles of the indigenous peoples of Latin America. He was born in Cusco, Peru in 1934. As a school student at the National School of Sciences he and his class mates went on strike for the expulsion of the principal and won. He went to Argentina to study agronomy, but a pro-imperialist coup against Peron was bubbling. The students supported the coup so Blanco left and became a factory worker. He returned to Peru and organized the union of newspaper peddlers in Cusco He instituted mass action to free imprisoned peasant leaders, as he had become convinced the peasant struggle was key. The landowners refused to negotiate, so their union instituted agrarian reform across 100 haciendas. When the hacendados threatened the peasants with weapons, Blanco was given the task of forming armed defence committees for the Provincial peasant federation. The military government banned the federation and murdered people including an 11-year old boy. In 1962 the government was forced to recognise the agrarian reform, but only in the Cusco area. Eventually the military realized that the feudal servitude of the hacienda was no longer enforceable. In 1968 they staged a coup and extended agrarian reform to the entire country - but on a very limited basis. Blanco was threatened with the death penalty, but following a massive wave of solidarity got 25 years. In prison he wrote Land or Death: The Peasant Struggle in Later he was freed and deported to Mexico. He ended up in Chile, building of Popular Power and resisting Pinochet's coup. When Pinochet came to power he was offered and accepted asylum in Sweden, building solidarity with the Chilean people. Morales Bermudez came to power through a coup in 1975 and allowed Blanco and other exiles to return. But he was followed continuously and deported back to Sweden. On July 19, 1977, general strike in Peru forced the convocation of a Constituent
25
Assembly. Blanco was a candidate for the
Workers Revolutionary Party, so was allowed to return, but was only free for a few
hours before he was detained. He ended
up back in Sweden where he learnt he had
been elected to the Constituent Assembly.
Eventually he was allowed home and was
subsequently elected to the provincial legislature representing Lima from 1980-1985.
As part of a small minority he wasn't able to get legislation through but his presence
did champion the social movements - and he faced continual repression Then he went back to working full time for the Peruvian Peasant Federation as Secretary of Organization, fighting against gigantic, bureaucratised cooperatives and against the Shining Path that killed people who led land takeovers. Alan Garcia's first government (1985-1990) murdered many activists. Blanco was seriously injured and arrested and was only freed after a He became a Senator representing the United Left party but went into exile again in Mexico when Alberto Fujimori's again suspended democratic rule in 1992. He returned to Peru in 2000 and has been a key figure in the struggle of the indigenous Alan Garcia was re-elected as President of Peru in 2006 and has been continuing to promote the interests of neo-liberalism ever since. In 2009 there were massive protests across the country to prevent the government signing decrees which would have allowed foreign corporations to enter Indigenous lands for oil drilling, mining and logging. Garcia presided over a massacre at Beluga on June 5 2009 during which at least 200 people were killed. The government was subsequently forced to back The fight of the indigenous movement across Latin America has been a vital feature in the fact that this is the continent that has most consistently resisted neoliberalism - and scored some victories against it. The contribution of the movement in Peru is much less well known in Britain than that in many other countries n Latin America and hopefully this tou will redress some of that balance as well as give us the opportunity to discuss the bolitical situation across the continent anc Hugo Blanco is currently editor of the Cusco-based newspaper Lucha Indigena (Indigenous Struggle) and part of the purpose of the tour is to raise funds for that http://www.luchaindigena.com/
page 26 of the scan
*International Youth Camp *The 27th International Youth Camp organised by the Fourth International will take place in Perugia, Italy in late July. At this moment of deepening crisis across Europe, the camp gives young activists a space to discuss experiences and plan common campaigns against war, privatizations, defence of the environment, and much more within the framework of revolutionary Marxism. Sinistra Critica, our comrades in Italy are hosting the event. It will be a chance to get to know activists who have not bowed down to the authoritarian and racist assault of the Berlusconi government.
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the camp.
This is seven days of politics and fun, organised by young people themselves, which begins to show some of the elements of the other world that is not only possible but necessary. There is for example a common currency in the camp which tries to level out the difference in living standards between the countries which participate. There are self organised spaces for women and lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people - as well as discussions on feminism and LGBT liberation open to all participants in The delegation from Britain will travel on Friday June 23rd and return on Sunday August 1st We will travel by Eurostar to Paris and then go by bus to Perugia with the French delegation. It will cost each young person who comes a minimum of £70
which they are responsible for. This must be paid before travel with a deposit of £20 paid by JUNE 15TH. Visitors with higher incomes, who book late or who need to travel by other means ie train or plane will need to pay more - this will be negotiated individually. The actual cost will be around £300 per head - and so we are asking our readers to give generously to support the delegation.