Foto: Aporrea

Via Aporrea

In this month of May 2023, on the 14th, we celebrate 21 years as a popular-alternative media of dissemination and mass discussion in Venezuela.

In these 21 years, we have gone through different stages and we have adapted our role to the circumstances, according to the essence that marks our identity and commitment to the workers’ and popular movement, with the different sectors of the people, their needs and aspirations, their rights and their struggles, as workers, communities, peasants, women, indigenous people, the different generational strata.

This always with the internationalist sense that unites us in solidarity with all the peoples of the world who fight for their liberation, for a better present and future, against exploitation and oppression, for the preservation of nature, the life of the planet, of our own human species, all of which are threatened by the predatory capitalist system and the sociopolitical models that oppress or suppress freedoms.

This has been the case since Aporrea was born, within the popular movement, in defense of a revolutionary process of transformations and conquests favorable to the dispossessed and excluded, in favor of more dignified and just conditions of existence (the Popular Revolutionary Assembly before the 2002 Coup d’Etat).

And so it has continued, facing great obstacles together with the people and the collapse of many expectations and hopes; all the time aligned against retrograde and degenerative forces, whatever their sign: Of denunciation, criticism, free confrontation of opinions and debate, nurturing the convergence of noble purposes… Of self-organization and independent protagonism that undoes ties or subjugations to guarantee our condition as a sovereign people, exercising citizenship and seeking full democratic empowerment and the achievement of the common good.

We emerged as a means to inform and disseminate opinions, prioritizing the people in their struggles, above the hegemonic actors who use power and money to impose themselves on the people, who lack better instruments.

With the revolutionary process, genuine popular and alternative communication flourished and gained momentum, of which we were a part. But when there were popular demands to go further, or resistance to avoid setbacks, or warnings about wrong paths and practices, we chose to continue being an expression of our people in its diversity.

For assuming all of this, we were deprived, after a certain point, of legal sources of financing, of institutional support for communication and culture; we were subjected to campaigns of discredit by the state media (that supposedly belongs to everyone); there were those in the government who “classified” us and wanted to put us in the sack of the coup opposition, monitored by foreign countries, going so far as to say that we were “infiltrated by the CIA”. And in the ranks that oppose the government, but not the capitalist system in which we continue to live, they wanted to attribute to us, in turn, responsibilities and guilt that they attribute to the government (trying to make us look like equals), when we are characterized as a space for denunciation, criticism and presentation of proposals from the ranks of the workers’ and popular movement, as well as from leftist currents, always maintaining a revolutionary, democratic and popular posture.

In both poles, which today are combined in an even confused way, it is uncomfortable to exercise independence, to criticize the political and economic power of the dominant castes (in which the sectors of these “opposing” poles are included) and, above all, the permanent placement, the accompaniment of the struggles of the working class and popular sectors, of the honest intellectuals, of the people who are priceless, who do not sell themselves to any buyer… and that are the ones who mark the course of Aporrea.

This has led us to be discriminated against, hindered, blocked, and sabotaged. The blocking of Aporrea, which has been going on for years and has caused us recurring ups and downs, has been an arbitrary and unconstitutional practice carried out by state institutions in order to deny access to the site’s content. This is not only against the Aporrea team, but also affects tens of thousands of readers, which in fact violates freedom of information. At the same time, the authors are prevented or prevented from disseminating their thoughts, sharing or debating their opinions, making their proposals known to the public, thus violating the freedom of expression on a daily basis, we repeat: not only of the editorial team that manages and operates the site, but of the citizens, people and organizations that use it.

Because, by the way, we are all prevented from using the public media, the state media, which belongs to us as a people and cannot be the object of kidnapping and privilege of one faction or one government, with flagrant discrimination against the entire citizenry, deprived of the right to have a voice.

But it is not only the blocking; computer attacks are also ordered, mainly from outside the country, like the one that occurred shortly before the publication of this editorial. There have also been arrests of authors who publish their articles on this page, for their denunciations or opinions.

For us, the antidote to what we describe is to further strengthen our role in fulfilling our mission and improve our coordination with the groups that speak out and exchange information through social networks, increasing their reach. And, as we have always done, to encourage them to assume the role of the Communicating People who broadcast their own struggles, share their experiences, concerns and anguish, and exchange ideas to improve the present. On the other hand, our strength to be able to resist the attacks against Aporrea and against our communication community’s right to free information and opinion lies in the national and international solidarity offered to us.

In the midst of difficulties and uncertainties, we will continue to be a catalyst of all this, of people’s demands and proposals, of critical thinking, in the times to come. We believe that Aporrea will continue to be important and necessary.

And to continue this task, we also ask for the contribution and help of our users, authors, social and cultural organizations and political currents committed to public freedoms and collective interest, in order to sustain and defend such an important tool. Aware of the serious economic situation of our users in Venezuela, we ask those who visit us from abroad to consider making a contribution via credit card through our donation platform.

We thank, on our part and on behalf of all of us, those who have collaborated in one way or another with the functioning and permanence of the page, or who have made contributions and donations of solidarity. It is imperative that this continues to be done.

Let’s defend and maintain Aporrea, in defense of all!

In the coming days and weeks, throughout this month of anniversary, and especially on May 14, we encourage users, authors of articles and members of the communication community that is Aporrea, both in Venezuela and internationally, to share their assessments, constructive criticism, ideas and proposals about Aporrea and the exercise of alternative and popular communication, through our emails, messages and publications on the website and networks.

In the coming days, we will be developing our agenda for the anniversary celebration and for the rest of the month.

A virtual hug and mutual congratulations among the members of the Community of Aporreadores and Aporreadoras!

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