El Salvador’s FMLN welcomes Hugo Chavez’s call for a Fifth International

Resolution of the XXV Ordinary FMLN National Convention on the initiative to establish the ‘Fifth (V) Socialist International’

This FMLN National Convention,

CONSIDERING:

1. That the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) is a political organisation that has the responsibility, recognised by popular majority and as a consequence of our long history of struggle, of constructing in El Salvador a society based on social justice; which is economically productive, environmentally sustainable and wherein all exercise and respect fundamental freedoms and inherent rights of the human being, as recognised in the Constitution of the Republic.

2. That the progressive and left-wing political and social movements, which are leading the struggles for democracy and social progress, are experiencing a period of growth and gain in various parts of the world, and particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean; proposing and winning solutions to the major problems confronting the world today.

3. That it is evident that neoliberalism, that extreme form of uncontrolled capitalism, has not and will not be able to resolve the great challenges faced by modern civilisation, currently immersed in a deep economic and financial crisis that has deepened the conditions of poverty and misery for millions of human beings. To this is added, among other calamities that afflict humanity, the evident and destructive effects of climate change, the growth of diseases and illness, the energy crisis, the food crisis, the rise in transnational delinquency, and the threats to peace and democracy in various regions of the planet.

4. That in this context it is of paramount importance that all of the social movements and political organisations that characterise themselves as progressive, left and socialist, wherever they are around the world, intensify our theoretical discussion and the formulation of alternative development projects -– in order that we meet the aspirations of prosperity, freedom and self-determination of the people, and that this in turn stimulates solidarity and fraternal cooperation between us all.

5. That it is the right of any national political force, whatever its ideology, to promote links of friendship and the exchange of experiences with likeminded political organisations around the world, without undermining their independence and identity, and respecting the realities of their socio-political process.

THEREFORE, RESOLVES:

1. To intensify our efforts in the international arenas to strengthen the opportunities for reflection, debate and the development of creative proposals and alternatives for economic development, social emancipation and sovereignty of peoples; including within the Sao Paulo Forum and the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean.

2. To acknowledge and welcome the initiative of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela to promote a new space that has become known as “V [Fifth] Socialist International”: to promote discussion, theoretical, political and ideological reflection, and solidarity between political forces around the world who promote the path of socialism as the way to guarantee our peoples’ human development, economic prosperity, democracy and national independence, while preserving peace and the environmental sustainability of the planet.

3. To reiterate our solidarity, and that of the vast majority of the Salvadoran people, with the people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and other South American nations who have undertaken structural changes; and who now face a new and serious threat to self-determination and sovereignty from the installation of foreign military bases near their borders.

NATIONAL CONVENTION

San Salvador, 13 de Diciembre de 2009.

Translated by Lara Pullin of the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network