Hugo Blanco - events in Scotland this week

A Word About Hugo Blanco

Hugo Blanco is a historic leader of the Peruvian peasant movement who
has been politically active since the 1950s. In the 1960s he played a
central part in the ‘Land or Death’ peasant uprising in the southern
highlands of Peru. He was captured, and sentenced to 25 years. He
wrote the book “Land or Death: the peasant struggle in Peru” during
one of his many periods in prison. In 1976 he was released and
deported to Sweden. On returning to Peru in 1978, he was elected to
parliament. He was a member of the Peruvian Senate until 1992, when he
was forced to seek political asylum in Mexico following Alberto
Fujimori’s “self-coup”.

Hugo Blanco has been at the forefront of a huge struggle in the
Peruvian Amazon where the government has sold off the rain forests to
the oil corporations and the indigenous people are resisting the
devastation this brings. He is working on the newspaper “Lucha
Indigena” (Indigenous Struggle). The struggle in Latin America today
is an international beacon of hope for all socialists including Eco
socialists.

The people’s summit in Cochabamba, Bolivia in 2010 showed an
alternative to the total failure of the world’s governments –
especially those of the US and the European Union – to meet the
challenge of climate change. In a world where profit is the motor
force rather than human need, it has been an inspiration that social
movements in Latin America have won important victories. Indigenous
peoples have been key to the strength and success of those movements.
Hugo argues that indigenous peoples across the planet are in the
forefront of fighting climate change and conserving the local
environment. This is true of those struggling to preserve the lungs of
the world in the Amazon, to defend the rainforests in Borneo or
against the uranium mine in the Grand Canyon.

This weekend gives you a unique opportunity to hear directly from Hugo
- do not miss the chance!

Public Meeting

HUGO BLANCO
Historic Leader of the Peruvian Peasant Movement

Partick Burgh Halls
Glasgow

Friday 15TH October
7.30PM

Organised by the Scottish Socialist Party.


Edinburgh University Socialist Society Presents:

Latin America
The Eco Socialist Alternative
With
Hugo Blanco
...&

Speakers and Workshops from:
Scottish Socialist Party
Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity Group
Green Left (England & Wales)
Venezuelan Solidarity Campaign
Cuban Solidarity Campaign
Scottish Socialist Youth

Saturday 16th October 2010
10:30 – 13:00
The Dining Room Teviot House
Bristo Square