Found at: http://www.yclusa.org/article/articleprint/1665/-1/301/

World Festival of Youth and Students

Top level

Dynamic Magazine

Back Issues

2005 - March

Author: Dynamic Committee

Publishing date: 15.03.2005 17:51

тАЬFor peace and solidarity, we struggle against war and imperialismтА?

SEE THE SCRAPBOOK BELOW
The World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS), first held in 1947, is the biggest international event organized by progressive and democratic youth and students. The Festival is one of the main expressions of anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and anti-colonialist struggles led by youth. This August, tens of thousands of young people from all over the world will be gathering in Caracas, Venezuela at the 16th Festival to promote an alternative to war, inequality, racism, and oppression. Youth from nearly every country on the planet will assert together the determination to build a world of peace, equality, justice and dignity.

Why do we need a World Festival of Youth and Students? ItтАЩs not a bad question. After all, thereтАЩs so much to be against right now: cuts in education and vital social programs, soaring incarceration rates, a US foreign policy of world domination and war, attacks on young womenтАЩs reproductive rights and on queer youth, stagnant low wagesтАж and young people are taking the lead in uniting to fight against these conditions.

The Festival is another way to fight back. The Festival is the chance for young people in the US to show what weтАЩre for. What are our solutions? Our demands? Forming the US delegation is our chance to make a statement that military power is not the only way our country can interact with the world. Building relationships between young people, sharing our energy and our demands, is the foreign policy of the future. Building the US delegation is a statement against the war in Iraq, against the budget cuts and crises in our cities, against racism and oppression, and a huge show of support for the people of the Festival's host country, Venezuela.

What happens at a Festival? In Caracas we will participate in cultural activities, intramural sports, interactive workshops and much more. Most importantly, the Festival is an open forum.

Find out:

тАв What can a young person from a small town in the Midwest, devastated by industrial agriculture, learn from the delegation of a Bolivian indigenous land reform movement?

тАв What can US delegates committed to the struggle for reproductive rights learn from young people from Portugal, where abortion is still illegal?

тАв What will a Cuban delegate who studies for free at the University of Havana have to discuss with a student at a state university in the US facing yet another round of tuition hikes?

тАв What kind of ideas for solidarity will emerge when young peace activists from the US speak with youth from South Korea and North Korea about the danger posed by BushтАЩs aggressive policies?

тАв What will emerge from forums on global problems like AIDS, environmental destruction, and privatization of public services?

2005 is a historic time to visit Venezuela. Delegates to the Festival will have the extraordinary chance to be in the thick of a revolutionary process in that country. The 16th Festival will be an opportunity to extend our solidarity to the people of Venezuela, who are working for social and economic justice hand in hand with the democratically elected government. The interview with Omar Sierra in this section gives a snapshot of the recent changes in Venezuela, known as the Bolivarian Revolution.

The Festival movement grew out of the ashes of the Second World War, when thousands of youth and students assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia to proclaim that the youth would never again allow the horrors of fascism to terrorize the world. That first Festival was both a celebration of what is possible and a statement of defiance to the forces of corporate power and politicized hate that make fascism possible. ItтАЩs not an understatement to say that those forces are gathering again in our country. Now, more than ever, we need the World Festival of Youth and Students!

Photo: Noah Friedsky

A soccer game at the first World Festival of Youth and Students in Prague, Czechoslovakia, 1947. Delegations can field sports teams that compete in the spirit of friendship.

Delegates from many countries stand together in the crowd at the 1973 Festival, held in the German Democratic Republic. During the fifties, sixties, and seventies, the Festival reflected and promoted the struggles against colonialism in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The Festivals were major occasions for communication between anti-colonial movements, and a place for youth from 'first world' countries to strengthen their solidarity work.

Festival delegates exchange gifts in Berlin, Germany, 1949.

Gymnasts perform at the 1955 Festival in Warsaw, Poland.

Young workers from the United Farmworkers of America at the 1973 Festival. At that time the UFW was in the midst of a dangerous, difficult strike against grape growers in California. The US delegation helped raise international awareness of the farmworkers' struggle.

Throughout the 70s and 80s, the Festivals energized and unified the worldwide anti-apartheid movement. The South African Delegation met with young people from around the world to plan international solidarity campaigns. The 1985 Festival, in Moscow, was part of this process. In this photo, the US delegation arrives.

Opening Ceremony at the 1973 Festival. The delegations have the chance to show their national songs, dances, and chants.

Peace and solidarity rally, 1989.

1978, Cuba: In this photo the US delegation marches to demand an end to the US economic blockade on Cuba.

A delegate's tag from the 1997 Festival in Havana, Cuba

Delegates participated in a huge demonstration in the center of Havana to celebrate the Festival movement and support Cuban independance and socialism.

| Back to normal page view | Send this article to a friend |