World Youth Festival In Bolivarian

Republic Of Venezuela

K N Balagopal

THE 16th World Festival of Youth and Students scheduled to take place in Caracas, the capital city of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela during August 7-15, 2005, is set to become a milestone in the history of the youth’s struggle against imperialism and war. The 16th WFYS assumes historic importance on account of two distinct reasons. First, the festival is taking place at a critical stage in the history of imperialism as well as amidst struggles all over the world against it.  Second, and perhaps a more obvious reason is the fact that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which is in the midst of the contemporary struggle against imperialism, is hosting the present festival. Before coming to the importance of the World Youth Festival-2005, let us quickly examine some salient features of the way in which the festival is organised.

In this festival more than 20,000 young people from more than 100 countries across the world will participate with the slogan “For peace and solidarity, we struggle against imperialism and war.” Since the formation of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) in 1945 and from the days of the First World Youth Festival in 1947, the youth festivals carried forward the real spirit and fervor of anti-imperialist struggle and resistance against war.

PROGRAMME

The 16th festival will also witness serious political discussions, exchange of experiences and ideas, cultural performances etc. which would be helpful for the united movement for peace and solidarity worldwide. The 16th WFYS is basically a major political event. The proceedings of the main conference, seminars, workshops, interactions and exchanges and cultural performances, etc., will be based on the main slogan of the festival. The major discussion themes are broadly classified under four categories: (1) Peace, war and imperialism (2) Education, culture, science & technology (3) Employment, economy & development (4) Democracy & human rights.

Based on the general topics under these categories, there will be more than 46 conferences and seminars. The delegates will go into the minute details of the themes and they will be presenting papers based on their experiences. Every participant can intervene and speak in these sessions.

The four separate sittings of the anti-imperialist international tribunals will be another important opportunity for revealing and exposing the most cruel, inhuman, and bloodthirsty activities of the imperialist forces. The topics of the international tribunal are (1) War, Aggression and Occupations. (2) Economic blockades, Sanctions and Embargoes (3) Environmental destruction (4) Exploitation – main cause of poverty and misery.

In these four tribunal sessions, various cases would be presented by different delegations supported with documents and evidence. From the days of Second World War till now the imperialist forces made many criminal attacks and interventions on other peoples and nations. There is no dearth of evidence to prove the highhandedness of imperialist forces. Eminent judicial activists and representatives of the participants will chair the court sittings for trying the criminal acts of US-led imperialism. From Asia Pacific region, Japan will be represented by the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing. From Vietnam, the victims of ‘agent orange’ who suffered serious biological hazards from the use of dangerous chemicals by the US forces at the time of Vietnam aggression will be present to give evidence against the US aggression. People from Palestine, Western Sahara, Iraq etc. will also present their cases. Not only war and aggression but the other areas of imperialist interventions and its destructive impact would also be covered by the tribunal. From India, the environmental issues like construction of Narmada dam, Coca-Cola’s water pollution and exploitation etc. would be raised in the international tribunal.

Apart from these, there will be 16 inter-exchange social meetings like those of young workers and trade unionists, young entrepreneurs and professionals, young artists and intellectuals, young women, parliamentarians, young religious believers etc.

International solidarity forum is another platform which will provide space for holding various events expressing solidarity to different countries and societies. For example, Asia Pacific region has decided to hold solidarity meetings for supporting the struggle for democracy in Myanmar, Nepal etc. The issue of US sanctions against North Korea will also be raised.

There will be 90 workshops based on different issues, organised by different regions and NPCs. There will be six regional clubs – Africa, America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and Venezuela. All these regional clubs would become the venues for cultural performances and informal exchange of ideas and for bilateral discussions. On August 14 there will be an Anniversary party – with the theme “60 years of WFDY – Youth Unity! Forward for Lasting Peace,” followed by cultural performances from all over the world. Sports activities, friendship fairs, exhibitions etc. will also be organised.

During August 9–11, representatives of the delegations will travel to different states of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Some special programs are planned in the states like meetings with youth and students, Bolivarian authorities, cultural & sports activities etc.

The opening ceremony will be on August 8. The next five days will be named after 5 regions. August 14 will be observed as the day of 60th anniversary of people’s victory against fascism. August 15 will be the day of Venezuela. This day is coinciding with the first anniversary of the people’s victory in presidential referendum held in Venezuela.

The official business of the festival will be concluded on the evening of August 14 with an open meeting of the international working body of the festival (IOC) with representatives of NPC’s and organisations. This important meeting will discuss and adopt the final declaration of the WFYS.

The closing ceremony will be on August 15, which is an important national day for Venezuala, which incidentally coincides with the Independence Day of India. Indian delegates will be observing our independence day in a befitting manner at Venezuela. The festival will be concluded with a farewell party on the night of August 15.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FESTIVAL

The significance of the Caracas festival is to be viewed from different angles. That it is being held in Venezuela itself is an inspiring aspect. Venezuela, a Latin American nation is the vanguard of the ongoing movement against the neo-liberal economic policies unleashed by the multilateral financial institutions like IMF and World Bank. For the first time in the Venezuelan history, the profit accrued through the earnings from the Venezuelan oil is reaching to the masses in the form of food, shelter, free health and education –– hitherto a monopoly of a rich minority pampered by the imperialist forces. A country with an area of 30 per cent of India and a population of only 2.5 per cent of us which is very rich with natural resources was subjected to severe exploitation.

The Bolivarian movement being led by Hugo Chavez, resulted in the present positive state of affairs. Chavez called upon the Venezuelan people to launch a movement against the imperialist forces on the principle laid down by the great 19th century Venezuelan revolutionary Simon Bolivar. Chavez took a leaf out of Bolivar’s life and organised the Venezuelan people against the US imperialism. The US imperialism thereafter tried several times to oust Chavez from the seat of power, but failed to achieve their evil goals. On each occasion Chavez fought back and defeated the imperialists with the help of the Venezuelan people.

The country, which is emerging and rising as a ‘star of hope’ not only for the Latin Americans but also for the entire people of the world, by virtue of its relentless struggle against imperialism, is hosting this historic festival. So the young people world over will want to record their solidarity to the people of Venezuela in their fight.

The 16th World Festival is taking place at a time when the world is witnessing unique forms of resistance. The neocolonial forces which camouflaged themselves under the trade laws and the fiscal measures, are rapaciously exploiting the third world countries. The crisis-ridden capitalism has also been venturing out occasionally with direct attacks on independent countries and people. The latest examples are Afghanistan and Iraq. But there are also positive developments taking place such as the stubborn resistance to US occupation in Iraq and the decline of right wing regimes in Latin America. In fact, Latin America, which was called as the laboratory of imperialist driven globalisation, is today a good lesson to all the struggling people for its strong resistance against imperialist dictates. Many pro-US governments have been uprooted; and many more are in the process of being ousted.

In India we are also engaged in fighting against the imperialist order. The younger generation is playing a crucial role in this agitation. Under the leadership of DYFI and SFI, the youth in India are engaged in a historic agitation against commercialisation of education since the 1980s. In 1994 five youth comrades at Koothuparambu in Kerala state were shot dead by the police. The youth assembled there for protesting against commercialisation of education. This martyrdom might be the first of its kind in the neo-liberal period. The fight against commercialisation is continuing in various parts of the country. We have a strong history of anti-imperialist struggle and anti-war movement. From 1945 onwards the Indian youth are active in WFDY activities.

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) being the largest youth organisation of India with 14.2 million members had played and would be playing an active role in the country and abroad for uniting the youth, for their upliftment and betterment. DYFI played an active role to re-establish the festival movement after the Soviet collapse. In WFDY activities also it plays an active role. As the Asia Pacific regional coordinator of WFDY, DYFI delegation is going to Caracas with added responsibility. In the festival and afterwards, the younger generation has to play a proactive role for defending the rights of the people. United movement and struggle against imperialism and war is the only panacea for the people of the world for a better future. DYFI hopes that Caracas festival would further give an impetus to the struggle against imperialism and war.     

 (The author is the president of DYFI)