The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.18           May 5, 1997 
 
 
Students Sign Up For World Youth Festival  

BY JACK WILLEY
ST. PAUL, Minnesota - Plans are under way in several places across the United States for building the delegation to the 14th World Festival and Conference of Youth and Students, taking place in Cuba, July 27-August 4. Delegations of youth from countries around the globe will be discussing central issues in world politics today at the festival.

The next national meeting of the U.S. Organizing Committee for the World Youth Festival is taking place in New York City on May 4. Representatives from national and local organizations and local festival committees are encouraged to attend to review the outreach and organizing efforts, travel and other logistical details, and plans for the activities of the festival.

Activists building a delegation from the United States met several groups of youth interested in the festival at the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies conference in Sacramento, California, April 17-19. Six people went to an informal gathering to learn more, including a student at Berkeley High School, members of Frente Unido in Los Angeles and Alianza de la Raza in Dallas, and members of the Latino Coalition in Sonoma, California. Socialists in San Francisco are following up with people interested in the festival over the next week.

In North Carolina several high school students are part of building the delegation. Gabe Taltom, a student at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, found out about the festival from a leaflet posted up at his school. He reports that both himself and Jonathan Harris, a high school student in Raleigh, are raising money to go.

"We went to Cuba two years ago with our church. When I saw the flyer, I decided to go, but had no idea anyone else in the area was interested. Since then, we've met with a Young Socialists member in Greensboro and plan to build a delegation. This is a great package of events, meeting thousands of young people from all over the world and also getting a chance to see Cuba."

Harris is approaching a local weekly newspaper to write articles about the festival when he returns. Known as a political activist, he has talked up the festival with friends at his high school. He took part in a demonstration several months ago at the Phillips-Van Heusen factory outlet store in Raleigh in support of workers at the company's plant in Guatemala who are fighting for a union contract. So far the company has refused to negotiate.

Activists in Philadelphia recently launched the Philadelphia Organizing Committee for the World Youth Festival. So far, about a dozen people are signed up to go from four area campuses, in addition to activists in the Puerto Rican community.

At the University of Houston, the National Organization for Women, Pan-Afrikan People's Progressive Association, Cuba Friendship Committee and Young Socialists are sponsoring a meeting April 24 for all students interested in the world festival. Students at Jones High School in Houston are planning a concert in late May to raise funds for people at the school who plan to go to the festival.

In Washington, D.C., the local youth festival committee and the D.C. "Hands Off Cuba" Coalition are co-sponsoring a video showing of "After the Battle," a documentary about the thousands of Cuban volunteers who fought in Angola against the invasion by the South African apartheid army in the 1970s and 1980s. The showing is taking place May 2.

Joshua Carroll reports that activists there are meeting with a various groups at George Washington University, including at an April 29 meeting of the Arab Club and a meeting with the Latinos for Progress.

The delegation from the United States will be joining several thousand young people for the festival. Organizing committees have been established in over 50 countries and participants are expected from 100 nations. The event, dedicated to revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara, will include workshops and discussions on a wide range of themes. Festival organizers have decided on topics to include: peace, security, nuclear-weapon-free world, international cooperation and friendship, the anti-imperialist struggle, solidarity, national liberation, sovereignty and self- determination, democracy and participation, environment and sustainable development, employment, education, science and technology; childhood, young women, health, culture, social communication, discrimination, racism and neo-fascism, international youth and student movements, and human rights and people's rights.

The total cost for the festival is $600 for those who apply by May 15. This covers all expenses for the trip except airfare from the United States to Nassau, Bahamas, or Cancún, Mexico, the meeting points for U.S. participants. Applications must be accompanied by a $50 deposit and full payment is due by June 30. There will be an additional $25 charge for those who apply between May 16 and June 30.

For more information and an application, write to the U.S. Organizing Committee for the World Youth Festival at 2565 Broadway #236, New York, NY 10025, or call (212) 866- 7270.

CORRECTION
Last week's article incorrectly reported that the "Justice for Cuba Coalition set up a table at the MEChA conference." Participants in the conference found out about the festival through material distributed by individual supporters of the delegation going to Cuba.

- J.W.  
 
 
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