BY ARGIRIS MALAPANIS AND JACK WILLEY
CAIRO, Egypt - "We can't let the U.S. government destroy Iraq. That would be like letting them cut off one of our arms," said Hossm El-din Mustaffa, a student at Cairo University here. "The Iraqi people are an inseparable part of the Arab peoples." Mustaffa took part in student demonstrations of nearly 25,000 people at that campus two weeks ago against Washington's massive military buildup in the Arab-Persian Gulf and preparations to assault Iraq.

He is also part of the committee organizing the meeting of the General Council of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), which opens here March 5. The two-day gathering will be followed by an international meeting to evaluate the World Festival of Youth and Students that took place in Cuba last summer and to discuss the next steps in building an anti- imperialist youth movement. WFDY was one of the organizations that sponsored the festival.

Organizing opposition to U.S. imperialism's designs on the Middle East and to the expansion of NATO in Eastern and Central Europe will be part of the discussion at these gatherings.

Mustaffa and Sameh El Shall, a journalist and member of the Progressive Youth Union of Egypt, which is hosting the events, said that large student actions opposing Washington's aggression against the Iraqi people took place in all the major universities in Cairo and other Egyptian cities in February. The largest mobilization occurred at Ain Chames (Eye of the Sun) University, with more than 30,000 students protesting three or four days in a row the third week of February. Taxi drivers and other people interviewed gave similar figures.

About 10,000 students demonstrated at El Azhar and Zaka Zhik universities, El Shall said. Smaller actions of 2,000 - 3,000 took place on campuses in Alexandria and elsewhere. In Cairo the police prevented the students from taking their mobilizations into the streets. All those interviewed said the government forced the protesters to stay within the confines of the campuses.

Participants at the WFDY-sponsored gatherings will also discuss actions in solidarity with the socialist revolution in Cuba and support for national liberation struggles - from Palestine to Ireland and Quebec.

As of March 4, nearly 40 people from over 20 countries had arrived in Cairo to take part in the meetings. They include representatives of the General Union of Palestinian Students, Socialist Youth Union of Bulgaria, Union of Young Communists of Cuba, Movement of Young Communists of France, Communist Youth of Greece, Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League of the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea, Democratic Youth League and Socialist Youth League of Japan, SWAPO youth of Namibia, the youth group of the Communist Party of Russia, and Young Socialists from Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Other youth organizations represented hail from Brazil, Denmark, Cyprus, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Nepal, and Sudan.  
 
 
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