BY JACK WILLEY
NEW YORK - Following the May 4 meeting of the U.S. Organizing Committee for the World Youth Festival, youth across the country are stepping up their activity to get dozens of applications into the committee office by the May 15 deadline.

At the meeting, roughly 30 people discussed the building efforts in local areas, festival activities, and travel.

Carlos Hernández, a student from Los Angeles, reported that a local organizing committee for the youth festival was launched at a meeting of roughly 15 people May 1. This was in part the product of smaller meetings with students at Occidental and Glendale Colleges. Activists there are setting up fund-raisers and have called their next planning meeting for May 15.

Alex Papali, a student at the University of Massachusetts in Boston who came to the meeting, had become active in the past few weeks around the youth festival. The committee in Boston held their first meeting a few weeks ago and have since focused on meeting with student organizations at the University of Massachusetts and other colleges in the area.

Forty people attended an informational meeting in Minneapolis on April 30, reported Adriana Sánchez. The meeting, sponsored by some student groups at the University of Minnesota, discussed the political importance of the festival and fundraising efforts to get several people there. Several organizations and individuals expressed interest in going.

Many students are submitting requests for money from their colleges through departments and administrative grants.

Stephanie Zwenko reported that fund-raising efforts are under way in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Cuba Coalition raised $150 so far and activists there plan on reaching out to other groups to get more people to the festival.

There is still much work to do nationally in getting youth and student groups to endorse the U.S. Organizing Committee and send representatives to the festival.

Leslie Cagan, chair of the U.S. Organizing Committee, reported 69 national preparatory committees internationally have been set up and organizers estimate youth will attend from 126 countries. So far, 65 people have sent in applications in the United States.

There was quite a bit of discussion on travel at the meeting. Bob Guild, of Marazul Tours reported that 20 applicants submitted requests to the U.S. Treasury Department for a license to attend this international conference. The U.S. government prohibits U.S. residents from spending money in Cuba, effectively carrying out a travel ban. Since this is an international conference, the government can grant a license allowing participants to spend money. The large majority of applicants so far have indicated they want to apply for a license.

Both Bob Guild and Argiris Malapanis, the representative from the Socialist Workers Party, urged meeting participants to encourage people in their local areas to apply for licenses as part of building a broad delegation, including many youth who have never traveled to Cuba or to such an international gathering before, and countering government efforts to intimidate people from going.

The festival, dedicated to revolutionary leader Ernesto Che Guevara, will include workshops on: peace, security, nuclear weapon-free world and international cooperation and friendship; 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 and social communication; discrimination, racism and neo-fascism; international youth and students movements; and human/people's rights.

Two new features have been added to the festival program; an anti-imperialist tribunal that will include mock trials of imperialist powers for their crimes against oppressed nations and discuss anti-imperialist struggles; and a bookfair with publishers from around the world.

The meeting set a deadline of May 30 for local organizing committees to submit proposals on who from local areas is designated to give special presentations on political topics, like the fight for Native American rights or Puerto Rican independence, and cultural presentations at the festival. These proposals will in turn be sent to the International Preparatory Committee which is meeting in Havana in early June. Another national meeting of the U.S. Organizing Committee was set for Sunday, June 22, in New York City.

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 Cancun, 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.  
 
 
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