Some youth organizations that have been involved in preparations for the festival, however, recently backed away from their participation. They have called for a boycott of the festival, arguing that holding it in Algiers would give political endorsement to repressive actions by the Algerian government, and warning that the civil conflict in that country would make it "unsafe" to travel there.

In recent months there have been sustained street actions by hundreds of thousands of working people and youth in Algeria protesting repression by national police forces and supporting the struggle by the Berber people, an oppressed nationality in Algeria and throughout North Africa, for the right to be taught in their native language in school.

Nonetheless, the organizers of the festival report that delegations from all six continents are continuing full steam ahead with their plans to attend the gathering in Algiers. Juan Carlos Frómeta, a leader of the Union of Young Communists (UJC) of Cuba and member of the International Organizing Committee of the festival, reported in a July 11 interview from Algiers in last week's Militant that at least 1,000 youth are coming from around the Americas, including 600 youth from revolutionary Cuba. He also noted that there will be a large participation by youth from around Algeria, including from the majority-Berber regions.

Printed below is a statement issued July 4 by the U.S. National Preparatory Committee for the festival, expressing opposition to the boycott call.
 

In light of a call by some organizations to boycott the 15th World Festival of Youth and Students scheduled for Algiers August 8–16, the United States National Preparatory Committee (U.S. NPC), which is organizing a delegation to this festival, believes the following statement is necessary:

The 15th World Festival of Youth and Students is an anti-imperialist gathering. The struggle against imperialist domination remains a life and death question for the vast majority of the toiling masses on a world scale. Those of us building the world festival oppose all forms of racism and sexism and national oppression, which only serve the interests of the imperialist powers to divide and rule.

The U.S. NPC supports the rights of ethnic minorities in Algeria, including the language and cultural rights of the Berber people. We are aware that organizations participating in the 15th World Youth Festival have a variety of views on these questions. We stand for an open discussion and debate on all these issues and support participation in the festival proceedings of all organizations and individuals that support the festival's aims. Building and going to this festival is not an endorsement of the actions or political course of the current government in Algeria, any more than has been the case with prior festivals.

At the same time, we are not naive or blind to the fact that the imperialist powers, with the French government in the lead, have their hand in trying to instigate unrest in Algeria that could result in putting a government in power that is more amenable to their interests. They have never forgiven the Algerian people for their victorious war of liberation that resulted in independence from French colonial rule in 1962. First and foremost, the Algerian people have to address their internal conflicts. We oppose any imperialist intervention in Algeria.

The U.S. NPC stands unconditionally for open participation in the festival and is opposed to any effort to exclude any organizations or individuals other than those who oppose the festival's goals. Those calling for a boycott are simply taking advantage of a volatile situation in Algeria to advance their political aims, which include pulling young people behind the bandwagon of organizations that are openly pro-imperialist.

We call on young people to consider all these facts as they make a decision to participate in the August 8–16 gathering. We encourage them to be part of the U.S. delegation that will join young people from many other countries in Algeria for a discussion on the struggle against imperialism around the world.  
 
 
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