Iraklis Tsavdaridis, who represents the Communist Youth of Greece in WFDY's presidency, opened discussion on the Algiers meeting with a draft resolution on the festival. "Holding the festival in Algeria was of great political importance for the progressive youth and students' movement around the world," he said.

Tran Dac Loi, of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of Vietnam, pointed to the political success of the festival as a clearly anti-imperialist gathering, marked by the large presence of youth from Africa and the Middle East. Loi had served as the chairperson for the international organizing committee of the Algiers event.

"In face of a boycott campaign by social democratic forces around the world, the first-ever world youth festival to take place in Africa strengthened the movement against imperialism," he said. Loi was referring to unsuccessful efforts to derail the Algiers gathering by youth groups affiliated to social democratic parties, including those that govern imperialist countries like France, Germany, and Britain.

A delegate from the Union of Young Communists in Cuba, Juan Carlos Marsán, spoke about the conditions that the Palestinian and Western Saharan peoples face and the important role their struggles for national liberation played in the deliberations of festival participants. "The 15th world festival was a success for all progressive and revolutionary forces around the world," he stated.

Marsán said the festival was a counter to what is known as "neoliberalism," the drive by various governments of semicolonial countries, under the fiction that the capitalist market could bring "development," to sell off state-owned enterprises, cut the social wage, and drop protectionist barriers to a barrage of goods from imperialist powers, among other such measures. The festival's anti-imperialist character was important, he added, especially in light of the war in Afghanistan and plans by the U.S. government to expand its predatory assault to other countries.  
 
More frequent festivals
The Cuban delegate thanked the National Union of Algerian Youth and other Algerian hosts for their efforts in holding the festival, in spite of the many internal difficulties and external pressures. He urged delegates to consider organizing the anti-imperialist gatherings every two to three years instead of at the traditional four-yearly intervals, in order to discuss current issues in a timely manner and to more effectively respond to the accelerated assaults by imperialism. Holding meetings more regularly would also give some continuity to the festivals, he said.

A representative from WFDY affiliates in Latin America reported that a regional meeting in Havana several weeks before the Athens gathering had discussed this idea and had recommended that the world youth organization adopt such a course.

Anne Harte, representing the Young Socialists in the United Kingdom, said that the revolutionary heritage of the years-long war that ended with Algeria's independence from the colonial rule of France, and the formation in 1963 of a workers and farmers government there, marked the festival and reinforced its anti-imperialist character.

Several delegates also raised criticisms of aspects of the Algeria event, within the framework of supporting the evaluation presented initially by Tsavdaridis. Nikos Seretakis, from the Communist Youth of Greece, said the event needed to reflect more on youth actions such as the "anti-globalization" protests that took place in Seattle and Genoa.

Aristos Damianou, from the United Democratic Youth Organization in Cyprus, said he thought representatives of youth organizations that have ties with governments in northern Africa and the Middle East played too heavy a role in the event.

Hirochi Yonezawa, from the Democratic Youth League of Japan, said that his organization could not attend the festival because of "technical problems," that is, because of what they had heard about the lack of security in Algiers. Antigovernment protests had been held in Algeria in the months leading up to the festival, based in the majority Berber region of Kabylia. Many of these protests for language and cultural rights of the Berber people had been exploited and encouraged by the government of France in an effort to undermine the Algerian government.

Jack Willey, representing the Young Socialists in the United States, said that security fears raised before the festival had proved false. Not a single incident of a delegate having their safety endangered while in Algiers had been reported. Willey also pointed to the internationalism of the Cuban Revolution manifest at the festival. The Cuban government made it possible for over 200 youth from several countries in the semicolonial world, who would not have otherwise participated, to attend the Algiers meeting.

Willey said the openness of the sessions and free exchange of cultural and political information throughout the festival was a political strength of the gathering. He agreed with the proposal to hold festivals more frequently to respond to the accelerated militarization drive by the U.S. and other imperialist powers.

A number of other delegates at the three-day meeting also spoke in favor of the recommendation for more frequent youth festivals.  
 
General Assembly to be held in Havana
After weighing different proposals, the WFDY General Council decided to hold the federation's next General Assembly in Havana in the winter of 2003. The assembly is a meeting of all WFDY member organizations and elects the organization's General Council and officers. Assemblies have taken place every four years in the past. The previous one was held in Cyprus in 1999.

The organization's Latin American region proposed holding the next assembly in Havana. Mauricio Rodríguez, from the Communist Youth of Colombia, which coordinates the region, said that WFDY-initiated meetings held in Cuba have tended to be larger and more representative, and the federation does not run into the problems that can arise in countries with capitalist governments. Delegates from the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League of the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea, for example, were unable to attend the Athens meeting after being denied visas by the Greek government.

Two organizations from Nepal proposed hosting WFDY's upcoming General Assembly in Kathmandu, the country's capital.

During discussion under that point, Juan Carlos Marsán pointed to the politically explosive situation building throughout Latin America and the centrality of the Cuban Revolution as an example for youth struggling against imperialism. Marsán's point was confirmed a few days after the Athens meeting, when protests against the grinding effects of the spiraling economic crisis that has shaken Argentina exploded across the country.

To take advantage of repeated offers from WFDY's affiliates in Nepal to host a meeting there, delegates in Athens agreed that a future General Council meeting of the federation will be held in that Central Asian country.

During the General Council meeting an international symposium on imperialism and terrorism took place, where delegates discussed the world political situation since the September 11 suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon in the United States (see "Youth condemn imperialism," Militant issue no. 1, 2002). The meeting also issued statements in solidarity with the Palestinian and Western Saharan struggles for national self-determination.  
 
 
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