WFDY, with some 160 affiliates in more than 100 countries, is the main international organization that has sponsored the world youth festivals. The last two--held in Cuba in 1997 and Algeria in 2001--attracted thousands of youth from around the world. Many were engaged in popular movements for national liberation, worker and peasant struggles, and student protests. They took part to speak about their struggles, learn about those of others, and discuss how to advance the fight against the imperialist plunder of the world.

The meeting was hosted by the Union of Young Communists (UJC) of Cuba. Otto Rivero, first secretary of the UJC, gave a presentation in the opening session. He detailed the Battle of Ideas, which the UJC is at the center of leading in Cuba today. This is a political offensive to deepen the involvement of working people and youth in the Cuban Revolution. Central to it is broadening the educational and cultural opportunities available to the Cuban people. The goal is to counter the imperialist ideological drive promoting capitalism as the future. The Battle of Ideas is also aimed at addressing the social inequalities that have widened, as Cuba has become more directly exposed to the capitalist world market since the collapse of preferential trade relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe more than a decade ago. It includes combating the demoralization among certain layers of youth who were not working, had dropped out of school, and in some cases had become involved in petty crime. Cuba’s revolutionary leadership is working to win these youth back to productive participation in society and to build revolutionary consciousness among them by involving them in a number of educational campaigns and providing them with jobs, Rivero said.

More than 150 representatives of 80 organizations in 70 countries took part in the meetings. At the center of the proceedings was discussion on how to respond to the U.S.-led war drive against Iraq.

Iraklis Tsavdaridis, the outgoing WFDY president and a leader of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), said in his report to the first plenary session that Washington’s assault on Iraq "will be bloodier than its previous wars against Yugoslavia or Afghanistan." U.S. imperialism is planning this war to control land, resources, and roads in the Mideast and suppress any resistance to their plans, he stated. "We are categorically against a U.S. war by unilateral military force or a war by France and Germany through the United Nations. The Iraqi people must be free to choose their leaders."  
 
Debate on the imperialist war
Other delegates expressed a variety of views. A number backed the idea that the French or German imperialist rulers are more benign than their competitors in Washington and can be counted on as part of the "peace camp."

A draft resolution on "Peace, Disarmament and International Security" presented to the Assembly by Vesselina Vateva of the Union of Communist Youth of Spain, for example, stated, after referring to the mass peace demonstrations in February: "Under the circumstances, the majority of countries, including prominent U.S.-allied nations such as Germany and France, oppose a U.S. war, call on Iraq to comply with UN resolutions faithfully, and continue to make earnest efforts for its peaceful solution."

"How can you say that?" responded Ogous Dorked of the Turkish Communist Party Youth. "Germany and France are likely to be part of the war when the shooting begins." He and others tried to amend this clause but had a hard time reformulating it to anything acceptable.

Anne Howie of the Young Socialists in the United Kingdom proposed the sentence in dispute be struck from the resolution. "Paris and Berlin have been as responsible as London and Washington in the last 12 years for destroying much of Iraq through their support for many UN resolutions imposing sanctions, no fly zones, etc.," she said. "They are imperialist powers simply vying with the U.S. government over control of the strategic oil platform Iraq sits on." She also said that the sentence in dispute gave support to pressing Iraq to comply with UN resolutions, which have been instruments in the hands of imperialism in its assault on Iraq. It also backed disarming Iraq, which is a violation of its sovereignty. Others expressed dissatisfaction with this clause, which was finally dropped.

A similar debate took place over the draft of the main political resolution, presented to the assembly by Tsavdaridis. The draft wasn’t strong enough in placing resistance to the imperialist assault on Iraq at the center of tasks for progressive youth today, a number of delegates said.

Kil Chol Hyok of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) argued for substantial changes on Korea in the draft. He proposed a stronger condemnation of Washington’s and Tokyo’s war threats against the DPRK and support for the "sunshine policy" agreed in principle as a starting point for negotiations on normalizing relations between north and south Korea. His proposals were adopted.

"There’s an urgent need to make the center of any political declaration opposition to the imperialist war on Iraq that’s already unfolding," said Olympia Newton of the Young Socialists in the United States, under this point. "This is one of a number of wars to come, and we need to explain the reasons for it. This is not a war by Bush but a war led by the entire U.S. ruling class. At the center of it is interimperialist competition between Washington and London on one hand and Paris and Berlin on the other on how to redivide the world. It’s a war taking place as the capitalist system worldwide has entered a prolonged depression. As part of participating in peace actions and other manifestations against the war, like the high school walkouts in the United States yesterday [March 5], progressive youth organizations need to present demands with an anti-imperialist character like ‘Bring the troops home now,’ ‘UN inspectors out of Iraq,’ and ‘End the imperialist trampling of Iraq’s sovereignty.’"

A delegate of the Communist Youth of Denmark said later that the demand to get UN inspectors out of Iraq "wouldn’t be understood in the antiwar movement today."

On the initiative of the Young Communist League USA, the delegates approved and sent a statement of solidarity with the March 5 U.S. high school strike against the war in the which was called by the National Student and Youth Peace Coalition.  
 
Varying views towards Iraqi regime
Another point of debate was about the character of the Iraqi regime and its relevance to the fight against imperialist war.

Abdullah Muhsen of the Iraqi Democratic Youth Federation (IDYF), and Haider of the General Union of Students in the Iraqi Republic (GUSIR), said that Washington’s main justification in the war is changing "the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein." This regime is the reason Iraq has acquired weapons of mass destruction, Muhsen stated. While IDYF opposes the war on Iraq, delegates need to be more sensitive to calls by exiled Iraqi groups to overthrow Saddam Hussein, he argued. Similar views were expressed by others. "The main problem in Iraq was and is Saddam Hussein," argued Paul Levy of the Young Communist League in the UK.

Anne Howie of the YS in the UK responded to these statements. "Progressive youth should defend unconditionally Iraq’s sovereignty and side with the right of the Iraqi people and government to defend Iraq from an imperialist onslaught," she said.

Delegates did not agree to amendments proposed by IDYF to the main political declaration, or the resolution on international solidarity, calling for "support of the Iraqi peoples’ right to overthrow Saddam Hussein." A separate statement on Iraq presented by GUSIR, however, which included this stance, was adopted at the end.  
 
How can sex discrimination be fought?
In addition to the main political declaration, the assembly discussed and approved specific resolutions from each region of the world and thematic resolutions on questions such as health, education, employment, and young women.

This last resolution addressed the fight for equal participation of women in work and in social and political life, as well as full reproductive rights. Under discussion, Aristos Damianou of the National Democratic Youth Organization (EDON) of Cyprus said that support for the struggle for women’s rights today is fine. "But we also need to recognize that at the end of the day men and women are exploited equally under capitalism and this condition of exploitation can’t be ended until the system is overthrown." He proposed that such a statement be added to the draft.

A delegate of the African National Congress Youth League of South Africa, an outspoken young woman, reacted strongly. "I can’t believe you say that," she stated. "Progress towards women’s equality can be made as a result of progressive struggles before capitalism is overthrown."

When another delegate tried to defend Damianou, this ANC Youth League representative exploded. She started saying loudly that this is not true, you can fight for women’s rights now. "They did it in Cuba while they were fighting in the revolutionary struggle! Read this book," she stated, showing around the new Pathfinder title Marianas in Combat, which she had bought the previous day at the conference and had virtually finished reading. She also proposed that another amendment be made to the resolution, backing affirmative action not just in society but also in progressive youth groups.

The assembly approved various declarations of solidarity, including with the Palestinian struggle, national liberation movements from Western Sahara to Puerto Rico and Kanaky (New Caledonia), and the fight to free five Cuban revolutionaries jailed in the U.S. on trumped up conspiracy charges to commit espionage and murder.

The assembly elected WFDY’s main leadership body, the General Council, which picked the federation’s officers. The Communist Youth of Portugal was elected to WFDY’s presidency and the UJC of Cuba to the post of general secretary.  
 
Long road towards next youth festival
Harchand Singh of the All India Youth Federation chaired the March 8 consultative meeting on the next youth festival. Discussion focused on some of the lessons of the festival in Algiers. Singh said that there are no definite proposals yet on where to host the next festival, which is tentatively projected for 2005. That decision was left for a future international meeting.
 
 
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