The theme of the festival is “For peace and solidarity, we fight against imperialism and war.” Many of the youth here have been involved in struggles for national liberation, for women’s equality, against racism, to organize unions, and against imperialist wars. They have come together to exchange experiences and discuss how they can be more effective in their struggles.

About 12,000 delegates have come from across the Americas. Some 3,500 are from Venezuela. The other large delegations are from Colombia, with 2,100; Cuba, with 1,800; and about 700 each from Brazil, Ecuador, and the United States.

“We are here to denounce U.S. colonialism and to say loud and clear, ‘Independence for Puerto Rico,’” said Arnaldo González, a Puerto Rican university student, as the delegation of 150 from that country marched outside the Fort Tiuna military barracks on the eastern edge of Caracas.

“Freedom for Sahara, Polisario will win!” chanted a contingent of 100 youth from Western Sahara in the opening parade. “We’ve been involved in a fight for national liberation for 30 years,” Said Bah Ali, a leader of the Polisario Front youth, told the Militant. The Polisario Front has been leading the struggle for independence and against the occupation of that West African country, first by Spanish imperialism and currently by Moroccan troops. “We are up against not only the Moroccan monarchy but U.S. and French imperialism. We are here to ask for support.”

A few hundred youth have come from nine countries in Africa. Delegates from another 14 African countries had registered but were unable to attend due to economic difficulties, festival organizers reported.

About 1,600 have arrived from two dozen countries in Europe. Participation is relatively sparse from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics, where most of the youth festivals were held until the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Some 700 delegates are here from Asia and the Pacific.

Hundreds of the Venezuelan delegates have been taking part in a two-year-long government-sponsored campaign to eliminate illiteracy here. “I am really looking forward to talking to as many of the thousands of youth here as I can over the next week,” said Helen León, a teacher who coordinates one of these programs, Mission Sucre, in Tocoyito, a rural area of Carabobo state.

Marching boisterously, the Cuban delegation was among the best-received by the Venezuelan spectators and other delegates. It included more than 1,000 students and other youth who came from the Caribbean island, as well as 700 doctors, athletic instructors, and others who have been serving as internationalist volunteers in Venezuela.

“We are collaborating with the Venezuelan people, who are fighting to take destiny into their hands,” said Diego Brunet. He is a physical therapist from Sancti Spíritus province in Cuba who has been volunteering for 14 months in a clinic in Aragua state here as part of the Barrio Adentro (“In the Neighborhood”) program. Barrio Adentro has brought quality health care, free of charge, to working-class districts and rural areas that have had little or no access to medical care.

Cuban delegates also carried portraits of the five Cuban revolutionaries imprisoned in the United States on frame-up charges of conspiracy to commit espionage for the Cuban government and banners demanding their freedom. That morning, a federal appeals court in Atlanta threw out their convictions and granted a defense motion for a new trial.

“Cuba yes, blockade no!” chanted hundreds of U.S. delegates as they passed by the Cuban contingent, referring to Washington’s economic war against Cuba. A range of views were expressed in their other slogans. Many of them chanted “Bush out!” A group from western Pennsylvania, on the other hand, carried a banner demanding “U.S. Out Now! Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Guantánamo Bay, Djibouti, Yugoslavia.”

Members and supporters of the Young Socialists in the United States carried a banner that read “Access to nuclear technology is a right of all oppressed nations, imperialists hands off Iran and north Korea,” which sparked debate. A number of U.S. delegates said it was not appropriate because nuclear power is not safe. Others, especially youth from Venezuela, came over to express agreement with the Young Socialists for their stance.

At the conclusion the delegates were addressed by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez; David Velásquez, president of Venezuela’s National Preparatory Committee, which hosted the festival; and Miguel Madeira, president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth.

“The planet needs a political revolution to bring about real democracies, supported by the people, and not the false democracies of the elite,” Chávez said. He denounced Washington’s campaign to support major sections of the Venezuelan capitalist class that have tried—unsuccessfully—to overthrow his administration. Chávez said Venezuela will defend the “freedom of our land” if the U.S. government were to launch any military action.

The festival includes workshops, cultural events, and visits to some of Venezuela’s provinces. It lasts through August 15.

Arrin Hawkins contributed to this article.
 
 
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