BY JACK WILLEY
HAVANA, Cuba - More than 130 people from 55 countries met here for the Second International Coordinating Committee (ICC) meeting for the 14th World Festival of Youth and Students. The February 19-22 meeting heard reports from preparatory committees across the globe and decided the program and schedule for the festival.

The youth festival, which will be held in Cuba July 28 - August 5, is shaping up to be a gathering of several thousand people who will discuss and debate a range of political questions confronting the working class, including: anti-imperialist struggles, the environment, the fight for women's liberation, national liberation struggles, employment, education, labor resistance, and how to fight against fascism.

In addition, social groups of rural youth, young religious believers, journalists, artists, entrepreneurs and professionals, young parliamentarians, and trade unionists will meet during the festival.

The meeting reaffirmed the slogan of "Anti-imperialist solidarity, peace and friendship" as the theme of the event. In addition, the festival is dedicated to Ernesto Che Guevara. This year marks the 30th anniversary of that revolutionary's murder by the U.S.-backed Bolivian army. The final declaration adopted at the meeting encourages all youth and student groups opposed to imperialism to attend.

Victoria Velásquez, National Secretary of the Union of Young Communists in Cuba, ended the closing ceremony of the meeting with a speech about the struggles ahead. She explained that through these struggles, youth will play a major role in leading the fight to end imperialism and will struggle to build the "new man," as described by Che Guevara.

Preparatory committees have formed in over 40 countries so far. Cuban youth leaders have toured roughly 30 countries and are slated to travel elsewhere in the coming months in preparation for the festival. In France, organizers are setting up concerts to raise money for delegates to go. Groups from the Middle East and Africa plan to send people from several countries by boat to increase participation and cut down on costs.

Some half dozen different organizations from Chile sent representatives to the ICC meeting. Coming out of the meeting, they pledged to join efforts in forming a preparatory committee to bring a broad range of youth to the festival.

In Cuba, preparations for the festival have already begun. ICC meeting participants visited the Camilo Cienfuegos District in Havana del Este, one of the many neighborhoods where delegates will stay with Cuban families for part of the festival. In and around Havana City, large murals for the youth festival have been painted.

Delegates for the festival are being chosen throughout Cuba among students, workers, and professionals. So far, individual Cubans have contributed over 4 million pesos and several thousand dollars of their income toward funding the festival effort.

Building delegation from United States
Leslie Cagan took part in the ICC meeting on behalf of the U.S. Organizing Committee for the World Youth Festival. The Organizing Committee was initiated by the National Network on Cuba. Organizations participating in it include Committees of Correspondence, Pastors for Peace, Socialist Workers Party, Workers World Party, Young Socialists, and Cuban-American groups such as the Association of Workers in the Cuban Community in Miami and Casa de las Américas in New York.

Representatives of the Communist Party-USA and Young Communist League also attended the ICC meeting. These organizations have refused to join in a united, nonexclusionary coalition to build the festival, and are promoting a separate National Preparatory Committee.

The U.S. Organizing Committee is holding a national preparatory meeting March 15 in New York City that will include a report on the ICC meeting in Havana and discuss the organizing efforts for the U.S. delegation. Activists in the Organizing Committee have begun meeting with youth and student groups in their regions who are involved in actions and struggles, including those fighting for Chicano rights, independence for Puerto Rico, young feminist groups, Black student organizations, trade unionists, and student body leaders.

For more information or an application, write to the U.S. Organizing Committee for the World Youth Festival at 2565 Broadway #236, New York, NY 10025, or call (212) 866-7270.

Jack Willey attended the Second International Coordinating Committee meeting representing the Young Socialists.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home