BY JACK WILLEY
NEW YORK - Roughly 30 people from about a dozen
organizations across the country came together for the
second national planning meeting of the U.S. Organizing
Committee for the World Youth Festival. The March 15 meeting
heard a reportback from the international preparatory
meeting that took place in Havana, Cuba, in late February.
Participants reported on efforts to build the festival in
several cities, discussed ways to reach out to more youth in
the coming weeks, and took up logistics such as travel and
fund-raising.
The youth festival will be held in Cuba July 28-August 5 under the slogan "Anti-imperialist solidarity, peace and friendship." Thousands of young people from over 100 countries around the world will discuss and debate a range of political questions facing the working class today, 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.
Organizing efforts to build the U.S. delegation are under way. Susana Ochoa, from the Center for Latino Research at De Paul University in Chicago, reported that 20 students there are actively fund-raising to go. In Pittsburgh, two youth involved in the Pittsburgh Cuba Coalition are reaching out to students and others about the festival. An activist involved in protests against police brutality there plans to go.
Several campus and community groups in Houston, Texas, have expressed interest in sending delegations from their groups to the festival. This reporter had the opportunity to speak about the World Youth Festival and inform people about local organizing efforts there on a half-hour radio show by Ada Edwards on KBXX.
The total cost for the festival is $600, which covers all expenses except airfare to from the United States to Nassau, Bahamas, or Cancun, Mexico, the two meeting points for all U.S. participants. The deadline for applications is May 15 and full payment is due by June 30.
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.