16th
World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS)
7
- 15 August 2005
Caracas / Venezuela
“For Peace and Solidarity, We Struggle Against
Imperialism and War!”
FINAL DECLARATION
The 16th
World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS) was successfully
held in Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, from 7 to 15
August 2005, continuing with the Festivals movement and
reinforcing it as the largest and the most significant
political, cultural, anti-imperialist event organized by world
progressive and democratic youth and student forces.
This sixteenth
Festival welcomed more than 17.000 delegates of local, national,
regional and international organizations from 144 countries,
representing millions of young people and students from all over
the world. Youth gathered without differences of ages,
ideological background, gender, ethnic and social origin
participated in varied and numerous activities of the 16th
WFYS. This Youth, in the previous months, during the preparatory
process, realizing the necessities of the political moment, they
managed to stimulate a great mobilization and ample spaces of
debate in hundreds of different cities and countries, uniting
wills under the slogan that brought us to Caracas: “For Peace
and Solidarity, We Struggle against Imperialism and War!” It
was an important moment of honor for veterans like President
Hugos Chavez of Venezuela, Dr. Fathma Ahmed Ibrahim, Comrade
Khaleel Elias from Darfur, Sudan, Comrade Gbenga Olawepo and Dr.
Samuel Egwu from Nigeria who made the list of role of honors of
the 16th WFYS.
Nowadays, four
years after the fruitful 15th WFYS, held in Algeria,
the world’s imperialist forces, with the United States (US)
government in the frontline, have undertaken an aggressive and
despicable offensive, indiscriminately trying to remove all
obstacles on their way to consolidate their global power. This
Festival took place at a historical moment for mankind, in a
continent that has made imperialism taste decisive defeats, in a
country that blazes a path of hope, within the framework of the
tradition of solidarity and struggle of the Festivals movement,
reaffirming its firm position between the two main trends are
confronting each other: on the one side, imperialism with its
interventionist and war policies and, on the other, the peoples
who struggle for their inalienable rights.
The events of
September 11, 2001, have been used by the US government and its
allies as a pretext to launch an escalation of its imperialist
campaign of world domination, disguised as a supposed “war on
terror” and “struggle for freedom” against a fictitious “axis of
evil”, through which it strives to impose its social,
economical, cultural and ideological laws. Such events and their
consequences have marked imperialist tactics during the past
four years, serving the redoubling of expansionist policies,
which are characterized by permanent contradictions and
alliances among imperialist centers – the US, European Union
(EU) and Japan. This constantly intensifying imperialist
aggressiveness has made use of all tried-and-true methods to
achieve its goals: blockades, provocation of conflicts, threats
of interventions, military intervention, wars and occupations,
undertaken against countries and movements. This aggressiveness
has also generated an escalation of the, attacks on people’s
rights and liberties. In order to justify all this, imperialism
uses the media, the educational system, art, recreation and
other mechanisms to unfold a sophisticated ideological offensive
that provides the theoretical and moral basis for the
abovementioned measures. What is especially alarming is that
this offensive, waged on many fronts, affects - for the most
part – young people sometimes from the time of childhood. The
insolent effort to present resistance as a form of violence and
struggle as a form of terrorism is very old, but the peoples are
not confused; in spite of the continuous distortion of reality
and the howling provocations used to achieve this end,
resistance movements have grown and have been strengthened.
This aggressiveness is by no means accidental. It stems from
imperialism’s structural inability to come up with solutions to
the needs of the vast majority of the world’s population and at
the same time to perpetuate its existence. This aggressiveness
is expressed on different levels: At the economic level, it
implies a strategic restructuring of its function (known as
neo-liberal policies) in order to increase exploitation and
competitiveness; At the military level, in order to secure
control over markets and resources; At the political level, in
order to secure its rule over the people; At the ideological
level, in order to prevent dispute of its perpetuity.
Imperialism is not invincible, as it presents itself; on the
contrary its continuously deepening crisis is structural, and
its aggressiveness has no way out but its complete overthrow by
the peoples.
Despite
imperialism’s ideological offensive, progressive and peace
loving forces grow stronger and emerge again with more
determination. We, conscious young people and students of the
world, are aware of the historical role we play, and we have
been gathering in the World Festivals of Youth and Students
since 1947 to reaffirm the principles of our struggle, to
exchange ideas and set down referential bases to guide our
regional and international actions, for the liberation of
humanity from all types of oppression, discrimination and
imperialistic domination, to have justice and freedom prevail
for all peoples. The organization, awareness and mobilization of
world youth and students have been on the rise. Wherever
imperialism has intervened, encroaching on liberties and rights
of the peoples, it has met with worthy resistance. The more it
tries to encroach upon peoples’ independence, sovereignty and
right to self-determination, the more forms of resistance the
peoples find to oppose its interests. Thus, our first commitment
has been and will always be with the people, with the young
people and students that suffer the most as a result of
imperialist policies.
Every day, the
resistance against imperialism and capitalism gains more
supporters before the evidence that this system is nonviable and
in light of its inability to solve and meet the problems,
necessities and interests of young people and students.
Therefore, the local, national, regional and international,
progressive, anti-neoliberal, anti-imperialist organizations,
the youth in general, have increasingly mobilized themselves
against warmongering machineries, against the invasions and
occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq; against imperialist plans
to reorder the world and its attempts to change the geopolitical
map to its own benefit; against imperialist meddling in the
internal affairs of countries; against the alienating and
interventionist policies of G-8, NATO, the IMF, the WB, the WTO,
the EU, the FTA, the FTAA; against debts and militarism; against
military bases and intervention plans, such as Guantanamo and
“Plan Colombia”; against the systematic use of torture and the
violation of human rights with impunity.
This year,
while commemorating the 60th anniversary of the
criminal bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, imperialism
continues showing its aggressive nature. But, it comforts us the
fact that among the great experiences of the 20th
century, we are also celebrating 60 years of the anti-fascist
people’s victory and the founding of the World Federation of
Democratic Youth (WFDY), two events that are intimately linked
and which embody an unshakable commitment to peace and
solidarity and honor the memory of the millions of lives who
have upheld these principles over the years, events that marked
the beginning of profound social transformations, the process of
decolonization and changes in the world’s balance of forces. As
we invoke the glorious victory of the Vietnamese people over
imperialism three decades ago, its subsequent economic and
social achievements, our struggles and the experience we have
accumulated, we are filled with hope and confidence that now, as
at those times, we will overcome the difficulties and that the
people shall emerge victorious.
In various
forms and throughout the world, young people fight against
exploitation, blockades, embargos, sanctions, and all forms of
discrimination and fundamentalism. We are committed to and
struggle for a world of peace, free from nuclear weapons; for a
different socio-economic system that holds the human being as a
center and main maker, a system based on social justice,
national sovereignty, independence, self-determination,
democracy, security, international solidarity and cooperation.
We demand respect for and call for the defense of human rights,
women’s rights, sexual and reproductive rights, sustainable
development and the environment. We demand that everyone should
have access to employment, labor rights, education, health care,
sports, culture and technology. We are optimistic because there
are reasons to be optimistic, because we defend and we fight for
just causes, because we have managed to make progresses, because
we face and surpass difficulties with the joyful spirit and the
rebelliousness that characterizes young people.
Imperialism is
attempting to impose a unilateral and calculating view of human
rights which benefits the interests of large corporations and
transnational capital over the interests of the people, a system
in which for example even US citizens themselves endure the
repressive policies of a racist, exclusivist and alienating
order, against which they are rebelling. Humanity’s most
fundamental right is the right to life and everything that
sustains it, especially the right to freely decide the type of
society it wants to live in, and its inalienable right to fight
to build such a society. Imperialism denies peoples these rights
in many ways, through international capitalist structures,
subverting the role of the United Nations (UN) and, if need be,
by waging wars of occupation as it did in Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan and Iraq. Imperialism wants to build a new world
totalitarian order against the youth, the workers and the
peoples.
We demand the
closing down of all foreign military bases, the abolition of all
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and nuclear tests. We
demand the reduction of military budgets, which have been
increasing, especially in the United States of America.
Imperialist
warmongering policies produce such harms as refugees, millions
of people who are compelled to leave their homes, lands, jobs
and families. Also the economic policies of hunger produce
emigrants, the majority of them move to developed capitalist
countries illegally and are treated as slaves something that is
a shame for humanity.
We must
urgently mobilize the people to exert international pressure for
a true democratization of the United Nations, opposing the US
and its allies in their attempts to impose reforms that
consolidate the use of this multilateral organization as an
international tool to legitimize their interventionist actions,
in stead of complying with its obligation to seek a real balance
among the world’s nations, giving them equal rights and duties,
and empowering the General Assembly.
Imperialism
also undermines the conditions of education for the youth,
encouraging the exclusion and desertion of formal education.
Nowadays, 113 millions of children don’t go to school and 130
millions of young people are illiterate. Against its
commercialization, we demand full access to public, free and
quality education.
Scientific and
technological breakthroughs that should be considered the
property of humanity are retained and restricted in their use by
capitalism. The Internet continues to be inaccessible to the
vast majority. For example, Sub-Saharan Africa has a mere 0, 1%
of the world’s internet connections, while it consists of 10% of
the world’s population. We demand that science and technological
breakthroughs be used to benefit of youth and peoples, instead
of being used as one more way of profit. Access to basic
services continues to be severely limited – two billion people
around the world don’t have access to electricity.
The
development of the mass media and other information channels
does not reflect a process of democratization with respect to
access to and the production of information and culture. Most of
the world’s information centers are in the hands of
transnational companies, and the content of this information is
determined by the class interests of the dominant ideology and
against the interests of young people and students. In this
global battle, the people’s counteroffensive cannot be waged
exclusively on the economic field; it must also be fought at the
ideological level, which is being used for the alienation and
domination, especially of young people, mainly by creating false
needs and promote individualism. Therefore, our educational and
cultural efforts must be promoted by all possible means; these
efforts have made much progress in recent years, and allow as
reach more people day by day.
Nowadays,
capitalism and imperialism, in deep crisis, are eliminating the
majority of labor rights, especially those of young workers who
suffer more the effects of unemployment. We fight for the right
to jobs with rights. We support the organized struggle of young
workers for the defense of the interests of all of the people by
strengthening the trade union movement, against all new forms of
exploitation before the intention to create a new, dehumanized
generation that is deprived of rights of any type.
The peoples
have an inalienable right to avail ourselves of the planet’s
wealth and resources and to use them - in a rational way which
does not harm the environment – in order to cover the urgent
needs of the three quarters of the humanity. Imperialism uses
wars, promotes internal conflicts and State terrorism as tools
to seize our nations’ wealth. Currently, 40% of the world’s
population does not have access to basic sanitary conditions.
More than 1 billion people do not have access to reliable
sources of drinkable water. Among them, five million people,
mostly children, die each year as a result of diseases closely
associated to this problem.
The gap
between the richest and poorest sectors of the population grows
wider. More than one billion people in the world live on less
than one US dollar per day. Every three and a half seconds,
another person dies of starving; the large majority of these
people are children.
Capitalism’s
planetary scope also results in the uneven distribution of the
world’s economic power. The 24 richest countries held 85% of the
world’s riches. An unfair international division of work and the
existence of “foreign debts” make countries in debt dependent on
richer countries. The situation of so-called “underdeveloped
countries” is the result of the relations of domination that
capitalist centers impose on these nations. The perpetuation of
these relations of dependency is vital to capitalism.
South-South
cooperation is a strategic need for our people that have already
achieved positive results against the monopoly interests of
great powers. We have to promote all possible ways for exchange,
communication and coordinated action among youth and student
organizations, and the people in general, in order to
collectively assume the challenge of following the path of
development, which responds to their own needs and objectives.
Ten million
young people live with AIDS, mostly in Africa and Asia. Every
year, around 3 million people die of malaria. We demand free and
universal access to health care for the youth and the peoples,
as the only way of guaranteeing the human right to health.
These alarming
figures, published in the United Nations’ World Youth Report
2005, attest even more that we must fight against the causes of
these harms. By bringing closer the overthrow of imperialism and
exploitation, we are saving human lives.
We must
strengthen links among different social sectors, especially
among young people, in which young workers, women, students,
farmers, indigenous people and popular movements pursue their
specific objectives in an ever more concerted manner, taking in
other sectors and working with the conviction that collective
achievements and progress will benefit everyone because the
national conquests contribute to the global struggle against
imperialism. We must participate in and strengthen local,
national, regional and international anti-neoliberal,
anti-globalization, anti-capitalist or anti-imperialist joint
spaces, aiming to gather the organizations and the vast masses
of poor people, which are more directly impacted by the current
international order, having common objectives, exchanging our
experiences and increasing our social influence.
We express our
solidarity towards the people and youth of Iraq in their
struggle and resistance against imperialist occupation forces.
We demand the immediate withdrawal of these forces and the
preservation of Iraqi sovereignty and unity. We denounce
imperialism’s and its agents’ repressive policies in the region
and demand the immediate release of all political prisoners. We
denounce imperialist attempts at changing the geopolitical map
through the “Great Middle East Project”, which uses
discretionary criteria to select the countries that, according
to its interests, are proclaimed to be ruled by
dictatorships and, therefore, require “democratic” change. To
achieve its aims, US interventionist efforts rely on the servile
support of Israel’s Zionist government, which plays a
destabilizing role in the region and acts as an agent which
indiscriminately eliminates resistance movements in the region.
We therefore express our solidarity with the Palestinian people
and youth in their struggle for the right to have an independent
State with Jerusalem as its capital city and their right to
stand up to the forces of occupation; we demand the return of
refugees as per relevant UN resolutions and call upon the
international community to support the struggle for the
immediate dismantling of the apartheid wall which Israel is
constructing in occupied territories of Palestine. We express
our solidarity with the Syrian youth and people in their
struggle and right to stand up against Israeli occupation, and
demand its urgently and immediately withdraw from the “Syrian
Golan”. We repudiate the US Congress’ extraterritorial decisions
against Syria. We condemn imperialism’s meddling in Lebanese
internal affairs and its attempts to provoke instability in the
county and the region; we support the struggle of Lebanese youth
and people that stand up and fight for the liberation of
Lebanese “Cheeba Farms” occupied by Israel, and we demand the
immediate withdrawal of these forces from the region. We express
our solidarity with the people and youth of Morocco in their
struggle for the liberation of Sebta y Melilla, occupied by
Spain.
The people and
youth of Europe, affected by the growing hegemony of the
European Union, have a day by day strongly feel in their lives
its true imperialist character, which also affects all young
people around the world. We express our solidarity: towards the
peoples of the Balkans, who for years have endured the
consequences of war and the constant intervention of NATO and
the EU; towards Cypriots, Greeks and Turkish Cypriots, in their
struggle for reunification and we underline the urgent need to
end the Turkish occupation and find a peaceful, viable and
functional solution to the Cyprus problem, based on
International Law and all relevant UN resolutions, acceptable to
both communities; towards the struggle of the Irish people for
the withdrawal of the British army, and for a united,
independent Ireland; towards the parties, movements and
militants that are facing persecution and restrictions,
especially in Eastern Europe; towards the children, youth and
people of former socialist countries, who, in recent years, have
endured an alarming situation characterized by hunger, misery,
unemployment, illiteracy, drug abuse, lack of essential medical
services and the absence of democratic rights, all as a result
of capitalist restoration; towards the millions of refugees and
immigrants living in European Fortress who are constantly
overexploited, treated as lowlifes and used as a pretext for the
implementation of reactionary measures, to the detriment of all
people and youth; towards all the peoples and the youth in the
continent that work and fight against imperialist domination and
exploitation.
We call upon
the young people of the world to express their solidarity
towards Korean youth for the reunification of its country under
the principles of independence, peace, national unity and the
June 15 North-South Joint Declaration, and denounce the presence
of US troops under parallel 38 in addition to its permanent
policy of destabilization in the region. We express our
solidarity towards the people and youth of Nepal in their
struggle for democracy and human rights. We demand the return of
all Bhutanese refuges to their country with respect and dignity.
We express our solidarity towards the struggle of student,
youth, and democratic movements in Myanmar, for democracy and
against the military junta and the repressive actions undertaken
against its people. We express support for Sri Lanka’s
progressive movements struggle for national unity and against
imperialist attempts at dividing the country and destabilizing
the region. We salute the Vietnamese youth and people in their
struggle for national independence and socialism, at a time when
the 60th anniversary of the birth of their sovereign
republic is celebrated, and we express our solidarity towards
the Vietnamese victims of the US’ Agent Orange / Dioxin in their
struggle for justice.
The main root
cause of the problems of young people in Africa has been the
imperialist forces that parade themselves as saviors and lovers
of this continent but have in fact plunged Africa into never
ending warfare and internal conflict in attempts at retaining
its rich natural resources. We support the New Partnership for
African Development (NEPAD) as a tool and plan that might
contribute to promoting common understanding, peace, political
stability and development among African nations and solve common
problems faced by their peoples. We urge young people around the
world to step up their fight against imperialism and
neo-colonialism, placing special emphasis on respect for the
sovereign States and their right to decide and straighten out on
their internal issues. We denounce imperialist intervention in
Zimbabwe, a sovereign State capable of addressing its own
internal issues and demand the lifting of unjustified sanctions
imposed on Zimbabwe and its people. We extend our solidarity
towards and support for the people and youth of Western Sahara
in their struggle for the right to freedom and
self-determination of the Saharawi people, as per UN
resolutions, and demand the release of Saharawi political
prisoners. We have witnessed with great concern how our brothers
and sisters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda,
Burundi, Ivory Coast, and Benin have wrestled with internal
conflicts and war. We denounce the dictatorship and autocratic
monarchy in Swaziland and support its people and their right to
choose the kind of government they want to live under. We must
strengthen efforts for peace and human rights in Sudan and
support the current peace process. We must continue to support
initiatives which seek to fight and eradicate poverty and hunger
in Africa. We highlight the need to provide relevant
institutional and political support for the attainment of peace
and development in the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, and
Eritrea). We congratulate the people of Angola for their efforts
to establish and maintain peace in their country and call on
people to make an active contribution to the reconstruction of
Angola. We vigorously demand the total eradication and
unconditional cancellation of the African debt.
Winds of change and revolution are blowing in Latin America
again, proving that there are true alternatives for the people
and that the firmness of principles, the people’s organization
and the proper interpretation of this time of offensive can deal
a harsh blow to imperialism and its lackeys. This is
demonstrated by the defeat of US attempts at imposing the Free
Trade Agreement for the Americas (FTAA) on Latin America and the
powerful emergence of an alternative proposal for Latin American
unity (ALBA), based on principles of political, economical,
social and cultural integration. Similarly, we support
initiatives like the Community of South American Nations. Cuba
continues to be an example of resistance and the upholding of
principles, where the blockade and
acts of
aggressions crash against a dignified
people, with which the new generations of young people and
students around the world close ranks, demanding also the
release of the 5 Cubans unjustly imprisoned by the US
government. The peoples of the
countries that share the territory of Amazonia and the Andean
mountain range rebel against poverty and injustices; indigenous
people struggle for their right to self-determination and for
respect of their cultures; Colombia demonstrates that it is not
the name of a plan for imperialist domination but rather
represents an essential road towards peace, to which young
people and students are committed; Central America and the
Caribbean endure the betrayal of corrupt governments, the
implementation of neo-colonial policies and armed interventions,
as Puerto Rico and Haiti have witnessed; in the South Cone,
imperialism does not resign itself to the strides of peoples,
who are seeking and finding their own paths based on the central
participation of the masses, in spite of the exception of a few
governments which bow to imperialism.
The peoples and young people of the world express their
solidarity towards all of them.
In this context we have gathered for this Festival, full of joy
and driven by a combative spirit, to express our unwavering
solidarity towards the youth and people of Venezuela,
with special
reference to the Venezuelan delegates and volunteers,
towards their Bolivarian Revolution, which welcomed us with open
arms. We have seen what a united people
can do when it decides commit itself fully freedom and to
attaining national progress. We have also witnessed how
Venezuela joins its brothers and sisters in their struggles
across the continent and the world. Venezuela can count on the
willingness of the young people and students of the world to
step forward should imperialism attempt to thwart its efforts.
The 16th WFYS broke through the censorship and lifted
the blockade on information imposed by imperialism, which could
not prevent us from sharing experiences, strengthening our
bonds, reaching agreements, getting to know each other better,
having a clearer and more global understanding of our problems
and their causes, and assuming the collective commitment of
uniting all of our efforts to eliminate those problems;
defending and fighting for the rights of the people, youth and
students wherever they are at risk, improving the organization
and mobilization of the youth and student movement, and raising
its political and social consciousness through concerted
actions.
We come to the end of a process which has spanned several
months. Now we are in a better position to continue our
struggle — through our respective local, national, regional and
international organizations and structures — against our common
enemies: imperialism, exploitation and war.
In coming years, prior to next Festival, we will continue to
struggle and to expand the scope of our actions on many
occasions, with ever greater strength and determination. This
is, more than anything, what guarantees the success of the 17th
WFYS and the continuation of its glorious history in this
century that begins and that shall become the century of the
peoples and the youth, the century of the people’s victory over
imperialism.
For Peace and Solidarity, We Struggle against Imperialism and
War!
Delegates to the 16th World Festival of Youth and
Students
Caracas, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 15th
August 2005
