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Chicago Delegation to World Youth Festival

Chicago Delegation to World Youth Festival
If you happen to visit Caracas, Venezuela, this summer, do not be surprised to find inspiration and excitement, as tens of thousands of young people converge on the capital of the Bolivarian Republic from all corners of the world to participate in the 16th World Festival of Youth & Students (caracas2005.info). Since the first World Youth Festival in Prague in 1947, the periodical conference has made host cities a blizzard of radical and creative young mines eager to learn, discuss, train, network, and return home with their newfound skills, ideas, and alliances.

Every year, thousands of international festivals and conferences commence in major cities around the world. Through these events walk professionals, scholars, researchers, the powerful masters of the business and political planes, and as often there are convergences with massive numbers of activists, longtime community organizers, NGO leaders, and nationally known radicals. But the WYF boasts an attendance of youth and students, people from poor and working class communities the world over, with a common respect for each other devoid of the certifications, credentials, and social capital of the closed door meetings of the powerful.

And Chicago is already planning a large delegation to join the WYF in early August. The first meeting of the delegation, held at a Pilsen café, brought together thirty young people from all over the city. Activists representing their high school groups, campus groups, and leftist parties, met with community organizers and representatives of organizations like the University of Hip Hop and the SouthWest Youth Collaborative.

Many more local youth are planning on swelling the ranks of the delegation, although they are coming to their biggest task: massive fundraising to scale down the cost for every member of the delegation, most of who come from low income communities or are students. The estimated cost of the full event, including transportation, housing, and other necessities, is put at one thousand dollars per participant, but delegation organizers are confident that they can significantly reduce it for committed youth.

Some of these participants were delegates at the 14th WYF in Havana, Cuba, and they have told their stories of an exciting moment with mass participation. Host countries are usually chosen because of their progressive policies or popular movements, and certainly in the case of Venezuela, a Bolivarian movement has made great gains toward participatory, economic and social democracy.

The WYF serves as a counter to annual meetings of institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and the World Economic Forum, but it also counter-poses intellectual and activist conferences that are filled with delegates deemed accomplished in their fields. Most delegates to the WYF bring experiences and knowledge of social justice issues, but meet as young people who have creative ideas and new strategies for resistance, and are not yet corrupted by the politics that infest so many more professional gatherings.

The focuses this time, as explained in the slogan “For Peace and Solidarity, We struggle against Imperialism and War!” will be around issues of global domination, but also with much concentration on race, sex, and class oppressions. More importantly, delegations from countries all over the world will share their experiences with resistance, and construction of alternative systems.
 
 

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