Meeting Sat 29th: World Festival of Students and Youth, August 5-13th, 2005
Maria Vasquez | 25.01.2005 23:45 | Globalisation | Social Struggles | Sheffield
If you are interested in going to the festival, or supporting a Sheffield delegation, please attend the following meeting. By working together to raise money, we are hoping that some of the costs involved would be covered, to enable anyone who is interested to attend - ALL ARE WELCOME.
Simunye Café, London Road
Saturday 29 January, 2pm
The World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS), initiated in 1947, is the biggest event organized by progressive and democratic youth and students around the world. The WFYS is one of the main expressions of anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and anti-colonialist struggles led by youth. After the successful 15th WFYS in Algeria in 2001, held for the first time on the African continent and Arab region, the 16th WFYS will take place in Caracas, Venezuela, from August 5 to 13, 2005. 20,000 young people from all the continents of the world are expected to attend.
In Venezuela, a country that is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world, 80 per cent of its population was living in poverty. President Chávez was elected in 1998 by a popular majority on a clear programme to tackle poverty and to empower the people by using the great oil wealth of his country in the interests of the people as a whole. Since his election, his government has introduced reforms such as literacy programs, free community health care, especially in the remotest and poorest neighbourhoods, large-scale financial aid for the poor to attend a university, subsidized supermarkets in poor neighbourhoods, and employment for graduates from the educational missions. It has also redistributed land to over 100,000 families, and the urban land reform program is providing barrio inhabitants with titles to their self-built homes and terrain.
As a result, the Chávez government has received opposition from the powerful elite and the US government, which have supported the reactionary right-wing opposition in a series of attempts to destabilise and remove Chavez from office. This has included strikes, interference with the media, demonstrations and a coup in April 2002, which failed when millions of Venezuelans came out in the street in support of their ousted president. Since 1998, in almost every one of the nine elections Chávez and his supporters have won about 60% of the vote, including a referendum in 2004, which was calling for the government to stand down.
This makes the hosting of the 16th World Festival of Youth and Students, by Venezuela, a particularly exciting opportunity to visit a country, which is delivering to its people and offering an alternative to neo-liberalism. The Festival will be a space to exchange ideas and experiences and provide a platform to coordinate our efforts and intensify the struggles in our respective countries. It also provides an opportunity to extend our solidarity to the people of Venezuela, and its Bolivarian Revolution (named after Símon Bolivar, who liberated the country from Spanish rule in the nineteenth century.)
Saturday 29 January, 2pm
The World Festival of Youth and Students (WFYS), initiated in 1947, is the biggest event organized by progressive and democratic youth and students around the world. The WFYS is one of the main expressions of anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and anti-colonialist struggles led by youth. After the successful 15th WFYS in Algeria in 2001, held for the first time on the African continent and Arab region, the 16th WFYS will take place in Caracas, Venezuela, from August 5 to 13, 2005. 20,000 young people from all the continents of the world are expected to attend.
In Venezuela, a country that is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world, 80 per cent of its population was living in poverty. President Chávez was elected in 1998 by a popular majority on a clear programme to tackle poverty and to empower the people by using the great oil wealth of his country in the interests of the people as a whole. Since his election, his government has introduced reforms such as literacy programs, free community health care, especially in the remotest and poorest neighbourhoods, large-scale financial aid for the poor to attend a university, subsidized supermarkets in poor neighbourhoods, and employment for graduates from the educational missions. It has also redistributed land to over 100,000 families, and the urban land reform program is providing barrio inhabitants with titles to their self-built homes and terrain.
As a result, the Chávez government has received opposition from the powerful elite and the US government, which have supported the reactionary right-wing opposition in a series of attempts to destabilise and remove Chavez from office. This has included strikes, interference with the media, demonstrations and a coup in April 2002, which failed when millions of Venezuelans came out in the street in support of their ousted president. Since 1998, in almost every one of the nine elections Chávez and his supporters have won about 60% of the vote, including a referendum in 2004, which was calling for the government to stand down.
This makes the hosting of the 16th World Festival of Youth and Students, by Venezuela, a particularly exciting opportunity to visit a country, which is delivering to its people and offering an alternative to neo-liberalism. The Festival will be a space to exchange ideas and experiences and provide a platform to coordinate our efforts and intensify the struggles in our respective countries. It also provides an opportunity to extend our solidarity to the people of Venezuela, and its Bolivarian Revolution (named after Símon Bolivar, who liberated the country from Spanish rule in the nineteenth century.)
Maria Vasquez
e-mail:
mazzav@hotmail.com