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The 19. World Youth Festival

World peace – just a dream? Not for the young people who meet at what is probably the world's largest peace political festival.




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

In October, closer to 30 000 young people from 185 different countries gathered in Sochi, Russia to attend the 19. World Youth and Student Festival. From Norway, we were a delegation of 15 pieces that participated in what is probably the world's largest peace policy happening. The World Youth Festival was first organized in Czechoslovakia in 1947, and aims to bring youth from all over the world into a common struggle for peace and against imperialism. The organizer is the World Union of Democratic Youth (VDU). VDU was started in November 1945 with the aim of bringing together young people from different countries and political systems in the fight against fascism, to prevent a new world war from ever occurring. VDU is today dominated by communist youth associations, but so are broad youth organizations such as the Palestinian Student Union and the youth organization of the South African ANC. Five of us who participated from Norway represented the Norwegian Communist Youth Federation, which is one of two Norwegian organizations that are members of the VDU, the others are politically independent.

The Ukrainian military forces are feared by the locals.

Five thousand volunteers. The festival is usually held every four years. While the previous two festivals were held in Ecuador and South Africa. The fact that this year's festival was held in Russia was due to a desire to use the occasion to mark the centenary of the October Revolution. It was also a cost issue. Not all countries are willing to take on the huge costs of organizing such a big festival. For a low attendance fee, the delegates received boarding and lodging and shuttle buses between the festival area and the hotels. The festival program was almost unbelievable, with concerts, discussion meetings, lectures and a presentation of technological innovations and local culture. Most of the delegations also had stands at the festival where one could obtain information material on conditions in other countries. The Russians appeared happy and proud to host a peace festival where young people from all over the world met in Russia, something the 5000 volunteer workers at the festival proved to be. The fact that there was a ban on alcohol in the festival area and a ban on alcohol in the hotels, did not dampen the mood, and that the temperature in Sochi was such that one could go to the beach and swim, was a nice bonus.

The opening ceremony took place in one of the halls used during the 2014 Olympics, and was magnificent and spectacular. With the exception of the speech of VDU leader Nicolas Papademitriou, who paid tribute to the contribution of the Russian revolution in the fight against fascism and imperialism, the program was primarily bourgeois-internationalist. In addition to some of Russia's foremost artists performing on the stage, talks were held by private entrepreneurs working to improve conditions for disabled children in Russia, organizing plastic recycling and garbage disposal in India, developing solar energy in Zimbabwe and improving health care in Indonesia. In his opening speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized that the festival allows young people to meet and form friendships across national, cultural, political and religious differences, and that people-to-people cooperation is the best way to preserve world peace. One of the strongest moments of the festival was when all the flags of the world were waved at the same time on stage, with a giant peacock in the middle.

Suppressed stories from Ukraine. For us communists, one of the best things about the festival was to exchange experiences and make contacts with comrades from other countries. One of the most interesting meetings was with two young communists from Ukraine, Denis Cubakha and Dmytro Melnyk. The communists said that they consider the regime that took power in Ukraine in 2014 to be fascists and nods to the United States. They said that the activities of the Communist Party have been banned and that many of their activists have been killed, persecuted or forced to leave the country.

Melnyk explained the war in eastern Ukraine that the people of the east of the country have always felt closely linked to Russia and that they did not accept the nationalist and pro-Western coup in Kiev in 2014. The uprising in eastern Ukraine began as a protest against the nationalists power takeover, for a united Ukraine. It was only after these protests were met with violence that the rebellion changed its character to become an armed and separatist rebellion to break out of Ukraine. This rebellion, however, was naive and little thought. The rebels imagined that they could break out and become part of Russia almost immediately, they did not realize that the war would continue for many years.

Cubakha, who lives in the war-torn Donetsk, said that the Ukrainian military forces are feared by the locals and that they are behaving like an occupation army. When asked about Russia's role in the conflict, Cubakha replied that the Communists are convinced that the blame for the Crimean peninsula leaving Ukraine lies with the Kiev regime. "With their divisive nationalism, they have done everything to drive Crimea and Donbass away from Ukraine. Today, we believe that the main separatists are in Kiev, ”he said. The Communists are building their program on everyone living together in a holistic Ukraine, but believes that if the current regime in Ukraine is allowed to continue, it will destroy Ukraine as a state for good. Their most important task now is to stop the war and spread the truth about the situation abroad.

The impression is that most young Russians have a deep respect for Putin.

Two festivals. There is little doubt that there was some contradiction between VDU and the Russian organizers. While the VDU's events were about anti-imperialism and the celebration of the Russian revolution, most of the program was centered on unpolitical topics such as technology development, journalism and the display of Russian culture. The only thing I reacted negatively to was an air show where military aircraft showed aerial acrobatics, which I think is inappropriate at a peace festival. There were also some episodes where some of the VDU's member organizations were refused to bring political material into the festival grounds, and provocatively enough a few foreign fascists with pro-Russian sympathies were present at the festival. This was strongly condemned by the VDU, and all the Russians I spoke to were shocked that there were fascists there. Communists from Norway, Switzerland and Turkey also held a demonstration against the presence of Russian weapons industry and Russian banks at the festival. Otherwise, the impression was that most young Russians had a deep respect for Putin, and many wore Putin t-shirts. The only Russians we met who bowed every time Putin's name was mentioned were the Russian young Communists. About half of the participants from the festival came from different parts of Russia.

The contradiction between VDU and the Russian organizers caused a German comrade to exclaim that this was not one, but two festivals. I still have to say that I liked both. I loved walking around talking to happy, committed people from all over the world. As one of the foreign delegates said in an interview with Russia Today: "We are from different countries, I am from Nigeria, she is from Ethiopia. There are students here from Saudi Arabia, from China. There are students here from countries who are about to go to war against each other. They meet each other here, they understand each other, they talk together. There are small steps like this that will one day enable us to achieve world peace. ”

The World Festival for Youth and Students has come to stay.

Aslak Storaker
Aslak Storaker
Storaker is a regular writer in Ny Tid, and a member of Rødt's international committee.

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