THE 15th World Festival of Youth and Students, with a gathering from about 140 countries got off to a resounding start in Algiers, the capital of Algeria on August 8. To participate in this 8 day festival hundreds of youth and students bearing the same aspirations, hopes and dreams gathered at the 5th July Olympic complex "Mohamed Boudiaf" , the venue of the festival, ignoring language and geographic disparities. The festival was inaugurated by the president of Algeria M Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The Algerian musician and composer Safy Boutella who is one of the talented artists in Algeria created a rich and colourful choreography entitled "The Source" as the offical anthem for the festival. A cocktail of skillful choreographers that reflects a source which symbolises hope, bravery and love performed on this occasion.

The overwhelming opinion of all the participants in the festival was the urgent need to globalise the struggle against globalisation and imperialism. After learning and exchanging their experiences many participants came to this conclusion.

Created shortly after the second world war, the movement of festivals has always been a space where young people across the world, all races, religions and political sensitivities met to denounce fascism and imperialism. The movement has undergone a lot of transformation and has adapted to all circumstances and to the evolution of societies .

This 15th festival constitutes an international event that is held in a time when the world is overwhelmed by social and economic disparities. In a short speech pronounced few minutes before opening ceremony the chairman of the national commission for the preparation of the 15th world youth festival, Abdelaziz Belaid called upon the youth and students to face the challenges of this third millennium. The large majority of people are still suffering from poverty, diseases, under-development, racism, hegemony, colonialism, terrorism, war, environmental pollution and injustice.

Participants in the thematic centre on Neo-Liberal Globalisation felt that imperialism is a beast which should be fought and cut into pieces. And to achieve this we have to globalise our struggle against imperialism.

Delegates from eighteen countries participated in the discussion which started in the afternoon of August 9. The discussion continued the next day also and the youth and students who took part in the discussion showed immense maturity and analysed the effects of neo-liberal policies being pursued in their respective countries. They have identified that economic and social disparities are on the increase due to these inhuman polices. All of them agreed that the rich and developed imperialist countries are forcing the developing countries to liberalise and globalise their economies. They expressed concern and anguish at the resultant threat to the sovereignty of their respective nations. Three delegates from Cuba took part in the discussions and shared their views. They established how imperialism was an evil which is the root cause for illiteracy, malnourishment, inequalities and poverty in the entire world. They condemned the MNCs for their lack of social concern and cited the example of drug corporations which charge exorbitant prices for many life saving drugs. On the contrary, they illustrated that health system in Cuba is exemplary and caters to the need of the society on the whole, free of cost. They criticised the American led gang of rich countries for exploiting the natural resources of the third world countries. Refusal of the US to sign the Kyoto Agreement on environment showed their lack of concern for global well-being and also exposed their profit mongering nature, the Cuban delegates observed. They urged for more co-operation amongst the third world countries to fight these imperialist forces and identified struggle as the only means to achieve this integration and co-operation.

Highlighting the achievements of the socialist system in Cuba, they told the delegates that youth are imbibed with social virtues right from their childhood. They said that by next year (2002) all the primary schools in Cuba will have computers. According to them, there is a drive to equip the people of their country with all the modern technological innovations in the field of communications . They contrasted this with the imperialist concept of privatisation of knowledge.

Alberto, an Italian delegate talked about the recent protest demonstrations in Genova. He narrated the police brutalities and the hall was shocked to hear from him that 40 protestors were still untraceable. He said that this showed how low imperialist countries can stoop down to protect their interests and also the heights to which resistance of people can rise to repulse their attacks. Wessner, a delegate from Germany, explained the expansionist attitudes of the imperialist countries giving the example of his own country. He also said that the contradictions between the imperialist countries are on the rise and argued that this may result in the outbreak of the third world war.

Delegates from Algeria, Syria and Arab Youth League spoke on behalf of their countries and organisations. They expressed anguish over the cultural invasion of imperialism. They said that new world order is nothing but a world of embargoes on the struggling people. Cuba, Libya, Iraq were live examples. They told the assembly about the exploitation of their natural resources by imperialist countries and the poverty of their nations due to this reason. They opined that globalisation is nothing but supremacy and domination of the US.

All the delegates have identified that imperialism is the root cause for their problems. The alternative systems in Cuba and Vietnam have showed the path for the world to take. The resolve of the youth to resist and fight imperialism also for a just world order. Meanwhile in the night, Mohd Salim, minister for youth welfare in West Bengal government and ex-general secretary of DYFI, inaugurated the Asia Pacific European Club in the Benaknoun University. The regional clubs are for more in depth understanding of the region specific issues and cooperation amongst these countries. The inauguration was preceded by a brilliant performance of the artists from Vietnam. They have exhibited their versatile skills in music and dance. The sounds produced from their traditional instruments made every one tap their feet and swing their bodies. Dola Iripathi from India too performed the classical Indian dance of harvest amidst immense appreciation from the gathering. The day was declared as a Day of Africa in solidarity with Angola, Western Sahara, Sudan, Somalia and Great Lakes Region. Workshops were held on the development, democracy, civil wars and resolution of conflicts in Africa.

K N Balagopal (DYFI) from India and Elizabeth Carlyle were in the presidium of the workshop.

The 15th World Festival of Youth and Students observed the 10th of August as a Day of America, in solidarity with the people of Cuba, Columbia, with the struggles of the people of Venezuela against the north American aggression and condemning the "Plan Columbia". Plan Columbia was introduced by the previous US president Bill Clinton in last August. It is designed mainly to enable the US to dominate the strategic regions of Latin America.

A workshop was held in the festival to condemn the Plan Columbia. All the speakers condemned the US design in propagating the plan. They termed it as an attack on the sovereign rights of the people of Latin America. Rejecting the US assertion that this plan is to "combat" narcotic traffic, they argued that in reality US wants to take control over this strategic region. This region, where along with the amazon, many rivers join together, accounts for the greatest treasure of natural resources in the world – the Amazonian bio-diversity. It is rich with resources of oil and is also strategic for communication between the Latin American countries. This dangerous motive of the US was exposed by the speakers in the workshop. They urged for building of international opinion against this nefarious design of the US.

K N Balagopal (DYFI) from India condemned the US and expressed solidarity with the struggling people of Latin America. The workshop was presided by Tapas Sinha DYFI general secretary (India), Joel Vaneandela (Portugal), Loyedya Irovea (Venezuela), Roberto Alvanea (Cuba) and Nelson Nehamiee (Brazil). It is only obvious that the festival movement which was born in the ruins of anti- fascist second world war still lives up to its heritage of opposing war and fascism.

In the last two days of discussion on the theme of "peace and security", all the speakers and those who had assembled at the thematical discussion centre on the subject, were one and unanimous in opposing the resumption of the missile technology development programme by the US administration. Stressing on the need to mobilise opinion for a nuclear free world the speakers came down heavily on the development and the build up of chemical weapons, the expansion of NATO and growing military intervention by the imperialists. The deliberation called for the democratization of the United Nations and removal of inhuman and unjust embargoes against Cuba, Yugoslavia, and Iraq. The discussion also focused on and expressed deep concern at the growing incidents of regional conflicts and ethnic strife, the world over. Almost all the speakers came out in support of the struggle of the Palestinian and Western Sahara people for an independent homeland.

Kallol Roy, while speaking on behalf of Indian delegation described the struggles of Indian people and the left led mobilization in protests against the Pokhran nuclear tests and growing religious and ethnic conflicts in India. The workshop on right for independent state of Palestine was also held. It condemned the attack on the people of Palestine and the occupation of Oriental House by the Israeli military. The workshop scheduled for August 14, was preponed due to the grave developments in Palestine.

The DYFI and SFI have opened their stall in the "solidarity bazar". The stall consisting of the literature of SFI and DYFI and some mementos, is a part of the stalls opened by many other countries by displaying their culture. August 11 was observed as a Day of Asia Pacific Region. Many nations delegations are participating in various sports tournaments and cultural presentations in the festival. This is giving the real definition to the spirit of youth and students’concerns towards the problems of society and fight for their solutions along with brighter moments in life through songs, dance and sports.