The World Federation of Democratic Youth held its 21st General Assembly in Namibia from May 20 to the May 23. This was the first General Assembly since 2019. The Assemblies are supposed to take place every four years, but due to the conditions of the pandemic as well as the serious problems that occurred with the organisation that held the presidency, the highest decision-making body of the Federation was delayed.
The Assembly gathered more than 150 delegates representing 78 organisations from 57 countries to analyse the world situation and chart a plan of action for the next four years. There was a unanimous emphasis on revitalizing the campaigns and activities of the Federation after two years of instability and a marked downturn in activity. The assembly adopted a number of special resolutions including solidarity with the cause of the Palestinian people, a resolution marking the occurrence of Africa Day, and a resolution against the blockade on the Cuban people and their revolution.
The General Assembly elected a new 35-member General Council with seven members from each of the five regions. The YCL-LJC was once again re-elected to the General Council, in part due to its activity on WFDY campaigns such as the ‘Freedom for Political Prisoners’ and #NOtoNATO campaigns as well as the 2023 Canadian tour of the then-WFDY President, which was the first visit by a WFDY official to North America since 2017.
The General Council elected a new Headquarters consisting of the Socialist Student Union of Sri Lanka, the SWAPO Youth League of Namibia, the Union of Lebanese Democratic Youth, the Union of Young Communists of Cuba as General Secretary, and the Portuguese Communist Youth as the President. The new Headquarters will be responsible for coordinating the activities and revitalizing the campaigns in line with the decisions of the General Assembly. The new Headquarters will also be assessing the possibilities for the next World Festival of Youth and Students and present its findings to the General Council.
As one of the core anti-imperialist organisations alongside the World Peace Council, the World Federation of Trade Unions, and the Women’s International Democratic Federation, WFDY has an important role bringing youth together under the banner of peace and social transformation. Although the Federation has had some turbulence and disorganisation in the last two years, the General Assembly marked a great step forward in organising the fight for the progress that the youth of the world need.
As Lenin correctly pointed out, imperialism is capitalism’s highest stage. This doesn’t simply mean that it is at its most advanced stage, but also that capitalism’s logical development ends with imperialism. Globalised capitalism is imperialism and war. But more importantly, it means that this is capitalism’s last stage. After imperialism, capitalism will not undergo any further transformation. Thus, the age of imperialism is not only the age of wars, but also the era of social transformation, the dawn of socialism, of a life with a future.
The representatives of the anti-imperialist youth gathered in Namibia to say out loud that the youth of the world are determined to fight until we have overthrown the barbaric capitalist system that has nothing else to offer than exploitation, crises and wars; until we have replaced it with the youth of the world, that is, social transformation. If capitalism is the end of history, it is only so for one parasitic class of exploiters. We, on the other side, have a world to win!
Long live WFDY!