Art is eminently political. The story it tells, what it depicts, the circumstances of its creation, who it supports and who it disavows. All art is inseparably tied to our material reality. On July 25th, Edmontonian youth declared that poetry and music belong to the working class, to anti-imperialists, to the Indigenous peoples, to Cuba, Sudan and Palestine. Rebel Youth Poetry Night saw 5 poets and 2 musicians on a makeshift stage in a packed-out bookstore weave together stories of war, genocide, imperialism, community, home, hope, and liberation. An analysis of our history, accompanied by a look into our future. The message is that the oppressed of the world exist, hear their stories, learn of their struggle, stand in solidarity— for we are the future. All proceeds of the event went into supporting Rebel Youth and contributing to Cuba Solidarity Aid through the Canadian Network on Cuba.
The raison d’etre for this event is the destruction of youth spaces by austerity measures. In Edmonton, funding for the Edmonton Arts Council has remained unchanged despite huge inflationary pressures leading to an 11% higher rejection rate on their grants. These funding cuts have affected the availability of free arts and culture programs in the city, leaving the only game in town behind a paywall too high for many youth to access. In sports, inflation and need have outpaced funding for recreation facilities causing delays and cancellations to construction across the city which has led to private rec centres such as the Silent Ice Centre and Scottish Soccer Dome popping up and effectively replacing city funded facilities. This model of privately owned specialized rec centres is being increasingly pushed as the solution to youth sports demand, but it only worsens the accessibility and affordability problems. Canadian Heritage, the department responsible for sports, art, and culture, has slashed funding by $176 million over the next 3 years as a part of Carney’s sweeping 15% cuts to most federal departments. These cuts will affect the feasibility and affordability of many folk, theatre, and movie festivals. Youth are being priced out and losing access to these spaces of art, culture, sports, and leisure; places for community. This is doubly true for marginalized youth who are on average poorer and more discriminated against.
“Third spaces” are defined as social environments outside of home and work in which people can socialize and meet new people. We have seen an increasing corporatization of leisure and culture in Canada as these “third spaces” are being defunded. Malls and fast-food restaurants have become the primary spot to hangout. Dating is done through apps which gamify and commodify human relationships. Raves, once belonging to the underground working-class queer and BIPOC community throwing parties in abandoned warehouses, are now being organized by corporations that rake in hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars from each event. All this corporatization doesn’t benefit youth, it’s a destruction of the cultural, communal sphere, for profit. A grassroots movement is required to reclaim these “third spaces” for youth. It’s a movement that must defend against the austerity youth spaces are facing and be predicated on universality. It starts by organizing a pay-what-you-can poetry night at your local bookstore, or hosting a ball at your local community centre, or doing a street theatre performance telling a story of oppression and liberation, or anything else that reclaims the youth spaces which capitalism is continuously fragmenting and attempting to destroy.
As Young Communists, we will continue to fight for accessible leisure and culture for youth. The YCL-LJC will continue building these spaces, promoting healthy lifestyles and bringing our socialist political character to events. Communism requires community! For a life with a future!
The following is a poem Izzy wrote and performed at Rebel Youth Poetry Night about their student exchange trip to Cuba.
I live in Reparto Sueño,
the neighbourhood of dreams
It wakes each morning with the roosters
as sunlight paints its pastel beams
Despite its sleepy, dreamy name
The streets are seldom quiet
Music, laughter, and bike bells compose
a symphonic city riot
Dreams here are not nightly escapes
but a ritualistic task
A day’s routine from under siege
for what; a grievous ask
Dreams of sustenance, of rest
of electric current coming back
Finding ways to make those dreams come true
each day, a new setback
Today’s struggle within Cuba
was dreamt up by foreign few
A living nightmare to all else
dwelling in it’s ugly truth
It’s disease- polluted water
in a dark home, slick with sweat
It’s meat rotting in refrigerators
and blacked-out internet
it’s succumbing on dead ventilators
and transport via mule
It’s rattling desks from Soviet jets
above my overheating school
It’s the consequence of communism
that’s what those outside it say
What they omit is who’s to blame
for what we undergo today
I live in Reparto Sueño
In “America’s backyard”
They toss their trash over the fence and
force their neighbours to stand guard
Ensuring we don’t eat their scraps
or survive some other way
Keeping lights off and phone lines cut
so those outside can’t see decay
They kill and steal, assault and starve
yet Cuban life persists
They outlaw solidarity
and cage those who dare resist
So here at night, in bed I lie
paralytic from the heat
Consumed by moving darkness
awake to dream of something sweet
I dream up a Cuba I can see
wielding its skeletal remains
one of victory and freedom from
El Yanqui’s tightening chains
By day I watch that dream take shape
needing no external power
Fueled only by the people
and growing stronger by the hour
It turns food trays to TV antennas
powers bikes with laundry motors
It turns pop cans into solar heaters
and poets into soldiers
It’s dividing what you have
among your neighbour and his friend
It’s ensuring those around you
have the strength to help defend
It’s the consequence of communism
this time, not a lie
A people who protect each other
will naturally survive
Here in Reparto Sueño,
I know this to be true;
The dreams of those awake to fight,
will triumph when they’re due.