Declaration of the International Seminar of CENA

“Capitalist Globalization, its effects, and the youth struggle”

The World Federation of Democratic Youth and the youth organizations EDON Cyprus, KNE Greece, JCP Portugal, UJCE Spain, YCL USA, UJD Lebanon, YCL Israel, SCYU Syria, SSU Sri Lanka, Left Front Hungary, FGCI Italy, and COMAC Belgium, which participated in the international seminar under the title “Capitalist Globalization, its effects and the youth struggles” that was organized by the Commission of Europe and North America (CENA) and hosted by EDON, in Larnaca Cyprus between the 3^rd and 5^th of January 2007, came to the following conclusions:

The current form of capitalist globalization is nothing but a disguised aspect of the development of the capitalist system; an internationalization of capital aiming at maximizing profit through the search for new sources and the intensification of exploitation. This globalization, which emerged after the change in the correlation of forces in the world in the early 90’s, characteristic of which is the lift of borders and ‘obstacles’, is based upon the need of the global oligarchy to maximize and reinvest its capital.

In order to achieve these goals, the imperialists and its institutions such as NATO, World Bank, WTO and G8, through the so called New World Order, and their neo-liberal policies, attempt to present the capitalist system as a one way street, wherefrom there is no alternative way out. They carry out an ideological-political war through mass media, education, arts, religion, in order to convince people and especially the youth that its future comprises of an inhumane world based on inequality, exploitation and impoverishment.

The imperialist wars and the various shapes of imperialist interventions, such as those in Iraq, Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and the so called preventive wars are means by which they try to implement their military plans and implement their interests in sensitive and geopolitically important regions in order to control the sources and passages of energy, expand markets and serve their interests and military plans. Other measures such as the constant violation of human rights, antidemocratic and anti-communist campaigns, state suppression of imperialist states, wars such as those of the State of Israel against Palestine and Lebanon, commercial embargoes such as that against Cuba, threats against DPRK, Venezuela, Syria, and Iran; the placement of biometric data on passports and other measures are used as well to silence any opposing voice and drown any form of resistance. Moreover, such actions prepare the ground for the cultivation of racism, xenophobia, nationalistic chauvinism, and fundamentalism populism – trying to their influence and power among the people.

The neo-liberal policies led mainly through the USA, EU and Japan attempt to strike labor rights and conquests of the working class as well as to expand their social oppression so as to easily implement their policies and control any form of resistance. The youth suffers the most from the consequences of these policies. Education turns from a public good to a commodity or a luxury good on many occasions. The Lisbon Strategy and Bologna Treaty with its anti-popular content will lead to privatizing public education and making it functioning in the service of capital with a clear elitist perspective. These will lead to a higher hierarchical categorization between European higher education institution and to privatization of public education by introducing or increasing the tuition fees.

The neo-liberal restructurings, the Lisbon Strategy and monetary policies, a result of which is the Bolkestein Directive, promote the disruption of labor relations and the destruction of public services in health, social security, transports etc. They attack the conquests and rights of workers and open the road for multinational companies increasing the precocity, the number of the unemployed mostly among the youth. They aim to make young people subjugated in the hands of the ruling class with programs of flexibility, spare training and mobility attempting in this manner to create a new generation deprived of any type of rights.

Any promoted policies by imperialist centers not only cannot give but neither do they want to provide solutions for the aggravated problems of humanity. Hunger, unemployment, poverty, oppression, illiteracy comprise the creation of the existing system and their policies do not and cannot face these problems.

The youth organizations that participated in the seminar deem that the future of humanity cannot be such an inhumane exploiting system. Aggression, exploitation, apathy and poverty cannot be our future. Young people cannot and should not remain indifferent in the efforts of their exploitation and control by capitalist system.

The last few years there has been an increasing opposition and resistance against the schemes and plans of imperialism. The peoples, mainly young people, react against these policies. Mass organization and radicalization of the peoples struggle is observed in many regions, such as in Latin America, the Middle East as well as in other continents mainly through the anti-war movement or workers and youth actions and struggles. The student and youth massive struggles in France, Chile and Greece, the rejection of the Euro-Constitution in France and the Netherlands, the courage resistance of the Lebanese and Palestinians as well as the movement of refuse to draft to the Israeli army, the pan-European mobilization of port workers and the mobilization against the Bolkestein Directive, the mobilization against the anticommunist memorandum of the Council of Europe are examples that show the opposition of the peoples and mainly of the youth against the designs of the capital and imperialism. We underline as well the role that plays the movement of World Festival of Youth and Students as expression of the youth and students’ movement against imperialism, fascism, and neo-colonialism for peace, social progress, youth rights, international solidarity and social transformation.

We believe that mass organized struggle and making the masses and especially young people who are urged to question and become active and conscious comprises the road to resistance to overturn all of the anti-popular, anti-democratic, oppressive and exploitive measures and policies.

On this collective effort we highlight the importance of the reinforcement of the anti-imperialist struggle and organizations as the way towards the strengthening of the role of WFDY as a massive, anti-imperialist international youth organization. The left, communist, progressive, democratic youth organizations can and should play a decisive and leading role in their countries in the organization of young people in this struggle of resistance to overturn the old system, replacing it with a more just system; a system that will be based not on capital and exploitation but on people’s equality, prosperity and social justice where people have the power in their hands and safe guards lasting peace.