On July 25 and 26, 200 delegates from more than 20 provinces—representing hundreds of university, high school and teacher-training and high education college students from across the country—gathered to hold the first congress of La Zurda as part of its national launch. Several international delegations from the International Socialist League also participated, strengthening its internationalist perspective and debates.
Over the course of these two days, we discussed the situation our generation faces, and what is going on in universities, higher education colleges, and high schools. Above all, we discussed how to organize to confront these challenges and work together—as an organization of thousands of students and young people—to develop a political alternative that, from the left, will challenge the government and contest power in our country.
La Zurda emerged as a new national youth movement, aware of the enormous tasks and challenges facing young people in this capitalist world in crisis, yet confident in the immense transformative power of youth, who, across the globe, are leading rebellions and massive struggles to turn everything upside down.
The system is against us and we are against the system
The international debate heavenly influenced our Congress. We are a generation that knows only the most decadent and aberrant aspects of this system. We were born into crisis; we constantly witness wars, a genocide broadcast minute by minute—such as the one perpetrated by the Zionist State of Israel against the Palestinian people—and the destruction of our planet through plunder and brutal extractivism. We also witness the rise of the far right around the world, which attacks basic rights and foments xenophobia, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ+ hatred, individualism, and meritocracy. Traditional political structures present themselves as guardians of the status quo and think only within the confines of this decadent system that has nothing to offer us.
That is why, all over the world, young people are at the forefront of massive struggles—from the youth in the U.S. who are defying their government and university authorities to oppose the genocide in Palestine, to Generation Z in Nepal, who kicked out the corrupt, austerity-pushing government. Thus, La Zurda was born with a strong sense of internationalism, solidarity, and sisterhood with all just causes across the globe and with all young people fighting around the world. We finish this Congress resolved to launch a strong campaign in solidarity with the rebellion in Kashmir and against the repression unleashed against its main leaders, which has already claimed more than 100 lives.
Being Young in Milei’s Argentina
This international contribution was key to the debate on the situation facing our generation in Argentina—a situation centered on Milei’s appalling attack on all our rights and the austerity measures that are having terrible consequences on our lives and those of our families. Poverty, job insecurity, and a lack of prospects are part of our daily lives. Added to this is this government’s open hostility toward public education, both regarding budget and in ideological and political terms.
This is how educational counter-reforms are proliferating in high schools, as well as in higher education colleges and even at university, through measures such as SACAU, which treat education as a machine for producing cheap labor and technicians who are useful for the needs of the market but lack critical thinking skills.
That is why La Zurda was founded as an initiative that advocates for public, free, scientific, critical, and democratic education—one that serves social needs rather than those of corporations or the IMF.
Young people aren’t apolitical—they’re fed up
In the face of rhetoric that seeks to convince us that we are the “snowflake generation”, or that rebellion has shifted to the right, we are here to prove the opposite. What we see is that there are thousands of us young people defending our universities, as we saw in each of the National Marches; that we stand up in high schools and colleges against attacks through occupations, sit-ins, and other actions, we are among those who filled the streets on June 3 against sexist and patriarchal violence and on May 24 against the fascists and in support of human rights.
In other words, we are strong, but the current leadership of the student movement is in the hands of political forces that are complicit with the government. Political forces that make deals with governments and authorities and leave us helpless to fight. These leaderships put more effort into demobilizing us and telling us that what we want is impossible than into making room for our participation. That is why La Zurda was founded with a very specific mission: to reclaim and revolutionize student unions and federations across the country. To establish a leadership that is independent of all governments, university presidents, deans, and administrators—one that is absolutely democratic, so that the students’ voice takes center stage, enabling all channels of participation and driving the struggle for our demands and needs.
That is why we have decided to begin the second semester with a major plurinational consultation across our entire territory, to serve as a channel for all those who want their demands heard.
The pencils* that keep on writing and organizing
The contribution of our high school comrades was very important at the Congress; they expressed the tremendous willingness to struggle and organize that exists within the sector. These are comrades who, for practically their entire lives, have been governed by the far right and are witnessing the crisis of Peronism at its worst. They are activists seeking tools to defend their present—which is deeply under threat—and to build a future worth living.
The 50th anniversary of the Night of the Pencils* is a great opportunity for us to come together across the country in joint actions that revive the rebellious spirit of our disappeared comrades, to debunk the reformist claims that “they were fighting only for a student fee ticket” and to draw on their most important lessons: that they were young boys and girls who were fighting for the revolution.
La Zurda Has Arrived
La Zurda was founded to build a new leadership for the student movement from the grassroots up, to reclaim assemblies, student councils, and federations as tools for struggle and organization, and to confront the policies of Milei and the governors. That is why this organization is independent of all those who have already held power—who made promises they did not keep—as well as the authorities and university administrations that are implementing educational counter-reforms in every school, teacher training college, and university.
La Zurda was born as an internationalist, anti-capitalist, feminist, eco-socialist, anti-racist, anti-fascist, anti-repression advocate, and democratic organization.
Because our problems don’t end in our classroom: job insecurity, homelessness, the environmental crisis, gender-based violence, racism, discrimination, the mental health crisis, and austerity are all part of the current situation.
Let’s get started
That’s how La Zurda was born—with clear ideas and a lot of work ahead of us—because we’re an organization still taking shape, and we want you to be a part of it. That’s why we invite you—those of you who are tired of others deciding our present and future without consulting us at all; those of you who are moved by just causes and actively fight against sexism, in defense of the environment, and against the fascists. To you who can’t stand the grind anymore and are fed up with working a thousand hours only to find it’s never enough. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never been an activist before or if you come from other backgrounds. What matters is that we refuse to give up and want to fight for our future.
We’re coming together across the country, convinced that collective, grassroots organization is the best antidote to the reactionary individualism they want to impose on us. That’s why we’ve also decided to organize a national camp on December 5, 6, and 7 where we can all come together—join us, come to the assemblies, let’s discuss and take action!
*The Night of the Pencils was the 1976 abduction and forced disappearance of ten high school students in Argentina who were politically organized and involved in a campaign for free student transportation; six remain disappeared.
