The global youth is affected by the polarization that defines the current world situation. Ideology spread by the capital stating “rebelliousness became right-wing” is false. There is a sector of the youth, mostly men under 30, from the two ends of the social hierarchy, shocked by the far-right especially through social media. This is not yet materialized organically, or on the streets. A social majority of young women and LGBTIQ+ community rejects that reactionary phenomena. At the same time, it faces an antagonistic pole, composed mainly of students, which rejects it and becomes radicalized in the face of the crudest expressions of the far-right. The strength of anti-fascist tendencies is predominant in universities and high-schools. The emerging expressions that have become protagonists against Trumpism and its allies in the world, are burying the sequels of the COVID effect in consciousness. The Ghost of Vietnam reappears, making the international bourgeoisie panic.
The Sons and Daughters of the Civilizational Crisis of Capital
The only thing the current generation of young people has gotten to know in capitalism is its crises. The 2008 crisis, the pandemic and now Zionism and an unbridled and interventionist imperialism. For this generation, working and studying conditions keep getting worse. This youth has grown up convinced that the social majority will never be able to exercise basic social rights, and that they will surely have to endure worse living conditions than their parents. The far-right promotes an aspirational and alienating narrative for young people, promoted by influencers on digital platforms. They spread false promises of easy success and assured enrichment through cryptocurrency, online betting, “financial education” and other scams. It is the cultural network of a project aimed at ensuring the economic concentration of the 1% of the bourgeoisie. That political orientation leads to frustration, isolation, depression and personal and collective decomposition. Its antidote grows in the heat of the struggles of the youth. All continents are witnessing a youth that fights against the exploitation and oppression conditions imposed on them.
Fighting here and there
In recent years, students and sectors of the working youth have starred great movements of resistance against the capitalist war plan called “structural reform agenda”, which is promoted by the IMF and governments of different nature around the world. These movements include:
*The youth internationalist solidarity with the Palestinian people. From the U.S. to Tokyo, from Chile to France and Great Britain, Australia, Germany, Egypt or Yemen. Its highest point was probably the student movement in the U.S.
*The Front line of struggle before and immediately after the pandemic: The youth was the vanguard in the mobilizations facing state repression: Chile in 2019; Kashmir for the self-determination of this people and Colombia in 2021.
*The Friday for Future movement against capitalist predation: In 2018 and 2019, student strikes denouncing the socio-environmental disaster reached a peak of protests in 150 cities around the world.
*The African youth against the IMF. There were huge uprisings, that overflew repression, bureaucracies and governments against taxes and cuts dictated by the IMF in Kenya and Nigeria.
*The struggle against State repression in Bangladesh. The youth and young sectors of the working class of this country evicted the government from power with powerful street mobilizations and strikes. The students were the total vanguard.
*The Serbian student revolt. Lack of maintenance resulted in a train accident that killed teachers and students. Repression during the tribute to the victims triggered a national rebellion.
*Millions in defense of public university in Argentina. Faced with Milei’s attempt to cut government budget for university education, national mobilizations of millions of people defeated him.
*Gen Z from Nepal to Peru: people under 30 years-old, digital natives, with precarious gig jobs that against elite corruption and repression self-organize using social media, confront and overthrow governments.
Radicalization at the belly of the beast
In the United States, the resurgence of a radicalized student movement as had not been seen for many decades showed its full potential through its camps in support of the Palestinian people. This took place at the most prestigious universities: from Harvard to Columbia. Teachers and students demanded to stop genocide and for the United States to stop funding Israel. This phenomenon has been building up for several years. It encouraged the entering into scene of grassroots sectors of the labor movement that called for strikes in support of university students. There is also the so-called Gen U, which should be taken into consideration. In the very heart of the empire, it expresses new contingents of workers that are self-organize and build unions. A considerably leap in consciousness.
Bankruptcy of capital humanization
There is a key element to explain the reason why the far-right has grown internationally. Before this situation of polarization and emergence of reactionary expressions, we experienced a turn towards left-leaning political phenomenon both in the early 2000s in Latin America and years after 2008 in the U.S. and Europe. Siryza, Podemos, Sanders and Latin American progressive expressions disguised all limitations of capitalism with a humane façade. That new reformist version that defected before big capital without daring to question the system cornerstones or support essential measures to guarantee social rights through mass social mobilization, caused disappointment and paved the way for the far-right. The missed political and class struggle opportunities gave the worst fractions of capital the opportunity to reorganize. That is what is happening today.
Against imperialism, war and the far-right
The U.S youth, which confronts their own imperialist government in solidarity with the Palestinian masses marks a highly promising course and example. The global far-right, far from intimidating the current students and workers’ generation, is intensifying the radicalization of multiple sectors and their streets actions. Revolutionary socialist organizations all over the world have the utmost responsibility to promote the broadest unity of action to build a powerful international youth movement against war, interventionism and the neocolonialist offensive in all countries. Against the far-right in all its expressions and at the same time, with complete critical and organizational independence, to differentiate from progressivism, reformism and bureaucracies. Side by side but not mixed.
International Regroupment of Revolutionaries
The International Socialist League proposes, together with the struggle against imperialism, war and the far-right, the following programmatic key elements to bring the best elements of the youth vanguard to the fight for an International Regrouping of Revolutionaries:
* For full and stable employment with workers’ rights.
*For public, secular, universal, scientific and quality education.
*For fighting workers’ and students’ unions, Federations or new forms of self-organization, democratic, independent of management, employers and governments.
*Against racism, Sexism, homophobia and all hateful ideologies.
*Against national oppressions and for the right to self-determination of peoples.
*Against the plunder and socio-environmental depredation of corporations and governments.
*For the right to self-defense against fascist groups and state or parastatal repression.
*For the unity of workers and students against bureaucracies and governments.
* Against the false democracy of the rich, and their parties and ideologies, including the ”humanization” of capital and its States.
* For an anti-capitalist and revolutionary way out of the systemic crisis.
* For political alternatives in each country and internationally that regroup revolutionaries to fight for power for the working class and poorer sectors.
Our international organization, present on all continents, carries out different construction tactics for youth, without dogmatism or giving in to any trends:
*Building broad groups in universities, teaching institutions or schools to bring activism closer as a “bridge” towards revolutionary positions and then win them over for the socialist strategy. That is fractions of our parties that intervene in the youth movement.
* Promoting the creation of Federations or Movements that broadly group young people with an advanced program of demands that question governments, imperialisms and their politics in countries or regions where repression is strong or student youth “union” organizations are not legalized.
* In other places, acting and building youth fractions of our parties, organizations or groups, without a particular identity, simply as “the youth” of this or that political current.
* In some cases, there are experiences of grouping students as a trend with relative autonomy, program, profile and organization separate from the structure of the national section.
It is essential that the tactic (whatever it may be) to group vanguard sectors to lead the youth movement that fights to lead their mass organizations, does not replace the strategy of winning over young people for the program of the international socialist revolution and party building inserted into the working class.
International Socialist League
