Author: IUSY Secretariat

Support for our Comrades in Philippines

IUSY Secretariat

Our thoughts and hearts, in this difficult time, are with our comrades in Akbayan Youth and all the people of Philippines.

Typhoon Haiyan has, until now, quenched the life of thousands and affected millions of people by leaving many without  shelter or proviants. The challenges are enormous and the country is in great need of urgent aid to minimize the already huge damage made by the typhoon. IUSY, therefore, urges all its member organizations to take part by donating through Active Citizenship Foundation:

Active Citizenship Foundation

Address: 34D, Matulungin street, Bgy Central, Quezon City, Philippines, Account number: 1991-0024-95, Swift code: BOPIPHMM, Address: Bank of the Philippines Islands, 114 Kalayaan Avenue, Queson City, Philippines, Paypal donation: www.acf.org.ph

Typhoon Haiyan is sadly one of many realities of what climate change means in practice. We as human beings have been part of creating this unsustainable development through our actions, and we are the ones that must change it. Without a change in our ways of living and without the countries taking their responsibility, we and the coming generation will face more uncertain future.

One of the main reasons behind the rapid climate change lays on the growing releases of greenhouse gases. IUSY, therefore, calls for strengthened system of global democracy in order to halt climate change. A better world is possible, but it requires political will from the international community to act. The future is being created today. The political solutions must, therefore, be implemented now. We need a system built upon sustainable development, humanity and solidarity, and not short term economic interests, which are being prioritized in the current capitalist system.

In Solidarity,

IUSY

American Committee 2013

IUSY Secretariat

This year’s American Committee Meeting took place from the 07th till the 10th of November 2013 in Montevideo, Uruguay. The Committee Meeting started on Thirsday with an International Seminar in cooperation with Friedrich Erbert foundation focusing on the Political youth and its challenges, Youth policies in the region, The role of youth and youth organizations in the achievements of the Frente Amplio Government in the extension of citizens’ rights and The challenges of the third Frente Amplio Government. Under the headline ‘Being Young is not a Crime! – against criminalization and stigmatization of youth’ a successful Committee Meeting took place in the following two days. Besides the meetings all participants had the chance to attend guided tours through the Parliament of Uruguay and the City of Montevideo.

» Check out the Pictures here

Presidium Meeting November 2013

IUSY Secretariat

In connection with the American Committee Meeting the Presidium Meeting took place from the 5th till the 7th of November 2013 in Montevideo, Uruguay. Main topics of the meeting were the upcoming IUSY World Congress and World Festival in 2014. Furthermore the Presidium members produced a video claiming for a reform in the Socialist International.

IUSY continues to claim the reform in the SI

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50tE9C4T7jI[/tube]

» Check out the Pictures here

 

Clarification of the issue of IUSY Congress 2014

IUSY Secretariat

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IUSY Presidium statement
clarifying the issue of IUSY Congress 2014

In view of the latest communications and misleading information, IUSY Presidium believes it important for the sake of the organization to clarify the following:

The decision to advance the date of the World Congress has been an internal decision process within the decision-making bodies of our organization. This decision was founded on the concerns, agenda and workload of many organizations, especially European organizations, in view of the upcoming European Elections that would put a lot of pressure on most of our Member Organizations’ agendas for the next year.

In no sense this decision is rooted on the will to change our organization’s leadership structures, but on the will to have a successful Congress where all Member Organizations can be involved to the fullest, regardless their busy agendas.

We have now reached a decision. The upcoming congress is set for end of February in accordance to the democratic voting that took place via email. In no way the decision is questioned from any sides and we are now instead looking forward to a fruitful Congress where we together fight for socialism and democracy for all regardless of country or continent!

Finally, we are proud of the internal democracy in our organization and hope that the next IUSY Congress will be another milestone in the history of the largest youth political organization in the world.

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Declaración del Présidium de la IUSY
para clarificar las cuestión del Congreso Mundial en 2014

En vista de las últimas comunicaciones e informaciones engañosas, el Présidium de la IUSY cree que es importante por el bien de la organización aclarar lo siguiente:

La decisión de adelantar el Congreso Mundial de la IUSY ha sido un proceso de decisión interna en el seno de los órganos de decisión de nuestra organización. Esta decisión se fundamentó en las preocupaciones, agenda y carga de trabajo de muchas de nuestras organizaciones – especialmente de las organizaciones europeas – debido a que próximas las elecciones europeas añadirían presión en el calendario de muchas de nuestras organizaciones de cara al año que viene.

En ningún momento esta decisión se ha fundamentado en la voluntad de cambiar las estructuras de liderazgo de nuestra organización. Se ha fundamentado simplemente en la voluntad de celebrar un buen Congreso en el que todas nuestras organizaciones puedan involucrase al cien por cien, independientemente de sus apretadas agendas.

Ahora hemos tomado una decisión. El Congreso será a finales de febrero de 2014 de acuerdo con el proceso de votación democrático que ha tenido lugar por correo electrónico. De ninguna manera la decisión se ha cuestionado por ninguna de las partes y tenemos ya la vista puesta en celebrar un Congreso exitoso en el que podamos luchar por el socialismo y la democracia sin importar el país o el continente.

Finalmente, estamos orgullosos de la democracia interna de nuestra organización y esperamos que el próximo Congreso de la IUSY sea una nueva piedra angular en la historia de esta organización que es la organización juvenil política más grande del mundo.

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Déclaration du Présidium de la IUSY
en clarifient la question du Congrès de la IUSY 2014

À la suite des dernières communications et des informations trompeuses, le Présidium de la IUSY estime qu’il est important pour le bien de l’organisation de clarifier ce qui suit:

La décision d’avancer la date du Congrès mondial a été prise moyennant un processus décisionnel au sein des organes décideurs de notre organisation. Cette décision a été fondée sur les préoccupations, l’agenda et la charge de travail de nombreux organismes, en particulier les organisations européennes, dans la perspective des prochaines élections européennes, qui ont mis beaucoup de pression sur la plupart des agendas de nos organisations membres pour l’année prochaine .

En aucun façon cette décision se fonde sur la volonté de changer les structures de direction de notre organisation, mais sur la volonté d’avoir un Congrès réussi, où toutes les Organisations membres peuvent être impliqués au maximum, indépendamment de leur charge de travail.

Nous sommes maintenant parvenus à une décision. Le prochain congrès est prévu pour fin Février, conformément au vote démocratique qui a eu lieu par email. En aucun cas la décision est remise en question d’aucun côté et maintenant nous avons hâte d’avoir un congrès fructueux où nous pouvons nous battre ensemble pour le socialisme et une démocratie pour tous, indépendamment des pays ou des continents!

Enfin, nous sommes fiers de la démocratie interne de notre organisation et nous espérons que le prochain Congrès IUSY sera une autre importante étape franchie dans l’histoire de la plus grande organisation politique de la jeunesse du monde.

Signed by IUSY Présidium members:

Viviana Piñeiro (Uruguay) – Beatriz Talegón (Spain) – Rosa Isabel Montero Torres (Colombia) – Maybel Htoo (Burma) – Ana Pirtskhalava (Georgia) – Senia Bachir Abderahman (Western Sahara) – Boris Ginner (Austria) – Sam Muyizzi (Uganda) – Hanin Khoury (Palestine) – Srdjan Subotic (Croatia) – Tim Schlosser (Germany) – Felipe Jeldres (Chile) – Johana Ortega (Paraguay) – Evin Incir (Sweden) – Asmund Aukrust (Norway) – Roberta Capone (Italy) – Alejandro Encinas (Mexico) – Kah Woh Wong (Malasya) – Mikail Baguian (Burkina Faso) – Nimrod Barnea (Israel)

University on Youth and Development

IUSY Secretariat

We’re in this together!
Youth of the Crisis- Jointly for societies of opportunities for all!
22-29 September, Mollina (Spain)

In the framework of the University IUSY was organizing a training with a view to to equip young people with a deeper understanding of the circumstances in which they are living and to help them formulating responses to the main common challenges, explore ways for (joint) action, and discuss best practice examples (e.g. existing campaigns, etc.).

 Youth is at the front line of the global economic and financial crisis, facing the immediate consequences of austerity policies and bearing the brunt of the crisis. The result is a loss of prospects for young people due to high rates of youth unemployment, precarious working conditions, the reform of social security systems – and hence a loss of autonomy. This not only leaves increasing numbers of young people disenchanted with politics but at the same time this situation favours the receptiveness for seemingly easy solutions to the crisis – often coming in form of right wing populism and re-nationalization of the political debate.

This training was addressed to IUSY young activists with a view to strengthen their capacity and efficiency – providing the participants with the knowledge and a common strategy participating in the political process and public debate in their societies and in our shared political spaces on regional and global level.

mollina

» Check out more pictures here

IUSY Study Visit ‘Western Sahara Conflict’

IUSY Secretariat

During the last IUSY World Council in May 2013, IUSY committed itself to carry out a study visit in September 2013 to the Morocco and the Western Sahara territory in order to explore and observe the situation of the conflict on the ground and strengthen the joint work of our organizations.

During the visit the delegates had the chance to meet and exchange with various activists and representatives from our member organizations, political mother parties, local authorities and civil society organizations. The study visit was jointly hosted and coordinated by the IUSY Member Organizations ‘Jeunesse de la Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires’ (J Ittihadiya, Morocco) and ‘Unión de Juventudes de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro’ (UJSARIO, Western Sahara).

Program

Starting point of the mission was Rabat, the capital of Morocco, where the delegation went for a series of talks with many Moroccan officials, including the presidents of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), the Economic and Social Council and the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS) as well as with leaders of the USFP. After Rabat, the delegation visited Laayoune, Dakhla and Boujdour to meet members of local associations, local officials and elected representatives as well as pro-POLISARIO / pro-independence activists and delegates of organizations.

The mission concluded with a visit to the Saharawi Refugee Camps close to Tindouf. During the stay at the refugee camps the delegation had the opportunity to conduct a series of meetings with local authorities, leaders of POLISARIO as well as associations and engaged Saharawi youth. Amongst others the delegation met with Mohamed Abdelaziz, President of SADR and General Secretary of POLISARIO, Ada Ahmim, Governor of Smara, M’hamed Kadad, Member of POLISARIO and coordinator with MINURSO, the UNMS (Saharwi women’s organization), and human rights organizations active in the camps.

African Committee 2013

IUSY Secretariat

12.09. – 15.09.2013, Niamey (Niger)

During its three day meeting the IUSY African Committee worked on three main thematic fields:
1) (Youth) political activism
2) Fields of activism
3) International activism

In the first part the participants exchanged information on their respective organizations activism, with a focus on programmatic work and (internal) political education (internal organizational structures, the practical work of their organizations and the political context they are working in). In plenary discussions the general political situation in Africa was explored. Special focus of the session was on security issues and its drivers / root causes (e.g. lack of equal opportunities / access, lack of freedom of oppression / speech / participation, lack of democratic control over resources etc). Another focus was on the recent elections in the region and putting them into perspective.

In the second part the delegates discussed different fields of activism, establishing common programmatic perspectives for the further joint work in the African Committee. The fields discussed were the following: 1) Human Rights / Equal Access / Democratic Participation; 2) Perspective for Future / Youth Unemployment / Migration; 3) Security / Migration / Regional Conflicts / Civil Wars / Challenges & Chances of countries in transition possible aspects to discuss

Under the headline ‘International Activism’ the delegates debated their concrete practical cooperation in the Committee and in IUSY. With inputs from former IUSY Vice-President Judicael Biaou (J PSD, Benin) and current IUSY Vice-President and European Coordinator Evin Incir (SSU, Sweden) the delegates discussed the value and practical implications of permanent regional and sub-regional cooperation structures.

Big thanks go to our hosting organization, the Organisation des Jeunesses du Taraya (OJT) from Niger, who did an amazing job on the ground, and to the Olof Palme Internatioal Center for their support in implementing this meeting.

» Check out the Full Report here