FESTIVAL VETERANS CALL FOR SA YOUTH TO UNITE FOR PEACE!

Elsie Fanny Mahlangu, Sindiswa Mthembu & Jackie Selebie

" Peace does not mean the absence of war. War is the absence of development. Without development there can be no peace"

In a meeting at the Burger's Park Hotel in Pretoria, SA Veterans of the Festival who attended in either in Moscow, Cuba, Algeria and in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea called for the Youth of the South Africato unite in a bid to host one of the greatest congresses of youth known to man.

Sharing some of their unique stories, the vets touched on the days when they were still forced to travel in secrecy to attend youth gatherings, as the governments of the time would have seen it as an act of treason to support the left wing festival.  The Veterans alsodiscussed issues around trending topics such free education, Obama losing to the republicans, the Ireland bail out, and other undemocratic affairs such as the genocide issue in Sudan and the monarchratic conditions in Swaziland. Some of the vets included former policechief Jackie Selebi who felt that a few obvious African issues seemed to have been left out of the agenda for the week between 13 - 21 December 2010 when the festival is due to take place. .

 The festival is expected to host 30 000 delegates from all over the world in a quest to "Defeat Imperialism, for a World of Peace, Solidarity and Social Transformation."  
Given that a lot has changed since the first festival, what was a valid concern for the vets was whether or not the plight to 'defeat imperialism' was still as relevant today as it was 65 years ago when the festival begun. With countries like father of the communist movement, Russia capitalizing well on their countries wealth, one wonders whether the more we pull towards an equal and fair society, if whether we don't keep moving back 2 steps. The general concensus between the festival veterans was that every young person needs to understand that we are not alone in the struggles that bind us everyday. We are a nation of people all fighting for peace in the world.

Joyce B Dipale who attended Youth festivals in Moscow, Algeria and the DPRK.