International Youth Symposium – Final Declaration

The final declaration of the International Youth Symposium organized by the New Democratic Youth, with the participation of youth organizations from various countries.

We, youth organizations from Ireland to the Philippines, from Spain to France, from Switzerland to Nepal, from Germany to Bangladesh, Tunisia to Cyprus, and youth organizations from different parts of the world, have come together to discuss our common struggle against imperialism, capitalist exploitation, fascism, and all forms of oppression, to share our experiences, and to strengthen international resistance.

The historical period we are going through clearly reveals that the imperialist system is in a multifaceted and deep crisis. Today, the world is being dragged into a process characterized by increasing wars, invasions, forced displacement, ecological destruction, impoverishment, and authoritarianism. Imperialism, with its structure based on competition, plunder, and domination, is sacrificing humanity’s future in order to overcome its own crises. Monopolies and imperialist states continue their struggle for markets, energy resources, and geopolitical supremacy at the expense of the blood and labor of the people.

The burden of this historical crisis falls most heavily on the shoulders of the working class and oppressed peoples, especially the youth. Young people are besieged by unemployment, precarious work, the deprivation of their right to education, a lack of future prospects, and a state of constant uncertainty. The capitalist system cannot offer youth either a dignified life or a secure future. On the contrary, it aims to turn youth into a generation that will pay the price for its own crises.

Under these conditions, the imperialist system besieges youth not only economically but also ideologically and politically. Compulsory military service, militaristic education programs, integration into war technologies, and chauvinism and nationalism spread through the media and cultural industry aim to ensure youth consent to imperialist war policies. This propaganda, carried out under the slogans of “security,” “freedom,” “defense of the homeland,” and “humanitarian intervention,” is aimed at concealing the true class and imperialist character of war.

From the perspective of the imperialist system, youth are not merely a reserve labor force; they are also seen as a force to be sent to the front lines in wars, to reproduce the apparatus of oppression, and to ensure the ideological continuity of the existing order. For this reason, the depoliticization, disorganization, and confinement of youth to individualism are fundamental elements of imperialist strategy.

However, history shows that youth has never passively accepted this role. Historically, youth has been an important component of every major social transformation and revolutionary process. From the revolutions of 1848 to national liberation struggles, from anti-fascist resistance to the youth uprisings of 1968, youth have been at the forefront of the struggle against exploitation, oppression, and inequality. The dynamism, courage, and will for change of youth have been a threat to the existing order throughout history and a source of hope for the oppressed.

Today, youth across the globe, from Asia to Africa, Europe to America, are fighting against imperialist wars, occupations, authoritarian regimes, and capitalist exploitation. From Palestine to Kurdistan, from Latin America to South Asia, youth are defending not only their own future but the common future of all peoples.

We emphasize that internationalism is not an abstract feeling of solidarity, but a concrete, organized, and class-based line of struggle. Capitalist exploitation is international; imperialist aggression is global. Therefore, the struggle of revolutionary youth cannot be confined by national borders. True internationalism is not romanticizing the struggles of oppressed peoples, but uniting these struggles with the class struggle in our own countries and developing a common revolutionary perspective.

The responsibility of youth in imperialist centers is to intensify the struggle against their own states’ war policies, arms programs, and instruments of oppression, to expose these policies, and to establish organized ties with oppressed peoples. The resistance of youth in oppressed countries is an integral part of the struggle against imperialism’s local collaborators and dependent capitalist structures. The convergence of these two lines forms the material basis of the international struggle.

This symposium has been an important step towards strengthening the international youth struggle. Moving forward from here;

Establishing international youth solidarity as a permanent and organized structure,

Developing strategic and continuous relations between international youth organizations,

To forge common lines of struggle against imperialist wars, militarism, and militarist propaganda,

To organize youth against fascism, racism, chauvinism, and sexist policies,

To carry the lessons learned from national liberation, democracy, and class struggles into the current struggle,

We declare that our common tasks are to make youth an active and conscious subject of the revolutionary class struggle.

The only real answer to the deepening crises of imperialism, fascism, and capitalism is to organize, expand international solidarity, and intensify the class struggle. We are not afraid of the future; the future is a threat to their system of exploitation. By transforming this threat into a conscious and organized force, we declare that as revolutionary youth we will grow our unity, our determination, and our international struggle in every field.

Long live international solidarity!