SACP MESSAGE ON YOUTH DAY
June 16 this year marks the 36th year since the brutal attack and murder of youth is Soweto and across our country by the apartheid regime when the youth of our country rose up to defy the colonial desire to wipe off our heritage. The regime had imposed Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in schools; in order to socialize the oppressed people into their language, culture and make them better servants of apartheid capitalism.
When we celebrate the heroic actions of youth from across the country, we must draw lessons from their vigilance and commit to deepen our activism to realize their aspirations. The generation on 1976 made history under conditions they did not choose. They made the democratic breakthrough of 1994 possible. Through their efforts our people's army uMkhonto we Sizwe and the liberation movement programme gained momentum. They delivered a deadly blow to the atrocious apartheid regime.
As we celebrate the 36th anniversary of the Soweto student uprisings, the youth of today are faced with peculiar challenges that they have to overcome in the process of making history. Poverty, unemployment and inequality worldwide and in South Africa in particular have reached alarming proportions.
The promise of neo-liberalism and globilisation has failed the youth of the world and our country. Financialisation of the economy has left our youth despondent and with no skills to be role players in the economy. Millions of them cannot access decent health services and quality education. Only the children of the few rich are guaranteed a decent livelihood. Poverty and want face the majority of our young people from birth condemned so by apartheid capitalism and still in the new democratic dispensation charcaterised by capitalist greed, corruption and in-equality.
Our democratic government has made various interventions to mitigate this unfortunate situation. Millions can now benefit from child support grant, can go to no fee schools and benefit from the school nutrition programmes. Millions of them can have access to primary health services and enjoy various services from our government.
However the vagaries' of the capitalist system have undermined these efforts. Some policy choices imposed on our people by the markets, have equally limited these victories. The current capitalist crisis has worsened the situation of the youth across the world. It is for this reason that the SACP says Capitalism has not worked for the youth.
The youth of our country, in all progressive formations and from all sectors - youth in the rural areas, in the townships, in squatter camps and informal settlements, in inner cities and suburbs, in schools, in FET's and in universities must rise up against Capitalism. In this regard our Young Communist League has a crucial role to play in harnessing the energies of the youth to fight capitalism.
Young people must be mobilised into a massive skilling programme, massification of our FET colleges to receive relevant and demand driven qualifications, young people must be mobilised into our universities as we open our doors of learning to our people. Education must be free and compulsory to our youth!
Institutions meant to support the skilling and education of young people like SETA's and SOE's must be transformed from money making bodies of the "tenderpruners" and private providers to real institutions of empowering the youth.
The youth must be assisted to play a meaningful role in the economy. In this regard we must train and support our youth to participate and build a solidarity economy, an economy that places the needs of people and society ahead of profits. Co-operatives and self -reliance must be popularized amongst the youth. The National Youth Development Agency and its provincial chapters remains an important vehicle in this respect. The NYDA must be transformed from tender dishing institution to few politically connected young people but to serve the interest of rural youth, youth in townships, in squatter camps and in urban areas.
Our youth must be mobilised to be able to understand that their future is in-extricably linked to the future of young people worldwide. In this regard they will have to act in solidarity with the youth of Palestine, the youth of Swaziland, the youth of Cuba and the youth and people of Western Sahara and the youth of Syria suffering imperialist subjugation and led war. The anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist nature of our struggle must be deepened and the youth must be at the forefront of such struggles.
The youth of our country must be mobilised to rise up against values of individualism, greed, corruption and dog eat dog mentality, including stealing from the public purse. Corrupt activities and practices only seek to retard the growth of our economy and destroy the future of our youth. The decadent values spread and supported by the mainstream media must not be allowed room to be rooted amongst our young people. In this regard agitation of different values through pamphlets, leaflets, revolutionary art and theatre are crucial. The Department of arts and culture have a significant role to play in supporting young people in this instance.
All of the above will not be achieved without a revolutionary organsiation and mobilistaion of young people. The SACP believes that the PYA, with the YCL at its head, is an important instrument of mobilization of young people and thus its unity in actions is sacrosanct. As an important active and vibrant strata in society, the youth must be part of the revolution and identify themselves with the revolutionary class struggles of the working class.
As we celebrate June 16 we dare not betray the legacy of the 1976 generations and many generations of bravery, militancy and radicalism. The youth must rise up and fight against capitalism, the reason why there is poverty and in-equality in South Africa and the world. Youth for Socialism and Socialism for Youth!!
Statement issued by the SACP, June 17 2012
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