TO FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE IS TO FIGHT AGAINST CAPITALISM!
In the world there are 1200 million young people who represent 16% of the world population; by 2030, this figure will grow by 7% and there will be more than 1300 million (UN, 2023), the largest number of young people in history. Youth is the most dynamic factor of production, of cultural, technological, communication and social development. However, this is not recognized in a world in which, in addition to economic exploitation, ethnic, gender and age marginalization is imposed. But, marginalization is far from being a "moral" issue, and, in fact, 60% of young people in the so-called "developing" countries have no work nor education. It is estimated that 39% of young people and adolescents in Latin America live in poverty and up to 10% in indigence; the homicide rate among young people is 33 per thousand inhabitants, suicide remains the second leading cause of death for adolescents and half of sexual abuse is committed against women up to the age of 15 (UNFPA, 2022). The world is turning its back on those it claims are "its future."
But, it is not just any "world"; we are talking about the world in which 1% of the population hoards twice as much wealth as the rest of the population together and, not satisfied with this, has taken 63% of the new wealth created in the last two years (OXFAM, 2023). We are talking about a world in which, while people are starving, dozens of active military conflicts (the most important is the Russia-Ukraine war, but it is not the only one) are being carried out and military spending has increased to more than $2.24 trillion. This exceeds the average spending during the Cold War and the main ones are the powers that are contesting for the world: the United States, China and Russia (SIPRI, 2022).
We must also talk about a world that, in the midst of the pandemic, could not guarantee the lives of 15 million people (WHO, 2021), in which there are 207 million unemployed, in which 140 million remain outside the educational systems, in addition to the 90% who suspended their studies for up to a year. We are talking about a world that is on the verge of a new mass extinction, due to the serious environmental crisis to which the voracious actions of the mega-transnational corporations are leading us. This world is capitalism, in its final stage, imperialism.
On the other hand, the peoples are rising up to reject the policy of hunger, rape and death by the global and local elites. In Europe, workers and peasants mobilized against the announced austerity measures, even in countries such as Britain, Germany and Austria. In France, the struggle against the government's labor reform turned into a major rebellion. In Africa and Asia, movements are persisting that confront neocolonialism and demand democratic reforms. The women's and environmental movement are growing and, despite the agendas of NGOs, they are taking on anti-system overtones.
Latin America, in turn, remains the center of disputes and contradictions. While U.S., Chinese and European imperialism continue to vie for economic, political and military control, using their old and new neoliberal, "progressive" and even pro-fascist faces, the struggle of the indigenous people, workers, peasants, women and youth are continuing to unfold in several areas. In all these battles, the young people are fighting on the front line, they are revolutionizing communications and organizing themselves in different ways. The building of truly popular and left-wing projects is still a work in the making.
In Ecuador, the neoliberal offensive is seeking to privatize strategic areas, social security, to hand over resources to mining and oil transnationals, to impose labor flexibility and reduce investment in health care and education. As part of the strategy of global domination and the US security doctrine, work is also being done to strengthen the repressive apparatus and demonize the popular struggle.
The people have resisted this new onslaught and, there have been protests in the agricultural sector, hunger strikes and mobilizations of teachers, resistance in areas threatened by extractivism, the women's struggles against femicidal violence and for the right to abortion in cases of rape; students have also demonstrated for the budget for education and admission to universities. A high point of this struggle was the strike of June 2022. At present, the people are demanding solutions to the serious crisis of insecurity that has taken over the country, hand in hand with organized crime and the corrupt State.
Young people are suffering the consequences of this serious situation in a particular way. Only 9.9% have adequate employment, 195 thousand students did not return to the classroom after the pandemic, between 250 and 300 thousand young people stay out of university each period, 3 out of 10 face mental health problems and 41 thousand adolescents from the age of 14 become pregnant every year. In the midst of this abandonment, young people from the popular sectors are being recruited by criminal organizations, but they are not the majority; more than 80% of young people are demanding urgent solutions to insecurity.
In this scenario, marked by a deep institutional crisis, there is the unprecedented event of the decree of cross death [by which the President can dissolve the National Assembly] and call for early presidential elections; the left forged a unitary process that, for various reasons, among those highlighted are the resurgence of political violence, did not achieve the expected results and today we are facing a second round in which two right-wing alternatives are being debated. Faced with this situation, maintaining our class independence, the popular organizations are promoting the null vote. An important milestone that was achieved is the victory of the popular referendums in Defense of the Yasuní and the Chocó Andino, which opens the doors for the fight against extractivism under new conditions.
Intertwining these ideas, we can state that, while the youth continues to move the world, capitalism, while filling the pockets of a handful of rich people, is denying a future to the millions of young people and, in the process, is placing the whole world at mortal risk. That is why, naturally, discontent, social mobilization and protest have become a necessary resource, even in the Europe of the so-called "first world" and, with it, the perspective of the revolutionary transformation of society is still present, although the capitalists are arming for war abroad and at home.
The youth of Ecuador and the world yearn for change, despite the brutal ideological onslaught to disarm, demobilize, and confuse them; they are continuing to be the protagonist in the struggle for rights and the preservation of the planet. They continue in the search for alternatives and, in this way, the efforts of the left must be oriented towards affirming its relationship with the youth, knowing their reality, their subjectivity, fighting their battles, organizing them, intertwining the concerns and aspirations of the youth to the strategic objective of the revolution and socialism.
Long live the struggle of the youth, workers and peoples of the world!
REVOLUTIONARY YOUTH OF ECUADOR
September, 2023
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