The youth movement in the Basque Country is an inspiration for young people across Europe. The brutal repression by the Spanish and French states has not been able to stop the mass struggles: young people fight against the lack of decent jobs, temp agencies that exploit young people, the lack of affordable housing… They occupy buildings to create cultural centers… They fight for their political rights and against national oppression…

These are problems that young people all over Europe face: tuition fees and the privatization of education, unemployment, poverty, and youth oppression. Repression is also increasing across Europe, for example the Communist Union of Youth (KSM) from the Czech Republic was banned simply for calling for the abolition of private property!

The reason for all these problems is the capitalist system. Capitalism, in which the capitalists have to compete to maximize profits, leads to exploitation, racism, sexism and imperialist war. It also leads to military occupation (like in Iraq or Afghanistan) or national oppression (even within “civilized” countries such as in the Spanish or Turkish states).

Democratic rights will never be fully realized under capitalism. Capitalism means that a small minority owns all of society’s wealth and the vast majority owns essentially nothing. Repression is necessary to keep this majority in its place, as wage slaves. Only when we break the capitalist system and all it’s institutions (the state bureaucracy, the army, the police) can we truly be free from all forms of oppression.

Capitalism is a global system, and just like the capitalists coordinate amongst themselves (through the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Funde, etc), we need to organize ourselves internationally.

We support the struggle for self-determination in the Basque Country, but we recognize: An independent Basque Country on a capitalist basis wouldn’t solve young people’s problems. And if capitalism was toppled in an independent Basque Country, it would immediately be crushed by the surrounding imperialist powers.

The key for abolishing capitalism is uniting the working class internationally. Of course, such unity can only be based on a mutual recognition of rights, including the right of all oppressed peoples to self-determination. The Basque youth movement can play an important role in uniting left-wing youth around the globe, as the many guests at the international youth festivals show.

But for this, we need to not just organize the people in our schools, universities, work places and youth centers: we need to fight for an international revolutionary organization, a new Youth International. Because a young worker in Bilbo has more in common with a young worker in Berlin than with any Basque capitalist!

• For international protests against the repression in the Basque Country!
• For the right of self-determination of all oppressed peoples!
• For a socialist Europe, based on a free union of peoples!
• For a revolutionary youth international to unite the struggles of youth around the world!

REVOLUTION is an international youth organization with groups in Europe and Australia, and members scattered around the world. Visit our web site at www.onesolutionrevolution.org to find information in English, German, Czech, French, Italian, Spanish, Indonesian and Basque.

We invite you to come to REVOCAMP 2008, which will take place from July 28 to August 1 in Liberec in the Czech Republic with young people from half a dozen countries. There will be sessions in English, German and Czech.