EQUIPO NIZKOR |
|
10Aug11
All NATO leaders are war criminals - NLM Youth Wings
Meeting of the Former Liberation Movements in Southern Africa, Session of Youth Wings, Windhoek, Namibia, Hilton Hotel, August 9 2011
We, the youth of Former Liberation Movements in Southern Africa, represented by members of the Executive Leadership of SPYL of Namibia, ANCYL of South Africa, UVCCM of Tanzania, OJM of Mozambique, JMPLA of Angola and ZANU-PF YL of Zimbabwe having gathered at the Hilton Hotel Windhoek, Namibia on the 9th of August, 2011.
Having presented, discussed and reflected on the following:
1. Opening Statements by Heads of Youth delegations and welcoming remarks by Comrade Dr Elijah Ngurare, Secretary SPYL of Namibia.
2. A presentation on the importance of Sister Party meetings, by Cde Peya Mushelenga, MP Secretary for International affairs of Namibia and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Namibia.
3. Youth Economic Empowerment and the Development Agenda by Cde Ronald Lamola, Deputy President of ANC Youth League.
4. The Youth wings and the task of fighting the effects of cultural (media) imperialism which gave rise to the social ill in our societies by Cde Martine Shigela, Secretary General, UVCCM of Tanzania.
And having further noted and appreciated that:
1. The efforts of the leadership of our parties in having realised the outcome of the Dar es Salaam Declaration taken in 2010 by the Presidents of our Parties, which called for regular interaction and cooperation at all levels of our parties, including with those of the youth, women and veteran's wings of our respective movements.
2. Namibia for hosting of this meeting and extend appreciation to the SWAPO Party and the people of Namibia for the hospitable and comradely conditions in which this meeting was held.
3. That the meeting of Former Liberation Movements must be serialised, as it is an important platform for the consolidation of the current struggle for economic freedom and the reassertion of our cultural and political worldview.
4. That this meeting must clearly articulate modalities for future cooperation and propose clear means to be utilised by our respective parties and their respective governments to fight economic , cultural and political imperialism , including the co-option of African media and briefcase NGO's for the advancement of imperialist interest.
Having recognised that:
1. Despite significant political progress on the continent, that post-colonial economic and social transformation has not been significantly manifested in our societies. Thus requiring former liberation movements and their governments to adopt bold measures at all levels to ensure that significant economic and social transformation for all African people is ensured.
2. Youth Development must not only be the exclusive preserve of youth organisations and of youth but must become the preoccupation of all in society and government, additionally that private sector especially, must be made to realise its obligations to aid governments in the socio-economic development of youth in our respective countries.
3. Africa remains the only continent with a continental framework for the development for its youth and that most Southern African countries have signed, ratified and deposited instruments of the African Youth Charter with the AU.
4. That Africa is the origin of civilisation and the cradle of mankind, thus African culture can stand alongside that of any other in terms of contributions to global knowledge, culture and democracy.
5. The consolidation of the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Developmental Community (SADC) organisations, to deepen integration of our people and countries as well as the establishment of structures and programs to drive homemade solutions to African problems.
6. As youth wings of our respective parties we remain committed to the ideology, history and political programs of our respective parties. We recognise also, that as youths we must stand as vanguards of the historical mission our respective political parties founding principles, Which are of the people by the people.
7. Youth unemployment has reached staggering proportions, and that concrete measures must be put in place to genuinely deal with this ticking time bomb, in addition to the promotion of means to fight inequality, eradicate poverty and transform our economies. We further note that transformation at levels of management and/or ownership of our economies has been dismal and that revolutionary measures must be introduced to change this status quo.
Declare as follows in relation to Inter Party Cooperation, Culture and African Issues:
1. Africa's political leaders must be bolder in defending the interest of the continent, and must not compromise on the sovereignty of the continent. African leaders must further ensure the strengthening of mechanisms to ensure that African problems are solved by Africans. In this regard, Africa must ensure the further establishment of African based monitoring and warning systems to help us detect and respond to African problems.
2. That our governments must peruse all means including the forming of alliances to defend the sovereignty and integrity of our countries, included here must also be amongst other measures, the establishment of party schools, establishment of media houses free of western influence and the cementing of inter party relations of our respective movements at all levels.
3. Our parties must take note of emerging red lights which are challenging the consolidation of our respective political and developmental programs. In this regard we must share ideas and strategies that will ensure that our respective parties continue to enjoy popular support.
4. The Youth leagues of our parties shall solidly stand in defence of our continent, people, parties and nations. That when we disagree with the leaders of our parties, we do so on the basis of our role as vanguard of the people of our country and in defence of the historical mission of our parties. We remain cognizant of our role as guarantors of the legacies of our parties and as the future leaders of these parties, In this regard we urge all our leaders to continue to reassert themselves to the achievement of both the founding and present ideals of our successive struggles. In keeping with this spirit, we undertake to speak frankly and honestly to our leaders about the social and economic realities of our people.
5. That our parties must use their overwhelming majorities in parliaments to enact measures to change and transform our societies and stop being apologetic for implementing policies that will rectify the ills of the past. It should be clearly understood that our people have given most if not all of our parties 2/3 majorities in order to give them the legislative tools to change society, thus failure to transform society can no longer be misconstrued as a legacy of imperialism but must be accepted as an inability of the majority of our governments to act boldly on economic transformation.
6. That our parties and their leaders not run the risk of forgetting about the electorate after elections, our parties must retain the same momentum of elections in pursuing the national developmental agenda of our people and similarly our leaders must be as accessible to the structures of our parties and the people in general after elections, as they are during and before elections.
7. That a coordination mechanism be put in place to allow for countries to share, solicit and disseminate views on matters of concern to our citizens, including coordination of positions before attending international fora. Further in this regard, that resolutions of meetings of Former Liberation Movements in Southern Africa be taken seriously and implemented.
8. Solidarity must be reinforced and actualised in the true sense of the word and in practical terms. Imperialism will continue to score victories over our countries as long as we don't stand in true unity and in defence of our peoples.
9. That the Eurocentric International Criminal Court (ICC) is done away with as a matter of urgency, unless it is able to transform itself to conform to the will of all the peoples of the world. That we declare all NATO leaders as war criminals.
10. As Africans we must reassert our African identity and to stand confidently as Africans both on the world stage and in our own countries. In this regard, We commend Mozambique and Tanzania and further remake our call for the establishment of party schools in the remaining sister countries, as well as a common regional party school to consolidate Panafrican values and a sense of African pride, self-discipline and sacrifice. Cooperation and alignment among party school in various countries must also be encouraged, in this regard we shall also encourage dialogue between the leadership of our organisations and students during our international exchanges.
11. That in future at such meetings, the wings are allowed to present their outcome document to a closing plenary meeting.
12. That as youth we must rededicate ourselves to strategy, clarity of ideology and recommit ourselves to planning the tactics needed to win our present struggles.
13. We further support the call by the people of Zimbabwe that all illegal and racist sanctions against the people and government of Zimbabwe by the imperialist be lifted unconditionally.
14. Urge our parties to seek clarity from the government of the Republic of Botswana on its continuously puzzling positions on African issues and to relay to the Government of Botswana our worry as youth of our parties of its continuous divergent and pro-western positions.
Further, declare in relation to the economic struggle that:
1. The most important economic resources are our people, our l
2. The struggle for economic transformation and indigenous economic empowerment remains the nucleus of our present task.
3. In order to win the struggle for economic independence, we must appreciate African made products and intra African trade.
4. The continuous poverty of our ruling parties should be placed on the doorsteps of our elected leaders in government and that they are betraying the revolution through their reckless inaction for party economic empowerment and the youth descend on them.
5. African leaders also address the economic mismanagement in western countries and not allow themselves to be caricatured as architects of economic mismanagement in the world. The sovereign debt crisis and global economic crisis in the west are examples of the worst forms of economic mismanagement.
6. Our countries must continue to seek common ground on the implementation of visa requirements, the slow implementation of existing protocols in this regard may become an impediment to economic cooperation and intra African trade. In this regard we seek a clear timeframe for when the necessary protocols shall be implemented fully.
7. Economic growth must be the force motive in our economic policy, in this regard our governments must pursue policies which encourage growth and broad participation by all in our respective economies. To this end, free education and training must remain the core of our social policy.
8. To encourage the local ownership of the financial sector and to support in concrete terms local and black entrepreneurs.
9. Leaders in our parties and governments' lifestyles must reflect modesty, discipline and self-sacrifice in accordance with the general ideals and constitutional principles of our parties.
10. That each youth wing represented, create enterprises in order to participate in the economic development of our respective countries and that we shall strive to ensure successful economic joint ventures amongst these companies in our respective countries.
11. We further urge our parties to support such enterprises and those owned by youth, so that youth are able to share in the gains of our economies.
12. However the above must be done in the spirit of genuine broad based economic empowerment and that measures are put in place to avoid abuse, accumulation, corruption and clashes with our founding political ideals.
13. In order to support the participation of the majority of our youth in our respective countries we implore on the introduction and strengthening of youth micro-finance schemes.
And in conclusion, in relation to youth development that:
1. Youth development institutions at National, Regional and Continental levels must be greatly enhanced so as to allow youth to become champions of their own development.
2. That our parties and their governments should enhance learnerships and educational opportunities amongst member countries and to reinforce the SADC Protocol on Education and Training, so that young people in our respective countries maximise opportunities for personal and national development.
3. We recommit ourselves to the strengthening of the Panafrican Youth Union (PYU) and the implementation of the African Youth Charter of AU, and urge our national governments to support the PYU and its regional structure the SADC Youth Union. We therefor implore on our parties to direct their governments to support the African Decade Plan for Youth Development and to invest more resources in our national, regional and continental youth development bodies.
4. Additionally, we remind our leaders of the need to invest much more resources into youth development especially those in rural areas because of the youth demographic bulge.
Issued by John Moonde, Secretariat, Youth Wings of Former Liberation Movements in Southern Africa, August 10 2011 (via the ANC Youth League.)
 | This document has been published on 22Aug11 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |