We have entered a new period marked by a turn toward a war economy, military readiness, and a fierce, escalating attack by capital on workers’ rights and democratic freedoms. Youth everywhere are right in the epicenter of this offensive, seeing their future shredded just to feed capitalist profits and interests.

It is no accident that the Defense Ministers of Greece and France recently declared—almost at the same time—that the people of Europe must get used to the sight of soldier coffins draped in the EU flag. This is the future that US, NATO, and EU imperialists and their allies are preparing for the new generation.

All over the world, public education is under attack. The commercialization of knowledge, the privatization of schools and universities, tuition fees, severe underfunding, and research tied to NATO and war plans are all part of the same assault on youth’s right to education. Science and knowledge are being forced to serve business interests and war preparations. That is precisely why repression against those who fight back is ramping up—with student unionists persecuted, arrested, and political action criminalized.

Today’s youth are the heavily exploited working class of today and tomorrow. We are the ones being forced into terrible working conditions, total job insecurity, and working without social security. We are the ones facing the housing crisis, working day and night just to get by, without even knowing if or when we will ever see a pension. Youth are being forced to carry the capitalist crisis on their shoulders.

The narrative of «individual responsibility,» the constant pressure to «adapt,» and a life of nonstop anxiety and competition poison every aspect of our lives. This shows why we urgently need revolutionary ideas and a new, combative culture among the youth.

Yet, massive youth struggles are breaking out worldwide:

• From the global solidarity movement with the Palestinian people—the worldwide «student intifada» and campus occupations demanding an end to all ties with the Israeli state and complicity in genocide;
• To the student movement in Greece fighting Constitutional reform and private universities;
• To the students in Argentina and Italy rising up against budget cuts, underfunding, and the commercialization of campus facilities;
• To Turkey, where students stand up to state authoritarianism, arrests, and government-appointed rectors.

A single thread ties all these battles together: youth resistance against the reactionary policies of capital.

The only way for our struggles to win is by building a joint movement of school students, university students, and teachers—in real unity with the labor movement and the workers’ unions. Class unity and internationalist action are the tools and the fuel we need to prepare a successful, unified counter-attack.

We Demand:

• Exclusively public and free education for all, with no exclusions! No to the privatization of schools and universities—stop turning knowledge into a commodity!
• Increase state funding for education! Money for student needs, not for the military and the police!
• Knowledge and research for social needs, not for war and NATO! Cut all university ties with the state of Israel!
• Degrees that guarantee stable, permanent jobs with full rights for all graduates!
• Stop all persecution of union and political work in schools and universities!