15 June 2001
As we celebrate 25 years of June 16 and the role of young people in the struggle to free our country from apartheid, we also address the role young people must play in our new South Africa and in the future. We must also talk about interests, needs and lives of young people today and how we can build a bright future for young people.
The future belongs to young people
For the South African Communist Party (SACP) the future belongs to young people.
During apartheid, many young people were active in the struggle to defeat apartheid. However they were not made real players in education, the state, the economy, and other institutions in society. As a result, many young people in our country continue to live under racism, poverty, unemployment, lack of housing, lack of free and good education, HIV/AIDS, criminality and violence.
The majority of young people who face these grim conditions are black. Also young black women are the worst affected. In other words, young people are also affected by the continued oppression of black people and women. Therefore young people have an interest in completing the liberation of black people generally and young women in particular through addressing these realities here and now.
For example, more than 350 000 young people who will finish their matric this year only a small number will go to university or technikon. The majority of these matriculants are black and will lead a life of misery and hopelessness in the townships and rural areas of our country. This is not the future young people deserve. The future of young people must be a future in which they are able to develop to their fullest potential possible.
The future of young people must address their needs and interests and allow them to express themselves in full. The future of young people must not be a future of being a lost and marginalised generation. This means addressing the conditions faced by young black people and young women first and foremost.
The bosses make life bad for young people
The main reason young people, in particular young black women, lead an intolerable life is the combined and cruel legacy of apartheid and capitalism. This legacy means a good life for a few and an intolerable life for the majority.
The bosses exploit our parents, brothers and sisters at work in order to get maximum profits at the expense of poor and working people. They want an economy which only serves them through cuts on social services, privatisation, and disinvestment from our country. Cutting social services means less tax and more profits for the bosses and less money for education, health, public transport and other social services. This means inequality. This means deepening the inequalities suffered by young black people generally, and young black women in particular. The economy of the bosses hurts young people.
If we do not challenge this, then young people in our country will not have a realistic hope of a better life and future.
Young people are already challenging this situation through demands for a better education, job creation projects, their music, their own sub-culture and young role models such as Xolani Nkosi Johnson and the struggle against HIV/AIDS.
Through these self-activities young people are giving society a loud and clear message that they cannot be a lost and marginalised generation. Young people want a better future. Young people in other countries are also waking up to fight for a better world.
In other words, young people everywhere are plucking up courage to fight for a world which meets the basic needs of all people as a basis for addressing their own needs and interests as young people.
Therefore the heroic role of young people so solidly marked by June 16 in our history is not only about the past. It has everything to do with the present and indeed the future.
The future for young people is socialism Build it Now
The content of the future for young people must be about democracy, equality, freedom to be, employment, the redistribution of wealth and resources, free education and other basic needs. It must also be about addressing the situation of young black people generally, and young black women in particular.
It must be about ordinary people involved in many practical efforts to improve their lives. It must be about young people organised in volunteer organisations, housing brigades, clean-up campaigns, food gardens, literacy campaigns, co-operatives and savings clubs.
But this future will not be possible without fundamentally changing the current situation where the economy is in the hands of a few. Therefore the future must be about an ongoing process of popular self-emancipation of building socialism in our country.
This socialism is not about big words. It is about all the good things young people want in life +IBM- a good and free education, recreation, access to health, employment, housing, access to culture, no crime and violence and a good environment.
Socialism is the opposite of what the bosses want and do. Socialism is the opposite of what young people experience today. Socialism means a better life for young people and all South Africans. It also means the ownership and control of the economy by the people.
Young people have the most to gain from a socialist South Africa which will place poor and working people at its centre. Through building socialism the future will truly belong to young people in our country.
Young people must fight racism and the legacy of national oppression
The case of Andrew Babeile in Vryburg shows how racism still exists in our schools and the rest of society. Many young black people are victims of racism.
The majority of white youth still enjoy privileges derived from apartheid. This must be addressed in order to build a truly non-racial South Africa in which all young South Africans must have a share.
Therefore the SACP calls on all young South Africans to fight racism and the legacy of national oppression of black people.
Address the conditions of young women
The new South Africa promises women equality and empowerment. This is a result of struggles in which young people played a part.
But many young women are still disadvantaged compared to other sections of society. Whether it is in education, health, or in finding a job young women are the worst affected. Many young women are victims of violence, rapes and HIV/AIDS. All of this is because of gender oppression in our society. Gender oppression combined with the legacy of national oppression means that young black women suffer more than other youth.
The SACP therefore calls on young people to fight against oppression of women. Young people must be active in society
Young people must build take part in community organisations in order that they are part of communities and that communities also address their issues and interests. The SACP calls on young people to lead volunteer organisations, housing brigades, co-operatives, etc.
The SACP also calls on young people to build the progressive youth organisations such as the SACP Youth Desk, the ANC Youth League, the South African Students Congress, the Congress of South African Students, and others.
In all these ways, then young people will be contributing to the fight against the legacy of national oppression, racism, gender oppression and the building of socialism in our country.
CONTACT
David Masondo - SACP Youth Desk Convenor
Tel: 011 339 3621
Fax: 011 339 4244
Cell: 082 886 3525
Email:sacp1@wn.apc.org
P.O. Box 1027
Johannesburg
2001, South Africa