Youth Day 2021

Youth Day Commemoration 2021

Co-hosted by Africa Unite, Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC), Commercial Stevedoring Agriculture and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU), South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) – Cape Metro Region – Back2Work Campaign and Trust Community Outreach and Education (TCOE).

June 16 1976 marked the beginning of the end of the Apartheid regime. It is when youth, rejecting gutter education,  and workers rejecting super-exploitation, rose up in spontaneous rolling uprising against racial oppression, division and capitalist exploitation. In 2021 we commemorate the sacrifices made but also celebrate the resistance and resilience of that generation of youth.

Today, while we no longer battle an Apartheid system and regime, we are still confronted by processes of exclusion, racism, xenophobia, ecological destruction and neoliberalism, which compromise our human rights.

A key element of the crisis we face as young people is mass unemployment and the theft of a life of dignity. For this reason, coming from organisations committed to fighting for the full realization of our human, especially our socio-economic  rights and concerned with the threats of a new wave of xenophobic violence, gender based violence and violent crime rooted in mass unemployment, we propose using June 16 to develop new visions and strategies for emancipation.

We see it as crucial to bring into dialogue different sectors of organized youth, particularly

• Rural and urban youth;
• Employed and unemployed;
• South African and “foreign migrant” youth;

The purpose of our gathering is to

• Give youth a voice to express our pain, anger and insights into the different aspects of the multiple crises they face in their everyday life;
• Build our understanding of the nature of the multiple crises we face;
• Explore strategies for rebuilding youth movements;
• Discuss on-going campaigns which can contribute to forging social cohesion amongst youth;

Programme:

[A] Arrival welcome and introductions 10:00 to 10:30

[B] youth speak out 10:30 to 11:10 (5min each)

• rural unemployed youth
• urban unemployed youth
• Youth in trade union and labour formations
• Young people on the farms today
• Young migrant workers

[C] Culture, art and hip-hop 11:10- 11:30

[D] Global cafe – Commissions 11:30 to 13:00

1. Youth, climate and unemployment
2. Unemployment and the basic income grant
3. Agro-ecology and the creation of decent livelihoods
4. Fighting / combating racism and xenophobia among youth
5. Combating homophobia, patriarchy and brutal killings of the LGBTIQ+ community in our society
6. Youth and the education crisis

[E] Lunch 13:00 to 13:40

[F] Brief reports from each group Plenary, synthesizing commissions and way forward 13:40 to 14:00

[G] Break-away’s 14:00 – 15:00

• Culture, art and hip-hop
• Making a tweet and social media campaigns
• Poster making for organising events and campaigns
• T-shirt making

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