Opening ceremonies in East Berlin, August 5, 1951
The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event, organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY), a left-wing youth organization, jointly with the International Union of Students since 1947. The largest festival was the 6th, held in 1957 in Moscow, when 34,000 young people from 131 countries attended the event. This festival also marked the international debut of the song "Moscow Nights", which subsequently went on to become perhaps the most widely recognized Russian song in the world. In terms of the number of the attending countries, the largest festival was the 13th, held in 1989 in Pyongyang, North Korea, when 177 countries attended the event.
During the Cold War many festivals were held in capitals of Communist states because of the enormous expenditure and coordination required to support a youth festival. As a result, by the 1960s the festivals were accused of being a powerful tool of Communist propaganda.[1]
The next festival is to be in July-August 2009 and was proposed to be in Minsk, Belarus.[2] However in June 2008 Belarus has withdrawn its proposal for organizing a new festival[3] [4]. After withdrawal of Belarus, it is estimated that the festival will be postponed to summer of 2010 and this decision awaits the next meeting of WFDY, the main organizer of the festival.
Chronology
| # |
Year |
Host |
Participants |
Countries |
Motto |
| 1st |
1947 |
 Prague, Czechoslovakia |
17,000 |
71 |
"Youth Unite, Forward for Lasting Peace!" |
| 2nd |
1949 |
 Budapest, Hungary |
20,000 |
82 |
"Youth Unite, Forward for Lasting Peace, Democracy, National Independence and a better future for the people" |
| 3rd |
1951 |
 East Berlin, East Germany |
26,000 |
104 |
"For Peace and Friendship – Against Nuclear Weapons" |
| 4th |
1953 |
 Bucharest, Romania |
30,000 |
111 |
"No! Our generation will not serve death and destruction!." |
| 5th |
1955 |
 Warsaw, Poland |
30,000 |
114 |
"For Peace and Friendship – Against the Aggressive Imperialist Pacts" |
| 6th |
1957 |
 Moscow, Soviet Union |
34,000 |
131 |
"For Peace and Friendship" |
| 7th |
1959 |
 Vienna, Austria |
18,000 |
112 |
"For Peace and Friendship and Peaceful Coexistence" |
| 8th |
1962 |
 Helsinki, Finland |
18,000 |
137 |
"For Peace and Friendship" |
| 9th |
1968 |
 Sofia, Bulgaria |
20,000 |
138 |
"For Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" |
| 10th |
1973 |
East Berlin, East Germany |
25,600 |
140 |
"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" |
| 11th |
1978 |
 Havana, Cuba |
18,500 |
145 |
"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" |
| 12th |
1985 |
 Moscow, Soviet Union |
26,000 |
157 |
"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" |
| 13th |
1989 |
 Pyongyang, North Korea |
22,000 |
177 |
"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" |
| 14th |
1997 |
Havana, Cuba |
12,325 |
136 |
"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship" |
| 15th |
2001 |
 Algiers, Algeria |
6,500 |
110 |
"Let’s Globalize the Struggle For Peace, Solidarity, Development, Against Imperialism" |
| 16th |
2005 |
 Caracas, Venezuela |
25,000 |
144 |
"For Peace and Solidarity, We Struggle Against Imperialism and War" |
| 17th |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
References
- ^ John C. Clews (1964) Communist Propaganda techniques, printed in the USA by Praeger and in Great Britain
- ^ Belarus Hosts the XVII World Festival of Youth and Students
- ^ WFDY News, June 2008
- ^ (Spanish)Cuba Información:La Juventud Mundial no renunciara a los Festivales
External links
|
World Festival of Youth and Students |
|
|
|
|
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
