World Festival of Youth and Students

The World Festival of Youth and Students is an international event organized by the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and the International Union of Students after 1947.

The 10th World Festival of Youth and Students in East Berlin in 1973

History

The festival has been held occasionally since 1947, mainly in communist states, as an event of global youth solidarity for democracy and against war and imperialism. 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 a widely recognized Russian song. There were no festivals between 1962 and 1968, as events proposed in Algeria and then Ghana were cancelled due to coups and political turmoil in both countries.[1] Until the 19th festival in Sochi, Russia in 2017 (with 185 countries participating),[2] the largest festival by number of countries with participants was the 13th, held in 1989 in Pyongyang when 177 countries attended the event.[3]

The most recent festival took place in Sochi, Russia, from 13 to 22 October 2017.

Editions
Edition Year Logo Country Host City Participants No. of countries
represented		 Motto
1st1947 CzechoslovakiaPrague17,00071"Youth Unite, Forward for Lasting Peace!"
2nd1949 HungaryBudapest20,00082"Youth Unite, Forward for Lasting Peace, Democracy, National Independence and a better future for the people"
3rd1951 East GermanyEast Berlin26,000104"For Peace and Friendship – Against Nuclear Weapons"
4th1953 RomaniaBucharest30,000111"No! Our generation will not serve death and destruction!."
5th1955 PolandWarsaw30,000114"For Peace and Friendship – Against the Aggressive Imperialist Pacts"
6th1957 Soviet UnionMoscow34,000131"For Peace and Friendship"
7th1959 AustriaVienna18,000112"For Peace and Friendship and Peaceful Coexistence"
8th1962 FinlandHelsinki18,000137"For Peace and Friendship"
9th1968 BulgariaSofia20,000138"For Solidarity, Peace and Friendship"
10th1973 East GermanyEast Berlin25,600140"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship"
11th1978 CubaHavana18,500145"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship"
12th1985 Soviet UnionMoscow26,000157"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship"
13th1989 North KoreaPyongyang22,000177"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship"
14th1997 CubaHavana12,325136"For Anti-Imperialist Solidarity, Peace and Friendship"
15th2001 AlgeriaAlgiers6,500110"Let’s Globalize the Struggle For Peace, Solidarity, Development, Against Imperialism"
16th2005 VenezuelaCaracas17,000144"For Peace and Solidarity, We Struggle Against Imperialism and War"
17th2010 South AfricaPretoria15,000126"Let's Defeat Imperialism, for a World of Peace, Solidarity and Social Transformation!"
18th2013 EcuadorQuito8,50080[4]"Youth Unite Against Imperialism, for a World of Peace, Solidarity and Social Transformation!"
19th2017 RussiaSochi30,000185[5]"For peace, solidarity and social justice, we struggle against imperialism. Honoring our past, we build the future!"

See also

References
  1. Koivunen, Pia (30 December 2020). "The World Youth Festival as a Soviet Cultural Product during the Cold War". Quaestio Rossica. Ural Federal University. 8 (5): 1623. doi:10.15826/qr.2020.5.548. ISSN 2313-6871.
  2. "#WFYS2017". russia2017.com.
  3. "North Korea's Would-Be Olympics: A Tale of a Cold War Boondoggle". nytimes.com.
  4. "El festival busca que los jóvenes tengan presencia". telegrafo.com.ec.
  5. "#WFYS2017". russia2017.com.
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