Youth walkout 20 November

Robbie Davidson, Manchester Socialist Students

In May, an estimated 50,000 students in Germany walked out in huge school strikes against military conscription. This was a marker for the fightback which could be posed across Europe – as young people face a myriad of crises in education, employment and the rising cost of living, while governments pour even more money into arms and militarisation. The German government is ramping up spending on militarisation. In Britain, Keir Starmer has followed suit, announcing a new rollout of austerity cuts to make way for an increase of £25 billion per year on the armed forces in the newly published Defence Investment Plan. And incoming prime minister Andy Burnham has said he will stick to it! They are both in agreement that the NHS, welfare, education and more should be on the chopping block to pay for their wars.

Starmer and Burnham’s plan is a single, but very telling, example of the bloodthirsty instability which plagues the global capitalist system. Bosses and politicians around the world are looking to shore up their interests while economies stagnate through direct imperialist interventions and war. Trump, the figurehead of this system,  has continued to try papering over the cracks of a declining superpower in the US, by invading Iran, beheading the Venezuelan regime, threatening Greenland and maintaining support for Israeli capitalism’s bloody slaughter of the Palestinians. However no attempt to reassert the dominance of US imperialism, nor British military strength, can provide a solution to the turgid living standards.

This is why Socialist Students will be joining the international youth day of action on the 20 November organising walkouts with the slogan ‘Fight for our futures, not their wars’. We call on all those in the anti-war movement to join us, as well as the masses of young people feeling the sharp end of the unemployment crisis, the decline of further and higher education, and cuts to schools and colleges – to launch a genuine youth fightback to win the resources for our jobs and education, not wasted on their wars!