Press release from Socialist Students

A Socialist Students delegation has returned from an International Youth and Student assembly in Paris on 17 and 18 October, which brought together youth and student organisations from across Europe to prepare for the International Youth Strike on Friday 20 November.

Called under the banner of ‘fight for our future not their wars’, the International Youth Strike is expected to see hundreds of thousands of young people walking out and protesting across Europe on November 20. In Britain, Socialist Students is expecting protests in at least 50 towns and cities, with the main London demonstration taking place at 12pm in Parliament Square. Walkouts are also now confirmed at more than 100 schools, colleges and universities across England and Wales.

The Paris assembly met during a mass movement of school students in France, with delegates to the meeting joining a massive demonstration in Paris on the Saturday afternoon. 27 organisations from eleven European countries attended the meeting, including many that are currently leading the youth action in their own countries.

The Paris assembly followed on from an earlier international anti-war meeting held in Cologne on June 14, which first put out the call for an International Youth Strike on November 20. Socialist Students attended as the founding organisation initiating the International Youth Strike in Britain.

Socialist Students national chair Adam Powell-Davies, who was part of the Socialist Students delegation to Paris, said: “School students in France are showing what young people can do when we organise together against the bosses’ austerity and war. On 20 November, students across Britain will walk out alongside young people across Europe, because our futures should not be sacrificed to pay for their wars.”