00:00And now we regain the topic, as the first date of the International World Antifascist
00:04and Mid-Youth Congress is underway in Caracas, we go live for updates with our correspondent
00:09Belén de los Santos.
00:10Hi Belén, hello and give us your remarks.
00:14Hello studios, we continue here in Caracas as the Youth Congress, the anti-fascist congress
00:24that is gathering here in the Venezuelan capital is underway.
00:28We've been reporting with the testimonies, we've been hearing from different people from
00:33around the world.
00:34As we have been saying, over 1,000 delegates have gathered in Caracas and will continue
00:40to gather tomorrow as well to discuss the most relevant topics regarding the social
00:46context that we are living in right now worldwide and in the struggle against fascism and also
00:52exchanging experiences and bringing their visions from different corners of the world.
00:58In this case, we are joined by Shane Savory, a student from Saint Lucia.
01:02Welcome Shane, thank you for being here with us in Tell Us Your English.
01:07Please tell us your experience at this congress.
01:12How has the day been like meeting delegates from all over the world?
01:17What's your experience so far?
01:19Thank you so much for having me.
01:21So I arrived in Venezuela on Wednesday and honestly coming into it, I didn't have a ton
01:28of expectations.
01:29I said, you know what, I'm just going to go into it and experience it for myself.
01:34The first thing that I've realized is just how massive this is.
01:39I mean, I come from a very tiny island in the Caribbean.
01:42I mean, Caracas is bigger than my entire country.
01:45So just taking all of that in has been so interesting.
01:48But it's also been really interesting being somebody who is from the Caribbean community.
01:54We have these very close ties with Venezuela and a lot of what you study at school and
01:59what you see in the news can be one way.
02:01But then coming here and actually seeing the place for yourself and actually meeting people
02:05and talking to people, it's an entirely different perspective.
02:08So being here and being able to talk not just with Venezuelans, but from people from all
02:13around the world and being able to hear so many languages in one place, it's been an
02:18extremely enlightening experience and I'm so glad that I came.
02:21Exactly.
02:22So we've been hearing from delegates from all over the world with their own particular
02:27experiences of what the anti-imperialist struggle, the anti-fascist struggle means for them.
02:33So you come from St. Lucia.
02:35I would like to ask you, for this Caribbean country, in your experience, what does the
02:40anti-fascist movement mean in your case?
02:44I think that as a very small developing country, we're still in the process of finding our
02:49place in the world, especially among us who are young people.
02:54I'll be voting in my first election in the next couple of years.
02:57So among my peers, I think it's really important that we start to find that footing to understand
03:03what is going on in different places around the world, despite what certain media may
03:08be or what our parents might believe and things like that.
03:11So I'm really just learning about the experiences of so many people around the world whose lives
03:16have been shaped by so many political movements and so many things that have been happening
03:20worldwide and learning how all of that is connected.
03:23So it's not only just an experience to learn about how others are living and how we can
03:28understand and help them and what we have in common, but I also think that it's important
03:32for my country, which is less than 50 years old, that we can understand how we can stay
03:36on the right path of government and how the youth can lead the country moving forward.
03:42And do you see a hopeful youth in that sense?
03:45We're living in a very particular world context and a lot of the media coverage and really
03:50a lot of the things that are happening around the world are so, so difficult that some may
03:55think that we are in a sort of like apocalyptic era.
03:58However, we have the youth coming together and of course, we're seeing different alternatives
04:04and perspectives of the future.
04:06How do you see that future as part of the young generation?
04:09I think that this generation is very interconnected, especially with being able to communicate
04:15with people from all around the world through social media and being able to educate ourselves
04:19in that way.
04:20So I find that a lot of young people that you meet now worldwide are more politically
04:25active than ever.
04:26And if we have a question, if there's something that we want to know, that it's easier than
04:30ever for us to just find that out.
04:32So I think that it really is just a matter of young people being more curious about it
04:38and having that kind of intellectual vitality of wanting to understand more, of being able
04:42to compare and think for themselves.
04:44So all of the information and all of the resources that we need to become more politically active
04:50are there.
04:51It's really just a matter of young people having that strength within them to go out
04:55there and figure out what it is and then take action.
04:57Thank you, Shani, for joining us here.
05:00That was our comrade from St. Lucia.
05:03Just one more perspective of the ones that we have been hearing at this Youth Congress,
05:08the anti-fascist Congress that Caracas is holding, and we will continue to gather around
05:13this perspective from different corners of the world on how to think and continue building
05:18in the struggle against fascism.
05:20Now we go back to you.
05:21Thank you, Belen, for all your information you gave us.
Comments