The Young Communist League congratulates the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) on the historic occasion of its 11th National Congress held in Beirut, Lebanon from 29 July to 1 August, the first to be held since the National Congress held in Baghdad, Iraq in 1990, and is honoured to have been invited and to have attended as a guest to this important event.
The student delegates of the GUPS represent the most precious treasure of the Palestinian nation: her future.
Every time the apartheid genocidal state of Israel bombs a school, every time a Palestinian student is denied a visa to study, every time a museum removes reference to Palestine, it is an attempt to kill the very soul of the nation. The imperialists understand that literacy and education are some of the greatest weapons we have against them. A person who can read is 10 times more dangerous than one who is illiterate, for they have the tools to set them on the path which allows them to correctly identify why they are oppressed, how they are oppressed, by whom they are oppressed, and most importantly how to defeat that oppression. The dedication Palestinian society has shown to education, as a tool and a weapon towards freedom is unparalleled the world over. From the students who organised in the first Intifada in Bir Zeit, the world-famous academics from Khalidi to Said to the next generation who just last month received their high school results, many in Gaza obtaining over 90%.
Therefore, every time a Palestinian child wakes up to study, every time a Palestinian earns their degree, every time the very word Palestine demands to be seen and heard in the media, it is an act of resistance and resilience. The fruitful discussions and success of the 11th National Congress of the GUPS are a shining representation of this resistance and resilience from across the Palestinian diaspora, and will surely drive the GUPS’ rejuvenation to new heights.
We in Britain cannot but be humbled by the Palestinian people’s resilience, their sumud. It is said that red tulips grow from where the blood of the martyrs is spilled, and their martyrs, those who love life such as to give it away, have bequeathed them a garden. The renowned writer Ghassan Kanafani rejected the kind of “negotiations between a sword and a neck.” Similarly, the progressive and anti-imperialist youth and students of the world demand a just peace for Palestine, not a peace defined by mere lack of conflict, but a peace defined by the end of the system of man oppressing man; the day of victory, of return, and final liberation.
Attention must also be brought to the struggles of our Lebanese comrades, on whose land the 11th National Congress was so graciously hosted. For nearly three years now, Israeli forces have bombed and attacked Lebanese territory, culminating in an invasion beginning on 1 October 2024. Earlier this year, we heard calls for annexation of territory south of the Litani river and the destruction of villages in the region, demands which bring to mind the most terrible memories of the Civil War, when, again, Israel took advantage to seize Lebanese land. In this most recent aggression, to give just one example, Bint Jbeil was completely destroyed by occupying forces, in an attempt to enforce a “Gaza doctrine”.
It is in times like these that as progressive and anti-imperialist youth in the West, we must remember that international solidarity is not a luxury to add on when it suits us, but a core part of our work. It is in the spirit of internationalist solidarity that nearly £7,000 was raised as part of the World Federation of Democratic Youth’s Urgent Emergency Humanitarian Appeal in collaboration with the Union of Lebanese Democratic Youth. The YCL is now conducting work to fundraise for ULDY, the PDYU, and the PYO, with the first event already having been undertaken.
Furthermore, it is significant that the 11th National Congress coincided with WFDY’s World Anti-Imperialist Day of Solidarity With Struggling Peoples, held under the banner “For Peace, Against Imperialism – The Youth is Present!” The gathering of so many different youth groups at the 11th National Congress was a display of the unity and resistance that we strive for.
As long as one Palestinian lives to return, as long as one communist lives to fight for anti-imperialism, as long as one human with a conscience lives to call out injustice, the Palestinian cause lives on!
In the words of the late comrade commander-in-chief of the Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro, Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!
For peace, jobs and socialism!
نحن الشباب، نحن الثورة
International Department
Young Communist League
London, Britain,
08 August 2026
