Building The Resistance

OVER THE past few months, many of those getting involved in the growing anti-war protests have been young people.

Clare James, ISR representative, Stop the War Coalition

International Socialist Resistance (ISR) is an international anti-capitalist youth organisation, with affiliated groups across the world, including in Sweden, Britain, Northern and Southern Ireland, Greece, France, Germany, Belgium, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Kashmir and many other countries.

In all of these countries, ISR is helping to build the youth wing of the anti-war movement – ‘Youth Against the War’.

ISR was launched internationally at a conference of 500 young people in December 2001 in Brussels, Belgium, to help build the movement and provide a forum for discussion and debate within the anti-capitalist movement on the ideas of socialism.

ISR has initiated campaigns internationally, nationally and locally on many issues such as against education cuts, against war and fighting racism and sexism.

On 15 March 2002, as part of an international day against education cuts, ISR helped organise strikes and protests in schools, colleges and universities across the world.

In Nigeria 8,000 copies of an ISR leaflet and 1,000 posters were circulated in various campuses. Hundreds joined the protests.

ISR has also launched campaigns against low pay in Northern and Southern Ireland, with Socialist Youth members (ISR affiliate in Northern and Southern Ireland) fighting for a living wage and safe working conditions for young people.

These are just some of the many campaigns we are continuing to build.

Throughout all of these campaigns we hold regular organising meetings to ensure that all ISR members and supporters have a say in how the campaigns are run, what demands we raise etc.

Most recently, the anti-war work has become the main campaign of ISR. School and college student strikes are being planned by ISR groups for the first day of war – ‘Day X’.

We have held meetings of hundreds of school student across Germany and Sweden planning for this action.

In England and Wales, we are building for strike action on ‘Day X’ and also for 7 March. (see below).

ISR is open to anyone wanting to organise against the war with other young people and to fight back against the effects of capitalism across the world.