in
Britain

SHEFFIELD, England

OUTH of 23 nations marched

through the streets of Shef-

field on Sunday, June 1, in one

of the finest and brightest youth

demonstrations for peace ever
seen in Britain,

The whole of the 4,000 par-
ticipants in the British Youth
Peace Festival joined with hun-

dreds of Sheffield youth in a_

thrilling highlight of the three-
day festival.

Sheffield people were impress-
ed by the color, the gaiety and
the beauty of the parade.

Appearance of Indian, Malayan
and Italian contingents was the
signal for frantic cheering all
along the route,

“Friendship —— friendship —
friendship’? was the chant that
went up on the city hall steps.

“Peace —- peace — peace,”’ re-
plied the demonstrators.

Then some banners that made
everybody think hard:

“Here would Have been (Chi-
nese acrobats and Austrian foot-
ballers. Maxwell Fyfe (Sir David
Maxwell Fyfe, home secretary)
stopped them.”

“Here would have been Rus-
rian dancers and Swiss yodellers.
' Maxwell Fyfe stopped them.”

At the meetings that followed,
the festival youth adopted a dec-
laration that put their ideals
and aims in a nutshell.

Peace through negotiation—
“the solution to the great prob-
lems facing humanity”;

A better ilfe for Britain’s
youth; and
World youth friendship — ‘“‘a

great and growing force for last-
ing peace.”’

Bringing greetings from the
British Peace Committee to the
festival, Vincent Duncan Jones
declared: .

“The peace movement-is the
best defence force for our youth
to join.” :

@
The story of the festivalis one
that makes you indignant—but

proud at the same time.

Indignant because of the un-
precedented attempts — you
might almost use the word ‘‘con-
spiracy’’— to kill the festival.

Proud—of the courage and de-
termination of the young people
who worked 18 and 20 hours a
day to make the festival a suc-
cess,

It’s no exaggeration to say
that they performed marvels of
organization and improvization
under the most adverse, heart-
breaking conditions,

In a “‘free’’ country you don’t

need to ban a Festival of Youth

to make it impossible to hold it.
There are other, more subtle
ways.

One such~ method was tried
here in Sheffield itself. Bookings
of theatres suitable for the show-
ing of 35 mm. films were can-
celled at the last minute.

The only central open space
available for open-air concerts
was a dingy bomb site, for the
use of which about $115 was
charged.

One condition of the use of
this site was that tent lavatories
be put up, The day before the
festival was due to open the
firm that had agreed to build

the latrines denied any knowl-
edge of the order.

But the job was done, and
with banners and bunting the
bomb site was transformed into

a presentable open-air theatre. .

Enthusiasm and ‘hard work
wiped out the dinginess.

The buses from Sheffield to
the Wortley Hall camp run every
two hours, Though 65 young peo-
ple were queuing up for a bus,
the bus company refused point
blank to put a single extra bus
on the route. é

So an efficient shuttle-service
was organized with the coaches
that brought the participants to
the festival.

When young people ‘leaving
Sheffield City Hall after a con-
cert began to dance on the city
hall steps a squad of police
swooped on them and inquired
pompously: ‘‘Have you a license
to do that? If not, you must
stop it.”

But you can’t stop youth from
dancing. You can’t stop them
from organizing.’ And you can’t
stop them from working for

peace’in the world they want to
live—not die—in.

Peace festivals of youth

SYDNEY, Australia
Rees of Sydney’s great
Youth Carnival week March

15-22, proves its youthful spon-.

Sors can feel justly proud that
they have organized the greatest
demonstration for peace and
friendship ever seen in the
Southern Hemisphere.

The Menzies government and
(to their shame) certain Labor
politicians tried to wreck it. The
press resorted to lies and dis-
tortion, political police tried in-
timidation and hired provoca-
teurs tried disruption.

A petty, vindictive ban on all
bus transport was imposed by
New South Wales Transport
Minister Sheahan in an effort to
wreck the carnival opening.

The ban, imposed the after-
noon before the carnival was to
open, was defeated by the quick-
est and most extensive mobiliza-
tion of private transport ever
known in Australia.

Hollywood Pleasure Grounds,
where the carnival was held, are
17 miles from Sydney and 4%
miles from the nearest railway
station.

By wiping out all bus trans-
port, not only from the city but
from the nearest railway sta-
tions, Sheahan apparently
thought he would make Holly-
wood a forbidden zone,

He though that people would
not face a 4%4-mile trudge on a
hot summer day in March and
that the carnival organizers
could not ‘“‘lift’’? 10,000 people
in a few hours.

By 11 a.m, the-next day he
knew better.

Private buses in New South
Wales are licensed to carry pas-
sengers only over specified
routes; to go elsewhere they
need special permits from the
transport department.

These permits are given, us-
ually, as a matter of routine.

But on Friday. bus proprietors
who came to town to pick up
their permits for the carnival
trip on Saturday were astonish-
ed to learn that all permits to
take passengers to Hollywood
or neighboring districts had been
cancelled, ‘

Even the 53 buses hired to
take passengers from Fairfield

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 13, 1952 — PAGE !

in
Australia

———

-movement of dancing, and ®

and Cabramatta railway statiom

were withdrawn. :
Carnival organizers sent. 4
urgent appeals to all supporté
owning any means of transP?
to make it available on saturday:

out

- The result was that hundreds of

cars and trucks were offered
transport the huge crowd.

@ ‘
Ten thousand people in a st
ring city march, and 30,000
the Sydney Domain afterwards
provided a magnificent clima*
the carnival.

The city march was evel bis:
ger than the opening march 0
Holywood Park, when 15:l! i
people defied Transport Minist®
Sheahan’s “No. Transport” »8

ever-varying feast’ of sit a
music, literary contests al
cussions, youth discussions,
sical and other concerts, :
drama, science, art and ened
graphic exhibitions, handicraft
excursions, dances and 1
peace demonstration.

Daily sports events took a,
throughout Sydney,proving t
petty bans on grounds could
prevent the youth showing thé
preference for playing fields ove
battlefields. ‘

Folk dancing displays 4
the national group compé
at Paddington Town Hall
vided unforgettable experient
Here were youth, fed all ie
lives on a diet of America’s ¥°
commercialized ‘‘culture,”
sponding wholeheartededly
dancing that gives collective ~
pression to the friendly ane
cial desires that abide in all P&
ple. {0
Kolk-dancing was carried
the work places and the what
where carloads of police fail
to prevent workers seeing a
delightedly applauding this. ur
development in Australian pea
and cultural activity. i

Aborigines with a display 34
boomerang’ throwing,
their readiness to swing
spirit of ‘the carnival.
the Aboriginal people wel? |
the fore in a stirring display re
friendship and exchange Of ye
ture between Aborigne, wee
and White people at the Ne
Zealand and Aboriginal coneel’

Speaking with great enthus
asm of the dancing and sinee
Charles Bresland, member of ©
national executive of the pure
Youth League, said: ‘This ink

ing groups has tremen®
value. It has shown how at
nd

films;

yrin8 ]
titio?
pro”

ye’
i

message of peace and friend
can be presented in a simple a
readily acceptable way t?
people.’’ tbe

And side .by side with ne
singing and dancing were —
conferences of youth, wome! es,
workers of various calling® i
cussing the great task Of 9
fending peace against those ©
profit from war, rt

What the carnival has ye.
ed—a new movement of of
with the power and vigol ce
thousands of young Austra™ 7
behind it—will go on and ® ,,
until Australian people with A}
people of all lands will m@ val
world reality of the cat?
slogan:

“Wriendship, Peace!”

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