AGEB: 4th Collective Holiday Camp Concluded With Great Enthusiasm

We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article published by Yeni Demokrasi on August 12.

The Collective Holiday Camp, organized for the fourth time this year by the Union of Migrant Workers in Europe (AGEB), took place in Tolo, Greece, from July 26 to August 9, with over one hundred participants. The two-week camp included political education workshops, women’s and youth gatherings, cultural and artistic events, excursions, and collective activities.

The camp, which began with the collective preparation of the campsite on July 26th, officially opened on July 27th. The camp program was implemented after considering the views and suggestions of the participants.

Throughout the camp, youth activities discussed US imperialism and Zionist Israeli attacks on Iran, NATO’s war and expansion policies, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, interimperialist contradictions, and the consequences of potential imperialist wars of partition for the people.

In a presentation titled “The End of Welfare States in Europe, Militarization, Violations of Rights, and Our Tasks in Struggle,” given by AGEB, it was emphasized that while European states are increasing their armament and war budgets, the economic and social cost of this is being borne by the working class and laborers. It was stated that the common struggle of native and immigrant workers against racism, xenophobia, violations of social rights, and imperialist war policies must be strengthened.

The camp included presentations and discussions on struggles in Latin America and the Bolivarian line, the revolutionary struggle in India and solidarity with the CPI (Maoist), and the historical struggle and organization of women.

The presentation by Partizan addressed political developments in Turkey, the tasks of the struggle against imperialism, and the International Anti-Imperialist League (AIL). The importance of expanding the anti-imperialist struggle in conditions where inter-imperialist contradictions are sharpening was emphasized.

Another important topic on the camp’s agenda was the Right of Nations to Self-Determination and the Kurdish national question. The Turkish State’s stance, the policies of the Kurdish National Movement, the current political process, the “framework law draft,” and the problems and dangers facing Kurdish politics were all discussed. During women’s gatherings, the importance of women’s awareness and organization was discussed, and opinions were expressed on making the Purple Red Collective more active. The importance of greater youth participation in political education programs and the continuation of these programs in German were also emphasized.

Throughout the camp, music and arts workshops, folk dances, communal entertainment, and excursions were also held. On August 5th, Ceren and Mazlum (İbrahim Karatepe) and Gazi Ünder were commemorated. Those who lost their lives in the revolutionary struggle were remembered with marches and songs.

In the overall evaluation at the end of the camp, participants stated that this year’s camp was successful in terms of fostering a spirit of collective living, solidarity, and collaborative production.

The Camp Committee’s organization of the program, the arrangement of daily life, and the conduct of political and cultural activities were positively evaluated.

The fact that participants from different countries and cities shared a common life for two weeks, the active participation of young people and women in the activities, and the collective undertaking of daily responsibilities were considered important achievements of the camp.

It was suggested that in future camps, it would be beneficial for young people to participate more in the preparation process, for political education activities to be systematized, and for the topics of the political presentations to be given to be translated into German and distributed in advance.

AGEB’s 4th Collective Holiday Camp, considered a gathering that strengthened collective living, solidarity, political education, and common struggle against the individualism of the capitalist system, concluded on August 9th.

A call was made to carry the collective and solidarity spirit created during the camp into the organized struggle of migrant workers, youth, and women in Europe.