Youth of the World, Unite: International Solidarities and Internationalism among Youth (1945-2003)

Proposals should be sent by the deadline (May 1st 2025) to the following addresses: daniel.canales@udg.edu and jordisanchogalan@gmail.com

Recent mobilisations on an international scale in protest oflsrael's aggression towards Palestine have drawn attention to the agency of youth-driven solidarity. The Palestinian reference, far from being a recent phenomenon, is in fact linked to the longstanding tradition of dissent among the youth, which played a significant role in the establishment of networks, practices and internationalist imaginaries during the second half of the 20th century. In this regard, this panel aims to deepen the understanding of the set of experiences that shaped the phenomena of internationalist solidarity through three main directions. Firstly, the relationships, influences, and cross-experiences among different actors who contributed to the cultures of internationalist militancy will be emphasised. Secondly, the agency of transnational solidarities as a mobilising force intertwined with local claims and with the potential to imagine a fairer and more equitable world will be assessed historically. Finally, the analysis will be extended to encompass other strategies and resources, including cinema, the press, and music, in the construction of aesthetic codes, sensibilities, and values that facilitated identification with imagined networks and global structures of feeling. In this regard, and recognising the need to engage in dialogue with other disciplines, we invite the submission of papers that explore the interactions and synergies among sectors, ideological currents, and cultural resources in internationalist youth activism throughout the period 1945-2003. In a similar vein, we are interested in fostering dialogue with other geographical areas and phenomena beyond the European continent. The aim is to decentralise approaches that have generally prioritised the contexts of democratic Europe. Ultimately, the objective is to analyse how these intersections were articulated and how they transformed the strategies, discourses, and practices of youth political activism in the second half of the 20th century and the early 21st century.

The overarching objective of this panel is to enhance our comprehension of the social and political movements of this period by investigating the diverse political, social, and ideological intersections that influenced their internationalist dimensions, as well as the long­term repercussions they exerted on contemporary politics and culture. Proposals for consideration will be accepted in any of the three official languages of the conference: Catalan, Spanish, and English.

We are at your disposal for any questions or clarifications.

Daniel Canales Ciudad, Departament d'Història i d'Història de l'Art, Universitat de Girona