Dear Member Unions and Friendly Organizations:

Over the past two years, since its 17th Congress, the International Union of Students has enjoyed increasing solidarity and participation from both its own member student unions and from friendly and partner organisations. In light of this energy and enthusiasm,it is with great pleasure that the Executive Secretariat calls for the celebration on November 17th of the historic International Students' Day.

This past year has been an active one for so many student organisations around the world. We have heard your reports about the devastating impact of trade liberalisation and war, and about the repression of democracy. We have struggled alongside you on many occasions. Now, we call upon student organisations in every corner of the world to hold national and local events to celebrate our common history, mourn our martyrs, and continue our common efforts to create the conditions for Peace, Justice and Equality around the world, in the spirit of those that came before us.

We wish to draw your attention to two aspects of our common work. First, we urge you to take up or continue the campaign calling on governments of the world to stop trade in basic services, as it is being implemented through privatisation campaigns and through bodies such as the World Trade Organization. We must halt the current rounds of trade negotiations until we have guarantees that human rights such as the right to high quality public education, not just investors' rights, will be at the forefront of any form of global governance. Across the Americas, students are mobilising in the spirit of International Students' Day, for a Hemispheric Day of Action Against the Free Trade Area of the Americas. We encourage members and friendly organisations around the world to engage in this type of broad-based effort to expose the trade liberalisation agenda.

We also call upon you to lend every possible form of support to the worldwide campaign to oppose a U.S.-led war in Iraq. Already, the war in Afghanistan, the occupation of Palestine, and other conflicts have cost the lives and dignity of too many. As students, many of us youth, we have a special potential to help prevent further devastation and destruction. This potential for a peaceful world must begin to be realised now.

We hope that our celebrations this year of November 17th*International Students' Day are a great success. We look forward to hearing about local, national and regional initiatives. We will continue to inform you of developments regarding international celebrations.

In Student Solidarity,

The Executive Secretariat
Elizabeth Carlyle * Treasurer
Chalton Hwende * Representative for Africa
LI Il Gwon * Representative for Asia and Pacific
Nikolay Kolev * Representative for Europe, North America, and Other Industrialized Countries
Shefiq Ploelli * Representative for the Middle East and Arab Countries
Bismarck Tijerino Santana * Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean
Frage Sherif, Secretary General