- Young Democratic Socialists
Infobox Political Youth Organization
name_english = Young Democratic Socialists
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chairperson =Erik Rosenberg
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international = International Union of Socialist Youth,IUSY
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mother_party =Democratic Socialists of America
website = [http://www.ydsusa.org ydsusa.org]Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) is a democratic socialist youth organization in the
United States . It is the youth section of theDemocratic Socialists of America , whose political outlook it shares, and the American affiliate of theInternational Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY). As such, YDS is regularly invited to international conferences by their sister organizations.Formerly known as the Democratic Socialists of America Youth Section, the organization played a significant role in the 1980s in the movements against
apartheid inSouth Africa and U.S. intervention inCentral America . It helped introduce many student activists to trade union struggles, with many of the organization's alums going on to become labor organizers and union staff members. In the late 1990s YDS chapters, most notably the ones atIthaca College andArizona State University , became heavily involved in the national movement against the prison-industrial complex. Chapters tried to force colleges to cancel their contracts with food service providerSodexho Marriott because its parent company,Sodexho Alliance , owned stock inCorrections Corporation of America , a for-profit prison company.The group's most visible current national activities are its participation in the
National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (NYSPC), the national immigrants rights project, and organizing various national conferences, usually held inNew York City . YDS had a contingent march in the NYSPC section of theUnited for Peace and Justice march against the Iraq war inWashington, DC onJanuary 27 ,2007 . [ [http://www.ydsusa.org/news/yds-nyspc-events.html http://www.ydsusa.org/news/yds-nyspc-events.html] , accessed 2/24/07]From February 16th to 18th, 2007, YDS held its largest youth conference in several years at Bayard Rustin High School in New York City. Called "Justice Beyond Borders: Democracy and Socialism in the 21st Century," the conference featured key-note speeches by Professor
Noam Chomsky , journalist and authorBarbara Ehrenreich ,The Nation correspondentChristian Parenti , author and journalistLiza Featherstone ,Columbia University ProfessorGayatri Spivak , andTemple University Political Science Chair Professor Joseph Schwartz. [ [http://www.ydsusa.org/news/justice-beyond-borders http://www.ydsusa.org/news/justice-beyond-borders] , accessed 2/24/07.]The group is currently headed by national organizer Erik Rosenberg, and is run by a coordinating committee consisting of two co-chairs, an International Secretary, anti-Racism Coordinator, Feminist Issues Coordinator, and several at-large members. The group has a number of current chapters and organizing committees across the country. The strongest are
University of Virginia-Wise ,Michigan State University ,Wichita State University inKansas , theCollege of Wooster inOhio , theUniversity of Central Arkansas United Leftist Front,Bowdoin College Democratic Left, Stuyvesant High School in New York City, the New York City Metro Chapter, and New Meadows High School in Las Vegas. YDS also has organizing committees and chapters atBowling Green State University inOhio ,MIT , and Edison High School inAlexandria, Virginia . Previous well-known chapters have included those atIthaca College ,Arizona State University ,University of Chicago ,James Madison University , theUniversity of Central Oklahoma , andBryn Mawr College . YDS also has numerous members at large without chapters, who usually work through other progressive groups to articulate an active democratic socialist presence in campus and community politics.External links
* [http://www.ydsusa.org Young Democratic Socialists]
* [http://www.bowdoin.edu/~alorch/demsoc/ Bowdoin College YDS]See also
*
Democratic Socialists of America
*Young People's Socialist League
*Worker Rights Consortium
*United Students Against Sweatshops
*Coalition of Immokalee Workers
*Students for a Democratic Society References
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