YDS Conference Report Back

"Life After Bush" Conference a Success
 
Life After Bush: Youth Activism & The Fight For Our Future (original conference description)

        "Life After Bush: Youth Activism & the Fight for Our Future," the recent YDS national conference at New York's City University, attracted over 300 young activists from across the country.  Participants came from as far away as California, Arizona, Texas and Minnesota, with a hefty showing from the northeast.  With turnout far exceeding expectations, feedback from the diverse crowd of high school, college, and graduate student was overwhelmingly positive.
 
        "Life After Bush" addressed the challenges of the 2004 elections, prospects for building the youth and student wing of the Dump Bush movement, and long-term strategies for progressive change.   Eighteen workshops and major plenary sessions covered a wide range of pressing economic, social and ideological matters together with foreign and public policy options.  Rutgers professor Stephen Eric Bronner led a well-received presentation on democratic socialism.  Patterson University professor and London Tribune columnist John Mason offered alternatives to the U.S.-led occupation, observing that the "bring the troops home now" slogan is insufficient, given the dangers of civil war, Islamic fundamentalism and pervasive insecurity in Iraq.  A series of well-attended workshops detailed the nuts-and-bolts of electoral activism, lead by veteran campaigners from trade unions and the NY DSA-affiliated fusion Working Families Party.  Other topics included gay marriage and LGBTQ rights, student-labor solidarity, civil liberties, the global justice movement, campus anti-war activism, high school organizing, and a slideshow presentation on the economy. 
           
        "Beating the Bush Agenda," was the topic of the opening plenary, with CUNY professor and DSA Honorary Chair Frances Fox Piven, Temple professor and DSA Steering Committee Chair Joseph Schwartz, along with United for Peace and Justice National Coordinator Leslie Cagan.  They commented on various facets of the Bush administrations' regressive "achievements," deficits in the Democratic Party "opposition", and the need to build a broad base of social forces capable of ensuring regime change in November and channeling anti-Bush crusades into an increasingly influential leftist national presence.
 
        "The Future of Radical Democracy," brought together Steve Max of the Midwest Academy, Princeton professor and DSA Honorary Chair Cornel West, and Bertha Lewis, Executive Director of New York ACORN and co-chair of the Working Families Party.  Max opened with a humorous tale of past ultra-leftist follies, then contrasted how the Right in the U.S. had largely succeeded in propagating a clear anti-government, unifying vision--bridging the values of cultural conservatives and the economic elite.  He said what remains of the Left lacks a coherent set of ideals and programmatic alternatives of its own.  For Max, and many other speakers throughout the weekend, democratic socialism provided such an alternative.  Bertha Lewis addressed the large crowd by regaling them with her experiences as a grassroots organizer working on day-to-day struggles and winnable electoral battles.  Cornel West told us of the intellectual, ethical, and humanistic requisites for a life-long commitment to social change. 
 
        "Life After Bush" also provided an excellent opportunity for young people to plug into various activist campaigns and mobilizations, including the  "Books Not Bombs" day of action spearheaded by the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (YDS is an active member), where high school and college-aged activists across the country rallied against the domestic effects of Bushism: massive tuition increases, an expansion of working-class targeted military recruitment, curtailment of civil liberties, fewer prospects for securing meaningful employment, and the continued collusion between some university departments, the Pentagon and private weapon manufacturers.
 
        Several other mass mobilizations were highlighted over the course of the weekend.  Leslie Cagan of United for Peace and Justice encouraged attendees to organize "The World Still Says No to War" international day of action, marking the one-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.  Workshop presenter Zenaida Mendez, the National Organization of Women's (NOW) Director of Racial Diversity Programs, and tablers from Planned Parenthood, promoted the "March for Women's Lives" demonstration in Washington D.C.  Representatives from the grassroots organizations FURY, Still We Rise, Racial Justice 9-11 and NYC Summer detailed plans for the Republican National Convention protests taking place in NYC from late August to early September. 
 
            The success of "Life After Bush" is one manifestation of the widespread desire among young activists to meet the challenges of this critical election year.  With the stakes set tremendously high, there is a real sense that our collective efforts may indeed change the course of history and send Dubya packing to Crawford, Texas.  The goal of the Young Democratic Socialists in these coming months is to help organize this anti-Bush current into various grassroots initiatives around the country, registering voters, doing issue education on campuses and in local communities, articulating our approach to electoral politics, and making the case that regime change in Washington is only the first step in a sustained effort to radically improve America in the interests of peace, democracy and social justice. 
 
        To this end, YDS is organizing a Summer Activist Institute in NYC this summer for students and youth who want to plug into the extensive ongoing mobilizations, as well as spend time with other democratic socialists to design campaigns, discuss theory/practice and have a great time.  We welcome your ideas and support in developing this initiative.  YDS organizers are also visiting campuses speaking at teach-ins on the Dump Bush movement and the 2004 elections.  Please contact me to arrange a visit in your area.
 
Lucas Shapiro is the National Organizer of the Young Democratic Socialists.  He can be reached at: lucas@dsausa.org or (212) 727-8610 ext. 24

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