YDS SOCIALIST SUMMER RETREAT

 

Friday August 6th

5:00 – 7:00            

Check-in and Dinner

7:00 – 9:00            

Radical Feminism Past and Future:

with Liza Featherstone & Peg Strobel

 

Saturday August 7th 

9:30 – 10:00          

Breakfast Served (POC Caucus and White Aux)

10:15 – 11:45       

Group Evaluation of Strategic Planning

Facilitated by Amber Frost

The Young Democratic Socialists adopted a Five-Year strategic plan at the last summer conference. As we head into the second year of our five-year agenda, we’ve had some success (such as a new website) and need to reassess our goals and achievements. We’ll have a group discussion about our progress and set goals for 2010-2011.  

 

11:45 – 12:00       

Break
                          

12:00 – 1:00          

Facilitation Workshop

Facilitated by Maria Svart

Group facilitation and plenary moderation are important skills for activists. Skilled facilitators can control problematic audience members while encouraging the participation of everyone, especially those who might be more timid. YDS leaders need this skill to build their own chapters through everything from participatory planning meetings to interactive public events. This workshop will review some basic guidelines for creating a safe and democratic space, and tricks for shutting down purposely disruptive people and unintentionally dominating people. All YDS leaders should attend as it will help build your chapter as well as prepare for moderating workshops or plenaries at the winter outreach conference.

 

1:00 – 2:30           

Lunch Served (Women’s Caucus & Men’s Aux)

2:30 – 4:00        

Workshop Block A

a) Immigration & the Labor Movement

Facilitated by Jackie Sewell and Chris Hicks

The national struggle for immigrant rights is the next American Civil Rights social movement. Similar to the battle for African-American equality, the cause for immigration reform experiences ebbs and flows. The recent rally of hundred of thousands in DC in March and the passage Arizona’s bigoted law, however, show the issue will permeate American public discourse.   In addition, US labor unions are contributing resources to fight for a sane migration policy.   Young socialists need to discuss how to relate to both the American labor and immigrant rights movements on our campuses and communities.

b) How To: Socialist Education

Facilitated by Tatiana Guerrero

Sadly, the practice of socialist education is being lost in our movement. Today, fewer comrades take the time to read and discuss theory, history, and vision of socialism. Our radical culture is losing praxis – the combination of theory and action. This workshop will show YDS members how to conduct valuable internal socialist education. Such pedagogy is critical not only to creating socialists, but laying the foundation for our organization’s existence as a home for organic intellectuals and grassroots activists. We shall use parts of an upcoming reader for mutual learning and teaching about socialist history and beliefs.

c) WTF Economy

Facilitated by Joe Schwartz

WTF will try to make accessible (and empower YDS's to explain themselves) how the transformation of global capitalism from a "Fordist"/industrial model to a "post-Fordist" FIRE (financial, insurance, real estate) model of "making money from money" led to a global crisis of overproduction (by industrial workers in newly industrializing states) and under-consumption (by exploited, underpaid workers around the globe).

 

4:00 – 6:30        

Pick-up Sports/Swimming

 

6:30 – 8:00        

Dinner Served (Queer Caucus and Straight Aux)

 

8:00                   

Miley Cyrus’ Socialist Party in the USA

 

Sunday August 8th 

8:45 – 9:45        

Breakfast Served

 

9:45 – 11:15      

Workshop Block B

a) Student Debt

Facilitated by Amber Frost

By the time they graduate, nearly two-thirds of students at four-year colleges and universities have student loan debt (66.4% in 2004). Learn how the quickly rising cost of education is causing more people to borrow more money than they ever have, not only financially crippling young Americans, but deterring the working class from higher education. Learn about how to hold both the lending institutions and the schools responsible, and be an active voice against education price-gouging.

b) Green Socialism

Facilitated by Sean Monahan and Chris Hicks

The BP oil spill is another tragic example of why America – and the world – needs to adopt renewable and clean energy sources. Such “green technology” offers not only the hope of a sustainable environment, but a source for good jobs during a recession. Sean Monahan and Chris Hicks discuss how YDS can be the red (socialist) leaven of campus blue (labor) and green (environmentalist) coalitions as part of a larger Activist Agenda conversation.

c) Maintaining a Chapter

Facilitated by Tatiana Guerrero and Andrew Porter

This workshop focuses on how to run your chapter after you have started it. This includes maintaining members, finding new ones, and figuring out what to do with your chapter. This is a must attend for people who are in existing chapters who want to ensure their further existence.

 

11:15 – 11:30    

Break

 

11:30 – 12:00    

Presentation of Activist Agenda Items

 

12:00 – 1:00      

Working Lunch (CC elections)

 

1:00 – 2:00        

Finalization of Activist Agenda Items

 

2:00 --                 Goodbyes

 

Tremendous THANKS go out to everyone who made this event possible!