BY VERÓNICA POSES
This column is written and edited by the Young Socialists, an international organization of young workers, students, and other youth fighting for socialism. For more information about the YS, write P.O. Box 2396, New York, NY 10009. Tel: (212) 475-6482, Fax: (212) 388-1659.
MIAMI, Florida - "What do you think should be done in Yugoslavia?" asked a young Jamaican student at Florida International University, in a forum about Malcolm X sponsored by the Young Socialists here. He was referring to the need to demand that U.S. and NATO troops get out of Yugoslavia immediately. This and other questions, ranging from the Cuban revolution to how the ideas of Malcolm X are still useful today, reflected the diversity of topics touched on during the discussion.
The meeting, titled "Malcolm X: His Relevance Today," was the first of a series of forums the YS is planning on sponsoring at this university in the coming months. A total of 11 people attended. Part of successfully building this forum were the many discussions at tables set up with Pathfinder literature, along with the Militant newspaper and the Spanish magazine Perspectiva Mundial, the three days prior to the meeting.
The YS has also started a series of classes on the Communist Manifesto and is cosponsoring a class series on the book Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War, along with the Socialist Workers Party.
These activities are a central part of the efforts the Miami YS is making towards building the Young Socialists national convention in April, meeting its goal towards the $10,000 national YS fund drive, and building the U.S.-Cuba Youth Exchange this coming summer.
The youth exchange is a project of the National Network on Cuba to allow U.S. youth to see revolutionary Cuba for themselves.