The Young Socialists have been working together with these youth, inviting them to our weekly class series and participating in their teach-in on Colombia, where we discussed our opposition to U.S. intervention and military aid. This debate was a chance to get deeper into politics on the campus.

Turner began the debate by stating that the Socialist Workers candidates, James Harris and Margaret Trowe, are workers. "From Reagan to Clinton, the same program had been acted out. Both parties represent the same program of capitalism. Workers and youth will get social gains not through votes but through fights. We are still fighting to defend abortion rights, affirmative action, and bilingual education. The boom of capitalism has been only a boom for the ruling class."

Ana Ramírez, a high school student from Los Angeles and supporter of the Socialist Workers campaign, spoke in response to a question posed on the education system. Explaining what it means for working people, she said, "The purpose of school isn’t to educate us, but to train us for entering the workforce and to also train others to be bosses. School teaches students to not ask questions but to follow the rules, and it tries to prevent us from radicalizing."

The government teacher representing the Republican party interjected, "I force my students to participate." The Green Party representative said the problem is that "too much" money is spent on the military budget and not on the education system, while the Democratic Party representative said its nominee, Albert Gore, would hire 1 million new teachers.

The second question was about U.S. aid to Colombia and the "drug war." The only speaker to address the question of Colombia was Turner, who stated, "The so-called war on drugs is an excuse by Washington to have a military presence in Colombia in order to protect U.S. investment and maintain imperialist rule." The Republican representative spoke on drugs, saying that it was an urban epidemic. The Democratic spokesperson declined to talk about Colombia.

A question was raised by an audience member about how each party would find solutions for problems in society such as racism, police brutality, and women’s rights. The Green Party representative said the system of government should be made to work for "the people" and not for big business. The Democratic and Republican speakers stressed the need for "good education." Socialist Workers campaign supporter Turner stated that capitalism is the cause of the problems facing working people, and that the way forward is a fight for a workers and farmers government through a revolutionary workers movement, one in which young people will play a big part.

After the debate many students came to our table and said that they were interested in the Young Socialists. Many expressed agreement with a number of the positions expressed by the Socialist Workers campaign speaker during the debate, and were eager to learn more about the YS and our literature.  
 
 
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