Vol. 71/No. 28      July 23, 2007

“In workshops and discussions, we met and developed relations with other young fighters looking for a way forward,” said Ben O’Shaughnessy, organizer of the YS National Steering Committee.

Young Socialists came here from 10 cities in three countries. The YS and Socialist Workers Party kept literature tables up at the different Forum venues, offering the Militant, New International, Pathfinder books, and a place to engage in political discussions.

“A lot of people have questions,” said Walker. "There are a billion problems in the U.S. People want to know why that is. In our discussions we find people don't have solutions."

“Young Socialists talked about a revolutionary working-class perspective," said O'Shaughnessy. “Pointing to the example of the massive mobilizations of immigrant workers for legalization over the past two years, Young Socialists were in the thick of a discussion with young people and workers trying to figure out the most effective ways to fight.”

One example was a workshop on reproductive rights, labor, and the environment sponsored by Choice USA, a national youth group that supports a woman’s right to choose abortion. Panelists described the superexploitation of flower pickers in Colombia by Dole, and how the use of pesticide by the fruit company was causing infertility in women.

Young Socialists joined this discussion, drawing on their experiences in fights for women's rights. Many were interested when YS members said that the biggest problem is the way the bosses put profits above human life, disregarding workers’ safety and devastating the environment in the process. They pointed to struggles for unionization as the first step toward safe working conditions and protection of the environment as well.

In one of many workshops on the social disaster in the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Young Socialists pointed to the revolutionary potential and solidarity of the working class, as demonstrated by how workers on their own organized to get thousands of people to safety, feed the hungry, and help the sick.

After the workshop, Denice Wade, a recent graduate from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, approached YS members to continue the discussion. She expressed interest in working with the YS further and decided to attend the upcoming Socialist Workers Party convention in Oberlin, Ohio, and the international YS meeting that will take place there afterwards.

“I just met the organization and found that I have been thinking a lot of the same things for a while,” said Wade. “I decided to go to the convention to find out more about the organization and the best way to be a part of the struggles today.”
 
 
Related articles:
‘We met people involved in the same struggle’
Thousands, many from U.S. South, share ideas, experiences at Social Forum in Atlanta
Hundreds at U.S. Social Forum buy ‘Militant’ and ‘New International’
‘We salute your struggles from behind prison walls’
Puerto Rican independence fighter speaks at U.S. Social Forum  
 
 
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