1) PLANNING FOR AFTER THE WINTER BREAK
                   2) MORE YDS POST-ELECTION ANALYSIS & STRATEGY                
                   3) DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS IN THE NEWS
                   4) BUSH ADMIN. BASHES YOUTH: FIGHT BACK!
                   5) ACTION: PROTEST BUSH INAUGURATION ON JAN. 20

1) PLANNING FOR AFTER THE WINTER BREAK
Collect info and prepare for what comes next
If you are a student, here are a few suggestions for starting the spring semester ready to make some noise.  In the last few days before leaving your high school or college campus, make sure you have the contact info for all the students in your school’s YDS chapter or others interested in progressive activism.  Send this contact info to us if they want to sign-up for our email updates or would like to get more involved with YDS.  Having this contact info will also help you spread the word about post-break plans.  Start thinking now about what campaigns, teach-ins or mobilizations you hope to organize and let us know if you’re short on ideas or resources.  And if you’ve thought about starting a YDS chapter but haven’t done so yet, or perhaps your group needs a little jump-start, remember that the new semester is the perfect time to get things moving.
 
Have a YDS organizer visit your campus/community
Throughout the winter and into the spring, the YDS office will be scheduling visits to high school and college campuses across the country.  A YDS organizer can come to speak at a teach-in, conduct trainings and/or help you build your YDS chapter.  Please notify YDS’ Field Coordinator as soon as you can if you would like to arrange a visit: malav@dsausa.org
 
Get involved with our committees / submit your work to The Activist        
With your free time, maybe you want to get involved with one of YDS’ committees?  Check out www.ydsusa.org/contact.html for our Anti-racist, International, National Organizing, Feminist and New Directions committees.  Maybe you want to submit an essay, a book, film or music review, propose an article idea or send it some art work for the upcoming issue of YDS’ magazine The Activist?  Contact the magazine’s publisher at: crisistheory@yahoo.com and check out www.theactivist.org for more details.

Get ready for the YDS Outreach Conference
Stay tuned for details about our annual kick-@ss conference to take place in New York City in a just a few months.  This is THE event you’ll want to come to and organize a group from your school/community to attend.  You won’t want to miss it!


2) MORE POST-ELECTION ANALYSIS AND STRATEGY
The full text of YDS’ statement on the aftermath of the 2004 elections and our continued work against the policies of the Bush administration is now available from our website (in text and PDF form).  Feel free to circulate it to others. http://www.ydsusa.org/statements/2004post.html
 
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) National Director Frank Llewellyn criticized Democratic party leaders and operatives who wanted to use the election results to "push the Democrats even further into the grasp of large corporations" in an article recently released, entitled, “Mourn, But Organize”.  It is available in downloadable form on DSA's web site: www.dsausa.org.


3) DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS IN THE NEWS
FleeAmerica.com
by Barbara Ehrenreich (Honorary Chair of the Democratic Socialists of America-DSA)
http://www.progressive.org/jan05/ehren0105.html

Wall-Mao: Sure, you can unionize at Wal-Mart. Just move to China.
by Harold Meyerson (DSA Vice Chair, writer for L.A Weekly, Washington Post & American Prospect)
http://www.prospect.org/web/printfriendly-view.ww?id=8911

San Francisco hotel workers display ABCs of how to conduct a contract fight
by Michael Hirsch (writer, trade unionist and member of the DSA National Political Committee)
http://www.uft.org/news/teacher/labor/abcs/


4) BUSH ADMIN. BASHES YOUTH: FIGHT BACK!
It doesn't get talked about much in the press, but the Bush administration is accelerating its attacks on the rights and livelihoods of young people in this country.  Below we've highlighted some of the major policy areas where Bush, the corporate elite and/or the religious Right are running amok.  This is followed by an article from a YDS member on how to build a better and bigger student/youth movement to stand up to these attacks while advancing progressive politics.

Pell Grants:
In most so-called advanced countries (especially the ones with strong socialist movements), higher-education is considered a right, not a privilege for the few.  In the U.S., however, the cost of attending college has sky-rocketed over the last few decades as right-wing government policies have shifted the burden of paying for school into the backs on working families.  Loans are replacing grants.  Under Bush' first 3 years in office alone, tuition costs went up an average of 30% across to country for colleges and universities.  And now they're planning to slash Pell Grant funds even more.  We need a student movement strong enough to stand up to these attacks!  It's time to tell the incoming Education Secretary, Margaret Spellings, not to cut the Pell Grant program that over 1 million students from working families rely on to afford college. Tell her that no American child should be priced out of a college education if they have the desire to pursue one. http://www.ourfuture.org/defend_Pell_Grants.cfm

Sex Education:
This same Margaret Spelling (Bush' nominee for Department of Education) is also a fellow "abstinence-only" advocate.  The Bush gang continues to promote dangerous and unrealistic policies regarding sex education in our schools.  A recent report from Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) found that most abstinence-only curricula teach inaccurate or misleading information. What could these programs be getting wrong? Some state that condoms "could allow sperm, STI, or HIV to pass through" them at a "microscopic level." One curriculum states that just touching another person's genitals "can result in pregnancy." Other programs reinforce unfounded stereotypes about men and women: "Women gauge their happiness and judge their success by relationships. Men's happiness and success hinge on their accomplishments." We cannot allow these abstinence-only programs to receive any additional funding increases.  And we can't let Bush name another fanatic as the new Health and Human Services Secretary, who will control funding for "abstinence-only" programs, to replace outgoing Tommy Thompson. It's time for comprehensive, reality-based sex education!  For more information or to take action, click here: http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/hhs_scty_12_04/uwnu73rfjktixk

Social Security:
Despite Bush's claims during his reelection campaign that his proposal to overhaul Social Security would not cut retirement benefits, top White House economic adviser Larry Mankiw admitted recently the president's plan to privatize Social Security would in fact include major cuts in guaranteed benefits for future retirees.  Yeah it's hard to imagine, now... but WE are the retirees they're talking about.  Our generation will be saddled with the enormous debts racked up by Bush' failed economic policies and tax cuts for the rich and now they're threatening us with market-driven schemes to cut Social Security?  WTF?!? 

It's Time to Look to the Campus: If progressives want to rebuild their political infrastructure, then nurturing a vibrant and organized progressive movement among students should be a major priority.
by Ben Waxman (Sophomore YDSer at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA)
http://www.alternet.org/wiretap/20644/


5) ACTION: PROTEST BUSH INAUGURATION ON JAN. 20th
YDSers will be in Washington, D.C. between Jan. 14th and Jan. 23rd.  The week starts off the a student/labor solidarity conference for activists working against the multi-service food industry giants (Sodexho, Compass, Aramark), goes on to the inauguration protests mentioned below, and ends with a face-to-face meeting of the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition (of which YDS is a member) and a conference being organizing by the Progressive Democrats of America.  If you plan on being in D.C. for any of these dates, would like to meet up with other YDSers and/or need help arranged for housing or transportation, please contact us.
 
On Thursday, January 20, 2005, George W. Bush will be inaugurated as president of the United States. For the millions of us who stand for the values of peace and justice, it is a moment to renew our commitment to resist the Bush administration and its deadly policies.  It’s a time to show that our movement is energized, mobilized, and determined to keep fighting back. 
 
We urge everyone who can to converge in Washington, DC on January 20 to participate in the creative, powerful protest activities and to meet with other YDSers.  We also urge groups around the country to organize local protest and/or educational events on January 20, to provide opportunities for all those who can’t make it to Washington to take a public and visible stand for peace and justice and to invigorate our movement of resistance in every corner of the United States. Be sure to list your activities on the United for Peace and Justice (of which YDS is a coalition member) website calendar at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/events


 
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