1) FALL ORGANIZING DRIVE CONTINUES...
                           2) "LIBERAL" ECONOMICS VS. "RADICAL" ECONOMICS
                           3) A SUMMER OF 'DAMAGE CONTROL'
                           4) MORE PROGRESSIVE ANALYSIS & RESPONSE TO KATRINA
                           5) YDS FEMINIST ISSUES COORDINATOR ON CNN!
                           6) OCT. 20: NATIONAL YOUNG WOMEN'S DAY OF ACTION

1) YDS FALL ORGANIZING DRIVE CONTINUES...
We're still busy receiving requests from YDS members and activists across the country asking for organizing materials, looking to set up events, and hoping to network with other socialists in their areas.  We're currently working on a comprehensive speaker and faculty contact list to help our activists network and put together popular education events.  If you're looking for socialist professors or community members around you, drop us a line.

If you are organizing a YDS chapter, looking for help, want to organize a teach-in at your school, or simply have questions about what YDS is up to these days and how you can contribute, don't hesitate to contact the National Organizer, Elizabeth Rothschild.  She can be reached at the YDS office: 212-727-8610 ext. 24 or via email at: elizabeth@dsausa.org.

Don't forget to check out our website from time-to-time to check out new items or read through the 2005-6 Activist Agenda: www.ydsusa.org. You can also find out more about next weekend's Mid-South Conference of the Left (sponsored by a YDS chapter at the University of Central Arkansas) at our website.  And keep us posted on how your organizing is going.  Email us or give us a call!


2) "LIBERAL" ECONOMICS VS. "RADICAL" ECONOMICS
Dear Dr. Dollar: What is the difference between how a "radical" or "progressive" economist and a "liberal" economist looks at things? It seems like there are plenty of liberal economists around today who are critical of the administration's economic policies.
Response from Dr. Dollar (aka Ellen Frank): www.dollarsandsense.org/1104dollar.html
by Ellen Frank (DSA member, D&S collective member and economic analyst)


3) A SUMMER OF 'DAMAGE CONTROL'
Is the mainstream media taking a more adversarial stance to US foreign policy objectives? At first glance, this might seem to be the case, given all of the discussion in the media, especially this past summer, on events involving US human rights violations in detention facilities -- Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, etc. Commenting on the exposure of outsourcing torture, Columbia Journalism Review's Deputy Executive Editor proclaims that "Thanks to the news media of the world, the American people are finding out, a little more each day.
by Mark Major (YDS member, master's candidate at William Paterson University)
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=8873


4) MORE PROGRESSIVE ANALYSIS & RESPONSE TO KATRINA
DSA statement on New Orleans Disaster:
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has released a statement on the failure of government responses to the crisis initiated by Hurricane Katrina. The statement, among other things, says that the Hurricane and its aftermath "exposed the institutional racism and disdain for the poor that remain ingrained in the fabric of our society." The statement argues that the failed response of government agencies was caused by the attacks on government by both Republican and Democratic Administrations over the last thirty years.

The statement makes recommendations for a "bottom-up recovery that is transparent, inclusive and fully funded." Among other things the statement calls on Congress to implement a needs-based system of rationing of home heating oil.

The statement has been posted in a PDF format as an attractive leaflet so that local YDS groups may download, copy and distribute it. To go directly to the statement, click here: www.dsausa.org/pdf/New%20Orleans%20Flyer.pdf

Contribute to Katrina Relief through the DSA Fund: www.dsausa.org/LatestNews/2005/Relief.html

The Moving Ideas Network released a report, "Katrina: Progressive Policy and Action Guide."
The guide is a compilation of resources from the progressive community on these policy issues. In addition, the guide provides opportunities to help Katrina victims, rethink our nation's priorities and hold government accountable for its failed response. Policy resources cover issues from relief efforts, race & poverty, and children & families to homeland security, the environment, media coverage, and the role of government & its accountability. The guide is continuously updated. www.movingideas.org/content/en/katrina_policy_action.htm

New Issue of Facing South Covers Politics of Katrina
Facing South is a newsletter covering news and trends in the South, published by the Institute for Southern Studies and Southern Exposure magazine. The latest edition of Facing South includes important reports from the Gulf and a breakdown of the what's going terribly wrong in the Hurricane's aftermath and how the progressive community is organizing in response: www.southernstudies.org


5) YDS FEMINIST ISSUES COORDINATOR ON CNN!
Congrats to YDS Feminist Issues Coordinator Amanda Singer!  She was recently on a CNN program regarding parental consent laws, which essentially require minors seeking an abortion to notify their parents. We asked her to write up a little blurb about the experience.

"As young people, we know parental consent laws can be a major barrier for young women seeking an abortion, for a variety of reasons.  This is, of course, exactly why the right-wing is pushing the legislation.
 
However, I also mentioned several times in the CNN interview that we need to expand social services in order to achieve real reproductive freedom, since many poor women have no way to exercise a legal right to an abortion if they can't afford it.  This socialist-feminist perspective is missing even in much of the mainstream feminist movement, and unsurprisingly, CNN edited that part out of the program.

CNN also implied in the program that when I had an abortion, I kept it a secret.  In fact, I have spoken out very publicly about my own abortion and in support of reproductive freedom.  By doing so, I hope to remind people that the shame our society forces on women who seek abortions is one way that patriarchy operates.  When people are shamed, they are silenced, and while many women will seek an abortion during their lifetime, public shaming strengthens the oppression of all women.

For these reasons, I work with YDS to promote a world where women can get a free abortion on demand, without shame, but she can also carry her baby to term and raise him or her in a society that supports everyone with universal health care and strong social services, regardless of class or race."

If you missed the CNN program, it will re-air this weekend. Amanda's interview is one of a 4 part one-hour program on issues that the new Supreme Court will address. The segment on abortion that features Amanda is the second part, and it appears about 12-15 minutes into the hour-long program. So, if you want to see Amanda's national TV debut, here are the dates and times on CNN where you can see it: Saturday October 8: 6am, 3pm, 8pm, 11pm  or  Sunday October 9: 6am, 7pm

Amanda has spoken at the March for Women's Lives in NYC; she gave an interview in the new film documentary, "The Abortion Diaries;" and she has spoken at and organized the Annual Abortion Speak-Out at the conference, "From Abortion Rights to Social Justice: Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom," which we encourage all YDSers to attend next spring if you can!


6) OCTOBER 20th IS THE NATIONAL YOUNG WOMEN'S DAY OF ACTION
The 2005 National Day of Action is a call for young people to unite in solidarity across movements, to feel our power, and to secure our freedom. The mission of the Day of Action encompasses the need to make connections between oppressions and between movements, recognizing that while any of us are oppressed, all of us are oppressed.

The National Day of Action is organized every October by young people in their communities. The National Day of Action inspires grassroots activity to fight for reproductive and sexual freedoms, racial and economic justice, and calls for an end to violence in our communities. Actions have included teach-ins, marches, speak-outs, candlelight vigils, street theatre, poetry jams and slams, art exhibits, sex education workshops, petition drives, pay equity bake sales, clothesline projects, and fundraisers for local organizations.

The National Day of Action was organized to commemorate the death of Rosie Jimenez and to mobilize a grassroots campaign of young people working to empower and educate members of their communities. Rosie died because she did not have access to a funded, safe and legal abortion. She was the first known victim of the Hyde Amendment, which denies women federal Medicaid funding for abortions. While the violence done to Rosie illustrates the violence done to female-bodied people, poor people, and people of color, violence impacts us all and is something against which we can take action.

This year, we are asking all National Day of Action 2005 participants to direct their efforts toward the struggle against violence. Many of us have seen violence put our communities in danger countless times. Many of us have lived violence, many of us have witnessed violence, and many of us have survived violence. Now together, all of us will fight violence. We must unite in our streets, neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and communities and work across class, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and age to confront, resist, and speak out against violence. Let us work together towards a world in which every body, every vision, and every voice is heard, respected and valued.

For more info & a comprehensive organizing guide click here: http://clpp.hampshire.edu/projects/nda/

YDS endorsed the Young Women's Day of Action in our 2005-6 Activist Agenda.  To read the whole Activist Agenda, check out: / www.ydsusa.org/aboutyds.html#do



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