1) CONFERENCE COUNTDOWN: 17 DAYS TO GO!
                  2) SPECIAL: SOCIALIST VIEWS ON THE AFL-CIO
                  3) UN REFORM: WHAT'S AT STAKE?
                  4) GERMAN POLITICS & THE EUROPEAN LEFT
                  5) ROBERTS TO AXE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS?
                  6) ENERGY BILL ACTION ALERT!              
                  7) YDS PDF: HIGHER EDUCATION & CAPITALISM

1) CONFERENCE COUNTDOWN: 17 DAYS TO GO!
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BUILDING THE NEXT LEFT
Ossining, NY (close to NYC)
weekend of AUGUST 12-14
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New information on the YDS conference page includes:

• Location & Directions
• Travel Tips & Fundraising
• Coordinating Committee & Activist Agenda

Please contact us if you have any questions about the conference of need help arranging your travel plans.  Remember that housing, food and other conference materials are included with your registration fee.  Plan your trip today!
Remember that plane tickets do get more expensive the more you wait! 
Check the following link for tips on finding cheap tickets:
MORE INFO & REGISTRATION: www.ydsusa.org/confs/nyc_0805.html


2) SPECIAL: DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST VIEWS ON THE AFL-CIO
We've been following the debates and historic developments within the labor movement in these email updates for some time.  In this special section we offer a series of viewpoints from democratic socialists about the crisis facing American labor and proposals for its future.

The following is an on-the-ground report from DSA National Director, Frank Llewellyn, from the floor of the AFL-CIO convention:
The AFL-CIO Convention passed a historic resolution today calling for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq "rapidly". The resolution passed by a near unanimous voice vote and represented a major victory for US Labor Against the War.  The resolution's passage will strengthen the position of anti-war trade unionists all over the country. Additionally the Federation sponsored a forum during the convention with visiting Iraqi trade unionists.  The Convention also passed resolutions on the economy and living standards. Today the Convention will take up resolutions on globalization.

The fight against CAFTA has been a major theme of this convention.  A group of twenty union presidents sent a letter to the House Democratic leadership last week protesting indications that some Democrats may break ranks and support CAFTA. What has outraged many is that the Democratic leadership had asked the unions to provide special support to a group of incumbents that include some of the defectors. Rumors abound that defectors will be punished.

This convention provides ample evidence that the political transformation of the labor movement that began with the election of John Sweeney has continued to an extraordinary degree. This is without a doubt the most left-wing convention in the history of the AFL-CIO. 

What few understand is that the rift in the trade union movement that emerged at this convention has nothing to do with the political direction of the labor movement. The anti-war resolution that passed today would have passed just as easily if the boycotting unions were present at the convention. The rift is about basic strategic orientation. Differences about basic strategy are extremely difficult to compromise because they touch many other questions and are more about the disposition of resources than a particular stance on an issue.
 
The rift will create a new dynamic in the labor movement with consequences that will only emerge over time. The task of those of us who support the labor movement is to continue to do just that, without regard for what side of this divide a union chose.

Steering and Splitting: A look at the mysteries of the AFL-CIO’s civil war
by Harold Meyerson (DSA Vice Chair, writer for Washington Post & American Prospect)
www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=10048

Stronger Together?
& AFL-CIO Merger Convention, 1956
by Daraka Larimore-Hall (former YDS National Organizer)
http://hoverbike.blogspot.com/

AFL-CIO Convention Calls For Troop Withdrawal From Iraq
by David Bacon (DSA member, journalist and photographer)
www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=8383

The Question of Working-Class Power
by Bill Fletcher Jr. (DSA member and president of TransAfrica Forum)
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/fletcher250705.html

Tiny Labor
by Barbara Ehrenreich (author of Nickeled and Dimed and DSA Honorary Chair)
http://progressive.org/?q=mag_tinylabor


3) UN REFORM: WHAT'S AT STAKE?
Not-So-Musical Chairs
The current debate over enlarging the U.N. Security Council distracts from more important reforms Kofi Annan has proposed.
by Ian Williams (DSA member, UN correspondent for The Nation)
www.alternet.org/story/23685/


4) GERMAN POLITICS & THE EUROPEAN LEFT
An analysis by DSA member Norman Birnbaum of the political situation in Germany and the crisis facing the German Left has ben posted to DSA's web site (www.dsausa.org). It is on the home page along with a special report by International Commission Co-Chair Stephan Peter.


5) ROBERTS TO AXE REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS?
Two Million for Roe: Join the Roe Call Now!
Do you want John Roberts to reveal his views about a woman's right to choose abortion before the Senate votes on whether to elevate him to the U.S. Supreme Court? If you're like more than half of Americans, your answer is a resounding yes. Join us in demanding that Roberts let us know if he will uphold the protections for women's health guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, or if he believes this decision should be overturned.

Sign the Two Million for Roe petition today and be listed among millions on our "Roe Call."
www.ppaction.org/campaign/roberts_roeCall/ui3wkd445ebi35


6) ENERGY BILL ACTION ALERT!
Without exaggeration (says the group Energy Justice), the single most environmentally-destructive national legislation ever -- the Energy Bill -- is close to being approved for Bush's signature.

Late Monday night, the House-Senate conference committee approved a final version of the energy bill.  We expect the bill to cruise through the House very soon, and to come to a vote in the Senate possibly by the end of this week ­- despite the fact that most legislators have not even seen the 1,000+ page bill yet!

PLEASE CALL YOUR U.S. SENATOR'S OFFICE IN DC THIS WEEK!!
ASK THEM TO SUPPORT A FILIBUSTER OF THE ENERGY BILL!
For info on which representatives to call, what's actually included in the proposed energy bill and what you can do about it, click here: www.energyjustice.net/energybill/


7) NEW PDF FROM YDS: "HIGHER EDUCATION & CAPITALISM"
We've added a new document on the YDS resource page that we encourage our activists and supporters to read, print out copies of and distribute to others.  "Higher Education and Capitalism," written by YDSer Peter Frase, is now available from our website in PDF format: www.ydsusa.org/statements/capitalism_and_higher_education.pdf

College, in the popular imagination, is still seen as both a time of freedom and experimentation, and as the gateway to future economic opportunity. Yet young people today are increasingly working harder and taking on debt just to get a degree whose value is increasingly open to question. At the same time, universities are increasingly being subordinated to the needs of the corporate world. This following brief overview aims to show how this crisis has developed, and how the ideal of universal higher education has come into conflict with the political priorities of ultra-free-market capitalist ideology which currently dominates American politics.

The student movement in the United States is weak compared to most other countries. Powerful student unions and progressive governments elsewhere have advanced higher education as a universal right—often provided to students free of charge—and not simply as a privilege for those who can afford it. Such achievements, typically made possible in societies where there is a stronger socialist presence, are important to keep in mind as we work to defend student interests in the United States and around the world. We suggest that in addition to being an important part of fighting for social justice and equality in the present day, a robust, high-quality, accessible public education system can be part of the fight for a world which is not based on exploitation and economic inequality—a world beyond capitalism.

YDS Resource page: www.ydsusa.org/resources.html



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