Cal Poly YDSA

The heart of any activist coalition has and likely will remain to be college students (and those who are college aged). From the Anti-War movement in response to America’s Imperialist War in Vietnam to the Occupy Movement following the 2008 Economic Collapse young adults have been at the core of activism. With this in mind, it is key to DSA-San Luis Obispo County that the students of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) have a home and a role in our activism and democratic socialist organizing. With over 20,000 students in total Cal Poly students play a key role in both the economic and cultural life of the city of San Luis Obispo, and the county as a whole. The Young Democratic Socialists of America at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (YDSA of Cal Poly) was founded in the Winter Quarter of 2022 to address the concerns and yearning of the students of Cal Poly for a better world, country, state, county, city, and campus for all.

The YDSA of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo believes that the climate catastrophe, oppression of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people, second class citizenship of people who experience poverty, destructive nature of the criminal justice system, and the disregard and exploitation of the global South is and has been upheld by a white supremacist, heteronormative, laissez-faire capitalist system in the United States. It is the belief of the YDSA of Cal Poly SLO that democratic socialism is the most effective path toward ending uprooting those systems of oppression. While it may be the belief of the organizing that democratic socialism is the most effective way to abolish said oppressive structures, we remain open to working with those who seek to abolish said structures from different ideological perspectives or socialist tendencies.

If you are interested in more information about the YDSA of Cal Poly, you may email them at ydsacalpoly@gmail.com or follow them on Instagram at @ydsa_calpoly.