Scottish Socialist Youth
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| Scottish Socialist Youth | |
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| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Suite 308/310, Central Chambers, 94 Hope Street Glasgow, G2 6LD |
| Mother party | Scottish Socialist Party |
| Website | www.ssy.org.uk |
Scottish Socialist Youth (SSY) is the youth wing of the Scottish Socialist Party. They are an anti-capitalist, anti-racist and anti-globalisation organisation. SSY stands for the creation of an independent, socialist Scotland.
SSY publishes a magazine, Leftfield, with contributions from members and supporters. They also have a regular column in the Scottish Socialist Voice, the weekly newspaper of the SSP.
SSY enjoys good links with students in Scotland, particularly through various socialist societies at universities and colleges throughout the country, and has a strong online presence at their web forum.
They also organise an annual summer camp called 'Camp Secret Squirrel'.
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[edit] Campaigning
SSY have produced a charter outlining their policies, many of which are broadly similar to the SSP's. They have also been involved in campaigns for the legalisation of cannabis and were involved in the campaign against the G8 summit at Gleneagles. In June 2007, five members of the SSY were arrested at Faslane as part of the Faslane 365 campaign [1] They were also heavily involved in campaigning for the SSP during the 2005 UK general election and in the 2007 Scottish Parliament and council elections where a number of members stood as SSP candidate).
Currently they are campaigning against low pay for young workers, and are arguing for an £8 per hour minimum wage regardless of age. They have produced workers' rights cards to let young workers know what they are entitled to and how to get it. In November 07, the SSY in conjunction with the SSP LGBT Network organised a protest against Stagecoach after two young gay men were threatened with being thrown off a bus as one had their arm around the other [2].
[edit] Internal Democracy
Although the SSY is affiliated to the Scottish Socialist Party, it is an autonomous body and is open to all socialists (who aren't members of opposing parties) under 27 living in Scotland.
The day to day running of the SSY is the responsibility of the National Organiser, assisted by the National Executive Committee which plays a leadership role. The NEC is elected at the annual National Conference with its membership split equally between men and women. The National Organiser is also elected at the conference. Additionally, SSY has branches across Scotland that conduct activity in their area.
SSY held its sixth National Conference in Glasgow in November 2007.
[edit] Women's Group
SSY also have a self-organised women's group, to which all young women are invited. They first assembled at Camp Secret Squirrel, the SSY summer camp, in 2005 and have continued to meet since.
The aim of the Women's Group is to create a space for young socialist women to talk about the issues that affect them. The Women’s Group feel that, in a male dominated environment, young women can be sidelined and may feel that their opinion is less valid. The SSY Women’s Group aims to give young women confidence in their abilities.
At the SSY Conference 2005, the Women's Group decided that their main campaign would be on sex education, in particular, discouraging and campaigning against abstinence-only education which is currently being funded by the Scottish Executive to run in some state schools. Their campaign 'Fuck Abstinence!', involves giving information on reproductive rights to young women denied adequate sex education, has led some of the young women involved being sent graphic intimidatory literature by an anti-abortion group.
