Responding to the Rise of Fascism in the South and the Protestival: A View from UCF YDSA

• In Event: DeSantis’s Higher Education Agenda, Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), and Student Protest

Proposal

Socialist organizing under neoliberal capitalism is hard enough, but socialist organizing under the fascism that is Ron DeSantis’s government in Florida at times feels impossible. When you know no amount of public pressure will influence your state’s legislature it can feel like an impossible mountain to climb. In this presentation, I compare and contrast the experience of the University of Central Florida (UCF)-YDSA engaging in legislative pressure campaigns and in an innovative organizing tactic called the “Protestival”(a portmanteau of “protest” and “festival”).

Our chapter has engaged in several campaigns to influence policy at the local or national level including the October 6th Day of Student Action for Reproductive Justice and the 2022 transportation sales text resolution. These and other experiences have taught us that these are not effective methods for achieving meaningful victories or the growth and development of our organization. This is not to say that southern organizers should abandon state or even federal-level electoral work. Despite not having the power to undertake state-wide legislative pressure campaigns, involvement with state-wide pressure campaigns can be an effective mechanism for membership development and recruitment of non-member organizers when better alternatives don't exist or membership if an issue is deeply and widely felt so our presence is strategic. In response to the perceived disadvantages of legislative pressure campaigns, UCF organized the “Protestival.”

The “Protestival” centered political education and mutual aid in the center of our campus. The event was held by a broad student coalition but the majority of members, and the vast majority of the leadership, were a part of UCF YDSA. Over the course of the day around 400 people came out to hear speakers, participate in mutual aid projects, and visit our political education booths. We argue that this event was successful because it built on strategies developed from our previous practice that focused on the engagement of rank and file and winnable goal-setting.

Author

• Maria Alejandra Franzblau, Young Democratic Socialists of America at FIU