Long Beach State gains new political group on campus

With socialism rising in popularity across college campuses according to Reason.com, Cal State Long Beach has finally joined the party as the Youth Democratic Socialists of America held its first official recruitment meeting in the library Thursday.

Organizers of the event saw around 10 students gathered into a cubicle on the fifth floor of the library, including members of parent organizations Democratic Socialists of America branches in Long Beach and Los Angeles.

“I was involved with DSA Long Beach in their anti-racism committee and fighting for a sanctuary city,” Jordan Doering, a senior mechanical engineering major said. “When I heard [the university] was getting its own youth branch I was excited since my school schedule doesn’t allow me to go to the DSA’s night meetings.”

The leftist movement has seen a resurgence in America recently, largely in part with democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and his support for democratic socialism. The movement focuses largely on issues of economic equality, feminism and racial equality.

Ana Leon, a junior economics major and founding member of the Long Beach youth branch, began the night with an overview of the organization, a brief history of its creation and its political stances and ideals. She also discussed the effects of capitalism and how it differs from progressive beliefs.

“Capitalism is all about making a profit,” Leon said. “That’s why six companies are in charge of all major media outlets; because there’s money to be made with the news.”

Over 90 percent of media outlets in America are controlled by six corporations: GE, Disney, News Corp, Time Warner, Viacom and CBS. In an exercise during the meeting, students were asked to list an example of a time where media skewed their view of society.

Andrew Mandujano, a senior business management major and founding member, addressed Disney’s portrayal of body types in its television network.

“Growing up a lot on Disney, I always got a sense of what was considered an appropriate body type,” Mandujano said. “I was 240 pounds when I was younger and I always noticed the roles characters with my body type would play.”

Immediate goals for the group during the upcoming semester have yet to be determined, but will generally be geared toward fighting for the needs of students and campus employees on issues such as tuition and pay.

“The thing about [the group] is it’s specifically geared towards progressive ideals,” Doering said. “And that’s pretty broad, but it can be applied to fight for many improvements for students’ daily lives.”

The democratic socialists will not be the only political group at Long Beach State, with republican group Turning Point USA being a rising political organization on campus.

Though following different sets of ideas, members of the group are eager to work alongside Turning Point and hope to find common ground between the passionate political organizations on campus.

A tabling event will take place on Monday from 10 a.m. to noon where members will provide information about the group and hand out free scantrons and green books.

This article was edited on Dec. 11 to correct the spelling of Andrew Mandujano’s name.