A U.S. House Committee is demanding access to a union’s internal communications after it passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza—a move that threatens both the Palestine solidarity movement and the rights of organized labor.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce sent the subpoena to the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys (ALAA-UAW Local 2325) in March, after the union passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire, an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and support for workers’ political speech. 

The committee, chaired by Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), is the same congressional body that held hearings with the presidents of Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the pretext of investigating antisemitism on college campuses. These hearings, and the ensuing criticisms from neoliberal and conservative voices, led to the resignations of the presidents of Penn and Harvard. Now the committee is using its wide latitude of discretionary powers along with antisemitism as a pretense to silence union criticism of Israel and infringe on workers’ constitutional rights.

The committee justifies its invasive legal inquiry in its cover letter under the pretext that “several of Local 2325’s members were forced to be associated with a union that had taken a critical position affecting their faith, the State of Israel, and Israel’s sovereignty.” Alarmingly, in the text of the cover letter to the subpoena, the committee indicates that it may also be using this investigation to look into “whether there is a need to make reforms to the NLRA [National Labor Relations Act] or LMRDA [Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act] to protect labor union members’ rights, to ensure that labor unions act in a manner that advances members’ interests, and to provide appropriate transparency to all members,” indicating that the Committee may have a larger agenda in play.

The Committee’s reasons for inquiry are dubious. After all, the first amendment of the Constitution protects political speech and the right to assembly in particular. The union’s resolution is clearly within the protections of the first amendment as a piece of political writing. Moreover, the union’s resolution was voted on by its members and passed by a considerable margin (1067 to 570).

The content of the resolution itself was devoid of explicitly or implicitly antisemitic language—a viewpoint reinforced in a statement signed by over 100 Jewish members of the ALAA. Titled “Not in Our Name: Never Again is Now”, the statement affirms that the members “stand with the Palestinian people because of [their] Jewish values, not despite them” and that the members “categorically reject the dishonest conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism”. The statement also condemns the committee’s inquiry as part of a “new McCarthyism” that “attacks all who speak out against the current atrocity in Gaza,” reaffirms the demands made in the ALAA’s resolution, and further demands that Congress overturn House Resolution 894, which states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism—a conflation and obfuscation which has been used to silence criticism of Israel in the past.

The resolution was penned after Palestinian trade unions issued a statement calling for unionists worldwide to pressure governments to stop all military funding for Israel, take action against companies involved in Israel’s brutal and illegal siege, and pass motions to this effect. It also draws attention to the genocidal public statements made by Israeli public officials following October 7, as well as Israel’s genocidal bombing campaign in Gaza and the death toll of 11,000 Palestinians at the time of the resolution’s writing. In accordance with the ALAA’s values as a union of legal workers serving the people of New York City, the ALAA calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, an end to Israeli apartheid and the occupation and blockade of Palestinian land, sea, and air by Israeli military forces. The ALAA opposes all existing and any future military aid to Israel, endorses Not on Our Dime legislation, supports the right of all Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland, and resoundingly rejects all attempts to intimidate workers for their political speech on Palestine.

The committee’s inquiry into the ALAA’s activities arrives on the eve of their hearing with the administration of Columbia University, where bad faith allegations of antisemitism were used to punish universities for not fully repressing student protests of Israel and Columbia University’s ties to Israel. The Committee’s recent attacks on the ALAA along with its continued attacks on political speech on university campuses suggest that it is making a concerted effort to silence intellectual dissent and workers’ protest of the government’s continued support of Israel. The government of the United States has long been a funder of Israel and its genocidal and illegal policies towards Palestinians—and callous statements from U.S. public officials show no indication that the government intends to cut Israel’s funding.

The ALAA responded to the subpoena on March 25, 2024 and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and Levy Ratner sent a letter on behalf of the ALAA, rightfully objecting to the Committee’s specific requests as overbroad and invasive. The union has refused to share any documents with the Committee that are not already publicly available. “ALAA stands behind our resolution and the democratic processes that led to its overwhelming passage. We are proud to be part of the growing movement of unions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. We continue to condemn all forms of antisemitism and Islamophobia, and reject the harmful rhetoric that conflates anti-zionism with antisemitism. Our membership will not be intimidated into abandoning our core principles, including advancing the interests of working people worldwide by this blatant attack on organized labor” said Leah Duncan, ALAA Financial Secretary-Treasurer.

DSA’s International Committee expressed support for the ALAA when the NY Supreme Court wrongfully blocked the union from voting on its ceasefire resolution back in November 2023. Labor unions have a right to political speech, and, as an organization, DSA recognizes the protection of this right as central to the struggle for socialism. Further solidarity efforts are necessary to support the ALAA in its struggle against the McCarthyite House Committee’s legal probe, however. As the HCEW intensifies its efforts to silence any political speech that is pro-Palestine in both the workplace and in higher education, DSA in turn must amplify the efforts of labor unions to resist congressional overreach. This may well be a critical moment where a positive outcome would strengthen the rights of labor unions and curtail the HCEW’s power and influence.

The just armed resistance in Palestine, as well as Israel’s heinous crimes against humanity perpetrated in the wake of the Palestinian resistance’s counteroffensive, has become a point of primary contradiction in the struggle against American imperialism. The ruling class interests clearly align with continuing to support the settler-colonial entity known as Israel. The working masses recognize that the Palestinian cause is righteous. It is the duty of socialists and the American working class to oppose the government’s imperialist policies in solidarity with, and in the interest of, the global working class and the Palestinian people in particular. To that end, New York City DSA and the National Labor Commission must publicly and institutionally support the ALAA’s fight against state repression, and condemn the House Committee on Education and the Workforce as anti-labor and anti-Palestinian. 

Ask yourselves: what kind of precedent is set when Congress is able to police the speech of the working class? The dual threats of state repression and the rise of fascism are very real. To deny the importance of this legal battle would be to deny the importance of workers’ political speech and the just struggle of the Palestinian people. Every conflict with the state is a battle of principle. We can never lose, as a matter of principle, so long as we remain on the side of the people—and the people demand a FREE PALESTINE!

The post Union Solidarity with Gaza Under Attack appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The successful struggle for telework, transit subsidies, alternate work schedules and similar programs was the result of the hard work of federal workers and their unions.

Enjoy your April National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 18-person body (including two YDSA members who share a vote) which functions as the board of directors of DSA.

And to make sure you get our newsletters in your inbox, sign up here! Each one features action alerts, upcoming events, political education, and more.

• From the National Political Committee — Deliberate and Afraid of Nothing
• Sunday 4/21 — Come Phonebank with Socialists in Office for the Choose Solidarity Bonanza!
• Disability Working Group Relaunch and Disability Justice 101 Presentation Series
• Subscribe to our Democratic Left Newsletter!

From the National Political Committee — Deliberate and Afraid of Nothing

A few days ago, we received Jane McAlevey’s heartbreaking announcement that she has ceased treatments for an aggressive form of cancer and is entering hospice care in her home. The loss of McAlevey’s writing, teaching skills, and contagious hard-nosed willpower will be widely and acutely felt across the labor movement and the broader left, where her critical organizing and analysis played an outsize role in our recent growth after many decades of retreat. Our thoughts are with her and her loved ones as they navigate this transition.

If you are newer to DSA, you may not realize how transformative Jane’s guidance has been to our organization in particular, especially in the post-Bernie-Bump era. In 2019, Jane hosted a training series specifically for DSA organizers based on her groundbreaking book No Shortcuts. You can watch videos of her three sessions here — and we encourage you to do so, especially alongside comrades from your chapter.

Our methodology as DSA organizers largely comes directly from Jane’s synthesis of best labor organizing practices, painstakingly researched back to the earliest days of the US labor movement: how we approach listwork, organizing conversations, and structure tests; our entire framework of campaign-focused organizing with clear win or lose conditions that help us figure out what actually works; the importance of relational organizing and power-mapping, and on and on and on. 

Jane’s model of whole-worker organizing encouraged us to organize as hard as possible as workers in our workplaces, and to see this as tied intimately to organizing to change conditions in our community as a whole — that in fact, organizing for any lasting change on any particular issues we care about requires that workers figure out how to organize their power with an expansive sense of their own self-interest in solidarity with many others. Many of us who participated in her trainings remember pieces of sharp advice she offered, like: “Stop talking and get into a win or lose campaign, and let people rise or fall with their actions.”

Losing her mind and spirit and whip-smart analysis is devastating, but so much of her work will live on for as long as it takes to win the whole world. Jane concluded her announcement with a quote from the brilliant Audre Lorde: I am deliberate and afraid of nothing. May we all find such grace and courage for the fights ahead.

In Solidarity and Sadness,

Ashik Siddique and Megan Romer
DSA National Co-Chairs

Sunday 4/21 — Come Phonebank with Socialists in Office for the Choose Solidarity Bonanza!

Join New York State Assembly Members Zohran Mamdani, Marcela Mitaynes, Phara Souffrant Forrest, Sarahan Shrestha, and NY State Senator Jabari Brisport this Sunday 4/21 for our ALL DAY Choose Solidarity Bonanza! Hear campaign updates and hit the phones to ask comrades to switch to Solidarity Dues so we can build the powerful working class organization we need to win! 

Every hour a member spends on a Solidarity Dues phonebank raises approximately $1000 for DSA over the year. We’ll start calling at 12pm ET/11am CT/10am MT/9am PT and go until 6pm ET/5pm CT/4pm MT/3pm PT. Hop on for a shift or stick around for the whole day!

Can’t make it on 4/21, but ready to make some calls? Check out upcoming Solidarity Dues phonebanks here and get signed up for a time that works for you!

Disability Working Group Relaunch and Disability Justice 101 Presentation Series

The Disability Working Group (DWG) is reorganizing after a period of inactivity. We invite DSA chapters and committees to reach out and engage with us in the work of making DSA a more welcoming and inclusive space for your disabled comrades! 

Relatedly, the DWG is relaunching our Disability Justice 101 presentation series, which aims to educate our fellow comrades on the tenets of Disability Justice and the indispensable role which disabled people have to play in our socialist movement. Chapters interested in the Disability Justice 101 presentation, or in working more generally with DWG, please contact [email protected].

Subscribe to our Democratic Left Newsletter!

Our national publication, Democratic Left, is relaunching. Subscribe to our online monthly newsletter today! You’ll receive new pieces from members across the country, including reports, reviews, profiles, and so much more.

The post Deliberate and Afraid of Nothing — Your National Political Committee Newsletter appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

In this episode we meet Jonathan Soto, the DSA endorsed candidate running for New York State Assembly in the North East Bronx. Jonathan is a public school parent, an inter-faith organizer and a democratic socialist, campaigning to unseat longtime incumbent Michael Benedetto in Assembly District 82. 

This commentary by CVDSA member Tanya Vyhovsky originally appeared in VTDigger. A clinical social worker and former school services clinician, Vyhovsky represents the Chittenden-Central District in the Vermont State Senate.

Ordinarily in Vermont, we in the Senate give the governor great deference when it comes to whom he appoints to serve in his cabinet. While we may have policy differences with an appointee, the governor was elected by the people, and he deserves the benefit of the doubt when making appointments.

Not this time.

After years of methodically hinting at his preference for private schools, Gov. Phil Scott made it crystal clear where he stands when it comes to education funding here in Vermont. By choosing a former executive of a for-profit charter school company to be his next education secretary, he is finally saying the quiet part out loud — public education money should be able to flow freely to private and religious schools.

After meeting with the nominee, it is clear to me that she is very smart and accomplished. However, she is not qualified to lead the Vermont public education system past this inflection point and into the future. The nominee’s scant experience in public schools does not give me confidence in her ability to strengthen our public schools in this time of turmoil, and it further shows the governor’s lack of commitment to our public schools. 

Couple that with a State Board of Education that seems willing to at the least be complicit in the governor’s agenda to privatize our schools. This nomination raises alarm bells that should give every one of us who cherishes our local public schools great pause.

I have always been proud that in the state of Vermont, the Constitution guarantees quality public education for all children. That imperative has been carried out over the centuries by dedicated educators, volunteer school boards, administrators, parents, communities and others who believe — rightly — that education for all Vermont children is a valuable asset to all of us.

Indeed, our local public schools — despite assertions to the contrary — deliver the goods year after year, preparing our children with the tools to be happy, healthy and successful in whatever life they choose.

But that egalitarian opportunity is in danger as private and religious schools ramp up their ongoing efforts to co-opt taxpayer dollars for private gain. 

This comes with the tacit approval of the governor and, as of two years ago, the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. Those justices, in Carson v. Makin, made it clear that states like Vermont that give publicly funded vouchers to private schools must also open the public purse to religious schools as well. 

I am profoundly disappointed that we as a Legislature have failed to address this very real threat to our public schools.

It will further undermine our public education system if the charter school company executive chosen by the governor becomes the next guardian of Vermont public schools. If confirmed by the Senate, she will have a compliant pro-private-school State Board of Education to remake rules that will not only allow those schools to become even more unaccountable to the public, but to expand the amount of public resources flowing in their direction and further undercutting our top-in-the-nation public school system.

I am not alone in my deep concern over this nominee. Many of my colleagues have expressed reservations about this appointee, and I’ve heard from hundreds of Vermonters who say charter schools and the further privatization of public education are just plain wrong. 

The governor and those who work in his cabinet want us to believe that opposition to his appointee is personal, sexist or based on where she came from. But those accusations — taken directly out of the D.C. GOP handbook — are meant to distract from the nominee’s deep experience as an executive for a for-profit charter school company that has siphoned public education dollars from students and into the pockets of shareholders, and her utter lack of experience leading a public school system.

We will, as promised, fully explore the nominee’s record. We will conduct hearings and respect the nomination process. But as we do so, we must ensure that the next education secretary is dedicated to protecting, preserving and supporting our local public schools and the 90% of Vermont kids who rely on them every day.

DSA International Committee congratulates the people of Bahrain on the release of 1,584 prisoners from the government cages. This constitutes the largest release of political prisoners since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising in Bahrain, approximately 0.2% of the entire citizen population. We echo the calls of civil society in Bahrain for the further release of all political prisoners in Bahrain, including all opposition leaders, and a genuine start to the reconciliation process following the aftermath of the Arab Spring. 

We commend the people of Bahrain in their fight for the release of the political prisoners, particularly following the death of Hussain Khalil who suffered from torture by state security and was murdered by medical negligence. The escalating weekly protests in Bahrain in support of Gaza and rejection of the normalization deal played a large role in pressuring Bahrain and its primary sponsor, the US, to offer this concession. The normalization deal, struck during the so-called “Abraham Accords” in 2020, ended a long-standing policy of rejection of the Zionist settler-colonial project by Bahrain, UAE, Morocco, and Sudan under the sustained pressure of the US’s threat to suspend aid and arms sales to all non-compliant Arab countries. In the context of escalating regional geopolitical pressures and the risk of a broader regional war, we call on the US government, which has its Navy’s fifth fleet stationed on the Bahraini islands, to listen to calls from Bahrain’s streets and withdraw its military bases lest it further endangers the people of the region with its dangerous acts of political brinkmanship and its support of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.

.#الحق_يؤخذ

#RightsAreTakenNotGiven

The post DSA IC Congratulates the People of Bahrain on Prisoner Release appeared first on DSA International Committee.

The DSA International Committee joins the international community in condemning Ecuador’s armed invasion of Mexico’s embassy and capture of former Vice-President Jorge Glas in Quito on April 5. We join governments across the world and the United Nations’ Secretary General in recognizing the raid as a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. We support the Mexican government’s decision to suspend diplomatic relations and register a complaint against Ecuador at the International Court of Justice. 

Ecuador’s president, Daniel Noboa, remains defiant despite widespread condemnation, including from his own judiciary, for not following international law. Noboa and his government’s willingness to take illegal action and face strong condemnation for seizing Glas continues a longstanding campaign of lawfare against our comrades within Citizen’s Revolution. Ecuador’s political elite has carried out seven years of lawfare against Citizen’s Revolution including: politically motivated prosecutions (including against former President Rafael Correa); trials and convictions using false and manufactured evidence; the denial of defendants’ constitutional rights; legal maneuvers to prevent the left from running candidates; and unconstitutionally dismissing judges and stacking courts. We stand in solidarity with Citizen’s Revolution against government repression and in its struggle against neoliberalism.

Although the U.S. government condemned the embassy raid, it continues to provide Ecuador with millions of dollars worth of arms, equipment, and financing. The Noboa government has used these assets to target its political opponent. We urge the U.S. to cease its military aid to Ecuador.

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DSA IC Condena al Asalto a la Embajada Mexicana en Quito

El comité internacional de DSA une la comunidad internacional en su condenación al asalto de la Embajada Mexicana por parte de gobierno de Ecuador y el secuestro del exvicepresidente Jorge Glas el 5 de abril. Unimos los gobiernos del mundo, el secretario general de la ONU en reconocimiento de la violación de la Convención de Viena sobre Relaciones Diplomáticas. Apoyamos la decisión del gobierno mexicano para suspender relaciones diplomáticas con Ecuador y la presentación de sus demandas en la Corte Internacional de Justicia.

El actual presidente de Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, mantiene su desafiante después de la condena generalizada que incluso los cortes ecuatorianos por no respetar el derecho internacional. La voluntad de Noboa y su gobierno de tomar medidas ilegales y enfrentar una fuerte condena por apoderarse de Glas continua una larga campana de ‘Lawfare’ en contra de nuestros camaradas dentro del partido Revolución Ciudadana. La elite política de Ecuador ha llevado esta campaña por más de siete años con tácticos incluyendo esos métodos: juicios y condenas utilizando pruebas falsas y fabricadas; la negación de los derechos constitucionales de los acusados; maniobras legales para impedir que la izquierda presente candidatos; y destituir inconstitucionalmente a jueces y apilar tribunales. Nos solidarizamos con la Revolución Ciudadana contra la represión gubernamental y en su lucha contra el neoliberalismo.

Aunque el gobierno del Estados Unidos condeno el asalto a la embajada mexicana, lo continúa proporcionando a Ecuador millones de dólares en armas, equipos, y en financiamiento. El gobierno de Noboa ha utilizado estos activos para atacar a sus oponentes políticos. Nosotros instamos al gobierno de los Estados Unidos a que cese su ayuda militar a Ecuador hasta que se resuelva de su ataque ilegal a la embajada de México.     

The post DSA IC Condemns Ecuador’s Raid of Mexico’s Embassy appeared first on DSA International Committee.

As of our March 7th general meeting, DSA Cleveland has resolved to adopt a Palestine priority plan for the next six months.Though we have been showing up the last several months (and beyond), this represents a significant deepening of our solidarity work. Our chapter now has a dedicated leadership body elected to implement Palestine work according to a specific plan, with measurable goals and specific democratically decided tactics. This priority status also renders this work the near-exclusive focus of our chapter’s Steering Committee and our membership as a whole. The time is now to join with your comrades and demand a free Palestine from the river to the sea.

On October 15th our Chapter’s Steering Commitee released a statement calling on “all people of conscience to oppose genocide in Gaza”, calling for an end to occupation and apartheid in Palestine, and calling on our fellow DSA members, chapters, and leaders, to stand proud against intimidation, death threats, legal attacks, slander, and misinformation. We are proud to say that our organization has done so. For the last five months, since the conclusion of our Abortion rights priority campaign, Cleveland DSA has joined our allies in the Cleveland Palestine Advocacy Community at city hall, on the highways, and in the streets protesting Israel’s cowardly genocide against the Palestinian people. In December we organized a fundraiser concert generating over $3.5k for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund. We have devoted ourselves to the study of Palestinian history, and hope to deepen our education further.

Join us to launch this project with a fundraiser concert at the Happy Dog! Friday at 9pm, we’ll raise money for UNRWA and hear from local bands The Last Gasp, Arms & Armour, GRVE and Mud Whale. Then join us at County Council on Tuesday at 5pm to demand divestment from Israel Bonds – check our calendar for details.

The post Announcing Palestine Solidarity as Cleveland DSA’s Priority appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, 4/16 (1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.): SFMTA Hearing – Stop the Muni Fare Increase! (In person at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, CA Room 400, Floor 4)

Wednesday, 4/17 (5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): What is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, 4/17 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): Labor Night School: The US Labor Movement and the Socialist Role (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, 4/18 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity Working Group (Zoom)

Thursday, 4/18 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Thursday, 4/18 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Art Making for Mutual Aid (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, 4/19 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, 4/20 (11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, 4/20 (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Platform & Outreach Meeting (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Sunday, 4/21 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Extreme Dean Mobilization (In person at Jefferson Square Park, 950 Gough Street)

Sunday, 4/21 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): HWG Grants Pass Action Sign-Making (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, 4/22 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Grants Pass Action (In person at San Francisco Federal Building, 90 7th Street)

Tuesday, 4/23 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Mutual Aid Priority Meeting (Zoom)

Wednesday, 4/24 (6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): DSA SF Karaoke Night at TaishoSF (In person at TaishoSF, 1161 Post Street)

Thursday, 4/25 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity Working Group (Zoom)

Friday, 4/26 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events/ for more events.

Events & Actions

Labor Night School: The US Labor Movement and the Socialist Role

Join us for our Labor Night School on Wednesday, April 17th from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister! In this discussion based session, we’ll be learning about the history of US labor actions and the socialist role as we work to better understand capitalism, socialism, and collective liberation. We’ll look at several short readings on major events in the US labor movement and the role that socialism has played, and then have a collective, critical discussion. This is the second session of our Labor Night School, but each session is independent so feel free to join us for the first time for this event.

Rally Against Homeless Sweeps on April 22nd

On Monday, April 22nd at 10:00 a.m. at the San Francisco Federal Building (90 Seventh St.), DSA SF and the Homelessness Working Group will be joining the Coalition on Homelessness and the Western Regional Advocacy Project for an action marking the beginning of the Supreme Court hearing on Grants Pass v. Johnson.

The appellate court ruling in Grants Pass is the basis for an injunction preventing the city from conducting sweeps on SF’s homeless population without providing adequate shelter beds.

RSVP at http://www.dsasf.org/grants-pass-rally. Let’s show up and show solidarity with CoH and our unhoused neighbors!

Extreme Dean Mobilization This Sunday, 4/21

Join the Extreme Dean team this Sunday, April 21st from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Jefferson Square Park (950 Gough Street). We’ll be getting to know our neighbors and letting them know how cool we think Dean is! Come out and show D5 that Dean Preston is for the people, not the powerful.

Organizing for Power: Core Fundamentals Training Registration Closes Next Week!

Registration for the Organizing for Power: Core Fundamentals training is closing next Friday, April 26th! This training focuses on how working people can use the strength of our numbers to build majority-led disciplined structures that come together around shared goals and win campaigns in our workplace, including:

• leader identification: understanding who can move people, and that it’s often not who you first think;
• semantics: recognizing that the words we use matter – they must center each worker’s active participation as key to winning;
• structured organizing conversations: preparing what it takes to win over the hardest-to-move leaders;
• charting: incorporating a simple method to understand human social relationships, and to prioritize and systematize outreach;
• structure tests: developing mini campaigns to build solidarity and site structure, and to know when you are ready to win.

If you’re interested in learning how to become a better organizer, register using the form below!

The 2024 Chapter Convention is Coming Soon!

It’s all hands on deck as we prepare for the 2024 Chapter Convention this June 15th and 16th! Here are some handy reminders for the next few weeks to help you get ready.

• Nominations for Steering and Grievance Officers are open! Submit your nominations here. Nominations will remain open until the May 8th chapter meeting, and elections will be held at the convention in June.
• April 19th – Pre-Convention Info Session and Workshop #1
• April 24th – Deadline to submit bylaws amendments for voting at Convention
• April 28th – Deadline to submit priority resolutions for feedback from Steering
• May 1st – Pre-Convention Info Session and Workshop #2
• May 8th – May Chapter Meeting
  • This is the deadline to submit priority resolutions to steering
  • Bylaws amendments concerning voting at Convention must be read to the chapter for consideration at this meeting.
  • Annual reportbacks from all chapter bodies
  • Nominations close for Steering Committee and Grievance Officers
  • First reading on proposed bylaws amendments
• May 16th – Deadline to notify all members of the upcoming convention

Spring Socials with DSA SF

Come hang out with your friendly neighborhood socialists this spring! For the next four months we will be having a variety of outings and you are invited – be sure to mark your calendars and watch this space for more details! Our next event is a karaoke night at TaishoSF on April 24th and we can’t wait to see you there!

Tenant Organizing Movie Night Boom: The Sound of Eviction

Join the DSA SF Tenant Organizing Working Group for our next movie night on Saturday, May 11th at 5:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister! We’ll be watching Boom: The Sound of Eviction. While our city’s rulers and the fawning media celebrated the Dot-Com Boom of the ‘90s, the reality was different for thousands of tenants who were evicted or priced out. From the dot-com party crashing at one end of the economic spectrum to painful moments with evicted families at the other, this documentary features interviews with dot-com workers, real estate developers, and San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, as well as those who challenged the new economic order through community organizing, electoral politics, and direct action.

This event is free and open to the public, and we look forward to seeing you there!

Kickball(s) for Abortion Access on May 18th

Connect with your neighbors on Saturday, May 18th at 1:00 p.m. while raising money for abortion access!

San Franciscans don’t need to be reminded that the struggle for bodily autonomy is universal. Or, that when someone is denied an abortion it’s more than a hardship for the individual and their family—it’s a test of our community and our commitment to basic human rights. So, let’s put our money where our mouths have been, are, and always will be: BALLS DEEP FOR ABORTION!

We’ll have a friendly fundraising competition, kickball tournament, snack bar, prizes & more! 100% of proceeds will be donated to Texas grassroots abortion access orgs Frontera Fund and Buckle Bunnies (recommended by our comrades at DSA Austin).

For more information about how to get involved, RSVP below!

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.

Questions? Feedback? Something to add?

We welcome your feedback. If you have comments or suggestions, send a message to the #newsletter channel on Slack.

For information on how to add content, check out the Newsletter Q&A thread.

The post The Activist Chats: Berkeley City Council Race with Cecilia Lunaparra appeared first on YDSA.