By: Frederick Reiber

SOMERVILLE, MA – From Hollywood writers to Boston dockworkers, labor unions are continuing to fight unethical usage of artificial intelligence. 

Now, journalists are joining the fight. Unionized workers at Politico and E&E News (PEN Guild) are currently in arbitration over the editorial board’s use of AI. After unionizing in 2021 and ratifying a first contract in 2024, workers secured protections against the use of artificial intelligence technologies, recognizing both the liberating and exploiting potential of said technologies. These included protections against workers being replaced by artificial intelligence technologies, added severance for artificial intelligence related lay offs, a focus on ethical and human checked implementation, and the ability to do impact bargaining over the implementation of workplace technologies.

The first breach of contract came in 2024 during the Democratic National Convention, with Politico publishing AI-generated summaries of the events. According to workers interviewed, Politico originally argued that these summaries “were just transcripts” further arguing that it “doesn’t impact our jobs because reporters don’t transcribe things.” The second breach came earlier this year, when Politico launched an “AI Policy Assistant” , a subscription based service to help organizations navigate policy changes, or generate white page reports on specific regulatory issues. 

Artificial Intelligence—An Arena for Collective Bargaining

Politico argued in both cases that technological tools developed through the tech and business side of the company fall out of the purview of the journalist’s union. Thus, they aren’t subject to the collective bargaining agreement.

For the union, these rollouts constitute a violation of contract. Workers were not given the opportunity for impact bargaining nor the required 60 day notice of new workplace technologies. Workers also saw the use of AI as a challenge to journalistic integrity. A recent Wired report on the arbitration preceding cites Politico’s AI using phrases like “criminal migrants” or failing to recognize the overturning of Roe v. Wade. As PEN Guild member Ariel Wittenberg put it, “it certainly was disheartening as a journalist who has worked for Politico for 10 years to hear our top editors say that sometimes the homepage doesn’t have to be printing ethical journalistic content.”

AI providing false information is nothing new with scholars and journalists providing mountains of evidence. For instance in 2022, Meta took down Galactica, a tool designed to help researchers after it became apparent it was making up publications, and Stack Overflow the go-to question and answer website for coding questions ended up needing to ban AI responses due them having an incorrect rate of hallucinations. These issues have still persisted today. For instance ChatGPT, when asked today about labor leader Big Bill Haywood, manufactures quotes and pamphlets that I have been unable to find cited or discussed anywhere else.

AI is also famously ripe with political bias in a similar manner to Politico’s “criminal migrants”. For instance Grok, Elon Musk’s chatpot, recently referred to itself as ‘MechaHitler’ and going on inaccurate rants about a South African ‘white genocide’. Other more malicious cases include Amazon’s male favored hiring tool or Northpointe’s racist criminal assessment tool.

Important for fellow unionists is recognizing that we can and should be organizing against forced technology in the workplace. When dockworkers with ILA and USMX threatened to walk off the job earlier this year, they were able to win protections against forced automation.  SAG-AFTRA is currently fighting against the use of AI to bring back the voice of the late James Earl Jones. Fighting against AI, however, is no easy battle. While workplace technology is not a mandatory subject of bargaining, workers do continue to fight and organize against harmful technology in large part because they recognize workplace technology for what it commonly is– a tool used to degrade working conditions and worker power.

AI Is the Boss’s Tool—Workers Are the Real Counterpower

As Marx famously argued, capital—and thus the exploitation of the working class—happens when value is put into motion. The forced implementation of workplace artificial intelligence is nothing new, another attempt to shift production and further extortion. As scholar Jathan Sadowski argues in his new book, The Mechanic and the Luddite: A Ruthless Criticism of Technology and Capitalism, AI is really a tool of the boss, with employers using AI as a mask for outsourcing or as a way to cheapen labor with deeper forms of extraction through workplace surveillance. 

For workers everywhere, this moment demands clarity, courage, and collective resistance. The fight over AI isn’t about resisting technology for its own sake—it’s about resisting who controls it, who benefits, and who bears the cost. Whether in a newsroom, a factory, or a film studio, AI is not neutral. It reflects the priorities of those in power—speed over accuracy, profit over people, efficiency over ethics.

As more workplaces rush to adopt AI under the guise of innovation, unions must continue to insist on democratic control over technology; how it’s introduced, how it’s used, and who it serves. That means fighting for robust contract language, building coalitions across sectors, and standing firm when employers violate those agreements.

The PEN Guild’s arbitration fight is not just about Politico—it’s about setting precedent. If workers can’t win the right to bargain over technologies that directly shape their labor, then every workplace becomes fair game for digital dispossession. But if they succeed, they send a clear message: AI may be new, but the power of collective action remains timeless.

Fellow workers can support the PEN Guilds fight by signing their petition linked here.

Frederick Reiber is a PhD student at Boston University researching collective action and technology. He is a member of SEIU 509 and Boston DSA.

The post AI in Court: Politico Workers Take the Boss to Court Over Forced Automation appeared first on Working Mass.

On August 23rd, Bernie Sanders will be hosting a “town hall” event with Rebecca Cooke, candidate in the 2026 Democratic Party 3rd Congressional District election, near Viroqua. This follows his June 19th endorsement of her. We, the Executive Committee of the Coulee Region chapter (CDSA) of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), denounce this endorsement and campaign event and urge Senator Sanders to withdraw this endorsement.

Senator Sanders has been a principled socialist for his entire life, and has been a leader and inspiration for millions of progressives and socialists for decades. This made his endorsement of Rebecca Cooke extremely shocking. Rebecca Cooke is no socialist, or even a progressive. She refuses to endorse Medicare For All. In 2024, she was “grateful” to be endorsed by the genocide-apologist organization Democratic Majority For Israel.¹ In June of this year, she was a featured speaker at “WelcomeFest”, a convention of the anti-progressive wing of the Democratic Party, sharing the billing with genocide-apologists and neoliberals.² In the struggle between progressives and reactionaries within the opposition to the current fascist regime, she has declared on which side she places herself- it’s not with us, and it shouldn’t be with Bernie Sanders.

There are two other candidates in this primary, namely Laura Benjamin and Emily Berge, who would make far more sense for Senator Sanders to endorse. Both have endorsed Medicare For All. Both have better stances on Palestine. Laura Benjamin is a member of DSA, is committed to socialist principles, and is a fiery public speaker. Emily Berge is firmly in the La Follette Progressive tradition and has years of experience in local elected office.

For these reasons, in the spirit of socialist comradeship, the Coulee Region chapter of Democratic Socialists Of America urges Bernie Sanders to withdraw his endorsement of Rebecca Cooke.

COULEE DSA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE & CHIPPEWA VALLEY DSA OC, AUGUST 19^th, 2025

Coulee Democratic Socialists Of America can be found at https://coulee.dsawi.org/, on Facebook, on Instagram, and by emailing couleedsa@gmail.com. Chippewa Valley DSA can be reached at chippewavalleydsa@gmail.com

1“DMFI PAC announces new endorsements in Arizona, New York, & Wisconsin” https://dmfipac.org/news-updates/press-release/dmfi-pac-announces-new-endorsements-in-arizona-new-york-wisconsin/

2“I Just Got Back From the Centrist Rally. It Was Weird as Hell.” https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/welcomefest-dispatch-centrism-abundance/

The post Bernie Sanders Endorsement of Rebecca Cooke A Betrayal of Socialist Movement first appeared on Coulee DSA.

By Amanda Matyas & Lauren Trendler

The DSA national convention this month for the first time included a Cross-Organizational Political Exchange: more than 40 speakers from unions, social movements, and socialist parties across the globe came to confer with DSA. The convention website explained that the idea was “to pave the way for party-building and a May Day 2028 coalition.”

This exchange was critical to asserting DSA as a pre-party formation, as 1,300 delegates from across the country gathered in Chicago to debate the direction of the organization — six weeks after Zohran Mamdani’s victory in New York City and our subsequent membership surge. Amidst the contentious resolutions being debated, this non-voting part of the convention served not only as a space for comradely exchange but as a chance to see the enormous potential of international solidarity in building a socialist party.

Addressing the crowd and explaining the process of planning the exchange, convention co-chair Laura Wadlin said, “There [wasn’t] a spreadsheet of cool unions — but now there is.”

Now that the cool union spreadsheet exists, it can serve as a blueprint for building a real coalition that is often invoked rhetorically but rarely put into practice. We engaged with other groups and navigated how we orient towards the world. According to Wadlin, the two main goals in organizing the exchange were to make the convention less inwardly focused and to feel like it has stakes, and to create a next step for May Day 2028. “There were so many other benefits of the process,” Wadlin said, “that we ended up gaining more goals. I now see it as expanding our horizons for what’s possible in the working class.”

Delegates also had a chance to speak, interspersed with the guests, as determined by a lottery. Detroit DSA member Erin T was selected and spoke about her work in the teachers union.

The fast-paced cross-organizational exchange showcased our shared excitement for two massive projects: a new electoral formation independent from the two major parties, and UAW President Shawn Fain’s call for strikes and working-class political action on May Day 2028.

Union reform caucuses Higher Education Labor United (HELU), Build a Fighting NALC (letter carriers), Railroad Workers United (RWU), and Caucus of Rank-and-File Electrical Workers (CREW) all called for a new party (a call that RWU first made in 2012!). HELU noted they have a policy platform on higher education, a key battleground under Trump, ready for a new party to adopt.

The Palestinian Youth Movement urged DSA to commit to an anti-war strategy that could “be bold on Palestine because it is the winning thing to do.” CREW tied the call for party-building back to its roots, noting that a workers party must “…come from an organic and independent working class culture of self-activity and militancy. It stands to reason that there can be no labor party that does not have deep, organic ties to labor. Get a job in strategic industries and callous your hands alongside us.”

Organizing towards May Day 2028 gives us a concrete opportunity to build rank-and-file class consciousness, cross-union organization, popular support, and renewed ties between the socialist movement and the labor movement.

FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE

Political organizations from across the globe were moved to travel great distances to discuss May Day 2028 with DSA, and representatives from La France Insoumise and the Workers Party of Belgium (PTB-PVDA) both noted their excitement to see this activity developing in the U.S.

They were joined by members of the Workers Party (PT) and the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) of Brazil, Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana of Puerto Rico, the Movement for Democratic Socialism of Japan, and the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) of Mexico, whose powerful speech ended with, “We [Mexican immigrants] will be deported if we go out on strike and you cannot allow that.”

The Amazon Labor Union urged DSA to “focus on political education to help workers connect issues in the workplace to issues outside the workplace.” The Los Angeles Tenants Union cautioned the group to “plan for before and after mass action,” and the Debt Collective, based in Washington, D.C., asked the crowd, “What would it look like if while workers withheld their labor, debtors withheld their payments?”

Not only were our guests from these unions, social movements, and socialist parties invited to speak; they also mingled with DSA members all weekend, met at the hotel bar, joined our parties, and made connections that will continue to guide DSA towards our goals.

The preliminary discussions that began at the Cross-Organizational Exchange show there is broad support for an independent working class party, but more discussion and debate are needed to determine what our next decade of organizing looks like. The Exchange gathered many key organizers for our massive May Day 2028 project, but two-minute speeches from dozens of organizations is just the beginning — much more collaboration is needed.

The resolution Fighting Back in the Class War: Preparing for May Day 2028 committed DSA to several specific next steps. Over the next two years, DSA will anchor a May Day Convention in concert with major unions and other organizations that have taken up May Day 2028 as a priority, to collectively establish a plan and a set of demands for May Day 2028. DSA will encourage members to get jobs in strategic workplaces, industries, and unions, and DSA members in unions will organize to line up their contracts to expire on or around May Day 2028. DSA chapters will develop materials for agitation and political education around the need to build class power ahead of May Day 2028, and hold political education events directed at workers broadly.

We hope that all DSA delegates returned to their chapters invigorated by this exchange and with a laser focus on our shared goals. “If we don’t recognize the obligation we have to act in the world, we could miss our potential,” Laura Wadlin remarked. “DSA is not just an online subculture. We’re a political player on an international stage, and we need to match that.”

[Amanda Matyas and Lauren Trendler were elected convention delegates from Detroit.]

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Workers of the World Unite for DSA’s First Cross-Organizational Political Exchange was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As a member of Starbucks Workers United, I've learned that real organizing is built on genuine relationships and shared struggles. While our campaign has become one of the most visible recent organizing efforts, the lessons we've learned apply far beyond coffee shops.

The post From Coffee Shop to Movement: Hard-Won Lessons from Starbucks Workers United appeared first on EWOC.

Ten years ago, the Illinois General Assembly passed a ridiculous law signaling unconditional political support for Israel. Now we have an opportunity to repeal it.

Former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican and private equity investor who held the position from 2015 to 2019, was a political failure on his own terms. Once he got into office, he made it clear to the Democrat-controlled legislature that he would not sign any budget unless it was passed alongside the regressive “reforms” that constituted his Turnaround Agenda for Illinois. The legislature did not budge and as a result Illinois went more than two years without a budget. Rauner tried to take everyone in the state hostage, and he did a lot of harm trying to make the Illinois regulatory environment more like Republican-dominated Wisconsin. Today, he is remembered as a bush-league do-nothing who couldn’t get his agenda through Springfield.

But there was one thing that Rauner and the Democratic majority did agree on: that people should face consequences if they have the wrong opinion about Israel. In 2015, the General Assembly unanimously passed legislation that prevented the state from investing public pension funds in any company that participated in the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. BDS is a non-violent campaign to economically pressure Israel into adopting policies that would respect the rights and dignity of Palestinians. It functions similar to the boycott movement against apartheid South Africa in the late 20th century, encouraging consumers to spend their money ethically and pressuring businesses to divest from a country that systematically violates human rights.

Rauner drinks chocolate milk to celebrate the concept of diversity during Black History Month, February 2018.

In opposition to BDS, pro-Israel lobbying groups have convinced a super majority of state legislatures across the country to pass laws that impose a variety of legal consequences on individuals and organizations that participate in the boycott against Israel. The version that Rauner signed, which was among the first of its kind, created the Illinois Investment Policy Board. The law gave the board the authority to withdraw Illinois pension funds from any company that participates in a campaign to “penalize, inflict economic harm on, or otherwise limit commercial relations with the State of Israel or companies based in the State of Israel or in territories controlled by the State of Israel”. Essentially, any company that refuses to do business with Israeli companies or the Israeli government can lose investment from the state’s pension board, regardless of why or how they are choosing to sever their relationship.

There has never been a better time to get rid of this law. It does absolutely nothing to benefit Illinoisans, and it punishes constitutionally protected opposition to blatantly illegal actions taken by Israel. The law does nothing to fight anti-Semitism; in fact, it makes it worse. The law seeks to make support of Israel non-negotiable, and that position is firmly out of line with the wishes of a majority of Democratic voters across the country. As efforts to finally repeal the law escalate,  people of conscience have an opportunity to bring state law into line with the will of Illinois voters.

What the law does, and why it’s extremist.

For the uninitiated, most state and municipal employees in America are enrolled in a defined benefit pension retirement plan. These pensions pay out a set amount determined by a formula to retired public workers each month over the course of their lives, effectively acting as a 401(k) with a guaranteed payout. To ensure these benefits are funded, employees and the state government contribute money to a pool that is invested in the private sector. The returns on these investments are used to help pay for pension obligations. This model benefits everyone: Springfield uses the stability of a pension to attract workers that might otherwise pursue for-profit careers, retirees have a guaranteed source of income after they stop working, and companies receive extra investment that can help them grow. It is also very common for governments to form oversight boards to manage their pension investments. This ensures that the funds are stewarding public resources well, and they prevent state money from being invested in firms that actively harm the public interest. In Illinois, Springfield has passed laws that prohibit investment in companies that “shelter migrant children” (i.e., participate in Donald Trump’s nightmarish mass deportation plans) and companies based in a few countries that have been sanctioned by the federal government.

They also prevent the fund from investing in companies that refuse to do business in Israel. This already makes Illinois’ anti-BDS law unique compared to the other similar laws in the state; there are no other countries that companies are punished for not investing in. The law is very clearly meant to disincentivize firms from considering a boycott by excluding them from receiving any of the money that state pension funds invest in the private sector.

The law does not differentiate between motives. If a company decides to stop doing business with Israel because its board is dominated by avowed anti-Semites, then it is ineligible to receive any pension investment funds from Illinois. But what if a firm’s leadership divests because they agree with Amnesty International’s conclusion that the country is practicing apartheid? Or because they believe that what the IDF is doing in Gaza constitutes genocide? Or because the Israeli government regularly treats minorities who live in Israel as second-class or non-citizens? Or because they are disturbed by the number of Americans killed by the Israeli military or Israeli militias? Or because they are horrified by the Israeli refusal to allow food, baby formula, and medical aid to enter Gaza, resulting in mass starvation? The Illinois General Assembly made no distinctions between these reasons when it passed the state’s anti-BDS law, so the Illinois Investment Policy Board is forced to consider these motivations equally worth divestment.

This is already extreme, but the truly ridiculous part is that the law also punishes companies for boycotting illegal Israeli occupations of foreign territories. Since the conclusion of the Six-Day War in 1967, the Israeli government has encouraged its citizens to cross the border into Palestinian territory and establish ‘settlements’ there. These self-described ‘settlers’ retain their Israeli citizenship, can vote in Israeli elections, are protected by the Israeli military, and live their lives under Israeli law. Their Palestinian neighbors who live in these areas do not enjoy any of those rights. Many of them are denied self-representation and live under martial law imposed by a government they have no say in. Palestinian families in the area are regularly dispossessed and attacked by settlers. In fact, it is widely acknowledged that the Israeli government is using settlement as part of a strategy to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state, giving Israel an excuse to indefinitely control the region without having to offer Palestinians any sort of rights or sovereignty. Just this month, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich unveiled a new settlement plan that he claimed would “bury the idea of a Palestinian state”.

Illinois prohibits investment in any company that refuses to do business in these settlements, despite the fact that they are illegal under international law and that they exist to deny the two-state solution that most American politicians claim to support. 

Embarrassingly enough, the most well-known invocation of this anti-BDS law was used to punish a company for violating this portion of the statute. In 2021, the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s (whose founders are both Jewish) announced that it would no longer sell their products in the West Bank because of the illegality of the settlements. The company also clarified that they did not support BDS as an organization. Ben & Jerry’s products would continue to be sold in Israel proper, and the company’s founders identified themselves as supporters of the country. This decision prompted the Illinois Investment Policy Board to pull any pension funds that were invested with the brand’s parent company, Unilever. Effectively, an ice cream company decided not to do business outside of Israel while continuing to do business in Israel. As a result, the State of Illinois declared it would blacklist the company and all of the firms they were associated with.

This law grants symbolic and unconditional support to Israel, including implicit support for policies that many people in the state consider to be criminal and in opposition to U.S. interests. Even if you think it’s appropriate for Illinois to engage in these kinds of sweeping foreign policy commitments, this is the wrong one to make.

The law doesn’t fight anti-Semitism

One common argument in favor of anti-BDS laws is that they are a protection against bigotry or an environment that encourages it. Rauner’s initial statement after the state’s law was signed in 2015 proclaimed that Illinois was standing up against anti-Semitism by distancing the state from boycotts. Other organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have taken the stance that BDS itself isn’t inherently anti-Semitic, but that it creates an atmosphere where engaging in anti-Semitism is more acceptable.

There is nothing about this law that actively combats anti-Semitism. It does nothing to address the enormous 900% increase in anti-Semitic incidents across the country in the last ten years, and it does nothing to discourage hateful rhetoric. It is simply a way to punish businesses for taking a moral stance against genocide or for responding to consumer demands to do the same. These kinds of laws are also an attack on the right to free speech and free association guaranteed under the U.S. constitution, and their legality is dubious at best.

There’s no actual prohibition against supporting bigotry written into the law. It punishes companies that boycott Israel, but there are plenty of disgusting people in business who say and do anti-Semitic things that wouldn’t lose out on the opportunity for state investment. Right-wing businessman and extremist provocateur Elon Musk is a perfect example. 

Not a bit from The Producers, somehow.

Regardless of whether you think Elon Musk throwing up a Nazi salute in January 2025 was an intentional expression of anti-Jewish hatred, he has a long history of embracing the kind of vile rhetoric most people would instantly recognize as anti-Semitic. Musk has indicated that he believes Jewish Americans are part of an anti-white conspiracy to flood the country with “hordes of minorities”. Under his direction, Twitter/X changed its moderation rules to allow a surge in anti-Semitic posts that have caused advertisers to flee en masse. The AI chatbot that his company built for the website has called itself MechaHitler and often launches into unprovoked rants about people with Jewish-sounding last names. Musk has received so much backlash that he’s felt the need to do damage control by visiting Auschwitz and making a PR trip to Israel alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Despite Musk’s repeated anti-Semitic comments and behavior, he hasn’t ruled out doing business with Israel, so Springfield is technically allowed to invest pension funds in his companies. The purpose of this law cannot be fighting the spread of anti-Semitism if it allows for Illinois to engage in a financial partnership with someone like this. Its only logical purpose is to shield the Israeli government from criticism.

Finally, it’s worth considering whether this kind of law could actually increase anti-Semitism. The State of Illinois has (wrongfully) declared to the world that it views an entire ethno-religious group to be inseparable from another country halfway across the world. They have also declared that there is no acceptable way to criticize that country, even as it engages in a genocide that most people (rightfully) find morally reprehensible. The potential effects of this kind of rhetoric were neatly summed up by New York Times journalist Ezra Klein on his podcast a few months ago:

I am a Jewish person…it is very important that it is possible and understood to be possible that you can be anti-Zionist without being anti-Semitic…you just have to be able to be against what the Israeli state has become and not be anti-Semitic. I think it is an incredibly dangerous game that pro-Zionist people have played trying to conflate those things. Because if you tell people enough that to oppose Israel is to be anti-Semitic at some point they’re going to say “Well, I guess I’m anti-Semitic”.

If Klein is right about this, our state’s anti-BDS law could be creating social permission for more conspiracy-minded people to slip into open bigotry. Is that worth risking to preserve a law that doesn’t do anything to fight anti-Semitism?

The biggest obstacles to repeal are elected officials, not voters.

All of these criticisms were true ten years ago, but it mattered very little at the time because supporting Israel has been a bipartisan project in American politics for decades. The real reason that it is an opportune moment to repeal the law is that there has been a seismic shift in how the electorate views Israel. 

Since the Israeli government launched their brutal response to the October 7th attacks, we have seen poll after poll after poll after poll showing that Americans view Israel more negatively than ever before. This is true across party affiliation, but it is especially true among Democrats. Now that Joe Biden has not been in a position to excuse Israel’s behavior and Trump is using the issue to justify illegal, politically motivated deportations, a clear majority of Democratic voters has come to sympathize more with the Palestinian cause than with the Israeli state.

There is an enormous gap between how party elites and voters think about this issue, and most Democratic politicians have yet to catch up to their base. Illinois has been no exception. Only one of the candidates running to replace retiring Senator Dick Durbin, Representative Robin Kelly, has indicated a willingness to pursue an arms embargo against Israel, and the vast majority of the Illinois congressional delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives has consistently refused to substantively criticize the government’s Israel policy. At the state level, only a minority of Democratic legislators have signaled their support for legislation to repeal the anti-BDS law.

This is disheartening regardless of whether politicians are deeply ideologically committed to what Israel represents or whether they have just decided to avoid challenging powerful interest groups. But there are signs that this gap between party elites and their voters nationwide could start to close. In New York City, home to more Jews than any other city in America, outspoken critic of Israel Zohran Mamdani handily won the Democratic nomination for mayor with a plurality of the Jewish vote, in part because of his views on Palestine. Over half of Senate Democrats recently voted to oppose some military aid to Israel, including both Senators Durbin and Duckworth of Illinois. Some Democrats in Congress have even started to call for the U.S. to recognize a Palestinian state. Just as crucially, it does not appear that Israel’s right-wing government has any plans to end their illegal invasion and blockade of Gaza, making the issue more pressing than ever.

It is possible to get Democratic politicians to adopt the positions their base holds under these conditions, even if it’s for entirely cynical reasons. A repeal of our state’s anti-BDS law would not just be popular, it could set the stage for even more policy changes on the national level, especially as Democratic candidates begin to position themselves for a presidential run in 2028. 

With this in mind, Illinois-based groups that have committed themselves to changing our country’s relationship with Israel like Chicago DSA should consider joining the Illinois Coalition for Human Rights as supporting organizations, and should come up with local campaigns to lobby their state officials. The ones that are planning to endorse candidates for state-level office should also take advantage of the upcoming March primaries to ask fresh faces to sign on as a condition for their support.

Like-minded individuals should also make an effort to tell their representatives this is an important issue to them by sending them messages like this one. They should consider getting involved with organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago, CAIR Action Illinois, and IfNotNow Chicago that have already signed on to stay engaged with the repeal campaign.

To steal a turn of phrase from the infamous American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), supporting Palestine is “good policy and good politics” within the Democratic Party. The only question now is whether we can get our elected officials to wake up to that reality while we have the momentum.

The post Now is the Time to Repeal Illinois’ Extremist Pro-Israel Law appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

By: Travis Wayne 

ARLINGTON, MA – On Saturday, August 2, 2025, the Hamilton Tenants Association made a bold move: rallying directly and publicly against their landlord right outside their home. 

It wasn’t their first option. The tenants at 898 Massachusetts Avenue had made phone call after phone call for everything under the sun, from repairs to cleaning, but Hamilton Company had changed the cleaning service to only come once a month instead of once a week to service the common areas of the apartment building. The conditions had become so atrocious inspectors came.

Tenants took things into their own hands. They faced a landlord presiding over lack of cleanliness, high rent, a paltry number of washing machines, an app that made paying rent harder to pay, and theft of personal belongings making the building even harder to live a dignified life in.

Another Load, Another App, Another Cost Atop Rent

Laundry was mentioned by every tenant who spoke to Working Mass. One Hamilton Tenants Association member and resident at 898 Massachusetts Avenue, described the laundry crisis as all-encompassing:

We don’t have enough. Two washers and two dryers for a building with over forty people is simply not enough. We have the space for more washers and dryers and we believe our rent money should go towards that. We also have top loaders that are old, the middle part of the machine is known to rip our clothes and the black rubber inside leaves stains and damages clothes.

Laundry is a constant nuisance for tenants at Hamilton Company. Every minute of every day, tenants can be found trading the washer and dryer. Rage flares up between neighbors instead of at the landlord when a tenant leaves their clothes too long, or uses both washers at the same time. All this does is cause discord in place of solidarity. 

Laundry isn’t just a heavy load; it’s an economic burden.

“$3 per load ($3 to wash and $3 to dry) is too much,” reported one union member. The laundry expense can be a steep hurdle for tenants already cost-burdened by high rent and low pay. At the Stop and Shop across the street, entry-level starting salaries sit at around $15 and salaries for cashiers average at $22 an hour. Most tenants quoted a $2200 price figure for a one-bedroom at this address with Hamilton Company, not including tenants with Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV). 

To say most pay almost their entire livelihoods to the landlord may, in fact, be an understatement.

Shaking her head, one tenant reported to Working Mass:

And they make it hard to even pay rent. They switched [the rental portal] to LOFT, some property rental management thing – now we call, no one answers the phone.

LOFT bills itself as an app to compile everything renters need into one portal. But a closer look at the LOFT website shows its incorporation: RealPage. Last year, in August 2024, the Justice Department sued RealPage with the attorneys general of eight states in an antitrust lawsuit to illustrate the corporation was decreasing competition among landlords nationwide by setting the price of rent algorithmically and monopolizing the market. LOFT is, in fact, a tool inside one of the many toolboxes used by landlords to not only make rent higher, but harder. 

Tenants Organize and Inspectors Come

Another tenant who used to live at a different Hamilton property down the street said that as she grew older, she needed more access: an elevator. She went to the management office and expressed her accessibility requirement. A member of the Hamilton Tenants Association, the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) holder was transferred to the brick building at 898 Massachusetts Avenue. She moved in November 2024.

Problems started immediately. When  she tried to use the key that management had given her for the mailbox, the key didn’t work. Not only was it the wrong key; the mailboxes themselves were strewn on the ground. 

In February, she asked the office about the mailboxes. 

I called them up. But they said they didn’t know. They didn’t know when the mailboxes would get fixed, they said they’d call me back. And then – they didn’t.

On March 1, when rent was due, the tenant walked to the management office and asked again about the mailboxes’ repair. Still no update. The office didn’t seem to have any idea what repair order she referred to when they dismissed her.

Personal belongings are also going missing. Recently, with only a “you have till Friday,” to prepare, the landlord swooped into the common room and stole one personal belonging after another in the name of cleanliness. Tenants’ bicycles that were underneath the stairwell were also removed. One tenant sunbathed outside; they threw her radio and chair in the dumpster. She ordered them to remove her belongings from the trash and clean them before returning them to her. 

The storage room was emptied of everything except for equipment that belonged to the landlord on the property. – but the tenants still have access to their individual storage units. While tenants began to organize as the Hamilton Tenants Association, to discuss their conditions and their demands, the Somerville Housing Authority sent an inspector to follow up on the tenant’s requests. 

Upon seeing the mailboxes strewn across the front, the inspector ordered rent held till the repairs were done. Finally, the landlord complied and installed new mailboxes. 

Tenants were just more furious.

A Rally Draws Eyes and Questions 

Tenants sent letters and raised demands. At every turn, Hamilton Company provided as much silence as when repairs were needed or rent was due on the portal owned by the algorithmic landlord monopoly.

On Saturday, August 2, the Hamilton Tenants Association chose to escalate. 

The Greater Boston Tenants Union (GBTU) provided support, helped with strategy, and got the word out to wider community networks. Other tenants started arriving by bus to the windswept stretch of the road around which the city of Arlington was built in the early afternoon. They came from all corners of Boston, from as far as Roxbury and as near as Somerville, to show solidarity with the Hamilton Tenants Association in Arlington.

In reverberating shouts, tenants boomed:

“We pay rent, fix our homes!”
“Hamilton, shame on you, you buy our homes, fix them too!”

The fact that tenants rallied far from a city hall drew the attention of Arlington passersby in substantial numbers. More than three Arlington residents asked tenants about their demands in the space of a five minute period. 

One tenant approached the rally and revealed he also lived at 898 Massachusetts Avenue. But he was a lot more disgruntled with his neighbors than the landlord: “every property manager has gotta suck, why rally here?” But his chorus of protests about the rally’s disruptiveness were soon drowned out. And after thirty minutes of conversation with a Greater Boston Tenants Union (GBTU) organizer, the tenant and the organizer shook hands. 

As the crowd dispersed, one tenant mentioned an interesting fact: in the mobilization for the rally, another renter had reached out from somewhere outside of Arlington. They weren’t able to make the rally, but they did rent under the Hamilton Company.

They wanted to get involved.

Travis Wayne is the deputy managing editor of Working Mass and a rank-and-file member of the Greater Boston Tenants Union (GBTU).

The post Hamilton Tenants Association Faces Terrible Landlord With Rally in Arlington appeared first on Working Mass.

Author: Ary C

(These opinions reflect the author’s and are not necessarily representative of those of DSA Cleveland or the National DSA)

This summer I had the honor and privilege of attending the 2025 DSA National Convention as an alternate of the Cleveland delegation alongside 11 of my comrades. As the member of our delegation with the shortest tenure in the chapter, this experience was invaluable in learning more about DSA at the national level and how our chapter fits into the broader context of the national organization. Due to my role as an alternate and not a voting delegate, I felt more able to observe and reflect on the events of Convention broadly. Below are some of my thoughts and observations.

An unavoidable aspect of Convention is the presence of caucuses, whose power and influence is undeniable. While our own chapter is largely uncaucused and rarely does the topic come up (outside of the lead-up to Convention), they are one of the primary lenses delegates view and participate in Convention, right down to the post-deliberation parties. Several comrades have made the comment/joke ‘caucuses exist for Convention’. This conception partly motivated me to join a caucus myself, about a week before Convention. Members of the biggest caucuses mark themselves with branded swag like hats, bandanas, and shirts, as well as hold official socials and unofficial parties. More importantly, they are whipping votes and distributing literature as much as possible to influence delegates’ positions on resolutions and on National Political Committee candidates. Walking into the deliberation hall, the Convention tables (and chairs!) were fully covered in flyers, handbills, and zines from various caucuses. Some, like Marxist Unity Group (MUG) and Reform & Revolution (RnR) even printed daily bulletins in response to the events of the day before. To me, it honestly seemed a bit wasteful and excessive, like junk mail. However, I know many delegates had not developed strong positions on resolutions or candidates, like the bulk of our delegation had, and I suppose I have to respect the game. 

While there is some understandable pushback to characterizing caucuses as left or right due to the connotation and aversion of being categorized as ‘right-wing’, from my experience it is plain that there is a split within the organization. Caucuses that are typically characterized as ‘left-wing’ such as MUG, Red Star, and Libertarian Socialist Caucus (LSC, my own caucus) tend to self-partition politically and socially away from ‘right-wing’ caucuses Groundwork and Socialist Majority Caucus (SMC) (see also LSC’s A Guide to DSA Politics). There are also ‘center’ caucuses like RnR and Bread and Roses (BnR), although based on my impressions during Convention they lean slightly left and right respectively. 

Going into Convention, I expected all of my comrades to engage in principled debate and was honestly open to being swayed on many resolutions. In general, I strongly value including a diversity of thought and perspectives in our collective struggle for socialism; in my mind this is critical to developing a democratic and just movement. Therefore, I do my best to operate under an assumption of good faith in my comrades. That being said, I was somewhat disappointed by the arguments put forward by some comrades, often belonging to the ‘right-wing’ caucuses. The first example of this occurred during what might have been the most contentious resolution heard at Convention, Groundwork’s CB02: One Member One Vote for National Leadership Elections. One memorable supporting argument compared not allowing asynchronous NPC elections to historical examples of restricting suffrage for oppressed peoples and asserted comrades opposed to the resolution were ‘scared to let disenfranchised members vote’. It is hard to view this as anything other than an assertion of bad faith towards the opposition, who reasonably brought up examples of how online asynchronous voting reduced deliberation and participation in their own chapters and the concern of turning national leadership elections into a listserv competition. Other examples include opposition arguments on R20 A01: Democratic Socialists and the Labor Movement Need Each Other, which would require endorsed candidates for elected office from the labor movement to identify as democratic socialists and assert DSA’s political independence. SMC delegates argued against the amendment by claiming ‘we shouldn’t tell workers to do socialism even if we think it is the correct path’ and falsely claimed Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign didn’t center or promote DSA very much, concluding it was unimportant for endorsed elected officials to identify as socialists and promote DSA. Finally and most upsetting to me was the support for R22 A01: Align with the BDS Movement, which removed clauses from the original resolution that would require endorsed electoral candidates to uphold DSA’s support for Palestinian liberation and provide a mechanism to hold members accountable for violating DSA’s policies and principles with respect to Palestine solidarity. Fortunately, this amendment failed. Overall, these examples show how the right faction of DSA concerningly tend to view winning electoral campaigns as more important than holding ideological or even ethical/moral lines. 

An additional disappointment I cannot directly attribute to factionalism occurred at the start of convention. A rule was proposed by an immunocompromised comrade to require masks on the debate floor who also cited a confirmed case of COVID at Convention had already been reported. Oppositional arguments heard included the claim that while there was enough masks purchased for all delegates, there was not time to distribute masks (which were available at the registration desk and could be distributed easily by Convention staff and volunteers) and that certain delegates were hard of hearing (live captions were displayed on screens with reserved seating nearby). The pushback to such a simple request, especially one with important health and safety implications, was deeply troubling to me. The failure to adopt this rule was is testament to the work DSA still needs to do to in the realm of disability justice. I am at least proud of my fellow Cleveland comrades who did voluntarily mask on the Convention floor from then on. 

Despite these disappointments, there were also many occasions to celebrate. Of course, many moments and aspects I consider particularly exciting corroborate my own political tendencies falling well within DSA’s left faction. That being said, I know I am not the only member of the Cleveland chapter relieved to see 1M1V defeated and single transferable voting mandated for Convention delegate elections. These decisions are important for upholding the authority of deliberative democracy via proportionally representative delegates at Convention. I was also heartened to see our organization commit to clear standards regarding endorsement of elected officials by passing the amended CR05 (A03, A04, and A05): National Electoral Commission Consensus Resolution and the unamended R22: For a Fighting Anti-Zionist DSA. 

Outside of the resolutions, I have to commend the professionalism and expertise of our convention chairs. Despite ongoing technological frustrations and occasional failures of delegates to maintain decorum, all of our chairs did a fantastic job of maintaining objectivity and facilitating deliberation. I highly encourage folks from our chapter to seek out and attend national chair trainings and will probably sign up for one myself in the future. 

Beyond caucuses and the debate floor, I found Convention rewarding in other aspects. I attended as much programming as possible. Admittedly, I think programming is one of the weakest parts of Convention and that at least some of that time would have been better spent getting through more of the agendized resolutions. Even so, I attended a couple sessions I really enjoyed. The presentation I thought was the most interesting and useful was the Growth & Development Committee’s State of DSA Report, which involved quantitative and qualitative analysis of trends in membership over the past decade. Major findings included that large membership swells occur in response to major national events that are followed by large member exodus exactly a year later, and that this phenomenon generally affects all chapters equally, meaning no chapters are particularly good at recruiting members outside of major political events. Even though many of the results are unsurprising, I was impressed by the analysis nonetheless and hope the GDC is able to explore membership data with more depth in the future. The second programming session I really enjoyed was titled ‘Lessons from the Lean Years’, a panel discussion including three comrades who had been involved in DSA prior to the 2016 explosion in membership. Panelists highlighted the past organization’s willingness to participate in coalitions as a strength, the need to build a united front of organizations in the future, and a call for more rigorous and locally focused political education. They also encouraged DSA to be humble, reflective, and flexible. However, the most sobering piece of advice was that we should keep in mind that whether the revolution happens in our lifetimes or not, we still have to live and enjoy our lives fully. As someone who often falls into puritanical thinking, maintaining a balance of work, DSA, rest, and familial obligations is something I rarely if ever achieve. Especially as I begin to mature as an organizer, I struggle with the idea of delegating without also directly participating in the work and the feeling that doing is superior to planning the work. I will certainly at least try to keep in mind the advice of my older comrades as I continue to navigate these challenges.

By far the best part of Convention was the ability to connect with comrades across the organization, especially my fellow Ohioans inside and outside of our chapter. A big reason my partner and I joined DSA in the first place was to join a community of people with shared values, and there’s really nothing like three days of intense political debate interspersed with very little sleep without the luxury of complimentary coffee to bond folks together. I appreciate that our chapter chose to sit together on the debate floor throughout Convention, despite political disagreements and the pull to spend time with their caucuses and friends. I also enjoyed getting to know delegates from other Ohio chapters and learning more about their individual strengths. Special shoutout to Joe from Mahoning Valley, who was somewhat adopted by our delegation. Although my feelings about a statewide formation have changed somewhat, I still believe it is important to connect and learn from our sister chapters as often as possible and hope that the Ohio chapters will prioritize regular in-person meetups in the future. Finally, I was delighted to run into a comrade from my original DSA chapter, Coulee DSA in La Crosse, Wisconsin at the GDC table. In fact, David was the first member who invited Joe and I to join DSA from our weekly Palestine protests. Although we were only in the chapter a few months, it obviously made a big impact and led us to get active in Cleveland once we moved home. 

At the close of Convention, I was struck by how impactful each of the ~1200 delegates were, regardless of their caucus status or chapter. Several resolutions passed or failed within 50 votes. One, R44: Resolution on Staff, Contractors, and Budgeting, came within 11 votes, well within the margin of abstentions. Delegates came from all over the country, from very small chapters like Ohio’s Mahoning Valley to the extremely influential megachapters like NYC. Through a show of hands, there appeared to be a relatively even split in the room in terms of the number of Conventions attended, although most folks I talked to were attending for the first time. Even as a non-voting member of our delegation, I felt I had an impact through conversations with my comrades on the debate floor. The idea that people so new to the movement could have so much power in the leadership of the national organization was deeply moving. I hope we are able to send more comrades to Convention in the future as delegates and observers to share in this experience.  

When running for a spot on the delegation, I declared my motivation to run for convention delegate was to continue growing as a DSA member and socialist to better serve the chapter. Although it is certainly too soon to tell – I’m drafting this the day after convention – I feel confident that I will achieve those goals. Attending Convention has been an overwhelmingly energizing and positive experience from the delegate election process to reading each resolution to the Spotify jam session on the drive home. I am deeply grateful to my comrades who had the confidence in me to represent them and am excited to continue sharing lessons learned with my comrades and to become more involved in national bodies like the Growth & Development Committee. I look forward to the future of DSA both in Cleveland and at the national level over the next two years, after which I do hope to return to Convention as a full delegate.

Solidarity forever, 

Ary C

The post Thoughts on DSA National Convention appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

Events & Actions

Tuesday, August 19 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM) ICE out of SF courts! (In person at 100 Montgomery St) 

Tuesday, August 19 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM) DSA SF Tech Reading Group featuring author Mike Monteiro (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St) 

Wednesday, August 20 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM) What Is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister St) 

Thursday, August 21 (5:30 PM – 7:00 PM) DSA SF x UAW 4811 – Organizing Against ICE: On and Off Campus (In person at Mission Hall UCSF, 550 16th St) 

Thursday, August 21 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Fun Committee Meeting (Location TBD) 

Friday, August 22 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM) ICE out of SF courts! (In person at 100 Montgomery St) 

Friday, August 22 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Book talk with Jaz Brisack: Get on the Job and Organize (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St) 

Saturday, August 23 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM) Divestment Strategy Session: Coalition-Building (In person at 1916 McAllister St) 

Saturday, August 23 (2:00 PM – 4:30 PM) Palestine Healing Circle (In person1916 McAllister St) 

Sunday, August 24 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM) Sip ‘n’ Stitch (In person at Rise & Grind Coffeehouse, 2598 Folsom St)

Sunday, August 24 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM) Physical Education and Self Defense (In person at William McKinley Monument) 

Monday, August 25 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Tenderloin Healing Circle (In person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave) 

Monday, August 25 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Labor Board x Divestment Priority Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St) 

Tuesday, August 26 (12:00 PM – 3:00 PM) DSA x RDU Food Serve and Social (In person at Bayside Park, 1125 Airport Blvd, Burlingame) 

Tuesday, August 26 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM) Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St) 

Wednesday, August 27 (6:45 PM – 8:30 PM) Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (Zoom and in person at Radical Reading Room, 438 Haight St) 

Thursday, August 28 (5:30 PM – 6:30 PM) Education Board Open Meeting  (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St) 

Thursday, August 28 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Immigrant Justice Office Hour (Zoom) 

Friday, August 29 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM) Ecosoc Plant and Seed Swap (Location TBD)

Sunday, August 31 (5:00 PM – 7:00 PM) Capital Reading Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Monday, September 1 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St) 

Monday, September 1 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates. Events with a are especially new-member-friendly!

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ICE Out of SF Courts!

Join neighbors, activists, grassroots organizations in resisting ICE abductions happening at immigration court hearings! ICE is taking anyone indiscriminately in order to meet their daily quotas. Many of those taken include people with no removal proceedings.

We’ll be meeting every Tuesday and Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30  PM at Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery. We need all hands on deck. The 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM window is when we most need to boost turnout, but if you can’t make that please come whenever works for you. 1 or 2 hours or the entire time! 

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DSA SF x United Auto Workers 4811 – Organizing Against ICE: On and Off Campus

The Immigrant Justice Working Group, Labor Board, and UAW 4811 are teaming up for a combination know your rights and union organizing training at UCSF!

Tired of seeing your immigrant neighbors and coworkers be terrorized by masked agents? How about of the fact that we are funding ICE instead of science? Come join union members Thursday, August 21, 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM at Mission Hall UCSF (550 16th St) to learn about how we can effectively organize and mobilize to protect our immigrant community.

• Learn how to handle questions from ICE officers and how to help your neighbors dealing with immediate immigration issues
• Protect your community from ICE raids
• Connect with UAW 4811 and DSA SF organizers
• Get involved in the fight to protect international workers

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No Appetite for Apartheid Follow-up Canvass

This Friday, August 22, we are having a follow-up canvass for our recent No Appetite for Apartheid work. Join a team of canvassers to follow-up with stores we have already canvassed, and build a stronger base of apartheid-free store owners! If you are interested, please drop a message in the #no-appetite-for-apartheid channel on Slack or email palestine-solidarity@dsasf.org.

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Palestine Healing Circle

This Saturday, August 23rd from 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM at 1916 McAllister, DSA SF will be hosting a Palestine Healing Circle. We will be holding space for the anger, grief, and reverence related to this movement. Participants are asked to come with respect, an open heart, and an open mind. The circle will have a centerpiece for which the following contributions are welcome

• Unscented candle
• A flower or plant clipping
• Photos of lost loved ones
• Any small objects which hold meaning

At the end of the circle, there will be a potluck. Gifts of food and non-alcoholic drinks are encouraged if they fall within your means.

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Sunday Sip ‘n’ Stitch

Calling all artists for Sip N Stitch! Bring a craft while casually enjoying some drinks with comrades on Sunday, August 24th from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM at Rise & Grind Coffeehouse at 2598 Folsom St. All are welcome! 

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Labor & Homelessness Working Group Food Serve and Rideshare Driver Political Education Event

Join Labor and the Homelessness Working Group for a food serve and political education event at Bayside Park near Burlingame on Tuesday, August 26th from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. We need volunteers to help Homelessness Working Group with food prep and also helping with political education and serving! Pop into the #labor channel on Slack if you’re interested.

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People’s Conference for Palestine

Our chapter is sending a five-person delegation to join thousands of organizers, artists, students, and community members from across North America to the People’s Conference for Palestine, taking place August 29–31 in Detroit, Michigan.

With the guiding theme “Gaza is the compass,” the conference aims to deepen our collective strategy, convene us at a critical juncture, and strengthen the mass movement for Palestinian liberation in North America. Attendees will engage in plenaries, workshops, cultural events, and organizing sessions that reflect the urgency of this moment. Our organization is proud to endorse the conference and is actively mobilizing our members to attend. We see this as a critical opportunity to connect with others in the movement, share strategies, and reaffirm our commitment to justice for Palestine.

Although we’ve voted on our official delegation, you’re still able to attend if you’d like and join up with other Bay Area organizers!

For more information and to register, visit the official conference website: peoplesconferenceforpalestine.org

Can’t make it? Consider donating to support the cost of the Conference.

• Help spread the word by liking and sharing this post on Twitter 
• Instagram
• Call for Endorsers

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DSA SF Homelessness Working Group Reads: Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell

Join DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group as we read through Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell. We’ll be meeting at 1916 McAllister starting September 7th at 5:30pm and running every other week for 4 or 5 sessions. For more info, register here: bit.ly/martacd

Reports

August Chapter Meeting Recap

 On August 13, comrades packed into Kelly Cullen Community for our monthly general meeting. Jenbo and Carlos held it down as co-chairs and kicked things off by recognizing the Immigrant Justice Working Group for organizing weekly ICE protests alongside our allies and for their continued efforts to protect our people. The chapter also celebrated Hazel’s recent election to the National Political Committee, the highest elected body of DSA. We heard report-backs from our chapter committees and working groups — you can read more about their work in other sections of this newsletter!

Caitlin from our Labor Board led a training on how to have effective organizing conversations. Ellyn gave an update from the Steering Committee on recent meetings between the Steering Committee, Electoral Board, SiO, the Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialism Working Group, and Divestment leads, focused on maintaining an anti-Zionist stance in City Hall. Specifically, not supporting resolutions that promote Zionism under the pretext of combating antisemitism.

The chapter voted to endorse the Keep Market Street Moving campaign, which will be led by our Ecosocialism Working Group. DSA SF is showing up to make our politics clear: Waymo off Market, power to Muni, and public transit for the people. To get plugged in, email ecosocialist@dsasf.org or join the Slack channel if you’re a member. That’s it for August — see you at the next meeting!

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Palestine Solidarity and Anti Imperialism Working Group

On Tuesday, August 12th, the Palestine Solidarity and Anti Imperialism (PSAI) working group along with other comrades in the chapter gathered with hundreds of protesters at Union Square to demand accountability for the targeted assassination of journalists in Gaza who sacrificed their lives to broadcast the truth of the ongoing US-Israeli genocide of Palestinians. Saturday, we organized another No Appetite for Apartheid canvas with our coalition partners Arab Resource Organizing Center (AROC) and the Neighborhood Business Alliance (NBA). We canvased 21 stores in the Excelsior and Bayview, continuing to build relationships and encourage store owners to pledge their commitment to deshelving products complicit in apartheid. Join us in the fight!

This Friday, August 22, we are having a follow-up canvass for our recent No Appetite for Apartheid work. Join a team of canvassers to follow-up with stores we have already canvassed, and build a stronger base of apartheid-free store owners! If you are interested, please drop a message in the #no-appetite-for-apartheid channel on Slack or email palestine-solidarity@dsasf.org.

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 publishing the weekly newsletter. Members can view current CCC rotations.

Interested in helping with the newsletter or other day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running? Fill out the CCC help form.