With all the recent talk from the Harris campaign about subsidizing first-time home buyers, we might want to be looking at an additional approach:  build social housing.

For the second time within a year, I spent four days with a Hungarian couple, two teenage daughters, three guinea pigs and a Spitz. All within a seventy square meter two-bedroom, one of many in a complex. 

Built in 1929 as workers' quarters, its small single worker apartments have been recombined into livable and affordable spaces. The balcony of their third-floor apartment looks out on a shared park area with trees, walkways and a small greenhouse. The eight buildings that formed the quadrangle on their block are a mix of public and private. You need to live in Vienna two years, and then you can go on a waiting list for housing. The income of the people I stayed with qualifies them for a rent of 770 Euros per month (about $850). 

In the building bulletin board we see the police help poster "I am here for you", a firefighter poster, and the photo in the middle shows who is in charge of your building. There is one maintenance company for the 200,000 apartments the city owns. Because the city also subsidized other construction, about 60% of Viennese people live in some form of social housing. 

To get a mix of all incomes the upper limit for these apartments is €65,000. For a fuller discussion of Vienna's housing please follow the link to the article “The Social Housing Secret” in Portside. 

On Saturday, September 7th, California DSA State Council held our fall quarterly meeting. To start off the meeting, we heard a report from our Co-chair Paul Z., who highlighted the importance of this statewide coalition not only for the wins of the upcoming election but also for our long-term strategy of building a socialist future. 

We also heard reports from our Communications Committee and the local DSA chapters of Sacramento and San Francisco. David M. from Sacramento talked about the large population of unhoused people and the chapter’s mutual aid efforts during a heat wave that reached temperatures of over 100 degrees. He also highlighted the recent protest for Palestine at the Democratic Party headquarters on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention and their endorsement of Dr. Flo Cofer for Mayor of Sacramento. 

Through a written report, Matt M. from San Francisco spoke about their chapter voting to make the Affordable Rent Control and Housing (ARCH) campaign (California DSA’s first ever statewide campaign) an official subcommittee of their Electoral Board. The chapter is gearing up for a strong ground game in working class districts.

Tough race ahead
One of our keynote speakers, Los Angeles City Council candidate for CD 14 Ysabel Jurado, spoke about the tough race ahead against the incumbent, Kevin De Leon, who is infamous for making racist and homophobic comments on a leaked conversation regarding redistricting. As a tenants’ rights attorney and single mom, Jurado wants to build a “solidarity economy” through, for example, enacting policies that decommodify housing. “I’m running because we need someone with the lived and professional experiences to tackle our most pressing challenges and share the same values that we all have on this call…to work towards the radical future that we’re trying to see,” she said. DSA LA has endorsed her candidacy. 

Our other keynote speaker, Berkeley City Councilmember for CD 7 Cecilia Lunaparra, highlighted the importance of young people having representation in city government. “The district is 95% students. The median age is 19, and we are the most progressive district in the city…My energy goes into making sure students and a more diverse group of people in Berkeley get to make sure that…their issues are at the forefront of the decision making process in the city,” she said. Lunaparra won her election earlier this year with help from East Bay DSA’s endorsement. Out of nine members, she is the only socialist city councilmember. Thanks to her and her allies, Berkeley city council passed one of the strongest demolition ordinances in the country.  Lunaparra strategizes regularly with the East Bay DSA chapter.

You can watch the full remarks here

Statewide Day of Action for ARCH campaign
Michael L., State Committee member and liaison to the ARCH campaign, presented on the history and current state of housing and the need for rent control in California. This analysis led to discussion about the two propositions the campaign is supporting this November: Prop 5 and Prop 33. Michael also announced that we will have a statewide day of action for the ARCH campaign on Saturday, October 5th. To learn more about the propositions and how you can get involved, visit our website, www.californiadsa.org

Nickan F., Co-chair of California DSA, led a vibrant discussion on California DSA’s voter guide. This year, the voter guide working group will be focusing on fifteen races as well as ten ballot measures across the state. The group will have the guide ready by early October, around the time when ballots drop.  

We are looking to start up our California DSA 101 sessions again, so be on the lookout for that notification if you would like to learn more about what our statewide organization is doing to build working class power. 

Editor,

In regard to the very good Medicare Advantage (MA) article (“Medicare Advantage: The floating crap game that threatens Medicare”, Peter Shapiro, August Mini California Red): Any piece on this topic in a California organization’s publication needs to deal directly with the issue of the largest MA provider in the state—Kaiser. I, and a very large number of other working class Californians (and I suspect union members and DSAers too) have chosen Kaiser MA over traditional Medicare plans for two very good reasons despite, in many cases, agreeing with the opposition to MA in general as expressed in the article.

1. Kaiser, unlike many other private health plans, is not just a PPO or a paper HMO, but rather an HMO that actually has its own large and comprehensive brick and mortar facilities and a nearly-fully integrated medical records and billing system which makes it much more convenient to deal with than the multiple fee-for-service private practitioners, often for-profit, that are the alternative under traditional Medicare.

2. As a result of the above, using traditional Medicare becomes a nightmare of multiple charges, billing errors, supplementary Medicare-plus insurance hassles, and unintegrated care where one has to carry records and test results and x-rays from one provider to another, etc. Also, the great reach of Kaiser in CA, especially into unionized workplaces, means that when Kaiser pursues more corporate profit-seeking types of behavior (as it often does) there is more possibility to effectively push back than to the many private providers or, even worse, the huge for-profit insurers like United Healthcare. Kaiser itself is also nearly 100% unionized and has some of the best union contracts, for patients as well as workers, in the nation in the health care sector, very much unlike the increasingly for-profit rest of the sector.

We need a good California-focused discussion of this issue that acknowledges the personal reality many of us are faced with in the here and now. The recent victory by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), AFT Local 2 retirees chapter in New York City on a related health care privatization issue makes this an even more compelling issue right now, especially for us retired educators and public workers. We need to be looking at more than just making an "Improved Medicare For All" our demand, but getting rid of fee-for-service medicine through a government paid for direct national health service, like we have already at the VA for military veterans. East Bay DSA members Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early have written books and articles on this topic.

Thanks for your work.

In solidarity,

Joe Berry, EBDSA

Who ranks high among California’s most-profitable corporations? With some stiff competition, Chevron comes in third on this dishonor role. And while two Big Tech companies who outrank  our home-state oil ogre do plenty of damage around the world, Chevron may well take the highest rank in global ecocide and environmental racism.

Register for the launch
Right now, living in a time of genocide, DSA is targeting Chevron, Israel’s largest natural gas supplier. Israeli apartheid depends on Chevron. Our National DSA’s International Committee will launch the “#Stop Fueling Genocide” campaign on September 23rd at 6 PM PT. You can register for this online event here.

You’ll hear former Richmond City Council and EBDSA member Jovanka Beckles speak with authority about building power to fight Chevron. Also speaking will be Steven Donziger, long-time defender of Ecuador’s indigenous people against Chevron’s crimes; Olivia Katbi, organizer with the BDS Movement’s Boycott Chevron campaign; and our Houston DSA comrades who’ll share their inspiring Week of Action work in our fellow petro-state.

Well-positioned to make a contribution

With two giant refineries here in California, a growing Pro-Palestine movement, and ecosocialists in most of our chapters, California’s DSA members are well positioned to make an important contribution to this Stop Fueling Genocide Campaign. As socialists, we’re acutely aware of Audre Lorde’s oft-quoted truth: “There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” The struggle against Chevron is a struggle against genocide in Gaza, and it is also a struggle against brutal environmental racism at home and around the globe. It is a struggle against ruling class capture of democracy here in California and around the world. It is a struggle to prevent ecocide—inevitably a struggle against capitalism.

Interested in bringing this campaign to your chapter? DSA’s Campaign Plan offers a wealth of information. And be sure to check out the Launch linked above. Let’s help each other develop and coordinate this throughout our California chapters. Please join our October CA Ecosocialist Working Group Zoom Meeting. Contact me for the date and time. Let’s stop fueling genocide and build power for the beautiful future we imagine and deserve! 

The struggle over the length of the working day is nearly as old as capitalism itself. During the Industrial Revolution, American workers clocked in for brutal 80-100 hour work weeks until socialists, communists, and anarchists began unionizing their workplaces, and organizing worker strikes around the eight hour work day. The police violently cracked down on the strikers, one example being the 1886 Haymarket Massecre, where a bomb blast set off a barrage of police gunfire. Eight anarchist labor activists were arrested without any evidence, and seven of them were hanged. Their efforts eventually culminated in the creation of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1940.

However, as capitalists have chipped away at unions and New Deal reforms over the decades, we find ourselves inching back towards square one. 52% of adults employed full time in the U.S. report working more than 40 hours per week. The growing gap between productivity and compensation has been well-documented.

American workers are producing more than ever, but earning less than they did 50 years ago, after adjusting for inflation. Many of us are having to pick up multiple jobs just to make ends meet. Workers are even having their overtime pay denied (stolen), costing some households $35,451/year. On top of this, there’s a growing pay gap between the labor aristocracy and the essential workers providing the hard labor that keeps the economy afloat. What can we do?

In March of 2024, Sen. Bernie Sanders announced he will introduce legislation to change our workweek standard from 40 hrs to 32 hrs with no loss in pay. This would be a revolutionary change that would make sure workers benefit from our increased productivity in this country.

This bill would reduce the maximum hours threshold for overtime from 40 to 32 hours. Workers would be paid time and a half for work days longer than 8 hours and double for work days longer than 12. The bill would also ensure that workers’ pay would not be reduced along with the reduction of hours.

What we need is to build support in the Senate and the House by activating voters, and organizing the working class to build strong unions.

“I know when my members look back on their lives, they never say, ‘I wish I would have worked more.’ When people reach the end of their lives, they never say, ‘I wish I made more money.’ What they wish for is they wish they had more time.”

– Shawn Fain, President of UAW

32 HOURS A WEEK WORKS

It’s pretty obvious that working less hours in a week is nice for the workers, but it’s also better for the workplace in general.

A 32 hour work week pilot was done in the UK in 2022. It involved 61 organizations over a period of 6 months. These orgs reported overwhelmingly positive feedback to the pilot. They reported that staff well-being improved, staff turnover reduced, and recruitment rate went up. All of which helped to improve productivity in the workplace. The pilot worked out so well that 54 of those orgs (89%) continued the policy at least a year after the pilot and 31 of them (51%) made the four day work week permanent.

When you think about it, this all makes perfect sense. Right now we are so overworked that we struggle to find time for ourselves outside of work. Taking back an extra day in the week frees up enough time for us to relax, socialize, and it helps with mental and physical health which means when we do go back to work, we feel less miserable. Even though we currently work 40 hours a week, we rarely actually do 40 hours worth of work. Spending less time at the workplace will not actually reduce the amount of work we can get done, so there’s no reason to keep us there for so long.

From the cubicles to the factory floor, service workers, sex workers, and everyone in between. Workers should fight to make this change and take back their time!

The post The Case for a 32 Hour Work Week Has Never Been Stronger appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

By Mike Nutt

We have family in England. A merciful vacation at an idyllic homestead in rural Devon awaits me there. There will be sheep. It will be overcast and cool while it is hot and unbearable in Raleigh. 

I mutter synonyms for 'radical' and 'leftist' at the laptop as I search for bookstores near the small towns we're visiting. Predictably, the results on the map are long train rides away from our destinations.

Something unexpected, though. Better. The Socialist Workers Party is having its annual Marxism Festival in London the day before we fly back to the States from Heathrow. Such things are not luck; they are synchronicities, and all good socialists must learn to recognize them, ride them. 

With my partner's blessing, on Saturday, July 6, I get up early to peel away from the family. They will visit Arundel Castle's Medieval Festival. I am dragging large suitcases closer to our hotel by LHR. 

I get to the Emsworth train station early. I eat a delicious sausage roll from the local baker. I have my pick of seats when the train arrives. There is nothing to see, say, or sort, despite the constant security reminders. I relax and look out the window.

Three trains later, I leave my luggage in the basement of the Simpli Fresh convenience store in central London. Unburdened, I walk towards Marxism Festival 2024 at the University College of London.

On Thursday, July 4, the first day of Marxism Festival 2024 (MF24), England's Conservative party suffers a historic loss, ending 14 years of rule. I am attending the festival two days later on Saturday. One of the first people I see is an old man wearing an old t-shirt that says "FUCK THE TORIES." I resolve to also wear punk shirts as an old man.

Labour's win is hardly impressive, however, earning fewer total votes than in its last election. The festival's organizers, the Trotsykyist Socialist Workers Party [1], have already dismissed Keir Starmer as a typical agent of neoliberalism. A speaker on Saturday name-checks Jeremy Corbyn (a MF24 speaker himself, on the topic of poetry) as "one of five independent Members of Parliament (MPs) elected to the left of Labour." Speakers and audience members dissect the loss of the Tories throughout the day, and there is an obligatory cheer for their downfall at every talk. 

This overcast and cool Saturday is also one day before the second round of National Assembly elections in France, where the far-right will underperform expectations. But today, we don't know that, and I see dozens of people race-walking to get a good seat at one of the first talks of the day, "France: Le Pen, Fascism and the Popular Front" by Denis Godard.

I find the location of my first session, which is in a building called Cruciform. I am the first to sit down for Julie Sherry's presentation, "Coal Mines to Call Centres: Has the Working Class Lost its Power?" Sherry is a former lead labor organizer for the SWP. She is sitting behind a small table at the front of a lecture hall, without shoes, waiting for her facilitator to arrive. The tube is running late.

Sherry's answer to the question posed in her talk title is that, no, the gig economy has not made the coal mining trade unionism of the past irrelevant, though of course circumstances are different so tactics should change. She pinpoints a dynamic in modern movements: people are highly motivated to demand an end to injustice but have low levels of class-consciousness and little experience with organizing for working-class power.

Therefore, Sherry explains, socialist labor organizers must be ready to join, support, and have mutually beneficial relationships with social justice movements like the Palestinian freedom movement or Black Lives Matter. The movement for a free Palestine (or any movement) can be an entry point for unions to address social problems by building working class solidarity and demonstrating the power of direct democracy. Yes, it is genocide. Yes, resistance is justified in an illegal occupation. Now, what are we going to do about it, together? Sherry is the first person in the day to say that socialists should "be stuck in to" every fight. This is the way to build trust and influence in our communities and to ultimately cultivate more revolutionaries.

The next meeting is with Lewis Nielson, one of the authors of the SWP's new book. He and Sophia Beach have just completed a crisp and powerful 80 page pamphlet entitled Why You Should Be a Socialist: the Case for Revolution (WYSBaS) [2]. All three of the talks I will see today purposefully revolve around themes from the book, an impressive display of party unity. The speakers reinforce and unpack themes from WYSBaS, but with a sharp focus on recent and looming elections, their importance, and the limitations of elections in general for Marxists.

Nielsen is a good speaker. His talk, "Party and Class: What Kind of Organization do We Need?" runs through some of the book's main points. He charges through his speech with only a couple glances at his notes. The SWP, says Nielson, should proudly declare themselves revolutionaries. Conditions change through rupture, not the incrementalism and reform of a limited representative democracy. Electoralism is not a strategy that can win.

From WYSBaS:

"...the reality is that socialism can't come from above through parliament" (p42). "...what really matters in society is not what happens in parliament, but what happens on the streets and communities and, above all, in our workplaces" (p48).

Still, says Nielson, elections are not unimportant. It matters who wins because they can create more or less favorable conditions for non-electoral organizing. The SWP even allows for strategic collaboration with the capitalist workers party, Labour. "Any serious revolutionary should look to work with Labour Party members in joint campaigns and struggles whenever possible" (p47). Nielson's assertion that election outcomes matter seems to imply approval of a united front with liberals against the fascist threat represented by Reform UK, the National Rally in France, and presumably the Republicans in the United States (Nielson predicted a Trump victory a week before he was an assassination target. He also stressed the ongoing threat from fascist elements in the UK, despite Reform UK's drubbing. A month later, the country erupted in race riots).

The most blood-pumping part of the speech is when Nielson takes a turn calling for socialists to be stuck in to every fight. The Socialist Workers Party must be a party of member-leaders, where the rank and file member is empowered to take the initiative necessary to organize the unorganized at the local level. Only a revolution from the bottom up will have legitimacy and democracy. Yes, comrade Lewis.

The movement for a free Palestine is on everyone's lips and the movement is in the London streets that weekend.

Palestine is all over the program, from the Palestine 101 session first thing Thursday July 4 to Sunday's closing rally on "Resistance in a world of imperialism and crisis." I force myself to buy only one Palestine-related book in the Bookmarks pop-up store, a biography of Leila Khaled [3].  

Lewis Nielson notes early in his talk the incredible radicalizing power the movement for Palestine has had. He notes a poll: 54 percent of young people in England now say Israel doesn't have the right to exist. This would have been unimaginable on October 6, he says.

At noon there is a break in the conference and I march with one hundred thousand Londoners——including at least a thousand socialists, conservatively——to demand a Free Palestine. [4] I am wearing my Democratic Socialists of America Labor shirt. We ruck and chant and wait and dance and make demands in the streets for two hours. 

I skip the culminating rally by the Thames to eat and get back to the conference. I try to find a pub for some food and a pint on the 45 minute walk back to the College, but all the tables are full or reserved. England is playing Switzerland in the Euro football championship.

My last talk of the day is in the enormous and impossible-to-find Chris Ingold chemistry building auditorium XLG2. Joseph Choonara delivers "Revolutionaries, Elections and the Way Forward." Choonara asks, "How do we use the election tactic?" He reminds us Lenin said that until you're ready to seize power, it's obligatory to participate in elections. However, "mass working class struggle from below is our tradition." In any case, the game is rigged. Reformists are better at winning elections than revolutionaries because they drop their principles to win elections.

In a best case scenario, Choonara says elections allow Marxists to raise working class consciousness, gauge where the working class is at, and "generalize and spread our ideas." Still, he cautions that people can be put off from a tactic by bad experiences. I think of DSA and its avoidance of long-shot socialists in the electoral sphere. 

To close his portion of the talk, Choonara puts his palms on the large table in front of him and leans into his parting shot: "No honeymoon for Starmer."

After each main speaker of the day, there is an audience engagement portion of the hour. We are instructed to turn to our neighbors to discuss our thoughts on the topic at hand for three minutes. Then, we raise their hands to be recognized to address the whole room. It is during this last audience-interaction moment that my Festival experience reaches a climax. 

The talks have been consistent throughout the day, along with the responses from the attendees and my conversations with strangers. I have read three WYSBaS chapters between sessions. I'm ready to raise a specific question to...someone, but I resolve not to be the one American DSA guy who makes a fool of himself challenging all of XLG2 to explain themselves. I turn to the three in the row above and behind me.

"I'm sorry, I'm American and not a Party member. May I ask a question? Throughout the day, people have only talked about national elections. Does the SWP have a strategy for local elections?"

The three SWP members stare silently at me for a socially awkward amount of time. The woman with short hair and a nose piercing to my right says, "Well, it's just a much different system than in the US." The brunette guy agrees. For a beat, no one elaborates further. I'm holding my tongue, practicing my organizer listening skills, trying not to be the stupid American, waiting to see if they will fill the silence. The third in my group, an old man in a tweed beret, eventually says "Palestine is the most important issue." He says Palestinian freedom is a national, not local, issue. 

Just then, the meeting chair interrupts to tell us to wrap up. The four of us are silent for a few moments more. I'm trying to figure out why my question is being dismissed so easily. 

I turn back to the man in the beret. "Can I ask you another question, since you mentioned Palestine?" He rolls his eyes dramatically but leans forward on his arms and looks at me and waits. "I understand we have different systems, but are there no local opportunities for BDS [6] of Israel, where local politicians could pursue divestment in municipal budgets, for example?" It's not a great question; it doesn't get to the theoretical rationale for a national-only electoral tactic. But it keeps the man in the beret talking.

He starts telling a story about an MP whom the SWP supported but couldn't keep in line and who ended up a corrupt disappointment. Strangely, the story seems to be proving that national MPs are too distant to be held accountable. As he’s getting into the story, the chair calls us back to hear Choonara's response to the audience comments. 

When Choonara is done, I bound into the aisle. The man in the beret calls after me, "Aren't you going to let me finish what I was saying?" I wave and say, "No, thank you." I walk out of the lecture hall fairly certain that the Socialist Workers Party of England has a giant contradiction in its blind spot.

As I take the evening tube to my hotel, I think hard about the meetings I attended and the contradictions I saw at their center The Socialist Workers Party made a good case for revolution, but it was silent on how a revolutionary is supposed to approach local elections. The book, the speakers, my lecture hall neighbors...no one seemed to think local elections are "common struggles" worth our time. If elections matter and socialists need to be in every fight and we have to build from the bottom up, then socialists need to be running for municipal offices. 

If we're building from the bottom up, we cannot ignore the local opportunities to build strong, radicalizing relationships through bottom-up elections. If radicals are going to use the electoral tactic at all, it must be deployed at the local level. You are not stuck in to every fight if you are ignoring local elections.

A few months before leaving for England, I discovered Murray Bookchin through Jackson Rising Redux, a book of essays about the radicals at Cooperation Jackson who are building cooperatives and dual power [6] in Mississippi. Bookchin once said, "The overriding problem is to change the structure of society so that people gain power. The best arena to do that is the municipality—-the city, town, and village—-where we have an opportunity to create a face-to-face democracy." [7] He did not mean that simply voting in the town council election will change society. Rather, he was identifying a social-geographic place of power where socialists can best exercise people-power across a range of democratic projects, including elections. 

The Triangle DSA's recent electoral successes demonstrate how socialists can win seats in city councils, where we can not only "generalize and spread our ideas" but have positive material impacts on the lives of the working class which can be directly attributed to socialist praxis. In Durham, "we endorsed the electoral campaign of Nate Baker--a DSA member, whose campaign was managed by a DSA cadre and chapter HGO...Our elected officials have held the line on Palestine with total discipline: Nate Baker’s first action as a Durham City Council member was to call for a ceasefire and we secured the first ceasefire resolution passed in North Carolina with the help of DSA cadre and Carrboro town councilor Danny Nowell." [8]

This coming Raleigh town council election is the most exciting in my 11 years as a city resident, with two self-identified socialists on the ballot endorsed by our Triangle chapter. This is the first time I'll be able to vote for a candidate I first met as a comrade organizing in the community. Reeves Peeler's story and campaign represent a model for how socialists can raise up local organizers to claw back the trust of the working class, too battered to care about voting for yet another pro-gentrification Democrat. 

Similarly, I am proud of our chapter's overwhelming endorsement of town council incumbent Mary Black. As one comrade noted after her endorsement meeting, she has "a clear fighter's spirit, being driven by a clear antipathy to the current political order and a desire to see a different, better world in its place. She's been a clear, public leader in Raleigh willing to take risks on Palestine even in a conservative district."

Socialism from below must do more to foster the delegation of individuals from our midst to positions of power in our local institutions. From public school Parent Teacher Associations to Citizen Advisory Councils and our own peoples movement assemblies. That means clear-headed engagement in local politics when conditions are right. The trick will be to recognize when the conditions are right.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Workers_Party_(UK)

[2] https://socialistworker.co.uk/product/wysbasbook/

[3] Leila Khaled: Icon of Palestinian Liberation by Sarah Irving. My English copy has the cover shown here, which is much better than the American one. https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20140601-leila-khaled-icon-of-palestinian-liberation/

[4] Other socialist orgs were represented at the march, including the Socialist Equality Party who wrote this report: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/07/07/qisb-j07.html

[5] Boycotts, divestment and sanctions. https://bdsmovement.net/get-involved

[6] See Dual Power Then and Now: From the Iroquois to Cooperation Jackson by the ROAR Collective

https://roarmag.org/magazine/dual-power-then-and-now-from-the-iroquois-to-cooperation-jackson/

[7] "Interview with Murray Bookchin" by David Vanek. https://social-ecology.org/wp/2001/10/harbinger-vol-2-no-1-%E2%80%94-murray-bookchin-interview/

[8] https://www.dsanc.org/leftangles/2023/12/31/nyreport23

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, September 18 (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Phonebank for Extreme Dean (In person at 1630 Haight)

Wednesday, September 18 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): What is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, September 19 (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Phonebank for Extreme Dean (In person at 1630 Haight)

Thursday, September 19 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group (In person at 1916 McAllister and on Zoom)

Thursday, September 19 (7:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m.): Socialist Night School – Unionism (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, September 20 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, September 20 (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): DSA Voter Guide Research Party (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, September 21 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Jackie Fielder for D9 Supervisor Mobilization (Meet at Holly Park, Holly Cr & Bocana)

Sunday, September 22 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Extreme Dean x Alan Wong x AFT Local 2121 Mobilization (Meet at Jefferson Square Park, Turk & Laguna)

Sunday, September 22 (1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.): No Appetite for Apartheid Work Session & Canvass (In person at 1916 McAllister and on Zoom)

Monday, September 23 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Wednesday, September 25 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Independent Outreach (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, September 26 (6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Ecosocialist Monthly Meeting (In person at 1916 McAllister and Zoom)

Thursday, September 26 (7:30 p.m. – 9:15 p.m.): Palestine and Socialism Study Group: Session 2 (In person at 1916 McAllister and Zoom)

Saturday, September 28 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Extreme Dean Door Knock Mobilization (Location TBD)

Sunday, September 29 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Jackie Fielder for D9 Supervisor Mobilization (Location TBD)

Monday, September 30 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Meeting (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, October 2 (6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): New Member Happy Hour (In person at Zeitgeist, 199 Valencia)

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

Events & Actions

Jackie Fielder x Alan Wong x AFT Local 2121 Mobilization

This Saturday is a joint mobilization with the Jackie Fielder for D9 and Alan Wong for College Board campaigns. So join us with City College of San Francisco Faculty Union (AFT Local 2121) Saturday, September 21 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at Holly Park (Holly Cr & Bocana) to get our fellow DSA member elected! There are just two weeks until ballots drop, and we need everyone to come out and knock on doors!

Weekday Mobilization with Jackie Fielder for D9

Can’t make it to Jackie’s Saturday mobilization? Come out Thursday, September 19 for a special Weekday Mobilization, 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 3389 26th St.

Dean Preston x Alan Wong x AFT Local 2121 Mobilization

Lend your skills to the Dean Preston for District 5 Supervisor and Alan Wong for College Board campaigns this Sunday! Special support from City College of San Francisco Faculty Union (AFT Local 2121) will make this weekend’s mobilization extra in the best way. Not to be missed. Sunday, September 22, 10:00 a.m, be there at Jefferson Square (Turk & Laguna). 

Volunteer with the Dean Preston for D5 Campaign

Can’t make it to Dean’s Sunday mobilization? Well, have we got some options for you:

• Tuesday, 9/17 (today!): Turnout Tuesday (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister)
• Wednesday, 9/18 and Thursday, 9/19: Phonebanking (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 1630 Haight)
• Saturday, 9/21: Campaign HQ Mobilization (10:00 a.m. at 1630 Haight)

Come help get SF’s only socialist in office re-elected!

Palestine and Socialism Study Group

Looking to learn more about the history of the Palestinian liberation struggle with like-minded comrades? Been skeptical about whether socialist theory has anything to offer to the movement? Join DSA SF’s Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group on Thursday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m. to discuss these questions and more.

This event is the 2nd of 3 sessions in this series. In the last session, we covered some of the historical realities that underpin the Zionist movement and the establishment of the state of Israel.

This session will focus on frameworks outlined in Lenin’s Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism and The Right of Nations to Self Determination. Join us in a political discussion about how these frameworks can inform the current movement to liberate Palestine from the river to the sea.

This will be a hybrid event at 1916 McAllister St and on Zoom.

No Appetite for Apartheid in SF!

Inspired by long-standing Palestinian boycott tactics and the BDS call, the Palestine Solidarity Anti-Imperialist Working Group are canvassing local stores and asking them to pledge to become Apartheid-Free by dropping products from companies complicit in the genocide of Palestinians and colonization of Palestine. It’s time to turn up the heat on this apartheid regime and take apartheid off our plates!

Want to show your support? Sign our Apartheid-Free Pledge so business owners know how popular this movement is with their local customers. After signing the pledge, we would love to see you at any of our upcoming campaign strategy sessions and canvassing days. Check dsasf.org/events for updates.

Benefit Concert for Gaza

Join your DSA SF comrades and our coalition partners on Saturday, October 5th at a benefit concert for Gaza, in support of the steadfastness of the Palestinian people facing this ongoing genocide. This will be a night of Palestinian art and culture, with performances by Ramzi Aburedwan & his Dalouna Ensemble featuring Ouday Al Khatib. All proceeds of the event will be donated to the Middle Eastern Children’s Alliance (MECA). MECA has been instrumental in providing emergency assistance to families who have fled their homes. Discounted early bird tickets are available until this Friday!

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.

To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.

Coffee shops across New York City are pushing to unionize — but they face bitter opposition.

The post Thinking Big appeared first on EWOC.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, September 11 (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Phonebank for Extreme Dean (In person at 1630 Haight)

Wednesday, September 11 (6:45 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): September Chapter Meeting (Zoom and in person – location TBA)

Thursday, September 12 (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Team Jackie Weekday Mobilization (Meet at 3389 26th St)

Thursday, September 12 (5:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Ecosocialism Working Group Phonebank for Extreme Dean (In person at 1630 Haight)

Thursday, September 12 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, September 12 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Monthly Meeting @ Dean HQ (In person at 1630 Haight)

Friday, September 13 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, September 13 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Dean/DSA Website/Lit One-Shot Meeting (Location TBA)

Saturday, September 13 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Alamo Square Door Knock Mobilization for Dean Preston (Meet in person at Alamo Square at the corner of Fulton and Scott)

Saturday, September 14 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Food Service (The Castro, exact location TBA)

Sunday, September 15 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Jackie Fielder Campaign Mobilization (Meet at Garfield Square)

Sunday, September 15 (1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.): No Appetite for Apartheid Work Session (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, September 16 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, September 16 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Wednesday, September 18 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): What is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, September 19 (7:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m.): Socialist Night School – Unionism (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, September 20 (5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): DSA Voter Guide Research Party (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, September 21 (10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Jackie Fielder for D9 Supervisor Mobilization (Location TBD)

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

Events & Actions

Volunteer This Week to Get Dean Preston Re-Elected!

The Extreme Dean Team has a whole bunch of events planned this week. Come to any or all of them and help get SF’s only socialist in office re-elected!

• Saturday, 9/14: Alamo Square Mobilization (10:00 a.m. at Alamo Square, Fulton and Scott)
• Tuesday, 9/10 (today!): Turnout Tuesday (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister)
• Wednesday, 9/11 and Thursday, 9/12: Phonebanking (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 1630 Haight)
• Friday, 9/13: Fundraising Friday – Want to get more fundraising experience? Come help plan events and make calls! (5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. at 1630 Haight)

Come Stack Voter IDs in D9 for Jackie Fielder!

We’re having a major DSA SF mobilization for Jackie Fielder this Sunday, September 15 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. at Garfield Square! There are just three weeks until ballots drop, and we need everyone to come out and knock on doors to get our fellow DSA member and endorsed District 9 candidate to City Hall!

RSVP

No Appetite for Apartheid in SF!

Inspired by long-standing Palestinian boycott tactics and the BDS call, the Palestine Solidarity Anti-Imperialist Working Group are canvassing local stores and asking them to pledge to become Apartheid-Free by dropping products from companies complicit in the genocide of Palestinians and colonization of Palestine. It’s time to turn up the heat on this apartheid regime and take apartheid off our plates!

Want to show your support? Sign our Apartheid-Free Pledge so business owners know how popular this movement is with their local customers. After signing the pledge, we would love to see you at any of our upcoming campaign strategy sessions and canvassing days. Check dsasf.org/events for updates.