“But as socialists,

we welcome this fight.”

If you are a working person in Portland, housing is your major expense, and a constant struggle. Portland declared a ‘housing emergency’ in 2017, and the number of folks living on the street has only increased ever since.

The politicians’ response has been to call for the construction of ‘affordable housing’ — certainly needed and completely insufficient to the scale of the problem. Clamping down on rent speculation would seem a no-brainer, however any move in this direction unleashes the full wrath of the National Realtors Association, via our own Portland Metro Chamber of Commerce. 

But as socialists, we welcome this fight.

We created a Renters’ Survey and a Renters’ Rights Pledge. In the coming months, the Housing Working group will lead door to door canvasses to sign up hundreds of renters in support the Renters’ Rights Pledge. We will also demand that all local candidates for city council, and others, support of the Pledge. We will make Renters’ Rights the #1 political issue in our region’s politics. Join us and sign the Pledge!

On March 10, 2024, the Portland DSA General Assembly passed the Renter’s’ Rights resolution. The resolution was put forward by Portland DSA’s Housing Working Group after three months of door-to-door renters canvassing. The Housing Working Group based the resolution on the successful 2023 Tacoma 4 All ballot measure. To the six planks of the Tacoma 4 All platform, we added our own Eviction Representation for All demand, as well as a call for the State of Oregon to lift its ban on local rent control — and to raise the minimum wage so that one worker can pay for an apartment with not more than 30% of their income.

In early 2019, the Maine Democratic Socialists of America held a public debate. The motion was stated as, “The Democratic Party is a viable vehicle for the Left.” Each side had two representatives, and the event was recorded. Today, the Maine Mural offers that recording for you to enjoy. On the side arguing in favor of the motion was Aaron B (Maine DSA) and Owen H (the now defunct ISO). Arguing against the motion was Al C (Maine DSA) and Todd C (ISO). Please share and enjoy the program!

The post Maine Mural Podcast: Democrats or Breakaway? appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Contact: info@columbusdsa.org

COLUMBUS – The Columbus chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America released the following statement regarding DSA’s ongoing layoffs:

As part of DSA’s ongoing budget process, the National Political Committee (“NPC”), our political leadership, has sought to lay off seven unionized staff members. Through successful fundraising, non-staff cuts, and seven voluntary resignations, DSA was able to exceed its financial goals for this year before laying off a single staff member. Yet, the NPC insists it will not negotiate with the DSA Union or adjust the number of layoffs to our new circumstances. This is a damaging maximalist posture from our leadership and, simply, an economically unnecessary number of staff to eliminate.

Last year’s successful abortion rights campaign in Ohio depended on DSA’s Electoral Campaigns Organizer and Org Tools Coordinator and could not have happened without the support of these staff members. The NPC’s plan to fire them along with five other union members is immensely short-sighted and would seriously harm our basic organizing capacities. As DSA chapters around the country seize a historic political moment with ambitious organizing projects for reproductive rights, Palestinian liberation, and more, it is a mistake to eliminate the staff who play a key role in getting these efforts off the ground and scaling up our organizing.

During this process the NPC has engaged in bad-faith negotiation, and their insulting offer to the union would see workers sign away their rights and relegate all unionized staff to at-will employment. This and multiple other violations of the DSA staff’s union contract have led the union to file grievances against several NPC members.

We stand in solidarity with all members of the DSA Union and reject any politics that seeks to sacrifice or compromise workers’ rights.

Columbus DSA affirms the statements of the DSA Union and calls on the NPC to move away from its destructive approach by negotiating in good faith to minimize the number of layoffs.

###

The post We Power DC appeared first on Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America.

Here’s your May Dispatch! This month, organize to support Palestine, build our Green New Deal work, learn about the history of racial justice organizing, and more. Read on to get involved. 

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

• From Our Co-Chairs — Turn Anger to Action
• DSA Stands in Solidarity with UAW 4811
• Tonight Thursday 5/9 — Join Setting a Larger Table: Creating a World of Economic, Racial, and Social Justice
• RSVP for Green New Deal Building for Power May Campaign Huddle!
• DSA at Socialism Conference 2024 — Early Bird Discount Until Friday 6/28
• Welcome Our New Chapter!

From Our Co-Chairs — Turn Anger to Action

The contradictions of capitalism are always there, if you look for them, but they’re on full display this week. While the ruling class queues up in million-dollar jewels and priceless bespoke outfits for the $35,000-per-ticket Met Gala, Israel drops US-made bombs on refugee encampments full of children in Rafah with just a finger-wag from the President — who admitted for the first time that Israelis have used US weapons to kill civilians, and after 7 months of Israeli war crimes and 35,000 Palestinians killed, has finally suggested a basic step of conditioning US military aid. While college students across the country are brutalized by police forces called in to tear apart their peaceful encampments, yet another company was slapped with a fine — and nothing more — for employing 13-year-olds in overnight shifts cleaning slaughterhouses. 

These things aren’t new or even particularly surprising to socialists. But in a political moment where these sorts of tensions show themselves in profound and very visible ways, it’s our job as organizers to make sure we’re helping move people into collective action. We continue to demand a permanent ceasefire, an end to the genocide of Palestinians, and no money for massacres with our tax dollars.

More than half a million people have already showed up to vote Uncommitted in Democratic presidential primary elections already, and DSA members are continuing to drive the ground game in upcoming state primaries in Maryland and New Jersey — organizing voters to continue sending an unmistakable signal that the Biden administration must end these atrocities or face the consequences. From Santa Fe to Boston, we’re organizing our communities to pass local ceasefire resolutions. Chapters in Louisville, Kentucky, and Atlanta, Georgia are organizing to win electoral races with DSA cadre candidates who will stand up for our values in the South. Across the country, we are standing in solidarity with students organizing their campuses for Gaza. Highly organized labor unions are playing a critical role at this moment — just this week, DSA members in UAW 4811, which represents 48,000 academic workers at the University of California, are among those leading the charge in calling a strike authorization in response to the university’s fierce repression of pro-Palestine protests.

If you haven’t been involved in your DSA chapter or a national committee or working group lately, now is a perfect time to jump back into the fold. This year will only become more politically intense, and DSA needs your energy.

If you are an active member already, now’s the perfect time to assess how your chapter or working group onboards new people. There’s energy in the air and we need to capture it — how can we do a better job of making people feel welcome and plugging them immediately into work?

Looking for more ways to tap in right now?

• Phonebank with Maryland DSA chapters for the MD Uncommitted Campaign
• Canvass or Phonebank with Atlanta DSA for endorsed candidate Gabriel Sanchez (GA HD 42)
• Canvass or Phonebank with Louisville DSA for endorsed candidates Joshua Crowder (Metro Council District 4) and JP Lyninger (Metro Council District 6)

Capitalism will never self-regulate its way out of violence and cruelty. We need socialism and we need it now. We’ve got a world to win. Let’s get to it!

DSA Stands in Solidarity with UAW 4811

DSA stands in solidarity with UAW 4811’s decision to call a strike authorization vote in response to the University of California’s fierce repression of pro-Palestine protests, including the arrest and assault of several union members. Unlike the student movement of the 1960s, campuses today have highly organized unions representing hundreds of thousands of educators, researchers, and other workers to fight back against the repression of anti-war student movements. DSA’s project of strengthening the labor movement is predicated on the idea that in moments of political crisis, unions will have the power, flexibility, and moral courage to stand up. Now such a moment has arisen, and labor militancy is critical for contemporary anti-war movements to succeed. 

UAW 4811—which represents 48,000 academic student employees, postdocs, and researchers at the University of California—has the highest concentration of DSA members of any union in the country. We encourage all of our members within UAW 4811 to prioritize organizing for strike authorization, and should they decide to strike, we encourage all DSA members in California to support them to the greatest extent they can.

We are proud of our fellow DSA members leading the charge in this historic struggle, and hope to see other unions across the country heed the call and strike for Palestine. 

Tonight Thursday 5/9 — Join Setting a Larger Table: Creating a World of Economic, Racial, and Social Justice

Join DSA’s Religion and Socialism Working Group for Setting a Larger Table: Creating a World of Economic, Racial, and Social Justice. This livestreamed event will be on Thursday 5/9 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT. Hear DSA members Andrew Wilkes and Gary Dorrien in conversation with Dorothee Benz about their latest books!

Gary Dorrien’s work documents the Black social gospel tradition’s tremendous role in the quest for justice. And in his forthcoming Plenty Good Room, Andrew Wilkes makes a case for anti-imperial, democratic socialisms, drawing on the traditions of Black social Christianity and the Black radical tradition. Moderator Dorothee Benz, a writer, organizer, and strategist, has spent decades on the frontlines of social justice struggles in the United States.

RSVP for Green New Deal Building for Power May Campaign Huddle!

Join Green New Deal’s monthly call to workshop problems, share wins, and collaborate on ideas when fighting for ecosocialism! The call will be on Wednesday 5/29 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT. RSVP today!

DSA at Socialism Conference 2024 — Early Bird Discount Until Friday 6/28

We’re excited to invite you to Socialism 2024 in Chicago this Labor Day Weekend! Socialism 2024 is the largest socialist conference in North America, and DSA is happy to be a co-sponsor. 

The last year has changed us all. As global crises deepen, social movements the world over are striving toward new visions and experimenting with new strategies. From Palestine to the US and beyond, radical politics have re-emerged as necessary for both survival and full liberation. At this critical juncture, the Socialism 2024 Conference will be a vital gathering space for today’s left.

Featured speakers this year will include: Noura Erakat, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Mohammed El-Kurd, Arundhati Roy, Ilan Pappé, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Nick Estes, Vincent Bevins, Derecka Purnell, Hanif Abdurraqib, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Rachel Herzing, Justin Piché, Jules Gill-Peterson, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Daniel Denvir, Silky Shah, Nyle Fort, Sarah Jaffe, Dave Zirin, Ashley Dawson, Rob Larson, and many more.

Registration is now live, and early bird discounts are available until Friday 6/28.

Welcome Our New Chapter!

A warm welcome to our latest chapter, Lancaster DSA in Pennsylvania!

The post Turn Anger to Action — Your May Dispatch appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

DSA stands in solidarity with UAW 4811’s decision to call a strike authorization vote in response to the University of California’s fierce repression of pro-Palestine protests, including the arrest and assault of several union members. Unlike the student movement of the 1960s, campuses today have highly organized unions representing hundreds of thousands of educators, researchers, and other workers to fight back against the repression of anti-war student movements. DSA’s project of strengthening the labor movement is predicated on the idea that in moments of political crisis, unions will have the power, flexibility, and moral courage to stand up. Now such a moment has arisen, and labor militancy is critical for contemporary anti-war movements to succeed. 

UAW 4811—which represents 48,000 academic student employees, postdocs, and researchers at the University of California—has the highest concentration of DSA members of any union in the country. We encourage all of our members within UAW 4811 to prioritize organizing for strike authorization, and should they decide to strike, we encourage all DSA members in California to support them to the greatest extent they can.

We are proud of our fellow DSA members leading the charge in this historic struggle, and hope to see other unions across the country heed the call and strike for Palestine. 

The post Solidarity with UAW 4811 appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Blog

Want to write for the Portland DSA blog?

The best blog posts are 500-100 words and articulate a political perspective with external focus — not just a report-back of chapter activities.

All drafts are subject to editorial oversight. Only members in good standing may submit to the Portland DSA blog.

Submit your draft here.

The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) and the International Committee of DSA extends our solidarity to the University professors of ANDES-SN (National Union of University Professors), the administrative workers of Fasubra (Federation of Technical-Administrative Workers Unions in Public Higher Education Institutions of Brazil), and students of UNE (National Union of Students) who are currently on strike to increase the funding for public universities in Brazil. Professors at Brazilian public universities have faced a 40% decrease in their real wages since the Rousseff PT government was couped in 2016. This is on top of the austerity that has been imposed on the universities that has been cutting essential services for students and faculty alike. President Lula was elected, with the support of many professors and students, on the promise that he would support public education and end the funding cuts implemented by the neo-liberal and neo-fascist Bolsonaro administration. We stand with our courageous comrades and ask President Lula to make good on his campaign promises and negotiate with the striking unions in good faith, to ensure that the Brazilian public university system serves the working class.

We are engaged in the same struggle against the austerity our administrations and state governments impose upon our universities and other public services. They will cut and cut and cut, unless someone fights back and it has to be us. We must build a movement of university staff and students marching hand in hand to ensure that our universities and public institutions are able to serve the working class. We hope to emulate what you have built in Brazil and replicate your upcoming victories!

We also want to thank ANDES-SN specifically for their recent statement in support of the ongoing student protests against the Genocide in Gaza and the Zionist Apartheid regime of Israel. It is inspiring to us to know that we have the support of the international working class in our firm stance against our institution’s complicity in the mass atrocities that have been carried out both in this year and over the entirety of the 76 years of the settler colonial project of Israel’s existence. It will be through the mass action of the international working class that we free Palestine and put an end to the oppression of the Palestinian people. We are honored by your support and we will continue to fight for a free Palestine with our comrades here in the states. 

Solidarity Forever!

Solidariedade para Sempre!

The post Solidarity from DSA International Committee and YDSA to Striking Professors, Administrators, and Students in Brazil appeared first on DSA International Committee.

On this day in 1970, four Kent State students were murdered while protesting Nixon’s escalation of the Vietnamese war into Cambodia. This massacre further inflamed the anti-war protests on campuses across the nation which saw 4 million students strike for peace.

Today, we see history repeat itself with students occupying their campuses with the demand to cut funding to Israel’s apartheid regime as it slaughters ten of thousands and dislocates millions.

Today, we see that the leadership of the state and country has learned nothing as it continues to violently crush student protests while increasing funding for weapons of war being turned on the people of Gaza.

Today, we see Joe Biden has learned nothing from this experience as he smears student protestors and inflames violence against them by calling for order and obedience on college campuses

We stand with the student movement and demand an end to this genocide. We must continue fighting until the Palestinian people are free, just as the students of the 70s pushed on until Nixon was left with no choice but to sue for peace.

The post From Vietnam to Palestine: The Power of Student Solidarity appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.