Promise and Defeats: New York Election Night Special
Last Tuesday was election night across New York State. The night highlighted both the enduring challenges and promise of the rising Socialist movement. In the most widely covered race of the night, Reactionary forces across the Right and Center, including AIPAC, funneled tens of millions of dollars into the 16th Congressional District to secure the defeat of DSA-endorsed incumbent, Congressman Jamaal Bowman by George Latimer. While at the state-level, all eight DSA incumbents in the State Senate and Assembly won their reelection bids, and they will be joined by DSA-endorsed candidate, Claire Valdez, who won her insurgent campaign to represent the 37th Assembly District in Queens. Tonight, we will hear from David Vibert, a steering committee member of DSA’s National Electoral Commission, to give his perspective on last week’s elections and their ramifications for the socialist movement in New York state and beyond. We will also hear from RPM’s own Jack Devine and Alex Randazzo on their breakdown of Bowman’s defeat, and what his loss tells us about the evolution of the 16th district since he first won the seat in 2020 and what we can learn in his loss 4 years later.
Winning the Battle for Democracy
With recent Supreme Court rulings further criminalizing homelessness and stripping government authority to enforce major 20th century reform legislation, we are belatedly publishing this resolution from our 2024 Chapter Convention on the undemocratic nature of the first US Constitution and the place of the battle for democracy in our organization’s socialist vision.
Whereas
The United States is run by and for the capitalist class, and this class rule takes the specific form of the liberal-constitutional regime outlined in the Constitution.
This Constitution was imposed undemocratically by an alliance of slaveowners and capitalists in order to secure their property against popular democracy, and yet the working-class majority who would not even have been eligible to vote on it at the time of its ratification have been forced to live under its provisions ever since.
The political institutions established by the Constitution are intended to be an obstacle to democracy at every step, including, but not limited to: the outrageously unrepresentative Senate, the Electoral College, and the glut of the imperial Presidency and the surrounding bureaucracy.
The Constitution has allowed for further usurpations of popular sovereignty, including, but not limited to: judicial review by a panel of unelected judges who serve for life, the establishment of a repressive standing army, and the sale of elections, public officials, legal services, and the press to the highest bidder.
The process the Constitution provides for its own amendment is intentionally very difficult, stultifying, and anti-majoritarian.
The historical tendencies towards the concentration of capital in few hands and the concentration of people in few states has rendered any constitutional paths that may once have been open to the socialist movement forever closed, obstructing progressive reform and leaving those reforms already won through historical mass struggle defenseless as the political servants of the capitalist class conspire to strip them away.
The DSA has pledged to fight for a “a world organized and governed by and for the vast majority, the working class,” which is clearly impossible under the current Constitutional regime and cannot be won through the antidemocratic channels of reform laid down by the Constitution.
DSA’s platform affirms that DSA is an antiracist organization dedication to the abolition of white supremacy yet the Constitution was written by slaveowners and to this day serves to deny self-determination to Black, Indigenous, and other oppressed populations,
We understand that the fight for socialism is the fight for democracy but, with no democratic means of reforming the undemocratic Constitution, we must follow the revolutionary path to democracy in order to take the democratic road to socialism.
Therefore, be it Resolved,
Cleveland DSA affirms, from the DSA Political Platform, that “the American political system was not made to serve the working class” and that “the nation that holds itself out as the world’s premier democracy is no democracy at all” by officially raising the demand for a new and radically democratic constitution, drafted by an assembly of the people elected by direct, universal and equal suffrage for all adult residents with proportional representation of political parties, and rooted not in the legitimacy of dead generations of slaveowners and capitalists, but that of a majority consensus of the working masses.
Additionally Cleveland DSA urges DSA as a whole to take up a stance of opposition to the Constitution, openly indicting it as antidemocratic and oppressive, encouraging all DSA members in elected office to do the same, taking concrete actions to advance the struggle for a democratic republic such as agitating against undemocratic judicial review, fighting for proportional representation, delegitimizing the anti-democratic U.S. Senate, and advancing the long-term demand for a new democratic Constitution. We declare that to be a socialist is to fight for an expansive working-class democracy in which the state and society are democratically managed by the majority. In the U.S. this means demanding a new Constitution.
Be it finally Resolved, this resolution shall be published on the Cleveland DSA website.
The post Winning the Battle for Democracy appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.
Join us for our annual chapter convention!
Mark your calendars!
Our next chapter meeting is Saturday, July 20th at 10am. It will be an hybrid meeting, you can attend in-person at the Ventura Diversity Collective or online via Zoom.
This meeting will serve as our annual chapter convention. If you would like to vote in, or, volunteer for a chapter leadership position please RSVP!
This year we face an unprecedented challenge. Our chapter’s steering committee is currently at a critical juncture. We are in urgent need of new leadership. As of now, only two members are committed to continuing on the committee. Without additional volunteers to step up and take on leadership roles, we face the very real possibility of having to dismantle our chapter. The work we do is vital. Our efforts to promote social justice, economic equality, and democratic socialism in Ventura County depend on a strong, active steering committee. Your passion, ideas, and dedication are what drive our movement forward. Without a full committee, we cannot maintain the momentum necessary to achieve our goals. We are calling on you, our members, to consider taking a leadership role in the steering committee. Your involvement is crucial. By stepping up, you will help ensure that our chapter remains a vibrant and effective force for change in our community.
Milwaukee DSA Stands with Public School Board Amid Privatizers’ Recall Stunt
For immediate release
Jun. 20, 2024
The Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) opposes the efforts to recall members of the Milwaukee Board of School Directors as privatizers seek to further undermine the public school system.
The recall effort comes as several board members, including DSA-endorsed member Missy Zombor, supported necessary funding measures to continue vital school services despite pressures from the Republican-led state legislature to further cut education funding.
“This is a political game, and it is the city’s families and public educators who will lose: Milwaukee DSA recognizes this recall as an attempt by school privatizers to further undermine the public education system in Milwaukee and beyond, turning that system into a profit-making venture instead of a necessary hub for quality learning,” Milwaukee DSA Co-Chair Pamela Westphal said. “Now more than ever, the children of Milwaukee need the social and educational benefits of public education to enrich their lives, we must stand up and fight back against privatizers who are trying to break those social bonds.”
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has already threatened to withhold millions in state funding from Milwaukee’s students over delayed financial reports from 2023, leading to the resignation of the district’s superintendent and comptroller.
“Some of the biggest failures of the United States’ domestic policies of the past 50 years have involved selling off our public services to those seeking to exploit the working class for profit. Milwaukee DSA recognizes this as an avenue for harm, not growth,” Milwaukee DSA Communications Officer Greg Brown said. “People in Milwaukee who want to see better education outcomes in our community should focus on building a robust public system with proper funding and public control instead of further stripping that system of its resources for privatization and profit, a common goal of the leaders of this recall effort.”
Milwaukee DSA publicly endorsed Zombor in her 2023 election and is Milwaukee’s largest socialist organization fighting for a democratic economy, just society and sustainable environment.
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Setting A Larger Table | Live Panel
Statement Re: COS DSA Supports Restorative Justice & Survivors of Abuse
We are issuing this statement as a chapter to address recent events and the misinformation that have permeated the local community leading to rifts among various organizations. WARNING: This statement concerns past incidents of sexual assault and abuse.
For years, rumors have circulated accusing both Colorado Springs DSA and the Chinook Center of being apologists and defenders of people who have committed sexual assault. Not only is this blatantly untrue, but it is a misrepresentation of the core situation that led to these rumors. That being said, we empathize with those who have encountered these rumors and we understand why people have reacted strongly to the false allegations. We wish to acknowledge that this spread of misinformation has itself been a source of great harm. It has caused unnecessary pain to our members, other Chinook member organizations, and the community at large. This pain has especially been felt by the many survivors of abuse within these circles who have to encounter this false information. We are coming forward with this statement to put a stop to this harmful cycle of misrepresentation and manipulation of public perception.
In order to be thorough, transparent, and direct, we will recount the situation as it was observed by people directly involved and who were also directly impacted/victimized by the core situation.
WARNING: Non-detailed mentions of sexual assault and abuse. During the summer of 2020, Chinook Center leadership was made aware of allegations of sexual assault and abuse of Chinook community members by an individual named Patrick. This individual had been involved in various movement spaces, but upon these allegations of assault and abuse, he was kicked out of the Chinook community and clearly told he was not welcome at Chinook. SW, who is a member of the Chinook executive team, made an inappropriate comment on Facebook questioning why the victims didn’t go to the cops. He meant to ask, as he later explained, whether he and others should pursue some sort of vigilante justice against Patrick, seeing as the police hadn't been involved. While these comments were not questioning the validity of the allegations, they still had a harmful impact on survivors within the Chinook community and concerns about SW’s comments were raised to Chinook leadership. SW made additional comments in numerous places that were similarly upsetting and these comments were also brought forth to be addressed.
In response to these concerns, Chinook leadership held a community trial where SW was confronted by the concerned community members. The result of the community trial was a restorative justice process with SW, including a meeting with survivors from within the Chinook community. He has taken full accountability for his comments and understands the ways they could be misinterpreted and hurtful. The survivors of Patrick’s abuse and other survivors impacted by SW’s comments were satisfied with the outcome of SW’s restorative justice process and atonement.
A former Chinook community member who was not a victim of Patrick’s felt unsatisfied by the community’s response and left, saying that Chinook (and its member organizations, including Colorado Springs DSA) is full of rape apologists. The rumors since then have led to the serious misunderstanding that this community member was a victim of SW, when the reality is that SW was held accountable for writing upsetting Facebook comments, and not any form of abuse. It is not the position of Colorado Springs DSA to defend or attack the actions or reputation of any individual within this situation, but it is our position to stand by the community process of accountability, restorative justice, and the outcome of that process.
Most of our members were neither involved in nor aware of these events, since they occurred in the early days of the Chinook Center when our chapter was still in its early stages and very small. While most of us cannot speak directly on the described events, we have been debriefed by those COS DSA members who were present throughout this process, including some who were directly impacted and harmed. Those harmed were satisfied with the resolution of this situation and we have followed their lead in standing by community-led justice and accountability work.
As an abolitionist feminist organization, Colorado Springs DSA firmly roots our values in supporting survivors and following their lead in matters of community justice. We therefore stand by the results of the restorative justice process. Like the Chinook Center, Colorado Springs DSA is committed to building community spaces that move away from carceral systems. Being abolitionists means that we reject the logic of punishment and disposability and commit ourselves to the challenging work of repairing relationships when harm has been done. There is no established framework for transformative justice and many in the community are not familiar with the principles of abolition. When punishment and incarceration are the accepted norm for dealing with situations of harm, it can be difficult for people to understand what justice and accountability look like within abolitionist communities.
In adherence with the principles of abolition, Colorado Springs DSA has honored the wishes of the survivors who experienced harm by accepting the outcome of the Chinook Center’s accountability process. Furthermore, we will always believe survivors who come forward with allegations of abuse or violence and are committed to investigating any new allegations. Should situations ever arise where accountability is needed, Colorado Springs DSA will be an active partner in helping to build and refine the community’s process.
So, to be clear, we will directly address the false accusations that have arisen from this hurtful situation:
SW is not the alleged perpetrator of sexual assault in this situation.
The Chinook Center did not skirt accountability for the actions that SW did engage in.
Justice and accountability were pursued to the satisfaction of those who were victimized by Patrick and who were hurt by the comments of SW, and they considered the situation resolved via community accountability and restorative justice. As an abolitionist organization, we stand by these non-carceral forms of community justice.
The person who was unsatisfied by the outcome of this process was not a victim of the situation, but was a bystander who has been misrepresenting the facts and perpetuating false allegations against Chinook and SW in spite of the survivors’ objections. Instead of following the lead of the survivors and respecting their wishes for the situation to be laid to rest, the rumors have continued to be spread throughout the leftist community in Colorado Springs. The resulting rumor mill has made the abuse survivors targets of community shame and blame, which has perpetuated their revictimization.
Although the members of the broader community have understandably reacted to the false information with anger and outrage, they have not been given the true facts. Instead, their good intentions have been manipulated and weaponized in ways that have created a rift in the leftist community. To be clear, we are not assuming the intent behind these rumors, but we must address the impacts of this situation regardless of intent. These rifts and the misinformation that fuels them make all of us on the left vulnerable to state attacks. We cannot and will not make accusations, but we will note that the weaponization of misinformation and the deepening of division have been a known tactic of state oppression. The state has repeatedly utilized covert interference and infiltration of leftist communities to sow mistrust and hostility between individuals and organizations. As an organization that has been targeted by CSPD and the FBI with surveillance and infiltration, we feel we must sound the alarm on circumstances that make all of us on the left vulnerable to manipulation and security breaches. This statement is not only a rebuttal of individual actions, but a warning against allowing the state to tear our community apart and thus dilute our organizing power. Our greatest defense is the trust we can build amongst one another, and we are taking this step towards building and repairing trust by being fully transparent about our observations and our positions on the circumstances of our community’s past. However, more repair work is needed within the community to build upon our initial step forward and to heal the harmful impacts of this misinformation and the backlash that has followed.
Every time these rumors recirculate, it is extremely distressing to the survivors of the original situation and is revictimizing them through retraumatization. This in itself is a huge injustice. Colorado Springs DSA and other Chinook organizations have also been regarded as guilty by association, and the backlash, as seen most recently, has been retraumatizing and harmful to abuse survivors within our orgs – including those who were never involved in the initial situation. They continue to be impacted by the hostility directed towards us and the defamation of our organizations. To limit future retraumatization, sources including this statement will be compiled into a physical binder at the Chinook Center. The binder will include resources addressing this situation, the Chinook Center’s policies surrounding restorative justice and community support, and other resources to continue building upon the work our organizations have already been doing.
We prefer to presume innocence of intent by those in the leftist community in COS who have been involved in perpetuating this false information, but which has fueled the hostility against our orgs and individual members. However, if these allegations continue and if our orgs and members continue to be targets of character assassination, we will regard these actions as willful malintent moving forward. These actions would go beyond defamation and would constitute the perpetuation of harm and injustice towards those who were victimized by the original situation, and the many survivors in our community who want peace and restoration.
Colorado Springs DSA also wants to reaffirm our commitment to standing by survivors of violence and abuse. Our leadership committee is predominantly composed of female and nonbinary persons who hold queer, BIPOC, and survivor identities. We will always start by believing survivors who come forward with allegations of abuse or violence and are fully committed to investigating any new allegations that should ever arise. We know that we keep us safe and we are fully committed to making sure that our members and the broader community have a safe and affirming environment to organize for our collective liberation. We believe that the only way to achieve liberation and build a successful revolutionary movement is to center intersectionality and the dismantling of heteropatriarchy and white supremacy within our anti-oppressive work. We recognize that abusive power dynamics and misogyny have a long legacy within leftist communities, and we are vigilant in addressing these cultures and helping our people to do better.
We hope that by coming forward, we can begin to bring about healing in the community and repair the damage that has been done. Our chapter and individual members have suffered enormous reputational damage through this latest resurgence of the old rumors, and we are taking this first step towards laying the foundation for repair, but we cannot do it on our own. We know that we are stronger together, and we hope that those who have received the false information in the community can approach us in dialogue and restoration.
Colorado Springs DSA
The Communist Horizon of Social Housing
Defending Portland Association of Teachers from the criticism of their Palestine activism
In the months since October 7th many labor unions have struggled with how to speak out in solidarity with Palestinians, in the face of backlash from workplace management, within their rank and file, and from external critics. The pressure to stay silent is great and the consequences have included losing jobs, funding, and entire careers.
In a June 17th email to supporters, a day after being endorsed by the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT), Jesse Cornett, City Council candidate in District 3, accused PAT of “hate speech” for using the phrase “from the river to the sea” at an event. PAT was already facing heavy backlash against a posted (and now-removed) curriculum on Palestine, which was the focus of numerous local news articles in the Oregonian, Willamette Week, and others. We strongly disagree with Candidate Cornett’s political position, and stand with Palestinians and PAT.
In the context used by the Portland Association of Teachers, and hundreds, maybe thousands, of other organizations and events, the phrase “from the river to the sea” has been used as a call for Palestinian self-determination and an end to decades of occupation and injustice. This phrase long precedes the events of the past eight months. Attempts to claim that the phrase is evidence of bigoted beliefs are either misinformed or made in bad faith. Not only does Cornett’s attack smear generations of Palestinians struggling under occupation, it erases the nearly 40,000 Palestinians killed in Israel’s assault on Gaza. His reference to the right-wing-led censure of Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, as justification for his position is deeply cynical and offensive.
Portland DSA stands with the Portland Association of Teachers’ right to free speech and vehemently oppose any person or organization which tries to repress their speech, especially on this urgent issue of the genocide in Gaza. We will not ignore calls from our Jewish comrades in Jewish Voices for Peace, who have eloquently laid out their positions in this letter of support for PAT. We encourage you to read the entire letter and share it with others, especially those who may not be aware of the Jewish movement for peace. Portland DSA ultimately decided that since we are a multi-ethnic and secular/multi-faith organization that it would not be appropriate to undersign the JVP statement, which included phrasing such as, “As Jews, we believe that everyone has a right to be safe. And here we ask Jewish students and parents to make a distinction between feeling unsafe and feeling uncomfortable.”
Portland DSA supports educators in asserting their political/moral obligation to contradict the one-sided, pro-Israeli perspective shared by the US government, mainstream media and news outlets, and a vast number of US institutions with financial ties resting on the success of Israel’s genocidal mission.
While the US spends billions of dollars on aid and weapons for Israel (over $12b this year alone) our public school students, parents and teachers are told that funding is not available for supplies, facilities, or fair wages. A major function of suppressing speech around Palestine is to obscure this contradiction and to distract us from the real reason that we can’t have appropriate funding for education: the greed of the capitalist class.
Those of us in the labor movement entered this fight not just to improve our working conditions, and the conditions of the people we serve, but to exercise our collective power over our work and what we make. The recent successes of organizing in the tech industry have resulted in remarkable successes with highly motivated yet un-unionized workers at Intel. Organizing alongside workers with our BDS and labor working groups, DSA played a crucial role in supporting those workers to pressure Intel to call off construction plans for a manufacturing plant in Israel. The labor movement does have the power to impact the events in Gaza, in spite of what capitalist education bureaucrats would like you to believe. Those of us on the left must make our positions public, to share in the work of solidarity and embolden others to do so in the process. It is our responsibility as socialists to stand firmly with teachers and support their right to teach and contextualize the historical and present conflict over land in Palestine through school curriculum, in whatever ways their members collectively deem appropriate.
We unequivocally support PAT in their internal process of developing their classroom materials and trust their experience and expertise as educators as they work to support and nurture students of all backgrounds in their classrooms, without the hostile scrutiny of the press, or politicians hoping to elevate their profile.
Politicians without clear platforms or policy ideas will do their best to create a “controversy” to generate press coverage, demonstrating a lack of political principles. These actions should indicate clearly to us how the candidate would behave once in office, and how they would, or would not, represent the people of Portland.
https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-reporters-fired-pro-palestinian-remarks-1837834