Contact: info@columbusdsa.org

COLUMBUS — The Columbus chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) issues the following recommendations to residents of Central Ohio voting in the March 19, 2024, Democratic primary election.

1. In Delegates-at-Large and Alternates-at-Large to the National Convention, LEAVE BLANK.
   
2. In For U.S. Senator, LEAVE BLANK.
   
3. In For Representative to Congress (3rd District), LEAVE BLANK.
   
4. In For Representative to Congress (15th District), vote ZERQA ABID.
   
5. In For Justice of the Supreme Court (Unexpired term ending 12-31-2026), vote TERRI JAMISON.
   
6. In For State Representative (10th District), vote SARAH POMEROY.
   
7. In For Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, vote STEPHANIE HANNA.

A detailed rationale for each recommendation follows. Additionally, see our addendum about the race for Franklin County Prosecutor.

Disclaimer: No recommendations made here are endorsements. Columbus DSA has not endorsed any candidate in this upcoming election. To our knowledge, there is no candidate that comes close to sharing our vision of democratic socialism as will be necessary to establish a free and just society. These recommendations are tactical considerations meant to minimize the harm likely to occur to the working class here and abroad as a result of this election.

Do you lament the lack of socialist, abolitionist, and pro-BDS candidates running for office? You can be a part of changing that, whether by running for office yourself or helping us to discover and cultivate future socialists-in-office. To advance the democratic socialist movement in Central Ohio, join DSA today: www.columbusdsa.org/join/.

Recommendation 1

In Delegates-at-Large and Alternates-at-Large to the National Convention, LEAVE BLANK.

DSA’s National Political Committee (NPC), our elected leadership, alongside DSA-endorsed U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, supported an “Uncommitted” vote in the Michigan Democratic primary. The Listen to Michigan campaign to convince Democratic voters to vote “Uncommitted” was a remarkable success, earning over 100,000 “Uncommitted” votes in the primary. Campaigns in Hawaii, Minnesota, and other states have yielded similar successes.The Listen to Michigan campaign sent a clear message to President Biden: “Recant your support for Israel’s crimes, or you will lose reelection.” We stand by this message wholeheartedly. 

Show the Democratic Party that Biden’s support for Israel’s crimes will cost Democrats the presidency if he fails to reverse course and repair the harm he has aided and abetted.

Because our primaries lack the option to vote “Uncommitted,” we recommend that Columbus voters simply leave this field blank. Unfortunately, unlike in some states, blank votes are not counted in Ohio. Meaning, these votes will not be tallied for or against Biden.

We note that Dean Phillips, the only other candidate on the ballot, has suspended his campaign and endorsed Biden. Therefore, if voters would like their vote to be tallied against Biden, they can safely mark their ballot for Phillips without actually lending support to Phillips in the election.

Recommendation 2

In For U.S. Senator, LEAVE BLANK.

Sherrod Brown has a strong record of support for organized labor, LGBTQ+ rights, and other progressive causes. We commend his recent decision to voluntarily recognize his campaign staffers’ union.

At the same time, Sen. Brown also has a strong record of support for Israel. Brown opposes the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and supports the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, a proposed federal law that would make it easier for states to promulgate BDS bans. Further, he objected to UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which found that Israel’s settlements in the West Bank and the Golan Heights violated international law.

Brown will be the Democratic nominee for the general election. We recommend that voters not mark their ballots for him in this primary to demonstrate that his continuing support of Israel is unacceptable.

Recommendation 3

In For Representative to Congress (3rd District), LEAVE BLANK.

Joyce Beatty retracted her signature from a letter to President Biden calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, claiming it was added in error. At a joint session of Congress welcoming Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, on July 19, 2023, Beatty said: “We are proud to celebrate Israel’s 75th anniversary and strengthen the ironclad relationship between the U.S. & Israel.” The U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights gave Beatty a score of “F” in its 2024 scorecard tracking Congressional Democrats’ records on Palestine. For 2024, Beatty has been endorsed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Democratic Majority for Israel.

Despite constant overtures from community organizers and members of her constituency over the past months and years, she has refused to recant her previous statements labeling Israel a U.S. ally, or to join the calls for a ceasefire led by DSA-endorsed Reps. Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib. While we recognize that Rep. Beatty has recently voted against new apportionments of aid to Israel, these votes are too little too late, and Rep. Beatty has not signaled any change in her stance on long-term political and financial support of Israel.

Beatty will be the Democratic nominee for the general election. We recommend that voters not mark their ballots for her in this primary to demonstrate that her continuing support of Israel is unacceptable.

Recommendation 4

In For Representative to Congress (15th District), vote ZERQA ABID.

Zerqa Abid is founder and president of MY Project USA, a non-profit organization providing youth-focused community services in Columbus. She is running to challenge the incumbent in this seat, Rep. Mike Carey, a Trump-endorsed former coal lobbyist and pro-Israel Republican.

Abid supports a $15 minimum wage, gun control, and abortion access. If elected, she has promised to vote to restrict U.S. military interventions and oppose funding any foreign government or other entity committing human rights abuses. She supports a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Her primary opponent, Ohio Rep. Adam Miller, has been endorsed by the Franklin County Democratic Party. Abid will need all the help she can get to take on the Democratic establishment.

Recommendation 5

In For Justice of the Supreme Court (Unexpired term ending 12-31-2026), vote TERRI JAMISON.

Terri Jamison is a former Franklin County public defender and a supporter of the Ohio Sentencing Data Project, which will provide the public with detailed knowledge of the state of criminal sentencing in Ohio. Jamison, formerly a West Virginia coal miner, is a supporter of reproductive rights and bail reform. If elected, she would be the third Black woman to serve in the Supreme Court of Ohio. We see merit in Jamison’s blue-collar background, a more diverse state supreme court, and a supreme court more friendly to progressive positions on issues of criminal law.

Recommendation 6

In For State Representative (10th District), vote SARAH POMEROY.

Pomeroy is a Senior Assistant City Attorney in Columbus, working in the Nuisance Abatement division. Her work entails prosecuting out-of-state landlords that abuse tenants. Having witnessed the scale of Central Ohio’s housing crisis, Pomeroy is running on increasing the affordable housing supply, stopping property purchases by out-of-state private equity firms, and encouraging occupancy of vacant housing.

If elected, Pomeroy has promised to fight to overturn H.B. 68 and push back against attacks on reproductive healthcare. She supports automatic and same-day voter registration, and politician-free redistricting.

Pomeroy has been endorsed by Sheet Metal Workers Local 24, the Ohio Environmental Council, and Ohio Rep. Munira Abdullahi, among others.

Recommendation 7

In For Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, vote STEPHANIE HANNA.

If elected, Hanna has promised to establish a reentry docket to help individuals released from prison reintegrate into society. Her campaign has stated that Franklin County is the only large county in Ohio still lacking such a docket, and Hanna sees the need for one here. We agree.

Hanna, who has served on the boards of the Children’s Hunger Alliance, YWCA Columbus and Mental Health America of Ohio, would be the first Egyptian-American judge in Franklin County, and the second in Ohio. Noting that less than a third of Ohio judges are women, Hanna wishes to redress that inequality.

Hanna was registered as a Republican from 2014 to 2021, and ran as a Republican in the 2016 and 2020 judicial elections. She voted as a Democrat from 2010 to 2012 and re-registered as a Democrat in 2022. She also previously served as a prosecutor in Tiffin. Still, we see merit in voting for her over her primary opponent, Ohio Rep. Richard Brown, who opposes establishing a reentry docket, on this single issue.

Addendum

There is no candidate in the upcoming prosecutorial election that meets DSA’s standards for criminal legal reform. Rather than recommending a certain candidate to voters, we will simply state what we know about each.

Pierson

Pierson currently serves as deputy chief counsel in the office of Franklin County Prosecutor Gary Tyack. He previously worked as an Assistant Attorney General under Dave Yost, where he oversaw the A.G.’s investigations into officer-involved critical incidents and shootings. Pierson has been endorsed by Tyack and Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin.

Writing in the Dispatch, Rev. Raymond Greene, Jr., executive director of Freedom BLOC, urged Columbus residents to vote against Pierson due to his failure to prosecute the officers who shot and killed 25-year-old Jayland Walker in 2022. Pierson oversaw the Attorney General’s investigation into that shooting. J.U.S.T. 614, a trusted community organization and core organizing partner of our chapter, has also called on residents to oppose Pierson’s candidacy. Pierson’s campaign is attempting to address concerns over lack of transparency in officer-involved shootings. If elected, Pierson has promised to mandate that the case file for any offer involved use-of-force case be posted publicly online within 48 hours of a grand jury’s failure to indict.

Pierson previously defended the Franklin County Prosecutor’s decision to recommend a bond of $400,000 for any defendant charged with possessing a firearm who was previously convicted of a first or second-degree felony for drug or violent offenses.

Given the grievances that members of our community have lodged against Pierson, we cannot recommend a vote for him.

Favor

We also cannot recommend Shayla Favor. Despite testimony before City Council by Columbus DSA’s Housing Campaign highlighting Blackstone’s abysmal housing practices and human rights record, Favor voted to permit the private equity firm and real estate developer to build in Columbus. Leaders within our chapter have continually expressed disappointment with Favor over the chasm between her behavior and rhetoric, as well as for her treatment of them in her capacity as a Councilmember, up to and including standing them up when they showed up for a pre-scheduled meeting.

When the Dispatch asked each of the prosecutorial candidates for comment following the mistrial in Jason Meade’s prosecution, Favor was the only candidate to decline to answer the question of whether she would retry the case. In lieu of an answer, Favor replied: “As an agent of change, I am committed to leading with transparency, prioritizing accountability, and honoring the dignity and respect of every Franklin County resident.” This vague moral posturing, rather than a conclusive response to questions posed by the community as to her positions, perfectly mirrors the way she has spoken on housing policy in her tenure as a Councilmember.

Favor supports death penalty abolition and opposes cash bail, calling it “the definition of an unjust and inequitable system.” Favor’s campaign website communicates pledges to not pursue incarceration for low-level offenses and to provide meaningful alternatives to incarceration. However, while these are remarkable promises, our previous experience indicates that she would fail to make good on them if elected.

Harris

The authors have little to say on Natalia Harris. Rather than taking political stances, her campaign has focused largely on highlighting her experience as the city attorney for Delaware, as well as her experience as a former prosecutor and Columbus city attorney. She has stated that her motivation for running is to address the backlog of unresolved murder cases in Franklin County, which she alleged in January to be at 251. Pierson, current deputy chief counsel for Prosecutor Gary Tyack, said that this number was “wildly” inaccurate, and that the backlog is actually at less than a third of that number.

Harris has said that she would be willing to seek the death penalty in a criminal prosecution, stating: “If there is a case that warrants it, then that is a tool that I will employ.”

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On Sunday February 25, fellow peace activist and active-duty member of the US Air Force Aaron Bushnell self-immolated outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC. His last words echo in our ears: “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what the people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it is not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.  Free Palestine! Free Palestine! Free Palestine!” He also stated that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide.”

Colorado Springs DSA recognizes Aaron’s sacrifice and the deeply empathetic pain that precipitated it. Aaron clearly held foremost in his thoughts the tens of thousands of civilians and children that have been murdered by Israel since October 7th. This death count continues to climb at an alarming rate, facilitated by American funding and weaponry, despite the fact that the majority of Americans – of all religions and ethnicities – support an immediate ceasefire. We hope that Aaron’s sacrifice will wake our elected officials up to the atrocity that most of them have been supporting and continue to support through allowing the United States to continuously veto U.N. ceasefire resolutions, allowing President Biden to bypass congress in sending weapons to Israel that make the genocide possible, and continuing to supply the Israeli apartheid government with billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money. We encourage all people of conscience to amplify Aaron’s message of peace and freedom as loudly as possible and call on all elected and unelected actors who are complicit in genocide to cease aiding and abetting the fascist colonial settler state of Israel.

We would also like to push back on the weaponization of psychological vocabulary as a cudgel against any message that is potentially disruptive to colonial and capitalist ideology. Despite the recurring tendency of the ruling class to pathologize people, actions, and ideas that threaten their hegemony, we have every reason to believe that Aaron was steadfastly principled, articulate, and clear-headed in his choice to use his dying act to communicate his message as powerfully as he knew how. He spoke with conviction and integrity, continuing a long history of nonviolent extreme protest in response to extreme circumstances. A genocide is an extreme circumstance, and all principled people who are paying attention can recognize what drove Aaron to martyr himself, even without taking that path themselves. All attempts to dismiss Aaron as “mentally ill” are rooted in a disagreement with his central message: stop the genocide and free the Palestinian people immediately. To be willing to die for others is an act of extreme love, not of insanity. Colorado Springs DSA will keep Aaron in our hearts and draw from his strength and solidarity with the Palestinian people in continuing to call for an immediate permanent ceasefire and a free Palestine.

The National Political Committee is looking for nominees to serve on the National Political Education Committee from May 2024 through April 2025! As the DSA committee charged with providing a socialist political education to its members and the public, NPEC welcomes members with substantial roots in diverse areas of DSA. We are asking chapters and official national committees, working groups, and caucuses for nominations (specifically, formally recognized caucuses such as Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus, not ideological caucuses).

Nominees should be prepared to devote 8 hours a month minimum to committee business and contribute to substantive discussion on the content of political education material as well as contribute to its implementation. This implementation can take place in (but is not limited to) any of NPEC’s four principal areas of organizing:

• Chapter Support, which holds regular workshops to support local political education programs, develop DSA members’ skill base, and connect chapters with experienced mentors
• Events and Speakers, which hosts national political education events year-round on basic socialist ideas and critical issues in our current movement
• Curriculum, which develops an expanding library of ready-to-use political education materials
• Communications, which broadcasts and furthers our committee’s work through social media, our podcast, and our newsletter

Chapters, national committees and working groups, and caucus steering committees (or equivalent) must email their nominee’s contact information (name, email address, and phone number) to politicaleducation@dsacommittees.org by 3/24. All DSA members interested in joining NPEC, whether nominated by a DSA body or applying as an individual, must apply via this form by Tuesday, 4/9 [extended by one week!]. Appointments by the NPC will be announced by 4/30 to begin their terms on 5/1.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to the Political Education Committee at politicaleducation@dsacommittees.org or RSVP here to join us for one of two information sessions:

Sunday, March 10th 2-3pm PT/5-6pm ET
Tuesday, March 19th 5-6pm PT/8-9pm ET

For City Council…

This election season, Champlain Valley DSA has focused on our two endorsed City Council campaigns: Marek Broderick for Burlington’s Ward 8 and Nick Brownell for Winooski.

As CVDSA members, Marek and Nick have attended countless rallies, pickets, meetings, and canvasses. We know the depth of their commitment to socialist politics and have the utmost confidence that, as elected officials, they will always put workers and tenants first. If either appears on your ballot, please support them.

CVDSA members vote on the chapter’s endorsements based on candidates’ answers to our Electoral Working Group’s questionnaire. We have not endorsed any other candidates for the March election. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be leaving the rest of our ballots blank.

Seven of Burlington’s eight wards host competitive races for City Council. The Vermont Progressive Party, which CVDSA has traditionally supported electorally, has a candidate running in every part of the city (if we include a Prog-endorsed independent in Ward 5). Our own Marek Broderick is one of them.

With the rest, we don’t always see eye-to-eye. This year, several of the candidates’ policy platforms center not merely a strategic retreat from the Progs’ circa-2020 emphasis on the failures and injustices of city policing but, more troublingly, a full about-face, with prominent assertions that public safety demands robustly funded and fully staffed local law enforcement.

In some cases, too, the Progs appear to have capitulated to conservative calls to solve Burlington’s crisis of affordability by slashing property taxes for qualifying homeowners, even as badly needed public services grow more expensive. Broad proposals to sensitize municipal property taxes to income fundamentally represent rejections of the concept of a wealth tax, which leftists tend to favor (and generally wish to expand) in other contexts. All but the very narrowest of such plans would serve to shift the city’s tax burden away from relatively high-wealth retirees – who, in a town where houses don’t come cheap, inevitably comprise the bulk of “low-income” homeowners – and onto working Burlingtonians.

But there are bright spots, as well, among 2024’s batch of Progs, which includes just one incumbent (the redoubtable Gene Bergman). Going against a longtime tendency within the party toward a “small is beautiful” politics, all of them have evinced a commitment to expanding Burlington’s housing stock significantly by allowing denser residential and mixed-use construction. Several of them also have bold, detailed plans for municipal decarbonization.

And the Democrats are worse than ever. For City Council, we recommend Carter Neubieser in Ward 1, Gene Bergman in Ward 2, Joe Kane in Ward 3, Dan Castrigano in Ward 4, Lena Greenberg in Ward 5, Will Anderson in Ward 6, and Lee Morrigan in Ward 7. Most of all, we again urge you to vote for CVDSA’s Marek Broderick in Ward 8.

Winooski, meanwhile, holds nonpartisan elections, but the Progs have endorsed not only Nick Brownell but also incumbent Aurora Hurd for the two open seats on the at-large council. Alongside Nick Brownell, our own enthusiastically endorsed candidate, we recommend Aurora Hurd in Winooski.

For Mayor…

While Winooski doesn’t have a competitive race for mayor (or water commissioner or school trustee, for that matter), the top of Burlington’s ballot, of course, features a four-way contest to replace Democrat Miro Weinberger. Practically, it is a two-person race between State Rep. Emma Mulvaney-Stanak and South District Councilor Joan Shannon.

It’s an easy choice – not because one candidate is very good, but because the other is very, very bad. The post-2020 forces of reaction that have made municipal politics crueler, stupider, and more paranoid in liberal cities across America have found their local culmination in Shannon’s nomination by the Burlington Democrats, who chose her over a relatively moderate Karen Paul, the wealthy South End’s other representative on City Council.

Shannon has spent decades as the right flank of Burlington’s right-wing party. Having avoided the momentary lapse of judgment that led most of her Democratic colleagues to join the Progs in a call for racial justice four years ago, she now stands to benefit. Her coalition of angry homeowners knows that only an increase in state violence and incarceration can wipe away the recent unsightliness in our downtown, and they may soon have their chance.

Hoping to win over Burlington’s political center, Mulvaney-Stanak has taken care not to distinguish herself too dramatically from her opponent. Joan leads by talking about “public safety”; for Emma, the main subject is “community safety.” On other issues, Mulvaney-Stanak’s platform trafficks in assurances that she will “convene stakeholders and experts” to develop appropriate policies, instead of articulating concrete ideas that could be debated seriously.

If Mulvaney-Stanak wins, her defensive posture may persist for the duration of her mayoralty. Still, she is a Prog. She may not have a forward-looking vision of her own for Burlington (let alone a radical one), but if a left-leaning City Council seeks to implement one, she probably won’t veto it. Joan Shannon would.

The stakes are too high for a protest vote, and neither of the two non-competitive independents is a lefty in any case. For Mayor of Burlington, we recommend Emma Mulvaney-Stanak.

Other races and ballot questions…

For Burlington School Commissioner, only Ward 7 features a competitive race. We recommend Monika Ivancic over anti-trans activist William Oetjen.

Ward 7 also has the only competitive race for Inspector of Election. Regrettably, we haven’t learned enough about Linda Belisle or Larry Holt to offer a recommendation. Holt is the incumbent, but Belisle has also served as an inspector in Ward 4.

Ward 8 doesn’t have a candidate for Inspector of Election; we recommend that you write in Jack Sparr. Trust us on this one.

The rest of Burlington’s ballot is conspicuous for what it doesn’t contain. As recently as January, we expected a chance to vote on a new police oversight proposal – a legislatively referred charter change that would have strengthened the city’s existing Police Commission, rather than creating a wholly new disciplinary entity as last year’s somewhat more daring citizens’ initiative sought to do – but City Council decided at the last minute that it wasn’t ready for primetime. In a rare and especially shameful move, the Council also shot down an advisory question that would’ve allowed Burlingtonians to declare their collective opposition to Israeli apartheid, even though residents had gathered more than 1,700 signatures from voters in support of the measure.

Without any popular causes to rally Progressives to the polls, the Democrats may benefit from depressed turnout. We hope voters won’t reward them for their bad behavior.

What remains on the ballot is a trio of articles containing a school budget, a public safety tax rate increase, and a proposal to increase the bonding authority of the Burlington Electric Department.

We recommend a yes on Question 1. Last year, Burlingtonians approved the construction of a new high school, and now it’s time to start paying for it. People may not like it – especially at the very moment when Vermonters have to fill in the gap left by the end of the federal COVID-19 dollars that temporarily propped up our state education fund – but that’s how it works.

We recommend a no on Question 2. Because the police and fire tax pays only for a fraction of our police and fire budgets (with most of the rest coming out of the city’s general fund), a rate increase could, theoretically, serve as a politically expedient way to expand Burlington’s overall resources, since voters already rejected an increase to the general city rate two years ago. In reality, the money will go to Chief Murad’s typically dysfunctional, sometimes barbarous, and (thanks in part to City Council) always unaccountable Burlington Police Department, which already spends more than it ever has before. With a few extra million, they’ll still probably claim to have been defunded when residents call for help.

We recommend a yes on Question 3. We want our municipal electric utility to have access to the capital it needs to make good investments. BED hasn’t yet put forward a plan for any major new projects; a separate nonprofit will issue debt to pay for the controversial “district energy” pipeline from the McNeil plant, irrespective of BED’s bonding authority. In the immediate term, approving this ballot question will serve to improve BED’s credit rating.

Winooski’s ballot questions don’t offer much to get excited (or upset) about, either. Due to procedural missteps by the city, a second vote on Just Cause Eviction, which voters approved last year, still needs to happen before it can progress to the state legislature, but the responsibility for correcting 2023’s administrative error lies in the hands of the same people who committed it in the first place, and apparently, it’ll have to wait.

Starting at the top, 2024’s Winooski articles ask voters to approve the municipal budget, to approve the spending of city revenue derived from sources other than property taxes, to approve the spending of leftover funds from an old water infrastructure bond, to authorize a new $4.6 million bond to help reconstruct the Burlington-Winooski Bridge, and (this time on behalf of the Champlain Water District) to approve the spending of leftover funds from yet another old water infrastructure bond.

In other words, should Winooski residents allow their city government to continue to perform normal governmental functions? We recommend voting yes on all articles in Winooski.

Advocates for pedestrians and cyclists have rightly called the proposed design for the new Burlington-Winooski Bridge outdated and car-centric, and Winooski officials continue to hold out hope that additional contributions from state or federal sources will reduce the city’s prospective share of the project’s final cost. Approving Article 7 won’t foreclose these discussions. Ultimately, the century-old bridge must go.

On a separate ballot, Vermonters can vote in the Democrats’ presidential primary. We’d advise voting symbolically for a left-wing challenger if Biden faced one, but we don’t think Cenk Uygur or the defunct campaign of Marianne Williamson counts. CVDSA offers no recommendation. While Burlingtonians receive municipal ballots automatically by mail, they must request presidential primary ballots online or in person.

Town Meeting Day is March 5. Vermont offers same-day voting registration. Click for information about voting in Burlington or Winooski.

When you are having trouble navigating relationships and dynamics or whether you have a grievance you wish to file, an HGO can help you. HGOs serve a specialized role with Central NJ DSA. If you feel you need an HGO to help with a topic you are facing please do reach out as soon as possible. You can reach an HGO through this form or by emailing HGO@central.dsanj.org.

A HGO will help you in a compassionate and professional manner navigate tough obstacles and can be used to help further difficult communication amongst a set of people or a group.

Contacting and HGO does not mean harm was done and that is often assumed. HGOs serve a valuable role in helping comrades navigate dynamics. Every case a HGO handles is unique and must be cared for in that nature. There is no easy solution to an HGO case and you can rest assured that your approach will be tailored to your needs and the community at large. You have a voice in how your case is handled.

The post How Do I Utilize An HGO appeared first on Central NJ DSA.

Public land should be used for the public good.

On January 25th, 2024, five local organizations sent a letter to the Columbus Land Bank making this demand and asking it to commit to reserving all its properties suitable for residential development for projects that are 100% and permanently affordable. The Columbus Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America authored that letter because we believe a just future depends on our public institutions committing to bold action in order to provide housing for all.

The Columbus Land Bank is the government body responsible for acquiring land using public funds and making it available for housing. Along with its partner organization the Franklin County Land Bank, it has the potential to address one of the primary obstacles to the construction of affordable housing: the high cost of land. In recognition of this potential, Mayor Andrew Ginther announced that his administration would allocate 25% of 2022’s $200 million affordable housing bond to the land banks.

This is welcome news, but only if the Columbus Land Bank takes steps to avoid the developer-friendly policies that have plagued much of the rest of the City’s housing strategy. For example, Ginther and City Council recently decided to expand their controversial residential tax abatement program to the entire city. Under this program, developers are eligible to receive a 15-year 100% property tax break in exchange for pricing 20% of their units at below-market rents for 15 years–or by buying their way out of the affordability requirement entirely. Aware that many Columbus residents are opposed to this program, City Council also voted to award $75,000 to a marketing firm to educate the public about the “benefits” of tax abatements.

The Columbus Land Bank has sometimes operated as though its primary purpose is to redistribute cheap public land to developers. According to public sale records, in one instance, the Land Bank has sold public land for as little as $5,700 to a private developer who resold it for $490,000 after building a single-family home on it. This is unacceptable in a county where at least 52,000 households are severely burdened by housing costs and many others struggle to make rent or pay property taxes. At a time when City leaders are bending over backwards to grant additional tax breaks and other financial incentives to developers, reserving public land exclusively for projects that benefit the public is more important than ever. 

Publicly-owned land is one of the most valuable assets the City has at its disposal to address the housing crisis. Selling off this land at a pittance to private developers to build expensive single-family homes is not only a poor policy choice but also morally indefensible. We are sick and tired of the City prioritizing the financial interests of wealthy developers over the wellbeing of its residents. That is why we are calling on the Columbus Land Bank to live up to its institutional purpose and use public lands in a way that actually serves the public.

Letter sent to the Columbus Land Bank on January 25, 2024

To the Columbus Land Bank,

The signatories to this letter are organizations committed to the principle that every member of our community deserves to live in truly and permanently affordable housing. As such, we broadly support the Columbus Land Bank’s mission to acquire land and make it available for housing. High land prices are one of the primary barriers to the construction of affordable housing. By purchasing land using public funds, the Land Bank has the ability to bring down housing costs and facilitate the creation of additional affordable housing. Unfortunately, the Land Bank has not always operated in this fashion.

Over the years, the Land Bank has sold many of its properties at a steep discount to for-profit developers. In some cases, these for-profit developers have built single-family homes on the properties, while in others, they have merely rehabbed existing ones. In all cases, they have benefited financially by buying public land on the cheap and selling it at market rates.  Developers have resold some former Land Bank properties for over $400,000, many in historically-deprived neighborhoods. These unaffordable single-family developments make it harder to build the dense housing the city needs and instead incentivize landlords to raise rents. 

As organizations committed to housing justice, we believe that publicly-owned land should be used exclusively to further the public good. Providing low-cost land to for-profit developers does not advance a public aim. Providing low-cost land for the construction of affordable housing does. That is why we are calling on you to commit to reserving all Land Bank properties suitable for residential development for projects that are permanently and 100% affordable. 

You recently announced your intention to reserve most of your inventory for affordable housing projects going forward. This is welcome news, but it does not go far enough. The Land Bank has a vital role to play in creating and preserving affordable housing in Columbus. The Land Bank should join us, and all concerned Columbus residents, to help truly address the housing crisis.

Columbus Democratic Socialists of America

Central Ohio Food Not Bombs

First Collective

Heer to Serve

People’s Justice Project

But transfer was inevitable and inbuilt into Zionism – because it sought
to transform a land which was ‘Arab’ into a ‘Jewish’ state and a Jewish
state could not have arisen without a major displacement of Arab population; and because this aim automatically produced resistance among the Arabs which, in turn, persuaded the Yishuv’s leaders that a hostile Arab majority or large minority could not remain in place if a Jewish state was to arise or safely endure.

Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 60

On a frigid night, December 5, 2023, Joe Biden visited Boston to raise money for his re-election campaign. The president was received by a large group of citizens who protested in unconditional support for Israel and, by extension, its genocidal actions against the Palestinians. 

In Washington, on the same day as Biden’s visit, the House of Representatives passed a resolution explicitly equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, and defining many common pro-Palestinian slogans like “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” as anti-Semitic. 

This is a blatant attack on freedom of speech, and signifies a dangerous step toward the criminalization of legitimate political dissent. 

As a Boston local living near many universities, I have been disappointed to see local student leaders threatened with strong disciplinary sanctions, just as students were threatened during the Vietnam anti-war protests. 

_._

“I know firsthand that Israel has created an apartheid reality within its borders and through its occupation. The parallels with my beloved South Africa are truly painful,” (Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 2014).

Indeed, the current situation in Palestine is reminiscent of South African apartheid, though in many ways, incomparably worse. Nevertheless, despite their differences, the Zionist movement bears an important resemblance to the Afrikaner movement: it is a social system rooted in colonial, racist, and totalitarian practice. 

In the West Bank, while broad democratic freedoms are extended to Israeli Jews, Arabs Israelis face, on one level, overwhelming political, legal, and economic discrimination in apartheid-like form and, on another, the daily humiliation and incursions of a brutal and prolonged military occupation. In Gaza, the situation has reached the level of genocidal proportions. As of writing, South Africa is before the International Court of Justice, engaged in a legal proceeding against Israel accusing it of “subject[ing] the Palestinians in Gaza to genocidal acts.” 

This is the true face of Zionism: repopulating stolen land, expelling its indigenous inhabitants through humiliation, indiscriminate force, and destroying all access to the basic necessities of life. As much was suggested by the UN Secretary General , who stated that this ‘wave of violence,’ as it is cynically referred to in the press, “does not come out of nowhere,” but “is born of a long-standing conflict, with 56 years of occupation and no political end in sight.”

In Gaza, according to latest UN data, there are at least 22,835 fatalities, with approximately two-thirds of those being women and children. Additionally, there are thousands of Palestinian political prisoners being held without due process, only a handful of hospitals partially functioning, and the threat of famine looming large as the result of draconian Israeli restrictions.  

These crimes are well-documented by leading figures and institutions in international law and human rights:

Human Rights Watch: “Since 1948, Israel has established a regime of racial domination and oppression over the Palestinian people primarily in the domains of nationality and land. In the immediate aftermath of the Nakba, Israel adopted a series of laws, policies, and practices, which sealed the dispossession of the indigenous Palestinian people, systematically denying the return of Palestinian refugees and other Palestinians who were abroad at the time of the war. At the same time, Israel imposed a system of institutionalized racial discrimination over Palestinians who remained on the land, many of whom had been internally displaced. Such Israeli laws have constituted the legal architecture of Israeli apartheid that continues to be imposed on the Palestinian people today.” 

Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), described the IDF’s relentless bombardments of the Gaza Strip as “shocking” and the unfolding human tragedy as “unbearable.” Lazzarini highlighted the dire situation in Gaza, where approximately one million people were displaced from north to south over three weeks, in stating that “no place is safe in Gaza.”

Such conditions have prompted rights-groups, like Amnesty International, to call for “End[ing] all U.S. support for the Israeli government’s rights violations and crimes against humanity against Palestinians, particularly the illegal campaign of forced displacement through home demolitions, evictions and settlement expansion in occupied East Jerusalem and the Occupied Territories.

In Boston, we received Biden in the manner he deserved: with powerful, spirited, and determined protest. Nor he, nor his administration, promote peace; instead, they relish war, squandering billions of dollars on instruments of death that could be used for humanitarian efforts and real democracy promotion.

Israel is engaging in wanton terrorism and racism: to state this is not to entertain anti-Semitism, nor is it to deny the Jewish faith, ethnicity, culture, or nation. Jews and Israelis are deserving of the same rights and dignity as everyone else. But Israel, as a State, does not represent all Jews, nor does it contain only Jews. Jews are not a problem, but the prevailing ideology of Zionism is; and it is Zionism that we see unfolding in Gaza today.

Just as we cannot overlook the crimes committed in other historical instances of apartheid and genocide, we cannot overlook the crimes committed in Gaza today.  As members of Boston DSA, we have the political and moral obligation educate, organize, and mobilize against all forms of oppression: therefore, it is undeniable that such obligations apply to the case of genocide and Israel’s present assault on Gaza. 

Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) buses can be miserable to use. Buses are infrequent, arrive late, and skip stops. Bus stops can be hard to get to, sometimes with nowhere to sit or shelter while waiting. Trips that ought to take 30 minutes can take hours depending on the day. Overall, riding the bus is so inconvenient that most Charlotteans don’t even consider taking the bus. Therefore, only those who truly rely on the bus system tend to experience its failures. This fact is often shrugged off by Democrats – after all, most people have cars – and justified by Republicans as a punishment for poverty. As socialists, we see this is a tragedy needing an urgent solution.

Mass public transit is a crucial service for the city. It’s a substantially cheaper, safer, and even more dignified form of transportation than our current car-centered system. Mass transit relieves us of the need to purchase, maintain, and pay debt on a car. Mass transit takes vehicles off the road, resulting in quieter streets and less polluted air. Mass transit recognizes that the ability to get to work, run errands, and explore our city should be shared equally, connecting rather than separating us.

This year the Charlotte Metro DSA is launching the Charlotte for CATS campaign. We demand that CATS become the mass public transit system that Charlotte needs. Since the initial outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, CATS has fallen into disrepair. Mired in scandals, CATS is under-performing and under pressure to change. Rather than give in to this situation and let the bus system leave behind those who depend on it, we can turn the situation around. CATS can operate for the benefit of all.

Join us today and let the city know: CATS service levels must be improved!

Solidarity Forever,

Charlotte Metro Democratic Socialists of America Steering Committee

by Chris Mills Rodrigo

Taking a glance at how the spike in union activity over the last few years has been described in traditional media — a wave, a surge, a boom — one could be forgiven for thinking that the process is natural. Anyone who has organized their workplace will tell you the opposite. Organizing is hard work, from covertly building support amongst colleagues to weathering management retaliation to navigating the byzantine process of formal elections. Desire to unionize can only go so far without organizers willing to put in the work to make it happen.

Few places experienced that disconnect between interest in unionization and successful campaigns as acutely as the Bay Area in the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite exciting organizing activity across the nation — particularly at chains like Starbucks and Trader Joe’s — and a rich local history of organized labor, new unions in the area were still few and far in between.

Fearing that the Bay Area was at risk of missing out on a special opportunity to build durable labor power, the East Bay chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) started asking itself what it could do to help. 

“There was this huge wave of new organizing happening across the country, and to some extent in the Bay Area, but not quite as much as we were expecting,” Zach Weinstein, one of the co-chairs of the organization’s Labor Committee, explained. “We were having a conversation: what do we do in terms of engaging with this wave of organizing that’s happening? How do we do labor work that isn’t just sitting around waiting for workers or a union to ask us for help?”

Taking a look at what was working elsewhere in the country to motivate unionization, members of the labor committee were taken by the successes of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee. 

At the height of the pandemic, when the contempt of many employers for their workers became harder to ignore, the DSA and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America teamed up to create a one-stop-shop for workers with the desire to organize that lack the know-how to make it happen.

Since its inception in March 2020, EWOC has helped over 70 organizing drives win demands and aided almost 100 successful unionization campaigns by providing resources, training and individual help to workers. 

In the spring of 2022, the East Bay DSA members began discussing whether forming a local equivalent would be a good way to help turn the rise of pro-labor sentiment in the area into concrete organizing wins. By September of that year, a resolution establishing the East Bay Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee was approved. 

A little over a year in, based on the raw numbers alone, the project has been a success. The group has played a part in seven successful unionization campaigns, aiding workers in successful efforts to win union elections at three Peet’s Coffee locations, a Starbucks, a Trader Joe’s, Berkeley’s Ecology Center, and Urban Ore. 

After becoming the first local EWOC in the Bay Area – and the second nationally after New York City’s – the organization has helped the San Francisco and Santa Cruz DSA chapters launch their own local affiliates.  

Those behind the campaign say the next goal for East Bay EWOC is to bring some of the workers they have helped organize into the DSA to help the group better represent the region’s working class. 

East Bay EWOC provides a variety of services to workers fighting to improve their workplaces. The group utilizes the national organization’s online support form, which workers can fill out to get help from trained organizers. Requests for help from the region are forwarded to the local EWOC, which then has volunteers contact workers directly. 

The group’s volunteers have helped give workers interested in organizing direction, turning get-togethers that would often devolve into aimless complaining and gossip into more structured discussions with clear targets in mind, according to workers who spoke with Majority for this article.

“They gave us tools and resources to structure our meetings to make them productive and to envision the arc of the campaign, to have goals to be constantly working towards,” one worker, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, said. 

The organization has also hosted a series of workplace organizing trainings, three of which were adapted from Labor Notes’s Secrets of a Successful Organizer and a fourth which focused on contract negotiations. The training not only helped upwards of 30 workers develop the skills necessary to organize their workplaces, but it also helped spread awareness about the assistance that East Bay EWOC offers.

Another worker at a not yet public unionization drive, heard about one of these trainings through a friend, showed up, and then was connected to a local organizer who helped get their campaign to the next step.

“There’s been a lot of different things over the years that have had people talking about the benefits of unionizing,” they told Majority. “But previously in those conversations, it was a small group of people and when we looked into what it would take to actually unionize it felt really overwhelming.”

The local organizer assigned to the campaign was able to provide strategies for how to reach new colleagues, answer questions about eligibility and give tips on how to keep shop lists organized. 

As East Bay EWOC heads into its second year, there is still a lot more to achieve.

For one, none of the union campaigns that the group has aided have secured their first contracts yet. Helping get those challenging negotiations over the finish line is a priority.

Once those contracts do start getting ratified, East Bay EWOC organizers hope they can convince some of the workers involved in the process to join the local DSA chapter and contribute to the fight to grow worker power nationwide.

“I think EWOC has the power to make an organization like DSA actually feel and look like the working class,” Taylor Henry said. “When you have something like EWOC that focuses on supporting and growing the power of the working class, that will have a big impact on our membership.”

If you want support to organize your workplace, fill out this form to be connected to a local organizer through EWOC. To volunteer with EBEWOC, email labor@eastbaydsa.org.

by Sarah H

A day after the Israeli Defense Forces began its latest assault on Gaza, a group of East Bay DSA members crossed the bridge into San Francisco, bound for the Israeli Consulate. Their crimson shirts blended into a sea of red, green, black and white, as they joined our coalition partners in a call for resistance and the right to return after decades of struggle.

Since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, an upsurge in solidarity with Palestine has reverberated around the world and across the East Bay. Chapter leaders and paper members alike have stepped up to bottom-line actions, from the chapter’s first mobilization on October 8 at the Israeli consulate, to the “No Money for Massacres” phone bank, to Oakland Educational Association’s resolution on Palestine and beyond.

Just as any mass organization becomes conditioned through struggle, EBDSA’s response to the war in Gaza has been a learning process. Not without its growing pains, our membership is figuring out how to mobilize people in the face of an American-backed genocide. 

By joining the Palestinian resistance, the chapter took a step in becoming a mass organization that supports movement work and centers the anti-imperialist, internationalist line more directly.

In an effort to document this process, East Bay Majority spoke with six organizers who have bottom-lined large actions, phone banks and labor-backed resolutions.

In lieu of compiling a comprehensive list of all of the actions the chapter has taken to support Palestinian liberation, this article focuses on these three organizing tactics, which may continue to inform our local strategy and build our mobilizing capacity.

Actions

Public actions have become a central, and of course, highly visible, part of this movement. According to EBDSA member Thomas M, a crucial first step in the chapter’s mobilization was to democratically decide to support the Palestinian Action Network—a coalition that includes the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and Jewish Voice for Peace, among others. 

“It was an important and healthy act of self-criticism as a chapter to ask ourselves, ‘How much are we centering ourselves versus providing support to make it happen?” Thomas said. 

Though there was significant discussion about how a coalition should be built, and how much unity is required to take action with other organizations, ultimately, the chapter democratically decided that international solidarity should take precedence. EBDSA member Bert K. put it this way:

“In general, we should be willing to have programmatic unity with groups who may disagree with us on certain things,” Bert said. “It’s more important to get people out in this moment when genocide is happening in front of our eyes.” 

As such, EBDSA members have taken on support roles at protests, like acting security marshals, to back the Palestinian Action Network. 

“These are organic formations of people who have capacity who are willing to throw down,” Thomas said. 

Bert also noted that the chapter steering committee has expedited its process of endorsing actions so that organizers can ensure better turnout at each protest.

The chapter’s capacity to mobilize has grown with each action, even sending a small detachment to the famous AROC-organized action to block a boat transporting Israeli military equipment out of the port of Oakland on November 4. The next day, DSA members from all Bay Area chapters came out in droves to the International Day of Solidarity: Free Palestine, joining a crowd of around 50,000 people that converged on San Francisco City Hall.

“I’ve really been impressed with the comrades that have come forward,” Bert said. “Some people who have been on the fringe of the work are now stepping forward as leaders, and it’s a great thing to see.”  

Thomas M also pointed to smaller actions, such as the November 9 letter delivery and die-in at Representative Eric Swalwell’s District 14 office (following one at DeSaulnier’s District 10 office, led by organizers from outside DSA) in Castro Valley, when members demanded a conversation with the Democratic congressman. He told East Bay Majority that he believes DSA’s status as a mass organization shouldn’t preclude us from supporting liberatory movements. 

“It’s imperative to embrace community organizing on top of mass organizing,” Thomas said.  

“Letting myself be tutored by other organizers from other movement spaces and adopting their toolkits is, I think, a powerful way to reaffirm our commitment to becoming an organization of organizers, by learning from other orgs and creating those relationships.”

Phone banks 

By the second week in October, the National Political Committee (NPC) voted to launch a national series of phone banks called “No Money for Massacres” to target members of Congress, urge them to vote no on sending military aid to Israel and call for an immediate ceasefire.

EBDSA and California DSA steering committee member Nickan F. helped kick off the first California phone banks on October 16, a coordinated effort between different DSA bodies that has continued weekly since then. 

Nickan said that the East Bay phone banks have generated 25,000 calls and patched 450 people into their representatives, resulting in a few elected officials flipping their position to support a ceasefire, including Barbara Lee and Mark DeSaulnier. Nickan feels it’s a vital leadership development tool, as “a lot of people, myself included, had never taken on this specific task before, or never bottom-lined an event before.”

The phone banks also introduced a political education segment where guest speakers explain and summarize the conflict to help educate volunteers.

“I think we can build on this experience and do what we’ve done right again in the future,” Nickan added.  

Labor for Palestine

Finally, organized labor has assumed a critical role in EBDSA’s response to Israel’s attacks on Gaza. By October 14th, members of East Bay DSA’s labor committee, themselves union members, had drafted a template resolution for union members to adapt and try to pass through their own unions. That effort quickly grew into Bay Area Labor for Palestine, as rank-and-file union members met weekly to figure out how to advance solidarity with Palestine in their unions.

According to EBDSA member Keith BB, many activists within the organization who found jobs as rank and file teachers and public workers have led the charge within their unions to create public statements about the genocide.

Part of that leg work is simply about figuring out how to talk to your coworkers about Palestine, said Keith.

“The important question to ask is, ‘why are we spending billions of public funds to pay for bombs blowing up schools instead of building them and paying for workers’ wages and addressing understaffing and crumbling facilities?”

These one-on-one organizing conversations are most effective when framed around America’s role in creating consent and the infrastructure required for apartheid, he added.

“We don’t have to be experts to know that huge civilian casualties are not okay and that the US government shipping out billions is causing massive civilian casualties,” he said.

Sometimes, these conversations even lead to widespread rank-and-file support for resolutions in support of Palestine, according to EBDSA member and Oakland educator Hillary C.

Namely, the Oakland Education Association—a union containing many DSA members—was one of the first labor organizations to unite its membership around collective support of the Palestinian resistance.

Almost immediately after October 7, EBDSA member and teacher Maura M. began talking to another rank-and-file member of OEA who wanted to write a resolution. This ad hoc group called itself OEA for Palestine.

“We took the DSA template and started workshopping from there, inserting our perspective as educators,” Maura recalled. “We involved several people from my [school site] and it was really collaborative.”

OEA’s response was fast. In about three days’ time, Maura and her fellow educators had submitted the draft resolution to the union’s executive board. Ultimately, the resolution was passed unanimously on October 18 and went on to pass through OEA’s Representative Council on November 6. These resolutions not only help push an anti-imperialist line forward, it also helps flex the muscle of democracy within the union and normalize the fundamental socialist priority that we fight for people we don’t know.

Hillary C explained that OEA for Palestine has also begun to organize teach-ins as a way to engage their students in dialogue about the Palestinian resistance.

In October, students at Hillary’s school, Oakland Tech, led a walkout of 50 or so high schoolers that she said materialized mostly through word-of-mouth. 

Hillary added that OEA for Palestine has shared these teaching materials with other educational unions, like UESF, to build capacity for cross-rank-and-file organizing. 

Maura M’s school, which is located in the Oakland flatlands, has a significant population of immigrant families from the Americas. The students learn about colonization during the indigenous peoples’ unit in their social studies classes. So it wasn’t a leap for a group of those same students, recognizing the Palestinian struggle as also similarly indigenous and decolonial, to organize a walk-out and turn their parents out for the November 4 protest. 

“These students very much understand displacement and US imperialism,” she said.

East Bay DSA members started Bay Area Labor for Palestine as an organizing space for supporting these rank-and-file efforts to push local unions to stand in solidarity with Palestine and call for a ceasefire. The group now includes members of nearly twenty Bay Area unions, and community and political organizations. The organizing efforts of Bay Area Labor for Palestine coalesced at the Bay Area Labor for Palestine rally at Oakland’s Oscar Grant Plaza on December 16, with contingents from unions like OEA, UESF, UAW 2865, ILWU Local 10 and more, as well as the Palestinian and Arab-led organizations PYM and AROC. This labor-led march was the first of its kind in the country.

Looking ahead

As the Palestinian resistance continues to grow, there will be more opportunities for EBDSA to build mobilizing capacity and bolster our international solidarity work. Another one of the highlights coming out of this moment of political rupture is a reinforcing of our cross-chapter relationships with those others in the Bay area, namely DSA San Francisco, Marin DSA, and Silicon Valley DSA, as mutually-supportive contingents formed for these mass rallies.

“Having that communication across chapters, allowed us to be supportive in each other’s local organizing as well, if even just being able to plug other folks into work that was closer to where they could express their power,” Thomas said.

“For example, Marin DSA has been wanting to pressure their local House Rep. Huffman into calling for a ceasefire, meanwhile someone in JVP who I’ve been working with did as well, and I was able to connect them to bolster their efforts or at least get conversations going.” 

Bert noted that humanitarian crises have an unfortunate way of fading into the background as time goes on and atrocities become normalized. 

“The challenge is, how do we become part of a sustainable movement in support of Palestine and connect to anti-imperialist struggles?” 

Both Thomas M and Bert K emphasized that the rechartering of the chapter’s International Solidarity Anti-Imperialist subcommittee as its own proper committee is a further step in the right direction. 

“It’s never not a crisis for the Palestinian people,” Bert said. “At this moment, we need a broad united front to oppose Israeli apartheid and support the Palestinian resistance. It has to be central to our work.”