Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America Little Red Letter #126 TDOV Karaoke Smashes Fundraising Goal, Uber and Lyft Drivers Deserve a Living Wage, 2024 Endorsement Process Update and More! TDOV Karaoke Smashes Fundraising Goal This past Sunday was Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV), and Twin Cities DSA commemorated the day with a fundraiser for TIGERRS, […]

Miami Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has the utmost confidence in the current National Political Committee (NPC) to lead our organization through the ongoing budget crisis. The NPC is our highest democratically elected leadership and, as such, retains the trust of our membership. In this moment of intense debate, we must engage with each other with respect and fight to keep building our collective socialist project. The NPC has our support to make the tough decisions that are necessary to avoid insolvency and the shuttering of our organization.

First, our chapter acknowledges that cuts to staff positions or salaries tied to their contributions to our organizing work should be considered no matter how painful these decisions may be. It is incredibly heartbreaking to be in a situation where our revenue and projected budgets cannot sustain the staff that we currently have, but we must come to terms with that reality. The budget deficit has been a pressing issue for previous administrations that failed to meet the challenge. We reject uncomradely attacks on our NPC, such as calling them ”union busters” or “scabs.” This undermines solidarity within our organization and incorrectly compares the DSA to a capitalist firm. 

Second, Miami DSA wishes to stress that we believe continuing dues shares must be prioritized. For many chapters, this is the primary connection to National. Chapter Dues Share should stay as a staple for the stability of smaller chapters; this support is crucial in building a stronger socialist movement in the respective areas of these chapters.

Third, we must recognize that this is not only an organizational crisis, but a political one. In recent years, the DSA has bled members and lacked an inspiring political vision or sense of direction. The votes by DSA members in Congress to fund Israel and break a railway strike have also been demoralizing for members. The DSA must continue to strive to be a mass organization that can lead ambitious class struggle fights for and by the multi-racial working class.

Fourth, the NPC should prioritize Convention voted campaigns, consider online only conferences, and limit in person conventions if our financial state does not improve. Our Chapter will continue to advocate for such cost-saving measures for at least two years.

Finally, in a show of solidarity, our chapter has decided to forgo the next quarter’s dues share. We call upon and encourage larger and more financially stable chapters with excess funds to consider voluntarily forgoing their upcoming dues share. While we understand that this is a drop in the bucket, we hope this gesture demonstrates that our chapter, like many others in this organization, is willing to make sacrifices to sustain our movement and ensure that we are ready to meet pressing challenges in the future. These challenges are demanding but cannot distract us from our mission: building socialism in our lifetime.

We also commit to fundraising by hosting solidarity dues phone-banks, starting Sunday April 14th at 4pm, and we call on other chapters to do the same. We encourage all our members to switch to income-based solidarity dues immediately. Let’s give our 1% for the 99%!

A second Trump presidency looms as a distinct possibility in November. Israel continues to commit atrocities in their genocidal campaign in Gaza, financed and backed by our government. Every day, working class communities face repression by means of anti-worker legislation and over-policing. 

Considering the stakes we are faced with, we support the NPCs decision to ensure the survival and longevity of the organization. As a member-led and member funded socialist organization, composed of working class people, we must be ready and able to tackle these issues. We believe that DSA, as the largest socialist organization in America, has the best chance of building socialism within our lifetimes.

We ask our fellow DSA Chapters to stand in solidarity with our organization. Take the pledge to forego your Chapter’s next dues share allocation in order to aid in alleviating our current budgetary crisis.

In Solidarity,

Miami DSA

Chicago DSA was proud to join working people across Chicago in successfully mobilizing to defeat a motion to censure CDSA member and 25th Ward Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez on April 1st, 2024. The motion to censure Byron failed 16-29. 

540 people from across Chicago and beyond signed our #DefendByron petition – and more than 300 signatures were sent to the City Council as written public comment. Only the City’s 2 page limit prevented us from sending more signatures.

Working people from across Chicago spoke forcefully in support of Byron during public comment, highlighting the importance of protecting the right to protest, Byron’s dedication to housing justice, and the cowardice and hypocrisy of City Council’s right wing and their censure attempt against Byron. 

We thank Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez for his continued dedication to Chicago’s working class, and look forward to his continued work as the Housing Committee Chair. 

We invite everyone to join us to build a Chicago for the many by joining DSA today at dsausa.org/join.

In Solidarity,

Chicago DSA

The post We Successfully Defended Byron!  appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

Written by Josh K More Wins, More Problems When I began attending Twin Cities DSA electoral committee meetings in 2018, we met in a vacant commercial space with unfinished floors, unadorned with furniture except folding tables and chairs. Ginger Jentzen had lost to Steve Fletcher a few months earlier; there were no elected officials with […]

A version of this article was originally published in the Nokomis Messenger. As an undergraduate student on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in 2011 I, like many Wisconsin emigres, experienced significant upheaval around Wisconsin Act 10. Under the guise of a “Budget Repair Bill”, Act 10 is primarily known for removing collective bargaining rights of […]

Here’s your April Dispatch! This month, check out chapters’ Trans Day of Action photos, sign up for volunteer opportunities, learn about local Green New Deal work, 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 — Facing Impossible Choices, We Choose Solidarity
• Tuesday 4/9 — Join our Green New Deal Campaign Commission’s Solidarity Dues Call-a-thon
• Apply for DSA’s National Electoral Commission! First Round Due by Friday 4/19
• Choose Solidarity Bonanza — All Day Call-A-Thon Sunday 4/21!
• Green New Deal Feature Article, with Kentucky’s Louisville DSA
• April Committee of Grievance Officers Call Saturday 4/6
• RSVP for our International Committee’s State of the Mexican Elections Call Wednesday 4/10
• RSVP for DSA 2024 Election Discussion Circles

From Our Co-Chairs — Facing Impossible Choices, We Choose Solidarity

The 24-hour news and doomscrolling cycles are designed by capitalist tech companies to be difficult to look away from — and it doesn’t get any easier when the information coming through the screens is overwhelmingly awful. It’s meant to make us feel helpless. But we’re not. As socialists, we know that when we organize people, recognize and build our power as the working class, and fight back, we win. Using our power builds more power; solidarity begets solidarity; bigger fights mean bigger wins.

This week, we saw DSA chapters helping to lead the charges in Wisconsin, Connecticut, New York, and beyond, working to organize voters to send a message to Biden that we will not let him go unscathed as he continues to finger-wag at an ongoing genocide. Whether it’s “Uncommitted,” “Uninstructed,” or “Leave it Blank,” voters are turning out in the hundreds of thousands to give the Dems a taste of exactly what they’re dog-walking us into if they don’t listen to the supermajority of constituents who want a ceasefire now.

Organizing beyond the ballot box is key to building a mass movement, and last weekend, DSA chapters across the country participated in a Trans Day of Action, supported by our Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Campaign Commission and our Queer Socialists Working Group. Conditions for trans people vary widely across the country, so the Trans Day of Action became a beautiful patchwork of local campaigns and projects as our locals analyzed and responded to their most pressing local issues.

In Pennsylvania, the Lancaster DSA Organizing Committee launched a sanctuary campaign. Boston DSA canvassed for a genderqueer socialist State House candidate. Denver DSA capped off a week of action and held a rally at the State House in support of improved name change laws, sponsored by socialists in office Elisabeth Epps and Tim Hernández. Dozens more chapters planned solidarity picnics, clothing swaps, rallies, banner drops, and so much more, and we’re just getting started.

At the national level, DSA continues to prioritize encouraging members to make the switch to Solidarity Income-Based Dues (SIBD) so we can continue to level up our collective resources and pay for the often-unrecognized support that these campaigns require: from staff support, to organizer trainings, to tech tools, and beyond. 

Check out our Choose Solidarity! Campaign kickoff call, featuring incredible organizing work our members are leading across DSA. If you haven’t made the switch yet, please consider signing up for solidarity dues today. And if you’re in chapter leadership, please keep an eye out for contacts from the SIBD team about ways your chapter can plug into this work locally!

— DSA Co-Chairs Ashik Siddique and Megan Romer

Tuesday 4/9 — Join our Green New Deal Campaign Commission’s Solidarity Dues Call-a-thon

Let’s socialize for Solidarity Dues! Join the Green New Deal Campaign Commission Tuesday 4/9 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT for our third Green New Dues solidarity income-based dues phonebank.

Apply for DSA’s National Electoral Commission! First Round Due by Friday 4/19

The National Electoral Commission of DSA is accepting membership applications to welcome its first cohort of rank-and-file members! 

The National Electoral Commission convenes members working on electoral campaigns to support class struggle election campaigns, develop skills and mentor organizers, coordinate a national strategy, and build our electoral power. 

We are looking for members who are excited to get to work with us supporting endorsed campaigns, developing trainings and skill-sharing opportunities, and building our network to build our power. Members should also have experience consistently contributing to campaigns or chapter electoral projects in the last 3 years. 

Interested in joining? Tell us a little bit about your experience and why you want to apply! Questions? Reach us at nec@dsacommittees.org.

Choose Solidarity Bonanza — All Day Call-A-Thon Sunday 4/21!

Over 2,000 DSA members have committed to giving their 1% for the 99% so far, and we know this is just the beginning. We want to double that number and reach 4,000 Solidarity Dues-paying members by May 31st. But we need to hit the phones to hit our goal! 

Join us Sunday 4/21 for the Choose Solidarity Bonanza! You’ll hear from DSA electeds in office, get chapter organizing updates, and experience that warm feeling we get from talking to DSA members around the country and building the democratic socialist movement. Every hour a member spends on a Solidarity Dues phonebank raises approximately $1k for the DSA over the year — just imagine what we can do with 100 callers hitting the phones for a whole day!

We’ll start at 12pm ET/11am CT/10am MT/9am PT and go until 6pm ET/5pm CT/4pm MT/3pm PT. Hop on for a shift or stick around for the whole day, but whatever you do, don’t miss the Choose Solidarity Bonanza — our first ever ALL DAY Solidarity Dues Call-A-Thon!

Can’t make it on 4/21 but ready to make some calls? Check out upcoming Solidarity Dues phonebanks here and get signed up for a time that works for you!

Green New Deal Feature Article, with Kentucky’s Louisville DSA

Check out our interview with the leaders of Louisville DSA’s Get On The Bus campaign! Get On The Bus is one of the many exciting Green New Deal Building for Power campaigns that chapters are developing and leading across the country.

April Committee of Grievance Officers Call Saturday 4/6

The Committee of Grievance Officers is hosting our April HGO Gathering. If you’re a grievance officer for your chapter, join us! We’re shaking up our usual format to debut big changes to the grievance program at the national level to strengthen our organization for the long haul. We’ll discuss the recent overhaul of the national grievance program, share ways that you can help build out our national grievance work, and build relationships between grievance officers in chapters all across the country. Join us Saturday 4/6 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT!

RSVP for our International Committee’s State of the Mexican Elections Call Wednesday 4/10

Join the International Committee Wednesday 4/10 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT to discuss the upcoming general election in Mexico. In this webinar, you’ll hear from journalists Alina Duarte and Kurt Hackbarth about the historic nature of this election and why it’s important for us in the United States to follow it.

If you’re a DSA member interested in engaging with Mexican solidarity organizing both during and beyond the election, fill out our working group interest form to get involved!

RSVP for DSA 2024 Election Discussion Circles

What position do you think DSA should take on the 2024 presidential election?

Now is your chance to weigh in before the National Political Committee (NPC) makes a decision in April. Join members around the country in debating the presidential race in Discussion Circles: small group conversations hosted by individual NPC members, capped at 30 participants each. Sign up today!

The post Impossible Choices? Choose Solidarity! Your April Dispatch appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Tonight, we continue our series of interviews with NYC- DSA’s 2024 slate of endorsed candidates and will be talking with Eon Tyrell Huntley, a retail worker, father and tenant running for Assembly District 56 in Bed Stuy and Crown Heights. 

We’ll talk to Eon about the beauty of Bed Stuy, fighting for affordable rent, standing in solidarity with Palestine despite facing AIPAC money and so much more.

To learn more about Eon: www.eonforassembly.com 

Sign up for your Branch meeting here! All are scheduled for April 13, 2024. Don’t know your branch? Check this page.

Central
Contact: central@dsa-la.org (Juan L. and Michael S.)
April 13, 2024
1pm – 2:30pm
Bellevue Park (in Silverlake)
RSVP

Eastside/San Gabriel Valley
Contact: eastsidesgv@dsa-la.org (Shiu Ming C. and Noah C.)
April 13, 2024
10am – 12:30pm
Glassell Park Recreation Center (in Glassell Park)
RSVP

San Fernando Valley
Contact: sfv@dsa-la.org (Geyker S. and Rich R.)
April 13, 2024
12pm – 1pm
Victory Vineland Recreation Center (in North Hollywood)
RSVP

South Central/Inglewood
southcentralinglewood@dsa-la.org (Mark G. and Jenn M.)
April 13, 2024
11am – 1pm
Unite Here! Local 11 Office (Inglewood)
RSVP

Westside
Contact: westside@dsa-la.org (Jenna C. and Dan C.)
April 13, 2024
11am – 1pm
SoCal Arbeter Ring/Workers Circle (in Pico-Robertson)
RSVP

The post Democratic Socialists of America Secure “Uncommitted” Delegates Across New Jersey for Justice in Palestine and a Permanent Ceasefire Now first appeared on North NJ DSA.

Sign the petition HERE!

Click here for the social media toolkit!

Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez has been a dedicated champion for the working class across the 25th Ward and all of Chicago since he unseated Danny Solis in the 2019 aldermanic elections. Byron has fought greedy developers and corrupt landlords, and has fought for 25th Ward residents facing displacement as an alderman. Byron’s position as Housing Committee is now under attack – and it is critical that a dedicated socialist can continue to lead the Housing Committee.

Byron joined local organizers to advocate for protesters’ right to march within sight and sound of the Democratic National Convention, especially those who want to see a Free Palestine and demand a ceasefire. Byron spoke after a military veteran spoke forcefully against Israel’s war on Gaza and burned a flag in protest.

Conservatives falsely accused Byron of burning an American flag – a lie which has endangered Byron and his family. A bloc of Chicago’s most right-wing alderpeople, who have refused to support Treatment Not Trauma, police accountability, the Uniting for Peace ceasefire resolution, Bring Chicago Home and more wants to censure Byron for his defense of free speech.

We can see this censure demand for what it really is: a craven attempt by City Council’s right wing to remove one of City Council’s socialists from an important position on the Housing Committee, while they look for opportunities to remove more left alders from positions of power.

Socialists have always been at the forefront in the fight of free speech and basic civil rights and civil liberties. Not long ago laws banned the distribution of socialist literature, or the right of socialists to gather together and hold meetings, or to speak out against war and genocide. We will not go back to the time of state repression against socialists – or anyone. Take action with us to defend Byron and protect free speech for Free Palestine!

The post Defend Byron Sigcho-Lopez and Protect Free Speech! appeared first on Midwest Socialist.