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Fri, Sep 5th, 2025

Portland DSA posted at 02:47

That Trick Doesn’t Work Anymore: How DSA and Allies Defeated a Smear Campaign and Protected Free Speech on Palestine

By Jesse D. and Laura W.

Back in May of this year, DSA member and elected Beaverton School Board Director Dr. Tammy Carpenter was accused by the Board of antisemitism for her social media posts condemning Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The community rose up in defense of free speech and a free Palestine, and in August the board voted unanimously that she had not violated any board policy – demonstrating that these kinds of disingenuous smears are no match for the power of a revitalized anti-war movement.

The crisis started on May 29 when the Beaverton School Board held a special session for the sole purpose of disciplining Dr. Carpenter, who was not informed before the session began. The general public had no window into this proceeding as the live stream was blank for well over an hour, until the board appeared. Board meetings are typically held in person.

The accusation happened quickly and with no explanation: School Board Chair Dr. Karen Pérez-Da Silva entertained a motion to refer charges against Dr. Carpenter to a third party investigator. Director Susan Greenberg made the motion and it was seconded by Director Justice Rajee. The motion carried with five in favor and two opposed, and the meeting was immediately adjourned. Because the Board had met for the previous hour in a closed-door session, little information was available as to why Dr. Carpenter was under investigation. What were these charges? Why was Dr. Carpenter being targeted by a majority of the board?

When Portland DSA members learned about the investigation, we instantly understood it as not just an attack on Dr. Carpenter personally, but also as part of a broader strategy by local Zionist agitators to suppress pro-Palestinian sentiment by punishing public officials who dare to challenge the pro-Israel hegemony. We sprang into action to mobilize Dr. Carpenter’s many supporters, uniting our Washington County Branch, Labor Working Group, Electoral Working Group, Palestine Solidarity Working Group, and our network of educators.

We submitted public records requests to BSD in order to see for ourselves what complaints had been made against Dr. Carpenter. What we discovered was an astroturfed campaign led by the Jewish Federation of Portland to retaliate against Dr. Carpenter for using her personal platform to highlight the injustice and horror of the genocide in Gaza. One Instagram story – which recognized the 77th anniversary of the Nakba – was cited repeatedly in the 13 complaints submitted to the Board.

As a physician, Dr. Carpenter has been deeply affected by Israel’s targeted bombing of hospitals in Gaza. Her first social media post about the genocide was on October 17, 2023, when Israel bombed the first of many hospitals. This was the first of dozens of posts she has made on the subject since October 7, 2023, many of which also talked about the destruction of the schools and universities; a subject relevant to a school board member.

The next regular School Board meeting was scheduled for June 2, just four days after the investigation was voted on. Portland DSA members quickly planned a solidarity protest for that day. Over the course of the next 90 hours, we held planning meetings, arranged for speakers, promoted the protest on social media, talked to our coworkers and allies in the Beaverton School District, and contacted local elected officials. On the day of the Board meeting, 150 people turned out to rally and occupy the School Board headquarters, demonstrating the overwhelming local support for Dr. Carpenter and the struggle for Palestinian liberation. Attendees heard from Portland Jewish Voice for Peace organizer Julia Ford; State Representative Farrah Chaichi; and Hailey DeMarre, a DSA member, Beaverton Education Association activist and Beaverton High School teacher who had a pro-Palestinian mural in her classroom painted over. Beaverton City Councilor Nadia Hasan, the first Muslim person to serve on the Council, also spoke in solidarity during the School Board meeting public comment period. They all made it clear that the retaliation against Dr. Carpenter was just one example out of many in which the interests of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students were utterly disrespected.

Flyer for the solidarity rally, which reads, "Hands off Tammy! Rally for free speech on Palestine in our schools."

Following the rally, most supporters filed into the meeting room which quickly reached capacity – many supporters were turned away for fire safety reasons. The pro-Zionists were outnumbered 15:1. Those 20 or so counter-protesters carried signs saying “Tammy Sucks” and signs that equated solidarity with Palestine as a call for Jewish extermination. The vast majority of the room was taken up by anti-Zionist advocates and Dr. Carpenter’s supporters, holding signs saying “Stop Arming Israel” and “Free Speech on Palestine.”

The meeting was tense even before public comment began, as the audience seating was overflowing with people holding signs. At one point, a group of high schoolers were awarded honors by the district, and we overheard one student insist on staying to watch the anticipated drama of the meeting, saying, “No, Mom, I want to see how this goes!”

Following the awards, a heated public comment period began wherein both sides shared alternative perspectives on the situation the Board had caused by capitulating to the complaints engineered by the Jewish Federation of Portland. (To hear the speeches, you can watch this YouTube livestream.) Some speakers complained that their federal tax dollars are being used to fund the genocide, and their local tax dollars shouldn’t go to investigating board members with a pro-Palestine position. Although the Board chairperson interrupted several times to tell attendees to quiet their reactions, the event was entirely peaceful. The crowd dispersed with the feeling of a job well done. Following the meeting, public statements poured into the School Board expressing support for Dr. Carpenter and condemnation of the School Board’s actions.

On August 9, the results of the investigation were finalized and published: the third-party investigator determined the charges against Dr. Carpenter were unfounded. We were confident from the start that this would be the result, but Portland DSA was committed to making it clear – to the Beaverton School Board and any other power-players considering following the lead of the Zionist lobby – that the public is in opposition to both the genocide and the erosion of free speech rights.

We see these charges in the same light we have seen charges of anti-semitism made against other socialist figures who have championed Palestinian liberation, like Zohran Mamdani in NYC or Rep. Rashida Tlaib in Congress. The Zionist lobby has long relied on slander to defend military funding for Israel, but it’s clear this trick doesn’t work anymore. Opposition to the imperialist war machine and solidarity with Palestine is not a liability – it is our strength.

We encourage all sympathizers to join Portland DSA and be a part of the movement to end war and genocide and instead create a world where all people can live in peace. From Beaverton to Palestine, all children should have safe, well-resourced schools that facilitate free inquiry. This will not be the last time our public figures are attacked for championing that vision, but no matter what comes next, we’re ready to keep fighting.

The post That Trick Doesn’t Work Anymore: How DSA and Allies Defeated a Smear Campaign and Protected Free Speech on Palestine appeared first on Portland DSA.

Thu, Sep 4th, 2025

Madison DSA posted at 16:13

Madison Area DSA Stands in Solidarity with the Social Justice Center and with our Homeless Neighbors!

As part of a city-wide crackdown on our homeless neighbors, the City of Madison is unfairly targeting the Social Justice Center, demanding that the SJC removes its food pantry, public health vending machine, benches, and public art, in an attempt to drive away unhoused people who rely on the SJC and the organizations it houses for shelter, safety, healthcare, and support.

Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America recognizes the effort the Social Justice Center puts into addressing the housing crisis that this city ignores, and we stand with the SJC and all who rely on it.

There is no denying it: there is a crisis in Madison. Rents get higher and access to affordable housing gets more limited by the day, forcing more and more people from their homes. Public restrooms are not open early or late enough. Overcoming addiction is nearly impossible when one’s basic needs for survival are not met. Each of these problems is a rung in the ladder of capitalist oppression, which forces the working class into worse and worse conditions until they have nowhere left to go.

The city’s approach to this crisis is unjust and unhelpful. We cannot disappear the unhoused population. We must house them. We must give them safety, security, and support. They are our neighbors, community members, and constituents of the politicians who claim to represent us. Any one of us could be a layoff or medical emergency away from joining them. This crisis is a reminder to the rest of the working class that the ruling class will turn its back on anyone who isn’t making them profits.

The Beacon, Madison’s primary day shelter, is beyond capacity, so people look for shelter in other parts of the city. The city’s proposed new men’s shelter won’t be ready until next year, and will only have 250 beds – not nearly enough to meet the well-documented need.

But instead of fully funding and expanding the sorely needed homeless services and meaningfully addressing the housing crisis that makes them necessary, the city is cracking down on neighbors helping neighbors – by increasing police presence at and making punitive demands of the Social Justice Center, by threatening to close down the Dairy Drive campground with winter just around the corner, and by sweeping the encampment at the Wisconsin Veterans’ Museum.

“Solving” homelessness with incarceration is more expensive per person than harm reduction centers and housing first policies, and only perpetuates the cycle.

As community members, it is our responsibility to provide what the city will not, and the Social Justice Center aims to do exactly that. We also have to fight for a just future in which everyone has what they need. MADSA stands in solidarity with the Social Justice Center, and calls upon the Madison Common Council, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, and the Dane County Board to do right by our neighbors:

1. Stop targeting the SJC for stepping up where the city has failed.

2. Continue to fund the Dairy Drive campsite, a crucial transition program.

3. Support the Dane County Homeless Justice Initiative’s demands to fully fund homeless support services.

4. Cure the root cause of the homelessness crisis by building affordable, desirable, and dignified public housing where our neighbors can thrive, not just survive!

Mon, Sep 1st, 2025

Democratic Socialists of Salt Lake posted at 16:46

You Are a Revolutionary: A Letter to Working-Class Creatives

To my comrades in the arts,

I write to you today, hopeful that I can answer one of the most important questions of our time.

This question sits at the back of my mind, and no doubt, most likely yours. It festers and manifests into either hope or defeat.

It inspires many, but it also leaves us with feelings of conflict. This, combined with the constant attacks from those in power and those who have been brainwashed to believe they will someday join their oppressors on that blood-soaked throne, can even make us feel unworthy and like impostors to the cause.

The question I’m here to ask today, to you, myself, and our allies across the nation and around the world, is this: How, without taking up arms, can I truly call myself a revolutionary?

We watch as the vampiric class takes our pleas for a better society as at best a tantrum, and at worst, an attack on their so-called “free world.”

We watch as the left hand of the establishment monster pats us on the head and sends us on our way, then reaches over to the right to collect its share of the wealth and power. All the while, that same right hand just moments before, with a clenched fist, slammed down and snuffed out the cries of the working class.

It’s by acknowledging that these are the likely outcomes that many of us may be too afraid to march or speak out, with the fear that you can just be abducted, sent to a place you may not even know, or risk losing what little stability you have in an already broken, unjust, and unstable system.

And all this, again, begs the question: How, without risking what little I have, can I truly be a revolutionary?

And throughout countless hours of reflection, sleepless nights, and a painful analysis of the hate rampant on social media, it’s that I’ve recognized what can be one of the most revolutionary acts of our modern times.

And that, my friends, is to create.

For too long, they have told us that our lives as creatives are meaningless. That our pursuit of the arts and knowledge about everything that makes us human is not worth it because it is not profitable.

That to live a fulfilling life, you need to give yourself to a system that does as little as possible to ensure your wellbeing in the name of profit.

Sacrifice what little time you have to pursue your passions to make even more money, and to leave little energy in your reserve so as not to question or step out of line.

To that I say, be relentless in your rebellion.

And by that I mean we must execute the perversion that is this self-hatred and submission to capitalist degradation.

Creativity feeds the human spirit, consequently fueling the desire to learn, and as we’ve seen, education is what tyrants fear most.

Because it’s through education that we can make vital steps toward achieving solidarity and collective class consciousness.

So take everything going on around you

And write a poem,
Draw a picture,
Make a song,
Pen an essay,
Record a video,

Use the arts to fuel the revolution. To create the blueprint for a world that values people over profits.

And if you say to yourself you’re not an artist, I challenge you to prove yourself wrong.

And when you do, you will realize that you are a revolutionary.

The post You Are a Revolutionary: A Letter to Working-Class Creatives first appeared on Salt Lake DSA.

Sat, Aug 30th, 2025