“Inbuilt”: Zionism, Gaza, and Genocide
But transfer was inevitable and inbuilt into Zionism – because it sought
Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 60
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.
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.
DSA Condemns U.S. and Israeli hostilities in Palestine and West Asia
The Democratic Socialists of America demand an immediate and permanent cessation of hostilities by the United States against Yemen and an end to diplomatic and military support of Israel. President Biden widened the existing regional war even further by ordering airstrikes against civilian infrastructure in Yemen in an effort to stop that country’s humanitarian blockade of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Since October 7th, Israel has continuously engaged in provocative military aggression, aimed at expanding its brutal war into Lebanon. Israeli spokespeople continue their propaganda efforts to tie Iran to the events of October 7th and have issued calls for retaliation. A cyberattack believed to be the work of Israeli military intelligence has struck Iranian civilian infrastructure and extrajudicial assassinations have targeted senior leaders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hamas in Syria and Lebanon. The U.S.’s attack on Yemen comes in the context of Yemeni forces having blocked container ships owned by Israelis or headed towards Israeli ports. U.S. airstrikes are taking place while South Africa presents its arguments to the International Court of Justice for provisional measures against Israel for the crime of genocide. The U.S. has clearly demonstrated that it would rather pursue a dangerous course of escalation that is alienating the entire global south than rein in its junior imperial partner in the region.
Socialist internationalism obligates us to act in solidarity with the Palestinian and Yemeni people who have bravely resisted imperial aggression by the US and its partners for decades, with hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dying in the U.S.-backed Saudi and UAE war and blockade on Yemen. Reaffirming the principles outlined in UN General Assembly Resolution 45/130, which acknowledges the legitimacy of peoples’ struggle for independence, territorial integrity, and liberation from foreign occupation, DSA firmly supports the rights of those who resist occupation and war. We reiterate our demand for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and renew our commitment to the cessation of all hostilities against the Yemeni people. We echo DSA congressional representatives Rashida Tlaib and Cori Bush’s condemnations of the Biden administration’s illegal attack on Yemen and we call on our members and all other supporters of peace across the country to join us, along with our comrades in Progressive International and the global anti-war movement in elevating these demands.
Take Action Now:
- Join NYC-DSA for an Emergency Ceasefire Phonebank: Hands Off Yemen!
- Join DSA for a No Money For Massacres Solidarity Phonebank
- Become a DSA Member – A Better World is Possible!
The post DSA Condemns U.S. and Israeli hostilities in Palestine and West Asia appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Unionized workers in Detroit to get $54,500 bonus
by Joanne Coutts
The Detroit Lions’ win over the Minnesota Vikings on December 24th clinched the division title for the first time in 30 years. For this feat each player will receive a $54,500 bonus with the potential for additional payouts depending how they fare in the playoffs. This money comes from a playoff pool created by the NFL’s revenue-sharing program. Does this sound a little bit like socialism?
The NFL suffers from many identity crises. It promotes nationalism while yearning for the global appeal of soccer. It cloaks itself in militarism and extracted $5.4 million from the Department of Defense in exchange for patriotism spectacles. It aids billionaire team owners in appropriating taxpayer money to build giant stadiums ($110 million in the case of Ford Field) while positioning itself as the sport of the “blue collar worker.”
However, the NFL identity crisis on which sports writers have spilled the most ink is the tension between the league’s deeply capitalistic goals and its need to embrace at least parts of socialism to achieve them.
If you type “NFL socialism” into an internet search engine, many articles will pop up, arguing that various aspects of the NFL are or are not socialist. These generally focus on the draft, which gives the teams with the worst win/loss records in the previous season first choice of the best players moving from college to the NFL each year, thereby giving the teams that need it most first access to new resources.
They also discuss revenue sharing, which distributes television revenue equally among all teams regardless of how many people watch their games on any given Sunday, to spread the wealth and allow teams in smaller cities like Green Bay to remain competitive with larger ones like New York. And they argue that the salary cap, which prevents teams from accumulating all the best players by paying them more, means that wealthy team owners cannot gobble up and hoard all the “best resources” for themselves.
These measures have the goal of ensuring parity across the league, and have resulted in 12 different Super Bowl winners in the past 15 years. In contrast, the English Premier League, where none of these socialist wealth-distribution mechanisms exist and unfettered capitalism reigns supreme, has seen only 5 different clubs win the league during the same period.
Credit the union (or blame the union)
One central tenet of socialism, worker’s unions, is mostly overlooked in these articles. The strength of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) has been a key factor in the success of the league, and over the years the NFLPA has gotten its members everything from clean jock straps to a $1 million per year minimum wage.
At the NFLPA’s first meeting, in 1956, players from 11 of the 12 teams signed on to be represented by the new union. Their demands included a minimum $5,000 salary whether playing or injured, clean uniforms, and equipment paid for by their teams. In 2014, the latest year for which information is available from the Department of Labor, 1,959 or 91% of the NFL’s approximately 2,144 active and practice squad players were voting members of their union. An additional 3,130 former players were also NFLPA members. Union membership remains strong because of the NFLPA’s success in raising player’s salaries and improving working conditions and benefits, and its relatively modest dues, $31,000 per year, which for context represents 4.1% of the league’s 2023 minimum salary ($750,000 per year).
In the summer of 1968, the NFLPA, led by Detroit Lions offensive guard John Gordy, held its first strike and soon after ratified its first collective bargaining agreement (CBA). The CBA included an increase in minimum salaries, exhibition game pay, and a $1.5 million contribution by NFL owners to a pension fund. The most recent CBA, ratified in 2020, makes these gains look paltry by comparison. Some of the highlights which we might all drool over include:
Revenue sharing — The CBA requires that players receive 48% of gross football-related revenues generated by the league. This means that 48% of TV broadcast deals, ticket sales, league-wide and local sponsorships, gambling, and even soda and hot dog sales must be spent on player wages and benefits. Retail store workers receive around 17% of revenue in wages, for restaurant workers it’s 25 to 30%, and in some manufacturing plants worker’s share of revenue can drop as low as 10%.
Minimum wage — In 2023 minimum-salary players on a team’s active roster received a 6.4% increase from $705,000 to $750,000 per year. Under the current CBA, minimum-salary players will see a 33% increase from their current salaries, hitting the $1 million mark by 2030. The recent UAW deal comes close to this, raising base wages by 25% by 2028. For the rest of us, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that we will see average wage growth of 3% per year, for a total 18% increase by 2030.
Health and Pension Benefits — NFL players and their dependents receive a variety of health benefits which continue for five years after they leave the league, after which they can opt to continue in the health plan at their own expense. Specific health conditions related to playing football, such as joint damage or neurological care, are covered for life. They also get a league pension, averaging $43,000 per year, starting at age 55 and can join the league’s 401K, Annuity and Second Career savings programs. While many U.S. workers participate in 401K or Retirement Savings Plans, only 11% of private sector workers have access to a pension plan.
The NFLPA has been aided in achieving all this by advantages most unions can only dream of. Its coffers are filled with revenue from marketing and endorsement deals in addition to player dues. Its members hold almost all the “means of production” of their product, making scabbing all but impossible; all attempts during the various player strikes and owner lockouts to replace the product on TV and in stadiums have been a dismal failure.
The union’s leadership is predominantly made up of rank-and-file players. Hands up: who has heard of NFLPA President JC Tretter and of Jalen Reeves-Mabin, who currently represents the Lions as a vice-president of the union? Perhaps because of this rank-and-file leadership, many of these gains benefit rank-and-file over “star” players. For example, increases in minimum salaries and benefits for all, combined with the salary cap, limit the money available to pay “big name” players.
We should all be so lucky as to be represented by such an active, well funded, and powerful union. With that power comes responsibility to stand in solidarity with workers around the world. As our Detroit Lions head to the playoffs let’s push the NFLPA to use its power to support workers across the country, as they did for Amazon workers in Alabama in 2021, and across the globe. Tell the NFLPA to demand a #CeasefireNow!
Send a message https://nflpa.com/contact. Tweet @NFLPA @JCTretter
Go Lions!!!
Notes and Links
Inflation 2023:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/12/heres-the-inflation-breakdown-for-november-2023-in-one-chart.html
Jalen Reeves Mabin is Detroit Lion on NFLPA Executive Committee:
Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_Players_Association
NFLPA Revenue spending:
NFLPA:
https://nflpa.com/ and https://www.influencewatch.org/labor-union/nfl-players-association/
Paid militarization of the NFL:
https://fee.org/articles/its-time-to-end-the-paid-militarization-of-the-nfl/
https://archive.thinkprogress.org/nfl-dod-national-anthem-6f682cebc7cd/
2020 CBA highlights:
https://operations.nfl.com/inside-football-ops/players-legends/2020-nfl-nflpa-cba-need-to-know/
NFL post season pay:
Detroit Lions Player Report Card:
https://nflpa.com/detroit-lions-report-card#treatment-of-families
NFL and Socialism:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-the-nfl-owners-are-exclusive-socialists-102946280.html
https://fee.org/articles/is-the-nfl-draft-socialism/
https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/columns/2014/10/24/the-nfl-is-socialistic-enterprise/36089303007/
Capitalism in UK football:
https://jacobin.com/2020/08/english-football-capitalism-manchester-premier-league-fc
Detroit Lions history:
Detroit Lions | Detroit Historical Society
The Detroit Socialist is produced and run by members of Detroit DSA’s Newspaper Collective. Interested in becoming a member of Detroit DSA? Go to metrodetroitdsa.com/join to become a member. Send a copy of the dues receipt to: membership@metrodetroitdsa.com in order to get plugged in to our activities!
Unionized workers in Detroit to get $54,500 bonus was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
RSS: A Better Way to Collect News Content
by Sara G.
It’s time for an RSS revival and socialists should be taking the lead. RSS–Really Simple Syndication–is a tool that aggregates content from multiple sources like news sites and tweets into one single feed. Popular in the early 2000s, it has since been overshadowed by social media as writers and artists moved from blogs to Twitter and Instagram. Corporations abandoned it because, as an open protocol, it isn’t easily monetized. When reading an article on an RSS feed, the reader only sees the content, not the multitude of ads embedded on the original site. The reader chooses what to view, so algorithms can’t push more financially beneficial articles in front of their eyes. This decreases the captive audience for corporate content.
While social media networks are where the largest audiences are, they are hostile to leftist organizing. Content is moderated to suit corporate agendas. For instance, X bans users who tweet “from the river to the sea” while promoting right-wing hate speech. All user data and content is tracked and fed into AI to put workers out of jobs or create deepfakes, or to hand over to the police or surveillance organizations like Palantir. Sex workers are kicked off platforms, and minority posters are routinely dogpiled, stalked, and doxxed. User posts appear alongside anti-semitic ads, or are algorithmically served up to the people most likely to be enraged by them. Social media sites can be actively harmful to leftists who post on or read them.
We are trying to build a mass movement, so we should continue recruiting the working class on large sites like X even though they are owned by our ideological enemies. They are great for posting out wins and advertising upcoming events. For anything deeper or more internal, we need to have greater control over our messaging and how it is presented and moderated, so that we can discuss issues on our own terms. RSS allows leftist writers to host their own content wherever they’d like, without relying on a social media conglomerate like Meta and being subject to its limitations.
Most leftists with a blog or newsletter don’t need to do anything extra to post to RSS. Sites like Squarespace and WordPress automatically provide RSS feeds of their content. The DSA National Tech Committee has created a feed that aggregates publications from DSA chapters. Chapters who want to syndicate their publications can talk to NTC about how to get added.
Since RSS is an open protocol, readers are not tied to one app or company to access content. To read RSS feeds, you need to download an RSS reader. Popular readers include Newsblur, Feedbin, Feedly, Miniflux, and Readwise. Some are free, some have ads, some have extra features like web clipping or archiving, and some are more minimalist. Some accommodate tweets and email-based newsletters, and some don’t. There’s something for everyone, but the downside of not having one monopolistic company means users need to make their own decision about which app to use. After selecting an app, feeds can be added. Leftists might be interested in the DSA feed, Jacobin, In These Times, and Labor Notes. We have a lot of opportunities to build a leftist ecosystem online that allows robust discussion and encourages the development of class consciousness. Social media companies don’t need to be the only way in which we interact with one another online: seize the means of content production!
The post RSS: A Better Way to Collect News Content first appeared on Red Fault.
Continue the Class Struggle — Your January Dispatch
Happy New Year! Here’s your January Dispatch. This month, stand up for peace in Palestine, hear from union workers on our 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 Maria — Let’s Continue the Class Struggle
- No More Money for Massacres! Sign Up for Ceasefire Phonebanks Thursdays in January
- Sunday 1/21 — Join Our Workers and the World Unite: Labor in a Green New Deal Call
- New Year, New You, New Dues — Switch to Solidarity Dues for 2024! Plus Chapter Trainings Sunday 1/21 and Tuesday 1/23
- ICYMI — Free Subscription to In These Times for DSA Members!
- Apply for the DSA Growth and Development Committee
From Maria — Let’s Continue the Class Struggle
Two weeks into 2024, it feels like we’re heading into a dark place again. When the COVID pandemic hit, our movement lacked the power to transform society to one based on solidarity and democracy. The ruling class accelerated their pillage of the working class and our planet. The far right is ascending across the globe, and our own government is funding mass bombing and starvation.
But I have hope. Our work — for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, for strong unions, for bridging and enhancing our power in arenas of struggle from politics to the streets — is what will save us. And we’re part of a much larger set of working class movements on the rise.
I refuse to give in to nihilism. We have the energy and the people. What we need now is a plan. How can we harness our collective power most strategically in 2024, an election year? Both leading candidates for President are unpopular. Many voters are disgusted with politics in general, yet millions still see it as their main way to engage.
How do we navigate the existing political system while also raising expectations for something better? What is the most effective way to move in our workplaces and communities? One hundred and twelve years after the famous “Bread and Roses” Lawrence Textile Strike, how do we leverage our power in the economy and win the power to govern too? Now is the time to decide, together, where we need to be in November and how to build towards that goal.
Socialists approach these questions not from an individual perspective or through tinkering at the top. We look at the structures of society and we know our power comes from the base. History is made by mass movements — so what is our role in this moment?
DSA has a unique democratic structure that, however messy, allows us to make these decisions and plans together. Let’s make a New Year’s resolution to analyze the moment with clear eyes and then get to work.
Maria Svart
DSA National Director
No More Money for Massacres! Sign Up for Ceasefire Phonebanks Thursdays in January
Stand with DSA members and U.S. Representatives Cori Bush and Rashida Tlaib to demand a ceasefire now! DSA members across the country are calling for de-escalation, stopping additional US military aid to Israel, and the protection of millions of civilians. Join our No Money for Massacres phonebanks every Thursday this January. And check out our Palestine Solidarity National Toolkit to learn how you can stay informed, take action, and work for peace and liberation.
Sunday 1/21 — Join Our Workers and the World Unite: Labor in a Green New Deal Call
How would an ecosocialist Green New Deal change work and labor, and what is the role of unions, bargaining for the common good, and rank-and-file organizing in helping us win Green New Deal struggles in the near and long terms?
Join DSA’s GND Campaign Commission and National Labor Commission to hear from organizers about their work and how it fits into the theory and practice of a just transition and socialist horizon! The call will be held on Sunday 1/21 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT.
New Year, New You, New Dues — Switch to Solidarity Dues for 2024! Plus Chapter Trainings Sunday 1/21 and Tuesday 1/23
Kick off 2024 with a resolution to stand in solidarity with the working class by making the switch to Solidarity Dues. We can fight for more in 2024, but to build real power, we must fund our own work. Give your 1% for the 99% by committing to Solidarity Dues today!
Already made the switch and ready to ask your comrades to do the same? Sign up for a Solidarity Dues phonebank and bring your chapter to a Solidarity Dues training Sunday 1/21 or Tuesday 1/23.
ICYMI — Free Subscription to In These Times for DSA Members!
Did you resolve to do more reading this year? Support quality reporting on socialist organizing — In These Times is offering a free subscription to DSA members! Click here to sign up. And enjoy your reading!
Apply for the DSA Growth and Development Committee
We want to share important news regarding the national DSA Growth and Development Committee (GDC) leadership!
After more than a year and a half of dedicated service, Kristian Hernandez and Beth Huang are stepping down as DSA GDC Co-Chairs. We express our sincere gratitude for their contributions in fostering our organization’s growth.
We welcome Colleen Johnston (Denver) and Shane Katz (Baltimore) as the new Co-Chairs of the DSA GDC. Additionally, we are excited to introduce the new GDC Steering Committee of National Political Committee (NPC) members Alex Pellitteri (NYC), Frances Gill (Los Angeles), Sam Heft-Luthy (San Francisco), and Rashad X (Lakefront), as well as (non-NPC members) Michaela Brangan (River Valley), Sarah Callahan (Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky), Beth Huang (Ithaca), Justin Charles (NYC), Alex Finch (Chicago), Kara Hall Zuniga (Las Vegas), Kristian Hernandez (North Texas), and Josh Rusinov (Northern NJ). Together, this team of committed individuals is poised to drive our growth initiatives forward.
The GDC is the primary internal organizing committee for DSA. We develop and implement strategies and programs to grow and sustain DSA, including recruitment and retention drives, surveys, leadership training, chapter mentorship and grants, and more.
Interested in learning more about the GDC? Read our 2023 Convention Report here! Want to get involved? Apply to the GDC here!
The post Continue the Class Struggle — Your January Dispatch appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
The Struggle for Public Power: Lessons from Maine DSA
2023 was the hottest year on record and for many people across the country being able to afford their utility bills to cool or heat their homes during the more extreme temperatures caused by climate change is becoming a possibly deadly challenge. Last year, Maine DSA was part of a statewide coalition called Pine Tree Power that attempted to take over the two largest corporate utilities in the state through a ballot measure in November. They didn’t win. But here on Revolutions Per Minute we are just as interested in talking about losses as we are victories. Tonight, we’ll go to Maine and talk with Aarron and Dwight about the struggles of organizing in a rural state and the lessons they learned from their Public Power campaign.
We’ll also check in with Chen from the New York City EcoSocialist Working Group for an update on the state of renewable energy development in New York (spoiler alert: the private market is in shambles) and what comes next for implementing the Build Public Renewables Act.
Follow Maine DSA and our guests at @DSA_Maine, @bioleera, and @dwobbsy.
Follow New York City EcoSocialist Working Group at @NYCDSA_Ecosoc
San Francisco Demands a Ceasefire in Gaza
DSA SF is proud to stand behind our socialist-in-office D5 Supervisor Dean Preston, who led the way for San Francisco to become the largest city in the country to pass a ceasefire resolution.
We are honored to have worked with and followed the lead of tireless organizers from coalition partners including AROC, CAIR, JVP on this historic resolution.
This success was only made possible by all the calls, emails, public comment, and office visits from the people of San Francisco. Tens of thousands have mobilized in the streets and an unprecedented thousands more filled City Hall to voice their support.
We, the city of San Francisco, demand CEASEFIRE NOW.
While we celebrate the passage of this resolution in San Francisco, we cannot ignore the fight ahead of us. Millions of Palestinians are still in danger and the machinery of capitalism and colonialism grinds ceaselessly.
A ceasefire will only slow the decades-long genocide. We continue to fight to end the siege on Gaza, to free all Palestinian prisoners, to end US military aid to Israel, and an end to the occupation.
Get involved! Join DSA or any of the other organizations involved in the struggle.
DSA Pushing US Officials to Support Cease Fire in Gaza
by Sara G.
Since October 7th, DSA members and allies have made over 330,000 calls to voters to talk to them about the war in Gaza, resulting in thousands of calls and over 20,000 emails to Congress demanding a ceasefire. The No Money for Massacres (NMFM) campaign has hosted roughly one phone bank a week since mid-October. At first the phone banks were restricted to DSA members but now they are open to all, with 20-90 attendees from around the U.S. per phone bank. Some phone banks have had special guest speakers like NYC Assembly members Zohran Mamdani and Sarahana Shrestha. Others have featured chapters reporting back on their local campaigns in support of Palestinian liberation. The events tend to be high-spirited, with participants excited to work with sympathetic comrades to do what we can to lessen the horror unfolding in Gaza.
Although we can’t prove direct causation, congressional targets have changed their messaging after these phone banks. We shouldn’t overeestimate our direct impact, but we have helped change the tone of congressional discussion of the genocide. In early October, when only the Squad was brave enough to call for a ceasefire, the White House Press Secretary said that representatives calling for a ceasefire and not supporting Israel were “wrong” and “disgraceful.” Now 18 reps have signed onto Representative Cori Bush’s ceasefire bill and more than 60 Congress members have expressed support for a ceasefire. In Austin, a NMFM phone bank targeted Representative Casar and he signed onto the resolution the very next day. Representative Doggett similarly signed a letter of support for a ceasefire right after being targeted by NMFM. Congressional staffers have reported that legislators have felt pressured by our phone banks and that the vast calls for support of Gaza have raised the morale of friendly legislators and staffers. Contacts in Washington and the results we see online tell us that there’s a link between our phone banks and later demands for a ceasefire from Congress. Who wouldn’t forgive the rooster for thinking he can at least predict the sun?
We’ve had this impact because of strategic planning on the part of the informal organizing team that has developed around the phone banks. Politically savvy members are researching legislators and choosing targets who are likely to flip or who are strategically important. We’ve formed coalitions with other organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace to multiply our impact. We watch for congressional statements daily and adjust our messaging to stay relevant and make the most powerful argument for each legislator. Lastly, we have experienced campaigners building the call list of members, allies, and local voters who would be most receptive to our calls. The experience of the organizing team and the advantages of scale mean that anyone participating in a phone bank is magnifying their impact beyond what they could have by calling their Representative alone.
Unfortunately the situation in Gaza is still dire, so we are still making calls, and there are more opportunities to join us in this campaign. New phone banks are posted weekly. After getting your feet wet, you may find additional ways to increase your contribution. I have acted as Zoom bouncer and vibe promoter in addition to dialing hundreds of numbers and talking to voters about Palestine. I hope to see the next phone bank top 100 callers as we grow the movement.
The post DSA Pushing US Officials to Support Cease Fire in Gaza first appeared on Red Fault.
Weekly Roundup: January 9, 2024
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, 1/10 (6:45 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): January Chapter Meeting (Zoom and in person at 209 Golden Gate Avenue. Doors open at 6:45 p.m., meeting starts at 7:00 p.m.)
Thursday, 1/11 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Ecosocialist Monthly Meeting (Zoom)
Friday, 1/12 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)
Wednesday, 1/17 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): 
What is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister)
Thursday, 1/18 (6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.): Labor Movie Night: Matewan (In person at 1916 McAllister)
Monday, 1/22 (6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.): SHOP Training with the Tenant Organizing WG (In person at 1916 McAllister)
Wednesday, 1/24 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): HWG Reading Group: Mean Streets (In person at 1916 McAllister)
Saturday, 1/27 (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): HWG Sock Distro (Meet in person at 1916 McAllister)
Check out https://dsasf.org/events/ for more events.
Events & Actions
January Chapter Meeting Tomorrow (1/10)
The first chapter meeting of the year is coming up tomorrow, January 10th from 6:45 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.! You can attend via Zoom or in person at UNITE HERE Local 2 at 209 Golden Gate Avenue. It’s a busy agenda, with:
- updates from Silicon Valley DSA
- our very own Extreme Dean giving updates on goings-on at City Hall
- a recap of recent Palestine solidarity actions
- an overview of our 2023 budget and finances
- a first reading of an amendment to our elections process bylaws
We will be also voting on some business at the chapter meeting, including:
- electing Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) co-chairs. You can submit your nominations for CCC co-chairs here, and view the list of nominees and their questionnaire responses before the vote.
- voting on chartering a Palestine Solidarity Working Group
- voting on Resolution: For an Anti-Zionist DSA SF in Both Principle and Practice
- voting on the January – June 2024 chapter budget (both a budget resolution and approving the budget itself)
Labor Movie Night: Matewan
Come join us for a Labor movie night at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister on January 18th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. We will be watching Matewan (1987), a film dramatizes the events of the Battle of Matewan, a coal miners’ strike in 1920 in Matewan, a small town in the hills of West Virginia. Made in 1987, this film is arguably an even more relevant, cautionary tale today than ever before.
There will be food and drinks provided!
This event will be mask optional but highly recommended.
Join the Tenant Organizing Working Group for SHOP Training!
Come join the DSA Tenant Organizing Working Group for the final two parts of a three-part training to develop successful socialist tenant organizers.
The Socialist Housing Organizing Program (SHOP) started yesterday with a study group to discuss how housing developed as a commodity under capitalism, and why the market will never solve the housing crisis. Part 2 is a training on tenants’ rights in San Francisco. Part 3 covers the basics of an organizing conversation to recruit your neighbors to the tenant union.
You can attend upcoming trainings are at the following times:
- Monday, January 22nd at 6:30 p.m.
- Tuesday, February 6th at 6:30 p.m.
All trainings to take place at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister. Zoom is available upon request. Register today!
Mutual Aid Priority WG Has a New Meeting Schedule!
The Mutual Aid Priority Working Group has an updated schedule! The working group will be meeting every other Tuesday at 7:00 p.m.
If you are interested in diving into DSA SF mutual aid projects this year, our first meeting of 2024 will be on January 16th starting at 7:00 p.m. Currently, our working group is building out capacity for several existing projects, including smolidarity/childwatch, outreach for Extreme Dean, and union and strike support. Check out the #priority-mutual-aid channel on Slack to help us strategize, develop new mutual aid projects, and help our fellow San Franciscans through the power of organizing!
Behind the Scenes
The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.
To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.
Questions? Feedback? Something to add?
We welcome your feedback. If you have comments or suggestions, send a message to the #newsletter channel on Slack.
For information on how to add content, check out the Newsletter Q&A thread on the forum.