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.

This article appeared in Issue 2 of The Northeast Tennessee Organizer.

Don’t look now, but the Johnson City Commission is engaged in a campaign to gut local democracy under the banner of “Excellence in City Government.” Johnson City is going through a crisis in affordable housing. The city is facing two lawsuits involving credible allegations of mass sexual assault and human trafficking enabled by police. In this context, the Commissioners have decided that the “excellence” referred to in their Strategic Plan for 2020-2025 means removing the voice of the people from city government.

The Commission’s Power Grab Platform of 2024, introduced for a first read at their March 21 meeting, is a slate of four proposed changes to the city charter that attack civic engagement under the guise of improved efficiency. Here’s what they are trying to do.

Ordinance 4875-24: Removing the Public from the Public Budget

Currently, the Commission has to publish two drafts of its budget plan, one during the drafting stage and another upon finalization. Under this ordinance, they would only have to publish the final version, and only a mere ten days before they vote on it. Instead of presenting our public budget as something we have a say in, the Commission wants to present it as a done deal, then pass it before regular people have time to blink.

Assistant City Manager Steve Willis and City Commissioner Joe Wise suggest it is a question of cost-savings, efficiency, and “clarity.” Doing this, they say, would save $3,500 in advertising costs. Assistant City Manager Steve Willis stated that publishing the working budget “provides no value to [the Commission] as an elected board, nor does it provide any value to our taxpayers.” At around 34:47 in the livestream video, Commissioner Wise further suggests that the public is not smart enough to understand what a first draft is.

We would ask Mr. Willis and Commissioner Wise a rather basic question about their ideas of value and efficiency: Is the people’s participation in allocating Johnson City’s $166,000,000 General Fund so little appreciated that the Commission considers a $3500 savings in ad expenditures to be of greater value? Why do the commissioners value so little the public who elected them?

You can learn a lot about someone’s values by looking at what they say is costly. What is not too costly for the Commission is its $35,000,000 debt-funded investment in the West Walnut Street project. What is too costly is spending $3500 to foster civic participation in local government. If they think the ads haven’t worked well, why aren’t they looking for better ways to build participation?

This is indeed, as Commissioner Wise hoped, a proposal that provides “clarity.” We can see clearly that the Commissioners’ vision of “Excellence in City Government” is to free the government from accountability to the people.

This ordinance received unanimous support from the Commissioners with no debate.

Ordinance 4876-24: Not Even Pretending to Listen Anymore

This ordinance would allow the Commission to pass ordinances after only a second reading, whereas the current Charter language mandates a three-read process spread out over three Commission meetings.
Here is the idea behind the three-read process.At the first read, the Commission presents the proposed ordinance to the public. The period between this and the second read gives the public time to discuss the proposal with others, do research, and formulate their responses for the public comment period that comes at the second read. Between the second and third reads, we expect the Commissioners to consider the public’s comments before they make their final vote on the ordinance, which happens at the third read.

Folding the first and second reads into a single meeting eliminates the public’s opportunity to consider the proposal before having to respond to it. The city may point to other local governments that have a two-read system. Our response: “the other kids are doing it” doesn’t make it the right thing to do. The elimination of the second read works toward the elimination of the public voice.

Is there really an opportunity to participate when agendas are released at the last minute and buried on an outdated Commission website as if by intent? Can a two-read ordinance process really allow for participation by the working people who make Johnson City run, whose schedules are determined by their employers and who must submit their time-off requests at least two weeks in advance? Is it not already difficult for people to participate in their city government?

We understand that the Commissioners are not themselves in a position to be held at another’s whim, but such conditions are a fact of life for a majority of the residents this Commission claims to serve.
This ordinance received unanimous support from the Commissioners with no debate.

Ordinance 4877-24: Undermining Good Jobs by Creating Indefinite Temp Workers

This ordinance would empower the City Manager to fill city jobs with temporary workers for periods longer than 90 days. The current Charter allows the City Manager to appoint temp workers for a period not to exceed 90 days.

Allowing the unelected City Manager greater control over vulnerable temp workers goes against democratic governance because temps can be fired more easily. This gives them less of a voice to speak up for themselves, and it also damages their ability to speak up if they see something that could hurt the public. Given the ongoing horror story involving Sean Williams and the police force, the public is not served by allowing this kind of power into the City Manager’s hands.

On top of that, keeping people as permanent temps instead of permanent hires hurts our city by undermining good jobs. All workers deserve stable jobs with decent pay and a union so they have a meaningful voice at work.

Rather than concentrating power to hire and fire in the hands of an unelected City Manager, we think such powers should be subject to review by elected officials. We strongly oppose any move that would hinder city workers’ ability to form a union.

This ordinance received unanimous support from the Commissioners with no debate.

Ordinance 4878-24: Making It More Complicated to Vote While Handing Commissioners Nearly Two More Unelected Years in Office

This ordinance would move local Johnson City elections from November, where they coincide with high-turnout state and national elections, to August, where they would coincide with county elections. To address the scheduling challenges arising from this date change, the Commissioners propose giving themselves nearly two extra years in office instead of holding a more democratic special election.
This ordinance is a one-two punch at democratic governance, where moving the elections to a lower-turnout date sets up the second blow of Commissioners extending terms without elections.

First Punch: Commissioner Joe Wise claimed it is “confusing to voters” to have some city and county elections in August and others in November. Moreover, around 42:25 in the March 21 livestream recording, Commissioner Wise acknowledges that August election turnout is historically low. His pitch is that moving the city elections to that historically low date will somehow solve the August turnout issue. Instead of supposing that moving city elections will solve August turnout, , why aren’t Commissioners talking to county officials about moving their elections to high-turnout November? After all, that’s why the Johnson City Commission moved city elections from April to November just a few years ago.

It can be challenging and costly for working-class people in our low-wage economy to find time to vote, or even to find a way to the polling station. One election in November serves regular people better than two across August and November. The City Commission’s proposal does not reckon with this at all.
Second Punch: If the Commissioners are so confident that they are delivering “Excellence in City Government,” should they not welcome the opportunity to renew their mandate? It’s nice the Commissioners all agree they are doing such a good job that two of them, along with the three that will be (re?)elected this November, deserve an extra year and nine months tacked onto their terms, but we would rather hear what the public thinks. Maybe our Commissioners believe that these extra years will allow time for the horrible events surrounding the Sean Williams lawsuit to fade from memory.

Let us not forget that Commissioner Brock has already rationalized one extended term when the Commission moved city elections from April to November in 2014. It’s certainly true that skipping elections is “easier,” particularly for certain people.

This ordinance received unanimous support from the Commissioners with no debate.

This is the Power Grab Platform of 2024. Each plank of the platform was approved unanimously, and although these are big changes, there was not a single point of debate raised by any Commissioner.

A Johnson City for the Few, or a Johnson City for All?

The Johnson City Commission is pushing a platform aimed at rolling back democracy for the people of Johnson City and grabbing more power into their own hands. They should be fostering the democratic civic engagement of all Johnson City residents. Instead, they put even more obstacles in the way of regular people.

We envision a city in which the people have a meaningful say in the city’s budgets, ordinances, appointments, and elections. We envision a city where the public authorities do what they can to expand opportunities for democratic input rather than restricting them. We envision a city that puts the well-being of all people front and center rather than serving first and foremost those with money and connections.

The Johnson City Commission finds encouraging citizens to participate in their government too costly and inefficient. If their idea of efficiency does not include actual human beings, what is it for?

Ordinances 4875-24, 4876-24, 4877-24, and 4878-24 present a combined attack on democratic city governance. So, what can we do about it?

The City Commission has to give two more public readings of these ordinances, on April 4 and April 18. City Commission meetings are at 601 East Main Street, beginning at 6:00. If the ordinances pass, amended or unamended, they must be voted on by the public in a referendum that takes place August 1.

Our next step is to get as many people as possible to show up on April 4 to testify against these ordinances. It’s a good idea to arrive early if you can.Northeast Tennessee DSA members and our allies will be there fighting for our own vision of “Excellence in City Government,” a Johnson City that centers ordinary people in public affairs rather than pushing them to the margins.

Our Commissioners still have the opportunity to do the right thing. Since they’re putting forward a platform that limits the participation of regular people, it seems more likely that regular people will have to defeat this power grab and reclaim ground for democracy by voting No on August 1.

We invite you to join us in demanding a Johnson City for All, not just the monied few.

More Links:
March 21, 2024 City Commission Agenda Packet & Meeting Video
Current City Charter

Black Scare / Red Scare: Theorizing Capitalist Racism in the United States unearths a material inventory of the American consciousness that is indispensable for understanding the contradictions of U.S. racial capitalism and “True Americanism” today.

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolutions #4 and #62 from 2019, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is an anti-imperialist organization;

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolution #50 from 2019, the DSA is an anti-colonialist organization committed to advancing decolonization projects;

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolutions #41 and #45 from 2017 and Resolutions #4 and #31 from 2021, the DSA is an anti-racist organization;

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolutions #7&8 from 2017 and Resolution #35 from 2019, DSA National has publicly declared on numerous occasions in recent years that it “unapologetically stands in solidarity with Palestinian people everywhere;”

Whereas, Zionism – as popularized by Theodore Herzl and explicitly described by him as “something colonial,” meant to be “a wall of Europe against Asia… an outpost of [Western] civilization against [Eastern] barbarism” – is and has always been a racist, imperialist, settler-colonial project that has resulted in the ongoing death, displacement, and dehumanization of Palestinians everywhere (i.e., in Palestine and in diaspora around the world);

Whereas, the establishment of a Jewish ethnostate in Palestine (i.e., the so-called “state of Israel”) and its maintenance via ongoing and illegal occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing represent the culmination of Zionists’ century-long colonization of Palestine;

Whereas, and antithetical to the DSA’s contemporary principles and policies, DSA’s founding merger was heavily predicated on ensuring that the DSA would uphold DSOC’s position of supporting continued American aid for Israel’s Zionist settler-colonial project, as explicitly noted in our organization’s founding merger documents (e.g., Points of Political Unity) and by Michael Harrington himself in his autobiography;

Whereas, and antithetical to the DSA’s contemporary principles and policies, a number of DSA endorsed electeds (e.g., Jamaal Bowman & Nithya Raman) have consistently demonstrated a commitment to Zionism through their public opposition to BDS and/or support for legislation that harms Palestinians everywhere (e.g., public support for and votes in favor of U.S. financial aid to Israeli military, which forcefully advances the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine through systematic tactics of abuse, forcible displacement, and murder of Palestinians; governmental adoption of definitions of antisemitism that conflate anti-Zionism and antisemitism, leading to the suppression of speech of Palestinians and those in solidarity with them);

Whereas, the DSA’s historic and contemporary association with and enablement of Zionism has jeopardized DSA rank-and-file membership’s confidence in the integrity of DSA’s overall politics, as well as our organization’s working relationships with major Palestinian-led grassroots organizations across North America;

Whereas, DSA membership has overwhelmingly denounced Zionism through its stated principles and convention mandates since 2017 but has yet to articulate these newfound principles into a more coherent praxis;

Whereas, the resolution “Make DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis” (MSR #12), failed to be heard or deliberated on at the 2023 National Convention, and there is an urgent need to address this on a chapter level;

Whereas, in failing to pass an Anti-Zionist resolution in the spirit of MSR #12, DSA is not a safe space for Palestinians and those who organize for Palestinian liberation, as evidenced by the digital and physical threats against Palestine organizers at the 2023 convention;

Therefore, be it resolved, the Tampa DSA chapter denounces the organization’s Zionist roots and reaffirms its commitment to being an anti-racist, anti-imperialist organization by explicitly committing to being an anti-Zionist chapter– in both principle and praxis;

Be it resolved, Tampa DSA once again reaffirms our organization’s commitments to Palestinian liberation and the broad, international BDS movement by conveying our expectation that all of Tampa DSA’s endorsed candidates hold true to the following basic commitments:

1. Publicly support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement;
2. Refrain from any and all affiliation with the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups, such as, but not limited to, AIPAC, J Street, or Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), including participating in political junkets or any event sponsored by these entities;
3. Pledge to oppose legislation that harms Palestinians, such as…
   • Any official adoption of a redefinition of antisemitism to include opposition to Israel’s policies or legal system, or support for BDS (e.g., IHRA definition of antisemitism);
   • Legislative and executive efforts to penalize individuals, universities and entities that boycott Israel;
   • Legislative and executive efforts to send any military or economic resources to Israel;
4. Pledge to support legislation that supports Palestinian liberation, such as…
   • Legislative and executive efforts to end Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians and promote Palestinians’ rights to return to and live freely on the land (e.g., H.R. 2590);
   • Condemnation of Israeli apartheid and colonial practices  (e.g., H.Res. 751);
   • Attempts to end the spending of U.S. tax dollars on Israel and/or sanction Israel until it ceases its practices of apartheid and colonialism;

Be it resolved, our local chapter’s candidate questionnaires will continue to include a question that inquires about the candidate’s position on BDS;

Be it resolved, potential candidates who cannot commit to the aforementioned basic expectations will be disqualified from endorsement by the Tampa DSA at every level;

Be it resolved, the Tampa DSA, in collaboration with trusted Palestine Solidarity movement partners in the grassroots (e.g., Palestinian Youth Movement) and the DSA International Committee, will provide all endorsed candidates with anti-Zionist educational materials, 1-to-1 training opportunities and ongoing, open-door counsel as needed;

Be it resolved, upon receiving fair and ample opportunity for education about the Palestinian struggle for liberation, endorsed candidates who do not commit to the aforementioned basic expectations will have their Tampa DSA endorsements swiftly revoked;

Be it resolved, Tampa DSA members – regardless of endorsement status – who are credibly shown to:

1. have consistently and publicly opposed BDS and Palestine (e.g., denouncing the BDS movement in public interviews; writing public op-eds denouncing the BDS movement; drafting and voting in favor of legislation that suppresses BDS, such as legislation that suppresses speech rights around the right to freely criticize Zionism/Israel and/or the right to boycott), even after receiving fair and ample opportunity for education about the Palestinian struggle for liberation, 
2. be currently affiliated with the Israeli government or any Zionist lobby group(s) such as, but not limited to, AIPAC, J Street, or Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), or
3. have provided material aid to Israel (e.g., Congresspeople voting to provide Israel with material aid; gave direct financial donations of any kind to Israel and/or settler NGOs who carry out the mission of Israeli settlement and Palestinian dispossession/displacement, such as the Jewish National Fund, the Israel Land Fund, the Hebron Fund, and Regavim)

will be considered in substantial disagreement with DSA’s principles and policies, and thus, the chapter will initiate the expulsion process in line with Article III, Section 3 of the Tampa DSA Bylaws;

Be it resolved, members expelled on these grounds may be reconsidered for membership reinstatement once per year provided they write a statement to chapter membership that 1.) demonstrates a basic understanding of Palestinian issues and Zionism and 2.) apologizes for past anti-solidaristic behaviors with a commitment to putting their new anti-Zionist principles into practice;

Be it resolved, membership reinstatement of reformed Zionists will require recommendation for reinstatement by their local chapter, followed by a majority vote in favor of reinstatement by the National Political Committee, as per the national Bylaws.

The post Resolution: For an Anti-Zionist Tampa DSA in both Principle and Practice appeared first on Tampa DSA.

Since October 7th, 2023, over 32,000 innocent people in Gaza have been martyred, of which over 40% are children. Those that are still alive have now been forced into famine. Throughout this campaign of genocide, the University of South Florida has maintained its investments in corporations that profiteer off this mass suffering.

On March 18th, in response to USF complicity in this evil, 19 USF students began a hunger strike to urge the university to divest from the genocide in Gaza. 

Their demands are as follows:

1. USF president Rhea Law call for a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to be let into Gaza.

2. The USF investment portfolio from 2013-2023 and onwards is immediately made transparent and open to the public.

3. A Student Oversight Committee is established by Fall 2024, ensuring student input in future investments.

4. USF immediately divests from Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Hewlett Packard, and Caterpillar, for their complicity in genocide.

Instead of meeting these demands, instead of disinvesting from genocide, the University of South Florida chose to retaliate against students who are fighting for humanity. Instead of recognizing its position of complicity in these horrific acts, the University chose to mischaracterize its own investments as apolitical. We echo these brave students in acknowledging that the “starting point of investments are already political when you invest in a genocide.”

Ignoring their students’ calls for divestment is a tradition for the university. In 2013, a student referendum calling for the boycott and divestment of companies that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine passed with popular support. However, the university declared it “null and void” and was accused of violating the first amendment rights of students. The following year, Students for Justice in Palestine responded by collecting 10,000 signatures on a divestment petition. Still, the university ignored student voices. In 2016, the student senate voted overwhelmingly in support of a divestment resolution, still no commitment to divest. After more than a decade of student organizing, USF must listen to student voices.

Join us in our condemnation of the USF Foundation and USF administration by emailing USF President Rhea Law and the Board of Trustees to demand that they divest now! 

Tampa DSA

Follow the hunger strikers at their Instagram account

Call Rhea Law at (813) 974-2791 and the Board of Trustees at (813) 974-6442.

The post Tampa DSA Stands in Solidarity with the Hunger Strikers at USF appeared first on Tampa DSA.

Note: This report was written by the 2023-24 Executive Committee and originally presented to Madison Area DSA membership ahead of the March 2024 Chapter Convention. This public-facing version has been abridged in some places.

What We Did This Year

Here’s a brief summary of what Madison Area DSA has been up to since last year’s chapter convention! For the sake of brevity we’ll skip over some of the activity also covered in working group reports further below:

Chapter Events

• Our average chapter meeting’s attendance was 21 people. Our chapter activity was lower than in previous years for most of spring and summer 2023 (lowest attendance was eight people in late August 2023), but has been steadily building the last few months, leading to our February and March 2024 general membership meetings (chapter meetings) having our highest attendance since spring 2022 (30-40 people).
• In May the executive committee moved chapter meetings from being Zoom-only to hybrid, with an in-person location at the Social Justice Center. Exec purchased audio/video equipment to facilitate this, and we have been able to sustain conducting hybrid chapter meetings for most of the past year. Previous attempts were made to move to hybrid meetings in summer 2022 but could not be sustained at that time. Prior to that all general meetings since March 2020 had been Zoom-only.
• In September after support from general membership, the executive committee moved general membership meetings from twice to once a month, increasing leadership capacity and allowing meetings to be more focused and purposeful, with more time for preparation in between. For the previous 2-3 years, chapter meetings were held twice a month with one meeting primarily dedicated to political education.
• The second monthly meeting was instead replaced by a monthly social event (starting with marching in the Willy St. Parade in September), giving more opportunities for members to get to know each other and building a stronger sense of community in our chapter. While Exec members were heavily involved in the planning of the first few socials, we have since been able to delegate this task to the Membership Committee.
• In May the chapter co-hosted a May Day event at the Goodman Center with former co-chair Tessa E.
• Exec voted to move our annual chapter convention from a two-day virtual event to a single-day in-person event. After assessing the shortcomings of our previous chapter priority model, which resulted in most submitted priorities passing but not being effectively prioritized by the chapter afterwards, the convention committee recommended moving to a priority chapter campaign model for 2024, where only one campaign would be voted on and prioritized at the 2024 convention.

Other Chapter Activity

• In December, Exec voted to form a new Membership Committee, which has engaged a number of active members and leaders in the chapter. The Membership Committee created a new Skills and Interests Survey to more accurately track member interest and capacity and find suitable opportunities, and began a spring membership engagement drive to systematically work through our entire membership list and ask members to fill out the survey and RSVP for the chapter convention. This has helped drive a significant increase in active membership in the chapter and make the role of membership coordinator easier to step into with more work being delegated to a committee of members.
• MADSA sent several delegations to conventions and trainings the past year. In August we sent 5 delegates to the biennial DSA National Convention in Chicago, several of whom took on larger roles in the chapter after returning. In September we supported sending 8 members to the annual Socialism Conference in Chicago. In October we sent 6 chapter leaders to a DSA Regional Organizing Retreat hosted in Milwaukee.
• MADSA formed a Strike Ready Committee to support local labor action, including turning out members to support UAW workers in Milwaukee in September. MADSA members also provided additional strike support locally to the CUNA Mutual Union and Starbucks Workers United, mostly coordinated through the Labor Working Group.
• MADSA joined a new statewide Socialists in Office (SIO) Committee to liaise with elected DSA members in the Socialist Caucus of the State Assembly. The SIO committee was brought to the chapter by a member working as a legislative staffer.
• In January, the chapter voted to endorse member and Dane County Board Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner in her re-election campaign.
• In February, the chapter approved purchasing new chapter shirts for the first time since 2019, driven by the work of the executive committee to ensure this goal was reached.

Palestine Solidarity

• In mid-October, the chapter held a special meeting to vote on publishing a chapter statement on the Israeli genocide in Gaza, allowing members to democratically offer amendments and feedback on an initial draft written by Exec before voting on the final statement. Many members turned out to events and actions hosted by other organizations, as the chapter lacked capacity at the time to coordinate turnout as DSA.
• MADSA joined the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine and sent a member to liaise who also took on a leadership role within the coalition. We were able to coordinate member turnout and table at a large December rally hosted by the coalition.
• In early March, Exec voted to endorse the Vote Uninstructed campaign for the April presidential primary election after overwhelming support and interest from chapter members. Due to increased chapter activity, MADSA has been able to take on a larger role in this campaign, committing to leading multiple rounds of canvassing and participating in phonebanks alongside the Listen to Wisconsin coalition. This campaign has engaged 30+ chapter members so far and will likely build a significant amount of chapter capacity going forward, as well as developing closer ties with members in the UW-Madison YDSA and providing valuable experience for our future priority chapter campaign.

Co-Chair Reflection

Whenever the official history of Madison Area DSA is written some day in the future after the fall of capitalism, 2023 certainly won’t be remembered as a high-water mark for the chapter. But it might be remembered as a crucial rebuilding period, where organizers regrouped and started slowly laying the groundwork that could make much bigger victories possible in the next few years.

Although Madison Area DSA existed since the 80s, its modern era (like most other DSA chapters) began in late 2016 following the first Bernie Sanders presidential run, and the chapter grew quickly but unevenly in leaps and bounds over the next few years. During this time the chapter notched some wins in the electoral and labor arenas while developing a strong core of organizers and many active working groups.

However, chapter leaders also faced difficulties in trying to bridge the sometimes siloed, federated nature of these working groups and in building a shared chapter culture that could effectively connect and amplify organizing efforts. Efforts to set chapter priorities at previous conventions had mixed results, as most proposals were passed but lacked the focus and collective buy-in to be truly prioritized by the chapter.

The last few years saw a slow decline in active membership and capacity, attributable to a number of factors such as national membership attrition, the impact of the ongoing COVID pandemic, the loss of social cohesion with several years of mostly Zoom-based organizing, and burnout. This culminated in 2022 when multiple chapter conflicts boiled over, including some members leaving over political disagreements with elements of elected national leadership, and a working group disaffiliating entirely.

This resulted in the loss of most of the chapter’s active leadership core at the time of the 2023 chapter convention. Only one member of the previous executive committee stayed on, with other seats filled by first-time leaders facing the difficult task of assuming the mantle of both administrative and political leadership. Too much responsibility fell on Exec, which was too overburdened with week-to-week administrative tasks to put sufficient work into other local organizing that could grow the membership and provide for more delegation of responsibilities. This loss of capacity was also felt across most working groups, with several struggling to even convene for long stretches last year.

Despite these difficulties, the reduced activity also presented an opportunity to address MADSA’s long-standing issues with siloed working groups in a way that wasn’t possible before – many active members and working group leaders began to agree and buy into the idea of prioritizing shared chapter organizing work in a way that hadn’t taken root in the past.

Changing the nature and form of our monthly chapter meetings was key in starting to turn things around. We began holding hybrid chapter meetings instead of Zoom-only, and a few months later after membership feedback reduced meeting frequency to once a month, replacing the other with a monthly social. By trying to do less and focus our limited energy, we were able to have better-run meetings and free up leadership capacity.

We also benefited from changing winds at the national level – a healthier organizing culture with more focus on member development at the chapter level led to increased support and training opportunities from other DSA member-volunteers and staff. Several delegates who attended the national convention in Chicago returned with new vision and energy, and now saw themselves as leaders who were ready to step into larger roles in the chapter, had clearer ideas of where they needed to step in, and how to develop and bring other members along with them.

The effects of increased leadership capacity weren’t immediate but slowly started to show. In October, MADSA wasn’t yet in a position to take on a leading role in Palestine solidarity organizing locally despite having many passionate members. Our main chapter activity at that time was deciding whether or not to make a public statement which led to heated political debate in our chapter Slack.

Although the statement ultimately had little visibility or promotion from members who argued in favor of publishing it, it was the outcome of a well-run meeting that built buy-in from members engaging in a fair democratic process, and built the self-confidence of Exec committee members in seeing themselves as political leaders.

The formation of the Membership Committee in December pulled in both new and active leaders from different parts of our chapter, as we started doing systematic listwork and phonebanking of our membership in a way that we hadn’t in several years. The ensuing member engagement drive built off the organizing 1:1 conversations, chapter socials, and event mobilizations of the previous few months, and helped activate a number of new members in addition to developing existing active members.

Without this mobilization effort, we likely would not have been in a position to take advantage of the sudden opportunity presented to us by the Uninstructed campaign this month. The increased capacity has the potential to create a virtuous cycle where many active members have the opportunity to develop into stronger leaders through being conditioned by campaign experience.

As part of taking on a larger political leadership role, Exec voted to make significant changes to this year’s chapter convention, determining the priority model used for the previous three years had mixed results and moving to replace it with voting on a single priority chapter campaign that will be run by a committee not housed within a working group. This aims to both focus our work as a chapter and develop capacity by not overcommitting and spreading ourselves too thin, while also hopefully further address the historically federated nature of MADSA.

The coming year presents plenty of opportunities for continued growth as a chapter, as well as new challenges accompanying that. Increasing our active membership and capacity will allow us to take on more projects, and we will need to be intentional to combat the natural tendency for renewed siloing with more committees and active working groups, and to ensure potential conflict can be resolved constructively. Developing stronger norms and expectations for internal communications will be a key task of the next Executive Committee, as will be continuing to delegate work and creating more opportunities to develop a stronger middle leadership layer of our chapter that eroded over the previous two years.

Another important task will be reprioritizing political education and integrating it into our existing work. Creating space to surface and openly discuss political disagreements is important to productively addressing conflict and finding areas of common ground; this is key to diffusing the tendency to personalize political conflict and politicize personal conflict within DSA.

– Adithya P, Co-Chair (Sep. 2023-Mar. 2024)

Treasury Report

Some financial information has been redacted from the public-facing version of this report.

This bump in donations, paired with a drop-off in spending after September meant that we came in just under breaking even in the last half of the year after we did most of our spending in the summer months.

Broadly, I’m generally happy with our spending this year. I said coming into my term as Treasurer that I wanted to spend down the bank somewhat, and we broadly have. Extrapolating to next year, there is no National Convention, so similar overall spending would leave us down less than 1k. We can run similar deficits for some time more to try and build the chapter. There are also some pretty clear ways to reduce or eliminate the deficit, should a future exec wish to do so, by cutting out donations and/or the conference spending. We couldn’t cut sending people to the National DSA Conference, but National recommends that chapters hold a fundraiser to get members out, which we didn’t do, opting to use our bank instead of our time. We are fortunate to be in a position to be able to do that, and likely will be for a few more years.

– Will P, Treasurer, 2023-2024)

Membership Report

As of 3/9/2024 the total number of Members in Good Standing, that is, members who are currently paying dues in some fashion or have filled out a dues waiver is 314. We lost, on average, about 8 people per month, and gained just over 4 people per month on average, resulting in an average net loss of 4 people per month. Based on conversations with our regional organizer, Tom H, this is not unique to this chapter, but an issue that’s shared throughout the DSA. Also, anecdotally, 2023 represented a draw down in participation in leftist organizing spaces in general. This is consistent with the GDC’s 2023 report, which outlines a peak in membership during 2020 and 2021 and a slow decline from that peak.

At the chapter level, this represented a steady loss of membership as people did not renew or quit their membership. Looking over the data, it’s difficult to pinpoint any specific events that caused membership to drop. This is not to say that there were no addressable reasons for our membership decline, but there does not seem to be any one or group of events after which we can point to a large drop in membership. The lack of any steep drops is a bit of a surprise, at least to this Membership Coordinator, given that a significant and active working group, the Socialist Feminist Collective, did not recharter with the MADSA due to political and personal disagreements. This is likely due to the fact that Socialist Feminist Working Group had a model of open membership that did not require one to be a dues paying member. While their exit represented a loss in organizing partners, it did not represent an outsized loss in Members In Good Standing.

Total members in good standing (see Picture M1, below) does show a slight leveling off, even a modest growth starting in January 2024. Further, One can see that both Dec 2023 and March 2024 show spikes of 8 new members a piece, outperforming previous months. This period of growth during the winter of 23-24 corresponds with two events: The uprising in support of Palestinian Resistance, and a dedicated focus on membership and recruitment at the chapter level.

As we saw in 2020, big events can drive membership increases, and while it is difficult to measure exactly; the winter of 23-24 included a number of actions put on by coalition partners in support of Palestine. These events provided MADSA with things to organize around and places for people to plug in to. Our presence and explicit tabling at these events added to our visibility and gave MADSA an opportunity to let people know the causes of the Israel/Palestine conflict and offer organization as a possible organizing space for those who want to support Palestine. In support of this, MADSA empowered a new Membership Committee to focus on recruitment, retention, and engagement. David O. and Phil P. serve as Co-Chairs (with the bulk of the administration and planning in the hands of David O.). In early December, the Committee started organizing an engagement drive pointed at current members, with the ask of getting them to our chapter convention in March 2024. These activities had the effect of normalizing one on one structured conversations, tracking the engagement of members, assessing how active those members were, tracking of member’s strengths and interests, and deliberate attempts to plug those new or re-engaged members into chapter needs (occasionally involving them in Membership Committee work directly). Existing engagement and onboarding efforts, like monthly New Member Orientations, had new and better defined asks for members. It would seem that our focus on member engagement is beginning to pay off. MADSA plans to continue this pattern into the next exec’s term by way of choosing a single, chapter-wide campaign that will serve as a central ask for new or re-engaging members.

Picture M1 – 2024 Chapter Member Growth

This term on exec has proved to me the importance of a central campaign to organize around. Even something as simple as asking people to get themselves to the Chapter Convention can serve as a framework upon which to hang new members, re-engaged members, process development, deadline setting. Comrades have to have the opportunity to get to know each other and work with each other on something. The world at-large is dependent on structure and hierarchy, and it can be tempting to believe that as long as you can define a structure for a set of like-minded people, they will sort themselves into that structure. Not so! Part of what we must do is organize ourselves, one to the other, by way of intentional conversations about a central project of some kind. This builds capacity and trust.

Further, the speed and volume of a project or plan matters. Various parts of the Membership Committee existed before in some form, but did not have the same effect. Both myself in my previous term and other Membership Coordinators have conducted surveys to determine interests, scaffolded intentional one-on-one conversations by way of the Rose Buddy program, even petitioned working groups and committees for needed skills from new or re-engaged members. However, these things don’t serve their purposes if they happen separately, too slowly, or without a defined project to follow-up on whether or not one or another member was engaged to their capacity. The current work of the Membership Committee is a relief to witness, and I look forward to working with the chapter along these lines in the next year.

– Phil P, Membership Coordinator (2022-2024)

Today in Albany, New York tenants numbering in the thousands descended onto our State’s Capitol Building in a Day of Mobilization, urging the New York Legislature to pass key legislation, such as Good Cause protections for tenants and greater rent support for low-income families facing eviction. Amidst the calls made by tenants and housing justice organizers for greater protections against the worst injustices of the current housing system, there also exists a new transformative vision of what housing could look like in our state. A new bill co-written by DSA-endorsed State Assembly member Emilly Gallagher representing North Brooklyn, would establish the New York Social Housing Development Authority and empower the state to build & maintain substantial new housing developments across the State that will be publicly funded, environmentally sustainable, permanently affordable by law, and democratically-controlled by tenants. If passed, the social housing authority would work to shift the balance of power over our whole housing system towards tenants and the state government and away from wealthy private developers that have no interest in building affordable housing, and the landlords that get rich from its scarcity. Tonight, we will hear from Renette, a DSA member and tenant organizer with HOPE Tenant Union, and Genevieve, a housing justice organizer with Ithaca DSA, on the importance of this new bill and the campaign to build beautiful, abundant, & affordable social housing for the whole working class of New York. 

In this special episode, we visit the Debs Museum in Terre Haute, IN to speak with museum director Allison Duerk about the life and vision of the pioneering socialist Eugene V. Debs. Visit the Debs Museum and follow them on social media for events and updates. https://debsfoundation.org https://www.facebook.com/EugeneVDebsFoundation https://www.instagram.com/debsmuseum

by Lyra Spencer

The following article represents the opinion of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the Detroit Socialist Editorial and Writers’ Collective or Detroit DSA as a whole.

At the last Steering Committee meeting, Steering Committee member Phil Bianco proposed a resolution that would continue to allow electronic voting on resolutions for all members, instead of just those that attend the General Body Meeting (GM). The motion was voted down largely across factional lines with all the members of the Bread and Roses caucus voting against it, and with only Groundwork members voting in favor. The full SC did vote to allow the question to be put forward at the March General Membership meeting.

This refusal to codify electronic voting continues a recent trend by the majority faction on the SC of being antagonistic toward online voting. Ending online voting not only goes against years of established chapter precedent, but would also disenfranchise huge swaths of working-class DSA comrades whose jobs exist outside of a typical 9–5 Monday-Friday work context.

Background

This resolution came as a response to the last GM, where ahead of the meeting co-chair Mikal Goodman had stated that the method of voting for a resolution in support of DSA’s staff union would take place after the meeting via OpaVote. During the meeting, there was a question over whether or not the bylaws allowed the question to be put forward to all members electronically. The parliamentarian ruled that the language was unclear, and allowed a floor vote to determine the voting method. A motion was made to conduct the voting in person and ultimately won out. Many were dismayed that they did not get to vote on the resolution, even though they had been promised that they did not need to attend the GM to vote on the resolution.

Disenfranchising the Working Class

Ending online voting will have a negative impact on a significant portion of our working class members. Currently, our General Body meetings are held once a month on Saturday at 11am. Should our leadership stop online voting, which is likely if the resolution fails, only members with weekends off will be able to participate in our chapter democracy. This means that largely 9–5 salaried workers and retirees will be the only ones able to vote in our chapter elections. Anyone who works inconsistently scheduled shift jobs like fast food or retail, late night weekend jobs like 3rd shift auto plant line workers, or morning weekend jobs like baristas will not be allowed to participate in Detroit DSA’s democratic structures, as well as anyone who can’t find childcare, or transportation.

Having a system that only benefits salaried workers with consistent schedules and retirees is hardly democratic, and is a rejection of our values as an organization. We reject these strict voting measures in our elections, within non-democratic unions, and nonprofits. Why then would we turn around and have a voting system that disenfranchises working-class people who work outside of the typical 9–5 schedule, and who don’t have the luxury of having weekends off. We should seek to welcome all segments of the working class to participate in our chapter democracy, by making voting accessible past the limited weekend window of our general body meetings.

The Shift

Online voting only needs to be codified because of a relatively recent shift in attitude toward electronic voting amongst the SC majority faction and the chapter Secretary. Throughout the majority of this SC term, standard practice used to be that the SC would decide the voting method on a particular question, and would sometimes put that question in front of the whole membership. Even if a question were to be voted on in person, the Secretary would often send out the question to registered members of a meeting via OpaVote if quorum was not met. In just this term, the SC has put forward resolutions to the whole of the membership via OpaVote on votes regarding the endorsements of Layla Taha and Alex Meyers, The expulsion of Shri Thanedar, a resolution to join the housing coalition, and the election of our NEC electors. In fact, questions regarding both the Shri expulsion and joining the housing coalition were put before the whole membership after the General Body meeting couldn’t reach quorum.

This is in stark contrast to how the most recent resolution regarding DSA staff was going to be handled if we didn’t meet quorum. Our chapter Secretary conveyed that if quorum was not met at the meeting, the question would be tabled indefinitely. The other inconsistency at this meeting was the endorsement vote for Rashida. This vote happened at the General Meeting and was not sent out to the whole of the membership. This is inconsistent with how this secretary and this Steering Committee have handled other endorsement votes, with the endorsement votes for Layla and Alex happening over OpaVote. Not only that, but the previous endorsement for Rashida was also conducted over OpaVote proving again that this policy of GM only votes is a recent development by some in leadership. The inconsistency of voting methods, and the recent shift in attitude amongst the chapter Secretary and the SC regarding electronic voting is why there is such a need to codify our voting practices.

Having inconsistent voting practices is not only unfair to authors of resolutions, but it is also unfair to all of membership, who have to check in every time there’s a vote to see if the method has changed from the previous vote conducted. The manner in which the chapter conducts votes shouldn’t be a factional football at the whims of SC members, but should be a consistent way in which we offer all of our members the ability to participate in our chapters democracy, despite their ability to attend weekend meetings.

Precedent

Not only is there precedent during this SC term for online voting, Detroit DSA has conducted numerous votes through OpaVote since the practice started 4 years ago. In 2020, the chapter started conducting online voting as a response to the Covid 19 pandemic. The decision to conduct online voting was not a bylaws decision, as this section of the bylaws has been the same since before the pandemic. Since 2020, we have conducted many votes over OpaVote and have sent numerous questions to the whole of the membership, from SC elections, to our delegate elections, to even a revision of the bylaws itself. There is a long precedent of the chapter utilizing online voting, and only in the later half of this SC term has there been such a strong rejection of online voting in its entirety.

The Informed Voting Question

One point that has been raised against online voting is that members won’t be able to hear the debate regarding resolutions and candidates if they don’t attend the general membership meetings and will be uninformed. This is a valid concern that could be solved with better communication to the whole of membership. We have the technology to fully record our meetings, as well as send out the minutes and material presented to the whole of membership following the meeting. In fact, allowing voting outside the meeting allows all members to process the new arguments raised at the GM, and raise even further questions about the resolution to the authors, all before casting a vote. If anything this shift could allow members to make even more informed decisions on resolutions with the voting window extended past the General Membership meeting.

Conclusion

One of DSA’s biggest strengths is its member-led democratic structure. Unlike most institutions within the United States, DSA is truly member run and member funded. Our leadership is democratically elected and held accountable by its membership. There’s not too many institutions in American society that democratically empower the working class quite like DSA. In part what makes us democratic socialists is a belief that this model should be recreated everywhere from the workplace, to apartment buildings, and even the grocery store. It is our member run structure that separates us from non-profits and has shaped DSA into the organization it is today. We should continue to empower all of our membership, by allowing members to vote, regardless of their inability to attend weekend meetings due to non-traditional work hours.

It was a beautiful thing when over 200 people voted to endorse congresswoman Rashida Tlaib in 2022, as opposed to restricting the vote to just 47 people at February’s general meeting. Having electronic voting keeps our chapter democracy accessible to everyone, which is a key tenant of our socialist principles. Socialism is the ultimate reflection of democracy. We should truly embody the namesake of our org by continuing to make our democracy inside of DSA accessible to all of its members.

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!

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Viewpoint: One Member One Vote: Keep DSA Democratic! was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Today is day 158 of Israel’s genocidal assault on the Palestinian people in Gaza and also primary day for voters in Georgia, Mississippi and Washington.  

Over the last several weeks, hundreds of thousands of people across the country have voted "uncommitted" in the presidential primaries, to send a message to President Biden calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.  Tonight we’re joined by Ali and Tzara to talk about DSA’s role in the Vote Uncommitted campaign and what comes next to achieve a lasting ceasefire and the liberation of Palestine.  

To become a member of the Democratic Socialist America: https://www.dsausa.org/join

To follow Ali & Detroit DSA: @alihallalmi and @detroitdsa