Enjoy your November National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 18-person body (including two YDSA members who share a vote) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, speak out for a ceasefire, hear more on Green New Deal organizing, join our labor solidarity debrief, and more!

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 the National Political Committee — United in Commitment
• Tell Your Representative: Sign on to the Ceasefire NOW Resolution!
• Wednesday 11/29 — RSVP for our Green New Deal Campaign Commission’s November Campaign Huddle
• Join our 2023 Strike Ready Debrief Call Thursday 11/30!
• Apply to DSA’s National Electoral Commission Steering Committee! Deadline is Friday 12/1
• DSA Archives Workshop Sunday 12/3 — Learn how to Preserve our History
• Tuesday 12/5 — DSA 2023 Budget Report to Members
• DSA Store Launches New Merch!

From the National Political Committee — United in Commitment

Comrades,

The past months have been a test for all of us. Israel’s relentless bombing and ground invasion of Gaza has now massacred more than 13,000 people, almost half of them children, all supported and directly funded by the United States. Amid such a blatant exhibition of atrocities sponsored by the ruling class, the machines manufacturing consent for war may be sputtering. Congressional opposition to these war crimes has slowly grown, only thanks to the constant demands of everyday people, on the streets, through millions of calls and letters, and a refusal to accept anything less than a ceasefire.

In a moment where the ruling class is counting on overwhelming us, we are united in our commitment to a free Palestine. 

The moral case for ending Israeli apartheid has never been clearer. Our political commitment against the Israeli occupation is part of a broader generational and cultural shift in the way the public understands the conflict. Our strong stance is the result of years of dedicated organizing by anti-occupation activists across the globe — and robust internal democratic processes within DSA. Against an onslaught of media criticism and obsessive efforts to divide us, we continue to push the focus back on what matters: our organizing to stop a genocide.

Check out our Palestine Solidarity toolkit here. 

We are so inspired by the many ways that DSA members are stepping up in this moment. On November 4th, DSA comrades across chapters were proud to participate in the largest Palestine mobilization ever in Washington, D.C., and have continued to show up to organize rallies, direct actions, and tabling across our communities. Last week, DSA members gathered at the Democratic National headquarters for a vigil to honor the Palestinians murdered with our tax dollars and to represent the majority of Americans who want a ceasefire — and were met not only with violent police attacks but with Democrats and Republicans lying about the brutality inflicted on protesters.

As of this week, more than 1,000 DSA members have made over 275,000 calls to Congress in our No Money for Massacres phonebanks, resulting in over 40 representatives having now signed onto the Ceasefire Now resolution. The growing support across the US to end the devastation in Gaza is only possible thanks to the unrelenting pressure from people of conscience against the elected officials who have been failing to represent us.

Join a DSA phonebank to keep building pressure for No Money for Massacres!

DSA labor organizers are stepping up to organize workers for Palestine, along with a growing number of unions. In recent weeks, the American Postal Workers Union has called for a ceasefire, as has the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union. Members of River Valley DSA have pushed the Western Mass Area Labor Federation to unanimously adopt a ceasefire resolution.

Amidst the worst attacks we’ve ever faced, this month DSA just had one of our most successful election nights yet — a win rate of 69% from 23 nationally endorsed races. That includes landslide reelections amid defamatory attacks from the Twin Cities to Boston, major contributions to ballot wins against a second Cop City in Colorado and for abortion rights in Ohio, protecting landmark rent control measures from the landlord lobby in Maine, legislating a tenants’ bill of rights in Tacoma, and expanding further with wins like the first-ever DSA elected official in New Mexico.

But this progress doesn’t come without retaliation.

Last month, in a shameful bipartisan attack, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 234-188 to censure Congresswoman and DSA member Rashida Tlaib of Detroit. Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of the House, has shown immense bravery in exposing the truth about Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians while she endures vicious and racist attacks, which now extend to the halls of government. She stands strong alongside fellow DSA member and Rep. Cori Bush of St. Louis as an original co-author of the Ceasefire NOW resolution, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in urging President Biden to a ceasefire. And like Rashida, we will not back down.

We will not back down in the face of vitriol toward our comrades. We will not allow groups like AIPAC to use their hundreds of millions of dollars to interfere against democracy, nor weaken our resolve to fight for a free Palestine. To defeat the powerful forces that wage war on working people both here and abroad, we need to build an alternative to the empty politics of the Democratic Party.

Rashida says: “Millions of ordinary people like you must take to the streets, organize your neighbors and coworkers, lead your unions in massive strikes, and unite across faiths and nationalities to wield our power as the working class. But don’t do it alone; join DSA.”

And if you’re already a member of DSA, recommit to the long fight ahead by switching to solidarity dues — and join us in calling members through the holiday season about all the work our collective resources will keep supporting!

Till victory,

Your National Political Committee

Tell Your Representative: Sign on to the Ceasefire NOW Resolution!

Join DSA, Adalah Justice Project, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, and MPower Change to show mass support for Cori Bush’s “Ceasefire NOW” resolution! The Israeli government has cut off 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza from food, water, fuel, and electricity, while bombing one of the most densely populated areas on the planet. That’s why DSA member and Missouri Representative Cori Bush introduced the “Ceasefire NOW” resolution, which demands that the Biden administration call for an immediate ceasefire and for humanitarian assistance to be allowed to enter Gaza.

People around the country are calling and writing their reps, staging sit-ins, and protesting to demand their representatives join Cori Bush’s resolution. It’s critical that they hear us. Write your Congress member to demand a ceasefire now!

Wednesday 11/29 — RSVP for our Green New Deal Campaign Commission’s November Campaign Huddle

Join the Green New Deal Campaign Commission on our last Strategic Campaign Huddle of the year. We’ll be going over “strategic goal setting” in a collaborative format with campaign leaders across the organization. The call will be Wednesday 11/29 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT. Huddles will be back in January 2024!

Join our 2023 Strike Ready Debrief Call Thursday 11/30!

Can you believe it’s been over seven months since the Strike Ready Campaign launched? From the UPS contract campaign and practice pickets, to UAW’s historic Stand Up Strike, DSA has stood with workers fighting back against the boss. We’ve seen renewed militancy, rejuvenated democracy, and now a turn to new organizing to expand the labor movement!

As this chapter of the labor movement draws to its conclusion, join us at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT on Thursday Nov 30th for a debrief call, where we will discuss DSA’s role in these struggles: what we accomplished, what we need to do differently next time, and how we fit into the the new landscape of the labor movement.

Apply to DSA’s National Electoral Commission Steering Committee! Deadline is Friday 12/1

Passionate about strengthening DSA’s national electoral program? Consider applying to the National Electoral Commission’s Steering Committee! The deadline is Friday 12/1. For this one-year term, candidates will be elected by representatives of chapters that have run nationally endorsed campaigns in the last three years. Applicants should be prepared to participate in a Zoom candidate forum on Sunday 12/10 at 4pm ET/3pm CT/2pm MT/1pm PT to share their vision for the commission and DSA’s electoral efforts generally.

DSA Archives Workshop Sunday 12/3 — Learn how to Preserve our History

Join the National Political Education Committee and DSA Fund Sunday 12/3 at 4pm ET/3pm CT/2pm MT/1pm PT for the Winter 2023 DSA Archives Project Workshop! This is a workshop for DSA members as part of the DSA Archives Project: a multifaceted, ongoing endeavor to preserve our material and digital culture and learn how to use our institutional histories to strengthen our organization and support the growth of socialist politics. This workshop is offered in happy collaboration with the Tamiment Archives at NYU, where DSA’s national archives are housed, and is co-sponsored by the DSA Fund and the DSA National Political Education Committee (NPEC).

The workshop is designed to help current chapter leaders and political educators organize their digital materials, learn how to preserve physical materials and educate their membership about how to do that, and begin thinking of projects to use archives for the benefit of DSA and the wider public. It is framed by several baseline questions for instruction, and large and small-group discussion and visioning.

1. What are archives, and what are they for?
2. Why are archives important to socialists/socialism?
3. What should we save, and how do we save it?
4. What should we (DSA) do with our archives?  

If you’re a rank-and-file member interested in starting archive work in your chapter as a new working group, or have a lot of socialist and DSA materials you’d like to learn how to handle, we welcome you too!

We will use closed-captioning on Zoom, and it will be recorded for internal assessment purposes, not for public distribution.

Tuesday 12/5 — DSA 2023 Budget Report to Members

Join members of DSA’s Budget and Finance Committee and national staff for a report on DSA’s 2023 budget and projected financial position at the end of the calendar year. The call will be held on Tuesday 12/5 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT. Understanding our financial health as the National Political Committee prepares to decide the 2024 budget will aid in building sustainable funding models that can support our collective work for the long haul.

DSA Store Launches New Merch!

Check out the new items on the DSA store! You can get new baseball caps, member-designed t-shirts, and re-issued favorites.

The post From the National Political Committee — United in Commitment appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Join us this Sunday for Comradesgiving, November 26 from 3:00 to 5:30pm at the Gallatin Labor Temple. We will be sharing food and continuing the conversation around Social Housing and why a Public Housing Authority is needed. We will also be practicing how to write and submit public comment in preparation for the upcoming Gallatin County Commission hearing (Tues 11/28) to determine whether a Public Housing Authority should be established at the county level. Join us for a potluck with comrades. Multiple dietary restrictions are being considered, including vegan and vegetarian options. RSVP here.

Can’t make it, but want to show your support for establishing a PHA? See here for directions for submitting public comment to the Gallatin County Commissioners. Public comment for the County is due by November 27.

Trader Joe’s is not your friendly neighborhood market. It is a billion-dollar national chain owned by one of Europe's richest families.

The post Ingredients of Alienation: The Emergence of Trader Joe’s United appeared first on EWOC.

Menendez Jr. Rejects Calls for a Ceasefire from 4 NJ Groups

For Immediate Release: November 21st 2023

Contact: northnj@dsanj.org

Last night, representatives from North NJ DSA, Jewish Voice for Peace Northern NJ, American Muslims for Palestine NJ, and Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) NJ, met with Rep. Rob Menendez Jr. (NJ-08). In the meeting NNJ DSA reiterated our calls for the Congressman’s immediate co-sponsorship of the Bush-Tlaib Ceasefire resolution, H.Res 786. 

After mounting pressure from our organizations it’s clear Menendez Jr. has not moved an inch on the matter. Despite 66% of Americans, and over 80% of Democrats agreeing with calls for a ceasefire, the freshman Congressman appears uninterested in “meeting the moment” like he often says he is.

Even more disappointing was the Congressman’s claim in the meeting that he’s subject to an “internal struggle on this issue” and that “he wants to be better.” To be clear: This moment is more than just a struggle for the Congressman. This is a genocide happening in real time and Menendez Jr. has power through his position in Congress that he is not utilizing. The Congressman will also not be joining us tonight at 5:30pm outside Jersey City Hall for a teach-in on why and how the humanitarian crisis in Gaza are part of a decades long struggle to displace Palestinians, and how Palestine resists genocide. 

We urge constituents of New Jersey’s eighth congressional district to continue to make calls and send emails to Menendez Jr. and to turn out to events like tonight’s, to demand a ceasefire co-sponsorship from the Congressman.  

The post Menendez Jr. Rejects Calls for a Ceasefire from 4 NJ Groups first appeared on North NJ DSA.

Many US universities are tied to companies and institutions that perpetuate apartheid and ethnic cleansing in Israel. The Activist Investigative Committee explores these entanglements and their effect on academic independence and recent crackdowns against pro-Palestinian activists on campus.

The post American Universities Are Complicit in Israel’s Human Rights Violations appeared first on YDSA.

Over 200 Wilmingtonians came out on November 19 to show their support for a ceasefire in Gaza and end to Israeli apartheid. The event was organized by members of a local pro-Palestinian group along with Wilmington DSA members and our comrades in Liberate ILM. We urged the crowd to sign the open letter demanding a ceasefire resolution and to commit to boycotting companies that are doing business with Israel as part of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign. We had several great speakers who shared personal connections to loved ones in Palestine and others who educated the crowd on the role of the apartheid state in maintaining capitalist hegemony in the Middle East, including a speech from our Chair to wrap up the afternoon. DSA provided safety marshals and manned the poster making station so that attendees could create their own sign to show support for human rights and for peace.

What are our demands?

As socialists, we stand against settler colonialism and genocide. We understand the role that Israel plays in the U.S. imperial war machine and that the genocide being perpetuated by Israel is primarily funded by the United States.

Our immediate demands are simple:

1. An immediate ceasefire and end to collective punishment.
2. Humanitarian aid to Gaza.
3. Equal rights for all Palestinians.

How can you get involved?

You can stay up to date on local action and changes to our campaign by bookmarking our Palestinian Liberation webpage.

1. Sign the open letter demanding a ceasefire resolution from our local government officials.
2. Show up to events! We need your support to show elected officials that they face serious pressure for continuing to stand with an apartheid state.
3. Volunteer your time. We need folks to help put on rallies, print fliers, and call people and our representatives. Email the chapter and we can get you set up.

Durham's tenants are in a crisis, and despite proponent’s claims, the developer-and-landlord-led “fix” to the building code known as “Simplifying Code for Affordable Development,” or SCAD, will neither solve or barely improve affordable housing in our community. Rising rents in Durham are displacing residents, mostly from working-class Black and brown communities, to make room for mostly wealthier and whiter tenants. Our elected officials are left to accept the neoliberal myth that “the market will find a solution” and yet, despite having green-lit a lot of new development, affordable housing units remain at a premium. Durham City Council should vote against SCAD. 

For the past year, the Council has been considering SCAD – a massive amendment to the building code brought forward by Jim Anthony, a large Raleigh-based developer. The plan proposes many amendments to Durham’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), the document that the city provides to inform private developers of all the procedures, zoning rules and districts and standards they will need to follow in order to be allowed to build to code. Cities can use this to get private entities to enact the will of the city. For example, Durham’s current UDO provides a density bonus—where a developer is allowed to build a larger building than would have been allowed otherwise—if at least 15% of units are available for rent at 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI). With the illegality of rent control and public housing, the most effective ways to address the affordability crisis outside of decommodifying housing, the UDO is the city’s sole tool with which it can ensure enough affordable housing options exist for its residents. Even this tool is blunted by NC state law that does not allow UDOs to mandate affordable housing. As such, any changes to affordable housing in the UDO has to meet the needs and come from the working class. 

Proponents of SCAD will point to the fact that the amendment will increase the number of affordable rentals by 10 percentage points to 25% at 60% AMI if developers choose to utilize the bonus. This is a necessary and good change for the working class. However, SCAD also decreases how long the units have to remain affordable—reducing the required affordable housing period from 30 years to 5 years for rental units, and first sale for sale units. Both changes effectively reduce the stable housing and wealth-building opportunities SCAD purportedly claims it provides to the working class. On top of the reduction in the period of affordability, SCAD will allow developers to build lower-quality “affordable” units, permitting developers to create slums to squeeze profits out of poorer renters. And once the 5-year affordability requirement expires, landlords can then maximize their profits by evicting the poorer residents to then exploit white-collar tenants with higher rent budgets 5 years later. SCAD’s  affordable housing “solution” works out to a temporary reduction (or “investment”) in landlord passive income that is part of the larger community-displacing, environment-destroying luxury developments that developers have been building in Durham, continuing the transfer of wealth from the working class to the capitalist class. 

The City Council is set to vote on SCAD before the next council is seated. Voting the entire SCAD amendment as-is into the UDO would be a massive mistake the lame duck council will leave the incoming council to deal with. Not only is SCAD an ineffective solution, it is an anti-democratic cash grab backed by a coalition of landlords and developers who, on average, own 11.8 properties and 6.3 businesses. (Anthony, the primary architect of SCAD, is on record having said about Durham’s poorest residents that “gentrification is necessary to erase the ‘blight’”.) It is no surprise then, that SCAD does not ensure homes for fixed-, low-, and no-income parts of the working class who often fall below 30% AMI. Considering the importance the UDO is to development in Durham and the ramifications changes to it will have for decades to come, the Council must ensure that any changes made to the UDO serve Durham’s working class.

Keeping the 30 year affordability requirement in the current UDO is the bare minimum we must do to keep Durham affordable. Combining the minimum with changes in the UDO to further motivate affordable housing development could finally yield in greater affordable housing built in Durham. In addition to keeping the minimum duration, future Councils must also discern the types of developments it is approving—the only way to ensure Durham has affordable housing is to build affordable housing. Luxury housing, like other forms of wealth, will not trickle down. Continuing what we have been doing by approving fewer, larger, sprawling, poorly connected units that net developers the most profit (as recently done with the Perry Farm project) will only exacerbate traffic, high rents, environmental damage, and the climate crisis. We urge the Durham City Council to vote no on SCAD!

Students at the University of Oregon won the largest wall-to-wall undergraduate workers union in country. The author explains how UOYDSA was central to their organizing success. A year ago, I signed my union card. I believed in things like universal healthcare and socialized housing, but I didn’t think there was anything I could do personally…

The post Why Your Chapter Should Start a Union Campaign appeared first on YDSA.