The Las Vegas chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America announced their endorsement of Valerie Thomason, candidate for Assembly District 10. LVDSA played a significant part in Bernie Sanders’ sweep of the Nevada caucuses in 2020 and the election of the Progressive Slate that took over Nevada’s Democratic Party leadership in the spring of 2021. Thomason’s endorsement is the chapter’s first of its kind since its members adopted a more stringent endorsement process in the summer of 2021. LVDSA says it commits to turning out volunteers for Thomason’s campaign as it looks to lead a significant ground game for the Assembly District 10 seat.

Valerie Thomason is a Teamster, single mother, and organizer within the community. If elected, she would become Nevada’s first openly democratic socialist state legislator. Her campaign’s top priorities include rent control, universal childcare, and strengthening unions. She was an organizer for the Bernie Sanders’ 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, a Clark County Democratic Party Board Member from 2021-2023, and has served on the Steering Committee of LVDSA. Thomason has also earned endorsements from Run for Something and People’s Action PAC alongside Congress Members Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other left-wing legislators. Learn more about Valerie Thomason at valfornevada.com.

Quotes:

• LVDSA Co-chair Shaun Navarro: “From her work on the Bernie campaign, to leadership in LVDSA and now with the Teamsters, Val has proven her commitment to her community and fighting for the working class  in Las Vegas. She not only has our endorsement but she lives the values that LVDSA is all about.”
• LVDSA Co-chair Anthony Lambert: “Val is a fantastic organizer and a great representative of our values. She understands what the working class is going through, and she’s not going to bend to corporate lobbyists or toe a moderate line.”
• Candidate Valerie Thomason: “I’ve been a member of the Las Vegas DSA for a long time. I am incredibly proud of the work we’ve done together and of the things this organization has accomplished. I believe that this is another step towards building real power for working class people in Las Vegas and I am thrilled to not only be endorsed but to work together towards this future.”

Editorial note: The Las Vegas chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America may be short-handed as “LVDSA”, “Las Vegas DSA”, or “Las Vegas Democratic Socialists”.

In the early twentieth century the vast majority of mass production industries were unorganized in the United States. Efforts to replicate the success of the United Mine Workers, brewery workers, and the garment trades were largely unsuccessful until the 1930s when the Congress of Industrial Organizations changed everything. Fragile Juggernaut tells this story with a narrative that spans from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1950s. Andrew Elrod joins us to discuss why this history is important and what organizers can learn from it today.

On Sunday February 25, fellow peace activist and active-duty member of the US Air Force Aaron Bushnell self-immolated outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC. His last words echo in our ears: “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what the people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it is not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.  Free Palestine! Free Palestine! Free Palestine!” He also stated that he would “no longer be complicit in genocide.”

Colorado Springs DSA recognizes Aaron’s sacrifice and the deeply empathetic pain that precipitated it. Aaron clearly held foremost in his thoughts the tens of thousands of civilians and children that have been murdered by Israel since October 7th. This death count continues to climb at an alarming rate, facilitated by American funding and weaponry, despite the fact that the majority of Americans – of all religions and ethnicities – support an immediate ceasefire. We hope that Aaron’s sacrifice will wake our elected officials up to the atrocity that most of them have been supporting and continue to support through allowing the United States to continuously veto U.N. ceasefire resolutions, allowing President Biden to bypass congress in sending weapons to Israel that make the genocide possible, and continuing to supply the Israeli apartheid government with billions of dollars in U.S. taxpayer money. We encourage all people of conscience to amplify Aaron’s message of peace and freedom as loudly as possible and call on all elected and unelected actors who are complicit in genocide to cease aiding and abetting the fascist colonial settler state of Israel.

We would also like to push back on the weaponization of psychological vocabulary as a cudgel against any message that is potentially disruptive to colonial and capitalist ideology. Despite the recurring tendency of the ruling class to pathologize people, actions, and ideas that threaten their hegemony, we have every reason to believe that Aaron was steadfastly principled, articulate, and clear-headed in his choice to use his dying act to communicate his message as powerfully as he knew how. He spoke with conviction and integrity, continuing a long history of nonviolent extreme protest in response to extreme circumstances. A genocide is an extreme circumstance, and all principled people who are paying attention can recognize what drove Aaron to martyr himself, even without taking that path themselves. All attempts to dismiss Aaron as “mentally ill” are rooted in a disagreement with his central message: stop the genocide and free the Palestinian people immediately. To be willing to die for others is an act of extreme love, not of insanity. Colorado Springs DSA will keep Aaron in our hearts and draw from his strength and solidarity with the Palestinian people in continuing to call for an immediate permanent ceasefire and a free Palestine.

This is the March, 2024 Democratic Primary San Antonio Democratic Socialists of America (SADSA) Voters Guide. There are no SADSA endorsed candidates on the ballot this cycle. 

All candidates named in this guide are recommended, however, San Antonio DSA did not actively campaign on their behalf. Candidates and propositions must seek the endorsement of SADSA, as our general membership votes on the decision to endorse. Several community members have reached out to SADSA for a voter guide, so we created one. It is by no means expansive and does not cover every race in our area, but we hope this can help inform your decisions if you’re looking to a socialist organization for electoral advice. 

We know during a presidential year, much of the attention focuses on the top of the ticket, but local and state races arguably have just as much impact on our daily lives. None of the presidential candidates nor parties represent the interests of working people. Unfortunately for many state and local voters, neither do the candidates running for those positions. If a candidate is in a solid district, running unopposed,, we opted to not recommend.

Our struggles go beyond the ballot box, but it is a site of struggle that we cannot withdraw from or ignore. We can take it back if we fight together. Join San Antonio DSA.

If you have any questions or comments, please do not email SanAntonioDSA@gmail.com.

You can vote at any voting location in Bexar County. Go to the Bexar Co. Elections Department website to find voting locations, hours, your individual sample ballot, and more.

Full Voter Guide Here

Tonight, we’re talking to Claire Valdez, a NYC-DSA endorsed candidate for Assembly District 37 in Queens about what being endorsed by NYC-DSA and UAW Region 9A means to her, how she plans to bring her union organizing experience of becoming ‘more powerful than the boss’ to the halls of power in Albany and much more. 

There are currently 8 socialists endorsed by NYC-DSA serving in Albany in the Senate and Assembly. If electoral organizers get their way- that number could be 11 next year - the largest socialist block ever elected in New York.

NYC-DSA has voted to endorse three new-insurgent candidates this year- Claire in Queens, Eon Huntley in Brooklyn and Jonathan Soto in the Bronx. 

As we do every year, we will talk to all of the new-dsa endorsed candidates here on Revolutions Per Minute and tonight is the first in that series of interviews with the NYC-DSA’s 2024 slate. So stick around to hear from Claire, a union organizer running for Assembly District 37 in Queens - stretching from Long Island City, Sunnyside and Maspeth to Ridgewood. 

To learn more visit  https://claireforqueens.com/ and to sign up for a canvassing shift https://claireforqueens.com/events/

The unionization rate in the United States remains at around 10% after decades of deindustrialization in the Northeast and Midwest as well as anti-worker policies from corporations and the state, but labor organizers are fighting back. Across the country the UAW is attempting to organize non-union auto plants while here in New York service workers are building collective power. Last year we spoke with organizers from Barboncino’s who successfully organized a union at the pizza restaurant where they work. Today we’re joined by members of Nitehawk Workers Union Organizing Committee as they prepare for an National Labor Relations Board Election.

This past weekend, DSA held their inaugural kickoff for their new nationwide campaign for Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy. Spearheaded by the Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Campaign Commission, DSA will mobilize the organization’s tens of thousands of members across 150+ chapters across the country, not only to combat the advances of the far-right and their systematic attempt at every level of government to remove trans people from public life & restrict access to abortion, but also to advance a positive vision of queer liberation that protects queer spaces, our rights as workers, students & educators, and as human beings. Tonight, we will hear from Genevieve, joining us from Ithaca, NY and one of the leaders of this organization-wide project, to break down all the pieces of this ambitious campaign, how DSA will rise to fight the far-right, and why the struggle for trans rights & bodily autonomy is a struggle for the whole working class. 

 

Join DSA's Trans Rights & Bodily Autonomy Campaign Commission: https://airtable.com/appxkhakxWCUXVVqO/pag9jCfy3jpsn74do/form

 

Support Tech Guild Workers organizing for trans rights at The New York Times:

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/nyt-respect-trans-workers

When you are having trouble navigating relationships and dynamics or whether you have a grievance you wish to file, an HGO can help you. HGOs serve a specialized role with Central NJ DSA. If you feel you need an HGO to help with a topic you are facing please do reach out as soon as possible. You can reach an HGO through this form or by emailing HGO@central.dsanj.org.

A HGO will help you in a compassionate and professional manner navigate tough obstacles and can be used to help further difficult communication amongst a set of people or a group.

Contacting and HGO does not mean harm was done and that is often assumed. HGOs serve a valuable role in helping comrades navigate dynamics. Every case a HGO handles is unique and must be cared for in that nature. There is no easy solution to an HGO case and you can rest assured that your approach will be tailored to your needs and the community at large. You have a voice in how your case is handled.

The post How Do I Utilize An HGO appeared first on Central NJ DSA.

Public land should be used for the public good.

On January 25th, 2024, five local organizations sent a letter to the Columbus Land Bank making this demand and asking it to commit to reserving all its properties suitable for residential development for projects that are 100% and permanently affordable. The Columbus Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America authored that letter because we believe a just future depends on our public institutions committing to bold action in order to provide housing for all.

The Columbus Land Bank is the government body responsible for acquiring land using public funds and making it available for housing. Along with its partner organization the Franklin County Land Bank, it has the potential to address one of the primary obstacles to the construction of affordable housing: the high cost of land. In recognition of this potential, Mayor Andrew Ginther announced that his administration would allocate 25% of 2022’s $200 million affordable housing bond to the land banks.

This is welcome news, but only if the Columbus Land Bank takes steps to avoid the developer-friendly policies that have plagued much of the rest of the City’s housing strategy. For example, Ginther and City Council recently decided to expand their controversial residential tax abatement program to the entire city. Under this program, developers are eligible to receive a 15-year 100% property tax break in exchange for pricing 20% of their units at below-market rents for 15 years–or by buying their way out of the affordability requirement entirely. Aware that many Columbus residents are opposed to this program, City Council also voted to award $75,000 to a marketing firm to educate the public about the “benefits” of tax abatements.

The Columbus Land Bank has sometimes operated as though its primary purpose is to redistribute cheap public land to developers. According to public sale records, in one instance, the Land Bank has sold public land for as little as $5,700 to a private developer who resold it for $490,000 after building a single-family home on it. This is unacceptable in a county where at least 52,000 households are severely burdened by housing costs and many others struggle to make rent or pay property taxes. At a time when City leaders are bending over backwards to grant additional tax breaks and other financial incentives to developers, reserving public land exclusively for projects that benefit the public is more important than ever. 

Publicly-owned land is one of the most valuable assets the City has at its disposal to address the housing crisis. Selling off this land at a pittance to private developers to build expensive single-family homes is not only a poor policy choice but also morally indefensible. We are sick and tired of the City prioritizing the financial interests of wealthy developers over the wellbeing of its residents. That is why we are calling on the Columbus Land Bank to live up to its institutional purpose and use public lands in a way that actually serves the public.

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Letter sent to the Columbus Land Bank on January 25, 2024

To the Columbus Land Bank,

The signatories to this letter are organizations committed to the principle that every member of our community deserves to live in truly and permanently affordable housing. As such, we broadly support the Columbus Land Bank’s mission to acquire land and make it available for housing. High land prices are one of the primary barriers to the construction of affordable housing. By purchasing land using public funds, the Land Bank has the ability to bring down housing costs and facilitate the creation of additional affordable housing. Unfortunately, the Land Bank has not always operated in this fashion.

Over the years, the Land Bank has sold many of its properties at a steep discount to for-profit developers. In some cases, these for-profit developers have built single-family homes on the properties, while in others, they have merely rehabbed existing ones. In all cases, they have benefited financially by buying public land on the cheap and selling it at market rates.  Developers have resold some former Land Bank properties for over $400,000, many in historically-deprived neighborhoods. These unaffordable single-family developments make it harder to build the dense housing the city needs and instead incentivize landlords to raise rents. 

As organizations committed to housing justice, we believe that publicly-owned land should be used exclusively to further the public good. Providing low-cost land to for-profit developers does not advance a public aim. Providing low-cost land for the construction of affordable housing does. That is why we are calling on you to commit to reserving all Land Bank properties suitable for residential development for projects that are permanently and 100% affordable. 

You recently announced your intention to reserve most of your inventory for affordable housing projects going forward. This is welcome news, but it does not go far enough. The Land Bank has a vital role to play in creating and preserving affordable housing in Columbus. The Land Bank should join us, and all concerned Columbus residents, to help truly address the housing crisis.

Columbus Democratic Socialists of America

Central Ohio Food Not Bombs

First Collective

Heer to Serve

People’s Justice Project