Let there be no confusion, Gov. Ron DeSantis and those in the Florida legislature claim that the HB1 “Anti-riot bill” (aka the DeSantis Oppression and anti-protest law) was enacted to combat the sort of violence seen at the Capitol on January 6^th. But those aren’t the rioters the governor is afraid of; rather, the Trumpist republican crowd that stormed the Capitol are the very people DeSantis has spent his political career cozying up to (along with wealthy mega-donors). We all know those aren’t the people this legislation will be used against. Rather, the people DeSantis truly fears are those engaged in the worldwide movement to fight for racial justice and end police killing of unarmed black bodies. This legislation was drafted in September 2020, long before the Capitol riot, specifically in response to the massive showing of solidarity in the wake of police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others. DeSantis fears people in the streets organizing for a more just world because he, rightfully, sees us as a direct threat to the systems of oppression that brought him to power. The passage of this bill shows that ALL of the republican rhetoric around “protecting free speech”, “limited government”, and “promoting law and order” are simple ploys which they have no problem actively abandoning at the first opportunity to seize more power for themselves.

They will tell you that this law is to protect free speech and the right to peacefully protest while preventing violent riots and property destruction. The quiet part they won’t mention is that it gives the police discretion to distinguish a protest from a riot. Proud Boys assembling in public spaces with open carry weapons to intimidate voters—”peaceful protest”. Thousands of decent working class people came together to demand a reimagining of public safety and an end to police executions—”violent riot”. Because to those in power, actions that challenge their authority and push back against their oppression, are indeed acts of violence (in their minds). Whereas, true violence, like mowing over a protestor with a vehicle, is actually protected from any civil liabilities in this legislation, completely peaceful members of a protest can be arrested, held without bail, and charged with a felony simply for being present at a “riot” (that is, a protest where police-deemed “violence” or “property destruction” magically transformed it into a “riot”). This law does more to protect the sanctity and well-being of statues of confederate officers than to promote the safety and well-being of Floridians exercising their first amendment rights. To DeSantis and the Florida Legislature, their story of “American exceptionalism” and thinly veiled white supremacy must be defended with every tool in their arsenal against the lived reality of millions of human beings (those “exceptional” Americans) who see the cages and extrajudicial executions for what they are. We know that the vast majority of protests in the Summer of 2020 were entirely peaceful. And that was the problem. DeSantis couldn’t criminalize the millions of people peacefully assembling to undo the systematic marginalization and silencing of the black community. With HB1, that criminalization is now possible, as ANYONE at a protest where at least one person is accused of acting violently or destroying property can be charged with an “aggravated riot” 2^nd degree felony. They are scared of the power we displayed  last Summer, and knowing that the numbers are not on their side, have sought to tip the scales using the threat of violence and intimidation. Our response must be to continue to organize and show them what true power looks like.

They will tell you that the republicans are the party of “limited government”. Yet the very same people saying they hate “Big Government” have now enacted laws to further centralize control over municipal law enforcement budgets. With this legislation, the governor’s office, by special panel, has the power to amend municipal budgets that seek to reduce policing and incarceration apportionment. So if Miami or Tampa or Pensacola decide they want to balance their budget (according to their rhetoric, a republican dream), and recognize that policing takes by far the largest portion of the municipal pie, the same government bureaucrats in Tallahassee preaching “limited government” and “fiscal responsibility” are going to FORCE cities to continue wasting more money year after year on a system which only serves to devastate and traumatize our communities. If a city decides to finally listen to the science and evidence about how to actually reduce crime (i.e., promote a decent and equitable standard of living, provide opportunities for work and skill development, offer addiction treatment, etc.), they will be told that the governor and his cronies know better than the sociologists, healthcare professionals, and criminologists.

They claim this legislation is meant to show the state’s commitment to “law and order”, a dog-whistle phrase that harkens back to Nixon’s southern strategy and introduction of the war on drugs. Yet acts of violence, actual rioting, and property destruction were already against the law in ways that could be enforced in Florida. This is a grab for more power, plain and simple. DeSantis couldn’t disrupt those organizing against him without expanding the definition of “violence”, because the vast majority of those engaged in protests were assembling peacefully. Now he has the means to go after everyone who disagrees with him. This is not about “law and order”, this is about repression and silencing the voices of the many to promote the power of the few, veiled under the cover of legality. Too often, what is legal and what is moral run in direct contradiction to each other (see: slavery, Jim Crowe, mass incarceration, drug war, COINTELPRO, etc.), and this law is one more in a long line of transgressions against the people of this nation and the black community in particular.

The demagogues who claim to love America for its “freedom”, which they never define, are all too happy to step on the rights of others as long as their freedom to oppress is upheld. “You are FREE! You are Free… to do as we tell you! You are free to DO AS WE TELL YOU!!”

Well, we say that TRUE freedom is a decent life, a decent education, and communities which are made safe not through the threat of police violence, but through the availability of the resources needed to promote prosperity. DeSantis thinks that criminalizing peaceful assembly will stop this movement, but our vision of freedom is far greater than any repression law, and our movement is only gaining steam. If you believe in a truly FREE and JUST world that does not give power to authoritarians like DeSantis, then join our movement. Get organized, show up, and keep pushing until this vision becomes a reality.

In Solidarity,

Morgan G.
Internal Coordinator, Miami DSA

We believe in a fair society that works for everyone. The spread of COVID-19, and the public narrative around it, is highlighting the ways that our system doesn’t work this way – that it is broken. Even here in Ithaca, where many live comfortable, fulfilled lives, the reality is that we have the same problems as everywhere else – all of which are highlighted and made worse by the crisis at hand.

Here, as anywhere else, we have workers and poor people who cannot lose the scant economic security accessible to them. Isolation is impossible when your life depends on your wages.

We need to:

• Protect the poor from evictions or utility shutoffs and mandate a living wage in Tompkins County.

• Protect the homeless from infection and immediately work to provide equitable and comfortable housing for all.

• Cover the costs of testing and treatment for all affected, and work decisively to enact the NY Health Act.

• Require businesses to provide paid sick leave and penalize those who have used the crisis to deprive wages.

• Provide care for those who are at risk due to incarceration, and develop definite plans to implement alternatives to prisons.

The limited steps that the government has taken to address the economic and social effects of the outbreak show that real change is not impossible. Their shortcomings are the direct result of interference by the wealthiest people in the country. We won’t stand by while others suffer. We demand permanent relief from poverty and injustice.

Ithaca DSA Executive Team

As socialists, we know that healthcare goes beyond direct contact between providers and patients and into issues of budgets, community safety, and long-standing social forces like racism and misogyny. How can we organize for real public health? On tonight's show we're joined by DSA-endorsed Assemblymember, nurse, and organizer Phara Souffrant Forrest of District 57 in Brooklyn to discuss vaccine disparities, Cuomo's austerity baby, and the goals of our movement in Albany. We also hear from NYC-DSA's Healthcare Working Group on our campaign to pass the New York Health Act and the critical importance of universal healthcare to the overall socialist project. 

Follow Phara Souffrant Forrest, Assemblymember for District 57 at @phara4assembly. Follow along with NYC-DSA’s Healthcare Working Group at @NYCDSA_Health or email healthcare@socialists.nyc.

YDS Response to Father Leahy’s Statement

Father Leahy’s statement in response to the report in The Heights concerning Reverend Dziak is disgraceful. He shows no concern for the victims. In fact, he never even mentions or acknowledges them. He exhibits no empathy or regret. Instead he displays stunning arrogance and completely refuses to take responsibility for failing to take action that could have prevented further abuse.

It’s ironic that the man who founded the Church in the 21st Century in response to the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal is now revealed to be the prototypical church official who received complaints of concerning behavior, ushered the perpetrator on to his next job, and then disclaimed any responsibility for the subsequent abuse that took place somewhere else.

First Leahy confirms receiving complaints about Dziak in the fall of 1997. What Leahy doesn’t explain is what concerning behavior was reported to him, information was evidently so problematic that he claims he reported it to the Jesuits. Did Leahy bar Dzaik from interacting with students that fall? If not why? Did Dziak leave BC voluntarily or was his departure related to the complaints Leahy received? This is a crucial question. What was the timeline and context for his eventual departure from BC and who initiated this exit? In an articles in The Heights at the time Dziak repeatedly expressed regret about leaving BC.

Curiously The Heights reported in April 1998 that Dziak would leave his position in June but take a sabbatical at BC until the end of the year. What were the details of this arrangement? Was this some sort of suspension or attempt to keep Dziak away from BC students?

Leahy claims that Dziak didn’t sexually assault any students at BC. The reason he allegedly raped a student while working somewhere else is because Dziak left, or was forced to leave BC, and Leahy did nothing to ensure he was barred from being around students. By his own admission Dziak’s behavior “conflicted with University standards” and Leahy was so troubled by it he reported it to the Jesuits. But he wasn’t troubled enough to care if Dziak left to work at a high school.

Leahy then writes “Second, I was never Fr. Dziak’s religious superior, and was not consulted by the Province about his assignment to Jamaica or any subsequent assignment.” Dziak was an employee of Boston College. Leahy was his boss. More importantly Leahy claims, as if to excuse himself of technical responsibility, that he was not consulted about Dziak’s assignment in Jamaica. Again Leahy, in vague language that would make a defense attorney proud, says Dziak’s behavior “conflicted with university standards.” Leahy was troubled enough by this though to report it to the Jesuits. Dziak left BC either voluntarily or at the direction of Leahy as a result of his inappropriate behavior. Leahy knew Dziak then went to work at a high school in Jamaica where he would be around even younger and more vulnerable students. Asserting that he wasn’t Dziak’s spiritual advisor or that he wasn’t consulted about the move is a cowardly attempt to absolve himself of responsibility. How could he have no regard for the children at the school in Jamaica? How could he not worry about their safety? Even if he wasn’t consulted, Leahy knew there was a problem and knew Dziak could be a danger to the students. Why wouldn’t he take any steps to do anything? His being consulted about the move is actually irrelevant.

In the summer of 1998 Leahy acknowledged that multiple people raised additional concerns. So by his own admission he received repeated warnings about Dziak’s behavior. And he knew Dziak was moving on to high school, it was reported in The Heights in April of that year, but Leahy didn’t do anything else because it was no longer his problem?

The Heights also reported that Dziak, once in his new job in Jamaica, would “help coordinate various American university-sponsored volunteer trips to the island, including those from BC.” So Leahy knew he would be supervising the very same service trips where Dziak had been abusive towards students at BC, prompting the numerous complaints to him that year.

Leahy also conveniently fails to address the letter that Beth Eilers sent him in March of 1999, again raising concerns about Dziak’s behavior and the fact he was still working with students. If a graduate student was that worried Dziak was still around young people, how could Leahy look at her letter, being fully aware of all the previous complaints, and still do nothing?

Leahy’s most offensive and cowardly assertion comes in his conclusion. “At that time I had no authority or administrative responsibility regarding Fr. Dziak, and that has been true in the 23 years since.” That is stunning – I had no administrative responsibility. The fact is after Dziak left BC Leahy had MORAL responsibility to do something. He had a moral responsibility to every potential future victim, to every student at the high school in Jamaica, to every student who would go on a service trip under Dziak’s supervision. He had by his own admission received numerous complaints from members of the BC community warning of Dziak’s behavior, raising the alarm that he should not be supervising young people. Yet Leahy did nothing while knowing he was at another school and still in a position of authority over young people. And his answer is to say he had no administrative responsibility to do anything?

What an absolute coward.

This response by Leahy is wholly inadequate. Leahy has forfeited all moral authority to lead BC and must resign or be fired by the board of trustees. An independent investigation must be done, and not one that will whitewash BC’s responsibility in service to salvaging the school’s image. It must be a thorough and honest investigation into what happened.

YDS of BC calls for Father Leahy’s removal as President of Boston College. The reports in The Heights and The TImes Picayune demonstrate Leahy has no moral authority to continue as the President of the school. Multiple members of the BC community made complaints to Leahy about Reverend Dziak’s abusive behavior and warned he should not be allowed to supervise students and young adults. Leahy, like so many others in the Catholic Church, failed to ensure this behavior would be stopped, enabling Dziak to prey on countless others in the future. In 2004 Dziak allegedly raped a student from DePaul during a service trip.

During Father Leahy’s tenure Boston College has expanded by almost 150 acres, its endowment has grown to over $2.5 billion, and new athletic facilities and academic buildings dot the campus.

To this we say who cares.

Throughout his career Leahy has shown little interest in the well being of students at his own school. For years he refused to speak out in the face of hate crimes, to confront institutional racism at BC, or to provide adequate support to LGBTQ+ students. If students don’t feel safe or welcome on their own campus, who cares about rankings or or expansion? Does it matter how many new buildings there are, what the average SAT score of the incoming class is, or how much the endowment earned last year, if your actions contribute to the harming of others? It’s all meaningless.

In 2017 he did not attend the Silence is Still Violence march on campus but attended fundraising meetings in Los Angeles. In 2018 in response to another hate crime he did not show up to a community wide meeting instead choosing to attend a fundraiser in New York.

These latest revelations show he failed to protect young people outside of the BC community. The details in these reports should trouble us all. This news confirms our belief that Father Leahy is not fit to lead BC. He must resign or be removed as the President.

Link to petition here.

Three hundred thirty one days since George Floyd was murdered by officer Derek Chauvin. On April 20th, we received a small victory of Derek Chauvin’s arrest and charges on three counts of murder totaling to 40 years in prison. But what would justice look like? A system that serves one guilty verdict to one killer cop is not justice. There are still adults and children dying by the hands of police brutality. Since the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, 184 African Americans have been killed by the hands of police. Of those murders, 55 were in just the 110 days so far in 2021. Since at least 2013, about 1,100 people have been killed each year by law enforcement officers. These numbers are representative of the larger problem in our law enforcement and carceral systems, which have their roots in racism. These numbers do not reflect community safety or servitude. These numbers need to stop. Our country must divest funding from our punitive policing structures and truly invest in meeting the needs of our communities. Justice will officially be served once the system isn’t the oppressor.  

 #JusticeForAll

DSA wants to get the PRO (Protect the Right to Organize) Act passed, and we need your help!

The PRO Act is the most comprehensive update to labor law since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act nearly a century ago. The PRO Act closes the contractor loophole created by Prop 22, ends right-to-work laws across the country, and makes it easier to organize unions and get to a first contract. An organized labor movement was essential in obtaining the New Deal and will be equally as important in making the Green New Deal a reality.

Silicon Valley DSA has teamed up with East Bay DSA, DSA SF, and Peninsula DSA to host a Bay Area PRO Act Town Hall. We’ll hear from worker organizers that are part of active campaigns, including SEIU 1021, ILWU Local 6, and the Alphabet Workers Union, followed by a moderated panel discussion with Jovanka Beckles, James Tracy, and Andres Soto.

Learn about the PRO Act, the importance of organized labor, and how to get involved in the ongoing campaign. Be PRO-Active and join our town hall tomorrow, Tuesday, April 27th at 7pm.

The post Newsletter – 2021-04-25 appeared first on Silicon Valley DSA.

A statement from the Portland DSA Safety Working Group

With his latest statement, Ted Wheeler actively threatens the safety of Portland residents. By directing unknown people to track, record, and report so-called “black bloc” protesters, he is jeopardizing the safety and security of any number of Portland residents. These residents may or may not be associated with any protests. Furthermore, Wheeler is, wittingly or unwittingly, inviting and encouraging violent, far-right cells to act as vigilantes within our community. Because Ted Wheeler cannot offer real solutions to our city’s problems, and cannot rally the support of people who live in this city, he is placing untold numbers of our fellow residents in danger in an ill conceived attempt to quell righteously justified protests against him and his police.

Sadly, each and every time Ted Wheeler has been faced with an opportunity to lead this city and solve real problems he has made the lives of the people of Portland far worse and less safe. This is true whether the problems stem from traveling bands of white supremacists invading our streets and terrorizing our residents or from his own unaccountable, violent and murderous police force.

In the last few months alone we have seen Ted Wheeler’s police collaborate with far-right brawlers who later went on to storm the capitol in DC, dox the District Attorney (elected by a popular margin, unlike Wheeler who couldn’t muster even a simple majority), and attempt to frame a city council member by leaking information to online grifters. And just outside our city last summer, we watched as right-wing vigilantes established armed checkpoints, some with the explicit help of law enforcement, due to false rumors of “antifa” starting forest fires. These are the legacies of Ted Wheeler’s tenure as mayor and police commissioner.

Now Ted Wheeler is calling on these same elements to harass and intimidate Portland residents accused of no crime, solely based on attire and general proximity to a protest that he believes might be involved in some kind of future crime. In the midst of uprisings against an unjust system, Ted Wheeler has firmly sided with those who attempt to harm us with impunity again and again. He is unfit to be mayor and is a danger to our community.

Ted Wheeler is a threat to anyone who believes in freedom of assembly and speech. We condemn Ted Wheeler’s attempt to restrict the freedom of Portlanders and we call on our fellow residents to condemn his cowardly actions that will hurt us and our neighbors.

An Imagined Future if We Pursue Alternative Energy

By: Joel Campbell

It’s a pleasant summer afternoon in Whitefish Point. You have spent the day on the stony, cold shores of Lake Superior. The water is crystal clear and the silence is only interrupted by the other visitors to the Shipwreck Museum. This point, so far removed from the factories of Detroit, once so intimately connected, is connected once again.

Ships full of iron ore, like the Edmund Fitzgerald which lays only a few miles off coast, used to traverse this area on their way south. You’ll be there soon enough. Maybe it’s an art gallery opening for a friend, a Democratic Socialists of America event, or a sports game. Taking the new Michigan maglev line, the trip that once was a five and a half hour odyssey has been reduced to an hour.

It did not start with this impressive, Detroit-built, high-speed rail line. It started with electric trolleys in Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Detroit, and a dozen other cities. Mayors, finally matching their political rhetoric with the realities of car emissions in Michigan, implemented the demands of a wide-ranging coalition.

Rather than pouring billions into fixing an auto-centric infrastructure, a robust, multimodal public transit system has eliminated the necessity of a personal automobile. In order to alleviate cars on the road, the state offered grant money to cities and residents that took the initiative to become car-less. Bike co-ops could apply for loans or grants to help offset the need for more workers and tools as the influx of riders increased.

It took the work of many activists, organizers, and workers to accomplish this. Although the politicians will claim it was them, it was regular people working together that did it. Activists with the Sunrise Movement, ecosocialists in the DSA, and others canvassed cities. They agitated in city, county, and state elections for politicians to increase funding for renewable energy, multimodal transit, and green roofs. Union workers from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and others joined with them, demanding that all jobs be unionized.

While many claimed that they cannot jumpstart the Green New Deal on a state level, let alone a federal one, activists and union workers knew better. Municipalities control a lot of money that is put into maintaining carbon-based infrastructure such as roads for cars. There are plenty of projects on city and county levels that are readymade for an environmentally sustainable future. So we coordinated to help grassroots groups in each city build local power.  It’s amazing what our creative might can produce when directed by the people.

Idle factories were seized and repurposed to produce 21st century infrastructure. GM’s Hamtramck facility, for example. Still represented by the United Auto Workers (UAW), the plant’s workers set about building tracks, trams, and railcars out of recycled cars. The state purchased recycling facilities around Michigan, converting cars and other sources of scrap metal and plastic into the necessary raw materials.

Unions such as the IBEW, ATU, UAW have become some of the strongest supporters of this transition. These are good jobs, after all. IBEW, working alongside electric co-op workers and unionized city electrical workers, have electrified cities and rural stations for charging rail lines and the few electric vehicles around.

The residual benefits have been astounding. With the removal of excessive highways and parking lots, endangered and threatened species have begun to return. As cities had to retrofit their roads into protected bike lanes and wider sidewalks, they have begun to use a passive heating method to eliminate the need for salt in the water, allowing for healthy streams and land. Across the state, an improvement in air quality due to the reduction of cars, passive exercise, and accessibility to nature has reduced the number of heart disease and other health problems.

The federal government is still debating whether or not to implement the Green New Deal, but having lived under Michigan’s for the past few years, and seeing other states pursue their own, it will only be a matter of time. It happened with marijuana legalization and gay marriage before, it can happen with the Green New Deal now.

The post Say YES! to Michigan! appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

Much of conventional labor organizing is centered around a shared physical location for workers, like a shop floor or a break room. But what about those who work in cars, on bikes, or in others' homes? Our labor movement stands in solidarity with all workers because an injury to one is an injury to all. On tonight's show, we'll talk to NYC-DSA endorsed candidate for City Council Jaslin Kaur about organizing for justice for taxi workers and why her home district in Eastern Queens is ready for democratic socialism. We also speak to Margaret of the Ain't I A Woman? campaign of home health care workers organizing for control over their time. Finally, we hear an update from our Defund NYPD campaign, which has launched a new pledge for City Council candidates to affirm their commitment to defunding NYPD and investing in social services. 

To learn more and get involved with Jaslin Kaur’s campaign for City Council, please visit jaslinkaur.nyc.

The Ain’t I A Woman? campaign is calling for community support at a picket outside Chinese-American Planning Council in Manhattan Chinatown on April 28th. Learn more and RSVP at tinyurl.com/APR28CPC or visit aintiawoman.org.

To learn more about the Defund NYPD campaign and its pledge for City Council candidates, go to defundnypd.com