At DSA’s 2025 National Convention, DSA members passed CR-05, the NEC Consensus Resolution, a set of electoral resolutions authored by NEC members. Among those was “Focused National Endorsements,” a resolution establishing new, concrete, specific, and immediately actionable criteria for DSA”s national endorsements. The resolution defines this criteria in aim of focusing national DSA endorsements on electoral campaigns where DSA can make concerted national action to intervene in elections. As explained by the resolution, these endorsement criteria may result in fewer, more selective endorsements by the national organization, but will allow for more meaningful endorsement experiences and interventions.

The criteria for DSA’s national endorsement applications will ask that candidates:

• Have a demonstrated history of leadership in their chapter, participation in DSA’s internal life, and attending DSA events
• Commit to uphold DSA’s national policy platform, Workers Deserve More, and DSA’s national priorities, campaigns and initiatives
• View themselves as socialist organizers first, and legislators second
• Openly and proudly identify with DSA and Socialism, including by:
  • Expressly encouraging people to join DSA
  • Identifying publicly as a “Socialist” or “Democratic Socialist”
  • Aligning their branding, messaging, and/or color scheme with DSA
• Commit to grow their DSA chapter and develop DSA leaders through their campaign
• Demonstrate interest in receiving a national endorsement
• Commit to caucusing with fellow elected DSA endorsees and socialist-in-office committees, where applicable

The resolution also specifies that national endorsement should also consider:

• How DSA’s national endorsement would significantly impact the odds of success, through national fundraising, publicity, and volunteer support
• Opportunities to build DSA’s public profile and recruit more members through elections with national political significance
• The campaign’s stance on key political issues and strategic questions important to DSA, such as:
  • The Democratic Party, political independence and party-building
  • DSA’s path to power and the transition to a socialist society
  • Palestinian liberation

National endorsements will authorize DSA to provide candidates with the following support:

• DSA communications will prioritize highlighting the candidates social media and sharing their posts
• The NEC will host national phone banks and encourage nearby DSA chapters to journey to canvass for these candidates
• DSA and NEC will prioritize fundraising support, when allowed by compliance, prioritizing national donations from members to the campaigns
• At least one of DSA’s national co-chairs will be encouraged to visit the chapter of the candidate, meet with the chapter and candidate, do public facing communications for the campaign, and engage in chapter and campaign building activities, including canvass for the campaign
• DSA’s NEC will support the campaign through all relevant logistical infrastructure available at the time, including mentorship, electoral academy, and more
• DSA’s national committees will provide logistical and policy support

As a result of this measure, the NEC’s endorsement and educational materials will be adapted to communicate this new endorsement criteria. As your campaign or chapter apply for local endorsement, please consider applying for national endorsement if your campaign meets this criteria and would benefit from strategic national intervention and support.

Silicon Valley DSA (SV DSA) adopted a resolution in support of Proposition 50, also known as the “Election Rigging Response Act.” This state constitutional amendment will appear on the November 4 special election and would allow the California legislature to sidestep the bipartisan commission currently in place and draw a congressional district map for election years through 2030, in response to the Republican Party’s aggressive efforts to gerrymander congressional districts. 

SV DSA recognizes this “redistricting arms race” is a predictable outcome of a broken political system and winner-take-all voting methods that stifle political pluralism and prevent the emergence of new working-class parties. 

DSA actively opposes movements that entrench minoritarian rule at the national level in advance of a far-right agenda. SV DSA believes that, should California fail to respond to these actions, the Trump administration and its allies become further empowered to continue violent and extremist policies that disproportionately harm working-class communities, immigrants, and people of color. 

Concerns were raised by members prior to the resolution vote that alignment with Proposition 50 conflicted with the organization’s movement of championing a free democratic and socialist world. However, as DSA is committed to a framework for ballot measure endorsement of campaigns that would build class consciousness, root socialists in the multiracial working class, and have winnable and transformative objectives, it was ultimately decided endorsing this amendment was an imperative, preventative measure necessary toward the organization’s ongoing efforts to thwart a rogue administration imposing authoritarian rule.

The socialist movement recognizes the evil entrenched in the political system, with both Democrats and Republicans complicit. SV DSA recognizes the passing of Proposition 50 is integral to furthering our advocacy and organization toward measures that align with the democratic socialist movement of restoring power to the working class. Endorsement of this proposition specifically strengthens the foundation of a left-labor coalition in the Bay Area and statewide by creating a specific opportunity for SV DSA to support campaigning initiatives of local organized labor and allied organizations. Silicon Valley DSA has been working actively alongside South Bay Labor Council and other organizations for the purpose of supporting Proposition 50, creating and distributing educational materials that articulate how the current political system is rigged and how a socialist vision offers a democratic alternative. Through canvassing, phonebanking, and tabling, members have been active in the community to frame the redistricting issue with a clear socialist analysis. 

While the passing of Prop 50 would restore voice taken from fellow Americans under the redistricting in Texas, it’s not ideal. Prop 50 merely holds back the tide while organizations like SV DSA continue efforts to combat the far-right agenda and work towards a world where everyone’s basic shelter, food, and healthcare needs are met. While SV DSA efforts include the exercising of mutual aid through our Free Store, organizing for and defending immigrant rights, and pushing back against dictatorial gatekeeping systems through education and de-programming, a chapter priority is organizing for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which would disrupt the current electoral duopoly, expanding voter voice and creating a system precluding the “tit-for-tat” nature of amendments like Prop 50 altogether. 

Already in use statewide in Alaska and Maine and in cities like New York City, San Francisco, and Santa Fe, RCV is a proven electoral reform that strengthens democracy by ensuring majority support, reducing negative campaigning, and empowering voters with greater choice. With RCV, if a voter’s first choice candidate is eliminated, their vote would transfer to their second choice, a process that continues until a candidate earns majority support. This eliminates the concept of a “wasted vote” and increases support for independent and “third party” candidates, encouraging a focus on issues rather than party affiliation. Candidates are more likely to campaign to all voters and even build collaboration among themselves to build rapport rather than tearing each other down, as they rely on each other to advocate to their supporters. 

DSA believes a better world is possible: one where we democratically decide on how society is structured for the common good rather than the profit of a few. Join us at https://siliconvalleydsa.org/join/

The post SVDSA Supports Prop 50 appeared first on Silicon Valley DSA.

Mayor-President Sid Edwards and the Metro-Council are currently debating how to proportion the parish's budget. You know that the Baton Rouge police have a history of abuse and violence, and you know that the best way to prevent crime is to fund communities through social programs, homelessness support, good jobs, parks, transportation, schools and other people-centered approaches. The police can only respond to crime, but we can have a safer city by tackling the root causes. Hiring more police officers or paying them more will not address these problems, and they could make them worse.

In this bonus episode, we keep the mics rolling with Kelly Latimore as we discuss icons, Bonhoeffer, and subversive religious practices.

Announcing DSA San Diego’s November 2025 Special Election Voter Guide! This year, San Diego has one decision on the ballot — Proposition 50. DSA San Diego’s Electoral Working Group has prepared the above-linked guide expanding on what’s at stake with Proposition 50, along with content that describes our approach to voter guides generally. [...]

Read More... from Nov 2025 Special Election Voter Guide

The post Nov 2025 Special Election Voter Guide appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America | San Diego Chapter.

by Austin DSA

On November 4, 2025, Austinites will be voting to approve a property tax increase for the city, called Proposition Q. Our chapter is working in coalition with local labor and social justice organizations to win this tax rate election (or “TRE”). We believe the property tax increase will fund city workers and programs that are necessary to care for our neighbors during the worst of the second Trump administration. We’re asking all comrades (those who have campaigned before and those who haven’t) to help us turn out our base citywide: we will be canvassing, tabling, and relational organizing to win this one, and we need your help to get us over the line.

So:

• Get out and vote early! Polls are open 7AM–7PM through 10/31, with select sites open until 10PM on 10/30 and 10/31. You can check your nearest poll site at votetravis.gov and review a rundown of the full ballot here. 
• Come canvass with us! Dates and times are listed on our linktree, we encourage you to RSVP for as many as you can: linktr.ee/PasstheTRE 

What’s a TRE?

A TRE is a tax rate election. Since the passage of a 2019 state law (SB2), cities like Austin have been required to seek approval from voters any time the city budget increases by more than 3.5% in a given year—previously, increases of up to 8% could be passed by council. The city is seeking voter approval for an additional 5¢ of revenue per $100 of property value to continue funding public services that we expect and the workers needed to make it happen. If approved, the TRE would increase local property tax by around $25/month for the average Austin homeowner.

Why are we doing this?

1. Because of the 2019 law, our city has been forced into a structural deficit: in recent years, inflation has been as high as 7%. With budget increases capped at 3.5% and property values flat or in decline, gaps in revenues have been filled from reserve funds, transfers from our public utilities, and fee increases that disproportionately affect the working class. Property taxes are based on the assessed value of people’s homes, meaning people who have more pay more. This is in contrast with other ways of generating revenue like utility rate increases, fees and fines, all of which disproportionately affect the working class. Austin is a majority-renter city, and our policies should reflect that, instead of the preferences of the wealthier, more conservative minority that traditionally dominates off-year elections. 
2. Because of the federal government removing vital funding from cities like Austin as a political punishment for standing up for ourselves. They’re using austerity as leverage to force cities to enact regressive and undemocratic policies and legislation that further criminalize and punish the multiracial working class, those seeking abortion, our queer, trans, and intersex neighbors, the homeless, and people with disabilities. We can take care of us, but we’re not going to get any outside help doing it for the foreseeable future. 
3. Because protecting our neighbors needs sustained investment. We’ve seen the benefits of housing trust funds, family stabilization grants, community violence intervention programs, council at first appearance, food pantries and parent support specialists in schools—Texas and the federal administration don’t want to admit these programs work, so they’re trying to shut them down instead.

What about APD funding?

We know that public safety doesn’t come from policing, it comes from stability and community. The budget we’ll be voting to approve allows us to continue investing in real public safety and stability during an especially turbulent time. The budget we’re voting on includes emergency housing vouchers, 24/7 EMCOT mental health response teams, funding for the Sobering Center, parks, pools, and libraries. The alternative is the carceral and punitive police state, where APD is not just the primary, but the only city agency funded to respond to public safety (through the most destructive, most expensive, most inequitable means available).

As a chapter, we fought hard to prevent city council from increasing APD’s budget last year: we believe that the contract they approved did not provide the oversight we won at the ballot box; we knew the money the city put in there can never be reinvested in real public safety and stability. Our chapter’s NoALPRs campaign in particular understands the danger in unlimited funding for carceral policing and the surveillance state, and that Texas law mandates that cities like ours can never decrease their police budget. 

Who’s opposing Prop Q?

The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Matt Mackowiak (Save Austin Now), the Real Estate Council of Austin, ATX Servicing LLC (associated with Frontier Bank of Texas), the Sandhill Family Partnership, to give you a sense of it.

What happens if this doesn’t pass?

Austerity, layoffs, service cuts. This would be the first time a tax rate election has been rejected, so there isn’t a clear playbook for how budget cuts would play out here. Many of our comrades who make the city run may lose their jobs, and all of them would be paid even less of the worth of their work. The most likely outcome if the TRE is rejected is that our friends, family and neighbors will suffer, and our shared quality of life as a city will suffer with it. 

What can I do to support?

Austinites want to do the right thing, but historically, off-year elections have been dominated by more conservative, wealthier homeowners instead of the working class. The opposition is spending heavily on misinformative billboards, scare tactics and online ads, but is doing no canvassing. We’ve already generated strong results, knocking thousands of doors and getting strong positive responses from our neighbors. We intend to continue this ground game because we’ve seen it work before, especially in low-turnout elections like this one is likely to be.

We want the results of this election to be a representative reflection of Austin’s majority-worker, majority-renter priorities. We think that by dedicating as much of our canvassing resources as we can to letting working Austinites know what’s at stake in this election, we can win this one and help protect our neighbors for the next four years. 

First, we need you to vote! Polling stations are open for early voting citywide from 7AM–7PM until 10/31, lines are short, and strong support from our full membership could be the deciding factor in this race. You can check your polling location and view a sample ballot at votetravis.gov. 

Second, we need you to talk to your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers about Prop Q! The more people get to know about what’s in the budget we’re voting on, the more supportive they’ve been. Stay tuned for more on this front as we get closer to the election.

Third, we need you to sign up for canvasses between now and November 4th. This is the best way to have the biggest impact on the race: you can only vote once, but you can canvass as many times as you’d like. Each time you do, you’ll be helping get vital information about this election into the hands of voters we need. If you’ve never canvassed before, we’ll show you how and set you up with a partner. Canvass event links below, and solidarity forever:

• THIS FRIDAY, 10/24 at 3:30 PM
• THIS SATURDAY, 10/25 at 10:00 AM
• THIS SUNDAY, 10/26 at noon
• Monday, 10/27 at 3:30
• Friday, 10/31 at 3:30
• Saturday, 11/1 at 10:00 AM (with Mike Siegel, Vanessa Fuentes and Zo Qadri)

The post Call To Action: Vote Yes On Prop Q first appeared on Red Fault.

A collection of weekly dispatches from the early days of Trump's assault on Washington.

Enjoy your October National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 27-person body (including both YDSA Co-Chairs) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, join our Fall Drive, hear about organizing across the country, 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 — Fighting For Working Class Freedom
• Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash. Help Elect Socialist Candidates!
• Saturday 10/25 Fall Drive Phonebank Kick Off — Special Guest Bhaskar Sunkara
• RSVP for International Migrant Rights Working Group ICE Watch Training Tuesday 10/28
• AfroSocialist and Socialists of Color Collective Meetings Tuesday 10/21 and Thursday 11/13
• Convention results
• Apply to Join the Democracy Commission (DemCom) 2025–2027! Deadline Extended to Friday 10/31

From the National Political Committee — Fighting For Working Class Freedom

Hot Socialist Summer has come to a close for 2025, but as the temperature drops this fall, organizing across DSA is heating up! 

DSA is at a pivotal moment, where the genocide in Palestine and the failures of the Democratic Party to mount meaningful opposition to the Trump administration, the oligarchy, and the rise of the far-right is motivating tens of thousands of people to build a mass, socialist organization in the United States. According to a Gallup poll, support for socialism is at an all-time high among Democratic voters. DSA’s presence at mass actions like the No Kings protests last weekend show how many people are ready for a fighting alternative to the catastrophic status quo. 

All across the country, people are being inspired to believe that building a powerful socialist party is possible — and that they can be a part of it. Just this past month, DSA has surpassed 80,000 members in good standing, our highest membership peak to date! DSA now has better organization, more political development, more vibrant internal democracy, and more radical ambitions coming to fruition than ever. We have more DSA members contesting elected office while operating together as socialist blocs, from Missoula, Montana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Portland, Oregon. We are more embedded in the labor movement, we are more functionally part of social movements, we are more deeply internationalist — and thus are even better positioned to motivate and sustain a new membership surge.

We are just weeks away from Zohran Mamdani’s election for mayor of New York City — a democratic socialist mayor in the highest executive office in the heart of global capital! — and chapters across the country are throwing down for their locally and nationally-endorsed campaigns as Election Day nears (and you can, too, even if you’re not in a city with a candidate – jump on a Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash phonebank and help push these candidates across the finish line)!

State power is just one piece of DSA’s strategy — we’re also… 

• Building out our support network for Starbucks Workers United and helping chapters across the country to connect with their local SBWU organizing units as the holiday rush draws near
• Showing up in solidarity with the Cuban people, with a delegation we just sent to Havana of 40 DSA elected leaders and rank-and-file members from chapters big and small across the country to deliver hundreds of pounds of solidarity aid, learn about the achievements and challenges of Cuban socialism.
• Ramping up the pressure on Avelo Airlines as they continue to profit off mass deportations via ICE contracts, both with a consumer boycott and with pressure campaigns to kick them out of airports
• Continuing to build out resources and new fronts in our boycott against Chevron, a primary BDS target, as we continue to stand firm for Palestinian liberation
• And so much more!

As we continue the fight for working class freedom everywhere — from down the block to the other side of the globe — we know that as DSA, we must be bigger and stronger by many orders of magnitude. DSA is and will always be a dues-funded organization, where organizing new members increases our people power, allowing us to deepen and expand our base as we fight to oppose US military aggression and free Palestine, prepare for major political interventions toward midterms, organize toward May Day 2028, and so much more. DSA now has more members in good standing than ever before — and we’re turning the heat up higher with our just-launched Fall Recruitment Drive, with a stretch goal of reaching 100,000 DSA members by the end of this year! 

We’re rooted in struggle, blooming in solidarity — and together we’ll keep growing democratic socialism throughout this fall. Read on for more about how you can plug into the Fall Drive — and sign up for phonebanks with special guests, to help us reconnect with lapsed members to rejoin DSA in this crucial political moment!  Watch this space for more information about how you can get involved at the chapter level, or by taking on your own recruitment campaigns among your coworkers, neighbors, and friends.

For even more ways to get plugged into DSA, scroll down! We will see you in the fight!

Yours, 

Megan Romer and Ashik Siddique
DSA National Co-Chairs

Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash. Help Elect Socialist Candidates!

It’s 3 weeks till election day and we’re 6.5k short of our goal! It’s been a hugely successful year for the DSA’s National Electoral Commission and our fundraising campaign, and we’re hoping to have a new crop of socialists in office to show for it.

But taking out the capitalist trash won’t be possible without YOUR help. Corporate money is flooding into our races across the country in this crucial final stretch. We’ve set a goal of raising $100,000 before election day to ensure our slate has the support it needs to win and we’re just a little over $5,000 short! Can you donate to our slate to support a socialist running for office?

Saturday 10/25 Fall Drive Phonebank Kick Off — Special Guest Bhaskar Sunkara

Be part of the Growth and Development Committee’s nation-wide membership drive! Our strength is rooted in solidarity and in our communities. Let’s work to build deep roots in our local communities, reach out to lapsed members to renew, and bring thousands more into the struggle together! Join us for Fall Drive phonebanks to talk with lapsed DSA members about renewing their dues. We’ll kick off Saturday 10/25 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT with special guest Bhaskar Sunkara!

And you can join calls throughout November:

• Saturday 11/1 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT
• Wednesday 11/5 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT with special guest Meagan Day
• Wednesday 11/12 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT
• Saturday 11/15 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT
• Wednesday 11/19 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT with special guest Adam Hochschild
• Saturday 11/22 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT

RSVP for International Migrant Rights Working Group ICE Watch Training Tuesday 10/28

ICE agents have been escalating their presence in our communities, and that means that we need to get together with our neighbors and come up with plans to make sure we are protecting ourselves and our communities from their harassment.

People all over the country are trying different things. Many communities are coming up with ways to observe ICE and to inform neighbors of their rights, all things that every person has a right to do under the Constitution.

Join DSA’s International Migrant Rights Working Group and NDLON on Tuesday 10/28 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT to hear from NDLON organizers about the Adopt a Corner program, and from DSA organizers who are actively running ICEWatch and Adopt a Corner programs in their local chapters.

AfroSocialist and Socialists of Color Collective Meetings Tuesday 10/21, Thursday 11/13

Hello comrades and cousins! Interested in joining a collective for AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color? 

Join AfroSoC for for upcoming General Body Meeting (GBM) to be in community with socialists of similar identity, culture and politics. The next GBM will be Thursday 11/13 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT.

If you are new to AfroSoC, we encourage you to attend our upcoming New Member Orientation tonight, Tuesday 10/21 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT. Questions? Reach out to AfroSoc@dsacommittees.org.

Convention results

The 2025 Convention Results Compendium and Minutes are officially approved by the 2025-2027 National Political Committee (NPC)! You can view these results and minutes here.

We appreciate everyone’s patience as our new NPC got onboarded and settled into their roles. As a reminder, there are Overflow Agenda items from the Convention that the NPC is still working through. These can be viewed in the final compendium. We hope to take up a majority of these items during our October 19th virtual meeting as well as our November 8th and 9th NPC in-person meeting in Denver, Colorado. 

We hope that all comrades who got sick following Convention are doing well. If you think you may have contracted COVID and have not already let us know, please email dsacon@dsausa.org with the subject line “Convention COVID Reporting” so we can continue to track and plan for future events. Please do not reply back to this email for this purpose.

Apply to Join the Democracy Commission (DemCom) 2025–2027! Deadline Extended to Friday 10/31

Apply to Join the Democracy Commission (DemCom) 2025–2027! The deadline to apply is Friday 10/31. Authorized in 2023, the Democracy Commission (DemCom) developed reforms to strengthen democracy across DSA. Its proposals were overwhelmingly adopted at the 2025 Convention, and the body has now been reauthorized to support chapters and the NPC in implementing them.

DemCom will assist with chapter rechartering and bylaws review (2025–2027), visit chapter meetings to support implementation, report regularly to members and the NPC, develop best practices in tandem with chapters, and promote democratic governance. 

There are open seats on the Commission. Please fill out the form here to apply. The application deadline is Friday 10/31. Commissioners are expected to attend regular meetings (8PM ET, Monday evenings, plus some weekends), work with chapters to implement reforms, and report on progress and challenges.

The post From the National Political Committee — Fighting For Working Class Freedom appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Author: Mike Z

Things aren’t the best right now. I think we can probably all agree on that. The Trump administration is seemingly speed running the dismantling of our civil liberties while nakedly attacking any opposition of any kind. He’s declared war on anyone even remotely to the left of his positions with with broad and sweeping declarations of illegality so as to target and silence dissent within society. Even the most milquetoast liberals are being attacked and silenced for their modest criticism of Trump. Endless tariff uncertainty and corporate back dealing have led to ever increasing pinch in the wallet for the average person. ICE continues to attack our neighbors in the name of unlimited deportations. Federal troops and the national guard are being deployed en masse to ccities Trump deems to be “crime infested” to normalize their use against American citizens. Israel continues its genocide of Gaza from occupied Palestinian territory while the American media landscape consolidates control in the hands of a few Zionist sympathizers.

I think many of us did not expect things to fall so fast. That there would be at least some kind of fight or pushback that would slow things down. I think many of us thought we’d have more time to prepare for a fight that we knew may be coming, but just not yet.

We do not.

The fight against fascism is here. And with this recognition there is a sense of helplessness and hopelessness that can become paralyzing or empowering depending on your outlook. I recently helped run a new member orientation and when we talked about why we all joined, those feelings of helplessness and hopelessness were at the top of the list. For these people those feelings motivated them to seek out something more, but for so many others it leads us to shut down. Even those of us who have been in this fight for any amount of time are susceptible to this as well. What we do is not easy and we are all just human at the end of the day. It is something I have fought with on hard days as I’m sure many of you have as well, but we must be wary of letting those feelings set in and stay for any significant length of time. They can lead us to doomerism – that nihilistic feeling that nothing can change, try as we might, so what’s the point? It leads us to isolate and pull away from our comrades who are in desperate need of our support and solidarity. It leads us to comply with our ideological enemies before so much as a word is even uttered.

Do not comply in advance. Kill the part of you that dooms.

Your doomerism is the final boss of overcoming your liberalism. Liberalism teaches us to be oriented towards the individual and to hold that ability to operate unfettered from the restrictions of society and our peers as the highest virtue. It would have us believe that a single person, with enough pulling of the bootstraps, could change society. But anyone who has lived in one of our so-called liberal democracies understands the powerlessness of the individual in the face of systemic oppression. I believe this is where that doom comes from. But as socialists the remedy is simple. It is the knowledge that throughout history it has always been the case that true change only happens when the average person bands together in a fight for a vision of a future that has yet to be. A future that WILL be if we do the work now to materialize it.

We must remain endlessly hopeful that these actions we are taking right now will be the ones that start the fall of the first domino. We must remain steadfast in the face of overwhelming power and adversity to keep fighting for what we know to be right and just. We must remain assured in our convictions that the emancipation of all people from the evils of capitalism is worth fighting for to see a better future for our descendants who will reap what we sow today. And this is not to say it will be easy, because it certainly will not be, but remember that by joining with our comrades we can help each other foster and maintain the spirit of unyielding optimism that our fight requires. The future we want to build must remain our lodestar to bind us together in a movement larger than any one of us single actors.

In writing this I am constantly thinking of the Palestinian people, as I do most days for the past 2 years of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Every day there are new atrocities to learn about. Every day more innocent lives are lost in the name of genocidal irredentist conquest. But every day I am also stunned by the stories of ongoing resilience by those who remain and continue to fight for their very existence. They would have every right to despair. Nearly 80 years of occupation and systematic ethnic cleansing by Zionist forces, the majority of it patently unknown to much of the western world funding their destruction, and yet they carry on. They continue to fight for their homeland and their humanity with such grace and compassion. They remain unbroken.

Just as they dream of a world where they can live free in their land once more, we can embody this endless optimism in our fight to transform the world. We can work to build a world that will ensure that the oppressed and marginalized peoples around the world may never suffer a fate even remotely similar to those of Palestine, or Sudan, or Sri Lanka, or any of the other communities across the globe being persecuted ever again. For the sake of all people we must steel ourselves so we may respond to their cries for help both at home and abroad.

I recently finished a wonderful book, “Let This Radicalize You” by Kelly Hayes and Mariame Kaba Cover to cover it was an amazing read that I highly recommend to any organizers looking for salient real world stories of other organizers and how they’ve struggled and succeeded. But that’s not what I want to talk about. During the book Mariame quotes one of her previous works and it has become permanently emblazoned into my mind –

“Let this radicalize you rather than lead you to despair.”

And that’s really the whole thing right there to me. To me this quote really encapsulates the concept of Revolutionary Optimism in its entirety. When faced with heinous societal developments, don’t let it silence you, let it be the fuel that powers your resistance. Be it hope, anger or anything in between. And if you can’t do that, do it out of spite.
Remember that the average person does not like what is going on. They don’t like Trump and all the violence he is fomenting. They don’t like the attacks on their neighbors. They don’t like everything becoming endlessly more expensive while becoming worse every year. They don’t like the threats and restrictions on their freedoms across the board.
Remember that people want clean air and safe food. They want universal healthcare. They want affordable childcare. They want high quality infrastructure and public transit systems. They want affordable public housing. They want to feel safe with their family when they are out in the world. People want peace and prosperity, not war and destruction.

The average person is feeling all the same emotions of helplessness that we are – it’s our responsibility to help them. As those on the forefront of this struggle it is our duty to share our knowledge and strategies with the masses. To organize them and bring them into the fold of our fight. To show them a better future is possible and that they are a vital part of the equation that will free us all.

Organizing is the antidote to the despair we are all collectively feeling and working to stave off every day. In my short time in DSA I have found that surrounding myself with my comrades working together, no matter how small that work may be, has been the surest path to feeling secure in what we are doing. It’s helped me feel a little less alone in such uncertain times. It’s helped me feel reassured in the mission we are all here to fight for and the world that DSA believes in. I hope it can be that for you as well.

Kill the doomer inside you. A better world is possible for us all – let’s build it together.

Join DSA

If you’ve read this far I want to reward you with some of my current favorite videos that help me maintain my optimism for the future by reminding me why we fight. They help me lock back in. Yes, 3 of them are from Andor – don’t give me that look. Light spoilers if you haven’t seen it (go watch it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-asb8zTiuZ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKB67KzjO4A 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKrm5txGCQ

And finally an excerpt from one Michael Parenti’s many wonderful lectures

https://youtu.be/npkeecCErQc?si=0o_HW2fb4jdUY-I4

The post Revolutionary Optimism and Why You Should Kill the Doomer Inside You appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

As the government becomes more authoritarian, our right to privacy becomes ever more vital. Learn how to protect your phone from surveillance and exploitation of biometrics by law enforcement.