Listen to Michigan was a primary campaign which convinced voters, disillusioned with Biden’s ceaseless support for the genocide of Palestinians, to vote “Uncommitted” in the February 27 Democratic Primary. With only five weeks, a modest war chest, and an effective media strategy at their disposal, Listen to Michigan was able to rewrite the media narrative of the 2024 Democratic Primary. The campaign picked up 2 delegates and more than twice as many votes as candidates Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson combined.

In the last two weeks I have spent a good deal of time with this campaign. I was first introduced to this team in my capacity as a member of the National Electoral Commission’s Endorsements subcommittee. I will confess freely that I didn’t really “get it” at first. The theory of change that the campaign organizers put forward seemed unproven, if not altogether disproven by the results from the New Hampshire primary. I advocated for national endorsement for this campaign because I believed reinvigorating our No Money For Massacres (NMFM) volunteer network to be of critical importance. Once DSA was on board, I helped run a series of phone banks with our NMFM team, a joint effort of DSA’s NEC and Internationalism Committee. It was not until I was on the phone with Michigan voters that the efficacy of this campaign strategy clicked.

Michigan was understood as uniquely suited for a campaign of this form. It is a populous swing state, there is a substantial Arab-American population, and there is a printed “Uncommitted” option on all primary ballots. There is a large swath of voters, necessary to Biden’s electoral success in November, who are furious with Biden’s complicity in the carnage being unleashed upon Gaza by Israel’s government. Listen to Michigan was able to present these voters with a mechanically simple means of putting that anger and frustration into writing. Michigan’s history of community organizing, high union density, and the endorsement of prominent local politicians, as well as Rep. Rashida Tlaib, also bolstered this case.

In the span of about three weeks, Listen to Michigan, with support from Metro Detroit DSA and DSA’s NMFM team, was able to assemble hundreds of volunteers and make over 500,000 phone calls. Through GOTV Weekend, Metro Detroit DSA knocked thousands of doors. In other words, Listen to Michigan was a major undertaking.

The results speak for themselves. Over 100,000 voters, including the majority of voters in Dearborn (home to the greatest concentration of Arab Americans of any city in the country), sent their message to Biden on Tuesday. This story was picked up by The New York Times, BBC, NBC, Politico, NPR, The Guardian, and Al Jazeera. Within hours of the polls closing in Michigan, plans sprung into action to launch similar efforts in Washington, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, efforts born out of a coalition of Arab American advocacy groups, anti-Zionist faith groups like If Not Now and Jewish Voices for Peace, and local DSA chapters. Some of these elections will be happening within a matter of days.

Michigan was understood to be unique. None of the states mentioned check every box that Michigan did. However, Maine checks none of them. The anguish and frustration of the Democratic base towards their own president found a new vocabulary in the Uncommitted vote, which was enthusiastically (if not necessarily supportively) amplified by major media. So long as Palestine supporters continue to vote Uncommitted in large numbers and in an organized fashion, the only story coming out of the Democratic primary will be Joe Biden’s rapidly eroding base of support. A highly publicized poor showing will weaken that narrative.

DSA is a small organization, but we punch far above our weight. To do so, we have to make difficult decisions about where we allocate our limited resources and the time of our volunteers. As a member of Maine DSA, I am proud to be a part of the Maine Coalition for Palestine, and wish to salute the tireless work of Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights and the Maine Party for Socialism and Liberation in confronting the brutal realities faced by the inhabitants of Gaza, and further tying this systematized mass violence to the broader political context of American imperialism and hyper-militarization. However, I would caution against taking on abortive write-in campaigns. What is already a complicated task is compounded further by Maine’s ranked-choice voting scheme. “Ceasefire” write-ins will be marked as blank, confused or cautious supporters will rank Biden after their “Ceasefire” write-in, thus voting for him anyway, and the Maine press has not been sufficiently seeded with the notion that a blank ballot is a pro-Palestine ballot. New Hampshire was considered a model state for a mass write-in campaign, and even there the results were deflating. If you want to keep the pressure on Genocide Joe, I would encourage you to sign up for a phonebanking shift for Uncommitted WA or Vote Uncommitted Minnesota. That is where you will find me.

DSA was asked to co-sponsor Listen to Michigan’s campaign debrief last night, and I will close with a quote from Wamiq Chowdhury, DSA’s NEC endorsements co-chair and NMFM organizer:

“[V]oting for an actual uncommitted option consolidates our voices into something measurable, something that can be right up there on the screen alongside Genocide Joe’s name. He’s our target, and a campaign with this kind of strategy forces him and everyone else to pay attention. And we’re seeing that clearly—just look at all the media attention this campaign has garnered. And the other benefit of a smart strategy is that it can be reapplied elsewhere, which is important since we need to keep this momentum rolling. Let’s do everything we can to make sure that Michigan was not just a warning shot, but the start of something even bigger.”

Tzara Kane is a barista from Portland, ME. She serves as chapter co-chair for Maine DSA and on DSA’s National Electoral Commission Steering Committee.

The post What We Heard From Michigan appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Alex Dinndorf is an organizer who moves at the "speed of trust," organizing Barboncino and helping the Nitehawk theater unionize.

The post From Barboncino to Barbenheimer appeared first on EWOC.

Last weekend, on February 24, 2024, Cleveland DSA held its second Chapter Convention. Below are the opening remarks from Chapter Secretary Damion A.

The Cleveland Democratic Socialists of America seeks to facilitate the transition to a truly democratic and socialist society, one in which the means and resources of production are democratically and socially controlled.

Our organization represents one of the only democratic and member-run and funded organizations anywhere. We’re building a multi-tendency political identity in Cleveland that is independent of the capitalist parties that dominate all levels of our present government. Our goal is the self emancipation of the organized working class through a democratic mass socialist movement, not pre-packaged liberation that was handed down from on high by party elites.

We want to make Cleveland DSA our members’ political home, through both our internal democracy and our principled external campaigns for the working class. We want to help our members grow into organizers who can help to shift the balance of power to the working class in their workplaces, unions, and communities.

We are here today to decide on our chapter’s priorities for the year and to make adjustments to our guiding document so that its easier for us to practice democracy. We don’t hold our bylaws document as sacred and untouchable. It’s a practical tool. More importantly, it’s an agreement we form with ourselves so that we can confidently work without worrying that we’re overstepping or taking over. Our exact bylaws probably wouldn’t work well for another chapter elsewhere. The details wouldn’t fit but the general spirit is to be found in each one. And in a few years, after we’ve grown in number and gained more victories, today’s bylaws will be a poor fit. If we haven’t changed them sufficiently along the way then we will have another convention. We welcome this inevitability. The bylaws are an artifact of our democracy and enable our democracy.

Democracy has always been the scarcest resource. We can imagine a capitalist owner sitting in his office and watching his balance sheets increase. He standardized his factory equipment and financial practices. Everything can be easily understood in a nicely formatted report. And then Jacob tells his boss he needs time off for a religious holiday. And Stacy keeps saying her manager calls her by a “dead name”. And Katie says that says the women are paid less than men for the same work. And women of color point out that they make even less than everyone. And another guy says the benefits plan excludes his husband. And that plan that he wants so badly doesn’t cover reproductive health and the copay is enormous. And everyone knows that what they do all day doesn’t really matter anyway. These fictitious people are placeholders for you and me. We’ve all been harmed by capitalism. We all fell into the same grinder when we were born.

In the old days, when the early capitalists wanted undifferentiated compliant drones, they’d send violent young men somewhere far away where it was easy to tell apart the bosses from the laborers using their respective physical differences. When the native workforce spoke up, it was easy to tell who to shoot. The situation for capitalists has gotten more complicated since then. They still send kids with guns to take people over, without a doubt. Where that won’t do, they need other ways to standardize their workforce. They bring the colonial attitude home and start splitting up the workforce by what they see as obvious differences.

So, while the capitalists in charge work on a way to make computers behave like docile emotionally inert humans, there are all these random workers with ancient prejudices that hate the very people who are keeping them from turning a bigger profit. If he looks the other way or wrings his hands in sympathy while they persecute his employees then they’ll be too sick and tired to fight me for a better working conditions. If living in fear for your life reduces the company’s HR overhead then the stockholders will be happy, the boss will be pacified, and the executives will get a bonus. Then they can put you in a job that shortens your life and turns your personal time into a recovery period for your next shift. They will use your health to push units and your emotions to improve productivity.

Once while canvassing for DSA I came across a stray dog. He was a big dog and we didn’t know each other but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. He was lost and alone. I used kind words to comfort him and held out my hand with a treat. These actions together, verbal and material, indicated that I was unlikely to harm him. He came over, I gave him a piece of bagel I had in my pocket from earlier, and returned him home. In our work as socialists we need to speak out and contradict repressive misinformation that comes from a variety of sources. We describe the world honestly and rationally amid the constant clatter of advertising, bias, and myth. But we also need to hold out our hand and offer material support. We do as much as we can in the world to make real improvements in the lives of actual working people.

Our chapter has accomplished a great deal, internally and externally, since a few comrades came together in the 2010s to reform a Cleveland local. Mere months ago we joined the successful fight to get abortion rights in the state constitution. In 2022-23 we fought in solidarity with Starbucks Workers to keep union stores going in the long fight for a contract. In 2021 we held our first chapter convention, drafting our chapter’s bylaws together from scratch. From the early days of COVID-19 until late 2022 we mobilized to support tenants facing eviction and spread the message of tenant power. In 2019 we ran Brake Light Clinics to help reduce Clevelanders interactions with the numerous police gangs of Cleveland, and finished a campaign as the key ground force of CLASH securing a city ordinance on lead paint.

At this convention, we’ll be fiddling with the knobs and levers of our chapter, replacing and cleaning the parts. It may not look exciting to an outside observer but for us it is exhilarating. Democracy doesn’t exist until it happens. It is an activity, not only a state of mind. And here we all are, so different, with so much in common, and we can all speak up and shape the policies that shape our work. And you don’t have to wear a nice suit, or the right clothes for your assigned gender, or wear your hair in a certain way, or speak perfect English. You weren’t appointed to a board by someone who owns a yacht. You didn’t have to muscle your way through a hierarchy for years to force your way into a seat at the table. You didn’t have to prove yourself or flash your credentials to justify being here. We want you here because you are you. We want to know you. The world is a better, more interesting place with you in it and we are lucky that you’ve chosen to spend your time with us. That kind of fellowship is a privilege offered by socialism. One way to consider democracy is that an entire group of people consult with each individual to say “you are important and we won’t go ahead until we hear what you think.” It is the essence of our project. Democracy isn’t about casting votes, specifically. It’s the belief that everyone should be included. Decisions about you should not be made without you. We matter because you matter.

The post Opening Remarks from our Chapter Convention appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

by Sara G.. 

Austin Socialist News Bulletin – February 2024

Austin DSA has been hitting the pavement! Every weekend this month, we’ve had at least two canvasses, either for our endorsed candidates or for our Schools for All Campaign. The primary election on March 5th will decide our District Attorney, but we have more work to do campaigning for Mike Siegel for City Council and to support our public schools. We remain committed to doing everything within our power to stop the genocide and provide aid to Gazans, and continue working in coalition with Palestinian and Jewish activist groups in Austin as part of the Austin for Palestine Coalition. 

In the past month…

• The Democratic primary is on Tuesday, March 5th. We’ve had numerous conversations with voters as part of block walks for District Attorney José Garza.  The Republican money machine has gone into full force behind José’s competitor, with mud-slinging television ads and mailers. Early voter turnout has been low, and large numbers of Republicans are voting in the open democratic primary to try and defeat José. José’s advantage is people power, so we will continue to canvass and phonebank to reelect him in a landslide.
  
  
• At the end of January, the Texas AFL-CIO became the first state labor federation to call for a ceasefire after October 7th. Young Active Labor Leaders (YALL) held a teach-in about Palestine before the vote, and union members did a lot of internal organizing before the vote to activate their fellow members.
  
  
• DSA members participated in the Texas United Against Genocide in Palestine statewide rally, with a special march to the capitol for Texas labor, and later in the Hands Off Rafah rally. We have also continued writing op-eds and contacting every city council meeting to demand a city-wide resolution calling for a ceasefire.
  
  
• We created a pledge for Austin shoppers to sign saying that they won’t buy goods made in Israel. Once we have enough signatures from consumers, we can begin discussions with grocers to remove those items from their shelves.
• More than 100,000 democratic voters in Michigan cast votes for “uncommitted” in protest of Biden’s persistence in funding the Israeli military. DSA supported the campaign through phone banks and is now launching similar campaigns in WA and MN.
  
  
• We’ve continued to support Starbucks Workers United with a Valentine’s Day sip-in as a teach-in. On February 28th, the union announced that Starbucks has agreed to start discussing a collective bargaining agreement and returning cash tips and other benefits to union members.
  
  
• We joined the line at the Worldwide Flight Attendant day of Action at Austin Bergstrom airport.

The post

Austin Socialist News Bulletin

Since October 2023, a number of groups in Maine have coalesced around one pressing issue: keeping Palestinians alive under Israel’s genocidal apartheid. The killing is bolstered by our own government’s money, weapons, and intelligence services. It is being carried out by a far-right Israeli government seeking total control of the land west of the Jordan River. Solidarity actions have been carried out across the Pine Tree State since Israel launched what is essentially large-scale collective punishment for armed resistance. These actions have included weekly stand-outs and larger marches in the Portland area; frequent protests in Augusta, Bangor, Freeport, Lewiston, and other municipalities; demonstrations at Bath Iron Works and the General Dynamics facility in Saco; and student protests in Portland, Bangor, Brunswick, Farmington, and Orono. Mainers have not been silent as we watch—to our collective horror—a genocide unfold. 

Maine DSA members attended many of these actions and were active in the coalition by endorsing the first large rally in support of Palestinian liberation in October and participating in phone-banking via our national organization. A vote at the chapter’s semi-annual meeting in January unanimously endorsed a motion to join the coalition in an official capacity. The “From The River To The Sea” working group was established as the liaison between the chapter and the local coalition. We are stronger when we stand together for justice and we are prepared to stand with everyone fighting for Palestinian liberation.

Who comprises this coalition? What are some of our goals and tactics? Most importantly, what does Maine DSA have to offer in the stateside fight for Palestinian liberation? 

The guiding principles of our coalition acknowledge that solidarity is the basis of this struggle. We are currently living on stolen Wabanki land while we witness Israel steal land and life from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Israel’s government needs continuous American propaganda and financial assistance, and relies on our congressional delegation to vote for said support. Putting pressure on Senators Collins and King and Representatives Pingree and Golden to call for a ceasefire and to divest military expenditures from Israel’s illegal apartheid is the fundamental call of the coalition. Actions throughout the state have specifically targeted our elected officials in many capacities, including phone banks, office sit-ins, local and statehouse protests, and a general public outcry. As the Israeli Defense Forces proceed to bomb civilians every night, our calls for peace feel more urgent. Our representatives would do well to heed our demands—including Rep. Chellie Pingree who has yet to sign on to House Resolution 786 sponsored by Rep. Cori Bush calling for a ceasefire. instead of slathering more blood on their hands.

The Maine coalition aims to facilitate coordinated community action throughout the state with different ways for all people to engage. Whether we agitate in-person, online, over the phone, in Instagram comments, around kitchen tables, marching in the streets, or through written words and art, we must be certain to center Palestinian people, their voices, their anguished demands, their calls for liberation, and their undeniable humanity. Members of the coalition are in contact with friends and family in Gaza and the West Bank—acknowledging their plight led one activist at a recent protest to exclaim “[Being arrested] can’t be worse than being in Gaza right now.” It is hard to disagree when our social media feeds and news stories are dominated with footage of gunfire, rubble, and blood.

Many groups have been hard at work for months now and Maine DSA is bolstering the effort by officially joining the coalition. Knowing who we are standing alongside at actions and online will deepen our understanding and sow the seeds of solidarity we need to see justice bloom here in Maine and, crucially, in Palestine for Palestinians. 

Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights (MVPR) has worked for over twenty years and is a central hub of current coalition work. Their volunteers are committed to statewide, nonviolent advocacy, evidenced by their teach-ins for all ages, rallies, and lobbying of congressional delegations. They collate and publicize statewide pro-Palestinian events on their calendar and keep tabs on when any actions that are planned for your neck of the woods! If you don’t see anything near you, reach out to change that. Their volunteers are always ready and willing to help organize events. No town is too small.

Activists with Jewish Action have been outspoken in Maine. They hold tight to the progressive Jewish tradition of liberatory struggles in order to build a joyful, beautiful, and life-sustaining world for all. Their work resisting Zionist violence is a manifestation of their commitment to racial justice as much as an act of solidarity with Palestinians. By calling for a permanent ceasefire, they seek to cultivate justice where destruction flourishes and blocks out peace. They know that their Judaism demands they stand up for anyone who is struggling. “Not in our Name” is emblazoned on the protest signs they carry.

Resources for Organizing and Social Change (ROSC) seeks peaceful change through education, activation, and empowerment to improve Maine through grassroots organizing. With particular focus on those “most affected by oppressive systems,” intersectional solidarity beats at the heart of their work as they champion rights for disabled Mainers, Black Mainers, and immigrants new to Maine, all the while advocating for Palestinian justice. 

The Maine chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) has been actively organizing and speaking at many of the actions since October. In their national publication’s statement on October 7, they correctly note that “resistance to apartheid and fascist-type oppression is not a crime!” Their members have willingly listened to the directive to mobilize and demand freedom for Palestine.

The Communist Party of Maine understands that multiracial and multinational unity are prerequisites for the liberation of the working class worldwide, and for the democratic expansion of socialism stateside. By equally decrying both Islamophobia and antisemitism, they support shattering unjust capitalist structures of oppression that harm Palestinian people in occupied lands and Jewish people across the globe. Check out what these comrades are up to on their website.

We cannot overlook the value that students bring to such a protracted fight. Maine Students for Palestine encourages college students to “speak out against Western imperialism” from inside the centers of American empire. Students have carried out actions at universities throughout the state, building bridges between campuses where miniscule distinctions seek to divide. Please check out their resource document for more information.

Maine Labor for Palestine continues the union tradition of organizing to end systems of oppression. The Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions called for international union support on October 16th and Maine union members have answered. By supporting the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions (BDS) movement, labor can actively impact material conditions in Maine, Israel, and Palestine in ways that uphold life for everyone. Workers of the world unite, indeed! 

The Southern Maine Workers’ Center (SMWC) highlights the role the United States is playing in fueling violence at home and abroad. They acknowledged the role of the U.S. in funding settler colonial projects and exploiting workers to reap outrageous profits.

Healthcare Workers for Palestine (HCW4P) is leveraging the power of healthcare workers “to hold our health systems accountable to the values of human rights.” To date, over 5,600 people have signed onto their statement  that rightly points to the catastrophic collapse of care work in Gaza over the course of the Israeli blockade. A key part of their participation is the belief that all humans are deserving of medical care in Maine, in Israel, and, most urgently, in Palestine.

Since 1982, Peace Action Maine has been calling for global nuclear disarmament and an end to war. They link our insufficient domestic policies and lack of social care to our government’s militaristic foreign policies of violence and control. Cutting U.S. aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) while attempting to send Israel even more money and munitions to carry out their genocidal campaign is absurd, and Peace Action has no problem pointing this out. 

From pine trees to olive branches,  Maine Natural Guard (MNG) approaches Palestinian solidarity from an anti-militaristic, ecological perspective. They remind us of the cost of pollution and fuel consumption when waging war and the devastating, lasting toll on our land and water. With an ever-ballooning “defense” budget, the Pentagon is one of the largest contributors to climate collapse on the planet, and they cannot continue “business as usual.” Locally, MNG has called on Bath Iron Works to “stop building carbon belching war ships and instead build solutions to climate catastrophe,” joining others in Midcoast protests against General Dynamics.

Mainers in the Veterans for Peace (VFP) make clear they understand what IDF leaders mean by their “rules of engagement.” They implore us to acknowledge the harm American “aid” and “intervention” have caused, are causing, and will continue to cause if we cannot alter the course of spending. Finding American support of violent solutions untenable, they advocate for conscientious and life-affirming peace. The risk of escalation grows every day we do nothing, and veterans acutely know what horrors await a world engulfed in bloodshed.

Maine DSA is proud to stand with the aforementioned groups and the countless individuals who demand to see injustice abolished and peace upheld for everyone. The Palestinian people have been struggling for a very long time, demanding to be listened to on a global scale. Mainers have not stood idly by while an ethnic cleansing is carried out with American support, and we will continue to agitate for dignity, health, and happiness. Join us however and whenever you can. If your organization is interested in joining, please fill out this form to get involved. Spreading solidarity can lead to a better world—so let’s go! We have a world to win! 

(If organizations were unintentionally neglected from this piece or coalition members would like to make any additions or corrections, please contact pineandrosesme@gmail.com.)

Tyler Eaves is a non-binary member of Maine DSA. They can be found frolicking in the forests around Sanford with their spouse, dogs, cat, and rabbit. 

Photo credit Maine Coalition for Palestine

The post Maine DSA Joins Palestine Coalition appeared first on Pine & Roses.

We're excited to announce the upcoming release of our brand new guide, “Unite and Win: the Workplace Organizer's Handbook.”

The post United and Winning appeared first on EWOC.

January and February were the Months of Training here at the Green New Deal Campaign Commission! Part of our mandate is to train, coach, and workshop strategic campaigns oriented around our Building for Power principles. Here’s how we did that this winter.

Strategic Trainings

We re-upped our 3-session Strategic Campaign Training with DSA’s Growth and Development Committee. Multiple GNDCC members and Rashad X from the Growth and Development Committee trained over 50 comrades on planning a strategic campaign, using real case studies from NYC, Cleveland, and more. 

Watch and share the training and materials here: https://dsagnd.org/wintertraining2024

Our fave bit of feedback: someone was unsure about staying in DSA but was so motivated by the trainings, they re-upped their dues!

Collaborative COaching

Our commission also works in close collaboration with chapters. We held dedicated sessions with Twin Ports; and Boston + Charlottesville + Denver in January. Chapters may be in different stages of campaign ideation but there is always something to learn or get refreshed on.

And finally, we held our monthly Campaign Huddles as usual, and February’s was something special. Zeth S. and Natsuki N. from Bozeman DSA walked through their Social Housing campaign and how it built internal leadership, made inroads with labor, and more. While we don’t have a recording, you can get the slides here.

Zeth is one of our Building for Power Coaches. Coaches are experienced leaders whom we connect with our campaigns to facilitate their growth and success. Through our Commission they’ve logged hundreds of hours of one-on-ons, meetings, workshops, and more!

If your chapter is ready to Build for Power and get dedicated trainings and support, fill out our interest form and come to our March huddle where we’ll be training on what’s on everyone’s mind these days: fundraising!

Chapter Campaigns

One such campaign is Louisville DSA’s “Get on the Bus” campaign to fund TARC buses. Last year we were able to donate to Louisville’s campaign so they could design and print stickers with QR codes that direct riders to a survey, sign up link, and campaign website at bus stops on key routes. They kicked off stickering in Jaunary and dozens of people have responded.

Donate now to support work like this:

Solidarity together

Whether you’re a new to DSA or a ride-or-die lifer, now more than ever we need all members to support the organization. Tap below to join thousands of members in giving 1% of your yearly income as dues.

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.

The National Political Committee is looking for nominees to serve on the National Political Education Committee from May 2024 through April 2025! As the DSA committee charged with providing a socialist political education to its members and the public, NPEC welcomes members with substantial roots in diverse areas of DSA. We are asking chapters and official national committees, working groups, and caucuses for nominations (specifically, formally recognized caucuses such as Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus, not ideological caucuses).

Nominees should be prepared to devote 8 hours a month minimum to committee business and contribute to substantive discussion on the content of political education material as well as contribute to its implementation. This implementation can take place in (but is not limited to) any of NPEC’s four principal areas of organizing:

• Chapter Support, which holds regular workshops to support local political education programs, develop DSA members’ skill base, and connect chapters with experienced mentors
• Events and Speakers, which hosts national political education events year-round on basic socialist ideas and critical issues in our current movement
• Curriculum, which develops an expanding library of ready-to-use political education materials
• Communications, which broadcasts and furthers our committee’s work through social media, our podcast, and our newsletter

Chapters, national committees and working groups, and caucus steering committees (or equivalent) must email their nominee’s contact information (name, email address, and phone number) to politicaleducation@dsacommittees.org by 3/24. All DSA members interested in joining NPEC, whether nominated by a DSA body or applying as an individual, must apply via this form by Tuesday, 4/9 [extended by one week!]. Appointments by the NPC will be announced by 4/30 to begin their terms on 5/1.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to the Political Education Committee at politicaleducation@dsacommittees.org or RSVP here to join us for one of two information sessions:

Sunday, March 10th 2-3pm PT/5-6pm ET
Tuesday, March 19th 5-6pm PT/8-9pm ET

by Jean Allen

The following article is opinion and does not necessarily represent the views of Rochester DSA.

I am writing on Sunday the 25th of February, having arrived home from a walk. Before that walk, I saw a poll that showed majority support for a ceasefire within both Muslim American and Jewish American communities. Along that walk I saw a dozen signs put up by organizations who’s names I have never heard of, charging President Biden with genocide and calling for a ceasefire. And as I get home I see news that Aaron Bushnell has self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy.

I write this to say that the movement for a ceasefire, and the split that it is creating within the Democratic base—young people, people of color, and union members—is not being brought into existence by some outside actor. It is a natural response to the horror unfolding before our very eyes. As Neil Meyer notes in his Substack, nearly 30 million young voters are expressing disdain and distrust toward the Biden administration for supporting Israel’s genocide morally and materially, and that was three months ago. The movement to fight for a ceasefire exists regardless of our actions, and it is beginning to express itself in an explicit movement to vote ‘Uncommitted’ in Michigan’s Democratic primary. I think that DSA should take this call and run with it—that we as an organization must call on our members not to vote for Biden so long as he perpetuates the war in Gaza, a framing called “No Votes For Genocide.” This is the best way for our organization to move forward, and is the best use of our collective vote.

Every election cycle these sorts of discussions about voting occur, and they are almost always posed in a liberal-individualist way, where voting is akin to making a consumer purchase. Sure, we’ll criticize Biden; but when we’re in the voting booth we’ll pull the right lever, right? But that individual vote is really a small show of power. I personally have not voted for a Democrat for president since 2012, and wrote in the name of the chapter chair for the 2020 election. But that does not matter since we live in upstate New York—a state where if my vote in the presidential election “matters” in any way, Biden has already lost. So if our individual, private votes do not matter, it is only through collective action that they have power, which reveals the real purpose of the “won’t you vote for Biden” conversation: it’s asking us not to criticize in any way that really matters. If that wasn’t the case, why are we being browbeaten now, nine months before the election? Because ultimately it is our collective vote, our ability to influence others, that matters so much more.

I think that in this election we’re choosing between two people who are worse than fascists, they’re US presidents. We have lived through four years of Trump and four years of Biden, and during both administrations we have seen rights scaled back, minorities attacked, militarism retrenched, and now a genocide unfolding in front of our eyes—a genocide that most Americans do not want and who are seeking a way to voice their opposition. I think that we should be that voice, that we should take the head of the movement and call on people to withhold their votes so long as Gaza burns.

To those who think that the presidential election, or Gaza is some form of distraction, that we should just put our nose to the grindstone and organize while taking an agnostic position on the election, I disagree on pragmatic grounds (alongside the obvious ethical grounds: it is cowardice and tacit support for Biden’s foreign policy). The movement for a ceasefire exists and commands tens of thousands of activists and millions of people’s imaginations, and the state’s reaction to pro-peace protests will define the work that all of us do. If we choose to stand on the sidelines and hope to be hailed as leaders, that is taking a position, but not a ‘pragmatic’ one. DSA should take the lead in calling to use our votes in the most effective manner; particularly, holding them ransom against the Biden administration.

To those who think that this will prompt attacks on DSA and cause a full break from the Biden administration—I agree, and I think this is good. To be attacked for having the correct position is a good thing, and the idea that supporting the Biden administration ‘gets’ us anything rests on mistaken premises. Because although I think ransoming our vote in exchange for a ceasefire is the best route available to us as a socialist organization to get one, I harbor no illusions concerning the Biden administration’s commitment to Zionism. I think that Biden will continue funding and arming the Israeli army despite the crisis of legitimacy these actions are causing. So the ultimate question is not “who do we want to be president,” or even “how do we make sure that the ceasefire occurs,” it is how we organize the people opposed to this war; how we cohere the oppressed and exploited. That can only be done by taking an oppositional stance to the imperial state that is aiding and abetting this genocide and doing all it can to avoid listening to the people.

The Biden administration has clearly demonstrated its position to the left: they have no intent on changing their minds, no desire for the votes from the left, and nothing to offer besides the threat of a Trump presidency. Biden’s presidency has been one of the solidification of every Trump policy, down to the acceptance of Trump’s chauvinistic migrant policy as a part of an idiotic ‘gotcha’ campaign, and because of that the Biden administration is the least popular presidential administration since the beginning of modern polling. They have made their bed, and it is not our job to support them in it. It is our job, as socialists, to unite the working class under a policy that articulates and acts upon these grievances. We can do that only through full support of the ‘Uncommitted’ campaign.

The post Abstention is Justified When the Crime is Genocide first appeared on Rochester Red Star.