The DSA National Political Committee made substantial cuts to YDSA’s budget in the midst of a broader response to the organization’s budget crisis. The YDSA National Coordinating Committee and other YDSA leaders have protested these decisions. The author spoke to leaders across Y/DSA as they prepared their responses and planned for future organizing. DSA’s National…

The post “Personally Devastating”: YDSA Budget Slashed in Deficit Crisis Cuts appeared first on YDSA.

The following remarks were made in front of Batavia City Hall at Genesee County DSA’s Rally for Palestine on January 27, 2024.

Palestine and the Thought-Terminating Cliché.

by Logan W. Cole

So much of the discussion surrounding the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is designed to derail conversation about atrocities being committed against Palestinians or prevent one from being sympathetic to those in Gaza. One of the rhetorical devices that has been frequently employed in the propaganda and conversation surrounding Palestine is the thought-terminating cliché.

A thought-terminating cliché is an overused piece of language that is intended to stop an argument or conversation, rather than give it the attention it deserves. For example, the word “terrorist” and the concept of terrorism are often used to try to halt discussion of Palestinian losses so people do not become sympathetic to them.

At times, the Israeli media would take the figures of Palestinian casualties provided by the Gaza Health Ministry and say that all of them were terrorists — for example, Israeli news sources would say instead of 9,000 Palestinians killed (many of which were literally children), “9,000 terrorists eliminated.” As far as I’m concerned, the word “terrorist” has no place in the discourse about Palestine.

Sometimes, an important problem is marginalized because it is cynically deployed as a thought-terminating cliché. Bigotry against Jewish people has been a huge problem, as we recently saw at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and the synagogue shootings in Pittsburgh and Jersey City. Lately, speaking out against the atrocities committed against Palestinians and the Zionist (right-wing, nationalist) ideas that underpin them by groups like Jewish Voice for Peace and initiatives like BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions), has been deemed by some, including the Anti-Defamation League (the ADL), as “antisemitic.”

Zionism is not Judaism — indeed there are more Zionist Christians in the United States than there are Jewish people in the world. Declaring an anti-Zionist statement is antisemitic solely on that basis is itself a form of anti-Jewish bigotry because it associates the entirety of Jewish people with the modern form of Zionism, which takes much of its inspiration from atrocious ideologies like Manifest Destiny and eugenics, which themselves were used to justify other genocides. Conflating anti-Zionism and anti-Jewish bigotry through the use of the term “antisemitism” takes attention from the real acts of hate and violence being committed against Jewish people every day. The use of antisemitism as a thought-terminating cliché hurts both Jewish and Palestinian people.

Ironically, perhaps the most commonly used thought-terminating cliché is the idea that the subject is complicated, complex, or that it requires nuance. Nothing ends a conversation or stops someone from asking questions faster than saying a situation is complicated.

The fact that there is a genocide in Gaza is not complicated:

• More than 25,000 dead (more than 10,000 of them children);
• More than 60,000 wounded;
• More than 7,000 trapped under rubble;
• More than 100 times as many children die everyday in Gaza than in the Ukrainian conflict zone;
• More than 1.9 million people have been displaced in Gaza — that’s more than 85% of the population;
• Only 5 doctors remain in Gaza;
• 83 out of ~1,000 journalists in Gaza have been killed (more than 8%);
• More than 7,000 Palestinian political prisoners detained;
• More than 70% of homes have been destroyed in Gaza; and
• 95% of those facing starvation in the world are in Gaza right now.

It’s not complicated. We can’t stop thinking about Gaza. There needs to a ceasefire, a halt to all US support for the military exploits against Palestine, no further Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, and a free Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

* * *

We’re Watching it Live on Social Media.

by Lauren Berger

Good afternoon, my name is Lauren Berger and I am a member of the Livingston County Democratic Socialists of America.

Last time I spoke at a rally for Palestine it was holiday time so I talked about Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, in today’s occupied West Bank. I talked about the military checkpoint in Bethlehem, where an apartheid system of law would separate Jesus’ civil rights from those of his parents because of where he was born, were he not born Jewish – this is what it means to live in an ethnostate.

Not only is the Israeli military relentlessly bombing hospitals, universities and refugee camps, but refusing the access of crucial supplies into Gaza. There is no clean water and no medical supplies. There is no food. The Palestinian people who have managed to survive this far are now facing deliberate starvation.

For more than 100 days, bombs from the USA have rained down on Palestine. The total of those killed, wounded and missing is over ninety thousand people – including more than ten thousand dead children – in 112 days. The speed at which the Israeli military has murdered men, women and children of all ages in Gaza has never been seen before in recorded human history. Not only is this recorded, but we’re watching it live on social media.

I’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. It’s constant. The coverage is everywhere – videos of screaming toddlers next to their dead parents; hospitals in crowded disarray, as medical staff scramble to provide care to maimed patients laid on a dirty, blood-soaked floor; devastated mothers and fathers holding their bloody, motionless children, rocking back and forth, screaming; teenagers and elderly and babies in every state of horrific injury, their faces gaunt with hunger. It breaks your heart, and fractures your mind when this absolute devastation is met with silence, excuses or even applause.

And yet that is what we are witnessing. Mainstream news media, for the most part, continues to take their cues directly from the Israeli military. Coverage of the onslaught reads like a dystopian George Carlin thought exercise (Israeli hostages are “women and children,” Palestinians hostages are “females and those under 18;” Israelis are “killed by airstrikes,” Palestinians “die as a result of explosions.”

And then there are the statements themselves. Footage of speeches by Israeli officials show disturbingly genocidal quotes, including the Israeli President claiming “there are no innocent civilians in Gaza.” They are saying the quiet part out loud. The families of the Israeli hostages have been ignored by their own government. It becomes clearer and clearer every single day that Israeli officials care nothing for the lives of even their own citizens, including the hostages they claim to be fighting for.

The US government has been vocal in its support of Israel, no matter what. Claudia Tenney, our congress member, has sent me five copies of a largely unchanged statement applauding the billions of our dollars she wants to send Israel for them to keep doing what they’re doing. She would prefer we see Democrats and Republicans as opposites, but in truth they are quite similar. In fact, Tenney is in lockstep with Joe Biden on this issue. Disregard for Palestinian lives receives high bipartisan support.

So the question is…what do we do about it?

We can continue to learn about Palestine and bear witness to those reporting from the ground. We can share and uplift information to help others learn and we can continue to show up at events like this. When people come together like this, we are organizing a network to support each other through activism long after we leave here today.

We can follow the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction campaign, and boycott the Big Three if we can – McDonald’s, Starbucks and Disney.

We can call our representatives, sure. And we should – every day. But understand the reality. Sending Israel endless money and guns and bombs is probably the most bipartisan thing they do. Even though 61% of all likely voters support a cease-fire, only 15% of Congress does (67 congress members and five senators, not ours). Joe Biden sidestepped Congressional authority—twice—to send more than $250 million to Israel in December. Typically, an abuse of power like that would earn disdain – and if it came from Trump, it would have. Where are the democrats who told us Trump would catapult us into war?

The campaign for your vote in November has already started and we all know that green talks louder than red or blue. So we can be shrewd and politic just like the rest of them – and we can say the lesser of two evils is no longer good enough. We can withhold our votes, we can threaten to withhold our votes even if we probably will vote for them in the end, and we can support organizing the networks that work for the people, not weapons contractors.

We can also keep talking about Palestine and learning the history, and all the ways in which Zionism is not Judaism – and how anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. We must keep talking, and keep learning, so can know the truth about what decolonization is and is not – so we can explain that it is not a call for anti-Jewish violence but instead a call for liberation and freedom, when we say “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

* * *

The post Never Again For Anyone: Comments from the Rally for Palestine at Batavia City Hall first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America Little Red Letter #122 TCDSA Moves In, Gaza Ceasefire Call In Minneapolis, Camp Nenookaasi Lives On, and More! At long last, the search for a new home for TCDSA is over and we have signed a lease on an office space! Due to the tireless work of our office […]

After nearly a year of development, testing, and finally use at the 2023 YDSA and DSA Convention by nearly a thousand comrades: the National Tech Committee is pleased to announce that we are now offering OpenSlides to any DSA Chapter or National Committee, completely free of charge to help augment facilitation and participation in meetings, vote and stack taking, and provide a better portal to find agendas, resolutions, and anything else you need to conduct a meeting.

To request OpenSlides for your Chapter or National Committee, or to read more about this offering, please see our post on the DSA Discussion Board. OpenSlides Documentation for how to use this tool may be found on the Discussion Board as well

To learn more about OpenSlides and its use, see our website page on OpenSlides

Translated into Spanish below / Traducido al español a continuación

The DSA International Committee congratulates the people of Guatemala for successfully defending the democratic transition of government on January 14th. They resisted the corrupt outgoing government’s attempts to delay President-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s inauguration and suspend his progressive anti-corruption Semilla party in Congress with grassroots street action, a vigilant independent press, and the mobilization of international support. 

Guatemala’s Right-Wing Congress delayed Arévalo’s inauguration for 9 hours and sought to strip his party, Semilla, of its legal status. These aggressions occurred in the presence of international diplomats including the Colombian, Chilean, and Honduran Presidents and delegations from the European Union and the Organization of American States present in solidarity to ensure a successful democratic transition. In response to Guatemalans voting for Arevalo and Semilla’s progressive anti-corruption agenda in two rounds of fair and free elections, the outgoing government has sought to undermine it by circulating arrest warrants against dozens of university faculty and student protestors, launching retaliatory investigations against the national electoral tribunal, and fast-tracking a 2024 budget that ties the hands of the incoming administration and enriches the business elite. 

The Guatemalan working class and indigenous movements have mobilized to defend their victory with: 

• hundreds of community demonstrations, 
• a month-long indigenous-led general strike in October, and 
• a 105-day sit-in by rotating indigenous movement delegations outside the corrupt Attorney General’s offices in Guatemala City. 

In response to the demands from Guatemalan anti-corruption movements, the United States Department of the Treasury and the European Union have begun visa and financial sanctions against corrupt Guatemalan elites backing the attempted coup. The holdover corrupt judiciary continues its attempts to undermine the democratic transition, most recently with the Jan 18th Constitutional Court ruling to invalidate and re-run the election of congressional leadership without the participation of the Semilla party.

Our members residing in Guatemala have been in regular contact with movements defending indigenous land rights and protesting corruption. We have and will continue to connect members to our comrades on the frontlines to build international solidarity and educate DSA members on the struggles and demands of Guatemalan social movements. We continue to call on the United States government to respect Guatemalan self-determination and cease the funding of corrupt anti-democratic actors through military repression against social movements, immigration containment schemes in violation of migrants’ human rights, and megaproject developers operating without indigenous territorial consent. 

---

El Comité Internacional de los Socialistas Democráticas de América felicita al pueblo guatemalteco por su exitoso defensa del cambio de mandato en el 14 de enero. Ellos se resistieron los tiros del saliente gobierno corrupto a demorar la toma de posesión por presidente-electo Bernardo Arévalo y suspender su partido progresista y anticorrupción, Semilla, con manifestaciones, una prensa independiente, y el apoyo de la comunidad internacional.

El Congreso de Guatemala con su mayoría derecha demoran la toma de posesión de Arévalo por nueve horas y busco despojar a su partido, Semilla, de su estatus legal. Estas agresiones ocurrieron en presencia de los presidentes de Colombia y Chile, la presidenta de Honduras, delegaciones desde el Unión Europea, la Organización de Estados Americanos y otros diplomáticos internacionales que llegaron para ver una transición democrática y exitosa. En repuesta de la expresión democrática del pueblo guatemalteco a favor de la agenda anticorrupción de Arvelo y Semilla, el gobierno saliente ha tratado de socavarlo haciendo circular órdenes de arresto contra docenas de profesores universitarios y estudiantes que protestaban, iniciando investigaciones de represalia contra el Tribunal Supremo Electoral y acelerar un presupuesto para 2024 que ate las manos de la administración entrante y enriquezca a la élite empresarial.

Los trabajadores de Guatemala y su pueblo indigno ha movilizaron para guardar su victoria con: 

• Cientos de manifestaciones comunitarias
• Una huelga general encabezada por indígenas en octubre que pasaron por un mes
• Una sentada por parte del movimiento indigno frente a la corrupta oficina del fiscal general que duro por 105 días. 

En respuesta a las demandas de los movimientos anticorrupción guatemaltecos, el Departamento del Tesoro de los Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea han iniciado sanciones financieras y de visas contra las élites corruptas guatemaltecas que respaldan el intento de golpe. El poder judicial corrupto que aún persiste continúa sus intentos de socavar la transición democrática, más recientemente con el fallo del Tribunal Constitucional del 18 de enero de invalidar y repetir la elección de dirigentes del Congreso sin la participación del partido Semilla.

Nuestros miembros que residen en Guatemala han estado en contacto regular con movimientos que defienden los derechos territoriales de los indígenas y protestan contra la corrupción. Hemos conectado y continuaremos conectando a miembros con nuestros camaradas en primera línea para construir solidaridad internacional y educar a los miembros de DSA sobre las luchas y demandas de los movimientos sociales guatemaltecos. 

Seguimos pidiendo al gobierno de Estados Unidos que respete la autodeterminación de Guatemala y deje de financiar a actores corruptos y antidemocráticos, incluida la represión militar contra movimientos sociales, esquemas de contención de la inmigración que violan los derechos humanos de los migrantes y desarrolladores de megaproyectos que operan sin comunidades indígenas, consentimiento territorial.

The post DSA IC Congratulates the People of Guatemala for Successfully Defending the Democratic Transition of Government appeared first on DSA International Committee.

Enjoy your January National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 18-person body (including two YDSA members who share a vote) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, join our trans rights work kickoff, sign up for Green New Deal organizing training, fundraise for our future, 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 — Aligning the Fights
• Tonight Thursday 1/25 — RSVP for Palestine Ceasefire Phonebank
• DSA Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Mass Kickoff Call with Erin Reed — RSVP Today for Saturday 2/3
• National Labor Commission School Staff Network Launch Tuesday 2/8
• Green New Deal Campaign Commission Strategic Campaign Training Series Begins Thursday 2/15!
• Give Your 1% for the 99% — Only 100 Solidarity Dues Bandanas Left!
• Saturday 1/27 — “Democracy” in the United States: A Debate in the Lead-up to November
• DSA Mutual Aid Working Group All Member Meeting Wednesday 1/31 — Strike Support Edition!
• International Committee Chapter Liaison Rollout — Apply by Wednesday 2/7
• Apply to Join DSA’s Fundraising Committee! Deadline Thursday 2/15
• Listen to The Class Podcast from the National Political Education Committee!

From the National Political Committee — Aligning the Fights

Greetings from your National Political Committee!

Before we go any further, we want to take a moment to thank DSA’s National Director of twelve years, Maria Svart, for her selfless, tireless service to the organization. Maria will be leaving her position in just a few weeks for a well-deserved break, though she’ll still be organizing in DSA as a rank-and-file member. We encourage all members to take a moment and read her farewell letter, and join us in heartfelt thanks and best wishes on her next steps.

As we come barreling into an election year, we’re thinking a lot about the many moving pieces of our organizing and how to wrangle them into logical formations to keep growing our momentum. And as we move through the budgeting season, we also have to figure out how to allocate our limited resources to best support our collective organizing efforts — and how to organize to close a major fundraising gap that has contributed to a large deficit in DSA’s national budget. We know that the fight for socialism in the United States is one that is fought on multiple terrains of struggle, across unique locales, and using a variety of tactics. It is our job as national leaders to help align those fights. Though we must do it with a fraction of the money that the boss and landlord class has, what we have is organized people, and unlike many other political organizations that depend on large donors, we have a durable collective resource base from our members’ dues. And we know that when we come together to organize and fight, we win. 2024 is a critical year for us to organize our shared resources to level up our power as an organization, and we are laying out major fundraising goals for this year to do it all together.

Two struggles that have often been thought to be in tension are the fight for climate justice  and the fight for labor rights, but DSA has long been an organizational advocate of the just transition framework — a collaborative approach that brings together climate activism and the labor movement. This week, we were excited to have over 100 people, including rank-and-file members of the UAW and United Teachers of Los Angeles, come together on a recent cross-committee call between our National Labor Commission and our Green New Deal Campaign Commission to discuss new developments in labor-focused climate organizing. With 2023 officially closing out as the hottest year on record, this work is urgent and critical.

We’re seeing similar collaboration of late between the labor movement and the international anti-war movement, especially around Palestinian liberation. While we watch horrors unfold daily on our social media feeds, mainstream Democrats and Republicans have fully aligned in their continued support of apartheid, war, and genocide. But, along with our siblings in the labor movement and our comrades in the international left, we refuse to be silent. This past week, we saw SEIU join UAW, APWU, and UE, and dozens of union locals across industries — as well as DSA electeds in municipal, statewide, and federal office — in calling for a ceasefire now. You can join them by plugging into our No Money For Massacres campaign by joining an upcoming phonebank, and using other methods in our Palestine Solidarity toolkit, to help us demand a ceasefire from Congress.

Collaborative, cross-terrain work — connecting social movements and elected officials and the labor movement and the tenants movement and more — is part of what makes DSA so important. With members across the country, in different industries, with different organizing focuses, we are able to work to tie together all of these moving parts, but we can’t do it without each other. If you’re not yet giving your 1% for the 99% and paying Solidarity Dues, please switch today and help us build durable funds for this world-shifting endeavor. And if you’re not yet involved in your chapter, reach out to them today for information about their local work and ways you can get plugged in!

Yours in Solidarity,

DSA National Political Committee

P.S. We were excited to see DSA-LA member Ayo Edebiri take home an Emmy Award last week for her role on The Bear, and remembered the light and loving roasting she gave us during a 2021 DSA fundraising event. The irony of highlighting this in an email is not lost on us… Feel free to share from Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook!

Tonight Thursday 1/25 — RSVP for Palestine Ceasefire Phonebank

Join us tonight, Thursday 1/25 at 9pm ET/8pm CT/7pm MT/6pm PT for our No Money for Massacres solidarity phonebank. Stand with DSA members and U.S. Representatives Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and DSA members across the country to demand a ceasefire, reject US military funding for war crimes, and protect millions of civilians!

And check out our Palestine Solidarity National Toolkit to learn how you can stay informed, take action, and work for peace and liberation.

DSA Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Mass Kickoff Call with Erin Reed — RSVP Today for Saturday 2/3

Trans rights and abortion access are the front lines of the fight against the far right and for working class liberation! On Saturday 2/3 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT, DSA is launching our national Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Campaign with a mass virtual call. We’re honored to welcome trans journalist Erin Reed — the leading voice on trans rights news in America via her newsletter Erin in the Morning, where she routinely breaks stories cited by major news outlets. We invite all DSA chapters to join this call and plan together how we can defend and advance trans rights and abortion access by getting active in our communities, unions, and schools across the country — leading up to a national Day of Action on March 31, Trans Day of Visibility.

National Labor Commission School Staff Network Launch Tuesday 2/8

Join the National Labor Commission on Thursday 2/8 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for the first call of the DSA School staff network! On this call, you’ll hear how to support reform efforts in AFT, NEA, and other school staff unions. We’ll also discuss how to unite for fully funded public schools, a Green New Deal for public schools, and running our candidates for school board to defeat right-wing attacks on education.

Green New Deal Campaign Commission Strategic Campaign Training Series Begins Thursday 2/15!

Join the Green New Deal Campaign Commission and the Growth and Development Committee to learn about strategic campaigning! Over the course of three sessions beginning Thursday 2/15, we’ll equip you with the political education, tools, and coaching necessary to launch, run, and win a Building for Power campaign.

Each session will be held at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT. We’re talking about deeply felt demands that will help improve conditions for the working class, while building your chapters membership and supporter base at the same time. Join us! 

Give Your 1% for the 99% — Only 100 Solidarity Dues Bandanas Left!

Swag Alert! We have 100 Solidarity Dues bandanas left — snag yours today by making the switch to Solidarity Dues and pledge your 1% for the 99% before they run out! Chapters and members all over the country are gearing up for 2024. But one of the ways we get ready for the year ahead is making sure we have the funds we need to keep organizing, growing our movement, and building power. 

Already made the switch and ready to ask your comrades to do the same? Join the Solidarity Dues Call-A-Thon by signing up for an upcoming phonebank. A short training will happen at the top of the call, no prior experience necessary!

Saturday 1/27 — “Democracy” in the United States: A Debate in the Lead-up to November

Join the DSA National Political Education Committee on Saturday 1/27 at 4pm ET/3pm CT/2pm MT/1pm PT for “‘Democracy’ in the United States: A debate in the lead-up to November.”

Members Jerry Harris and Luke Pickrell will discuss their understanding of democracy, whether the US Constitution supports or frustrates it, and to what extent socialists should “defend” democracy going into the 2024 elections.

Jerry Harris is a retired union activist, national secretary of the Global Studies Association, and international board member of the Network for Critical Studies of Global Capitalism. His latest book was Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Democracy.

Luke Pickrell is a member of East Bay DSA. He’s written in Cosmonaut and The Democratic Constitution Blog, and contributed to various discussions in the ‘Why Marx?’ project.

DSA Mutual Aid Working Group All Member Meeting Wednesday 1/31 — Strike Support Edition!

The National Mutual Aid Working Group’s bi-monthly All-Member Meeting is Wednesday 1/31 at 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT/6:30pm MT/5:30pm PT. Join us and talk shop with mutual aid-loving comrades, get updated on our working group projects, and learn how you can get involved!

Featuring a member from NW Ohio DSA discussing strike support for the UAW in Toledo!

International Committee Chapter Liaison Rollout — Apply by Wednesday 2/7

The DSA International Committee (IC) is opening applications for its chapter liaison program! 

The IC seeks interested DSA members to liaise between local chapters and the IC’s national subcommittees and campaigns. Chapter Liaisons will demonstrate the capability to coordinate campaigns, communications, political education, diplomatic missions, and national resource requests. This may involve: building a working relationship with a local chapter’s already-existing internationalism committee; developing a local chapter’s internationalism committee; connecting a chapter with a national initiative; sharing ideas and resources based on local organizing experiences; initiating organizing at the national or local level, and/or helping us shape the liaison program as it expands. This program is fundamentally experimental — a way to bridge the divide between national DSA and local chapter structures — so it will be flexible to new conditions based on the needs of both local chapters and the IC. Liaisons will be invited to help shape and determine this relationship for the betterment of DSA’s internationalism organizing. Interested candidates can read more about the program and its expectations here.

Applications are open through Wednesday 2/7. Apply now!

Apply to Join DSA’s Fundraising Committee! Deadline Thursday 2/15

DSA is seeking members with fundraising experience to apply to join DSA’s National Fundraising Committee. The Fundraising Committee will support the coordination of national fundraising efforts and serve as an advisory body for DSA’s fundraising practices and strategy. With ambitious plans and a long road ahead, we must be able to sustain our work, and that means coordinated and strategic fundraising. As a socialist organization engaged in class struggle, we must fund our own work. Submit your application today! The deadline is Thursday 2/15.

Listen to The Class Podcast from the National Political Education Committee!

Following last episode’s recap of 2023, in this episode we look forward to labor’s prospects in 2024 by chatting with labor activists Ayesha Mughal, Sean Orr, and Sarah Hurd. Listen now!

The post Aligning the fights — Your National Political Committee newsletter appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Public land should be used for the public good.

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

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

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

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

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

---

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

To the Columbus Land Bank,

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

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

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

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

Columbus Democratic Socialists of America

Central Ohio Food Not Bombs

First Collective

Heer to Serve

People’s Justice Project

[[{“value”:”

By Eli Gerzon and Henry De Groot

MALDEN — More than 300 union members and community activists picketed outside the constituent offices of Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) on Wednesday evening, calling on her to endorse a ceasefire of the ongoing Israeli invasion of Gaza. Clark is the second most powerful Democrat in the House and has built her career as a progressive who opposes gun violence and supports unions, women, children, and democracy.

“Katherine Clark has the power to put an end to the bloodshed. What has she done? Nothing!”

Yousif Abdallah, North Shore Labor Council – AFL-CIO

A union delegation met with Clark’s staff inside while picketers chanted “Ceasefire Now!” on the sidewalk. A delegation from Jewish Voice for Peace had previously met with Clark to discuss the ceasefire and told Working Mass she responded: “If I thought calling for a ceasefire would save lives, I would have already done it.”

Later in the evening, a second picket was formed in Belmont outside the Unitarian Universalist church, where Clark was speaking at an event on the state of democracy along with Massachusetts Senate President Pro Tempore Will Brownsberger (D-Belmont). Three activists interrupted her speech to call for a ceasefire before being escorted out by security.

A Ceasefire Would Save Lives: The Ongoing Genocide in Gaza

Despite what Clark says, a ceasefire is necessary to stop the horrific mass killings of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli military and the Israeli blockade of necessary food, fuel, and medical supplies.

In over 100 days of fighting since October 7, more than 32,000 have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank, including more than 11,000 children. On October 7, Hamas forces killed approximately 695 Israeli civilians and 373 Israeli soldiers

The BBC reports that almost 2 million Gazas — 85 percent of the population — have been forced from their homes. All schools in Gaza remain closed, and infectious diseases are spreading rapidly among refugees. Israel is using water and food as a weapon against Palestinians: “Gazans now make up 80 per cent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide.” Israeli Defense Forces have intentionally targeted hospitals; UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that only 16 of 32 hospitals “are even partially functioning.”

South Africa has sued Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, calling on the court to immediately grant emergency measures to stop the war in Gaza; South Africa has accused Israel of conducting a genocide and maintaining an apartheid regime.

Clark represents the 5th Congressional District, which includes suburbs north and west of Boston, including Malden, Melrose, Revere, Framingham, and parts of Cambridge. She has served as the Democrats’ House Minority Whip since last year, making her the second-ranking House Democrat after Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was Clark’s top donor in the 2023-24 cycle.

From the all-Democratic Massachusetts federal delegation, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, as well as Reps. Stephen Lynch, Jim McGovern, and Ayanna Pressley have all endorsed the call for a ceasefire. In addition to Rep. Clark, Sen. Ed Markey, as well as Reps. Bill Keating, Richard Neal, Seth Moulton, Jake Auchincloss, and Lori Trahan have failed to call for a ceasefire. Markey and Warren voted in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Senate Resolution 504 which would have conditioned U.S. aid to Israel on an investigation into human rights abuses.

Labor Moves in Support of a Ceasefire

The double demonstrations were the state’s first labor actions in support of the Palestinian people and a ceasefire since the escalation of the fighting after October 7. The rally was largely organized through Massachusetts Labor for a Free Palestine, an informal group of union organizers that has come together since October 7.

The event was endorsed by several major labor unions including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, SEIU Local 509, the Harvard Graduate Student Union-UAW, and UAW Region 9A, as well as the North Shore Labor Council – AFL-CIO, the Western Mass Area Labor Federation – AFL-CIO, Pride At Work-Eastern Mass, Jewish Voice for Peace – Boston, One Fair Wage, and the Boston Democratic Socialists of America.

Several speakers expressed that if Clark failed to endorse the ceasefire demand, the progressive movement would put forward a challenger in the next Democratic primary, calling on the crowd to chant “Vote Her Out!” Clark has not faced a primary challenge since 2014.

The rally comes days after SEIU, the nation’s second largest labor union, endorsed a ceasefire. SEIU is the largest U.S. union to support the ceasefire movement yet; the UAW, the nation’s sixth largest union, endorsed a ceasefire in December.

The growing support in the U.S. labor movement for a ceasefire is a marked reversal in labor’s orientation since fighting escalated more than three months ago. The days following the October 7 attack were marked by labor unions expressing support for Israel, and union activists who expressed solidarity with Palestine faced harassment, intimidation, and doxxing.

Labor calls for a ceasefire were initially confined to an online petition backed by UFCW Local 3000 and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). Activists organizing in locals around the country have gradually won local union support for the ceasefire demand.

Eli Gerzon is an editor of Working Mass, a member of Boston DSA, and an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace.

Henry De Groot is an editor of Working Mass, a member of Boston DSA, and the author of the book “Student Radicals and the Rise of Russian Marxism.”

Featured image credit: Yousif Abdallah of the North Shore Labor Council – AFL-CIO addresses the picket on January 24, 2024. Photo by Clare Kelley/Working Mass

Additional photography contributed by Pine McCabe.

“}]] 

This episode of Revolutions Per Minute explores the life and legacy of Pablo Yoruba Guzman, who co-founded the New York chapter of the Young Lords, and later became a prominent television reporter on local news channels in the city. We are joined by Mickey Melendez, a fellow Young Lord, to discuss the group's occupations of the First People’s Church in Harlem and Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. We will also hear from New York City Council Member Charles Baron, the organizer Denise Oliver-Velez and CUNY scholar Johanna Fernandez on the legacy of the group. 

On Monday January 22, 2024, one of our comrades was walking on E Market St, with a Palestinian flag and on their way to City Council, when a police officer approached them and ordered them to walk on the sidewalk. They walked off and the police offer threw them to the ground. They were arrested and taken in a cage to the Summit County jail. They were released on the 23rd with charges of obstructing official business and resisting arrest.

This incident is a blatant and outrageous example of police brutality, of political repression, and a prime example of the profound sense of arrogance and hostility with which APD treats the Akron community. This incident and others like it are the direct result of the police being allowed to act with impunity.

Akron DSA