Thorn West: Issue No. 226

City Politics

• As many criticize the city’s lack of wildfire preparedness in advance of the Santa Ana winds, Mayor Karen Bass has today fired LAFD chief Kristin Crowley. The LA Times covers the firing in the context of a “sense of disarray that has enveloped City Hall.”

• Children’s Hospital Los Angeles stopped offering several forms of gender-affirming care, in response to a Trump administration executive order threatening the funding of any medical institution that provided this care to transgendered youths. The hospital has now partially reversed that decision, following weekly protests.

Housing Rights

• The LA City Council postponed voting on a motion that would offer eviction protections to Angelenos economically impacted by the wildfires. It will revisit the issue in March. A similar measure did pass at the County Board of Supervisors. That motion applies countywide, but only protects those who specifically lost work. Tenants in Maui, devastated by wildfires in 2023, suffered a variety of cascading displacements, despite the passage of stronger tenant protections than LA is considering.

• The California FAIR Plan, a state-administered fund that provides fire insurance to property owners in high-risk areas, has run out of money in the aftermath of the wildfires. This triggers a condition that allows the fund to collect an additional $1 billion from insurers. Half of this cost may be passed onto consumers, with the state’s approval.

Education

• This week, a Los Angeles Unified School District policy went into effect that bans student phone use during school hours.

• The Trump administration’s terrorization of immigrant communities is depressing school attendance, per CalMatters.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• A member of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Civilian Oversight Commission has resigned, amid a conflict pitting the oversight body against county attorneys, LASD, and the State Attorney General’s office.

• In San Francisco, an effort to bolster recruitment to the Police Department has failed, as a growing percentage of cadets are dropping out of the police academy.

Transportation

• A long-awaited discussion about how Los Angeles will implement Measure HLA was delayed; the City Council’s Transportation Committee has been drawn into the efforts to block an affordable housing development, and ran out of time.

• The Trump administration has signaled that it will sabotage a California high speed rail project. At Union Station, a press conference by the U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was shouted down by project advocates.

The post County Passes Some Eviction Protections in Response to Wildfires + Mayor Fires LAFD Chief appeared first on The Thorn West.

Our annual Madison Area DSA Chapter Convention is Saturday, March 15 from 10 AM to 4 PM at the Madison Labor Temple. Please RSVP as soon as possible! (Masks will be required and provided; lunch will be available to those who RSVP by March 4th.)

At Convention, we’ll take a look back at the past year, and members in good standing will make important decisions about the direction of the upcoming year.

The 2025 About the MADSA Convention Guide has everything you need to know about our Convention.

We’re asking members to submit resolutions, bylaw amendments, working group reports and charters, and executive committee and community accountability committee nominations by March 4th.

If you have questions or want to team up with other folks on resolutions, join #2025-convention in the Slack.

Solidarity from the Convention Committee! 

Now, at Stonewall we are watching our own undoing.

At our monument, a hollow has been carved into history—a deliberate emptiness where our stories used to live. Where Marsha’s name once stood proud, teaching generations that we have always existed, that we have always fought, that we have always loved and been loved. Now there is only silence.

They think we don’t notice when they chip away at our memories, stone by stone. That we won’t feel the weight of each erasure, each redaction, each carelessly crafted omission. But we feel every cut. We see our elders’ names fade like ghosts from the walls they built with their own hands. We watch as they try to orphan us from our own history.

Every time they try to erase us, we write ourselves back into existence—in permanent ink, in unshakeable community, in unwavering solidarity.

But they have forgotten something crucial: We are still here. We are still telling our stories. In basements and bookstores, in community centers and living rooms, in whispered conversations and shouted protests. Every time they try to erase us, we write ourselves back into existence—in permanent ink, in unshakeable community, in unwavering solidarity.

There is a bitter irony in attempting to sanitize a monument that exists precisely because people refused to accept such violent marginalization. Stonewall stands as testament to the power of collective rage, to a moment when the marginalized said “enough” and transformed their pain into action, to a moment that showed their oppressors they knew how weak the chains really were. It commemorates not polite requests for dignity, but the throwing of bricks, the breaking of barriers, the raw and necessary fury of people who had been pushed too far. Those who now seek to edit this history, to remove some of its participants from the record, seem to miss the fundamental lesson of what they’re trying to erase: that oppressed people will not quietly accept their own erasure, that solidarity is stronger than state power, and that the very actions they’re commemorating prove the futility of their sanitization effort. They seek to remove transgender people from the story of a riot that began, in part, because society tried to deny transgender people’s right to exist—a historical echo that would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

This is why we must act now, together. Not just transgender people, but all who understand that when they come for one community’s history, they pave the way to erase others. Every activist, every ally, every person who believes in truth and dignity must stand together.

What can we do? We document. We archive. We create underground histories and public demonstrations. We build networks of resistance that transcend individual identity. We teach our children not just about Stonewall, but about every attempt at oppression and how we fought back. We turn their acts of erasure into fuel for our collective memory and action.

Most importantly, we recognize that this is not just about preserving history—it’s about protecting our future. When they try to erase transgender people from Stonewall, they are trying to erase the possibility of transgender youth seeing themselves in history, of understanding their place in a long line of resistance and triumph.

Let this attempt at erasure be the spark that ignites our collective resistance. Let every blank space they create become a canvas for our truth.

Let this attempt at erasure be the spark that ignites our collective resistance. Let every blank space they create become a canvas for our truth. Let every silence they impose become a chorus of our voices. Together, we will not just preserve our history—we will make it impossible to erase.

The time for passive observation is over. We must act with the urgency of people watching their own existence being questioned, with the determination of communities who refuse to be written out of history, and with the solidarity of those who understand that an injury to one is an injury to all.

Who will join us in ensuring that our stories survive? Who will stand with us in turning this moment of erasure into an era of unprecedented visibility and power? Our history is not just words on a monument—it lives in our actions, in our unity, and in our unwavering commitment to truth and justice.

The future is watching. What will we show them?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The purpose of protecting the life of our Nation and preserving the liberty of our citizens is to pursue the happiness of our people. Our success in that pursuit is the test of our success as a Nation.

At this time, we have witnessed what many have known was coming for decades: The death knell of American democracy. When Lyndon Baines Johnson gave this now-forgotten speech it was in the wake of the Kennedy assassination and at the beginning of his great society program to eradicate poverty throughout America - perhaps the most ambitious welfare program since the New Deal as well as the height of the American civil rights movement.

How did we end up here? We now find ourselves in a world where basic social security and long-accepted federal grants are under threat. The long-held compromises of democracy have been stripped away until all that remains is a mere facade of legitimacy that now is coming apart. We find ourselves on the path of Eastern Europe’s authoritarians in Belarus and Russia. Far from the premier standard of democracy we once held ourselves up to, we can no longer keep up the illusion as oligarchs ascend openly in power and the media is reduced to mere mouthpieces of their nightmarish commands as we teeter ever further over the abyss. Many fear the Rubicon will be crossed soon when it has already. Our answer for how we got here lies in the speech of LBJ’s successor;

And so tonight, to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans, I ask for your support. I pledged in my campaign for the presidency to end the war in a way that we could win the peace.

We find ourselves here not because of the silent majority as Nixon conjured to justify his policy in Vietnam, but instead because of what I like to call the “silenced majority”. These Americans have long been ignored by either party due to their prior irrelevance in their eyes. They were discarded to the side with the implementation of NAFTA and the failure of American Industry to maintain its competitive edge on the global market, a by-product of Neo-liberalism’s failure. You only need to look at the ghost towns of the midwest. For these people, what remains of the American dream but abandoned homes and once lively streets? Where is their savior or their salvation?

In came Bernie Sanders, a champion of progressivism and left-wing populism with a reputation as an honest figure, a rarity in our politics. Out of left field, he overnight became a challenge to Clinton despite having been dismissed for decades as a figure who only represented the leftward fringes. He spoke of hope, healthcare, and revival. He presented a constructive revolution to rebuild democracy and revitalize those forgotten communities. Sanders experienced a groundswell of support among democratic voters, and he was ignored following his loss in the DNC primaries in 2016 despite securing 43% of the vote. The common refrain in the media is that it was nothing but hype and youthful energy now expelled, citing his lower showing in 2020. But this is a mere excuse to avoid reckoning with what Sanders had tapped into - something much larger and much more uncomfortable than the Democratic party was ever willing to give voice to. Yes, Sanders ran again in 2020 and won 26% of the vote, but that only showed there remained a sizable base captivated by his message. So, where did the remainder go? Simple: they stayed home. Who wanted to stand up for Clinton, an ally of the massive corporations? Who wanted to stand up for the very establishment and the oligarchs they wanted out?

Bernie was an independent, an outsider who spoke to these forgotten communities and provided a chance for the revival of liberal democracy and the American dream in their eyes, and he was shot down by the establishment and their calls for normalcy. His reforms and calls for change were ignored. Meanwhile, in the Republican primaries, a billionaire businessman by the name of Donald Trump took the forefront of the American populist movement, mobilized them, and called for a destructive revolution against “Wokeness, NAFTA, and the Establishment” which had ignored them. And with their hope for a positive revolution underneath Bernie, these working-class communities threw in their lot with Trump. A base of the forgotten, ignored by the parties, who cared little for the partisanship of the democrats and republicans. A base Bernie could easily have appealed to. Trump gave them not a voice for change but a voice for revenge against the institutions that had wronged them. So fell the Grachii and so now rises Caesar.

Who cares for healthcare when you can’t access it? Who cares for flying when you’ve never been on a plane? Who cares for honesty and integrity when the ones who had it are gone? And who cares for democracy when it never cared for you? We are indeed witnessing the end of at least the old American democracy as the democrats remain hesitant to do what must be done to delay if not stop these changes. They have become too accustomed to power and their tradition of liberalism to recognize they must let go of their old norms to preserve it and their supporters.

I expect the Democrats to fail to learn from these experiences, just as Kamala Harris learned nothing from Biden’s failures, and as we have come to see the previous status quo is no longer viable as a point of return. Far from the days of LBJ and Kennedy, the democrats have only fallen further into the control of corporations, consistently prioritizing money, and their re-election, over the people they represent. They regard their role of political dominance as natural now even when it is not. It lies upon us as socialists to pick up the Promethean Torch of Democracy from where it has been forgotten and raise it higher than ever before. The people must reclaim their voice so that we can have a true functional democracy rather than a 2-party diarchy or a populist dictatorship. We as Americans, should never again have to fear for their livelihoods or our communities. We can restore democracy and the American dream but one better and stronger than before. Not as the founding fathers envisioned, but as we were promised as children. Only through that idealized America achieved through socialism may we triumph.

It is thus in my eyes necessary to launch a new crusade against fascism, bigotry, prejudice, corruption, and poverty. An honest one, a just one, and a peaceful one, but one that nonetheless is a new and more radical change than anything before it. We now live in abnormal times and the old norms are no longer sustainable. There is a struggle before us from which we cannot back down and we cannot surrender. The leaders that people trusted to defend their rights have shown that they will do nothing in the face of this crisis, and all that remains for the people are each other.

Triangle DSA stands firmly in support of Palestinian Liberation. Our chapter is staunchly anti-zionist and anti-imperialist. We also find it essential to engage in a practice that is rooted in the rich history of resistance to colonial projects. In light of the recent implementation of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, we find it all the more important to emphasize the importance of anti-colonial struggle and an end to the occupation with full rights and liberties to Palestinians as the true goal of this movement. 

This article will cover the theory that guides our practice through an exposition on the South African Anti-Apartheid movement and its connection to the Palestinian Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement. We will then cover the direct ways in which TDSA has put this theory into practice through campaigns, commitments, and material changes in our communities. We call on all comrades committed to Palestinian Liberation to join us in this member-led work, and sign our pledge to boycott Israeli products in our communities.

Section I - The importance of being anti-zionist

Zionism is a nationalist movement that seeks to establish a Jewish ethnostate. Though other locations were initially considered during Zionism’s ideological formation in the 19th century, Palestine was ultimately chosen as the site for this colonial project. Zionism historically emerged in response to the severe deprivation, discrimination, and antisemitism that Jewish communities experienced across Eastern and Western Europe, and it relied on the imperial powers such as the UK, France, and later the US for financial, ideological and military support for this colonization (1, 2, 3). From the outset, Zionism was conceived as a settler colonial movement, which expels Palestinians from their land through ethnic cleansing, extermination, and expropriation. It is intent on rendering Palestinian lives unlivable through occupation, siege, policing, infrastructural and legal apartheid, and maiming (4,5,6). As a political, economic, and sociocultural ideology that operates transnationally, Zionism seeks continuous expansion through warmaking, proliferation of settlements on Palestinian territories, and eradication of Palestinian identity, history, memory, and culture (7). 

Because Zionism claims to represent all Jews, it erases non-European Jewish experiences and other ways of being Jewish that were historically formed in entanglement with Muslims and Arabs (8). The ideological machine of Zionism is supported by donors and committed politicians, pro-Zionist think tanks and media, religious institutions such as evangelical churches in the US, and cultural practices such as birthright trips to Israel (9). Apart from liberal political circles across the globe, the Israeli government has forged relationships with the far-right leaders and movements in apartheid South Africa and some Latin American countries, and it has found ideological support among Hindu nationalists, Christian militias in Lebanon, and forces that are deeply antisemitic (10).

In the DSA, we do not support Zionism. To take an anti-Zionist stance is to speak and act against the racist violence of the ethno-nationalist state, unleashed with brutality and impunity on the Palestinian people, land, culture, and future and propped up by colonial logics and imperialist calculations of the global powers such as the US. To be an anti-Zionist also means to call for the end of continuous Nakbah, or the catastrophe for Palestinians; to demand the end of war on Palestinian children; and to advocate for the end of illegal occupation of Palestine and Israel’s expansionist ambitions in the region. To challenge Zionism is to pursue the creation of a space where Palestinians and Jews will collectively flourish in peace, safety, and justice (11).

To be an anti-Zionist does not mean to be anti-Semitic. The dangerous and purposeful conflation between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism stifles any critique of the Israeli state’s policies, while diverting attention from the objective rise in anti-Semitism in many societies across the globe (12). Leftist politicians, academics, and religious and secular Jews who have spoken for peace, justice, and liberation in Palestine have been viciously attacked (13). This is a deeply concerning trend because it undermines critique, threatens academic and other democratic freedoms, and continues to render Palestinian—and Jewish—lives unsafe (14).

Section II - Anti-zionism in practice: The Origins of the BDS Movement

Resistance to Zionism as a racist, imperialist, and colonial ideology takes many forms. One of the most widespread globally is the Boycott, Divest, and Sanction movement, or BDS. It calls for an end to the occupation, the recognition of equal rights of Palestinians in their homeland, as well as ensuring the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland. BDS emerged as a tactic in 2005 and calls for a full consumer boycott of Israel across food, culture, and academia; institutional divestment from Israeli corporations complicit in apartheid; and governmental sanctions that would end military or free-trade agreements with Israel (15).

This strategy of exerting grassroots financial pressure on entities violating human rights is not new. The BDS movement drew much inspiration directly from the South African Anti-Apartheid Movement, or AAM. Boycott campaigns against the South African apartheid regimes began in 1959 when the African National Congress issued calls to boycott the regime until compliance with a set of demands. This was done in conjunction with other tactics of advocating for international pressure and several armed resistance campaigns. Combined, this strategy had effects both inside and outside of apartheid South Africa. On the inside, millions of workers participated in general strikes, civil disobedience, and sabotage (16). Abroad, diaspora South Africans launched campaigns to boycott and take direct action against companies like Shell Oil who were operating with the apartheid regime. All of this worked to demonstrate the collective power of the South African people and forced the regime to grant them a seat at the negotiating table. From there, the non-white population was granted the right to vote and elected the ANC to power (17).

While this was not an absolute victory, and racial inequality in South Africa still exists, especially in civil and military sectors, we have learned valuable lessons from the AAM. However, the unique context surrounding the Palestinian cause should also be considered. In South Africa, the Black labor force represented the vast majority of the economy, whereas Israel’s globalized economic sectors, exploitation of the labor of Ethiopian Jews (18), and heavy restrictions on the issuing of labor permits for Palestinians (19) mean that the efficacy and potentiality of a mass general strike is weakened. The ANC reached a similar conclusion leading to its adoption of a line of armed struggle, as heavy suppression of strikes meant they “could no longer be effectively employed as an instrument of mass struggle” (20). Similarly, Islamophobia and Zionism’s toxic ideology being widespread means moral appeals against the apartheid regime are an uphill battle. The United States’ direct imperialist resource incentive in the region for its oil and natural gas resources means that it would never support sanctions, as evidenced by their repeated vetoing of UN resolutions (21). This of course does not mean that we should give up the fight. We should apply scientific socialism and learn from history.

Section III - Anti-zionism in practice: How Triangle DSA has fought Zionism with BDS Actions

Support for Palestine grew across DSA in the mid to late 2010s. In 2017, DSA joined the global call for BDS at the national convention when a vote in favor of a Palestine-focused resolution passed. This vote was a historical turning point for the organization, marking the first time it came out publicly in support of Palestinian liberation and against Zionism.  The vote also led to the creation of the DSA BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group, which, following a strong recruitment period from 2019 to 2021, included several members of Triangle DSA. However, due to internal friction within the DSA, the BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group separated itself from the larger DSA organization, but DSA still holds space for Palestine organizing under the International Committee.

Before any of the steps taken to acknowledge the struggle for Palestinian freedom happened within the larger DSA organization, Triangle DSA was making moves to support and actively engage in Palestinian liberation, cementing our work on local Palestine organizing and support for Palestinian liberation at the local level. In coalition with ten other organizations, Triangle DSA organized with the Demilitarize Durham2Palestine campaign to end police exchanges between Israel and the city of Durham. The work culminated into a historic win at our city level when Durham voted in favor of banning police exchanges with Israel, and became the first city ever to ban police exchanges with Israel.

But it didn’t end there. Momentum grew after the win, and people and organizations reached out to join the coalition as the movement for Palestinian solidarity grew at the local level. The coalition continued Palestine organizing at this local level while Palestine organizing was growing at the national scale through the BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group. One of the campaigns that the Working Group produced, among many other valuable resources, is the No Appetite for Apartheid (NA4A) Campaign. In 2024, this campaign gained traction at our local Triangle DSA chapter level and a group from our International Solidarity Working Group formed to work on the campaign across our cities. With much success in the first year, 16 stores across the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill-Carrboro, and other towns in between) promised to boycott Israeli goods and products by not purchasing and selling items from Israel. The Triangle soon saw NA4A posters hung on windows across the region indicating the stores’ proud boycott of Israeli goods. 

This local campaign is ongoing and growing momentum. It is our intention to continue to build public support for the boycott and use that to pressure even larger stores into changing their stocking practices. We believe that it is through this collective action that we can exert direct economic pressure on the apartheid regime, striking at nearly $300 million U.S spends on import of Israeli food products (22).

Section IV - Anti-zionism in practice: How Triangle DSA rejects Zionism internally 

Alongside this direct action campaign, DSA members across the country were organizing to pass a resolution to explicitly commit to anti-zionism in principle and practice. This was driven in response to certain DSA-endorsed elected officials taking action that contradicted our values. For example, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez voted “present” instead of “nay” on a resolution to fund Israel’s Iron Dome military defense system (23). More recently, she voted to adopt the IHRA’s definition of anti-semitism, which considers any criticism of Israel as anti-semitic (24). The DSA resolution put forth that Zionism, being imperialist, racist, and colonialist, has no place in DSA. In turn, it proposed that candidates seeking DSA endorsement must pledge: to support BDS, to not platform or receive money from Zionist lobbying groups, to support legislation that promotes Palestinian liberation (such as sanctions on Israel and calls for ceasefire), and to oppose legislation that harms Palestinians (such as sending military resources or adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism). The resolution also proposed members of DSA who engage in Zionist behavior, (such as consistent public opposition to Palestine and BDS, material support or affiliation the Israeli government, Zionist lobbying groups, or settler NGOs) would be considered in substantial disagreement with DSA’s principles and thus eligible for expulsion.

This resolution was brought forth to the 2024 National Political Convention, but it was heavily amended before getting passed. The amendments included the removal of the expulsion clause and mechanisms for enforcing the standards against endorsed officials. This sparked a wave among local DSA chapters to pass a local, unamended version of the resolution. Triangle DSA in particular had already passed a BDS resolution in 2022 that affirmed our chapter’s support of BDS and required that our endorsed candidates do so materially as well or risk censure by our steering committee. We saw supporting an Anti-Zionist resolution as a means to bolster and add new restrictions of candidates on members in light of trends at the national level. This resolution was brought forth to our general body meeting in September and passed unanimously with one abstention.

The moment we are in calls for us to be explicit with our stances. When Palestinian voices are being silenced and racist ideologies are being touted as sanctified through conflation with religion, the harm caused by toeing the line is greater and greater. It is clear that Zionism is a racist, imperialist, and colonialist ideology that has no place among those who reject genocide and apartheid. We stand alongside a rich history of resisting such colonial projects and call on you to join us. Pledge to boycott Israeli products. Join our DSA chapter to get involved in local organizing for Palestinian Liberation. Together we can turn the Triangle into an apartheid-free zone.

Citations 

 1. Khalidi, R., 2020. The hundred years' war on Palestine: A history of settler colonialism and resistance, 1917–2017. Metropolitan Books.

2.  Erakat, N., 2020. Justice for some: Law and the question of Palestine. Stanford University Press.

3.  Awad, S. ed., 2020. Palestine: A Socialist Introduction. Haymarket Books.

4. Puar, J. 2017. The Right to Maim: Debility, Capacity, Disability. Duke University Press.

5.  Bhungalia, L. 2023. Elastic Empire: Refashioning War through Aid in Palestine. Stanford University Press.

6. Weizman, E., 2024. Hollow land: Israel’s architecture of occupation. Verso books.

7.  Middle East Eye. 2024. Israel: Settler group advertises new properties in southern Lebanon. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israeli-settler-group-advertises-new-properties-southern-lebanon 

8. Azoulay, A. A. 2024. The Jewelers of the Ummah: a Potential History of the Jewish Muslim World. Verso.

9.  Documentary. 2023. Israelism: The Awakening of Young American Jews.

10. Loewenstein, A. 2024. Israel and Apartheid South Africa Were the Closest of Friends. Jacobin.

11. Pappe, I. 2024. Ten Myths about Israel. Verso.

12. Pappe, I., 2022. A history of modern Palestine. Cambridge University Press.

13. Hill, M.L. and Plitnick, M., 2021. Except for Palestine: The limits of progressive politics. The New Press.

14. Bailey, C. 2023. Reports of antisemitism, anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bias continue to surge across the US, new data shows. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/11/us/adl-cair-hate-crimes-bias-incidents-reaj/index.htm 

15. Palestinian Civil Society. https://bdsmovement.net/call 

16.  African National Congress, 1969. Strategy and Tactics of the ANC. https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/anc/1969/strategy-tactics.htm 

17.  Kemp, Stephanie, 2012. The British Anti-Apartheid Movement  https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/british-anti-apartheid-movement

18.  Semyonov, M., Raijman, R., Maskileyson, D. 2015. Ethnicity and Labor Market Incorporation of Post-1990 Immigrants in Israel. Springer Nature

19. Masarwa, L., MacDonald, A. 2023. Gaza workers in Israel stranded after permits revoked. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-gaza-workers-permits-revoked

20.   African National Congress, 1969. Strategy and Tactics of the ANC. https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/anc/1969/strategy-tactics.htm 

21. Al Jazeera Staff. 2024. US vetoes UN Security Council resolution demanding Gaza ceasefire https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/20/us-vetoes-un-security-council-resolution-demanding-gaza-ceasefire

22. World Integrated Trade Solution. 2022. Food Products Exports by Israel. https://wits.worldbank.org/CountryProfile/en/Country/ISR/Year/2022/TradeFlow/Import/Partner/All/Product/16-24_FoodProd

23. Uddin, R. 2021. AOC faces backlash for crying, but not voting, over bill to fund Israel's Iron Dome https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-iron-dome-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-aoc-present-condemned Middle East Eye

24. Nassar, T., Abunimah, A. 2024 AOC votes to back Israel lobby’s bogus “anti-Semitism” definition. https://electronicintifada.net/content/aoc-votes-back-israel-lobbys-bogus-anti-semitism-definition/50066 Electronic Intifada

Mark your calendars!

Our next chapter meeting is Thursday, February 27th at 6pm PT. It will be a Zoom meeting. RSVP here!

This meeting will be covering our upcoming efforts in 2025, including membership initiatives and Chapter Rules. We strongly encourage members to join this meeting to voice their interests, recommendations, and suggestions for the benefit of the Chapter. 

Additionally, we’ll also discuss our open Chapter leaderships roles.

Written by

Local News:

A new study reveals that singles are struggling more than married couples to make house payments. Nearly 70% of singles have difficulty paying rent or mortgages, compared to 52% of married couples. Additionally, 21% of singles and 27% of divorced or separated individuals skip meals to afford housing, a higher rate than the 14% of married couples. Those not married are also more likely to borrow money or take side jobs. With fewer married couples in U.S. households, experts urge city planners to consider affordability for singles. Despite challenges, most people are still paying on time, with only 1 in 20 homeowners late.

A St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office corrections deputy, Devin Mills, was arrested by the Port St. Lucie Police on a charge of burglary with assault or battery. The incident occurred while he was off duty. Following the arrest, Mills was placed on unpaid administrative leave, and the SLCSO has launched an administrative investigation while awaiting the results of the criminal charges.

State News:

Two Florida women, Rileigh Decker (20) and Summer Layman (24), were attacked by a shark while swimming in Bimini Bay, The Bahamas, on Friday evening. The women had been on a boat ride and decided to jump in the water together. Decker felt a tug on her leg and realized she had been bitten by a shark. Layman suffered a bite on her foot, while Decker’s injuries were more severe. Both were initially treated locally and then airlifted to a hospital for further care. Both women are expected to recover fully. Shark attacks in the Bahamas are rare, with only 34 recorded since 1580. This is at least the third reported attack involving American tourists in the country since 2023.

Florida lawmakers are meeting for a special session starting Tuesday to address immigration, called by Gov. Ron DeSantis after weeks of internal GOP disagreements. The session, lasting until Friday, focuses on legislation related to President Trump’s immigration orders. DeSantis aims to enhance law enforcement cooperation between state, local, and federal authorities to combat immigration. Proposed bills include penalties for noncitizens voting, stricter bail conditions for unauthorized migrants, and restrictions on benefits for immigrants. DeSantis also highlighted a new agreement with ICE giving the Florida Highway Patrol expanded powers.

Citations:

https://www.wptv.com/news/treasure-coast/region-st-lucie-county/st-lucie-county-deputy-arrested-in-port-st-lucie-faces-charge-of-burglary

https://www.wptv.com/money/consumer/nearly-70-of-singles-are-skipping-this-to-pay-for-housing

https://www.wptv.com/news/state/2-florida-women-injured-in-apparent-shark-attack-in-the-bahamas

https://www.wptv.com/news/state/florida-lawmakers-returned-for-special-session-to-address-illegal-immigration

Cleveland DSA joins the rest of the Democratic Socialists of America in condemning President Trump’s immediate assault on immigrants, trans people, and workers through his recent slew of executive orders. These orders will not only make life worse for workers across the nation, they highlight the undemocratic nature of the US state, investing such powerful authority in its executive and judiciary to carry out these attacks while obstructing and limiting our proportional representation as workers in the legislature.

As socialists, we are not surprised that right-wing Republicans are joining their pro-capitalist, anti-worker economic policies with hateful culture-war rhetoric, which always go hand-in-hand—neither are we surprised that Democrats, equally committed to the status quo, have failed to put up any meaningful resistance to these efforts, with many falling directly in line. Despite these conditions, DSA will continue fighting for its program and loudly proclaiming that Workers Deserve More! While we prepare to defend each other, we will never stop demanding universal healthcare, a shorter work week, an end to the US war machine, a free Palestine, and a socialist economy that works for us all. 
It is our belief that only the organized power of the working class, whether at the ballot box or in the streets, can prevent Trump’s agenda from coming to pass. It is our mission to do everything we can over the next four years to build that power. To join us in resisting these attacks on working people and to build a socialist alternative to the two-party system, join DSA at https://dsausa.org.

The post Cleveland DSA Statement on Trump Executive Orders appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.