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Hello Comrades,

Are you ready for fall? At MADSA, we’re kicking off cozy season with a great Wisconsin activity – apple picking! We had a summer full of outdoor fun, and we just had to squeeze in one more event before it gets too chilly. To our comrades who are looking forward to the cold, we see you and love you, and to those mourning the end of the summer sun and heat – and perhaps gazing woefully out on the lake as the sail boats are brought in for the year – we feel that too. Regardless of your feelings on the weather, we all know winter in Wisconsin can be a grey and lonely time – but not when you have a strong community and the fire of revolution in your heart! Now is a great time to start building that community ahead of the gloomy months, so make sure to stop by at least one of our three cozy, comradely socials coming up: Crafting with Comrades, Coffee with Comrades, and of course apple picking!

But wait, there’s more! The energy of summer may now be waning, but at MADSA, we aren’t slowing down for a second. Besides lovely fall and winter, there’s another season on the horizon: campaign season! The Power Mapping Committee has been hard at work on electoral plans, and we need everyone involved. At tonight’s General Meeting, we will have the opportunity to pass the charter for an Electoral Working Group to really get our electoral operation up-and-running and to continue that work in the coming months and years. We will also hear from chapter member and state rep Fran Hong and member and staffer David O on the state of Wisconsin politics and what we can be doing as a chapter to be movers and shakers in our city and state’s political scene. Come out to our Canvassing Kickoff event on September 13 to get fired up about potential upcoming city council campaigns and to talk to your neighbors in District 6 about their thoughts and feelings on local life and politics. We will start with a canvassing training, so no experience is required. Even if canvassing isn’t something you ever thought you’d do, it’s always a good time to learn a new skill, and there will be experienced comrades to help every step of the way. Also, please be sure to fill out the Membership Mapping Survey linked at the bottom of this email if you haven’t yet. A thorough survey of our members is important to assessing our internal power so we can plan our labor, electoral, and other activities most strategically.

Finally, check out our new and improved Socialism 101 – now titled Beyond the Two Party System! If you attended a Socialism 101 in the past, bring a socialism-curious or two-party-fatigued friend or coworker out and help us spread the message: workers deserve more, and socialism is the way to win it.

Solidarity forever, 

Your MADSA Executive Committee

In this newsletter:

• Tue. September 9, 6:30-8:30pm: September General Membership Meeting
• Sat. September 13, 1-5:00pm: Canvassing Kickoff
• Sat. September 13, 5:30pm: Crafting with Comrades!
• Sat. September 20, 10:00am: MADSA Apple Picking Social
• Thu. September 25, 6-8:00pm: Beyond the Two Party System: A Socialist Way Forward
• Sat. September 27, 10:00am-12:00pm: Coffee with Comrades!
• Sat. October 4, 2-3:30pm: October New Member Orientation

Note: posts by individual GMDSA members do not necessarily reflect the views of the broader membership or of its leadership and should not be regarded as official statements by the chapter.

After reading that Burlington’s legendary music spot Nectar’s had permanently closed, GMDSA Secretary David Wilcox wrote to Seven Days to propose municipalizing the venue. His letter, printed on 8/20/2025, is republished below.

In response to the shutdown of Nectar’s, I’d like to suggest a solution: Why not have the city government take over and run Nectar’s? There’s nothing radical or unprecedented about the City of Burlington running a popular music venue, given that it owned and operated 242 Main for 30 years. And I would argue that a venue like Nectar’s, one that’s synonymous with the general idea of what Burlington is, contributes far more to the city’s bottom line than its own financial numbers would indicate.

Without venues like Nectar’s, Burlington loses its aura as a cool, desirable place to live. And if Nectar’s has seemed like a shadow of its former self in recent years, why not try to revitalize it under new (public) ownership? Especially since the final shutdown of Nectar’s was due to a dispute with a landlord. The city has already forced the sale of one Handy property (184 Church Street) for the greater good of the community. Surely, there’s a way to make all this happen with enough political will.

I, for one, am sick and tired of passively accepting the loss of important places and services due to “the market,” which is every bit as much a human-created institution as laws and governments. The Burlington renaissance began with then-mayor Bernie Sanders (whose administration founded 242 Main) refusing to accept the market dictating that we couldn’t have nice things. If we want Burlington’s glory days to return, we need to rediscover that energy.

David Wilcox
Winooski

by Reese A

This piece was written 08/15/25

Last week, I had the honor of representing the Liberal Arts and Science Academy chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), at YDSA’s 2025 annual national convention. It was a true honor to be their co-chair, and to serve them once more as their delegate.

Ultimately, however, I came away from the convention concerned for our political future as a movement: We were decisively against organizing students. We failed to pass crucial resolutions that would strengthen the student movement, including R23: Building Campus Consciousness, Democracy, and Militancy through Student Unions and R10: Building an International Student Movement. R23 would have provided crucial support to mass student organizing in the form of student unions, a formation that can mobilize large numbers of students in solidarity in a way that YDSA cannot. The success of the student union formation is outlined below with Students United by LASA YDSA, and I think that failing to bet on mass student organizing via student unions will remain one of the biggest lost opportunities of the convention. Additionally, R10 centered our internationalism around building relationships with student organizations as YDSA, something that must be centered in order to build an international coalition to win student demands and ultimately socialism.

Instead, we focused on gatekeeping durable socialist organizing to only people with “real” ties to the class struggle (current laborers) and building value-pure socialist groups to recruit students into. We passed resolutions like R12: For a Campaigning Internationalism and R18: Recommitting to Running Strategic Campaigns as Unapologetic Socialists, which aren’t obviously bad, but show a clear focus away from larger mass movement organizing of students towards socialist groups. This tendency fundamentally doesn’t believe that students have a claim to power, but rather we must take a backseat to the “real” working class and focus on political education, supporting their cause, and running smaller campaigns as socialists to pressure the campus. It doesn’t believe in the mass student movement or their own claim to power and representation.

This is a mistake. If we want to win material change, at our schools and in the world, we have to be comfortable organizing the people around us, having conversations, and building power. As students, we represent some of the most diverse, progressive and willing bodies of people in America, and our organizations should strive to organize and mobilize as many students as possible to win. Some might argue that students don’t have the correct “class character,” and I must disagree. We are forgetting what the root of working class is – people who are not owners, people who do not control capital. Just as unemployed people are part of the working class, so are students. Additionally, others argue that students inherently aren’t worth organizing because they’re a transient group. The student movement has built some of the strongest organizations and movements in American history, from Vietnam and Students for a Democratic Society, to divestment from South Africa and winning the collapse of apartheid, to fighting for a free Palestine today. Turnover is not a valid reason to avoid organizing – if that were true, we wouldn’t be organizing Starbucks and Amazon. Yet regardless of the excuses people give for abandoning students, none of them give a valid reason to leave them unorganized and retreat to our comfort zone of like-minded socialists. They’re progressive, willing to fight, and have organized throughout history. It would be a shame for YDSA to give up on student mass organizing, let alone for the wider socialist movement to do so, yet increasingly that seems to be the trend.

It’s important that we organize the entirety of the working class by building durable organizations to fight for change, not because that we think only the working class can win socialism, but because we truly believe in each and every one of our neighbors as people. In this time of rising fascism, believing in people is more important now than ever if we want to defeat it. Yet the socialist movement seems to be retreating into hiding, requiring that people come to our doorstep instead of organizing our neighbors en masse for change, because we no longer find hope in them. We vote down student organizing, we vote down protest organizing, we stop committing to the rank-and-file strategy and make connections with the union leaders instead. This is what fascism wants of us: to feel hopeless and that your neighbor is untrustworthy, to build division in order to cement the ruling class. Instead, we must meet neighbors where they are, with organizations that can represent them both to their schools and to the wider world, and build committed comrades out of this bond.

At LASA YDSA, we organized a student union, Students United, to serve as a durable student bargaining representative to fight for fairer learning conditions and mental health support. We currently have over 8% of the student body supporting our bid to unionize by signing Union Authorization Cards. This union attracted a wide range of people because it was rooted in a collective movement, representation, and demands for change – a movement from which we were able to build committed socialist organizers out of. While YDSA could never legitimately claim to be a representative of students and demand bargaining rights, a union could, because a union’s legitimacy comes exclusively from its status as a representative of the students instead of ideology or self-interest. YDSA can lead the movement, YDSA can build organizers from the movement, but YDSA must commit to empowering the working class to seize power for themselves. This is an important distinction because it’s both an optical, political and communal one – it’s the difference between one-party rule and a worker’s state for the people. Democratic socialists should commit to people power and democracy first and foremost, not try to make a utopian socialist society concocted out of thin air and imposed on the people.

We will not win by building a cadre vanguard that people do not feel a connection to. We will not win by treating our neighbors as peasants to be strung along. We will win through class struggle and a mass movement of each and every one of us, that, through solidarity, can be built in any community and especially within students. We must not give up on student and wider working class solidarity. We must not give up on our own communities. We must commit more, organize for power, and organize to win socialism.

The post In Defense of the Student Movement first appeared on Red Fault.

As part of a city-wide crackdown on our homeless neighbors, the City of Madison is unfairly targeting the Social Justice Center, demanding that the SJC removes its food pantry, public health vending machine, benches, and public art, in an attempt to drive away unhoused people who rely on the SJC and the organizations it houses for shelter, safety, healthcare, and support.

Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America recognizes the effort the Social Justice Center puts into addressing the housing crisis that this city ignores, and we stand with the SJC and all who rely on it.

There is no denying it: there is a crisis in Madison. Rents get higher and access to affordable housing gets more limited by the day, forcing more and more people from their homes. Public restrooms are not open early or late enough. Overcoming addiction is nearly impossible when one’s basic needs for survival are not met. Each of these problems is a rung in the ladder of capitalist oppression, which forces the working class into worse and worse conditions until they have nowhere left to go.

The city’s approach to this crisis is unjust and unhelpful. We cannot disappear the unhoused population. We must house them. We must give them safety, security, and support. They are our neighbors, community members, and constituents of the politicians who claim to represent us. Any one of us could be a layoff or medical emergency away from joining them. This crisis is a reminder to the rest of the working class that the ruling class will turn its back on anyone who isn’t making them profits.

The Beacon, Madison’s primary day shelter, is beyond capacity, so people look for shelter in other parts of the city. The city’s proposed new men’s shelter won’t be ready until next year, and will only have 250 beds – not nearly enough to meet the well-documented need.

But instead of fully funding and expanding the sorely needed homeless services and meaningfully addressing the housing crisis that makes them necessary, the city is cracking down on neighbors helping neighbors – by increasing police presence at and making punitive demands of the Social Justice Center, by threatening to close down the Dairy Drive campground with winter just around the corner, and by sweeping the encampment at the Wisconsin Veterans’ Museum.

“Solving” homelessness with incarceration is more expensive per person than harm reduction centers and housing first policies, and only perpetuates the cycle.

As community members, it is our responsibility to provide what the city will not, and the Social Justice Center aims to do exactly that. We also have to fight for a just future in which everyone has what they need. MADSA stands in solidarity with the Social Justice Center, and calls upon the Madison Common Council, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, and the Dane County Board to do right by our neighbors:

1. Stop targeting the SJC for stepping up where the city has failed.

2. Continue to fund the Dairy Drive campsite, a crucial transition program.

3. Support the Dane County Homeless Justice Initiative’s demands to fully fund homeless support services.

4. Cure the root cause of the homelessness crisis by building affordable, desirable, and dignified public housing where our neighbors can thrive, not just survive!

This is an opinion piece written by an individual member and was not voted on by membership. Opinion pieces from members do not reflect the opinions of other members and are not chapter approved statements.

To my comrades in the arts,

I write to you today, hopeful that I can answer one of the most important questions of our time.

This question sits at the back of my mind, and no doubt, most likely yours. It festers and manifests into either hope or defeat.

It inspires many, but it also leaves us with feelings of conflict. This, combined with the constant attacks from those in power and those who have been brainwashed to believe they will someday join their oppressors on that blood-soaked throne, can even make us feel unworthy and like impostors to the cause.

The question I’m here to ask today, to you, myself, and our allies across the nation and around the world, is this: How, without taking up arms, can I truly call myself a revolutionary?

We watch as the vampiric class takes our pleas for a better society as at best a tantrum, and at worst, an attack on their so-called “free world.”

We watch as the left hand of the establishment monster pats us on the head and sends us on our way, then reaches over to the right to collect its share of the wealth and power. All the while, that same right hand just moments before, with a clenched fist, slammed down and snuffed out the cries of the working class.

It’s by acknowledging that these are the likely outcomes that many of us may be too afraid to march or speak out, with the fear that you can just be abducted, sent to a place you may not even know, or risk losing what little stability you have in an already broken, unjust, and unstable system.

And all this, again, begs the question: How, without risking what little I have, can I truly be a revolutionary?

And throughout countless hours of reflection, sleepless nights, and a painful analysis of the hate rampant on social media, it’s that I’ve recognized what can be one of the most revolutionary acts of our modern times.

And that, my friends, is to create.

For too long, they have told us that our lives as creatives are meaningless. That our pursuit of the arts and knowledge about everything that makes us human is not worth it because it is not profitable.

That to live a fulfilling life, you need to give yourself to a system that does as little as possible to ensure your wellbeing in the name of profit.

Sacrifice what little time you have to pursue your passions to make even more money, and to leave little energy in your reserve so as not to question or step out of line.

To that I say, be relentless in your rebellion.

And by that I mean we must execute the perversion that is this self-hatred and submission to capitalist degradation.

Creativity feeds the human spirit, consequently fueling the desire to learn, and as we’ve seen, education is what tyrants fear most.

Because it’s through education that we can make vital steps toward achieving solidarity and collective class consciousness.

So take everything going on around you

And write a poem,
Draw a picture,
Make a song,
Pen an essay,
Record a video,

Use the arts to fuel the revolution. To create the blueprint for a world that values people over profits.

And if you say to yourself you’re not an artist, I challenge you to prove yourself wrong.

And when you do, you will realize that you are a revolutionary.

The post You Are a Revolutionary: A Letter to Working-Class Creatives first appeared on Salt Lake DSA.

Kids in Vermont have gone back to school. On their first day after the summer vacation, Windham County students may have expected to say hello again to their usual bus drivers, but that'll have to wait. Travel Kuz, the supervisory union's transportation contractor, has locked out members of Teamsters Local 597 and brought in scabs.

Bus drivers and monitors responded to their bosses' refusal to bargain by organizing pickets. On Wednesday, Travel Kuz sent them a cease-and-desist letter, calling a demonstration at Brattleboro Union High School "unlawful" and "unsafe." Local law enforcement disagreed.

The Teamsters want Windham Southeast superintendent Mark Speno to pressure Travel Kuz to end the lockout and have encouraged allies to contact him. Tell Speno (802-254-3730, mspeno@wsesdvt.org) to support the transportation workers' fight for fair wages and benefits. You can even attend the next school board meeting.

Follow Local 597's Facebook page for the latest updates. An injury to one is an injury to all.

And speaking of the Teamsters, you may see some of them in Burlington at the Labor Day Solidarity March, Rally & Picnic. Dozens of unions and activist organizations (including Green Mountain DSA) have endorsed the event.

You can help us get ready by joining us at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington) today (8/30) at 4 p.m. to create art for the rally. Feel free to bring materials.

We expect a massive turnout for the rally itself. Meet us at Battery Park at 1 p.m. on Monday, Sept 1. Labor Day belongs to workers.

Unfortunately, as the schoolkids already know, Labor Day also means that summer is over. Thanks for the memories – here are a few shots from our chapter's barbecue at Oakledge Park.

GMDSA MEETINGS & EVENTS
🚲 In order to avoid a conflict with the Labor Day rally, GMDSA's Urbanism Committee will meet on Tuesday, Sept. 2, at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

👋 Find out how you can help our Membership Committee improve recruitment and involvement in our chapter on Thursday, Sept. 4, and Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

🧑‍🏭 Our Labor Committee will hold its next meeting on Monday, Sept. 8, at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

🔨 Talk about your job and learn about shop-floor organizing from peers at Workers' Circle (co-hosted by the Green Mountain IWW) on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, including Sept. 10, at 6 p.m. at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington).

🍿 Socialist Film Club will host another backyard screening in Burlington on Friday, Sept. 12, at 7 p.m. Please email us for more information if you're interested.

🗳️ The next meeting of our Electoral Committee will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 6 p.m. on Zoom.

🤝 GMDSA's East Branch and West Branch will come together for a general meeting on Saturday, Sept. 20, at 11 a.m. at Montpelier's Christ Episcopal Church (64 State St.), with an optional orientation for newcomers at 10 a.m.

🍉 Our Palestine Solidarity Committee will meet on Monday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. on Zoom.

STATE & LOCAL NEWS
📰 GMDSA-endorsed state senator Tanya Vyhovsky (Chittenden-Central) toured Ukraine, meeting with activists, politicians, students, and trade unionists.

📰 Protesting the Trump administration, Vermonters and Quebecois gathered at the US-Canada line in an expression of international solidarity.

COMMUNITY FLYERS

The Democratic Socialists of America International Committee (DSA IC) unequivocally condemns the “peace” plan brokered by President Donald Trump between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We call on the United States to immediately reverse course and ensure that any peace agreement is finalized with full consequences for Azerbaijan’s officials for perpetrating a genocide against the indigenous Armenians of Artsakh (also known as Nagorno-Karabakh). This means ensuring the right of return for Artsakh Armenians, recognition of their right to self-determination, and prosecution for crimes against humanity by Azerbaijan’s ethno-supremacist government under Ilham Aliyev. 

Nearly two years ago, Azerbaijan finalized a brutal assault on the de facto autonomous region of Artsakh, besieging, starving, and ultimately expelling the native Armenian population. As the world first saw in 2020, this assault was made possible by U.S. complicity in the actions of two of its allies, Turkey and Israel. Despite State Department Acting Assistant Secretary Yuri Kim assuring the world that “the United States will not countenance any action or effort—short-term or long-term—to ethnically cleanse or commit other atrocities against the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh,” the United States did exactly that.

Despite Azerbaijan’s documented and numerous crimes against humanity, its occupation of sovereign Armenian territory, and its genocide of Artsakh’s Armenian population, administrations of both major parties have now acquiesced to this regime’s demands. This includes repeatedly waving Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act to send American tax dollars to arm the Azerbaijani military. The shameful situation can be explained by the geopolitics of the South Caucasus. 

Turkey, for its part, continues to engage in vehement denial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and uses fascistic, hyper-nationalist rhetoric both at home and in its foreign policy. Towards Azerbaijan, this means advancing Pan-Turkism, which largely scapegoats Armenians as an inferior and sub-human people worthy of extermination in order to create a contiguous Turkic nation. Both Turkish President Reccep Erdogan and Azerbaijani President Aliyev have, for instance, publicly praised the actions of the perpetrators of the 1915 Armenian Genocide and their immediate underlings repeatedly advance the idea of “completing” the task. However, support for Azerbaijan from U.S. allies neither starts nor ends with Turkey.

Israel, since the fall of the Soviet Union, has cultivated a deep relationship with Azerbaijan. Reports suggest that Azerbaijan continues to be one of the top three energy suppliers of Israel. In exchange, Israel sells weapons to and tests developing systems in partnership with Azerbaijan’s military. In fact, around 70 percent of Azerbaijan’s weapons are reported to come from Israel. In 2020, Israeli drones were a key factor in Azerbaijan’s victory over Armenian forces protecting Artsakh. It is likely for this reason that Israel also proudly denies the Armenian Genocide even today. Furthermore, Israel views Azerbaijan as a key geostrategic asset to gain leverage, intelligence, and supremacy over Iran, with a number of Israeli bases being hosted close to the Iranian border.

The U.S.should not sacrifice Artsakh’s Armenians on an altar to these two genocidal allies. Assisting Azerbaijan in whitewashing genocide in exchange for oil to flow from Baku to Europe and Israel and to further Pan-Turkism is criminal. As socialists, we recognize that the dignity of any people should not be contingent on their value to global capital. Tragically, this peace plan does exactly the opposite: subjugating Armenia at the expense of profit, Pan-Turkism, and Zionism. The Armenians of Artsakh have been indigenous to the region for millennia, with some of the Armenian people’s earliest cultural heritage originating in the area. Their right to self-determination is inalienable and the right of return for the over 100,000 forcibly displaced people must be part of any U.S. brokered peace along with release of prisoners of war, political prisoners, and withdrawal from occupied lands.

This injustice is compounded by the provision for a 99-year, privatized lease on a transit corridor for Azerbaijan that would cut through the Armenian region of Syunik. Profiteering on a route that will likely be used by Turkey and Israel to supply weapons to Azerbaijan to use against Armenia or Iran. The creation of such a route also calls into question Armenian sovereignty, as the corridor would potentially cut off Armenia from its only friendly neighbor, Iran.  

This would undeniably be an extension of American neo-colonial power into Armenia that, as history suggests for 99-year leases, any future Armenian government will find incredibly difficult to get out of. Troublingly, U.S. diplomatic history is checkered with interventions into smaller, less powerful countries to uphold such strategic trade routes and enrich private enterprises. This includes the Panama Canal in Panama, United Fruit in Guatemala, the overthrow of Iran’s democratically elected government, and the military takeover of Chile. This history must not be allowed to repeat itself in Armenia. Instead, the United States must go back to the table and reverse the genocide of Artsakh Armenians. 

Democratic Socialists of America’s International Committee stands with oppressed people around the world fighting for liberation against imperialism, racism, and capitalism. From Palestine, to the Congo, to Sudan, to Armenia and Artsakh, and beyond, we recognize that these struggles are interconnected. In solidarity with comrades around the world, we strongly condemn this reprehensible proposal and call on the US government to change course.

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Ամերիկայի Միացյալ Նահանգների Սոցիալիստ Դեմոկրատների Միջազգային Կոմիտեն (DSA IC) անկասկած դատապարտում է «խաղաղության» այն ծրագիրը, որ միջնորդեց նախագահ Դոնալդ Թրամփը Հայաստանի եւ Ատրպէյճանի միջեւ։ Մենք կոչումէնք անում Միացյալ Նահանգներին որ անմիջապես փոխել ընթացքը եւ ապահովել, որ խաղաղության որեւէ համաձայնագիր կնքուի միայն այն դէպքում, երբ Ատրպէյճանի պաշտօնյաները կ’ենթարկուին լիարժէք հետեւանքներու՝ Արցախի (նաեւ յայտնի իբրեւ Լեռնային Ղարաբաղ) բնիկ հայության դէմ իրականացրած ցեղասպանության համար։ Սա նշանակում է ապահովել արցախահայության վերադարձի իրաւունքը, նրանց ինքնորոշման իրաւունքի ճանաչումը, նաեւ Ատրպէյճանի էթնօ-գերազանցական վարչակարգի՝ Իլհամ Ալիեւի գլխաւորությամբ, մարդու դէմ ոճիրներու համար դատապարտումը։

Մօտ երկու տարի առաջ Ատրպէյճանը աւարտեց դաժան յարձակում Արցախի փաստացի ինքնավար շրջանի վրայ՝ պաշարելով, սովամահ անելով եւ ի վերջոյ արտաքսելով բնիկ հայ բնակչութիւնը։ Ինչպէս աշխարհը տեսաւ 2020 թուականին, այս հարձակումը հնարաւոր դարձաւ Միացյալ Նահանգներու մեղսակցությամբ՝ իր երկու դաշնակիցներու, Թուրքիոյ եւ Իսրայէլի գործողութիւններուն։ Չնայած Պետդեպարտամենտի Ժամանակաւոր Օգնական Արտգործնախարար Յուրի Քիմը վստահեցրեց աշխարհին, թէ «Միացյալ Նահանգները պիտի չհանդուրժեն որեւէ գործողութիւն կամ փորձ՝ կարճաժամկէտ թէ երկարաժամկէտ,՝ էթնիկ զտումներ կամ այլ ոճիրներ իրականացնելու համար արցախահայության դէմ», Միացյալ Նահանգները գործնականում ճիշդ այդ բանն արեցին։

Չնայած Ատրպէյճանի բազմաթիւ եւ փաստագրուած ոճիրներուն՝ մարդության դէմ, Հայաստանի ինքնիշխան տարածքներու գրաւումը եւ Արցախի հայության ցեղասպանութիւնը, երկու խոշոր կուսակցութիւններու վարչակազմերը զիջած են այս վարչակարգի պահանջներուն։ Սա ներառում է բազմիցս հրաժարվել Freedom Support Act Section 907-ի, որպէսզի ամերիկյան հարկատուներու գումարով զինեն Ատրպէյճանի բանակը։ Այս ամօթալի կացութիւնը բացատրելի է Հարաւային Կովկասի աշխարհաքաղաքականությամբ։

Թուրքիան, իր հերթին, կը շարունակէ մերժել 1915-ի Հայոց Ցեղասպանութիւնը եւ օկտագործում է ֆաշիստական, գերէթնիկ-ազգային հռետորաբանութիւն թե՛ ներքին, թե՛ արտաքին քաղաքականության մեջ։ Ատրպէյճանի հանդէպ, սա նշանակում է առաջ տանել Պանթուրքիզմը, որ հիմնականում հայութիւնը կը դարձնէ քաւության նոխազ՝ իբր անարժէք ու ենթամարդկային ժողովուրդ, որուն ոչնչացումն անհրաժեշտ է «միացյալ թուրանական ազգ» ստեղծելու համար։ Թուրքիայի նախագահ Ռէջեփ Էրդողանը եւ Ատրպէյճանի նախագահ Ալիեւը անգամ բազմիցս հրապարակավ գովեստներ յղած են 1915-ի ցեղասպանության իրագործողներուն, իսկ անոնց անմիջական հետեւորդները կրկին ու կրկին առաջ կտան գաղափարը «ավարտին հասցնելու»։ Սակայն Ատրպէյճանի հանդէպ ամերիկյան դաշնակիցներու աջակցութիւնը չի սահմանափակուիր միայն Թուրքիայով։

Իսրայէլը, Խորհրդային Միության անկումէն ի վեր, խորապէս զարգացուցած է խոր յարաբերութիւններ Ատրպէյճանի հետ։ Զեկոյցներու համաձայն, Ատրպէյճանը կմնա Իսրայէլի երեք խոշոր էներգամատակարարներէն մէկը։ Փոխարենը, Իսրայէլը զէնք վաճառում է եւ համատեղ համակարգեր կփորձարկէ Ատրպէյճանի բանակի հետ։ Իրականում, որ Ատրպէյճանի զէնքերու շուրջ 70 տոկոսը հասնում է Իսրայէլից։ 2020-ին, իսրայէլյան անօդաչուները վճռական դեր խաղացին Ատրպէյճանի յաղթանակին՝ Արցախի պաշտպանական ուժերուն դէմ։ Հաւանաբար այս պատճառով Իսրայէլը մինչեւ այսօր հպարտությամբ կժխտէ Հայոց Ցեղասպանութիւնը։ Աւելին, Իսրայէլը տեսնում է Ատրպէյճանը որպէս կարեւոր աշխարհագրական ռազմավարական ակտիվ՝  Իրանի դէմ լաւագոյն լծակներու, հետախուզական եւ ռազմական գերակայության համար՝ տեղադրելով բազում ռազմակայաններ Իրանի սահմանին մօտ։

Միացյալ Նահանգները պէտք չէ զոհաբերէ Արցախի հայութիւնը այս երկու ցեղասպան դաշնակիցներուն զոհասեղանին վրայ։ Աջակցիլ Ատրպէյճանին՝ ցեղասպանութիւնը սպիտակեցնելու համար՝ նավթը Բաքուէն դէպի Եւրոպա եւ Իսրայէլ հոսեցնելու եւ Պանթուրքիզմը առաջ տանելու նպատակով, հրէշաւոր ոճիր է։ Որպէս սոցիալիստներ, մենք ճանանչում ենք, որ որեւէ ժողովուրդի արժանապատուութիւնը չպէտք է կախուած լինի անոր արժէքէն համաշխարհային կապիտալի համար։ Ցաւօք, այս խաղաղության ծրագիրը ճիշդ հակառակնէ անոգմ՝ ենթարկելով Հայաստանն շահ շահոյթին, Պանթուրքիզմին եւ Սիոնիզմին։ Արցախի հայերը բնիկ են այս երկրամասին մէջ հազարամեակներով, ուր հայ ժողովուրդի ամենահին մշակութային ժառանգութիւններէն ոմանք ծագած են։ Անոնց ինքնորոշման իրաւունքը անօտարելի է, իսկ բռնագրաւուած 100,000 մարդոց վերադարձի իրաւունքը պէտք է լինի որեւէ ամերիկյան միջնորդությամբ խաղաղության հիմնաքարը՝ զինուորական գերիներու եւ քաղբանտարկյալներու ազատ արձակման ու օկուպացուած տարածքներու ազատման հետ միասին։

Այս անարդարութիւնը աւելի կխորանայ այն դրությամբ, որ 99 տարուան վարձակալությամբ, մասնաւորեցուած «կորիդոր» պէտք է տրամադրուի Ատրպէյճանին՝ անցնելու Հայաստանի Սիւնիքի մարզէն։ Սա կը դառնայ շահագործումի ուղի, որ մեծ հաւանականությամբ պիտի ծառայէ Թուրքիոյ եւ Իսրայէլին՝ զինելու Ատրպէյճանը Հայաստանի կամ Իրանի դէմ։ Աւելին, նման ուղիի ստեղծումը կասկածի տակ կը դնէ Հայաստանի ինքնիշխանութիւնը, քանի որ «կորիդոր»ը կարողանա կտրել Հայաստանը իր միակ բարեկամ հարեւանէն՝ Իրանից։

Սա անկասկած պիտի դառնայ ամերիկյան նեօ-գաղութատիրության երկարաձգում Հայաստանի մէջ, որ, ինչպէս պատմութիւնը ցոյց ե տալիս 99 տարուան վարձակալութիւններու պարագային, որեւէ ապագայ հայկական կառավարության համար չափազանց դժուար պիտի լինի վերացնելու։ Խիստ մտահոգիչ է, որ Միացյալ Նահանգներու դիւանագիտական պատմութիւնը լի է փոքր եւ տկար երկիրներու նկատմամբ միջամտութիւններով՝ նման ռազմավարական առեւտրական ուղիներ ապահովելու եւ մասնաւոր ձեռնարկութիւններ հարստացնելու նպատակով։ Սա ներառած է Փանամայի ջրանցքը, «United Fruit»-ը Գուատեմալայում, Իրանի ժողովրդավարօրէն ընտրուած կառավարության տապալումը եւ Չիլիի զինուորական յեղաշրջումը։ Այս պատմութիւնը պէտք չէ կրկնուի Հայաստանի մէջ։ Փոխարէնը, Միացյալ Նահանգները պէտք է վերադառնան բանակցութիւններու սեղան եւ դադրեցնեն Արցախի հայության ցեղասպանութիւնը։

Ամերիկայի Միացյալ Նահանգների Սոցիալիստ Դեմոկրատների Միջազգային Կոմիտեն (DSA IC) կանգնում է աշխարհի բոլոր ճնշուած ժողովուրդներու կողքին՝ ազատագրության պայքարին մէջ՝ դէմ կայսերապաշտության, ռասիզմին, եւ կապիտալիզմին։ Պաղեստինէն մինչեւ Կոնգօ, Սուդան, Հայաստան եւ Արցախ եւ անդին՝ մենք ճանաչում ենք, որ այս պայքարները փոխկապակցուած են։ Համաշխարհային ընկերներու հետ համերաշխությամբ, մենք վճռականօրէն կը դատապարտենք այս անպատշաճ առաջարկը եւ կը կոչենք Ամերիկյան կառավարութիւնը փոխել իրենց ընթացքը։

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Since March 2025, Buffalo DSA has endorsed LOLA’s Communities Not Cops campaign, with overwhelming support from our general membership. As this project begins to receive the citywide attention and debate it deserves, the Buffalo DSA Steering Committee reaffirms our support of efforts to educate and agitate against a police training facility and shooting range on Paderewski Drive. We also urge all members of Buffalo DSA to follow LOLA’s calls to action re: demanding Common Councilmembers vote “NO” on the rezoning of the Paderewski Drive location, as listed on their Instagram page.

The creation of a police training facility increases the Buffalo Police Department’s capacity for targeting working-class Buffalonians through violent interventions, especially those in minority ethnic groups and within our city’s poorest communities. This is especially heinous considering Paderewski Drive was once home to a community center; we are disappointed to see the city invest in more militarized policing, rather than restoring a public civic space. This is completely counter to the just city we deserve – not just for those in the immediate neighborhood, but for working class communities citywide. We have been disappointed by the limited scope of debate around this project to this point, which suggests that only the immediate neighborhood will be impacted by this facility. We encourage comrades and neighbors to consider the larger ramifications of a police training facility of this kind.

Said limited scope of debate stems from a source actively collaborating with the Buffalo Police Department to push this project through. The Central Terminal Neighborhood Association is claiming a mandate to speak for the entire area, despite reports that opposition to the project has now spread beyond LOLA’s initial campaign, and to Broadway-Fillmore community members who have just learned about the project relative to its progress. Neighbors deserve fair representation of the project to them, rather than vague promises of a “community benefits agreement” with BPD – the details of which include only surface-level commitments toward “youth programs” in part of the facility and keeping neighborhood trees intact. We also condemn undignified smear tactics, printed or otherwise recorded publicly, that concerned citizens across Buffalo are only seeking cameras or clicks.

As the Common Council, the Buffalo Police Department, and other crucial city officials collude to advance this project via their Sep. 2 vote, we once again doubt their belief in democratic processes, and question the Central Terminal Neighborhood Association’s mandate to speak for the city on the matter.

Our chapter’s vision for demilitarized policing takes from the rich history of American socialism, notably from the legacy of American socialist Eugene V. Debs. Debs stated in 1918, after his conviction for violating the Sedition Act:

“While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

While we cannot speak for a long-deceased comrade, Debs’ rhetoric throughout his life demanded the liberation of the working class from oppression and tyranny. To aid and abet the tyranny of modern policing is antithetical to the American socialist tradition.