In this episode, Aaron Stauffer (Associate Director, The Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice) joins to discuss faith, the strategies of broad-based community organizing, and the role of sacred values in organizing work. For more on the topic, check out his book: Listening to the Spirit: The Radical Social Gospel, Sacred Value, and Broad-based Community Organizing.

A Statement from the CA DSA State Committee about the 2024 election

Donald Trump, Republicans, and their billionaire backers have won the presidency and control of Congress along with it. Though we woke up Wednesday morning to this terrible news, these results were not decided overnight.

Trump and Republicans across the country have run disgusting campaigns marked by fascism, racism, misogyny, and placing the blame for our suffering on immigrants, trans people, and workers.

In turn, the Democratic establishment thought it wise to pivot to the right, chasing an imaginary constituent at the expense of people’s lives and livelihoods.

In California, our statewide election results were also not what we’d hope for or worked towards. Our statewide organization endorsed and campaigned for Prop 5, which would make building public infrastructure and housing easier, and Prop 33, which would have removed California’s strict limits on rent control. 

Just like in our federal elections, billionaires, landlords, and developers spent hundreds of millions of dollars across the state to lie to voters about these measures, and both failed. Though this is the case, as democratic socialists, we are more committed than ever to continue fighting for justice for tenants and workers. 

Amid all this news, it is understandable to be overwhelmed. But, as Dr. King reminds us, “Revolution, though born of despair, cannot long be sustained by despair.” In these moments, for the sake of our communities and our planet, we are called to keep hope alive, and work like hell to turn things around. And there is reason to be hopeful.

Across California, where our members came together, organized, and knocked on doors, working class champions won. We took on moneyed interests and won seats on city councils, school boards, and other offices. That work matters and will make a material impact on many lives.

We have to keep methodically organizing in our cities and towns toward larger and larger victories. We must also act immediately upon Trump’s return to the White House to protect our community members he has demonized and put at risk. Every life we save will be worth it.

It is our responsibility to move forward thoughtfully and with nothing less than solidarity.

California DSA will soon be hosting an introductory lesson to democratic socialism and how it is the solution to our current crisis. It will be open to anyone who is interested in or new to our organization. We’ll also be announcing plans for our statewide organization moving forward. Stay tuned.

We can and must push forward; our futures depend on it.  

Sign up for our California DSA 101

When I was canvassing for Jovanka Beckles’s State Senate campaign (Senate District 7) in late September, I spoke with a woman in north Oakland who was concerned that rents in her neighborhood might get too high for long-time residents to stay. It was, she said, that mix of new and older neighbors that made the area feel special in Oakland and, for her, like home. My canvassing partner and I assured her that Jovanka has consistently used her political office to fight for working-class tenants like her.     

Many of the East Bay DSA canvassers who went out that afternoon for Jovanka heard the same thing from neighbors:  thanks that we were the first people to knock on their doors to tell them about a statewide race. 

Active Champion

The DSA campaign for Jovanka has reached voters across the East Bay and has activated new members in the process. We’ve spoken to residents’ concerns by talking with them about our chapter’s campaigns, from our demands that local government divest from Israeli apartheid to our advocacy for fair schedules for transit workers. That integration is possible because Jovanka has consistently been an active champion of all these causes as an elected socialist and as a member of our chapter. 

When I spoke with an Oakland resident in July who was concerned about the unfolding genocide in Gaza, I could tell her that Jovanka has been an avowed supporter of the Palestinian cause and that our chapter was collecting signatures for a local divestment campaign, which the voter eagerly signed. For our canvass focused on labor, we could easily transition from talking with a neighbor about Jovanka’s successful effort to raise the minimum wage as a city councilor in Richmond to asking whether they wanted to organize in their workplace. When we talked with voters about her work as a transit board member, we could tell them about our chapter’s campaign to work alongside Jovanka and the transit workers union (ATU 192) to demand fair and humane schedules for bus operators.    

Talking with neighbors works

Talking at the door about how our campaigns align with Jovanka’s vision helps bring our members and new organizers to our events. At our last two canvasses, I partnered with new members who had joined our chapter within the last month. Talking with neighbors about our work also helps those members see the scope of our chapter’s organizing. 

For canvassers and canvass-ees, Jovanka’s corporate-free campaign starts the conversation. It also sharply distinguishes her from her opponent, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín. Arreguín has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from real estate lobbyists, a correctional officers union, PG&E and Uber. Jovanka, on the other hand, helped win millions for the community from Chevron, which has a refinery in Richmond. While Arreguín, who proudly took a pro-Israel lobby trip in 2022, has loudly opposed any ceasefire resolution from Berkeley City Council, Jovanka has stood firm in her support for an end to US complicity in the genocide.

Whether in Gaza or in our own East Bay senate district, Jovanka has consistently supported just causes that align with our chapter’s organizing. We can confidently tell neighbors like that resident in north Oakland that she’ll keep fighting against the root causes of displacement and for social services that empower the working class. 

Bay Area DSA members (and those who aren’t yet members!) can join our next canvass for Jovanka and our other endorsed candidates on the morning of Sunday, November 3.  

You can contribute to Jovanka’s corporate-free campaign here.

Civil rights lawyer and long time member of Religious Socialism, Fran Quigley, joins the podcast to share experiences in eviction court, encourage those working for housing justice, and cast a vision for hope in the "pinch" of the U.S. housing system.