In the last year, the US and Israel have killed over possibly 200,000 Palestinians and devastated millions more lives in its genocidal assault to destroy Gaza and the West Bank. […]

The post Statement After One Year of Resistance to Genocide appeared first on Houston DSA.

Thorn West: Issue No. 216

State Politics

• The deadline for Governor Newsom to sign or veto state legislation passed on Monday. Prominent legislation vetoed by the governor include SB 1047, an AI safety bill, SB 961, a bill that mandated new cars sold California warn drivers when they’re speeding, and AB 3129, which would have allowed the state to block private equity purchases of health care facilities. Further roundup here. 

• Newsom approved several bills that derived from the work of the California Reparations Task Force, including one that required the state to acknowledge and formally apologize for the its role in American chattel slavery. However, Newsom vetoed SB 1050, which facilitated restitution for those who had property taken through racially motivated eminent domain, because it relied on a separate bill to establish a Freedmen Affairs Agency, which was stalled just before the legislative deadline.

• It’s rarely noted in media coverage of vetoed legislation, but of the 189 bills Newsom vetoed, 170 passed with veto-proof majorities in both chambers. However, the legislature has not overridden a governor’s veto since 1979.

City Politics

• Newly appointed City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson sat for an interview with LA Public Press

• Leaked documents revealed that the state attorney general wants Los Angeles to redraw council districts ahead of the 2026 election, after the most recent redistricting process in 2020 was discredited by scandal.

• Mayor Bass has appointed former Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell to serve as chief of the LAPD. Next, City Council will vote on the appointment.

• Two candidates from DSA-LA’s 2024 endorsement slate have received endorsements from the LA Times: Karla Griego for School Board District 5 and Ysabel Jurado for CD 14. To help get DSA-LA’s endorsed candidates elected, see our event calendar, or sign up for a working group here.

Housing Rights

• DSA-LA was part of a coalition that organized a tenants and workers solidarity march on Saturday to demand affordable rent and liveable wages. This year, the city will reconsider the formula that determines how much  rent on the city’s rent-stabilized units can be raised each year. DSA-LA is organizing to ensure that the adjustments favor tenants; see here for more.

• The city of Los Angeles must increase its zoning capacity by 250,000 residential units to comply with state housing law. The LA Times notes that almost all of this added capacity is currently being planned for already dense areas. This makes it more likely that building the new units will come at the expense of tenants, and will require demolishing existing rent controlled units.

The post Tenants and Workers Rally for Fair Rent and Wages + Gov Newsom Vetoes 16% of 2024 Legislation appeared first on The Thorn West.

Yesterday, HDSA members showed up in solidarity with the @ilasagcd dockworkers on day one of their strike on USMX. 45,000 workers are on strike for the first time since 1977, […]

The post Statement On ILA Strike appeared first on Houston DSA.

Last month, several GRDSA folks traveled to the Straits of Mackinac for a gathering of Great Lakes Water Protectors. We joined a potluck, a kayak paddle-out, a water festival and a day of workshops on a gorgeous campsite.

The impetus for this annual gathering is the struggle to stop the construction of the pipeline tunnel across the Mackinac straits and ultimately shut down Line 5 completely.

In many ways, it’s fitting that this took place over Labor Day weekend. This holiday is disproportionately enjoyed by those who work weekday 9-5 jobs, while many working class people, often doing essential jobs, still have to work.

We know that the current and coming environmental crisis will disproportionately affect working class people who don’t have the resources to adapt to disasters caused by pipeline spills and continued reliance on fossil fuels. These challenges range from access to clean water to mitigating damage from floods and extreme weather events.

The struggle against Line 5 is also deeply related to indigenous land and water rights as it trespasses on tribal land and threatens access to traditional food sources. They would be disproportionately hurt if it were to ever break, despite having no say in its construction or maintenance. Every day Line 5 is allowed to operate risks disaster, if it were to fail it would cause incalculable damage to our environment and drinking water for generations. That’s why it’s so important we protest it every chance we get, only a mass movement of those most affected can finally remove this threat.

The post Protect Our Water: End Line 5 appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

DSA’s National Political Education Committee is beyond excited to invite you to read (or re-read!) Karl Marx’s Capital, Volume I with fellow DSAers! This is a fantastic opportunity to bring us all together to discuss a fundamental text. Whether you consider yourself a Marxist or not, if you’re in DSA, your politics have been shaped by this big fat book. So, let’s talk about it!

This is planned as a national reading group that will host a kickoff event on October 1, with

• 5 more DSA-wide reading meetings between October and March,
• asynchronous chapter and at-large curriculum outlines for local study support between our large meetings,
• a moderated DSA forum category for debate and discussion as the reading group progresses,
• opportunities to volunteer,
• and more!

While the occasion for this reading group is the publication of the new translation of Capital coming out this month (and many comrades are very excited about that), any version that you prefer to follow along with the conversation is OK–whether it’s the free version on marxists.org, the classic Penguin edition, the brand-new Princeton translation, or another preferred version. Any level of familiarity with the text coming in is also OK–whether it’s your very first time or your umpteenth, we want you to participate. We intend to make it accessible, comradely, and a rich ground for us to listen and contribute.  

RSVP for the Capital Reading Group here, and we’ll see you soon, comrades!