No Money for Massacres
We demand that no money be spent on massacres.
The Israeli government has openly called for the forced displacement of 1.1 million Palestinians living in Gaza. The defense minister has referred to Palestinians as “animals.” This is the language of genocide.
In the face of the imminent ethnic cleansing of over a million people, the US State Department has actively rejected calls for a ceasefire and an end to the violence. This is more than just complicity. The Biden administration is actively supporting the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. As democratic socialists, we demand that no money be given to fuel a massacre.
We call on every member of Congress to demand an immediate ceasefire and to vote against providing military aid to the Israeli state. Silence is not an option. Elected officials have a choice. You can stand on the right side of history in favor of peace and against apartheid. Or you can cheerlead a massacre.
History will remember which you choose.
The post No Money for Massacres appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).
Stop Genocide in Gaza
The situation in the Middle East has been deteriorating very rapidly. So many families across the arbitrary border dividing Israel-Palestine have been sobbing and mourning the loss of loved ones. We are witnessing an unprecedented loss of life.
In the wake of terrifying attacks on a music festival in Israel and the bombing of civilian infrastructure and dense residential areas in Gaza -- including apartment blocks and refugee camps -- Gaza is under a complete siege as Israel prepares for what looks like an imminent ground invasion of the enclave, while Palestinians in the West Bank face settler paramilitary forces.
DSA members across the country are mobilizing right now by attending and hosting protests, writing letters and calling members of Congress. In PDSA we are going to be having phonebanking and letter writing calls this weekend from 4 PM - 6:30 PM this Saturday and Sunday, pressuring our elected officials to support immediate deescalation and defunding of Israel’s war on Gaza, filling their inboxes with opposition to this unconscionable war. Sign up for our PDSA phonebank here. We call for peace for all people and stand against reprisals and violence against all innocent civilians. We echo the national statement of DSA on October 8th and encourage all to read it.
Make no mistake, an invasion of Gaza would be catastrophic. Gaza is one of the most densely populated areas in the entire world. Israel has however issued an impossible demand: 1.1 million people in northern Gaza are being told to flee south from Gaza City to the southern end of the Gaza Strip. It's not clear whether they would ever let Gazans return to their homes, and it's even less clear how they could flee to begin with when civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. It seems we are watching the groundwork for a genocide being laid before our eyes. Thousands of people would die if Israel invaded, we need to stop this now.
We will not be demoralized, there are things we can do. Please come to at least one of our emergency phonebanks this weekend. And for things you can do right now, if you can spare a few dollars, please donate to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. This organization is providing crucial on the ground aid immediately after airstrikes in Gaza which are displacing thousands of people -- mostly children. Here's a link to their homepage.
Secondly, please call your representatives and urge them to stop American support for genocide. The US funds Israel with billions in war aid despite it being illegal to do so under US law. 2 million people are trapped in Gaza right now, with electricity, water, and food supplies cut off by Israel which is imposing a complete blockade of the densely populated region. The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights has a dialer up to help us call our representatives. Please call your representatives. Here's a link to the dialer.
Another tool, from NYC-DSA, No Money for Massacres: Palestine Solidarity, their letter writing tool. Here's a link to it. This will let you send a letter to your representatives. Right now Florida politicians like Marco Rubio are actively calling for genocide of Palestinians. We must stop them. We also need to pressure our elected DSA members in Congress in the Squad to lead and stop these warhawks. Representatives like Rashida Tlaib are under intense pressure and we need to have their backs.
And finally, while we are still as a chapter figuring out what to do, we've put together a participation form to share with our members and even folks outside of DSA to get together to stop atrocities. We are living through extremely difficult times and we think we need to be together in person collaborating together although for now we are meeting on Zoom as mentioned above. If you can help connect us to an in-person location please let us know immediately. If you can join in such efforts, please fill out our participation form – and share it with your friends – and we can text you very soon about more ways to get involved.
Friends, it is so easy to fall into despair and demobilization. But I must tell you: we can stop genocide. Not only that, we must. 2 million Gazans are being persecuted after a generation of grueling oppression and occupation. While it's hard for us in the States to witness this, it's a life and death situation in Gaza. We don't have all the answers right now, but these are just a few things we can do right now to move the needle towards justice. If you have more ideas on what we can do, please submit to the participation form above, and attend one of our phonebanks.
In solidarity,
PDSA Outreach Team
Chicago DSA Condemns City Council Resolution On Israel
We reject a resolution passed today by the City Council which unequivocally supports the actions of the Israeli state without any recognition of the humanity and oppression of the Palestinian people, especially as Israel stands poised to destroy Gaza and indiscriminately kill Gaza residents in an unprecedented ground invasion. There is no justification for violence against civilians, and there is no justification for collective punishment and apartheid.
In this moment, we must be bold in our calls for peace and the deescalation of an already horrific crisis. We thank DSA members Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez and Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez for their brave floor speeches against the resolution.
In solidarity,
Co-Chairs of Chicago DSA
The post Chicago DSA Condemns City Council Resolution On Israel appeared first on Midwest Socialist.
Statement In Support Of Palestinian Liberation
In the face of over 75 years of settler-colonial violence and genocide, the will and spirit of the Palestinian resistance burns brighter than ever. The state of Israel has ethnically […]
The post Statement In Support Of Palestinian Liberation appeared first on Houston DSA.
River Valley DSA Condemns the Tax Cuts
General Meeting - Saturday
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Power to the Tenants
Table 1.25 of the Los Angeles Housing Element, published by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning.
DSA-LA’s “Power to the Tenants ” Priority Campaign
Campaign Summary + Demands
Housing is one of our most fundamental needs and should not be a commodity. The rising cost of housing in Los Angeles leads to displacement, makes it harder for workers to live close to where they work, and reduces the political power of workers.
Our campaign is fighting back. We seek to help tenants organize themselves, encouraging participation in tenants unions just as workers participate in labor unions. Only through their own organized self-defense can tenants prevent displacement, provide political education, build a base for legislation that empowers themselves and their organizations, and push for that legislation.
Our campaign has three key goals:
1. Provide political education about housing and tenants’ issues
2. Provide direct support for tenant organizing projects
3. Build a base for legislation that advances the interests of renters
Renters make up the majority population in Los Angeles, and together we can change the landscape of living and working in this county.
Get Involved
DSA Statement on Israeli-Palestinian Violence
DSA Statement from the National Political Committee
October 7th
DSA is steadfast in expressing our solidarity with Palestine. The past few day’s events are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime—a regime that receives billions in funding from the United States. End the violence. End the Occupation. Free Palestine.
We unequivocally condemn the killing of all civilians. It is imperative for international human rights law to be respected. But we cannot forget that the Israeli state has systematically denied Palestinians the right to self-determination for decades.
This was not unprovoked. For over 60 years, Palestinians have faced ethnic cleansing, torture, bombings, and housing demolitions. Gaza is still under a blockade. As socialists, we must act.The #NotOnOurDime coalition campaign—advanced by NYC-DSA member & NY Assemblymember @ZohranKMamdani—provides an effective model for pressuring elected officials to stop providing financial support to the Israeli state.
Take to the streets to join a protest for peace and against funding the Israeli state. Find out what actions local DSA and YDSA chapters are taking and join in.
The post DSA Statement on Israeli-Palestinian Violence first appeared on North NJ DSA.
Statement of Solidarity with Palestine
DSA LONG BEACH fully supports and stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle for liberation from military occupation, colonialist oppression, and the brutal apartheid system imposed... Read more »
The post Statement of Solidarity with Palestine appeared first on DSA-LB.
Statement on Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Ruling to Enforce Bans on Gender-Affirming Care for Minors
As September came to an end, the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, led by Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton and Judge Amul Thapar, disregarded established precedent on sex discrimination and rulings from other Circuit Courts. This allowed Tennessee and Kentucky to deny healthcare to trans children that is not denied to other children.
The laws passed by right-wing legislatures and upheld by sympathetic judges contradict the right’s own rhetoric about protecting children, women, and girls and upholding parental rights. Health care for transgender people and youth is supported by every major medical association. Gender-affirming care has been found to be life saving for a population with high suicide rates. It is the lack of such care that causes life long difficulties. These laws not only put transgender youth at unnecessary risk, they infringe on well-established parental rights to make medical decisions for their minor children, and they hinder caring parents from supporting their trans children.
It’s freakish they are focusing on this when people have real problems. The right may talk about inflation and gas prices, but the laws they actually put on the floor are the ones that take away people’s rights.
These laws are part of a calculated political agenda. Anti-trans activism and trans scaremongering, along with attacks on reproductive rights, public schools, higher education, and many other areas, are tools used by the ruling class to:
- Divert attention from economic policies that could benefit people. This tactic helps maintain the status quo and prevent scrutiny of policies that favor the wealthy.
- Create strife within the working class. When people are focused on cultural or identity-based conflicts, they can be less likely to unite around economic issues that would challenge the interests of the ruling class.
- Sow discord within the broader working-class movement. When marginalized groups are pitted against one another, it weakens our collective power to advocate for broader economic and social change.
- Maintain existing power dynamics and hierarchies through enforcing traditional gender norms and identities. Challenging these norms threatens the stability of their existing social order.
- Fundraise!
This is not a secret, not a conspiracy theory. Our own Tennessee legislature admitted to refusing to prevent the forced marriages of underage girls to adult men because doing so might interfere with their attempt to again outlaw queer marriages in the state. Anti-LGBT (and misogynistic and Chrisitian nationalist) activists have publicly affirmed switching from anti-gay activism to anti-trans activism to maintain their fundraising. National GOP strategists have often spoken about how they intend to use trans attacks as a wedge issue turning the electorate against each other and helping them maintain power.
None of these people who claim to “protect the children” care about children, trans or cis. Especially children of the working class. If they did, they’d be writing laws to enact universal maternal care, to create a budget for paid parental leave for all workers, to provide universal childcare, preschool, and pre-k.
They’re not. They’re writing laws to prevent children from getting the healthcare they need.
In the face of escalating attacks, it is imperative that we rise united and resolute. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are taking a bold step forward with our national campaigns, striving to provide the robust defense that the Democrats and others just aren’t doing.
This fight requires collective action. The only thing that can beat an organized right is an organized left. Join DSA today at dsausa.org/join and get involved locally. Northeast TN DSA meets the second Wednesday of every month. Reach out to northeasttndsa@gmail.com for meeting details.
Solidarity across the working class is how we win the future.