

Coulee DSA Potluck 7/25
Coulee DSA cares about creating a connection amongst our members, where we can form bonds that uplift one another, and our greater community. And there is no better way to build connections than spending time with one another!

Come join Coulee DSA for a late afternoon potluck at Chad Erickson Park, Sunday July 25th at 4 PM! (Facebook event here) It’s been a long year, and we hope that relaxed time together outside and with a good meal will help us connect!
CDSA will be providing the main course (vegetarian options also available) and we’d love for members and friends to bring sides, sweet treats, and drinks to share, as they are able.
If you have questions about the event, or upcoming socials and service activities through Coulee DSA, e-mail couleedsa@gmail.com
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Rust Belt Socialism on the Rise
On June 22, the name India Walton skyrocketed into the mainstream after the DSA-endorsed candidate won the democratic primary for the Mayor of Buffalo. Walton was endorsed by Buffalo DSA and National DSA, as well as the DSA slate in Albany. When elected in November she will be the first socialist Mayor of a large city since 1960, but she joins a number of socialist, like Pennsylvania Representative Summer Lee, who are winning elections in the rust belt. Today we'll be joined by Steven Jackson from Buffalo DSA to talk about India Walton’s incredible victory and the rise of socialism in the rust belt.
Follow Buffalo DSA on Twitter at @BuffaloDSA and on Instagram and Facebook
Visit www.IndiaWalton.com to support India's campaign
Join the Gas Bill Strike against National Grid's North Brooklyn Pipeline at www.nonbkpipeline.org/strike


We Who Believe In Freedom
In the words of civil rights giant Ella Baker, “Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother's son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.”
As the summer of 2021 continues to heat up, reactionaries and conservatives are escalating their assault on our struggle for multi-racial working-class liberation -- but socialists are continuing to fight back and rack up gains. On tonight’s show, we’ll speak to members of Suffolk County DSA about the recent election of DSA member Colin Palmer to the Riverhead Central District school board and how school boards are a crucial front for community control and democracy. We’ll also hear from the DSA’s new National Antifascist Working Group which is working to connect anti-fascists and anti-racists across the country.
RSVP for the AFWG introduction call on July 11 here: https://dsausa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uOOnljlAR0mn7UzUHlv83Q. Follow the working group on Twitter at @DSAAntifascist or subscribe to their mailing list: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/national-dsa-antifascist-working-group-mailing-list-registration
Follow along with Suffolk DSA’s efforts to organize for socialism in the suburbs on Twitter @SuffolkDSA or at suffolkdsa.org. Follow Colin Palmer, Riverhead Central School District board Trustee and the first democratic socialist elected in Suffolk County, at @CJTPalmerEsq.



CouleeDSA’s Next Reading: Under A White Sky
Are you suffering from chronic anxiety as our planet burns around us while our politicians act without any sense of urgency? Coulee DSA book club has the book for you!
The reading group is starting a new book, Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future by Elizabeth Kolbert. The book focuses on the climate crisis and how much damage has already been done, as well as the cutting edge of technology and geoengineering that will be necessary if human civilization as we know it will survive.
The group is now meeting on Thursday nights at 7 PM online. Next Thursday, July 8th will be the first night with reading from the new book.
If you are interested in hearing more, email us at couleeDSA@gmail.com. We are looking for feedback on possible barriers to participation. If you don’t like our book selections, or don’t feel invited to participate for any other reason, please reach out to us. We will keep your information confidential.

The post CouleeDSA’s Next Reading: Under A White Sky first appeared on Coulee DSA.



Congratulations to India Walton!

India Walton will be the 63rd Mayor of the City of Buffalo. She won by inspiring and organizing people through a plain-spoken, class-conscious message. She will be one of the most significant executives in the country to be a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and the first woman to hold this office.
The Buffalo chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, a socialist organization driven by member dues and decisions, backed India Walton in February with a unanimous vote. We recognize Walton as of and for the working class. We admire her intentional organizing on healthcare as a proud nurse. We value her focus on labor agitation, police and justice reform, community housing, the rights of tenants over landlords, and leadership development.
“All that we are doing in this moment is claiming what is rightfully ours. We are the workers. We do the work. And we deserve a government that works with and for us.” – India Walton
Buffalo will be the largest American city to have a socialist mayor since Milwaukee in 1960. In 1917, the Socialist Party mayoral candidate won over 30% of the vote on an anti-war platform in Buffalo. Over 100 years later, we are proud to support the mayor-elect’s platform that rejects austerity and places the class interests of workers and tenants over the extractive private interests that have run our government.
India Walton’s organizing approach was rooted in the working class. She united left groups and volunteers in canvassing and phonebanking to discuss values like the demilitarization of police, removal of predatory fines, and prioritization of community infrastructure and public education. This campaign overturned Byron Brown, a corrupt stooge, after 16 years. The ruling class all over the country flooded his campaign with more than $100,000 in the week before the election, hoping for the charter school lobby and billionaires to advance their interests in our city government. But as India shouted with her supporters Tuesday evening, “when we organize, we win.”
We applaud the efforts of all involved in this campaign, and thank the Buffalo DSA Electoral members who maintained an independent strategy and support system to petition, canvas, phonebank, and get out the vote for mayor-elect India Walton. We invite all Buffalonians who want to continue member-directed organizing at the point of class conflict, such as in labor, healthcare, and housing, who want to receive and grow socialist political education, and who want to participate in developing our electoral strategy, to join DSA and be part of the life of this organization.
Buffalo DSA is looking forward to proudly working alongside the executive of our city in our collective fight against capital, and we extend our most heartfelt thanks and congratulations.


For the City We Need


South Jersey DSA Statement on Trans Rights in NJ

The Queer community has made huge strides towards social acceptance in this country, but there is still work to be done. In the state of New Jersey, the “Trans Panic” defense has been outlawed, and this March, the “Queer Senior Bill of Rights” was signed into law, barring senior care facilities from discriminating against seniors based on their orientation, gender identity, and HIV status, but key protections, such as transwomen’s rights to compete in sports, are still only under executive purview, and not codified in law.
This leaves us vulnerable to the whims of future administrations. Right now, there is even a bill to prevent transwomen from competing in women’s sports, a position rooted only in bigotry, and not at all in science. It seems to have died in committee, but it still poses a threat to the rights and dignity of transpeople in our state. We do not want to go down the road of other states, such as Florida, where minors are to have their genitals inspected by adults before competitions. Such egregious actions are not only a violation of transpeople, but of all people who wish to compete, and such systems are begging to be abused. We call on the state legislature and governor, Phil Murphy, of New Jersey to enshrine the rights of trans athletes in law so as to prevent such heinous abuses from encroaching upon us in the future.

