News

December Dispatch — Winning a World that Works for All of Us

December 10, 2020

Enjoy your December Dispatch! Read on for more on COVID and economic recovery actions this month and taking back the economy in 2021 — plus opportunities to get involved with DSA work today.

FROM MARIA: WILL YOU RESOLVE TO FIGHT?

12 million people will lose federal jobless relief December 26.

31 million people lack health insurance while COVID rages on.

40 million people will lose eviction protection January 1.

This magnitude is unimaginable. Why do we serve Wall Street, instead of them serving us? Why do we fund the police, instead of human needs?

It doesn’t have to be this way. The solution is so simple: take back the economy. We are the majority. We deserve, and we have the power to win, a world that works for all of us!

As you look towards the new year, will you resolve to fight? Will you join me and commit to honing your skills and build your understanding of the lessons of 2020? This is how we will win.

The beauty of the socialist movement is that we can deepen our organizing and sharpen our strategy together. And because we are member-funded, we are unbossed and unbound by the whims of wealthy funders.

Connect with your local chapter for this Saturday’s Fight for Our Lives day of action, or hop on one of our upcoming national calls listed below. When those in power don’t take care of us, we take care of us.

Maria Svart
National Director

FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES: D12 ACTIONS THIS SATURDAY

If COVID-19 doesn’t kill us, then mass unemployment, austerity, and the climate crisis will. A robust federal government response is not radical, it is a matter of life and death. We’re fighting for a COVID-19 and economic recovery that centers the working class and can serve as a launchpad for the decade of the Green New Deal.

This isn’t a negotiation. This is a fight for our lives. DSA is building the mass people power needed to win, and Democrats can either fight alongside us, or get out of the way. On the weekend of December 12 (“D12”), our coordinated actions will help shift the national narrative. Organized movement pressure can move them closer to a real people’s agenda — or further delegitimize them against the longer-term working class left base we’re helping to build. Join with your fellow comrades and find out how to participate here.

THIS SUNDAY, 12/13 — DSA4USPS ON BANKS FOR THE PEOPLE: POSTAL AND PUBLIC BANKING

Join our Democratic Socialist Labor Commission (DSLC)’’s DSA4USPS subcommittee this Sunday, 12/13 at 3pm ET/2pm CT/1pm MT/12pm PT for a webinar on the history and possibilities of postal and public banking! While Trump soon-to-be holdover Louis DeJoy goes about his mission to cripple the United States Postal Service through piecemeal downsizing and privatization, we invite you to consider expanding the USPS beyond full funding for its core missions of mail and package delivery. One such possibility? The revival of postal savings banks, which provided a refuge from the instability of private banks for working people in the first half of the 20th century. The closely-related topic of public banks will also be taken up.

WEDNESDAY 12/16 — JOIN OUR FIGHT FOR RACIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE CALL!

Join us next Wednesday, 12/16 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for a virtual discussion of the Fight for Racial and Economic Justice! On the call, you’ll hear Darrick Hamilton, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Symone Baptiste, and Bianca Cunningham “A Three-Legged Stool for Racial and Economic Justice,” from the new book We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism — American Style.

The call is co-sponsored by our Democratic Socialist Labor Commission (DSLC), DSA’s Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus (AFROSOC), the Democratic Socialists of America Fund, Dissent magazine, The New Press, and Haymarket Books. RSVP today!

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17 — RSVP FOR INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE IN A WORLD ON FIRE

Indigenous communities are fighting for their survival and for self-determination. But what is the relationship between their struggle to the broader class struggle and the fight for a socialist future? RSVP for our Indigenous Resistance in a World On Fire call Thursday, 12/17 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for more!

This international panel features Indigenous leaders from the U.S, Brazil, and Bolivia, and is co-hosted by the DSA National Political Education Committee and the DSA International Committee. Drawing on the long legacy of Indigenous movements, and with an emphasis on environmental justice and class struggle the speakers will discuss indigenous protection of the environment in the Americas and the role their resistance plays within the struggle against capitalism and the extractivist state.

The call will feature Nick Estes of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Assistant Professor at UNM, co-founder of The Red Nation, and author of Our History Is The Future; Bryan Parras, an indigenous organizer based in Texas, member of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, the Progressive Workers’ Union, and co-founder and board member of t.e.j.a.s., Texas Environmental Justice Advocacy Services; Ruth Alípaz Cuqui of the Uchupiamona Nation in Bolivia, Coordinadora general de la Coordinadora Nacional en Defensa de Territorios Indígenas Originarios Campesinos y Áreas Protegidas de Bolivia (Contiocap); and Heloise Rocha of the Brazilian Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) and Bancada de Mulheres — Amazonian Voices.

MONDAY 12/14 — I WANT TO START A DSA CHAPTER CALL

Are you a DSA member but DON’T have a chapter that exists in your area and want to see more about what it would be like to start one? If so — or if you’re still in the very early stages of starting one — please sign up for this call on Monday 12/14 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT. We’ll talk through your organizing and administrative next steps along with an overview of the entire process.

JOIN THE NATIONAL TECH TEAM TUESDAY 12/15 FOR CODING FOR ORGANIZERS

Do you spend a lot of your DSA time doing repetitive tasks on computers — copying data between spreadsheets, looking up info on websites — when you’d rather be out knocking doors? Did you know that many of these tasks can be automated? The National Tech Committee is putting together a series of night schools to teach basic programming skills, focusing on real-world problems that arise in organizing. This is especially useful for administrative tasks or data-driven campaigns.

No previous programming experience is necessary! We will hold an info session on Tuesday 12/15, and start running classes in January. If you’re interested, please fill out the interest survey to help us plan the course.

THURSDAY 12/17 — SIGN UP FOR CALL ON STRUCTURED ORGANIZING CONVERSATIONS DURING SOCIAL DISTANCING

Do you know how to talk to other members of your chapter and bring them into organizing work? Join us Thursday 12/17 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT to learn how!

Structured organizing conversations are a key skill that every organizer must learn and practice to build capacity in our work and teach others to find their own power and use it in our shared struggle for change. The ruling class is using their power to protect Wall Street while millions live in insecurity due to the effects of coronavirus and capitalism. The working class must organize and use our power as well. 

As we demand Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, an end to evictions, an end to cash bail, and more, this training will help us to effectively talk with others about standing up to the ruling class and demanding that everyone’s needs are met, not just those of the wealthy. Join us!

THURSDAY 12/17 — IMMIGRANTS’ RIGHTS WORKING GROUP MONTHLY MEETING

Join the Immigrants’ Rights Working Group for our monthly general meeting Thursday, 12/17 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT! You can hear about our current work on the call.

WIN COVID-19 PROTECTIONS ON THE JOB WITH OUR EMERGENCY WORKPLACE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Do you and your co-workers deserve better protections from COVID-19? Better pay? Fairer Treatment and respect? The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) provides workers with information and support to win safety, better pay, and a voice on the job in the time of the pandemic.

Sign up for immediate support from an experienced organizer to learn how to organize your workplace! EWOC is a joint project of DSA’s Democratic Socialist Labor Commission (DSLC) and the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers.

DSA REJECTS THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S ATTACKS ON THE PALESTINIAN CALL FOR BDS

The BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group rejects the Trump Administration’s attacks on the Palestinian call for BDS against Israel’s violations of human rights and international law. Equality for Palestinians isn’t antisemitic; Trump’s white supremacy is. Israel’s racism and violence against Palestinians must end. Please read and share our statement.

WINTER ISSUE OF DEMOCRATIC LEFT OUT NOW!

The Winter issue of Democratic Left has launched, with stories of electoral victories, how to tax the rich, resistance to war throughout U.S. history, organizing, and our first-ever fiction: “A Socialist Christmas Carol.” Read it and share!

NEW NEWSLETTER FROM DSA’S INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE

At its 2019 convention, Democratic Socialists of America voted that its International Committee should produce for members a quarterly newsletter of news and analysis about international events. In this inaugural issue, the International Committee presents news and analysis about a number of international issues we believe to be of importance to the DSA membership, including the restoration of democracy in Bolivia, the attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Left, Nigeria’s #EndSARS protests, and how a socialist government in Kerala, India, is tackling the coronavirus. We have a world to win.

You can fill out this form to apply to join the International Committee. The deadline is December 31, 2020.

PLEASE WELCOME OUR NEW DSA GROUPS!

Our power comes from our organized base rooted in communities large and small. Join us in welcoming the latest new DSA groups.

New chapters:

  • August CSRA, GA
  • Central Coast, CA
  • Central Sierra Foothills, CA
  • Upper Valley, NH & VT
  • Yolo County, CA

New organizing committees:

  • Athens, GA
  • Berks, PA
  • Cannon Valley, MN
  • Catsop, OR
  • Coachella Valley, CA
  • Daytona Beach, FL
  • Delaware
  • Fort Smith, AR
  • Fort Wayne, IN
  • Jackson, MS
  • Kankakee County, IL
  • New River Valley, VA
  • North Sound, WA
  • River Region, AL
  • Savannah, GA
  • Southern OR
  • Western IL

COMING UP IN 2021: DSLC LABOR BOOK CLUB

Join the DSLC’s inaugural labor history book discussion group, beginning in February 2021! Labor historian Toni Gilpin will lead a series of four Sunday afternoon discussions about her book The Long Deep Grudge: A Story of Big Capital, Radical Labor, and Class War in the American Heartland. Toni’s book focuses on an exceptionally militant and uniquely radical union — the Farm Equipment Workers — but it also provides a crash course in American labor history.

These sessions will take place every Sunday in February at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT. Toni’s book is divided into four parts and the sessions will focus on them in order. You’re encouraged to attend all four, but it’s not required! You can RSVP and find book info and a study guide here.