The Battle for DC: Metro DC DSA calls to defend DC from federal occupation; Socialists converge in Chicago for National DSA Convention; Maryland socialists continue canvassing to bring working-class voices to city councils
This is the weekly newsletter of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America (MDC DSA), which is
produced by local members of the chapter's Publications Working Group. The Weekly Update publishes every
Friday at 9am. Want to fight fascism from the heart of empire? Join DSA and fight to build socialism!
Paid for by Metro DC DSA (mdcdsa.org). Not authorized by any candidate or committee.
UP FRONT
DC UNDER SIEGE: Metro DC DSA calls to defend DC from federal occupation as officers set up checkpoints, harass residents
The Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America issued the following statement following President Donald Trump’s long-awaited assault on DC, which began last Saturday:
“Donald Trump has declared a ‘public safety emergency’ in Washington DC, placed MPD under federal control, and announced plans to deploy the National Guard in DC. This ‘emergency’ is a lie. But more importantly, it is an extreme escalation of the fascist administration’s attacks on DC Home Rule, undertaken with the explicit intent of ramping up the federal government’s ongoing elimination campaign against working people, especially DC’s unhoused and immigrant communities. In the coming days we can expect to watch the hammer come down on the city we call home, a reality made no less chilling by the fact that we’ve seen this coming since election day.
Our immediate challenge is to defend DC, but the scope of this issue is far broader. The idea that militarized occupation forces can create safety has been pushed at every level: by Mayor Bowser, by the conservatives on the DC Council, by the fascist Trump administration, and by the warmongers in Congress supporting genocide in Palestine. The occupation of our streets is a symptom of a far deeper systemic rot, one we’ve seen manifest around the world driven by capitalist pursuit of profit and power. Fixing this rot requires a fundamental reconstruction of American society that puts working people in control of our own lives, from our workplaces, to our apartment complex, to our Wilson Building, and to our Capitol. Only socialism can beat fascism, so Metro DC DSA will fight on every front and with every fiber of our being for our freedom.”
Since then, federal officers have begun swarming the streets of the District. With eager cooperation from MPD and amid reporting that Mayor Bowser has left town for Martha’s Vineyard (to party with Republicans!), authorities began performing massive, grotesque sweeps of unhoused DC residents on Thursday. Trump’s objective, first and foremost, appears to be the creation of B-roll footage to be fabricated into cheap propaganda for social media and cable news. However, the creation of a wide drag-net around the city is very real, and poses a direct threat to the sovereignty and safety of the city’s working class. Across social media, footage of local resistance and defiance to Trumpist forces have awakened a renewed popular front against the forces of fascism.
In response to this assault, Metro DC DSA will be holding a mass meeting this Sunday, August 17th from 3-6PM at a location in DC to be announced. The event will be split into speakers, issue-based breakouts, and potentially location-based breakouts time permitting. Sign up at this Action Network link for meeting location information, which will be distributed day of for security reasons. Those who do not sign up should follow the #announcements channel on the chapter slack (see info access section below), or get in touch with a MDC DSA working group lead for location information.
Officers have also been harassing people on the streets of DC — as of August 14th, MPD has announced that they will be collaborating with ICE at traffic checkpoints. Stopped on the streets or see a neighbor being harassed? Know what your rights are and how to assert them. Neighborhoods are also seeing increased ICE activity — familiarize yourself with DC Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid’s Know Your Rights resources in English and Spanish, and spread the word.
Trump forces have also launched midnight raids to break up homeless encampments across the city under the cover of dark. From trusted local advocates: Rank-and-file community members are asked to aide those at encampments being broken up to help pack after getting their consent to do so; at this time, avoid deliberate arrest or intervention. For the safety of people at encampments, please do not take pictures of unhoused people or of tents that are not actively being removed (but do record removals for documentation).
Late breaking: Attorney General Pam Bondi issued an order Thursday night codifying the federal takeover of the DC police department, making clear that the head of the DEA (Terry Cole, a Glenn Youngkin groupie) is now also the DC police commissioner. In addition, AG Bondi also claimed to revoke DC’s sanctuary city policies. (The legality of all this is fuzzy, of course — but we are well past expecting legal limitations to correct authoritarian power.)
Stay smart, stay alert, stay connected. Take care of yourself and your neighbors.
Socialists converge in Chicago for National DSA Convention
Last weekend, delegates from Metro DC DSA joined over a thousand other DSA members from across the country in Chicago for DSA’s 2025 National Convention, held every two years. Delegates voted on our national direction, heard from national and international guest speakers, and elected a now 25-person National Political Committee (NPC), to be co-chaired by the DSA's elected co-chairs.
Early highlights from the convention floor:
DSA commits to electoral organizing with allies as part of a left-labor coalition, as well as to the larger goal of becoming an independent mass socialist party. The body also committed to finding a socialist surrogate to run for the 2028 Presidential Election.
Delegates built on existing expectations for elected officials on Palestine liberation and reaffirmed commitments to organizing workers to win an arms embargo against Israel.
DSA’s National Political Committee — the highest decision-making body outside of the convention — was expanded from 16 to 25 seats (which includes two seats apportioned to YDSA).
The body amended DSA’s bylaws to require that all national convention delegates be elected by Scottish single transferable vote.
Next year’s budget will now include more stipends for DSA elected leaders in national leadership roles.
In elections for NPC and national co-chair, DSA delegates largely voted to stay the course on current balance between factions and ideologies. Megan Romer (of the Red Star Caucus) and Ashik Siddique (of the Groundwork Caucus) were reelected to their co-chair roles, as other major caucuses held ground and influence on the National Political Committee. Find a new list of elected NPC members on the DSA website.
Chapter delegates are working on a longer reportback to be published in the fall issue of the Washington Socialist. Feeling inspired by what the convention body achieved together? Metro DC DSA hosts our own local convention annually, so stay tuned for more information on this year’s local convention in late fall.
Maryland socialists continue canvassing Gaithersburg and Greenbelt to bring working-class voices to city councils
As previously announced, Metro DC DSA has launched early campaign operations in Maryland. The twin operations — being carried out by the two Maryland branches of Metro DC DSA — would create hard local anchors for the working-class, tenant base that live in Gaithersburg and Greenbelt. Through federal distractions being summoned by the Trump administration, Maryland socialists remained focus on the immediate task at hand: build local power.
Canvassing operations for Metro DC DSA’s endorsed candidate for Gaithersburg City Council, Omodamola Williams, are continuing this weekend on Saturday, August 16 and Sunday, August 17. The campaign plans to hold canvasses every weekend leading up to election day on November 4. Canvassers will meet at the Gateway apartments off of Clopper Road at 11am for a brief training before heading out to the doors of the many apartments in the city’s largest apartment complex. If you have any questions or need any help getting to the event, visit the #montgomery-county or #electoral channels in the chapter Slack.
Gaithersburg has a large and diverse working-class population that is severely underrepresented by the current council. Omodamola is fighting for rent stabilization implementation, increased police accountability, and to protect the city’s large immigrant population from displacement. With federal-level turmoil, working people are looking to local politics as a buffer against the Trump regime’s austerity agenda. Ahead of larger county and federal elections in 2026, intervention in Gaithersburg presents a great opportunity for socialists to rally working people in support of tenants’ and workers’ rights. A victory here would offer an opportunity to expand rent stabilization, recently passed by Montgomery County, to the city. There is currently a council majority aligned against rent stabilization on the Gaithersburg City Council — a win for Omodamola would tilt the scales towards tenants and workers.
ALSO THIS WEEKEND: Chapter endorsed Frankie Santos Fritz is running for election to the Greenbelt City Council. Canvasses for Frankie continue from the Greenbelt Metrorail Station on Saturday, August 16, and Tuesday, August 19. Frankie has been a member of Metro DC DSA since 2016. In addition to a number of other leadership roles, he served as Interim Chair of the Steering Committee of the Prince George’s County Branch and has been deeply involved in branch-level electoral operations. On Greenbelt’s City Council, Frankie plans to fight for Greenbelt’s workers; quality and affordable housing; improved public transportation; a stronger democracy in Greenbelt; a diverse, equitable, and inclusive Greenbelt; and fairer taxation to support strong public services. Learn more and engage with the campaign in the #electoral channel of the chapter Slack.
BRIEFS
Socialist Night School: Legal Plunder — Thursday, August 21 at 6:30pm
Alongside the rise of mass incarceration, a second profound and equally disturbing development has transpired. Since the 1980s, US policing and punishment have been remade into tools for stripping resources from the nation’s most oppressed communities and turning them into public and private revenues. In their new book, Legal Plunder: The Predatory Dimensions of Criminal Justice, Joshua Page and Joe Soss analyze this development’s origins, operations, consequences, and the political struggles that it has created. In our next Socialist Night School, Page and Soss join us for a discussion of Legal Plunder. Please RSVP. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 401-A Conference Room.
Now open: Fall 2025 reading groups
In these times, don’t do socialism alone. Kicking off after Labor Day, Metro DC DSA is assembling 11 distinct reading and discussion groups on socialism, Capital Vol. 1, postmodernism, abolition, socialist education, and more — sign up now. The chapter’s reading groups provide an opportunity to learn in a group setting either online or in-person, and help members develop their organizing and knowledge alongside comrades while providing a forum for debate and discussion. Other topics include an electoral group reading the best analyses of Zohran’s win (and beyond), an ongoing new magazine article discussion group, and much more. Locals can find out more about each group and sign up for the reading groups.
New to the DSA and want to connect with others? Next New Member Cohort starting in September
Anyone new to Metro DC DSA is invited to apply to join the Fall 2025 New Member Cohort. The cohort will participate in weekly sessions throughout September on Wednesday evenings. The first session covers the concept of organizing, the second provides an overview of socialism and capitalism, and the final session explains how MDC DSA works and provides opportunities to talk to people who run chapter campaigns. At least one session will be followed by a social outing. Applications are due by August 30.
Join comrades organizing mutual aid in Northern Virginia — Thursday, August 21 at 7pm
The NoVA Mutual Aid Working Group will be holding its next virtual meeting on August 21 at 7pm. Join comrades interested in directly improving the material conditions of workers in Northern Virginia in ways that challenge and replace capitalist exploitation. Anyone interested in attending is free to add items to the agenda, which currently includes organizing a recurring mutual aid distro, creating an intra-DSA timebank, and researching and compiling existing mutual aid projects in the area. RSVP for the meeting.
Informational picketing continues at Le Diplomate — Friday, August 22 at 5:30pm
UNITE HERE Local 25 is holding informational pickets outside of STARR's Le Diplomate to let the public know the workers there do not have a union contract. Metro DC DSA's Labor Working Group is mobilizing the community and its members to come out for ongoing pickets in support of the restaurant workers organizing to join UNITE HERE Local 25. RSVP to join comrades and community members for this informational picket at Le Diplomate on Friday, August 22 at 5:30pm.
If you are interested in helping with volunteer mobilization to get community members to show up to these pickets, please fill out this interest form. You don't have to be a member of DSA to join these pickets or participate in solidarity actions; anyone who wants to help grow the labor movement is welcome.
Internationalism Working Group to host Revolution Selfie screening — Friday, August 22 at 7:30pm
Join the Internationalism Working Group for a film screening of Revolution Selfie on Friday, August 22, 7:30pm at Rhizome DC. There will also be Filipino snacks for sale. All sales will be donated to the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP). Please RSVP.
Sign up for August tabling opportunities with Metro DC DSA Street Team
Interested in tabling with the Street Team this month? Take a look at the calendar of August events, and sign up with your availability. Is there a community engagement event not on the list that Metro DC DSA Street Team can support? Fill out the event suggestion form and help build socialist power and chapter presence in the DMV. Visit the #street-team channel in the chapter's Slack for more info.
Join comrades at Whitman Walker's 39th annual Walk and 5k to End HIV — Saturday, September 20
Join the Bodily Autonomy Working Group's team for Whitman Walker's 39th annual Walk and 5k to End HIV. On September 20th, we will be walking Anacostia park to help Whitman Walker raise money for HIV prevention programs and research. Their efforts have allowed them to administer nearly 15,000 HIV and STI tests last year in the DC area. If you would like to show your support, please consider signing up for the free walk or making a donation.
Want to stay current? Weekly Updates, like the one you are reading, are scheduled and emailed on Fridays; current and past Current and past Updates are available anytime on our website. Not subscribed? DSA member or not, sign up to get the Update, the go-to source for the DMV Left. The MDC Dispatch is the chapter’s new video news series, published on the first and third Sunday of each month. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and submit your Update or Dispatch suggestions or DMV scandal tips to our tip line. The Washington Socialist, published since the 1970s, offers in-depth analytical/opinion articles on a quarterly schedule; the Summer 2025 issue is available here. Check out the Socialist’stopic-indexed and searchable archive to see what we write — and what you can write. Anyone, MDC DSA member or not, interested in contributing to the Washington Socialist can email submissions or questions to [email protected].
Members — want to stay updated in our local chapter workspace? MDC DSA members are encouraged to join our all-member Slack for real-time info on working group and campaign events, strategy/tactic exchange, and inspiration. Email [email protected] with your most recent DSA dues receipt to get Slack access.
DMV LEFT COMMUNITY BULLETIN
Film screening: Silent Fallout — How Nuclear Testing Poisoned America on August 18 | Reel and Meal at the New Deal
Timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the film Silent Fallout: My Body is My Proof delves into the devastating impacts of radioactive fallout in the US. The 101 above-ground tests conducted in Nevada in the 1950s and 1960s contaminated the entire country; 67 nuclear tests were also performed in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. People suffered acute and long-term health effects from radioactive fallout, including increased cancer rates and other illnesses, while the Atomic Energy Commission publicly denied any such health risks. The film will be shown at the New Deal Café, 113 Centerway, Greenbelt, MD, on Monday, August 18, at 6:30pm, with a post-screening discussion led by the film’s director, Hideaki Ito. People may also attend by Zoom — registration is required. Arrive/log on by 6:15pm, as the program starts promptly at 6:30pm.
Cuba 101: Political Education Series | National Network on Cuba and Venceremos Brigade
Join National Network on Cuba and Venceremos Brigade for a 7-part educational series to learn about the true history of Cuba. Review the topics ahead of the event. The next session takes place on Zoom on Thursday, August 21, and will focus on the Cuban Revolution (the second installment in a two-part session, but newcomers are welcome). Sign up to participate.
Melt ICE BBQ on August 23 | 411 Collective and more
Come to this end of summer community cookout and fundraiser on Saturday, August 23, from 2 – 8pm at Garfield Park. 411 Collective are tabling to support immigrant communities and draw the connections between the deportation machine terrorizing our neighbors here and the US-backed Israeli genocide of Palestinians abroad. Enjoy food, drinks, live music, and art. Find more info on Instagram.
Punk Rock Karaoke on August 29 | Food Not Bombs Fundraiser
On Friday, August 29, at 8pm, head to Black Cat for all-ages punk rock karaoke benefiting local anarchist outfit Food Not Bombs, which serves vegan meals every Saturday in McPherson Square. Tickets cost $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Please RSVP.
Refuse, Resist, Rebuild Town Hall on September 4 | Boycott Target DC and Defend DC
On Thursday, September 4, from 6 – 9pm, movements are coming together for a town hall on non-cooperation, boycotts, sanctuary defense, tenant organizing, labor struggles, anti-apartheid campaigns, and more. Join to talk about the history of boycotting in DC and the solidarity we need to be stronger at the polls, at the picket line, and in our wards. RSVP here.
ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES
ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES are articles and opinion pieces of
interest to DMV leftists but not, generally, appearing in local media.
They should have links without paywalls. Readers are invited to submit
candidates at our tip line.
“Energized by Zohran Mamdani’s primary triumph, 1,200 DSA members came to Chicago to chart the group’s future.” An upclose report on the convention, though very much a bystander’s perspective, from American Prospect
Nascent plans for a designed rapid reaction military unit to quell legitimate resistance anywhere, anytime. "If people aren't allowed to peacefully protest and the elections are being rigged through gerrymandering and voter suppression, how are Americans supposed to respond when they figure out their lives are being actively destroyed by a fascist government.” Common Dreams via Portside.
“More than half the states restrict conversion therapy, but conservative courts could change that.” Another fight looms, as if we needed one. From Stateline Daily
[The researchers’] poll, fielded between June 13 and June 30, 2025, shows that service members understand these rules. Of the 818 active-duty troops we surveyed, just 9% stated that they would “obey any order.” Only 9% “didn’t know,” and only 2% had “no comment.” … When asked to describe unlawful orders in their own words, about 25% of respondents wrote about their duty to disobey orders that were “obviously wrong,” “obviously criminal” or “obviously unconstitutional.” The Conversation
“Twenty years from now, will we be a country of Democrats and Republicans taking turns on who’s in power?” Pete Buttigieg asked recently. “I’m not so sure.” Speaking to a podcaster, the conspicuous institutionalist casually blasted the country’s institutions and proposed that, amid the wreckage, America’s political future was not at all intuitive. “We’re past the point of just believing that there’s some pendulum that comes back and forth,” Buttigieg went on. “I think that both parties should examine the chances of their survival.” The writer compares the political collapse of the apparently victorious Labour Party in the UK to US Democrats’ woes. NYT Opinion
More on the DC takeover: Mayor Bowser and the majority of the DC Council were willing to throw working people under the bus in order to balance the budget, even in light of the impact of the federal budget and mass layoffs of federal workers. Now, showing the same readiness to compromise in the face of reaction, the mayor and others on the council are quick to roll back criminal justice reforms in a vain attempt to appease Trump (and because they were never interested in addressing mass incarceration anyway). The 51st article, “Trump takes over MPD” by Martin Austermuhle, provides a good rundown of the District's "leaders’” response.
Writing from a liberal perspective, Heather Cox Richardson points out the connection Mayor Bowser is unable or unwilling to make — that Trump's takeover of DC's policing is part and parcel of Project 2025. It is a reminder that we need to see the capitalist logic within the Trump administration's racist authoritarianism. And lest we forget, Maryland is also a target of Trump vindictiveness. Deborah Jeoh reports in Maryland Matters on the administration's assault on the state's federal judges, rightly seeing it as an assault on the rule of law.
This is the weekly newsletter of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America (MDC DSA), which is produced by
local members of the chapter's Publications working group. The Weekly Update publishes every Friday at
9am.
Paid for by Metro DC DSA (mdcdsa.org). Not authorized by any candidate or committee.
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all belong to revolutionary periods when humanity, tired of its chains, shatters them and stops inebriated to
breathe the breeze of a vast and free horizon. - Virgilia D'Andrea
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