Updates
Here’s what’s going on in our chapter this week and beyond!
Mutual Aid
Due to the wildfires this month, we’ve been passing out KN95 masks to our community, with 900 masks passed out in one day! The overlap of crises of the pandemic and wildfires have made our work all the more important, and we are hoping to raise funds to be able to get supplies to the Navajo Nation, farmworkers, and more KN95 masks to folks in our community. Please donate if you are able!
Defund the Police
We're organizing to defund the police, get them out of our schools, and reinvest in community resources and services. The next Defund the Police general meeting is on Sept 27 from 2-3:30pm.
Political Education WG
We are planning a Socialist Night School for folks who are interested in learning more about socialism! We are also planning a Zoom movie night so look out for more information about what movie we will be screening. Join our planning process at the next Political Education meeting on October 10th. Sign up here!
Housing WG
AB3088, legislation that was recently passed in California, offers some added protections for residential tenants. But this piece of legislation does not go far enough to protect all those affected by the housing crisis and pandemic, which is why we are fighting/supporting local measures, like Mountain View’s No on C campaign, pressuring our political leaders for better housing, and organizing against evictions. Join us at our next working group meeting on Oct. 1, 7-9pm.
Labor WG
The Labor working working group is a great way to connect with new comrades, union leaders, and labor activists. Past speakers have included: Richard Hobbs, Melvin Pritchard (AFT Local 6554), and comrades in the tech industry interested in unionizing Today, Labor WG is hosting a Worker Organizing Training from 1:30 - 3pm via Zoom. Join us in learning about unions and how to have organizing conversations with your comrades!
Healthcare WG
We’re still continuing our fight to organize for Medicare for All. This includes: letter to the editor campaigns, car rallies with the Santa Clara Single Payer Healthcare Coalition, and much more. We’re in the process of creating a Medicare for All webinar and plan on flyering in South Bay sometime soon. Stay tuned!
Socialist Feminist WG
We are currently working on a script for our video on Crisis Pregnancy Centers! If you’re interested in getting involved with this work, join us at our next CPC Expose meeting (time TBD). We’ve also been sharing this petition to return the completed maternity ward to the Regional Medical Hospital (RMC). Also, did you see the Feminst Collective Ni Una Menos occupied the national human rights commission in Mexico City and are using it as a women’s shelter? Direct action!
Electoral WG
Now that the endorsement process has finished, Electoral Working Group has been working on using our social media to boost our candidates, and has been hard at work on finalizing our voter guide for a chapter vote. We’re hosting a DSA campaign kickoff event today, from 7:00-8:00pm, to encourage our members to sign up to volunteer with endorsed candidates. We hope to see you there!
Justice WG
Justice WG is putting a zine together about the use of modern day slavery (incarcerated firefighters) to fight California fires while simultaneously battling Covid-19. California recently passed #AB2147, which eliminates some barriers that prevented former incarcerated fire crews from working as firefighters after they leave prison - but there's much more work to be done to stop the injustice.
As part of our monthly RED Talks, the last Justice WG meeting had a guest speaker detailing organizing efforts against Palantir, who has announced they are moving their HQ to Denver before their IPO later this month. Palantir is known for collaborating with ICE to surveil and detain immigrants.
Socialist Self Care
In our Slack Channel #x-socialist-self-care, we have a weekly thread where comrades will list what they’re reading this week. Many working groups also have recommended reading threads and literature round-ups. Here’s a short list of what people in our chapter are reading:
- The Justice Working Group is reading Angela Davis’ Freedom is a Constant Struggle and Are Prisons Obsolete
- The Socialist Feminist Working group is having a reading group on 10/2, reading: Mala Muñoz, Andrea Smith, and Denisa Krásná and Sagar Deva.
- Comrades in the self-care channel are reading : Unf*ck your boundaries, Pleasure Activism, Black Jacobins, Hate Inc, Beyond Survival: Stories and Strategies from the Transformative Justice Movement, & Racecraft
What are you reading? Let us know in the Slack channel! If you’d like to be added to Slack, please reply to this email.
