Early voting began yesterday (July 7) in Maryland — to continue through July 14
Two weekends left to GOTV for Maryland socialists
Defund MPD working group retreat — Sunday July 10, 1pm at Malcolm X Park
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Early voting began yesterday (July 7) in Maryland — to continue through July 14, 7am to 8pm. Election Day on July 19
To vote early in Maryland at any of 14 early voting centers in MoCo and 13 in Prince George’s, find them here. You must vote in your own county of residence. On Election Day (July 19) you must vote at your designated polling place; see your voter card. Or you may drop off your mail ballot by 8pm July 19 at a designated drop box. Find more info and links here. Voter registration closed June 28 for the Maryland Primary.
DSA Maryland GOTV force continues for Maryland socialists
There are only TWO WEEKENDS to go before Election Day in Maryland. Max Socol is within striking distance of unseating a conservative state senator as incumbent Del. Gabriel Acevero faces a tough re-election following an incumbent team up. We’ve knocked over 15,000 doors in MoCo so far — let’s hit 20,000 Maryland doors this cycle!Both Gabe’s and Max’s races could be decided by just dozens of votes, so every door really counts.Sign up for door-knocking or an Election Day polling place shift.
Other ways to help during this critical stretch:
Donate $10 to our PAC to cover lunch for a hardworking canvasser here.
Sign up for weekday canvassing! Max Socol’s campaign is canvassing almost every day through the election, with shifts at both noon and 3pm and some flexibility for experienced canvassers. Sign up for a canvass here.
Join a phonebank! Max’s campaign has phonebanks almost every day through the election
Defund MPD working group retreat — Sunday, July 10 at Malcolm X Park
DSA’s Defund MPD working group will have our annual retreat on Sunday, July 10 at 1pm at Malcolm X Park. All members and allies are invited to join this discussion. Topics covered will be the state of police funding in DC, the current defund movement in the District, and DSA’s operations and mobilizations as part of the city-wide Defund MPD coalition. A working agenda can be found here. If you’d like to get caught up to speed, you can also review the working group’s 2021 Annual Report here.
Food will be provided, and the group will be going out to a happy hour afterwards.
BRIEFS
Second Community Accountability Team meeting — July 13 at 6:30pm
In June, this group met to discuss what interpersonal conflict in the chapter looks like and discussed, among other things, the need to 1) address white supremacy and white saviorism in the chapter to make it a safe space for non-white and non-cis folks and 2) have spaces for real, open discussions and specific channels for disagreements.
We also discussed forming two sub-groups, which have begun to form and meet in the last month:
One group dedicated to providing information and onboarding to new members, as well as training to all members, that lays out things to look out for in terms of conflict in the chapter and what community accountability is;
A mediation team of members dedicated to being trained and acting as mediators for interpersonal conflicts and helping to build trust in the chapter through democratic forums.
On July 13, we’ll hear report backs from these sub-groups and spend time discussing the structure and governance we want this group to take on. Check out a draft agenda here.
Northern Virginia (NoVA) DSA Branch Updates
NoVA Branch Monthly Organizing Meeting is NEXT Thursday, July 14 via Zoom or in-person at the Arlington Central Library. The theme is Migrant Justice — this is a reviving workgroup, so please join this important meeting. RSVP here to get more info. Draft agenda is found here.
The NoVA Tenant Organizing workgroup now has regular meetings. Please join us on the first Wednesday of each month from 6 to 7pm. Please RSVP for the next meeting on August 3rd.
NoVA DSA Branch is testing a new webpage. You can view it here. And Sanctuary DMV is out of funds to support migrants bused to the DMV! If you have the resources to spare, you can give what you can here.
Post-Labor Notes organizing series
From our comrades at Labor Notes: join our organizing series to talk about how to rekindle the flame of rank-and-file militancy. You can register here!
Our Secrets of a Successful Organizer training series has three parts: *Beating Apathy, *Assembling Your Dream Team AND *Turning an Issue into a Campaign
These are based on our widely acclaimed book, Secrets of a Successful Organizer. Sessions are online, Wednesdays, July 13, 20 and 27, 7:30 to 9:30pm ET. Cost is $15 for all three sessions; no one will be turned away on grounds of funds but space is limited so don’t delay. Register now!
Bikini Kill Pre-Show Happy Hour with DSA’s Socialist Feminist Section — Monday, July 11
If you’re interested in some punk, riot grrrl and music with a DC connection, join DSA’s Socialist Feminist Section (SocFem) for a Happy Hour at the Quarry House before the July 11 Bikini Kill show at the Fillmore in Silver Spring. This event starts at 5pm and is open to the public; no DSA membership or show tickets are required and the usual SocFem Section participation guidelines are waived. Stay strong through these trying times, support one another and join us for Happy Hour even if you can’t make the show!
INFO ACCESS
You can find the Primary election resultsfrom the DC Board of Elections, and you can find our coverage of candidate positions on the Washington SocialistREDBUG.
Publications schedule: July Updates are Fridays, July 8, 15 and 22 and the Update for July 29 will also include the August issue of the Washington Socialist newsletter. The deadline for August issue articles is July 23; hit us up at [email protected] or join the fun anytime and get early reactions to your work in our Slack channel, #publications — non-judgmental collaboration is what we do.
Heaps of MDC DSA history: An archival chronicle of our local chapter’s history, starting before the DSOC-NAM merger to the present day, compiled by one of our longtime members is available in the chapter website. Browse at will. And dip into our Washington Socialist Topic Hub to explore specific socialist issues as we have grappled with them over the years in the pages of the newsletter.
DSA CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Most MDC DSA meetings remain remote-only. To join remote meetings, members will need to register at the event link provided and receive the remote-access link by email.
Grow Your Own (Mushrooms) Workshop | Temperance Alley Learn to grow oyster mushrooms at Temperance Alley’s July 9 fungal workshop this Saturday at 5pm! Hosted by your friendly neighborhood mushroom expert, Pele Solell. Temperance Alley can be found behind 1931 13th Street NW.
Organizing Skillshare | Ward 4 Mutual Aid Interested in learning how to organize? Ward 4 Mutual Aid is hosting an organizing workshop on July 16, 11am at Mosaic Church (16 Street NW and Webster St NW) to train folks about one-on-one conversations and do some fundraising outreach.
Fleeing Climate Change: The Real Environmental Disaster | Reel & Meal
On July 18, Reel & Meal presents Fleeing Climate Change: The Real Environmental Disaster, a 2019 documentary investigating the human costs of a rapidly warming planet, at the New Deal Cafe (Roosevelt Center, Greenbelt, MD) and on Zoom. The film shows how three diverse areas — Africa, Indonesia and Siberia — are being devastated and becoming unlivable. A short documentary about desertification in Southern Europe will also be screened, and a discussion will follow the screenings. Register via link in advance.
Se buscan voluntarixs bilingües! | DC Abortion Fund Ayudenxs proveer fondos a pacientes en español quienes necesitan cerrar la brecha entre lo que pueden pagar y el costo total de su aborto. El derecho a un aborto no debe de depender en el costo ni idioma. ¡Aplique para ser un asistente social voluntarixs hoy! [email protected]
ESSENTIAL TRAFFIC
Corporate inflation engines on the march, passed along by Chuck Collins’s Inequality Report: “Julia Rock, How To Crack Down On Corporate Profiteering, The Lever. Corporate execs who publicly proclaim plans to raise future prices are inviting illegal collusion under federal antitrust laws because announcing these future plans invites competitors to make such moves in lockstep.”
“It’s been 12 days since Roe was revoked — and Biden is still MIA.” In The Nation, Elie Mystal blasts the president — and, consequently, the mainstream democratic party establishment — for its total lack of urgency in responding to the Supreme Court’s attack on abortion rights. “We have not seen Biden echoing, amplifying, or even agreeing with calls for immediate action to protect reproductive rights by people like Senator Elizabeth Warren or Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Cori Bush.”
To keep the rubble bouncing, Jacobin fumes “even the most jaded cynics have to be shocked at just how useless the party’s response has been to the Right’s most recent assault on abortion rights.”
The flame of thought, the magnificence of art, the wonder of discovery, and the audacity of invention all belong to revolutionary periods when humanity, tired of its chains, shatters them and stops inebriated to breathe the breeze of a vaster and freer horizon..
- Virgilia D'Andrea
Sent via ActionNetwork.org.
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