MDC DSA 2022 local convention THIS WEEKEND — December 10 and 11
The local convention provides the full Metro DC DSA chapter the opportunity to introduce and debate priority campaigns, general resolutions and bylaw amendments. It’s our membership’s chance to chart the course of the chapter’s future.
Here’s the stuff you’ll need to access convention:
Sign up for convention here. This sign-up form will include the call-in information for the convention, but all members in good standing should receive an email that includes delegate information for stack and voting for Sunday. You will need that information to attend. If you are not emailed delegate information, send a message to[email protected].
Here’s this year’s convention bulletin. This includes the full agenda for Saturday and Sunday, information on our electoral candidate accountability discussion on Saturday, copies of priority campaign applications, copies of a submitted bylaw amendment and general resolution proposal and a copy of the proposed chapter budget.
During the days of convention, we’ll be using the #2022-december-convention channel on our chapter Slack to troubleshoot any questions that people have. If you are not on Slack and are having issues, email [email protected].
Save the date/time for the convention social —At 6pm on Sunday, after all the convention business is over, we’ll meet at Midlands to celebrate another local convention being completed and spend some time gathering in person. We have a few outdoor tables reserved.
A digital ballot (through OpaVote) will be sent out on Tuesday, December 13 to vote on Steering Committee candidates and priority campaign applications. The top eight vote-getters of the at-large candidates for Steering Committee will join next year’s committee, and the top five priority campaign vote recipients that have at least two-thirds support will become priority campaigns next year. The OpaVote will link to candidate statements on the member portal, and members will also have the opportunity to submit written statements to be included on the OpaVote ballot in favor or against priority campaign applications. Follow these instructions to do so via Red Desk.
The following members have accepted their nominations for the Steering Committee election:
Allison K, Campaigns Council
Aparna R, At-large
Bakari W, At-large
Carl R, At-large
Dieter LM, At-large
Hayden G, At-large
Howard D, At-large
Imara C, At-large
Kareem E, At-large
Michael M, Secretary
Philip B, At-large
Tim S, Treasurer
Note: The positions of Secretary, Campaigns Council Chair and Treasurer are non-competitive, and those positions will be appointed by acclamation. Information about the 2022 MDC DSA convention and Steering Committee election is on the Slack channels #2022-december-convention and #announcements.
SBWU Solidarity Rally — Friday (TODAY), December 9 at 5pm
Starbucks’ rampant union-busting is common knowledge. Rather than meeting workers at the bargaining table, Starbucks has fired more than 125 workers participating in unionization efforts and is closing stores — including in DC’s Union Station — where unions are building. There are over 250 unionized Starbucks locations, but Starbucks has only met with a small handful and has walked out of several negotiations with Starbucks Workers United. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued 39 official complaints against Starbucks and interim CEO Howard Schultz, including more than 900 allegations of employer misconduct.
That’s why Starbucks workers are taking a stand. On Friday, December 9th (TODAY!) at 5pm, come to a SBWU Solidarity Rally at the Bozman Government Center plaza, 2100 Clarendon Boulevard, in Arlington, VA. This is the one-year anniversary of the first union victory at a corporate-owned Starbucks store in Buffalo — join the Arlington SBWU workers to tell Howard Shultz to quit union busting and negotiate with workers! After the rally, join us at Fireworks Pizza to celebrate and talk strategy to get Starbucks to stop union busting.
Looking for another way to show solidarity? NEA Today is participating in a solidarity action — endorsed by SBWU – by calling on parents and educators (and others) to participate in a boycott: Do not buy Starbucks gift cards this holiday season! Gift card purchasers are the number one Starbucks consumers during the holiday season, so let’s hit the union busters where it hurts — in their pocketbooks!
FCPS Collective Bargaining Resolution Hearing — Thursday, December 15 at 6pm
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is the largest school district in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the 11th largest in the country, with 188,000 students and 27,000 staff. Thursday’s resolution hearing will determine whether or not the 27,000 staff members are allowed to collectively bargain. Virginia ended its statewide ban on public sector collective bargaining with a bill passed on May 1st, 2021. However, there is a stipulation in the bill requiring each local school board to pass a resolution allowing educators to take part in the collective bargaining process. (The county Board of Supervisors had to pass an ordinance for general county workers to do the same.)
Your support is critically needed at this juncture! Show up on Thursday to make your voice heard and win worker power in Virginia.
BRIEFS
Reproductive Justice Working Group to host fundraiser for reproductive healthcare kits — Tuesday, December 13
The Reproductive Justice Working Group is hosting a happy hour on Tuesday, December 13 at 6:30pm at Midlands Beer Garden to raise money for reproductive healthcare kits for folks in West Virginia. Join us to help our WV neighbors access critical healthcare including emergency contraceptives, condoms and more. Find more information and sign up here.
NoVA Branch Social and Toy Drive — Thursday, December 15
NoVA Tenant Organizing will host a Winter Branch Social on December 15th at 6:30pm. Please join us at Continental Pool Lounge in Rosslyn for a night of good times and good vibes. We have the Purple Lounge reserved. During the branch social, NoVA Tenant Organizing will hold a fundraiser and toy drive ahead of a holiday mutual aid event in Alexandria. We will also raffle off an MDC DSA tote bag, books from the SOS reading groups, maybe even a rat plushie! Come support our working-class tenant leaders, and please bring an unwrapped toy or make a donation to purchase toys.
Stomp Out Slumlords anti-eviction canvassing — Saturday, December 17
On December 17th at 1:30pm, DSA’s tenant organizing project, Stomp Out Slumlords, will be conducting an Anti-Eviction Canvass in DC. SOS will be informing tenants facing eviction about their rights in court and how to get a lawyer, as well as provide resources for building organizing. Tenants that SOS speaks to are twice as likely to go to court and fight their eviction, so every volunteer can make a big impact.
Anyone interested in tenant organizing is invited to attend. Organizers will help train newcomers in the process. (Please sign up here so organizers can reach you.) SOS will be meeting at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station near the D Street exit between 6th and 7th, above the escalators (if the weather is bad, the meeting spot will be downstairs just before the turnstiles). If you have a car, please drive it down to the meeting spot, as cars are helpful for getting canvassers to Metro-inaccessible areas. After canvassing, the group will meet at Sonny’s in Park View to socialize and debrief.
Buena Vista Tenants Co-op purchase celebration — Sunday, December 18
For over two years, the tenants of Buena Vista Apartments have been organizing to reclaim their homes and health from the greed of their landlord. Using their experience as local union leaders and organizers for land reform efforts in Honduras, and with the support of SOS, tenants have pushed forward through the byzantine development process and successfully secured financing for a purchase loan. This struggle culminated last week with the formal purchase of the property and the formation of the Buena Vista Tenants Limited Equity Co-op!
Come celebrate this victory with the tenant organizers, now tenant-owners, on December 18th at 11am with a potluck brunch! Stomp Out Slumlords will also be bringing food and drink to commemorate a long fought and hard won victory and prepare for the next steps of repairing and renovating the decrepit building. If you’re new to tenant organizing, would like to learn more about forming a limited equity co-op, or have been hungering to see what a housing victory looks like, sign up for additional details here!
DSA National Call: Multiracial Organizing and Identity Politics
How do economic and political elites weaponize identity politics? How does neoliberal individualism show up in movement spaces? And how can we organize a constructive politics of class solidarity across differences?
On Saturday, December 10 at 2pm — join after convention! — DSA’s Multiracial Organizing Committee will host a virtual conversation with Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, author of Elite Capture and Reconsidering Reparations, associate professor at Georgetown University and member of Metro DC DSA and Pan African Community Action. Together with Táíwò, we’ll discuss identity politics and the horizon for building mass, multiracial, socialist political space and movements! RSVP here and spread the word on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This call will be live-streamed.
Maryland Statewide Meeting — Sunday, December 18 in Silver Spring
Join Montgomery County DSA, Frederick DSA, Southern Maryland DSA, PG County DSA and Greater Baltimore DSA for a statewide gathering ahead of the 2023 session of the Maryland General Assembly at the Silver Spring Library (900 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, MD). We’ll hear from advocates working on social and economic justice issues in the session, discuss how Annapolis works as well as network with each other about our ongoing campaigns. All interested DSA members and allies are invited.
There is free parking across the street at the Wayne Avenue Garage (921 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, MD), and the meeting location is walkable from the Silver Spring Metro. Join us afterwards for a happy hour at nearby Silver Branch Brewing with special guest Del. Gabriel Acevero. Full details and RSVP here.
DC Council advances bill to make Metrobus service free, passes Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights
The DC Council voted unanimously to advance a bill that makes Metrobus service free for all DC riders; the legislation would also create overnight bus service on 12 routes and invest $10 million annually in more bus service. The bill is subject to one more vote by the full council before it officially passes; read more in DCist.
DC workers achieved another long-sought-after legislative victory with the passage of the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, which gives domestic workers basic human rights protections, requires employers and employees to sign written contracts that define work expectations, includes domestic workers in DC OSHA and authorizes grants to community organizations to publicize work requirements.The bill will require a final vote before official passage, scheduled to take place on December 20.
DSA statement on Congress and President Biden’s imposition of rail contract
The DSA National Political Committee (NPC) released a statement on December 4th condemning President Biden and Congress’ move to impose the rejected national rail contract tentative agreement on railroad workers. Read the full statement here.
“As we approach significant labor struggles next year, DSA members in office must use their position to advance labor long before bills even make it to the floor by holding town halls and panels with rank-and-file workers, helping organize rallies in support of a better contract, fundraising for strike funds to embolden workers to take more militant action, reading the words of workers into the congressional record, and hosting press conferences encouraging constituents to see strikers as a model and organize in their own workplaces. The NPC commits to fight alongside them.
“… This week’s attack on working class self-determination should serve to remind us that our power comes from organization and our own agency in our workplaces and communities. Only workers can build militant, rank-and-file reform movements strong enough to win strong contracts.”
Interested in leading a reading group?
The Political Ed team is gearing up for Spring Reading Groups — if you are interested in coordinating a specific book/reading or leading one of several groups focusing on Marx’s Capital, fill out this interest form or reach out directly to Jackson or Liz.
INFO ACCESS
Publications Schedule: December’s Weekly Updates will drop on Fridays, December 16, 23 and 30. The Washington Socialist monthly newsletter for January (!!) 2023 (!!) will be published in harness with the December 30 Update. The article deadline for the January Washington Socialist is December 24, so plan your path around a potential conflict early …
The Washington Socialist welcomes articles — solo or collaborative responses — from our many Fall reading groups; pass along what you are learning and thinking to your comrades who aren’t present and to our wider readership on the DMV left. Join our #publications channel to chat this up on Slack and send individual or group responses to [email protected]. Check out the December Socialist — including articles on decarbonizing the District, transforming College Park from company town to union town, an investigation into the motives of YIMBYs of NOVA, and more — here.
Available as a member resource on the local chapter website is the road map of MDC DSA’s activities — campaigns, working groups etc., including our three branches. Want to see our chapter activities laid out in monthly calendar form? Here it is.
Red Desk is where all members can go to request support, calendar links for events, etc. for their campaigns and working group needs. How to access and use Red Desk? Here are some visual how-tos.
COMMUNITY BULLETIN
Women Cooking In Prison: Food Justice in Jails & Prisons | Who Speaks for Me? Who Speaks For Me? is hosting its third annual fundraiser, Women Cooking In Prison: Food Justice in Jails & Prisons on December 10, from 2-4pm. Women who have survived incarceration will share their recipes and demonstrate how they made gourmet meals from food purchased from the commissary using microwaves, clothing irons and hot water. They will walk through each step and show you how they survived food injustice in carceral spaces. This event will raise awareness about how community is formed around food and cooking in jails and prisons. It is also an opportunity for you to learn the importance of advocating for access to a variety of healthy food — including vegetarian and vegan meals — for incarcerated people. This show is offered in-person (Eaton DC, 1201 K Street NW) and live-streamed and is ticketed.
Holiday Toy Drive and Fundraiser | Ward 1 Mutual Aid & Lyman’s Tavern On Tuesday, December 13, give back by sharing toys and making donations to Ward 1 Mutual Aid at the Lyman’s Tavern Holiday Toy Drive and Fundraiser! The event starts at 6pm, but feel free to come earlier to enjoy food and drinks at Lyman’s. All proceeds from DC Brau beers go to support W1MA, as do 10% of all other bar sales. Be sure to dress in your holiday finery for a chance to win the Ugly Sweater Contest!
Dispatch from the railroad: This Jacobin interview with a longtime BNSF conductor gets to the heart of railroaders’ anger, and reminds us that our fight for workers’ rights is (as always) about bread and roses, too. Read “Railroad Workers’ Lives Revolve Entirely Around Their Jobs.”
Another from Jacobin: As global soccer/football becomes further ensconced in capital and corruption, writer Will Magee mourns the 2022 World Cup’s conspicuous lack of a Socrates — the legendary leftist midfielder, not the philosopher.
Important heads-up for Maryland comrades — Our Rev Maryland hosted progressive legislators Wednesday evening to lay out the prospects and pitfalls for progressive legislation in the upcoming 2023 General Assembly session. Here’s the excellent Maryland Matters account, where our MoCo comrades Dels. Gabe Acevero and Vaughn Stewart were idea factories. Veteran Sen. Paul Pinsky of Prince George’s joined the others in urging citizen pressure for change: “You have to create street heat … You have to mobilize from the ground up …” A recording of the webinar is here.
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.
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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