Metro DC DSA Weekly Update for Friday, January 24, 2020
** What's On This Week
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Comrade,
The MDC DSA Weekend: This weekend, our chapter is knocking doors for DSA-endorsed Janeese Lewis George's campaign for the Ward 4 seat on the D.C. Council. As a councilmember, Janeese will stand with us in our fight for tenants rights and strong rent control laws. We will be out on the following schedule:
Saturday:
11 AM -1:30 PM, (Lunch break), 2:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Meet at the campaign office at 6400 Georgia Ave NW.
Sunday,
1:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Meet at the campaign office at 6400 Georgia Ave NW.
Email Nikko at
[email protected] to RSVP! Be sure to also join the working group by filling out this google formhttps://tinyurl.com/dsa4janeese ([link removed]) and joining the #dc-ward4-electoral-organizing channel on slack.
Saturday Jan. 25 --- Say NO to Surveillance and Criminalization! ([link removed])
8:30am at Arlington County VA – Government, 2100 Clarendon Blvd, Arlington VA
NoVA DSA and allies are building to support “For Us, Not Amazon” this Saturday at Arlington County’s board meeting to fight for a future where people and communities keep each other safe, notracist surveillance and policing ([link removed]) . Note: Hosted by LaColectiVA and 5 others:[link removed]
Sunday Jan 26 DC Jobs with Justice and allies have a Wage Theft Canvass ([link removed][0]=68.ARA5wweNeO58LsRRgduGLBcf_Nqp4Q8p5vx1uBMg3GdQcp7HlyEfXpFjl_ltyGeJBo8xHhmHpF18TOh71KadFw5sHrIjM5kpNqfIu7eGyeU2MSeNAKTIQdfCP-Wz6PXOo7MFoK48qLtNtL0iuWqpUjSvOMraYz8URNEhHjgY5MGaxv1scdqneHR3EGNCYBWNMX_yXk6bPLwof8ZBjzjvTs1dsMfmpJIFIvG9-FSsmbU91kBmnMLWisVdoKvoYrgg2KcoLa7_EU9_FbZxXsR-qIIYJsbuXJK0sE5MKBcwKkr_8swPHfxFvMebdm2GgpFIGunCyL-gFBVqPYsDdvsw5Gql5g) ; more below.
MDC DSA SPECIAL ELECTION RESULTS
Results from the MDC DSA special election are in: There were 70 votes cast to elect Nate Sweet to the vacant at-large Steering Committee seat, with 66 voting "Yes" (94.3%) and 4 selecting "Abstain" (5.7%). Congrats and welcome@n_sweet ([link removed]) , we're excited to have you.
--Irene K
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In This Issue: The weekend, and...
Socialist Night School Presents “Ecosocialist Principles for a Green New Deal” ([link removed])
“RENT REBELS” ([link removed]) Screening at Colony Club
D.C. Labor Gears Up For 2020 -- "Labor In Session" Website for VA action Launches
Canvass With DC Jobs With Justice
DSA 4 Bernie has been planning
MDC DSA Events for January and February
Events from Our Allies in the DMV
Good Reads
INFO ACCESS: MDC DSA FAQs, info access and publications schedule including TOMORROW’s article deadline for the February Washington Socialist!
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Socialist Night School Presents “Ecosocialist Principles for a Green New Deal” ([link removed]) Tues, Feb. 4
In this Socialist Night School session, we're talking about ecosocialism, a framework for combining insights from the rich tradition of Marxist social analysis with scientific knowledge of our biosphere.
How does ecosocialism help us understand how capitalism and overlapping systems of oppression fuel the kinds of extraction that now undermine basic systems of life on Earth? As the broader left in the United States keeps building political momentum for a Green New Deal, how can ecosocialist principles help us navigate through the crises of intensifying climate disruption, economic inequality, and resurgent fascism to build toward a transformative vision of a future in which all people can thrive in societies that regenerate our planet?
The session will be led by Ashik S., steering committee member of DSA's national Ecosocialist Working Group and co-founder of The Climate Mobilization, on Feb. 4 at 6:30pm in the Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library CPK First Floor Meeting Room 1.
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“RENT REBELS” Screening at Colony Club Sat. February 1 7pm ([link removed])
Come to SOS Movie Night at Colony Club! This time we'll be screening "RENT REBELS: Resistance Against the Sell Out of the City ([link removed]) ," a documentary about the tenant movement in Berlin.
The film is a kaleidoscope of tenants’ struggles in Berlin against displacement, ranging from the occupation of the Berlin town hall to a camp at Kottbusser Tor. A new urban protest movement is on the rise — from tenant organizing against evictions to senior citizens’ struggles to maintain their community center and age-appropriate flats.
Karaoke afterwards at 10pm.
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D.C. Labor Gears Up For 2020
Affiliates of the Metropolitan Washington Council, an AFL-CIO labor council, gathered in early January to strategize for 2020, according to Union City. About a dozen representatives met at the Teamsters 639 hall on January 16 for a conversation about the 2020 election season in D.C.
They discussed the calendar of events for the Council’s endorsements of candidates, which will kick off with the candidate education forum scheduled for Monday, February 3. Union City noted that the group also shared its legislative priorities for education, entertainment and health care, and galvanizing union member involvement in Labor 2020. DC COPE will fashion a labor questionnaire that will go out to D.C. City Council candidates by February 25. The next monthly DC COPE meeting is Thursday, February 13 at 4:00 pm. The Metro Washington Council encourages union members affiliated with the council to attend, Union City reported.
"Labor In Session" Website Launches for Virginia effort
In an effort to empower more union activists and allies to advocate for pro-worker legislation, the Virginia AFL-CIO launched its "Labor In Session" ([link removed]) website at the start of the 2020 Virginia General Assembly session.
"We must take full advantage of this moment to push a robust pro-worker agenda focused on moving Virginia from the worst state for workers to the best," said Julie Hunter, Virginia AFL-CIO Campaign Manager, according to Union City.
Activists can find and contact their state senator and delegate, take rapid action on in-progress legislation, and volunteer to lobby for labor at the General Assembly.
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Canvass With DC Jobs With Justice
Join DC Jobs with Justice and Many Languages One Voice this Sunday, Jan. 26, as we reach out to immigrant communities in Columbia Heights about wage theft and their rights at work.
The Wage Theft Canvass will begin at Church of the Sacred Heart at 3211 Sacred Heart Way at noon and will commence at 2:30pm.
Sign up here ([link removed]) and email Nikko Bilitza at
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected]) with questions.
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DSA 4 BERNIE UPDATE
What we’ve done
Primary Season Planning Group Successful!
We had a great turnout of volunteers join the working group to plan out and assign tasks for upcoming actions. The group planned canvasses, watch parties and more for February, March, and beyond. Join us next Tuesday the 28th for our Work Party to get a lot of our planning implemented.
Coming Up
Work Party on January 28 (Location TBD)
Want to get more involved with the DSA 4 Bernie efforts? Join us next Tuesday (likely same location as last week) to implement plans and meet great people. Bring your laptop!
Canvass for Bernie in Arlington on Feb 1st
We’ll meet at 12:30 at the Arlington Court House Metro Station. We’ll provide training, fliers, and a canvass buddy. Try to arrive with a fully charged smart phone with the MiniVAN app installed, and dress for the weather. [link removed]
Iowa Caucus Watch Party
Join us February 3rd at 7:30 pm to watch the Iowa Caucus! Location TBD, keep an eye out for Meetup and Facebook events!
Canvass every weekend in February in Northern Virgina!
Keep an eye on the MDC DSA pages on Meetup and Facebook to learn exact locations and details.
Shameless Plug: Can you spare a dollar?
We have -- well, not enough -- in the DSA 4 Bernie working group bank account and we want to raise $3,000 to purchase the literature we need for canvassing through the primary season. We’re printing in both English and Spanish and we need your support.
Can you make a donation of $5, $10, $27, or any other amount to support Metro D.C. DSA’s Bernie Working Group?Here’s the link to donate. ([link removed])
Reach out to us at
[email protected]
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** MDC DSA Events for January-February
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Follow links for details
Follow links for details!
Monday JAN 27 6:30 PM
So You Want to Organize #1: Socialist Night School ([link removed])
Shaw (Watha T. Daniel) Neighborhood Library, 1630 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001
Part 1 of 5: What Is an Organizer Anyway? ([link removed]) Follow link for details
Tuesday JAN 28 7:00 PM
Participatory Budgeting Planning Meeting ([link removed])
Cleveland Park Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
Help plan our chapter’s participatory budgeting process. Follow link for details
Wednesday JAN 29 7:00 PM
Steering Committee Meeting ([link removed])
Remote-only meeting of the Metro DC DSA Steering Committee. All members are welcome to attend via Zoom; details in Slack: # steering. Follow link for details
Thursday JAN 30 6:00 PM
Labor Working Group Happy Hour ([link removed])
Lyman's Tavern, 3720 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20011
Join labor activists, unionists, et al. Follow link for details
Friday JAN 31 6:00 PM
DSA MoCo 🌹 Happy Hour ([link removed])
Not Your Average Joe's, 8661 Colesville Rd Suite C-153, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Downtown Silver Spring get-together. Follow link for details
FEBRUARY
Saturday FEB 1 12:30 PM
DSA for Bernie Canvass in Arlington, VA! ([link removed])
Court House, Arlington, VA 22201
ONE MONTH until Super Tuesday; make sure Virginia shows up for Bernie.
Follow link for details
Saturday FEB 1 7-midnight
Stomp Out Slumlords Movie Night ([link removed])
Colony Club, 3118 Georgia Ave NW, Washington, DC 20010
Screening “RENT REBELS: Resistance Against the Sell Out of the City”, a documentary about the tenant movement in Berlin. Follow link for details
Sunday FEB 2 2:00 PM
MoCo DSA 🌹General Branch Meeting ([link removed])
Connie Morella (Bethesda) Library, 7400 Arlington Rd, Bethesda, MD 20814
Monthly planning and organizing meeting. Follow link for details
Sunday FEB 2 1:30 PM
Stomp Out Slumlords: Anti-Eviction Canvass ([link removed])
L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station, 600 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, DC 20024
Come help us connect tenants facing eviction with legal resources. Follow link for details
Tuesday FEB 4 6:30 PM
Ecosocialist Principles for a Green New Deal ([link removed])
Cleveland Park Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
Socialist Night School session. Follow link for details
Friday FEB 7 6:00 PM
Libertarian Socialist Caucus (LSC) Happy Hour ([link removed])
1314 9th St NW, , Washington, DC 20001 Follow link for details
Sunday FEB 9 3:00 PM
Metro DC DSA Monthly General Body Meeting ([link removed])
Friends Meeting of Washington, 2111 Florida Ave. NW, Washington, DC
The monthly meeting of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America. Follow link for details
Wednesday FEB 12 7:00 PM
Steering Committee Meeting ([link removed])
Institute for Policy Studies, 1301 Connecticut Ave NW #600, Washington, DC 20036
All members are welcome to attend, including remotely by Zoom. Follow link for details
Thursday FEB 20 6:30 PM
Disability Justice Working Group ([link removed])
The Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009
Planning and organizing meeting. Follow link for details
Thursday FEB 20 7:00 PM
NOVA Branch DSA 🌹 Organizing Meeting ([link removed])
Thomas Jefferson Library, 7415 Arlington Blvd, Falls Church, VA 22042
Monthly NOVA DSA organizing and planning meeting. Follow link for details
Wednesday FEB 26 7:00 PM
Steering Committee Meeting ([link removed])
Remote only meeting
Get Zoom info at Slack: # steering Follow link for details
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** Events from Our Allies in the DMV
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Follow links for details
Saturday, Jan 25
15th Annual CCAN Polar Bear Plunge ([link removed])
Time: 10am - 2pm
Location: National Harbor, 141 National Harbor Boulevard, Oxon Hill, MD 20745
Note: CCAN is the first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.
Saturday, Jan 25
Cop Watch Training and Orientation ([link removed])
Time: 1:30 - 4:30pm
Location: Anacostia Neighborhood Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd SE, Washington, D.C. 20020
Note: Copwatch is a group who monitors the police on the streets to prevent, follow up on and expose brutality and misconduct. Organized by Black Lives Matter DC.
Anacostia Neighborhood Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd SE, Washington, DC 20020
Saturday Jan. 25
Say NO to Surveillance and Criminalization! ([link removed])
Time: 8:30am
Location: Arlington County VA – Government, 2100 Clarendon Blvd, Arlington VA
Note: Support For Us, Not Amazon this Saturday at Arlington County’s board meeting to fight for a future where people and communities keep each other safe, notracist surveillance and policing ([link removed]) . Note: Hosted by LaColectiVA and 5 others:[link removed]
Sunday, Jan. 26
Medicare 4 All Town Hall ([link removed])
Time: 2 - 4pm
Location: Stanton Community Center, 92 W Washington St, Annapolis, MD 21401
Note: Informational session on the failures of the U.S. healthcare system.
Sunday, Jan. 26 ([link removed])
Jamming for Justice hosted by DC Poor People’s Campaign ([link removed])
Time: 4 - 7pm
Location: 5233 North Capitol Street NE, Washington D.C. 20011
Note: RSVP via link. Instrumentalists and singers welcome for the open mic and collaboration. Sign up begins at 3:30pm.
Monday Jan. 27
January Pay Stub Clinic ([link removed])
Time: 6:30 – 8:00pm
Location: 2437 15th St NW, Washington DC
Note: Come learn about your rights at work and how to protect yourself from wage theft. Bring a pay stub if you have access to one!RSVP ([link removed]) Hosted byDC Jobs With Justice ([link removed]) and3 others ([link removed]) :[link removed]
Tuesday, Jan. 28
Group Name Change Hearing Sign Up ([link removed])
Time: 1:30 - 4:30pm
Location: 500 Indiana Ave NW, Washington DC 20001
Note: Informational sessions and assistance provided to DC trans residents who need help navigating the name change process. Organized by No Justice No Pride (NJNP).
Wednesday, Jan. 29
Poor People’s Campaign We Must Do M.O.R.E. National Tour ([link removed])
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW Washington D.C.
Note: The talk by Revs. Theoharis and Barber will be preceded by a gathering and march at 5:30pm. RSVP for details ([link removed]) .
Thursday, Jan. 30
interoperability: breaking down the walled gardens of digital platforms ([link removed])
Time: 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Location: West End Neighborhood Library, 2301 L Street Northwest Conference Room, Washington, DC 20037
Note: Organized by the DC Tech Workers Coalition.
Thursday, Jan. 30
Right to Housing Committee Meeting ([link removed])
Time: 6pm – 8pm
Location: ONE DC, 614 S St NW, Washington DC
Note: Discuss our tenant rights, and build power to fight displacement and gain community control of land and housing for low-wage, long-standing Washingtonians. Hosted by ONE DC:[link removed]
Friday, Jan. 31
Prison Pipelines and Detention Centers panel discussion ([link removed])
Time: 6pm
Location: St. Stephen & the Incarnation Episcopal Church, 1525 Newton St NW, Washington, D.C. 20010
Note: Organized by They/Them Collective. Details provisional; follow up at event page or email:
[email protected].
Friday, Jan. 31
Progressive Cheverly Annual Legislative Forum ([link removed])
Time: 7pm
Location: Multipurpose Room of Gladys Noon Spellman Elementary School, 3324 64th Avenue, Cheverly MD
Note: Join District 47 representatives — MD Sen. Malcolm Augustine and Dels. Diana Fennel, Julian Ivey and Wanika Fisher — who discuss the legislative issues that will be on the agenda for the upcoming Assembly session.
Saturday, Feb. 1
PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY ([link removed])
Time: 10am - 4pm
Location: All Souls Church, 1500 Harvard St NW Washington, DC 20009
Note: Participatory gathering of DC residents where we will set the priorities for ONE DC's Right to Housing and Right to Income Campaigns in 2020 — help us shape our work for the coming year so we can build power and take action to take back DC!
Sunday Feb. 9
February SURJ DC Orientation + Welcome Session ([link removed])
Time: 2pm – 4pm
Location: Cleveland Park Public Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC
Note: Hosted by SURJ-DC:[link removed]
New to SURJ? Been getting our emails for a while and not sure of your next step? Join us for this 2-hour introductory eventRSVP ([link removed])
Saturday, Feb. 15
Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents ([link removed])
Time: 3 - 4:30pm
Location: Sankofa Video, Books & Café, 2714 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Note: Book talk and signing with Editor and Senior Columnist at Black Agenda Report, Margaret Kimberley.
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Good Reads
* Our comrade Dave Richardson sends an article, “Hope is in the Streets,” totting up worldwide mass action and its promise — from the Solidarity newsletter that’s part of the periodical Against the Current: [link removed]
* Sunkara in The Guardian, parsing “Middle-class Joe” Biden — [link removed]
* Aaron Benanev from The Guardian: “Automation is a red herring. The wider environment of slowing growth explains low labor demand largely by itself.”
[link removed]
* Here’s a great roundup from the Democracy Collaborative ([link removed]) ; writer Juliana Broad highlights significant advances around the US in public banking, community land trust, and worker ownership initiatives … [link removed]
* Maryland socialists may want to while away some time on Gov. Larry Hogan’s proposed budget, which is actually not getting too much pushback yet from the Dem establishment. Kevin Kinnally of Conduit Street, the newsletter of the Maryland Association of Counties, has a roundup on the Budget Briefing presented to legislators by the Department of Legislative Services. It is more than you ever wanted to know, but features outstanding explanatory graphics.[link removed]
* Grist’s weekly newsletter has two articles on fertilizer, including its effect on the Gulf of Mexico as it travels down the Mississippi from our agricultural heartland -- and closer to home, on the Chesapeake Bay as it travels down the Susquehanna from negligent and noncompliant Pennsylvania. [link removed]
And...
* MoCo branch Weekly Newsletter (includes more Good Reads and other news)
[link removed]
INFO ACCESS
PUBLICATIONS SCHEDULE: The February Washington Socialist will be sent Friday, January 31 with an article deadline of Saturday, January 25. Updates for February will be sent Fridays, February 7, 14 and 21 and the March issue of the Washington Socialist will be sent Friday, February 28 with an article deadline of Saturday, Feb. 23. Send article submissions to
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected])
FAQ
How many newsletters, updates and articles have we published in the Washington Socialist since 2012? Articles on what topics? Checkour Index here. ([link removed])
What does the MDC DSA local chapter do, week in and week out?See our working groups, caucuses and campaigns in the DMV here. ([link removed])
What can I find out from MDC DSA Slack and how do I join?: Many of our campaigns, working groups and caucuses keep the conversation going between meetings on our MDC DSA Slack platform. If you are a DSA member in good standing and aren’t on our Slack you may not be getting the full picture about the rich array of activities suggestedabove in the chapter structure link ([link removed]) . To get on Slack, use the email by which DSA knows you and request access from
[email protected] (mailto:
[email protected])
VIEW ALL UPCOMING DC DSA EVENTS ([link removed])
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