On August 23rd, the Los Angeles City Council is voting to DOUBLE DOWN on a failed model of public safety, prioritizing sending armed police officers on patrol instead of funding city services and unarmed responses that actually keep Angelenos safe.

In an attempt to deny the public an opportunity to comment against this action, Council President Paul Krekorian has agendized a vote by the Personnel Committee and then immediately bring it to a full council vote on the same day. This is an outrageous move to evade public scrutiny, and one we are organizing against.

FIRST: Make sure you call and email Councilmember Padilla and ask her to vote no! If you live in another district, do the same with your councilmember!

SECOND: Turn up to City Hall! The Personnel Committee will be meeting at 8:30am on Wednesday in Room 340 at LA City Hall (200 N Spring Street). Sign up to give public comment about the services that city hall is neglecting by giving cops a $200 MILLION DOLLAR RAISE. The full council meeting will then commence at 10AM. Join us to have our voices be heard.

Finally, after the council meeting, you can join BLM Los Angeles for their 132nd consecutive week of protests against LAPPL. They will be in front of LAPPL Headquarters (1308 W 8th St) at 4PM!

This contract is doubling down on a failed model of public safety, prioritizing sending armed police officers on patrol instead of funding city services and unarmed responses that actually keep Angelenos safe.

Karen Bass has said that her “number-one job is to keep Angelenos safe.” The LAPD and the LAPPL do not keep Angelenos safe. Even the Los Angeles Times has found that violent crime rates are down by double digit percentages this year, even as LAPD’s staffing numbers have dropped below 9000 for the first time in decades. The numbers are clear: more police do not "keep Angelenos safe".

This contract offer is especially galling when earlier this month, over 11,000 city workers represented by SEIU 721 went on a 24-hour ULP strike over staffing shortages and forced overtime. These are the workers that deserve retention and recruitment bonuses, not the patrol officers who harass, racially profile, and harm our neighbors.

Join DSA-LA, BLM Los Angeles, and our coalition partners in demanding of our Mayor and City Council: Stop failed models of public safety! Invest in the city workers and services who actually make Los Angeles run.

While it feels like we are just coming out from some exciting wins in 2022, the time to begin work toward the 2024 election, and our chapter’s 2023-2024 endorsement cycle is here! Here's what that means. 

Importantly, DSA’s endorsement process looks different from a lot of other organizations. While some treat endorsements as sort of a ‘stamp of approval’, our endorsements are issued more sparingly, and only on candidates who we commit to putting material effort behind. Note: we do still issue recommendations in races where we don’t endorse, in our annual voter guide (see 2022 voter guide here.)

What does this mean practically for our endorsements? It means candidates first must be raised for consideration by members, before going through an evaluation process, and finally being confirmed by a vote sent out to all DSA-members. As DSA’s National Electoral Committee frames it, “our candidates are socialist organizers with a relationship to a working-class base, not just individuals who run on “good ideas”. 

You can find the full endorsement process outlined here. Here is a timeline to look out for:

• Phase 1 (City Council): petitioning ended August 20, candidate consideration now open

• Phase 2 (State Legislature and other municipal): Petition period August 21-September 23

• Phase 3 (Any remaining): Petition period December 4-January 7, 2024

In early September our chapter will host a candidate forum for Phase 1, where members can hear from and ask questions of potential City Council endorsements, before casting a vote. Look out for that invitation soon!

This Tuesday, August 22nd, SAG-AFTRA and WGA will join forces with workers across industries for a National Day of Solidarity. In this “Summer of Strikes,” working Americans everywhere are fighting for fair contracts, better compensation, safe working conditions and protections from encroaching technology. 

We’re proud to support workers on strike nationally and locally! (Donate to bring snacks, supplies and solidarity out to the picket lines,) and (help deliver food and drinks to the WGA & SAG-AFTRA picket lines by joining The Snackpack.)

Saturday, September 9 @ 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

With 40% of all national imports coming through Los Angeles, the supply chain in Southern California is fundamental to the US economy, and a core component that makes global capitalism function. How do we, as socialists, engage with this fact and how does the supply chain factor into working class struggle?

DSA-LA, Inland Empire DSA, and DSA-Long Beach have collaborated on a regional Day School that focuses on political strategy surrounding the key sites of the logistics chain in Southern California – the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach, railroads, and warehouse logistics.

This Day School would be an event to bring DSA members across Southern California together, to hear from workers and fellow socialists and discuss how socialists should approach this critical artery in the United States Supply Chain.

The Day School will include sessions such as:

• Logistics 101: Introduction to the Supply Chain
• Public Impact: Environmental and Societal Impacts of the Supply Chain
• Labor Organizing in Logistics

Prior to the Day School, we will hold a film screening and kick-off social event at Boomtown Brewery on Friday, September 8th.

Join us in the first socialist regional day school held in Southern California!

DSA-LA's Operations Working Group is looking to bring in some new members to help keep the organization's tech and backend administration running smoothly!

We are looking for members who can usually attend our 1 hour-long weekly working meetings (currently on Thursdays at 7pm), and who can volunteer an additional 1-2 hours per week. We offer regular cross-trainings to share skills across our team, but at the moment we're especially looking for members who have experience in the following areas:

• Backend Server Administration
• Wordpress Administration
• Email Server Systems
• Web Hosting / Site Reliability

If you're interested in getting involved, send an email introducing yourself to [email protected]!

DSA-LA's Communications Team is also looking for new members! If you have experience with the following, please send an email introducing yourself and describing your experience to [email protected].

• Press and media relations
• Canva and graphic design
• Other communications administrative work

LAST CHANCE! To help fundraise for National Convention, our chapter has been offering SPECIAL EDITION baseball jackets and posters -- but we'll be closing orders on SEPTEMBER 1st!

This is your final opportunity to grab these awesome items - don't miss out!

(Members, be on the lookout for an upcoming Convention debrief writeup!)

Our organization is powered by our members -- YOU!

At National Convention, we passed a number of really exciting proposals to grow our work. It's going to cost money for us to fight and win our socialist vision.

So, we also passed a resolution to encourage Solidarity Income Based Dues: monthly dues based on a memberʼs annual income. This dues-paying method is a tool to increase our collective financial capacity and account for differences in individual membersʼ income levels and access to capital. "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs" 🌹

We encourage you to switch to income-based dues and give 1% for the 99%! Use the dues-calculator below to find out what 1% of your income is.

Your Membership Details

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Your membership status is currently: membership not found – please contact admin@dsa-la.org if you see this!.

Your membership will expire on membership not found – please contact admin@dsa-la.org if you see this!.

Your membership is associated with the address your address your town ZIP, putting you in the not found! branch.

You can renew your membership here, or update an existing membership by emailing [email protected]. Your membership expiration date will be automatically extended if you have recurring dues payments set up. This date will be automatically extended if you have set up recurring dues. If your member address is out of is out of date, you can update with this form.

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