Hi John!
This past week has been filled with tragedy, with the three mass shootings in Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio. Our hearts go out to the victims and their friends and families, and to all the communities who have to struggle to deal with the aftermath of these kinds of attacks, over and over and over again. We refuse to accept this as a new normal. We will be releasing a more in-depth statement soon that includes what we can do locally to fight against the white supremacy that fuels this violence. In the meantime, we would like to highlight the following verified funds for the victims of the attacks:
Gilroy
El Paso
- The El Paso Community Foundation's fund for the victims can be found here.
Dayton
- The Dayton Foundation's fund for victims can be found here.
In Solidarity,
Your SV DSA Newsletter Team 🌹
Silicon Valley DSA is your local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). We're a nationwide movement organizing for democratic socialism.
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This past week we launched our New Member Orientation, held our final Reform or Revolution Book Club, and served our community with Food Not Bombs. Coming up, we've got a lot of projects that we could use volunteers for! Please email [email protected] to find out how you can help with:
- Tending the DSA community garden!
- Making food for the homeless and helping to serve it on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month.
- Educating the community about DSA and what we're doing by tabling in a variety of locations.
- Helping with various administrative tasks as a co-chair for our Electoral, Justice, or Political Education working groups.
- Planning out our electoral campaign work for 2020, including whether or not we endorse Bernie Sanders and what that means for our chapter locally.
Oh, and save the date! Our Fall Chapter meeting will be September 14th, 12pm-5pm in Sunnyvale!Â
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DSA National Convention Recap
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Last weekend, our chapter's 13 delegates travelled to Atlanta for the 2019 National Convention. It was a long, intense weekend, and the delegates will work to put together a longer report once they've had the chance to breathe for a little while. But in the meantime, here is a very brief summary of what was decided:
The proposed amendments to the DSA Constitution and Bylaws that our chapter had endorsed, CB2: Pass the Hat and CB33: Assembly of Locals failed to pass, but were supported by a significant minority of convention delegates. Other proposals for a larger distribution of dues to local chapters also failed, while several proposals for how to potentially change the regional structures of the organization were deferred to a longer process to be the developed by the NPC, our National Political Committee.Â
Many resolutions regarding the political positions and priorities of the organization were discussed:Â
- Resolutions in support of immigrant rights, decolonization, ecosocialism and decriminalization of sex work were passed.Â
- Several resolutions were also passed regarding our strategies for labor, electoral work, as well as housing and tenant organizing.Â
- The convention voted in favor of supporting childcare, and the establishment of an anti fascist working group.Â
- Centralized resources for political education were approved, as well as continuing staff led trainings.Â
- Most of the proposed changes to the DSA Constitution and Bylaws were not debated, as the convention ran out of time before it got to them.Â
Several of the resolutions passed calls for the establishment of new working groups, committees and commissions, development of resources, and in some cases hiring of staff. Some resolutions on related topics might overlap slightly, while others could contradict each other a bit. The task of balancing these, and implementing the will of the convention over the next two years now lies with the newly elected NPC.
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Socialist Feminist Working Group Meeting
August 5th, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Details link
Call in to find out about our latest projects! Click here or dial 1-408-638-0968 with meeting ID 257 055 518
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Labor Working Group Meeting (call)Â
August 7th, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Details link
Join us for our first Labor Working Group meeting of August! We'll check in on Kaiser mental healthcare workers and other ongoing fights, and help plan some fun upcoming events. Newbies are always welcome.
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Housing Working Group Meeting (LP)Â
August 8th, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Details link
While this meeting is in Palo Alto, our working group is chapter-wide and we’ll be discussing our work across Silicon Valley, so members from both branches are welcome. If you can’t make it in person, we will also have a Zoom call-in option.
All our meetings and events are always open to new members or those who are just curious about our work!
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Southbay Indigenous Solidarity Organizing Meeting (SJ)
August 8th, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Details link
Southbay Indigenous Solidarity/Friends of Juristac are allies who support the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band in their efforts to stop an extractive mining project at their most sacred site, Juristac.
In this organizing meeting SIS will share updates on Amah Mutsun events, coordinate and schedule summer tabling events throughout Santa Clara County, and discuss other possible events we’d like to create. Please join us!
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DSA Book Club New Jim Crow
August 9th, 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Details link
Come join SV DSA’s Political Education Working Group as we read Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow.
Check the agenda here! sv-dsa.org/2019-08-09-new-jim-crow
We’ll be meeting at Orchard Valley Coffee in Campbell. We’ll be hosting a Zoom call for those that can’t attend in person.
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Political Education Working Group MeetingÂ
August 10th, 5:30pm -7:00pm
Details link
Join us for the August meeting of the SV DSA Political Education Working Group.  We’ll be discussing strategy for getting reading groups off the ground in our chapter, how to prepare content for newbie members of our chapter, and more!
Check the agenda at http://sv-dsa.org/2019-08-10-pol-ed-agenda.
We’ll be meeting at the Saint Jude’s Episcopal Church and also have a Zoom call-in option.
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Mobilizer Working Group MeetingÂ
August 11th, 1:00pm - 3:00pm
Details link
This will be a Silicon Valley DSA meeting for our Mobilizer Working Group. We will be discussing our media presence, on-boarding, local meet-ups, etc. Newcomers strongly encouraged to attend! We will be meeting in the Fairmeadow Room.
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Chapter Committee MeetingÂ
August 12th, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Details link
Officers meet regularly to check in on all of our working groups and plan future events. If you’re interested in the nuts and bolts of chapter administration, or have questions for the officers, you’re welcome to attend. Just fill out this form for details!Â
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Support your local chapter
Membership dues mostly go to support national DSA—to support Silicon Valley DSA directly, set up voluntary local dues! We recommend you pay up to $5 monthly in national dues, if affordable, and reserve your additional generosity for the local. 🌹
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Organize a local meet-up
To win the world, we need to win our buildings, our neighborhoods, and our cities. If you want to start a DSA local meetup in your neighborhood, email us! This is a fun and easy way to connect local comrades and bring in new folks.
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Let's connect 1-on-1
Want to chat with one of our mobilizers to figure out ways to make a difference with DSA? Sign up here.
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Submit content!
- Newsletter & Events. Click here to submit an event, update, or call to action for next week's newsletter. Please submit it by Friday at 8pm. Accepted submissions will also go out on our calendar and social media.
- Twitter. Click here if you have a short message to publish on our Twitter.
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Questions?
If you have any questions, please reply to this email. 🌹
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