Metro DC DSA holding chapter-wide General Body Meeting; Alexandrians rise up to pass a People’s Ceasefire Resolution; Marylanders continue to tell Biden they want an immediate ceasefire
This is the weekly newsletter of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America (MDC DSA), which is produced by local members of the chapter's Publications working group. The Weekly Update publishes every Friday at 9am.
Paid for by Metro DC DSA (mdcdsa.org). Not authorized by any candidate or committee.
UP FRONT
Metro DC DSA holding chapter-wide General Body Meeting — Sunday, May 19 from 3 to 5pm
Metro DC DSA’s next GBM is scheduled for May 19 from 3 to 5pm. The meeting will be held both in person and virtually, and will review chapter priorities, upcoming events, election report backs and more. The meeting will include a focused discussion on our chapter publications and media systems, with the intent to open space for chapter members to explore how our publications connect to the broader chapter and our organizing, as well as collect ideas and feedback from membership on the chapter’s media ambitions, vision, and operations. Members who come in person can receive limited edition Palestine solidarity prints and can also grab public safety poster series.
Chapter members are encouraged to RSVP here to receive the in-person location and Zoom link for those attending virtually. Following the meeting, the chapter will hold a happy hour at The Admiral (1 Dupont Cir NW).
Alexandrians rise up to pass a People’s Ceasefire Resolution
As the Alexandria City Council continues to be derelict in their duties to enact the will of Alexandrians and their own Human Rights Commission, the people of Alexandria took over Tuesday's City Council to proclaim their own Gaza ceasefire resolution as part of grassroots commonwealth-wide demonstrations in support of a Palestinian liberation. Read the full accounting of the protest in Washington Socialist here.
After the readings of the Council’s scheduled proclamations, comrades from Metro DC DSA, Alexandria for Palestinian Human Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace and other allied organizations peacefully walked up to the front of the council chambers to read their own resolution as Councilmembers ran from the chambers. The resolution calls for, among other things, a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the dissolution of the Virginia Israel Advisory Board, amnesty for ceasefire protestors, and a complete and transparent divestment from Israel. After the reading and passing of the resolution by the people of Alexandria, protestors left City Hall and marched directly to Senator Mark Warner’s house to demand an audience with Virginia’s senior Senator.
As Israel continues its flagrant genocide of the people of Gaza, Metro DC DSA, Alexandria for Palestinian Human Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace and the rest of the DC/MD/VA Coalition for a Free Palestine continue to organize for a world free of colonialism, oppression and occupation. Readers interested in connecting to Metro DC DSA Palestine solidarity operations should visit the #internationalism and #bds-palestine-solidarity channels on the chapter Slack.
Marylanders send a message to President Biden and local Democratic leaders for an immediate ceasefire end to arms sales to Israel
Tuesday, May 14 marked the end of Maryland’s primary election. The Uncommitted vote in the Democratic presidential primary, a vote for peace for Palestinians and an immediate end to US arms sales to Israel, is reporting over 51,000 votes and counting at time of writing, winning more than 10% of reported votes in Maryland. The Uncommitted vote totals in Maryland are part of a national movement that has seen hundreds of thousands of people across the country send a message of defiance and solidarity for Palestine. Tens of thousands of Marylanders have taken a stand against the Democratic Party establishment in casting an Uncommitted vote to send a message of dissent against arming the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.
Across Maryland, DSA chapters organized canvassing efforts and knocked on the doors of over 26,000 Democratic voters in our state, having nearly four thousand conversations about how justice for Palestinians was on the ballot in Maryland. The Uncommitted vote continues to show Democratic leaders that Palestine is a local issue that cannot be ignored, and it is imperative that elected leaders call for an immediate end to US arms sales to Israel.
Prince George’s county executive Angela Alsobrooks will face former Governor Larry Hogan for the open Senate seat of the retiring Ben Cardin. John Nichols writes in The Nation: “While both Alsobrooks and Hogan say they support the right to choose, Hogan has said he is personally opposed to abortion and, as governor, he vetoed legislation that would have expanded training for abortion providers. When the veto was overridden, Hogan withheld state funding for the training.” For reminders of Hogan’s sorry record over two terms, see our Washington Socialist compilation in The Hogan Beat.
BRIEFS
Three weeks left to knock on doors for Janeese Lewis George — Metro DC DSA launches two canvasses this weekend from the Takoma Playground alongside labor and community allies
Three weeks remain until the DC Democratic primary, and early voting has already started. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George has been a powerful ally to workers, renters, families and communities of color, so of course she's under attack from "tough on crime" neoliberal opponents. Knock on doors this Saturday and Sunday to help send her back to the DC Council with a strong majority.
Metro DC DSA will be launching on Saturday from 10am to 1pm starting at Takoma Playground (301 Van Buren St NW) for a canvass with labor partners IUPAT DC 51, the Baltimore-DC Building Trades Council and UNITE HERE Local 25. A second canvass is being launched from the Takoma Playground on Sunday from 1 to 4pm (with optional kids activities starting at noon) for a family canvass with the Washington Teachers Union and Jews United for Justice. Sign up here to get updates on future canvasses or get involved in other electoral work.
MDC DSA tabling at Trans Pride at the MLK Library — Saturday, May 18 from 9:30am to 5pm
The chapter’s Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy campaign will be building on the momentum gathered at Trans Day of Visibility in March and tabling at Trans Pride on May 18 at MLK Memorial Library from 9:30am to 5pm. Those interested in learning more about Metro DC DSA, the TRBA campaign, or just to be a part of the community are invited to attend. Interested comrades can register to attend Trans Pride here, and all are welcome to stop by and say hello. Readers interested in getting involved in the TRBA campaign or looking to volunteer for a tabling shift should email [email protected].
Stomp Out Slumlords to hold anti-eviction canvass — Saturday, May 18 at 1:30pm
Stomp Out Slumlords is carrying out its next anti-eviction canvass on Saturday, May 18. Canvassers will speak with tenants across the city to spread awareness about their rights as tenants. Tenants that speak with SOS are twice as likely to go to court and fight their eviction, so every volunteer makes a big impact. The canvassing group will meet at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro for a quick training at 1:30pm, and then pair up to canvass followed by a debrief/social at Sonny’s in Petworth. New members are always welcome and will be paired with an experienced canvasser to learn the ropes. Get more details at the sign up link, or email [email protected] to ask questions or find out more ways to get involved. The canvassing group is always in need of cars, which can help canvassers get to Metro-inaccessible areas.
We Power DC holding movement meeting — Saturday, May 18 from 2 to 4pm
Want to be a part of the Green New Deal in Washington, DC? Join We Power DC to learn about the fight to win a publicly owned utility that guarantees union jobs, runs on clean energy and puts people before profits. Organizers will share information about the campaign’s work and facilitate group discussion on relational organizing and the story of self, us, and now. RSVP to the Saturday, May 18 We Power DC Movement Meeting at Mt. Pleasant Library from 2 to 4pm, followed by a happy hour at Marx Cafe starting at 5pm.
Metro DC DSA Spring Book Exchange — Sunday, May 19 from 11am to 3pm
Bring a book, take a book (or two, or three…) and learn how to get involved in our chapter’s initiatives. The Metro DC DSA Political Education working group is organizing a Spring Book Exchange on Sunday, May 19 from 11am to 3pm in the picnic area of Alethia Tanner Park in NE DC. This event is open to the community and welcomes chapter members and supporters to trade books that would be of interest to reading group or Metro DC DSA members. Attendees can also pick up free swag, meet comrades and learn about chapter campaigns from the Metro DC DSA Street Team. Join the #book-exchange and #street-team channels on the chapter’s Slack to get involved — or see you there.
Summer reading groups from Metro DC DSA — Sign-ups now open
Everyone is invited to sign up and invite their friends and coworkers to Summer 2024 reading groups through Metro DC DSA — all start after Memorial Day and end before Labor Day. These reading groups are a great way to meet new people, learn core works connected to socialism and political economy, build our capacity to learn and debate ideas and get connected to political education in the chapter.
Summer offerings include a group on Container Ship Capitalism and why it is important when the Suez Canal gets blocked, a political economy group reading The Making of Global Capitalism, a Mobilize Your Union group for anyone looking to get more active in their workplace or union, an Internationalism group reading Vincent Bevins’ The Jakarta Method, a Socialism and Culture group reading Stuart Hall about how socialism can make itself “common sense," a Communist Manifesto group reading through the original work along with its contemporaries and reactions to it today, a Socialist Feminist group reading Wordslut about feminism and language, a Reading the Caribbean group on fiction rooted in the Caribbean coordinated by experts on the topic, and the Know Your Chapter: Bylaws Reading Group to bring people together to read and discuss DSA’s existing rules and their history. Register one or more times to join — most groups will meet online but with regular in-person social meetups to build group camaraderie.
Places We Call Home, a benefit for Montgomery County branch DSA, scheduled for Saturday, June 15 from 2 to 4:30pm
On Saturday, June 15, join the Montgomery County branch of MDC DSA for a benefit event featuring visual art and musical performances centered around the theme “Places we call home.” Proceeds will support the cost of bilingual, union-printed canvassing literature to support the branch’s field organizing for renter protections, abolition and Palestine solidarity. More details to come in future updates. RSVP here. Other upcoming Montgomery County branch events include an upcounty social in Gaithersburg on Saturday, May 25, a game night social on Thursday, May 30 at Silver Branch Brewing — organizers will be bringing a few games, but attendees are also invited to bring a favorite of their own — and a hybrid June general body meeting in Wheaton on Sunday, June 2.
INFO ACCESS
MDC DSA Publications: The Washington Socialist publishes on a quarterly schedule. The Spring 2024 edition is now live and will be updated on a rolling basis until Summer. The Spring issue’s pieces include remote work as a socialist weapon, the passage of DC’s “Crimnibus” or Secure DC Act, anti-mask laws in history and several analyses of the chapter’s internal strategy, including as a regional formation. Added recently: a socialist evaluation of TOPA, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. Anyone interested in contributing to the Washington Socialist can email submissions or questions at [email protected]. Get your socialist self on the record.
Weekly Updates are scheduled and emailed on Fridays — May 24 and 31 this month. Current and past Updates are on the web here. We’re proud that the wider DMV left sees the Update as a utility for activists. Want more INFO ACCESS? Submit your Update suggestions to the tip line, including nominating articles for ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES.
Find out about our MDC DSA chapter — structure, campaigns and working groups, Night School and reading groups — HERE. And live from our studio, Wednesday, May 22, 7 – 8pm | Why You Should Join DSA/New Member Orientation (with Q&A). AND new members (or long-timers): If you are not on the chapter’s Slack, you may be missing important organizing info and inspiration. Email [email protected] with your most recent DSA dues receipt to get added.
Now that we (maybe) have your attention about MDC DSA’s information sources, consider participating in MDC DSA’s Publications effort. We write, we edit, we design, we do the tech — there are so many ways your hand could lighten the load in 2024 and beyond. Check us out on #publications and let us know what you would like to write, or write about. You can even donate to our Comradery page if you would like to financially support socialist publishing in the DMV.
COMMUNITY BULLETIN
DMV Leftist Writers Social on May 19 | After The Storm Magazine
Are you writing anticapitalist stories? Thinking about writing them? Interested in reading and editing such stories? Local magazine and writers collective After The Storm is hosting a DMV Leftist Writers Social on Sunday, May 19, from 2 to 4pm at Sudhouse DC on U Street. Join them to meet other writers, editors and readers, as well as to learn more about getting involved with After The Storm, a publication that pays local writers to share their visions for a better world. This space is for all, including those who may not currently consider themselves a writer. RSVP here.
Volunteers needed for Mother’s Day Free Market | Ward 4 Mutual Aid and Petworth peanuts
Ward 4 Mutual Aid is seeking additional volunteers for its annual Mother’s Day Free Market on Saturday, May 18, which provides free clothes, toys, car seats, strollers, books and other baby supplies for DC families. Volunteers are needed to help set up and break down before and after the event at Emory United Methodist Church. Email events@petworthpeanuts for more information or to sign up to volunteer.
My Body My Festival | DC Abortion Fund
The DC Abortion Fund has partnered with Burger Sounds to host a three-day music festival where abortion access is the headliner. From May 16 to 18, celebrate bodily autonomy and rally for DC statehood across three local concert venues: Pie Shop, Songbyrd and metrobar. Proceeds benefit DCAF; get tickets here.
Solutions Not Punishments: Stop the PG Curfew | Town Hall with ACLU MD, PGPAC
Prince George’s County is planning to enforce youth curfews in the name of crime prevention without any attempts to address the socioeconomic root causes of crime. Curfews without solutions that address root causes are ineffective and a band-aid solution to a problem that requires deeper commitment and involvement to fix. Our children deserve safe places to play, learn and create. Children thrive in positive environments, not in places where they are constantly criminalized when out past curfew. Join us Saturday, May 18 at 5:30pm for a town hall to learn how curfew punishments hurt children — Black, Brown and those from low-income families — hosted by Prince George’s Police Accountability Coalition with the MD ACLU.
ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES
From The Guardian: GOP Sen. Katie Britt (ALA) proposes federal database to collect data on pregnant people
Katie Britt, the Republican US senator from Alabama best known for delivering a widely ridiculed State of the Union response speech in March, marked the run-up to Mother’s Day on Sunday by introducing a bill to create a federal database to collect data on pregnant people.The More Opportunities for Moms to Succeed (Moms) Act proposes to establish an online government database called “pregnancy.gov” listing resources related to pregnancy, including information about adoption agencies and pregnancy care providers — except for those that provide abortion-related services.
Associated Press: Palestinians mark 76 years of dispossession as a potentially even larger catastrophe unfolds in Gaza Palestinians on Wednesday marked the 76th year of their mass expulsion from what is now Israel, an event that is at the core of their national struggle. But in many ways, that experience pales in comparison to the calamity now unfolding in Gaza. Palestinians refer to it as the Nakba, Arabic for catastrophe. Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment. After the war, Israel refused to allow them to return because it would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within its borders. Instead, they became a seemingly permanent refugee community that now numbers some 6 million, with most living in slum-like urban refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, [plus three-quarters of Gaza’s 2.3 million].
In April, Congress rushed to extend the US intelligence system’s “crown jewel,” Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The spy program allows the NSA to wiretap calls and messages between Americans and foreigners abroad—so long as the foreigner is the individual being “targeted” and the intercept serves a significant “foreign intelligence” purpose. Since 2008, the program has been limited to a subset of businesses that the law calls “electronic communications service providers,” or ECSPs—corporations such as Microsoft and Google, which provide email services, and phone companies like Sprint and AT&T. In recent years, the government has worked quietly to redefine what it means to be an ECSP in an attempt to extend the NSA’s reach, first unilaterally and now with Congress’ backing. The changes to the law have left legal experts largely in the dark as to the true limits of this new authority.
ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES are articles and opinion pieces of interest to DMV leftists but not, generally, appearing in local media. They should have links without paywalls. Readers are invited to submit candidates at our tip line.
This is the weekly newsletter of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America (MDC DSA), which is produced by local members of the chapter's Publications working group. The Weekly Update publishes every Friday at 9am.
Paid for by Metro DC DSA (mdcdsa.org). Not authorized by any candidate or committee.
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 vast and free horizon. - Virgilia D'Andrea
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