Stomp Out Slumlords to hold anti-eviction canvass; Places We Call Home, a benefit for Montgomery County branch DSA; Meet and mingle at MDC DSA’s Queer Socialist Happy Hour
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
Stomp Out Slumlords to hold anti-eviction canvass — Saturday, June 15 at 1:30pm
Stomp Out Slumlords is carrying out its next anti-eviction canvass on Saturday, June 15. 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.
Places We Call Home, a benefit for Montgomery County branch DSA — Saturday, June 15 at 2pm
On Saturday, June 15, join the Montgomery County branch of MDC DSA for a benefit event featuring visual art and musical performances centered on 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. Refreshments will be available, and attendees are encouraged to bring a drink or appetizer to share. RSVP here.
Meet and mingle at MDC DSA’s Queer Socialist Happy Hour — TONIGHT, Friday, June 14
Looking for more Queer community generally or within DSA specifically? Metro DC DSA members will be holding a Queer Socialist Happy Hour at Trade (1410 14th St NW) tonight at 6pm, hosted by the Community Builders team. All are welcome to attend.
Community Builders is a new formation in the chapter, seeking to curate community and horizontal tethers across the chapter. Want to stay in the loop with this new formation? DSA members can follow the #community-builders in the chapter Slack and message the channel if interested in getting involved. The work-group meets biweekly to plan fun social events, including a monthly Final Fridays chapter-wide happy hour. Stay tuned for info on a Pride-themed picnic in the park later this month.
BRIEFS
Local Democratic primaries taking place in Arlington, Alexandria next Tuesday; REDBUG release covering races
Polls will be open for Virginia's primaries on Tuesday 6/18 from 6am to 7pm. Socialist and left-wing voters who live in Arlington or Alexandria are invited to check out our NoVA 2024 Primaries edition of DSA’s REDBUG guide for the Arlington county board, Alexandria mayoral, and Alexandria city council primaries. Candidate overviews, endorsements, fundraising, and stances on a ceasefire in Palestine, police funding, tenant's protections and voluntary cooperation with ICE are all covered to inform voters on local candidate positioning. Northern Virginia socialists are also encouraged to join NoVA branch’s Electoral working group — please reach out to Alex Y. on Slack or make a post in #nova-electoral if interested. The working group’s monthly social will be on Wednesday July 3 at 7pm in Rosslyn at Continental Beer Garden, followed by a working group meeting on Sunday, July 7 at 7pm.
Plus: two new Washington Socialist articles published, capping off the Spring Socialist
Metro DCDSA's chapterlong-form publication Washington Socialist has published two new articles to cap off its Spring edition:
CapUnfriendly! Monumental Sports to shut down hockey site beloved by fans! A popular open-information site, Cap Friendly, has been bought up by the corporate owners of the Washington Capitals with intent to end the site's accessibility to the public. Coverage of Ted Leonsis' latest affront to the public good. First article from Washington Socialist's new sports blogger, Dr. Frank Octopus.
What is social housing, and why is grassroots support for it growing?In covering a new report published by the Climate + Community Project, lead of the chapter's Social Housing Working group, David Poms, covers the growing support for social housing across the country, including in the District.
WS will kickoff its Summer edition with a batch of new articles next week.
Over 27,500 Fairfax workers win union representation in one of largest union votes in modern history
Following a vote of workers at Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) in Northern Virginia, over 27,500 workers in the 9th largest school district in the country will now have collective bargaining rights going forward. Of voting workers, over 96% of instructional workers voted for the union, alongside 80% of FCPS operational workers.
The effort, years in the making, is one of the largest union elections in modern history — the win alone will increase union coverage by 15% in Virginia to over 200k workers. Collective bargaining was just recently legalized in Virginia, following passage of a state bill signed into law in 2020, and a supporting resolution passed by Fairfax County Public Schools in 2023. Fairfax County Public Schools join neighboring Prince William County Public Schools, who won their first collectively bargained contract in March.
The workers will be represented by the Fairfax Education Unions, an alliance between the Fairfax Education Association and Fairfax County Federation of Teachers. Workers have their eyes on solidifying the terms of this alliance and moving forward on contract negotiations.
Build support for Medicare 4 All at the Arlington Courthouse Farmers Market — Saturday, June 15 at 9:30am
The NoVA Medicare 4 All working group will be doing public outreach and petition-gathering at the Arlington Courthouse Farmers Market (2100 Clarendon Blvd, Arlington VA) this Saturday at 9:30am to build momentum for the Arlington Medicare For All Resolution. Interested comrades are also invited to the next working group meeting, which will be on Tuesday, June 18 at 6pm. Please RSVP to receive the new Zoom link.
In addition to their ongoing campaign to pass Medicare 4 All resolutions across Northern Virginia, the Medicare 4 All working group is also starting up some exciting mutual aid and public education campaigns in the coming months — including distributing a new M4A 101 zine. Check out #nova-medicare-for-all on Slack and visit the Linktree to learn more.
Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to hold Annual Juneteenth celebration at Moses Cemetery; DSA to table and join in solidarity
On June 19, members of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) will be meeting at the entrance to Moses Cemetery in Bethesda (5214 River Road, MD) to honor the deceased and to call for an end of the desecration and ongoing flooding and theft of the cemetery’s land by private developers. Metro DC DSA will be tabling at the event and joining the rally in solidarity and in the spirit of resistance to white supremacy.
The event will include a number of speakers, including historian C.R. Gibbs, Busboys and Poets Founder Andy Shallal and Peabody Award-winning journalist Carl Nelson. The program will also feature local musicians, the Walt Whitman high school drumline and dance troupe and others. Learn more about the BACC here.
Climate activists to gather with Mi’kmaq grandmothers in learning resistance to fossil fuel corporations — June 20
AltaGas, the controversial parent company of Washington Gas, is increasingly referred to as “one of the worst fossil fuel companies in North America.” For nearly 10 years, Indigenous Mi’kmaq grandmothers from Nova Scotia fought — and> won — a bruising pipeline fight against AltaGas. Along the way, they encountered the kind of false claims, greed and fossil fuel expansion efforts that Washington Gas now shows almost daily across DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia.
On Thursday, June 20 from 6:30 to 8pm, climate activists — including members of Metro DC DSA’s We Power DC campaign — will be meeting at the Foundry United Methodist Church to hear how an alliance of Mi’kmaq grandmothers and climate activists’ fought against AltaGas, and how this battle extends in local struggles against AltaGas and in Stop[ping] Project Pipes. The event is also sponsored by Sierra Club, Extinction Rebellion, and other environmental activist organizations. Readers can RSVP here.
Abolition WG planning ANC & Community Activism 101 event for June 27
Metro DC DSA’s Abolition working group will be planning a training seminar on June 27 focused on turning out socialists and abolitionists at DC Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) and community meetings. ANC and community meetings are an area that Metro DC DSA is targeting in order to expand socialist messaging and to confront representatives and community stakeholders. The training will focus on curating the tools and strategies needed to empower our socialists and abolitionists to engage in community spaces to advocate for police abolition and other chapter-wide priorities in a continuous and sustainable way.
Socialists, progressives, leftists and DSA members are invited to attend this informational meeting. Elected leftists (be it in unions or civic organizations, ANC Commissioners, etc.) are also invited to come and share their expertise and experience in engaging in public discourse and influence. DSA members involved in working group campaigns in the District are also invited to brainstorm and begin coordinating across issue areas. The fight for abolition and reduced police budgets is also the fight for investment in healthcare, housing, education and other realms of public influence.
Free food and childcare will be made available. RSVP here.
No Convention, Only Liberation — Protest the Virginia Democratic Statewide Convention on June 22 in Richmond
June 22 is the Virginia Democratic Statewide Convention, and our comrades in Richmond are calling for everyone to turn out for a rally for Gaza outside the convention. Tell our statewide Democrats that we mean business about Palestine, that we demand a ceasefire, and that we want an end to Israel’s illegal occupation! We won’t let politics continue as usual while our tax dollars fund the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestians. Carpools are being organized — find the post in #northern-virginia for more details and to sign up to attend.
Metro DC DSA Book Exchange and writing workshop — Sunday, July 14, from 2 – 4pm
The Metro DC DSA Book Exchange and After The Storm are partnering for an afternoon of anticapitalist reading and writing on Sunday, July 14 from 2 to 4pm at Malcolm X Park. Bring, read and swap books and write in community with others. This open event is for everyone who wants to carve out some intentional time this summer and spend it in good company. Writing prompts will be available, with optional sharing time in a low-key, drop-in space. RSVP here.
INFO ACCESS
MDC DSA Publicationsis the information central for not just MDC DSA but the entire DMV left. 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’s issue ca. July 14. Added recently: a socialist evaluation of TOPA, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. Anyone, MDC DSA members or not, interested in contributing to the Washington Socialist can email submissions or questions to [email protected]. Get your socialist self on the record.
Weekly Updates are scheduled and emailed on Fridays — two more this month, the 21st and 28th. 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: Our Weekly Updates attract over 5k readers a week. 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, June 19, 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 Slack access.
Participate 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 contribute. You can even donate to our Comradery page if you would like to financially support socialist publishing in the DMV.
COMMUNITY BULLETIN
Israelism screening | Reel and Meal at the New Deal Café
Reel and Meal presents the documentary Israelism on Monday, June 17, screened at the New Deal Café (Roosevelt Center, Greenbelt, MD) and on Zoom at 7pm. The film explores changing American Jewish attitudes toward Israel, informed by Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. Two young American Jews become critical of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians when they visit the West Bank and Gaza. Zoom registration here; view the trailer here.
Juneteenth DC Community Festival | ONE DC
Celebrate liberation in community with live music, Juneteenth history, local vendors, food, live art and more. Learn about how you can get involved with organizing in DC on June 19 from 11am to 5pm at the ONE DC Black Workers & Wellness Center. Learn more and RSVP here.
Solidarity Economy Social Hour on June 29 | Beloved Community Incubator
Whether you're a co-op member, mutual aid-er, union member, community organizer, or solidarity economy curious: join this first of many solidarity economy happy hours. The social hour is an informal space to build relationships with fellow organizers in the solidarity economy, in hopes of linking communities and projects together into a wider regional force. Attendees are encouraged to bring stickers, postcards, zines or anything else related to solidarity economy work or to a specific co-op sought to share with others. Sign-up for reminders and notices of the event on BCI’s eventbrite here.
ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES
A collection of articles on How Pricing Really Works (a theme issue of the American Prospect led off by Bob Kuttner), and Big Food, Big Profits, Big Lies (from The Lever via Portside) together pair up well in explaining how corporate greed keeps prices high even as inflation goes down.
Corporate malfeasance and capitalist hubris on full display in WIRED’s recounting of the TITAN Deep Sea submersible disaster. In this new reporting, documents reveal participation by Boeing and the University of Washington in the Titan’s design.
Dark money news outlets outpacing local daily newspapers — there are at least 1,265 websites identified as being backed by dark money or are intentionally masquerading as local news sites for political purposes, according to a new report from NewsGuard, a misinformation tracking company. As of last year, there were only 1,213 daily local newspapers in the U.S. A detailed account from Axios via Adweek’s Morning Media newsletter.
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
Sent via ActionNetwork.org.
To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Metro DC DSA, please click here.
