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This week in MoCo DSA
Hello and Happy Tuesday!

Reminder! - Socialist Night School Comes to MoCo: Prison and Police Abolition - Tomorrow Night! Join Montgomery County DSA and MDC DSA's Socialist Night School for a discussion on the politics of police and prison abolition, situated in the context of our community and the larger region. 7:00 PM at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center. Details here ([link removed]) , including suggested readings.

Reminder! - Migrant Justice Action: Stand Up to Deportation Profiteers - Thursday at 6:30 PM
From the organizers: As ICE detains and deports immigrants, they are helped by for-profit companies. These profiteers allow ICE to function by operating detention centers, making electronic ankle bracelets, building lists of undocumented immigrants, and more. Join MDC DSA as we expose another profiteer on August 15th! We will be providing the location and time as we get closer to the date of the action. Further details here ([link removed]) .

DSACon2019 - Following up on last week, we've got some more coverage of the 2019 DSA National Convention to share. Delegate Eric Blanc wrote up a good general overview ([link removed]) for The Nation, and Nathan J. Robinson wrote up a fun and funny first-person account ([link removed]) for Current Affairs. We picked up some mainstream media coverage at the Washington Post ([link removed]) and CNN ([link removed]) (including a quote from our own Maryland State Delegate Gabriel Acevero!) and New York Times
([link removed]) , all of which framed their articles via the Sanders resolution. The Guardian ([link removed]) 's coverage is more holistic.

For those of us looking for a more nuts-and-bolts rundown of the resolutions that passed and failed, our comrades at Boston DSA have created a static Google Doc file ([link removed]) that covers resolution information.

Spying on DSA - It has recently come to light that officials in the New York Hotel Trades Council (HTC) have been coercing their subordinate staff members who were DSA members into spying on NYC DSA's meetings. NYC DSA has released this statement ([link removed]) in response. Please feel comfortable contacting any member of the MoCo DSA Steering Committee or Metro D.C. DSA Steering Committee if you have any concerns about protecting your privacy at DSA meetings.

Montgomery County Media - Bethesda Beat reports ([link removed]) that a recent administrative change from the FCC may damage Montgomery County's local public television system. Fees paid by cable companies to operate public television are capped at 5% of total revenue generated in a locality; the FCC has voted to count in-kind (non-monetary) contributions towards that 5%. MCM provides an invaluable service to our community by broadcasting meetings of the County and municipal governments, so this is definitely something to keep an eye on.

Food Security in MoCo - The Montgomery County Food Council has developed an interactive tool ([link removed]) to map food insecurity in our County. "According to Feeding America, 6.1% or 63,380 people in Montgomery County are estimated to be Food insecure in 2017.... The Food Security Rate in Montgomery County has fluctuated over the past few year. Although it may be trending down, the data which derives the Food Security Index is not headed in the same direction. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Black Non-Hispanic and Hispanic Households are more than twice as likely to be Food Insecure as White non-Hispanic Households."

Stand With Mississippi Immigrant Workers - In the wake of last week's brutal ICE raid on a Koch Foods plant that took almost 700 immigrants into captivity and stole numerous parents from their children (a raid undertaken as a form of collective retaliation ([link removed]) against the workers, who had won a major discrimination lawsuit), the Southeast Immigrants Rights Network is organizing to help those affected. Please consider filling out this form ([link removed]) if you are able to help. From the organizers: "What we know from the TN raids last year is that immediately it will be helpful if you can plug Spanish speakers into the hotline to help return calls and collect initial legal intake information (can be done from anywhere). It would also be helpful if you can ask around for attorneys that can help pro-bono."


Upcoming DSA events:
Wednesday, August 14 at 7:00 PM: Socialist Night School - Prison and Police Abolition
Join Montgomery County DSA and MDC DSA's Socialist Night School for a discussion on the politics of police and prison abolition, situated in the context of our community and the larger region. At Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center. Details here ([link removed]) , including suggested readings.

Thursday, August 15 at 6:30 PM: Migrant Justice Action - Stand Up to Deportation Profiteers
From the organizers: As ICE detains and deports immigrants, they are helped by for-profit companies. These profiteers allow ICE to function by operating detention centers, making electronic ankle bracelets, building lists of undocumented immigrants, and more. Join MDC DSA as we expose another profiteer on August 15th! We will be providing the location and time as we get closer to the date of the action. Further details here ([link removed]) .

Wednesday, August 21 at 6:30 PM: Queer Caucus Happy Hour at Silver Branch Brewing Company
Our chapter's Queer Caucus will have its August happy hour at the Silver Branch Brewing Company in downtown Silver Spring. All LGBTQIA+ comrades, allies & accomplices are welcome! Details here. ([link removed])

Don't forget to check out the Metro DC DSA Meetup Events page ([link removed]) to find many DSA events throughout the Washington Metro region!

Upcoming community events:

Thursday, August 15 at 5:00 PM - Monthly Legal Clinics for Restaurant Workers
Hosted by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Washington DC (ROC-DC). Do you have questions regarding your legal rights? Details here. ([link removed])

Thursday, August 15 at 6:00 PM: The Many Exciting Ways to Wage Peace: A Training In Tools
A unique interactive session held at the Institute for Policy Studies on how movements for justice have applied media other than speech successfully in actions against racism, xenophobia, fascism and sexism. Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the creative tools needed to build and sustain long-term movements for peace and justice. Examples from USA, Canada, South Africa, Sudan, Egypt, Philippines, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal will be discussed. Details here. ([link removed])

Saturday, September 7 at 11:00 AM - When They See Us: Organizing Conversation
From PMD: Join Progressive Maryland's Justice Task Force, former NAACP President Ben Jealous, and other special guests for a discussion about our criminal legal system and learn about our plan for action to end mass incarceration here in Maryland. Join us for a conversation around the Netflix show When They See Us and the existing issues in our criminal justice system in Prince George's County. Details here. ([link removed])

September 20-27: Global Climate Strikes
From the organizers: This September, millions of us will walk out of our workplaces and homes to join young climate strikers on the streets and demand an end to the age of fossil fuels. Our house is on fire — let’s act like it. We demand climate justice for everyone. Details here. ([link removed])

Good Reads:

From Jacobin: "What A Socialist Society Could Actually Look Like." ([link removed]) Interview with Sam Gindin by Micah Uetricht. "Karl Marx once wrote dismissively of “those that write recipes for the cookshops of the future.” He emphasized that we can’t come up with a pre-made plan for what our future socialist society will look like — it wouldn’t take into account the specific conditions that such a society would be created in. But Sam Gindin argues that we can’t use that quote to excuse ourselves from providing credible answers about what a future socialism might look like. Mass numbers of people aren’t going to get on board with the socialist movement if we don’t."

From the Baltimore Sun: "We Are All Accountable’: Maryland’s Jewish Community Protests ICE in Howard County" ([link removed]) by Phil Davis. "Each year during the Jewish holiday of Tishah b’Av, followers of the religion take time to reflect on the atrocities and disasters that have happened to the Jewish people during their history. Sunday afternoon outside the Howard County Detention Center, members of Maryland’s Jewish community joined pro-immigration advocacy groups to signify that the Trump administration’s family separation and detention policies are an atrocity worthy of the same mourning and prayer."

From The Intercept: "Denver's City Council, Led by Democratic Socialists, Stuns For-Profit Prison Operators by Nuking Contracts" ([link removed]) by Ryan Grim. "Two for-profit prison companies have lost major contracts in Denver over their work in immigrant detention, as backlash to President Donald Trump’s immigration policy continues to mount. The stunning $10.6 million rebuke to the two firms, CoreCivic and the GEO Group, was led by newly elected city council member Candi CdeBaca, who won in June on a radical platform backed by the Democratic Socialists of America. CdeBaca’s stand on Monday against the firms was her first major effort since being sworn in, and she expected to be a lone vote of dissent. Instead, moved by the plight of those kept in camps run by CoreCivic and the GEO Group, and galvanized by opponents — organized by CdeBaca — at the public meeting, the council delivered an unexpected 8-4 rejection, ending the firms’
contracts to run halfway houses on behalf of the city."

From Maryland Matters, via the Washington Socialist: "Single-Member Assembly Districts Will Help End Maryland's Incumbent Protection System" ([link removed]) by Richard DeShay Elliot (MDC DSA member). "Maryland’s multi-member state legislative districts ⁠— being discarded by other states ⁠— serve to protect incumbents and keep the grip of neoliberal Democrats on the General Assembly, where big money and big business rule the roost and working families get the leavings. Our comrade Rich Elliott here outlines why single-member districts will bring more democracy to Maryland."

From Maryland Matters: "Maryland Needs Multi-Member Proportional Districts, Not Single-Member" ([link removed]) by John Moser. Moser argues counter to our comrade Richard DeShay Elliot above: "Recently, Comptroller Peter Franchot and others have argued for single-member districts for the House of Delegates in Maryland. This would be a grave mistake. Single-member districts necessarily reduce voter representation, disenfranchise more voters and narrow the span of political ideals represented in government. The ideal bicameral legislature at the state level would use a single-senator, multiple-delegate configuration, as Maryland does now. Marylanders would vote via single transferable vote, a proportional ranked choice voting method which ensures fair representation of the diversity of ideals among the voters. This simply requires voters to rank a number of candidates — however many they
care for, although voters should ideally find their top three or four — in their order of preference." Please note: Moser runs a website called Nordic Model USA in which he explicitly states, “Whereas Social Democracy USA and the Democratic Socialists of America specifically seek a transition to a Socialist future, Nordic Model USA believes in Social Democracy as an end goal.”

In solidarity,
Frank, David, Elissa, John, Lily and Zach
MoCo DSA Steering Committee

Follow us on Twitter: @MoCo_DSA ([link removed])
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DSAMoCo
{MoCo DSA is a branch of the Metro DC chapter of DSA}

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