MDC DSA Steering Committee and priority campaign results; rent stabilization wheatpasting in Twinbrook; get involved with the Shayla Adams-Stafford campaign, and more ...
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. Want to fight fascism from the heart of empire? Join DSA and fight to build socialism!
Paid for by Metro DC DSA (mdcdsa.org). Not authorized by any candidate or committee.
UP FRONT
Members elect Steering Committee and vote on chapter priority campaigns for 2025
Voting for the 2025 Metro DC DSA Steering Committee and priority campaigns closed Sunday at 11:59pm. 228 total votes were cast.
Patrick C. is the winner of the secretary race with 58.8% of the vote and is elected to that position. Far F. will be an at-large member of the Steering Committee.
Members of the 2025 Steering Committee:
Treasurer: Michael S.
Secretary: Patrick C.
Campaigns Coordinator: Claire M.
Gracemary A.
Sam D.
Far F.
Diego J.
Marli K.
Joe R.
Tim S.
Bakari W.
The chapter has elected to make the Bodily Autonomy Working Group, Labor, the Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program, Stomp Out Slumlords, and We Power DC priority campaigns in 2025. All received more than two thirds of the vote.
For vote total breakdowns for each priority campaign, please visit the #announcements channel in the chapter Slack.
Rockville Rent Stabilization Wheatpasting in Twinbrook — this Sunday, December 22 at 1pm
Join the Montgomery County branch of Metro DC DSA to get out the word about the Rockville rent stabilization campaign this Sunday, December 22. We'll be putting up posters in the Twinbrook area inviting people to fill out a city budget survey expressing their support for rent stabilization. The group will meet at the Twinbrook metro. RSVP here.
Do you live or work in Rockville? Check out our guide to the City of Rockville budget survey to see how you can fill out the survey to express your support for rent stabilization.
All hands on deck to elect Shayla Adams-Stafford — fill out interest form to get involved
DSA members attended the campaign launch and inaugural canvassing for endorsed candidate Shalya Adams-Stafford last weekend, kickstarting chapter organizing to elect a people’s champion to the Prince George's County Council District 5 seat. Shayla is a current PG County Board of Education member and former Educators’ Association shop steward. She has led the fight to replace policing with care in our schools and fought back against developers to get strong project labor agreements on public school projects, along with various other initiatives that put the working class first in PG County.
If elected to county council, she'll be the swing vote on a body split 5-5 between progressives and developer-backed conservative Democrats. But those Democrats are already mounting a strong opposition. Metro DC DSA and the Adams-Stafford campaign need volunteers to help with planning canvasses, drafting communications, and mobilizing other chapter members. Please fill out this interest form and join the #shayla-pg-district-5 Slack channel to get involved, and be ready to hit the ground running in January 2025.
BRIEFS
Early sign up available: 11 Spring 2025 Reading Groups
The Political Education Working Group is excited to host 11 different reading and discussion groups for Spring 2025 — sign up today. Reading groups provide an opportunity to share learning and political education in a group setting, helping members and supporters develop their organizing and knowledge alongside comrades. Topics range from theory to socialist feminism to science fiction to internationalism (and many more in between). Find out more about each group here, and sign up here.
[SOLD OUT] Care Kit Packing Event & Fundraiser — Saturday, January 25, 7 to 10pm
We’ve sold out! Join our waitlist now or help fundraise for DC’s Abortion Fund (DCAF) and Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA). On Saturday, January 25th, at As You Are, MDC DSA’s Bodily Autonomy Working Group and Internationalism Working Group will pack 1,000 reproductive healthcare kits to distribute to Emergency Contraception for DC (EC4DC). Care kit packing will occur from 7 to 8pm and the event will be rounded out with a DJ set. All fundraiser and ticket proceeds will be split between the DC Abortion Fund and the Middle East Children’s Alliance. Waitlist here.
Public Service Commission approves higher rates for Pepco — fight for a better alternative with We Power DC
Earlier this month, the Public Service Commission (PSC) approved $123 million in higher rates for Pepco over the next two years. This shakes out to be a 12% increase, outpacing both inflation and common sense. While this is lower than Pepco’s original $180 million request, it’s difficult to see anything but corporate meddling and weak regulation. MDC DSA organizers sent hundreds of comments to the PSC docket and DC Council demanding they reject the increase, helping secure that 36% reduction. But it’s not enough — an astonishing 20% of residents are in utility debt here in DC, and gifting Pepco a $123 million raise only hurts DC communities more.
This rate hike should have never happened — DC’s own regulator said so. Commissioner Beverly, the only commissioner that seems interested in doing his job, explained this all in much more detail in a scathing dissent in the rate case. The District is just coming off $108 million of rate increases from 2021 through Pepco’s multi-year rate plan. The PSC promised to review this plan. They didn’t. They also promised to review Pepco’s spending and performance. They didn’t do this either. Instead, by Commissioner Beverly’s account, DC regulators are giving Pepco more of our money just because the company asked for it.
If this makes you angry, you’re not alone. Join We Power DC to fight for lower rates, clean energy, and good union jobs through a public power utility in the District.
Join comrades at the People’s March in DC — Saturday, January 18
On January 18, tens of thousands are expected in DC for the People’s March: a march to defend our future against attacks on our rights, our bodily autonomy, our environment, our jobs, and beyond. Everyday people will gather in DC and all over the United States to send a message to incoming President Trump and the broader corporate, imperialist class: We will choose solidarity, resilience, and resistance in the face of any attack.
Join DSA chapters from across the country as we gather a DSA contingent at the People's March on January 18th. The march will be on the National Mall, but the final location is to be determined; stay tuned for updates, and make sure to RSVP here.
INFO ACCESS
Learn more about our local MDC DSA chapter — structure, campaigns and working groups, Night School, and reading groups — HERE. MDC DSA members: Join our all-member Slack for real-time info on working group and campaign events, convo, and inspiration. Email [email protected] with your most recent DSA dues receipt to get Slack access. Chapter members are also invited to read — and edit — MDC DSA’s internal wiki. Email [email protected] to get set up, or ask in #helpdesk.
MDC DSA Publications is information central for not only MDC DSA but the entire DMV left and is always ready to onboard new socialist communicators; #publications is our working group’s Slack channel. Weekly Updates like this one are scheduled and emailed on Fridays; current and past Updates are on the web here. Not subscribed? DSA member or not, sign up to get the Update here. Submit your Update suggestions or chapter political blog REDBUG tips to our tip line. TheWashington Socialist, published since the 1970s, offers articles on a quarterly schedule; the Fall 2024 edition is now live and will be updated on a rolling basis, meaning timely submissions may get added as appropriate. Check our archive to see what we write — and what you can write. Anyone, MDC DSA member or not, interested in contributing to the Washington Socialist can email submissions or questions anytime to [email protected]. Get your socialist self on the record. Donate to our Comradery page if you would like to financially support socialist publishing in the DMV.
COMMUNITY BULLETIN
Homeless Memorial Vigil | People for Fairness Coalition
Tonight, Friday, December 20, the People for Fairness Coalition invites community members to the 12th annual Homeless Memorial Vigil, in honor of our neighbors who passed away without the dignity of a home. Opening service and candlelight procession starts at Luther Place Memorial Church, 1226 Vermont Ave NW, at 4pm.
Science & Speculative Fiction Book Club on January 6 | Bol Coop
On January 6, 7pm, at Creative Grounds, read and discuss Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky, a gripping tale of a tyrannical regime, political resistance and dissent of academics, and alien worlds. Join Bol Coop for their first book club of the new year! Learn more here.
Peace Ball on January 18 | Busboys and Poets
The 2025 Peace Ball features speakers like Angela Davis, Alice Walker, Ibram X. Kendi, Amy Goodman, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Congresswoman Cori Bush, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and more. Learn more and get tickets here. (Warning: tix are pricey.)
Organizing to Win: A Practical Introduction on January 21 | Rising Organizers
On January 21, 6pm, at MLK Library, join Rising Organizers and take a deep dive into the core principles of community organizing, talk about building people power, and brainstorm ways to move people from inaction to action. Learn how to activate yourself and people you may know that feel fired up and ready to fight, but don't know what next steps they can take. RSVP here.
ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES
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.
The Path for Socialism is Focus
“… as long as the objective contradiction between capital and labor exists, there will always be battles for justice in the workplace. Yet looking at this longue durée isn’t much conciliation with Donald Trump coming back to power,” Bhaskar Sunkara writes. “Far more than socialists, Democratic Party leadership should own November’s outcome. President Joe Biden failed to communicate the merits of his domestic agenda to Americans. He didn’t direct public ire about the economy towards profiteers or speak with urgency about the impact of inflation on ordinary people… [And yet] It is important to remember, if we campaign on everything, we campaign on nothing. In the coming years, we need to pursue a ruthlessly focused politics that highlights issues that will best build a popular base for the Left.” In These Times
How to Build a Culture of Organizing
Marshall Ganz worked with the United Farm Workers during the early years with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta — his book Why David Sometimes Wins is one of the best looks at the roots of UFW's strength and subsequent causes of its weakness from an organizer’s perspective. With that background, and other organizing experience since, his comments are well worth reading. He was recently interviewed by NonProfit Quarterly — an interview reposted on Portside — enriching our discussions in DSA and the wider left as to how to build the movement for social justice.
Incoming GOP threatens DC statehood, further weakens home rule
DC faces specific hurdles when it comes to using legislation to advance a social justice agenda due to the lack of statehood — and it is a problem likely to get far worse given the combination of a Trump administration and Republican control of Congress. And all of us in DC, Maryland, and Virginia face the perpetual challenge of linking issues of struggle, especially when the struggle is being waged by those locked up. Anusha Dakshit, writing in Waging Nonviolence, examines how justice advocates in Republican-controlled southern states have found ways to support mothers who are behind bars. Her article, “Reproductive Justice Organizers Find New Ways to Help Incarcerated Mothers,” provides insights that may be of value to all of us.
Group tackling Maryland’s mass incarceration releases recommendations.
Maryland provides a clear instance of recklessly biased mass incarceration as a result of racial inequity when it comes to policing and criminal justice. A commission’s preliminary report shows the state is among the worst when it comes to racial disparity in sentencing — in a state where about 32% of the population is African American, some 73% of those in state prisons are, as well. William J Ford in Maryland Matters reports about that disgrace.
Labor’s “Barbarossa” Moment
“Since 2009, labor — both organized labor and alt-labor—as well as much of the progressive movement have failed to identify and recognize the significance of the rise and transformation of a right-wing populist movement, a movement that morphed into the MAGA fascist movement. Labor and too many progressives ignored all the signals. … In the aftermath of January 6, 2021, there were two astounding comments coming from labor. One, that maybe this meant that progressives were pushing too hard and that we should slow down. Two, that US political institutions had displayed their ability to withstand a hurricane and reset themselves. … our starting point must be that labor becomes an antifascist movement or it has no future.”An edited and expanded version of remarks by Bill Fletcher Jr. offered at “A Strategy for Labor, A CUNY Panel Discussion of Honor of Merle Ratner,” December 12, 2024 — via Portside
‘America First’ ... not only a trope of the Right?
Jesse Jackson’s speech at the 1988 Democratic Convention set the terms for a positive use of the phrase “America First.” Though Jackson’s speech was overall “a hopeful vision for a multiracial social democracy … and progressive foreign policy” his rhetorical stance amounted to a (working-class-centered) “America First” strategy, the author argues. “‘We’re spending $150 billion a year defending Europe and Japan 43 years after the war is over,’ Jackson thundered. ‘Let them share more of the burden of their own defense. Use some of that money to build decent housing. Use some of that money to educate our children. Use some of that money for long-term health care. Use some of that money to wipe out these slums and put America back to work!’ The crowd roared."
Today, that stance and phrase are seen as Trump’s proprietary Rightist posture. But “Jackson’s [1988 DNC] speech is a reminder that reducing military spending and global commitments [in order] to invest at home has historically been a foreign-policy goal for the left — one that the left mustn’t cede to the right,” argues Antonio de Loera-Brust. “A second Trump victory is a hard way for Democrats to relearn a lesson that we should have never forgotten: Foreign policy must remain downstream of the needs of Americans at home — never the other way around. In 1988, the Rev. Jesse Jackson showed the left how to make that case.” The author is the United Farm Workers communications director and a former assistant in the Biden State Department. Compact Magazine
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.
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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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