Knock doors for DSA-endorsed Shayla Adams-Stafford; join DSA at the People's March in DC; sign up for Spring 2025 Reading Groups, 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
Campaign to elect DSA-endorsed Shayla Adams-Stafford in PG County continues this weekend
Metro DC DSA endorsed Shayla Adams-Stafford in December, and socialists are organizing to elect a people’s champion to the Prince George’s County Council District 5 seat. Metro DC DSA comrades will be canvassing for Shayla tomorrow, January 4, and Sunday, January 5 at 11am, starting from the parking lot of Cheverly Metro Station. Comrades will knock doors until about 2pm and meet up afterward to debrief. Chapter members and allies are invited to participate: hand warmers will be provided, warm dress is strongly encouraged. RSVP here for the Saturday canvass and/or here for the Sunday canvass. Those interested in canvassing at a later date can find more information here. The District 5 seat election has been set for March 4th.Every weekend counts.
If elected to county council, Shayla will be the swing vote on a body split 5-5 between progressives and developer-backed conservative Democrats. She is a current PG County Board of Education member and former Washington Teachers’ Union shop steward. She has led the fight to replace policing with care in PG County schools and fought back against developers to anchor strong project labor agreements on public school projects, along with various other initiatives that put the working class first in PG County.
Corporate Democrats are already mounting a strong opposition. In addition to hitting the doors, Metro DC DSA and the Adams-Stafford campaign need volunteers to help with planning canvasses, drafting communications, and mobilizing other chapter members. Fill out this interest form and join the #shayla-pg-district-5 Slack channel to get involved as we start 2025 strong.
Comrades planning turnout for 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 the working class against attacks on labor rights, bodily autonomy, environmental degradation, and beyond. Working 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: the people will choose solidarity, resilience, and resistance in the face of any attack.
DSA chapters from across the country are organizing a 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.
Sign up for Spring 2025 socialist reading groups — 11 options available
The Political Education Working Group is excited to host 11 different reading and discussion groups for Spring 2025 — sign up for socialist reading groups 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 for the reading groups here.
BRIEFS
Montgomery County renters — is your landlord compliant with Montgomery County’s rent stabilization law?
Happy New Year! Montgomery County’s 2023 rent stabilization law applies to buildings that are 23 years old or older. This means that buildings built in 2002 are now covered by the law and tenants should be aware that their landlords can not raise their rent by more than 6%. The rent stabilization regulations also limit the fees that landlords can change rent-stabilized tenants. Landlords cannot charge more than $25 per pet in monthly pet rent and they cannot raise parking fees by more than the consumer price index (currently 3.3% for the DC metro area).
For assistance determining if your building is covered by the Montgomery County rent stabilization law, email [email protected].
Janeese Lewis George sworn into second term as Ward 4 representative of DC Council
On January 2nd, District native and democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George was sworn into her second term as representative of Ward 4 on the DC Council. CM Lewis George’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns were both endorsed by Metro DC DSA, which mobilized members to anchor the campaigns’ grassroots operations. In stark contrast to opponents, Janeese Lewis George rallied a wide working-class alliance of tenants, workers, unions, and community organizations around a bold left-wing vision that centered the rights of workers and tenants.
In remarks provided at the swearing-in ceremony, Janeese expressed her gratitude to the people of Ward 4 for their continued trust, and emphasized the need to directly confront displacement to make sure no neighbor be left behind. Acknowledging anticipated hostility from the incoming Trump administration, CM Lewis George urged District residents to stand up boldly for the city and neighbors to organize towards collective prosperity.
Solidarity rally for Amazon workers — Saturday, January 4, 12pm
In the wake of Amazon workers’ holiday-season strike in late December, Metro DC DSA comrades and labor allies are planning a solidarity rally tomorrow, January 4 at 12pm at Jeff Bezos’ neighborhood in Washington. Jeff Bezos has stolen billions by cheating Amazon workers out of their fair share of profits — so comrades and worker allies will gather outside his DC home to remind him that there are consequences for billionaire greed and union-busting. RSVP for meetup and notification here.
[SOLD OUT] Care Kit Packing Event & Fundraiser — Saturday, January 25, 7 to 10pm
We’ve sold out! But locals can still join the waitlist for Metro DC DSA’s upcoming fundraiser 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.
Stop Fueling Genocide: The BDS Campaign Against Chevron and Our Role in the DMV — Monday, January 27, 7pm
Join MDC DSA’s Internationalism Working Group and our local allies for a political education event that will cover how DMV locals can participate in a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions campaign right here in the DMV. This is a Socialist Night School event and campaign launch that will foster discussion of the BDS campaign targeting Chevron, as well as Chevron’s pattern of environmental destruction throughout the Global South. Hear from speakers on BDS campaigns from the past and present in a conversational setting, and learn how to plug into DMV area Palestine solidarity organizing. More information and RSVP link here.
Internationalism Working Group interest form now available for comrades looking to engage in internationalist organizing
As another calendar year rolls around, Israel is continuing its genocide in Gaza, and the effects and aftereffects of imperialism continue to destroy lives across the world. It’s more important than ever to organize an internationalist, socialist movement for the global working class; comrades interested in getting involved should fill out the Internationalism Working Group’s interest form.
Additionally, MDC DSA members looking to jump into internationalist organizing — from Palestine solidarity campaigns to ongoing work to end the blockade against Cuba, among many other priorities — can attend the working group’s monthly (virtual) meetings. The next meeting is on January 19; if interested in learning more about already-existing internationalist organizing, ideas on further work, action items, and more, RSVP here.
INFO ACCESS
Learn more about our local MDC DSA chapter — structure, campaigns and working groups, Night School, and reading groups — HERE. Even longtime comrades may find it a learning experience. 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
Silver Spring-Takoma Park Seeking Clothing Closet Volunteers | Silver Spring-Takoma Park Mutual Aid
Silver Spring-Takoma Park Mutual Aid continues to operate a clothing closet in Takoma Park (near the metro) where individuals can make appointments and choose clothes that have been donated, cleaned, and organized. Volunteers are needed to help launder donated clothes and staff the closet when it is open on the weekends. If you would like to help with the clothing closet, please email [email protected] with the subject “Clothing Closet Volunteer”. You can sign up for a spot here to receive clothes. There are limited spots because of limited volunteers.
Tyranny of the Two-Party System | Third Space Politics
On Sunday, January 5 at 5 PM, Third Space Politics will host a reading group to discuss The Tyranny of the Two-Party System, by Lisa Disch. They will be meeting at the Coupe (3415 11th St NW).
Alexandria Alternative | Food Not Bombs
Join Food Not Bombs DC in Alexandria for an evening of live music, speakers, and food to fundraise for Food Not Bombs’ weekly food distributions. The event will be held at Galactic Panther (1303 King Street, Alexandria, VA) on Saturday, Feb 1 from 6:30 – 10:30pm. Tickets to the benefit are available 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.)
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, dissent of academics, and alien worlds. Join Bol Coop for their first book club of the new year! Learn more here.
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.
Frances Perkins Memorial established in Maine Frances Perkins’s work to build FDR’s New Deal sparked the modern American state. She recognized that the central purpose of government was not to protect property; it was to protect the communities of people who lived in the nation. In establishing the family farm of Frances Perkins on the Damariscotta River in Newcastle, Maine, as a National Monument as his term ends, Biden acknowledged both the importance of Perkins’s New Deal vision of a government that benefits everyone and the centrality of women’s equality to that vision. Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American via Portside
Donald Trump and His Allies Don’t Really Care What Kind of Leftist You Are Being “the right kind” of progressive or feminist or socialist can easily become its own goal, rather than winning concrete victories that match the values and goals behind these labels. Unfortunately this has been a common response in recent decades. “Keep in mind, [therefore], that when you are recruited by people and projects to Be a Thing and others that want you to Do a Thing, join the doers,” Comrade Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò writes in Teen Vogue via Portside
US student worker unions face threats under second Trump administration Organizers try to pre-empt action by the incoming president to ‘constrict or eliminate’ labor rights — Student workers are bracing for the incoming Trump administration to “constrict or eliminate” their labor rights, after a surge in union organizing on college campuses. Nearly 45,000 student employees formed unions between 2022 to 2024 between 44 bargaining units. As of earlier this year, an estimated 38% of all graduate student employees in the US were unionized. From The Guardian
Did Netanyahu Set a Trap for Genocide? Though the somewhat embarrassing consensus is that Binyamin Netanyahu and his intel apparatus were taken unawares by Hamas’ sudden 2023 attack, is there evidence that the Hamas-led attack on October 7 fell into the trap set by Netanyahu and likely his closest advisors? It is clear that Israel’s response richly served the Zionist agenda, i.e., the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the realization of the plan of depopulation of Gaza and the West Bank. Our comrade David Schwartzman assembles evidence in Counterpunch.
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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