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**
THE
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twin cities
democratic socialists
of america


** Little Red Letter No. 58
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Justice for George Floyd

This form ([link removed]) will help us connect you with Twin Cities Democratic Socialist organizers and allies working in the struggle to bring George Floyd's killers to justice, abolish the Minneapolis Police Department, and care for our city and community.
Union Members & Workers Demand Justice for Police Murder of George Floyd

Add your information to our statement ([link removed]) and show that union members and unaffiliated workers in Minnesota demand justice for George Floyd! We intend to publish the letter and signatories in a newspaper to demonstrate our support. Please donate to help raise money to publish it. And please sign and talk to your coworkers to see who in your workplace would join you in signing on. The more of us sign, the louder our voice will carry!
The Solidarity Fund is reopening!

The solidarity fund has distributed well over $50,000.00 and it's about to distribute some more! As of June 7th, the fund is open for requests again! Please donate ([link removed]) what you can so we can redistribute the wealth!
Upcoming Events:

TC Mutual Aid
COVID Check In Call
Wed, Jun 10, 11:30am – 12:45pm
Zoom Meeting ([link removed])
(see calendar ([link removed]) for details)

Food Justice for South Mpls
Wed, June 10, 1:00-5:00pm
(see calendar ([link removed]) for details)

Left Social Democrats
Thu, June 11, 7pm – 8pm
Google Meet
(see calendar ([link removed]) for details)

Food Justice for South Mpls
Fri, June 12, 1:00-5:00pm
(see calendar ([link removed]) for details)

Food Justice for South Mpls
Sun, June 14, 1:00-5:00pm
(see calendar ([link removed]) for details)

Ops/Tech Committee Meeting
Mon, June 15, 7pm – 9pm
Zoom Meeting ([link removed])

TC Mutual Aid
COVID Check In Call
Wed, Jun 17, 11:30am – 12:45pm
Zoom Meeting ([link removed])
(see calendar ([link removed]) for details)

Steering Committee Meeting
Wed, June 17, 6:30pm – 8:00pm
Zoom Meeting

TC Mutual Aid
COVID Check In Call
Wed, Jun 24, 11:30am – 12:45pm
Zoom Meeting ([link removed])
(see calendar ([link removed]) for details)

Ops/Tech Committee Meeting
Wed, June 24, 11:30am – 12:45pm
Zoom Meeting ([link removed])

Housing Branch Meeting
Thu, June 25, 6:00pm – 7:30pm
see calendar ([link removed]) for details

TCDSA Libertarian Socialist
Study Group
Fri, June 26, 5:30pm – 7:00pm
see calendar ([link removed]) for details

TC Mutual Aid COVID Check In Call
Wed, July 1, 11:30am – 12:45pm
Zoom Meeting ([link removed])
(see calendar ([link removed]) for details)

Keep an eye on our calendar ([link removed]) for more events as they're scheduled or changed! Please check the calendar for updated Zoom links, location changes, or other details.
What we're up to...

Video: How Can Socialists Fight for the End of Policing?

The nationwide protests against racist police violence have been inspiring, and as socialist organizers we fight for political reforms like defunding the police that can meaningfully restructure our society for justice and peace. This past Friday, TC DSA’s very own Robin Wonsley joined Alex Vitale, Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College and author of The End of Policing (temporarily free as an e-book), for a discussion on how we can organize for lasting political reform.

We're living through another wave of racial terrorism and police murders of black people. Working class people and working class communities of color in the United States have just lost tens of millions of our jobs through no fault of our own. As a result of the structure of the racial capitalism, the victims of COVID-19 are overwhelming black people and people of color, who disproportionately are low-wage essential workers who cannot work from home, and who disproportionately cannot afford quality healthcare. Throughout this crisis, politicians at all levels of government are overwhelmingly in the hands of the capitalist class, and are doing all they can to bail capitalists out at the expense of the working class.

We know that neoliberal capitalism leaves millions of us to starve and to be targeted, harassed, and imprisoned. We have a carceral and police system designed to target the poorest among us instead of providing universal, class-wide social programs for our health, housing, and dignity. Without universal social reforms that undermine the basis of poverty, the capitalist class divides the working class and targets the most vulnerable among us. This is how we have ended up with a years-long pandemic of US police killing people, often without consequences. They are fulfilling their role in society, and it is our job to change society to eliminate that role... (watch the video ([link removed]) )

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Memorials to George Floyd Fill the Boarded-Up Streets of Minneapolis

Artists authorized and otherwise took to the streets to make lemonade out of lemons.

All photos taken by me on June 3rd... (see images of murals ([link removed]) )

- Bennett H.

image credit: Bennett H

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Indoor Kids Fight for #Justice4GeorgeFloyd Too

Until we are all free, we are none of us free. -- Emma Lazarus

I am, at heart, an indoor kid. If you know me from the chapter, it’s because I signed you in to a general meeting or responded to an operations question via email; you might know me because the chapter chose me to represent us at the convention last year (I ran on a very indoor-kid platform!). But mostly I prefer to stay behind the scenes: I manage the member list, the slack invitations, the doorknocking turfs, sometimes the newsletter - all of them anchors for the chapter’s organizing... (read more ([link removed]) )

- Anne B.
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Amazing Grace: George Floyd's Memorial Service

Like my comrade Anne, I’m an indoor kid. George Floyd’s memorial service ([link removed]) was today at North Central University, a Pentecostal college, in a building I pass every day on my quarantine sanity walks. The most time I’ve spent outside in three months was this afternoon, when I sat on the curb to listen to the service... (read more ([link removed]) )

- Tracy W.
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Navigating Political Strategy in the George Floyd Uprising

It's been tricky to navigate our political strategy work in response to what feels like an unprecedented, constantly shifting, and very intense historic moment. In the Political Strategy Working Group we try to parse out the dynamics at work and how to best situate ourselves within the movement... (read more ([link removed]) )

- Celeste R.

image credit: Bennett H.
Do you have opinions? Hot takes? Cool things you've been doing with DSA or our allies? Write for us ([link removed]) !
For Further Review
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With so many great podcasts, articles, books and videos coming out, it's easy to miss something great. Here's a few things members have found and loved recently.

The Socialist Case Against the Police ([link removed])
Part One: Origin and Function ([link removed])
Part Two: Abolish the Police ([link removed])
Police don't solve or prevent crime because they were never designed to do so. Police, both historically and even more so today, are simply tools of the capitalist bosses. - MB

Stop blaming everything bad on anarchists ([link removed])
Kim Kelly for WaPo with the explainer to show your friends and family when you tell them why you love, or are one of, the anarchists in DSA. (P.S. Fuck Jeff Bezos.) - TMW

Who is an “Outside Agitator”? ([link removed])
On how the myth of 'outside agitators' breaks down solidarity and plays into the hands of reaction. - Nic R

Friends, family seeking help for injured Minneapolis protester ([link removed])
Local activist Soren Stevenson was shot in the face with a rubber bullet, sustaining major structural damage to his face and possible loss of an eye. His friends and family have started a GoFundMe for him. Content warning: graphic pictures of injuries. - DKR

Uprisings Are Driving a Surge in Mutual Aid in Minneapolis and Beyond ([link removed])
There have been several good pieces covering the uprising in Minneapolis in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, with some really great pictures of the youth, the protests, the vigil at 38th and Chicago, and the mutual aid efforts at the Midtown Sheraton, at the offices of our comrades in CTUL, and elsewhere. -DKR

A Nervous Wreck’s Disabled Guide to Stepping Up ([link removed])
How to be intentional about what you can and can't do for the movement. Not just for the officially disabled. - DKR

Theses on the Uprising ([link removed])
Marxists may be envious of all the (unwanted) attention on anarchists, but they still can put out great statements.
“Disruption can be life-saving and life-affirming. It, too, is essential work.” - AHR

A COVID-19 Survival Guide ([link removed])
Three workers explain how socialists are fighting for life over profits in Southeastern Michigan. - AHR

Deep In The Heart of Texas: The Car Demo Form as Attack on Economic Circulation ([link removed])
“In shifting away from the model of the car demo purely as noise demo, the action opened up new horizons for strategic uses of vehicles in protest in the city. Car demonstrations in recent weeks had targeted the Mayor’s condo, reflecting some of the innovations used in cities like LA where groups have brought the fight directly to the homes of decision-makers. This action, however, gestures towards other possibilities to target not just the decision-makers, but the very infrastructures in which power resides. One could imagine more demonstrations picking up on the wisdom of other car blockades, using vehicles to shut down shipping facilities in solidarity with striking workers, or surrounding prisons to demand freedom for all.” - AHR

To The Streets! ([link removed])
“So it’s time to pick sides. Because the alternative to fighting back is to sleepwalk into mass murder.” - AHR

The Tiny Media Collective That Is Delivering Some of the Most Vital Reporting from Minneapolis ([link removed])
The New Yorker has a lot of in-depth reporting on Minneapolis right now, but especially good is this short piece on Unicorn Riot, our own homegrown, tiny, anti-corporate media collective. "You could refer to what Unicorn Riot does as 'activist reporting,' just as you might call a bystander capturing footage of N.Y.P.D. officers tossing people to the asphalt or plowing cruisers through crowds 'citizen journalism.' But you also could decide that these distinctions reflect a certain snobbery and have lost a certain salience. There is no use in quibbling about objective journalism amid this emergency, when the power of people’s voices is our only defense. To be a good citizen is to be an activist. To report is to speak up. To have your eyes open is to witness democracy in action, and its failures in abundance." - DKR
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If you find something that should be shared, post to the #linkroundup channel on slack, submit to this form ([link removed]) , or reply to this email.
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As always, socialism can't be solitary: what do you think about the newsletter? Do you want to help? Want to create or suggest some #content for next time? Please do ([link removed]) !
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Twin Cities Chapter DSA . PO Box 6554 . Minneapolis, MN 55406 . USA