Rally and march against occupation, curfew zones on Saturday; Metro DC DSA statement on ICE harassment of chapter member; canvassing for socialists in Maryland, 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
Washington, occupied city: Popular front emerges to fight fascist invasion — rally and mass cop watch this Saturday, August 23 at 6pm
“There is no takeover,” Mayor Muriel Bowser uttered in a press conference on the night of Monday, August 18. By Wednesday evening, the mayor and MPD Police Chief Pamela Smith were smiling and shaking hands with Trump’s favorite pet, Stephen Miller.
Senseless violence. State torture. Force as spectacle. This is fascism. The occupying forces' hit-squad tactics may be overlooked to a certain kind of upper class resident of the city. But there is no escaping the cost of this outrageous terrorism. As increasingly audacious methods of state violence are normalized, nihilism and sadism will grow across the government and society, creating a despondent and sociopathic population. Materially, these wasteful incursions reduce state capacity to address the actual sources of poverty and violence that plague American life. This unchecked rot will spread with time, bearing increasingly high costs to the life of working-class people. This is the nature of all austerity regimes, which require compounding levels of violence and corruption to maintain.
Mutual aid networks, tenant and labor unions, immigrant rights groups, and homeless advocacy organizations rapidly initiated defense protocols to fascist repression. But many were left wondering: where is the DC government? An expose published by the Washington Post answered that question. Despite secret discussions held by the Council, Mayor Bowser, Attorney General Brian Schwalb and senior administrators, the DC government failed to cohere a response to Trump's attack on DC autonomy. Police Chief Smith seemed to disappear entirely, shocking even MPD officers. Although the DC government eventually filed a lawsuit to contest Trump’s formal sequester of the police department, no steps have been taken to functionally limit federal control. Several councilmembers have even mused open collaboration with the occupying forces. On national radio, at-large Councilmember Henderson openly welcomed coordination with the occupying forces. The sacrifice of immigrants, civil liberties, the poor and District autonomy are all seen as fair tributes in the eyes of DC's myopic political elite.
Locally, hope lies in the popular front summoned from DC's working-class enclaves. In reaction to federal assault, organizer networks have formed communication chains to rapidly coordinate neighborhood response to federal attack and intervention. These networks have culminated in ripostes against federal assault, producing several heroic maneuvers over the past week. Just a few spotted:
ColumbiaHeights: A rapid mobilization chased ICE out of the neighborhood on Tuesday night. After notice was issued of ICE presence, the community mounted sustained pressure against the officers patrolling our streets, shouting and following the feds until they fled the scene.
The movement surged to DC Jail to rally support for local activist Afeni, who stood up to police harassment of youth and was pepper sprayed, slammed to the ground, and arrested before being released last Saturday.
Vice President JD Vance and Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth were booed and showered with chants of “Free DC” during a craven photo-op at Union Station.
Several rallies on U Street have demonstrated mass opposition to the occupying forces.
Behind the scenes, clandestine anti-fascist networks have developed community patrols to identify, communicate and document federal activity.
This federal assault must not be normalized; the time to get involved is now. This Saturday, August 23 at 6pm, comrades and community members will take a stand for our youth and our communities with a rally and cop watch at 14th and U Streets: standing against Trump’s takeover of the city and defending Black youth, immigrants, and the unhoused. Bring signs and noisemakers. Sign up for the mass rally here. Can’t attend but want to get involved in the fight? Fill out this DSA rapid response interest form.
MORE RESOURCES AND ACTIONS: Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, one of the few voices in DC government trying to stop political collaboration with the occupying forces, has created a Federal Enforcement Incident Report form for Ward 4. DC Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid has a hotline for ICE sightings, know your rights materials, and resources for community members. The DC Safety Squad is running We Keep Us Safe Wednesdays, sharing political education information on Instagram and has issued guidance for travel together.
Metro DC DSA statement on ICE harassment of chapter member
Metro DC DSA issued the following statement on Thursday, August 21:
“Earlier this week, DC police collaborating with ICE agents stopped a longtime Metro DC DSA member while he was driving his work vehicle in northwest DC. Falsely claiming the stop was for a vehicle violation, the police racially profiled our member and his colleague, both of whom are Latino landscape workers. They ripped the colleague out of the vehicle and tackled him to the ground, eventually handing him over to ICE, where he remains in custody. A bystander who filmed the incident was also arrested. Our member, a US citizen, briefly filmed the encounter before being handcuffed and eventually released.
Metro DC DSA declares full solidarity with our member, his colleague, and everyone who is under attack from this fascist administration.
The occupation of DC has nothing to do with keeping our city safe. It’s a spectacle intended to obscure the fact that Trump and his local collaborators are destroying the programs working-class people depend on to survive — all for the sake of enriching oligarchs who profit from our suffering. This is a brutal class war on working people waged by the rich and their political puppets.
The law will not protect us. We know that from this most recent outrage, as well as the long history of state brutality in communities across the US. Rights are meaningless without a strong political movement to give them substance. Our safety as a community depends above all on our ability to organize and build solidarity. Our solidarity especially extends to our immigrant neighbors, who are an essential part of our collective working-class family. We call for the abolition of ICE. We call on everyone to actively join the movement to end the occupation of DC, the condition of DC statelessness that enables it, and the predatory capitalist system that underpins them both..."
Elect socialists to protect our communities — canvassing in Gaithersburg and Greenbelt continues this weekend
Against the backdrop of the federal assault on DC’s working class, fight against fascism by helping elect two Metro DC DSA-endorsed candidates in Maryland.
MDC DSA member Omodamola Williams is running to bring rent stabilization, increased police accountability, the right for municipal workers to collectively bargain, and more to the Gaithersburg City Council. Canvasses will take place on Saturday, August 23, from 2 to 4pm, and on Sunday, August 24, 11am to 1pm.
Frankie Fritz is running for Greenbelt City Council on a platform that includes capping rent increases, strengthening the right to collective bargaining, and enhanced public transit in Greenbelt. Frankie's team is kicking off canvasses on Saturday, August 23rd, at 12pm, and Sunday, August 24, also at 12pm, both launching from the Greenbelt Metro Station.
BRIEFS
Steering Committee special election results announced
Results for the Metro DC DSA Steering Committee special election were reported on Saturday, August 16. Far F. won the election for campaigns coordinator. In the at-large election, the winners were Kurtis H. and John S.; candidates Nell G. and Kurtis H. were tied, with Kurtis H. chosen by random tie-breaker. Because Far F. vacated his at-large seat to assume the role of campaigns coordinator, Nell G. has been declared an additional winner of the at-large election.
Members can find a full vote breakdown in the #2025-special-election channel in the chapter Slack.
Sign up now: Fall 2025 reading groups
In these times, don’t do socialism alone. Kicking off after Labor Day, Metro DC DSA is assembling 11 distinct reading and discussion groups on socialism, Capital Vol. 1, postmodernism, abolition, socialist education, and more — sign up now. The chapter’s reading groups provide an opportunity to learn in a group setting either online or in-person, and help members develop their organizing and knowledge alongside comrades while providing a forum for debate and discussion. Other topics include an electoral group reading the best analyses of Zohran’s win (and beyond), an ongoing new magazine article discussion group, and much more. Locals can find out more about each group and sign up for the reading groups.
Informational picketing continues at Le Diplomate — Friday, August 22 at 5:30pm
UNITE HERE Local 25 is holding informational pickets outside of STARR's Le Diplomate to let the public know the workers there do not have a union contract. Metro DC DSA's Labor Working Group is mobilizing the community and its members to come out for ongoing pickets in support of the restaurant workers organizing to join UNITE HERE Local 25. RSVP to join comrades and community members for this informational picket at Le Diplomate tonight, Friday, August 22 at 5:30pm. Those interested in helping with volunteer mobilization can fill out this interest form. Anyone who wants to help grow the labor movement is welcome.
The wider labor movement is planning to rally together in solidarity on Thursday, August 28 at 4pm. Workers make DC run, and we deserve better than mass firings, union busting, deportations, and occupation. On August 28, join in solidarity with workers to kick off Labor Day 2025 with a Solidarity Season Rally in Dupont Circle (RSVP here). We know a working class united can never be defeated. We are organizing not just for one day, but to build labor power across the District, in every shop floor, school, restaurant, and municipal and federal building.
Internationalism Working Group to host Revolution Selfie screening — Friday, August 22 at 7:30pm
Join the Internationalism Working Group for a film screening of Revolution Selfie on Friday, August 22, 7:30pm at Rhizome DC. There will be Filipino snacks for sale. All sales will be donated to the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP), a global network of organizations that are concerned about the human rights situation in the Philippines and committed to the campaign for just and lasting peace in the country. RSVP here.
In Revolution Selfie, filmmaker Steven De Castro paints a portrait of a 48-year-old Maoist guerilla army in the Philippine hinterlands known as the New People's Army. But rather than simply presenting interviews and images in a traditional journalistic manner, this film weaves fantasy elements and web-based camera techniques into the documentary form to disrupt the viewer’s entire matrix of widely held beliefs underpinning the discussion of terrorism, poverty, and the motivations of the warriors who fight in a peasant revolution.
DSA members organize weekly Spanish Club for Socialists — Tuesday, August 26 at 6pm
Spanish Club for Socialists is a free weekly event where folks meet up to practice their Spanish. The event is about 90 minutes and is split into Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced groups, so learners of all levels should feel welcome. Next session: Tuesday, August 26 from 6pm to 8:30pm at Mount Pleasant Library, 3160 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20010. Comrades will be in meeting Room 1 (the big room on your right after you enter).
Northern Virginia socialists to hold Labor Day picnic, debrief — Saturday, August 30 at 1pm
The Northern Virginia Branch of MDC DSA is hosting its annual picnic at Lubber Run Park (200 N Columbus St, Arlington, VA) on Saturday, August 30 at 1pm. All are welcome, but organizers have asked for attendees to RSVP soon (to provide a head count for food) and consider bringing a dish to share. A covered picnic spot has been reserved. RSVP to the picnic here.
New to the DSA and want to connect with others? Next New Member Cohort starting in September
Anyone new to Metro DC DSA is invited to apply to join the Fall 2025 New Member Cohort. The cohort will participate in weekly sessions throughout September on Wednesday evenings. The first session covers the concept of organizing, the second provides an overview of socialism and capitalism, and the final session explains how MDC DSA works and provides opportunities to talk to people who run chapter campaigns. At least one session will be followed by a social outing. Applications are due by August 30.
Queer Section Social at as you are. — Thursday, September 4 at 6pm
Join the Metro DC DSA Queer Section for their first social with new stewards Jo and Casey. The social will be on the first floor of as you are., set up at a table with a placard. RSVP here.
Socialists hosting A People’s Tour of Montgomery County — Sunday, September 21 at 4pm
The Maryland Israel Development Corporation (MIDC) is funded through Marylanders’ taxes and is complicit in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. On Sunday, September 21, learn more with the Montgomery County branch of Metro DC DSA during a driving tour (professional shuttle service provided). Attendees will investigate the beneficiaries of our local tax dollars and how that money is used to fund genocide. Working Marylanders demand a better quality of life for all MoCo residents and a county free of war profiteering!
The tour departure point is accessible via free two-hour parking and North Bethesda Metro Station. Learn more and RSVP here.
INFO ACCESS
The DMV is under siege by authoritarian militarists. Want to fight fascism from the heart of the empire? Join DSA and fight to build socialism! We’re the alternative that works for people, not profiteers.
Staying current with MDC DSA — Weekly Updates, like the one you are reading, are scheduled and emailed on Fridays; current and past Updates are available anytime on our website. Not subscribed? DSA member or not, sign up to get the Update, the go-to source for the DMV Left. The MDC Dispatch is the chapter’s new video news series, published on the first and third Sunday of each month. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and submit your Update or Dispatch suggestions (or DMV scandal tips) to our tip line. The Washington Socialist, published since the 1970s, offers in-depth analytical/opinion articles on a quarterly schedule; the Summer 2025 issue is available now. Check out the Socialist’s topic-indexed and searchable 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 to [email protected].
Members — want to stay updated in our local chapter workspace? MDC DSA members are encouraged to join our all-member Slack for real-time info on working group and campaign events, strategy/tactic exchange, and inspiration. Email [email protected] with your most recent DSA dues receipt to get Slack access.
DMV LEFT COMMUNITY BULLETIN
Campy Comrades II: Collective Liberation Fundraiser on Aug 22 | Baldwin House, W1MA, and others
On Friday, August 22 at 8pm, a camp revue is staging up at Town Tavern DC (2323 18th St NW) to celebrate joy and resistance in the campaign for collective liberation. This one-night-only musical theater variety show will include camp pop performances, musical theater sing-alongs, improv games, and more. All proceeds support S3x Worker Advocacy Coalition, Baldwin House, Ward 1 Mutual Aid, and Seeding Stories. Want to perform? Fill out this signup form, pick 1–3 pop hits or showtunes, grab your friends, and bring your mini-musical to life (solo acts welcome).
Defund Palantir Protest on August 23 | Our Revolution
Palantir isn’t just another tech company. It’s billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel’s Big Brother machine — embedded deep in Trump’s inner circle through allies like JD Vance (whose Senate campaign Thiel bankrolled) and “AI czar” David Sacks. Its tech is weaponized to target immigrants, workers, civilians, and activists. And it gets billions in our tax dollars for federal contracts as it builds a national database to surveil us all. Join Our Revolution on Saturday, August 23, from 12 to 1:30pm to say: no more government contracts for Palantir and big tech tyrants! RSVP here.
Melt ICE BBQ on August 23 | 411 Collective and more
Come to this end-of-summer community cookout and fundraiser on Saturday, August 23, from 2 – 8pm at the Palestine House of Freedom. 411 Collective is tabling to support immigrant communities and draw the connections between the deportation machine terrorizing our neighbors here and the US-backed Israeli genocide of Palestinians abroad. Enjoy food, drinks, live music, and art. Find more info on Instagram.
Punk Rock Karaoke on August 29 | Food Not Bombs Fundraiser
On Friday, August 29, at 8pm, head to Black Cat for all-ages punk rock karaoke benefiting local anarchist outfit Food Not Bombs, which serves vegan meals every Saturday in McPherson Square. Tickets cost $15 in advance or $20 at the door. Please RSVP.
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.
Worker Protection Agency Is Ditching Its Judges To Satisfy Trump Administration
Unions are alarmed by the plan for the Federal Labor Relations Authority, saying it will give the president more power over the federal workforce. A small but essential federal agency plans to get rid of its judges who help resolve government workplace disputes, a move unions say will consolidate more power among President Donald Trump’s political appointees and weaken the collective-bargaining system. (Huffpost via Portside)
A Tale of 10 Cities
Metro areas signal what’s at stake for Black Americans under Trump’s anti-equity agenda: “The chaotic and harmful actions of the second Trump administration have raised the risk of recession for the otherwise strong and resilient labor market Trump inherited. One of the greatest casualties of a completely self-inflicted recession would be the labor market gains experienced by Black workers in recent years, including historically low unemployment and faster wage growth (Cid-Martinez, Maye, and Marvin 2025).” Economic Policy Institute via Portside
Did Biden deliver for Texarkana? Apparently not, according to Texarkana…
Economist Dean Baker comments on NYT scribe Thomas Edsall’s assertion that Texarkana (TX, AR) didn’t feel the Biden administration “delivered” for the area despite lavish spending on local industry, mostly green-tinged. “I can’t say that the wealth of Democratic leaders is a major factor pushing working class people away from the party,” Baker says, “but the right-wing media certainly seem to think it is a useful weapon. They regularly highlight, and often invent, stories about Democrats being rich. It is a way to tell ordinary workers that they are not like them — and ostensibly, that they don’t have their interests at heart.” The 2024 election was a Trump landslide in this undelivered Red zone.
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.
Thinking about it, but want to get this email Update every Friday? SIGN UP
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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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