We need your help with ideas for future political education events! And, our DSA chapter will be spreading the word to support Bernie for President...

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
This week in MoCo DSA
Dear comrades,

We've got a couple of quick asks for you today, and some good reads afterwards.

This Monday is Labor Day, the workers' holiday in the U.S. - do you know how this holiday came to be? In the late 1800s, many Americans toiled 12 hours a day, seven days a week, often in physically demanding, low-paying jobs. Children worked as well - on farms and in factories and mines. It was in this context that 10,000 workers held the first Labor Day parade, marching in an unsanctioned protest from New York’s City Hall on Sep. 5, 1882. It was turned into a national holiday later, when it served a greater political purpose. In the summer of 1894, the nationwide Pullman railroad strike ([link removed]) and boycott (helped by socialist Eugene Debs), severely disrupted rail traffic, and the federal government used federal troops to break the strike, turning it into a bloody battle. During this time, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill into law declaring Labor Day a national holiday, in an unsuccessful election-year attempt to shore up his support among
working-class voters.

Some good news about our government's evil immigration policies: The city of DC is blocking development of a new detention center for migrant children, and there was a robust protest in Takoma this week ([link removed]) against it.

However, even as we fight against inhumane detention policies, it's important to be aware of how news coverage is often framed. Our allies at Sanctuary DMV wrote a FB post ([link removed][0]=68.ARBlGqYYnR870OtB34v9TUCfEHcivcZTUupUfXOqXETeTz8StA34RSW-szMD6l5XgXGC-zPvarORfOS8vlQPXiCOjOkduqdHzw-iVZ7xTrpHyUjOqT-dFIRZbjU1YPpDnWGxzg11fOyRtZjrtNzXcerhNmB_HjUav68OLIs5DBmUp-NhjLcaxX9AvOW61twyZml91BZHer6DdGgtPyl2omX1ozc9uMPwxikZ_5fQao_3LEs9YUhj2J7MXeiePkDedJvfi4XO1Y-2gOBhnaGyBLch-ypIRtKRoTDKPe8-hP7Mza8aVkFkVK4QDSTqsxibr0PFdnWXGgHbbKUkz7suYnw&__tn__=-R) on the use of anti-immigrant propaganda in sensationalist news coverage - even pointing out that this article's headline was incorrect because Montgomery County did in fact notify ICE:

Want a 101 on how criminalization and [fear-mongering] works? Here you go. This article right here ([link removed]) illustrates the typical ICE playbook. They panic when localities stop cooperating with them, so they leak an incendiary case to the media to demonize them. Everyone deserves due process. We can't have a separate, harsher criminal justice system for undocumented immigrants, who already face racial profiling and over-policing in their communities. The only scandal here is that the Montgomery County Government continues to notify ICE when persons charged with a felony are being released.
MoCo DSA is looking to organize more political education events such as our Socialist Night School on police and prison abolition, and we want your ideas. Please fill out this survey ([link removed]) to give input on or help with future events!

Survey number two! Our allies at Progressive Maryland are working with the Montgomery County Education Association (the local teachers' union), and they are asking us to fill out a survey ([link removed]) about County public schools. MCEA will use that information at the bargaining table to negotiate for better educational resources for our children and their teachers.

Last week, MoCo DSA joined Young People for Progress, the Silver Spring Justice Coalition, and numerous other progressive organizations in signing a letter to the County Council ([link removed]) demanding that the new Police Advisory Commission, which is currently being planned, be required to reserve two seats explicitly for young people: one for a resident below the age of 25, and one for a resident below the age of 35.

MoCo DSA does not support the general structure of the Police Advisory Commission, as it lacks meaningful review authority and will not serve as a check on police abuses. However, we co-signed the letter because we agree with our allies on this: "Young adults often interact most with the police and have the most negative experiences. Accordingly, in order to have a chance at truly fixing the problem, this community needs to be fully represented in developing a solution, including representation on the Commission."

A reminder: There are several openings on the Montgomery County Democratic Party's Central Committee that will need to be filled at the Central Committee's next meeting on September 10. If you're interested in pushing the local Democratic Party to the left, here's the info on how to apply ([link removed]) .

Upcoming DSA events:
Sunday, September 8 from 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM: Takoma Park Folk Festival
MoCo DSA will have a table at the festival this year! We'll be handing out flyers about democratic socialism and our rent control campaign, and we'll be having some great conversations with the public about making Montgomery County a place for the many, not the few. Stop by and say hi or join us at the table! Details here. ([link removed])

Sunday, September 8 at 12:00 PM: Metro D.C. DSA for Bernie Canvass in Takoma Park
Also on Sep. 8, our DSA chapter will kick off its electoral efforts in support of Bernie Sanders for President! From the organizers: We are kicking off our first canvass for Bernie in Takoma Park! From Medicare for All to the Green New Deal to forgiving all student debt, Bernie has consistently championed programs to build working class power and fight the massive inequality plaguing America today. There will be a training before you head to the doors, and new canvassers with be paired with someone with more experience. Come have a blast with DSAers and help elect Bernie! Details here ([link removed]) .

Thursday, September 12 - Migrant Justice Action: Stand Up to Deportation Profiteers
From the organizers at MDC DSA: As ICE detains and deports immigrants every day, they are helped by for-profit companies. These profiteers allow ICE to function by providing key services: operating detention centers, making electronic ankle bracelets, building lists of undocumented immigrants, and more. The executives of these companies make millions for destroying lives in our community. We will provide the location and time as we get closer to the date of the action. Details here. ([link removed])

Sunday, September 15 from 2:00-4:30 pm: MoCo DSA Branch Meeting at Takoma Park firehouse
Please join us to talk rent control and more as our monthly meetings resume in September - at a new location, the Takoma Park firehouse! 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:
Monday, September 2 at 10:00 AM: Kensington Labor Day Parade
Kensington has an annual parade and festival - details here ([link removed]) .

Monday, September 2 at 1:00 PM: Gaithersburg Labor Day Parade
Gaithersburg has an annual parade as well - details here ([link removed]) .

Saturday, September 7 at 1:00 PM: Escalating Resistance: Mass Rebellion Training
From the organizers: Lisa Fithian is offering a three-hour training to hone our strategies and tactics to impact power holders and create social disruption at increasingly larger scales. This organizing requires attention to how we build collective power that heals and liberates us from our socialization in the dominant culture of superiority – white, male, rich and Christian. Details here. ([link removed])

Saturday, September 14 from 9:30-11:30 am: Social Housing Discussion at County Council Offices in Rockville
Representatives from Vienna, Austria, will discuss the city's extensive social housing ([link removed]) program with County Councilmembers, the Sierra Club, and the public. (It would appear that Councilmember Riemer is trying to beef up his left flank.) Details are here ([link removed]) . (There is also a symposium planned at UMD the day before - details here ([link removed]) .)

Friday, September 20 at 9:00 AM: MoCo Student Striker Kickoff Rally
From the organizers: Join in support of our Montgomery County climate strikers as they head to DC to demand climate action NOW! We will surround the Metro station entrance with a #ClimateStrike human banner, hear from strikers, and give them a climate strike care package before we all board the train for the 11:00 DC Climate Strike march at Freedom Plaza. 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 Commonwealth MD: "Payment Past Due" ([link removed]) by Erick Online Wright. "Montgomery County has a rising population of residents who rent, rather than own, their home. The new County Executive has proposed increased funding to the County’s primary tenant advocacy contractor. However, the County Council is finding every reason to stall distributing the funding, to the detriment of the tenant community."

From The Atlantic: "The Next Recession Will Destroy Millennials" ([link removed]) by Annie Lowrey. "For adults between the ages of 22 and 38, after all, the last recession never really ended." An insightful article about the damage the coming recession will likely wreck upon already-struggling Millennials and Generation Z. However, it frames this economic conflict in generational terms instead of class terms. Make no mistake: this is a matter of what the capitalist class is doing, not Baby Boomers or Generation X per se.

From the Christian Science Monitor. "Who's the Boss? In Worker-Owned Cooperatives, Everyone Is" ([link removed]) by Eoin O'Carroll. "While political pundits dicker over the merits and perils of socialism, 12% of the U.S. workforce are experimenting with business models that challenge top-down capitalism."

From the Los Angeles Times: "Amid Housing Crisis, Culver City is the Latest Town to Cap Rents" ([link removed]) by Andrew Khouri. "Culver City approved a temporary rent control measure early Tuesday morning, joining a handful of other Southern California cities that have boosted tenant protections as the state grapples with an affordability crisis. In a 4-1 vote that followed a five-hour discussion, the City Council capped annual increases to 3% in buildings built on or before Feb. 1, 1995. Tenants in those properties will have just-cause eviction protections as well, meaning a landlord can’t remove them unless certain conditions are met, such as failure to pay rent. The 'rent freeze' is set to expire in a year — a move officials say is needed to prevent landlords from jacking up rents while a permanent measure is debated."

From the Real News Network, via Michael-Hudson.com: "The 1% and Picketty." ([link removed]) From 2014. Interview of Michael Hudson by Jessica Desvarieux. "[Thomas Picketty's book Capital in the 21st Century] shows that wealth inequality is actually much wider than income inequality, because if you earn income, you have to pay taxes on it, and rich people, the 1 percent, don’t like to pay taxes, so they basically expense most of their income. They expense it as interest, they expense it as depreciation. There are all sorts of expenses. But he shows statistically in almost every country not only that income and wealth are getting wider and wider apart, the 1 percent versus the rest of the economy–but it’s not just the 10 percent of the population that’s richer than the bottom half or the bottom 20 percent; it’s the 1 percent that has the vast majority of the wealth and controls the world’s stock markets of the bond markets. And since 1980 there’s been
quite a turnaround. And the 1 percent have bought government as if government were sort of like a factory that you can make profits on. And you can get much more profits by buying a government than you can ever get by buying a property or real estate. And so what we’ve been turning into is an oligarchy."

From BuzzFeed News: "Federal Agencies Have Been Sending Employees Articles From White Nationalist and Conspiracy Websites for Months" ([link removed]) by Hamed Aleazis, Ryan Mac, and Jeremy Singer-Vine. "A BuzzFeed News investigation found that an arm of the Justice Department and the Department of Labor have shared stories from VDare, a white nationalist publication, with federal employees on multiple occasions over the last two years." The neo-Nazi infiltration of our government continues.

From New York Magazine's Intelligencer: "U.S. Marshals Are Arresting People in Texas Who Have Outstanding Student Loans" ([link removed]) by Samuel Lieberman. "Here’s what the U.S. government says about the student loan you may have been tardy about paying back: “If your loan is placed with a collection agency, you will be responsible for costs incurred to get payment. The holder of your loan can take other actions to collect as well.” Those “other actions” involve withholding your tax refund or, in some cases, garnishing your wages. And, this week in Texas, they began to involve federal agents in combat gear bursting into debtors’ houses and arresting them."

From the New York Times Magazine, via the Pulitzer Center: "The 1619 Project." ([link removed]) You may have heard this month that the New York Times Magazine upset some right-wingers by publishing an issue dedicated to the historical influence of American slavery on our country's culture and identity. "The 1619 Project" frames the real birth of America as the arrive of enslaved Africans in the English colony of Virginia that year, and views the history of America through the lens of the ensuing fight against oppression. The Pulitzer Center has provided an extensive reading guide for the issue, and has provided the entire "1619 Project" issue, containing over 30 essays and articles, for free in PDF format. Highly worth a read!

In solidarity,
David, Elissa, John, Lily, Zach and David
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}

============================================================
** ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
Copyright © 2019 Metro DC DSA, All rights reserved.

** Email us (mailto:[email protected])

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.

Add us to your address book! [email protected]