Hi everyone,

Last week, the Democratic Socialists of America launched the DSA100K recruitment drive - an ambitious attempt to recruit 5000 new members in the next 5 weeks. This is the first major recruitment drive our organization has ever run, and it's going extremely well. In the first week, DSA grew by over 2000 dues-paying members: the fastest period of growth the organization has ever seen. In the past, we've seen big membership spikes when big news breaks, like when Alexandria Ocasio Cortez won her primary in New York. This recruitment drive success is even better than that, because this shows us that organizing works: making direct asks of our friends, family members, coworkers, and neighbors to join our political project gets results.

Have you signed the 100K pledge yet? You can do so here! Recruit three members to DSA and not only will you build working class power, you'll get a cool pink hat! Once you've signed the pledge, generate your unique join link here.

The most important tool that the working class has is organization. We're strong when we fight together. We have to build a durable, mass political organization to wield the kind of power we need to win real change in our society. If you aren't a dues-paying member of DSA yet, join here! Also, not to brag, but New Orleans DSA is #3 in the country in recruitment numbers right now. Let's keep that lead going!

Lastly, if you speak Spanish and would be interested in helping translate some of our externally facing chapter materials into Spanish, please reach out to [email protected]! We have also been doing weekly voter registration events, and we'd love to train some more Spanish-speaking volunteers in voter registration.

Solidarity,

DSA New Orleans Local Council

P.S. New to DSA? Check out our chapter's new member resources here. You can also always email [email protected] with questions about how to get involved or about the work our chapter is doing.

New Orleans DSA Upcoming Events

Worker Power Louisiana - Join the regular meeting of our chapter's labor organizing committee to talk about workplace organizing efforts, the fight to save unemployment, and an exciting upcoming action to save the United States Postal Service. Register for the meeting here. (Password 945179) Tuesday, October 6th @ 6:30 PM.

Voter Registration Training. We will review how to help our neighbors get registered to vote using the United States Postal Service. Register for the meeting here. Tuesday, October 6th @ 8 PM.

Direct Service Committee: Mutual Aid + Neighborhood Organizing. Every other Wednesday, our Direct Service Committee meets to discuss ongoing mutual aid and neighborhood organizing projects, including our Brake Light Clinics. Everyone is welcome to join! Register for the meeting here. Wednesday, October 7th @ 6:30 PM.

Care Over Cops: Our Stories, Our Power. What does safety look like without over-policing? When it comes to defunding the police, the conversation often stops at the issue of domestic violence and other forms of violence. This panel session will pick up that conversation and discuss how to interrupt and address the roots of violence without relying on police officers, who have historically escalated violence in our communities.
Join our comrades at Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition for the third of our five-part virtual #CareOverCops community conversation series. Register for the call here. Thursday, October 8th @ 5:30 PM.

DSA Free Food Distribution. Come join us every Friday afternoon just outside the Southern Rep theater in MidCity to distribute food, register folks to vote, and offer information about the DSA! Or come to pick up a meal! Drive through or walk up, because there is such a thing as free lunch under socialism. 2541 Bayou Rd. Friday, October 9th from 4 PM to 7 PM.

Mobilizer Meeting. Come brainstorm about how we can refine our on-boarding and internal organizing processes! All are welcome - especially newer members. What would you like to see our chapter doing? How can we make our chapter easier to navigate and more welcoming? Register for the call here. Saturday, October 10th @ 10:30 AM.

Tabling and Brake Light Clinic Training. We will be going over the basics of organizing conversations with an emphasis on Medicare for All and Reducing State & Police Violence in preparation for our upcoming "Solidarity in the Park" event - a joint Health Fair & Brake Light Clinic, where we will fix people's brake lights for free. Interested in learning how to fix a brake light? Interested in learning how to talk to folks about Medicare for All? Interested in getting trained to volunteer for the event? Join us! Bring your mask. 2600 LaSalle St. Saturday, October 10th @ 12 PM.

DSA: How We're Fighting. Not sure where to plug into our organizing? New to DSA? This is our weekly check-in call. We'll get brief updates about campaigns and projects. We'll hear from our coalition partners on what they're working on, and we'll have open discussion about different political issues. Register for the call here. Saturday, October 10th @ 2 PM.

Political Education Planning Call. Whether you're new to DSA or have been around for years, one thing's for sure: the learning never stops! Join us to help develop a political education program for the chapter so we can better apply lessons from history and theory to our contemporary lives and organizing work (and vice-versa!). Register for this recurring call here. Sunday, October 11th @ 11 AM.

Electoral Organizing Meeting. Join us for a discussion of electoral organizing within our DSA chapter. Register for the call here. Sunday, October 11th @ 2 PM.

Organizer Training: How to Hold A Meeting. Holding an effective organizing meeting can seem daunting, but it's just a skill like any other that we can train ourselves to do! And it's a skill we use a lot! (Check out chapter calendar any week.) Effective, well-organized, goal-directed meetings can be critical in moving folks into action. Join this training to brush up on your meeting skills! Register for the call here. (Password: 689853). Sunday, October 11th @ 4 PM.

National DSA Upcoming Events

Get Out the Vote During COVID-19 - As the November elections draw near, we're hosting a get-out-the-vote (GOTV) training! Learn from DSA chapters who successfully engaged in pandemic-safe GOTV in the primaries to use in upcoming electoral fights! Register for the call here. Monday, October 5th @ 6:30 PM CST.

DSA 100K Recruitment Drive: Kickoff and Training. At the last DSA Convention, our members voted on a goal of growing our multiracial, working class socialist organization to 100,000 members by 2021. To achieve this, the NPC voted to establish an ambitious five-week Recruitment Drive running from October 1st to November 7th: to bring in 5,000 new members, grow every chapter by 10%, and plug these new members into existing campaigns. On this call, we will be kicking off this drive and training members on our 100K Pledge, where we will ask all DSA members to commit to talking with three people in their network about joining DSA during this period. All DSA members interested in growing our organization are welcome to join! Register for the call here. Tuesday, October 6th @ 7 PM CST.

Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) Teach-In. Recently, journalists and policymakers have been in a frenzy over the NYC-DSA chapter’s decision to include a pledge for DSA endorsed candidates to not travel to Israel on the candidate endorsement questionnaire form. NYC Council members frequently participate in Israel-lobby sponsored trips to Israel. These trips are unethical and have the explicit goal of deepening the US-Israel relationship on a local level to normalize apartheid and occupation.

The ensuing attack on NYC-DSA was politically motivated with the intention of silencing and marginalizing DSA at a time when DSA-endorsed candidates in New York are winning major victories. This event aims to provide context for what played out leading up to the attack and how DSA responded. We will also use this opportunity to take a step back and reflect on what the rights-based Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement—which DSA voted to endorse in 2017—calls for. We hope to give DSA members a deeper understanding of BDS and why Palestine is an important part of NYC local organizing, as well as to align our words and actions to move forward in a fearless, positive, and powerful way. Register for the call here. Wednesday, October 7th @ 6 PM CST.

DSA Q&A With Cori Bush. Interested in DSA but haven’t joined yet? Looking to get involved in the fights to stop evictions, win Medicare for All, and defund the police, but unsure how to get started?

Join Cori Bush – Organizer, Democratic nominee for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District in St. Louis, former national Bernie surrogate, and featured in Netflix’s Knock Down the House documentary – as we talk about how we can come together in DSA RIGHT NOW to win our demands in communities across the country. Register for the call here.Wednesday, October 7th @ 7 PM CST.

The Southern Key: Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s - A Discussion. DSA’s Democratic Socialist Labor Commission is excited to host Michael Goldfield as he presents on his book The Southern Key: Class, Race, and Radicalism in the 1930s and 1940s and discusses labor strategy in the American South. Register for the call here. Friday, October 9th @ 7 PM CST.