Hi John!

The election is approaching (in an already-spooky time of year), but it’s not time to get scared — it’s time to organize. As socialists, we believe our economy and society should be run democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few. And we believe in your ability to help build working class power and fight for radical change.

Yesterday, we dedicated our chapter meeting to planning our post-election strategies. Now is the perfect time to engage and help us press onward. Check out our events calendar or read on below to see the variety of ways you can contribute.

Today, we issued a statement of condemnation of Redwood City Councilmember Diana Reddy for the racist and insensitive statements she has made in response to calls to defund the police. In 2018, Diana Reddy told SV DSA that she supports the Movement for Black Lives platform, including a divestment from the police and investment in Black communities. Now she dismisses that same demand and praises "peaceful" white supremacist ralliers. To get involved in our Redwood City organizing, join #local-redwood-city on the SV DSA Slack.

We would like to join National DSA in congratulating the Bolivian Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) for their decisive electoral victory less than a year after a U.S.-backed coup ousted democratically elected President Evo Morales.

In Solidarity,
Your SV DSA Newsletter Team 🌹

Updates

Welcome New Members!

Whether you recently joined DSA or are trying to figure out how to plug in, we want to help you get started. The next New Member Orientation will be on October 24 from 2-4pm, and will cover everything from what demoncratic socialism is to how to help. You can also request a 1-on-1 meeting with a DSA organizer who can answer your questions and point you in the right direction.

Candidates to Support

The Electoral Working Group has presented a voter guide to help you in your decision-making this election.

All of our endorsed candidates need help dropping literature and making calls to support their campaigns. Sign up to help get these democratic socialists elected to office today:

• Basil Saleh for School Board (CUHSD)
• Jake Tonkel for District 6 San Jose
• Tiffany Vuong for Milpitas City Council
• Alex Lee for State Assembly (who also received an endorsement from Bernie Sanders!)
• John Lashlee for Mountain View City Council
• Lissette Espinoza-Garnica for Redwood City Council

Help DSA Grow

DSA wants to get to 100k members! Get a custom link — when three new comrades join the cause using your link, you’ll get a free DSA hat.

Halloween Social Event

Halloween is quickly approaching, and the Membership Development Committee is planning a (remote) party! We’d love your help. Drop by the #cmte-membership channel on Slack to share your ideas.

Mutual Aid

With no COVID aid package in sight, it has become even more critical to support Mutual Aid to provide aid to our community. Want to help? Check out our tasks with South Bay Mutual Aid, they have coordinator training every Friday. You can call people from home and help plan out grocery deliveries, or be a driver and pick up groceries (and the chapter will reimburse you for them).

We are also planning out fundraisers so we can purchase more supplies. Our next fundraiser will be a 4-part music making class that teaches people the basics of composing music through BandLab, a free app that anyone can download. The class is free, but we're asking people to donate a $10 - $25 class "fee" to the mutual aid fund if they can. The classes are Saturdays, from 4:30-5:30pm, on Oct 24, Oct 31, Nov 7, Nov 14. More details here.

As always, we need a lot of help with promoting these events and creating graphics! — donate or volunteer to help today.

Defund the Police

Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, and Palo Alto

Policing issues between Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, and Palo Alto are closely connected. Menlo Park Police is notorious for racial profiling and for going into East Palo Alto; police officers get shuffled around between the three cities to protect them. Join us to discuss city budgets, develop community collaborations, and explore other ways we can defund the police and re-fund our communities on October 21, 7:30-9pm.

Justice Working Group

The next Justice Working Group meeting is November 12, 6-8pm. Join for guest speakers, Red Talks, legislative updates, action items, research and strategy building.

Justice Working Group is also hosting a book club on November 9, 7-8:30pm. We're discussing two special episodes of the Intercepted Podcast with abolitionist Ruth Wilson Gilmore.