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At this weekend's General Meeting, we'll be joined by Chicago DSA Co-chair Melinda Bunnage, whose chapter recently got a socialist slate elected to Chicago's City Council! She'll be discussing how they organized to win and what CDSA has done to work with their elected officials and hold them accountable. Their successes and difficulties will provide us with a lot of great insight into how we can win here in Detroit and prepare us for the pitfalls of local politics as we work to build the left electorally through our United Front Platform.
We're also thrilled to let you know that during our Weekend of Action for Landis, we crushed our goal and got over100 petition signatures! Join us <[link removed]>this weekend while we hit the phones to get more people to sign petitions for the campaign. Our efforts this past year with our Defund the Police Campaign have been building to this - getting a socialist voice in a position to stand up to the police here in Detroit. Our first big hurdle is getting on the ballot, and we'll need as many signatures as possible to make it happen!
Our comrades have been working tirelessly the past month to draft The United Front Platform, which we'll be using to organize around both our DSA for Landis Campaign and our Defund the Police Campaign. We'll take a look at the first draft, which features six planks in order to build a left coalition in Detroit:
- Jobs
- Community Health
- Mobility Justice
- Housing
- Immigration
- Black Liberation
You can read the full United Front Platform here <[link removed]>.
You won't be disappointed when you join us this weekend learning how you can join the fight against the city's austerity budget and win material change for the people who need it most: Detroit's working class!
<[link removed]>REGISTER <[link removed]>
<[link removed]>MEETING AGENDA <[link removed]>
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We need all hands on deck to pressure Detroit City Council to vote NO in April against any austerity budget that leaves too many low-income and working class Detroiters sick and stuck in the cold.
• Emailthe Budget Office <mailto:
[email protected]>and your city council member <[link removed]>. Demand that they defund the police and refund Detroiters. Click here <[link removed]> for some talking points.
• Get involved <[link removed]>with Metro Detroit DSA’s Defund the Police campaign.
• Sign <[link removed]>our Action Network Petition.
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On March 5, Mayor Duggan will present the Fiscal Year 2022 budget to City Council. It is set to include a $41 million funding increase to Detroit Police Department. There’s no doubt this comes at the expense of other crucial departments like Health, Housing, and Transportation.
We are demanding that council defunds the police and invests in the the material conditions of Detroiters: by providing alternative crisis response teams like Oregon’s CAHOOTS model <[link removed]>, affordable decent housing, public health clinics, mass public transit, green union jobs, and more.
🌹 UPCOMING EVENTS 🌹
<[link removed]>
🧠 Trivia Night with the Reuther Library! Labor & Detroit History Edition
Friday, February 5th at 7PM
Test your knowledge of labor and Detroit history with archivists from the Reuther Library, then hang out with comrades! Winner gets bragging rights.
REGISTER <[link removed]>
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<[link removed]>
🍿 Socialist Movie Night: Norma Rae
Sunday, February 14th at 7PM-9:30PM
Norma Rae works along side her family and neighbors in a southern textile mill, where the pay is hardly commensurate with the long hours and lousy working conditions. But after hearing a rousing speech by a labor activist, Norma is inspired to undertake the difficult, and possibly dangerous, struggle to unionize her factory.
Come for the live-chat, stay for the discussion afterwards. Open to the public - invite your friends!
REGISTER <[link removed]>
This week in the...
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<[link removed]>
Refusing Accountability: Rick Snyder’s Crimes of Capitalism in Flint <[link removed]>
"What do we call the destruction, the weaponization through neglect, of the water system of the City of Flint by Rick Snyder and his cronies?" <[link removed]>
by Michael Stepniak
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<[link removed]>
Radical Creativity in the Fight for Liberation - Lessons from Detroit: I Do Mind Dying <[link removed]>
"The experiences of DRUM and the League outlined in Detroit: I Do Mind Dying provide many lessons for contemporary organizers and should serve as guidance for all of us who wish to build a better world." <[link removed]>
by Megan Shanklin and Liam McCormick
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<[link removed]>
When General Speaks From the Grave <[link removed]>
"General Gordon Baker Jr. was a Detroit auto worker, draft resister, and co-founder of the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement and the League of Revolutionary Black Workers. In 2016 his family founded the General Baker Institute to honor his legacy."
by Ken Jackson
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Union Drive Wins! <[link removed]>
"A Detroit DSA member helped lead a union organizing drive this summer and fall where every single worker signed a union card and then voted for the union. Let’s look at the lessons from this one Detroit example."
By Jane Slaughter
Detroit DSA is a 1200+ member funded organization. Because we're member funded it means we can proudly call ourselves socialists and believe in things like abolishing the police without fear of losing funding that we use to fight oppressive forces and stand up for the rights of the working class.
In order to win, it's going to take collective action from all of us. If you'd like to join us in our fight to build a better world, go here: dsausa.org/join <[link removed]>
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In solidarity,
🌹 Detroit DSA
Detroit DSA
<[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]> <[link removed]>[link removed]
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Metro Detroit Democratic Socialists of America - United States
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