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Notice: The City and the County of Sacramento are offering emergency rent and utilities assistance for renters impacted by COVID-19. The application period is February 25 – March 19. Learn more about the program and sign up for notifications here.
In this newsletter:
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Message From The Executive Board:
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Join Us For Our General Meeting This Saturday!
Our chapter has been busy this month, taking part in actions for universal healthcare in California, eviction defense, and supporting our unhoused neighbors (see below). We hope you can attend our general meeting this Saturday, February 20. as we discuss and vote on the following:
Resolution to Create a Mutual Aid Working Group
In the past couple of weeks, Sacramento DSA members have come out to support our community through multiple mutual aid projects. We believe there is a strong interest in our chapter to continue this type of work and propose the formation of a Mutual Aid Working Group to meet that need.
Through this working group, we will build coalitions with local organizations to work in solidarity with our neighbors, strengthen our community ties, grow our chapter, and utilize these connections to advance our political goals.
We will be discussing and voting on this resolution at our General Meeting on February 20. Before then, we'd like to ask for input (from the chapter, racial solidarity committee, etc.) to ensure this proposal meets our (equity, housing, etc.) needs. Please let us know if you have any ideas/questions/concerns by joining our discussion on Slack or emailing [email protected].
Meet Our Chapter Co-Chair Candidates
At our general meeting this Saturday, we will be electing a new chapter co-chair. We currently have two candidates, Margot Rinaldo and Jessica Resendez. They will be speaking at the meeting, and have provided the following statement for our members:
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Margot Rinaldo
My name is Margot Rinaldo (she/her), former YDSA cochair at Sac State, and I am running for the vacant cochair position in Sacramento DSA. |
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I started in DSA in the Fall of 2019 when I helped organize the YDSA chapter at Sac State, which we founded to promote community organizing and support mutual aid, not just Democratic Party organizing. One of the first things we decided to do was a feminine product drive and a food drive.
Organizers from Sac DSA were very helpful in getting this set up and helping us build capacity while I taught political science. We collaborated with UC Davis YDSA on organizing around student debt cancellation and setting up town halls, as well as working to organize the central hub for Bernie volunteers at Sac State.
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I would not have been able to lead these projects without the support of Sac DSA. I've wanted to get back into organizing in Sacramento to help strengthen DSA's local alliances with labor, Sacramento's YDSA branches, and our community to build our member base locally. I am really excited to bring my experience to help with Sac DSA's organizing efforts and addressing the material issues facing the Sacramento area. |
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Jessica Resendez
Hello everyone I'm Jessica Resendez and I am running to be the Co-Chair of our Chapter here in Sacramento.
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I grew up in the Bay Area am a Graduate of Fremont High School in Sunnyvale where I was a member of the marching band and Concert bands, where I truly learned the value of teamwork.
I decided to run for Co-Chair because I truly believe that if we work together we can accomplish many great things. I don't claim to have all the answers because everyday is a learning experience no matter how much we think we know. I'm passionate about lifting up those around me, please feel free to ask me any questions, if I don't have an answer for you will try and find one. I look forward to being able to get to know you all. |
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DSA Joins Statewide Car Caravan For Universal Healthcare |
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Last weekend, DSA joined the California Nurses Association in a statewide car caravan to kick off the union's push for a statewide single-payer healthcare plan. Union-organized rallies took place across California, including one here in Sacramento that passed by the Capitol.
One speaker at the Sacramento rally was Melissa Johnson Camacho, an oncology nurse and chief union organizer at UC Davis Medical Center. She described how one of her cancer patients attempted suicide after losing his job and health insurance, and told the crowd:
Until we address this immoral system, we're gonna lose more lives, and it's not gonna be to the diseases -- it's going to be to the greed. This is why nurses like me support Calcare and other single-payer systems. We're gonna continue to fight for healthcare justice. We're gonna continue to fight for our patients and our communities. We're no strangers to fighting for what's right, and nurses on the frontlines in this past year -- we have seen this pandemic, and the problems that we've faced with hospital greed, starting with even the protective equipment and staffing we saw being attacked in our hospitals. And we as nurses, we demanded protections, and the hospital greed fought back. And every time we won, we knew what we were asking for was right... Again we see how profits and corporate greed can endanger lives. And we have seen what our collective power can do. And it is time to bend the political will, and we can lead in California, and we can do this!
Sac DSA's own Phil Kim emceed the rally and led the car caravan to the Capitol. Just before setting off, Kim motivated the crowd with a quote by farm labor organizer Fred Ross Sr. (a mentor to Cesar Chavez) that "a good organizer is a social arsonist, who goes around setting people on fire." The caravans were a kick-off to an ongoing campaign by unions and community groups (including DSA) to fight for single-payer healthcare in California.
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DSA Mobilizes to Prevent Eviction of Single Mother |
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Members of Sacramento DSA joined an action by the Eviction Defense Network to protest the inhuman treatment of tenants by local real estate giant St. Anton Capital. The action arose after St. Anton evicted a tenant over a minor paperwork error. Standing side by side with members of several other community organizations, we called on St. Anton to reverse their cruel decision, and on government officials to close loopholes in their woefully insufficient eviction moratorium.
The tenant being evicted, Tanya Vera, is a single mother of two whose daughter is recovering from a brain injury. Vera told the crowd outside of St. Anton's:
If there was in fact a mistake, why didn't they give me a chance to bring down my papers and show them proof? They didn't. They just automatically gave me a 60-day notice and kicked me out on the street. Now there are a lot of loopholes, even though we're protected. They say there are no evictions in California or Sacramento. That is not true. There are loopholes, and that needs to be fixed! That needs to be rectified. Because my eviction is not about me. It is because they're tagging me of a criminal, and I'm not a criminal. I am disabled, a single mom. trying to finish my education. And I'm almost done, and I have a [medical] procedure coming up in June, and these people are not allowing me to stay in my home and finish what I'm supposed to do. And I have to protect my child, which is suffering from anxiety and depression because of all this harassment and corruption.
Next month, the Sacramento City Council will be voting whether to award St. Anton’s $30 million to construct and manage an affordable housing development in Greenbriar. We need to pressure the Council to (1) not award the funds unless St. Anton Capital halts its campaign against Tanya Vera, and (2) close the loopholes that allow evictions like hers to go forward. Sac DSA will share the meeting details and talking points as soon as they become available.
As Sacramento DSA's Elliot Stevenson told the crowd at the action this weekend, "Tenant solidarity is the way forward. When the landlords are kicking us out, when the state fails us when the protections are not strong enough, we have come together to say no more evictions!"
Resources for Tenants to Fight Back
Don't believe your landlord! Sacramento Self-Help Housing’s free Renters Helpline remains available to help with potential renter discrimination, tenant/landlord disputes, education on new laws about rent increase and “just cause” evictions, and temporary moratoriums due to COVID-19. It can be reached M-F, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at (916) 389-7877.
You can also contact the Sacramento Tenants Union at (530) 564-6245, or visit their resource page.
Also, if you're interested or starting to build your own tenants union where you live, DSA is hosting a free online training tonight being hosted by experienced tenant organizers. We'll walk through sample trainings, share lessons learned, and answer questions about organizing challenges. This event starts tonight (Thursday) at 5:30 PM, RSVP Here
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You can also learn more about the DSA "Stomp Out Slumlords" tenant organizing campaign in Washington, D.C., by reading this excellent report they just published, "No Job, No Rent: Ten Months of Organizing the Tenant Struggle."
Volunteers Needed for Warming Center in Downtown Sac
Volunteers are needed for the homeless warming center at the Library Galleria in downtown Sac! It's a great experience, and you will be helping make a real difference for folks who desperately need a safe place to rest. Sign up. Share. Let's do this. And email us if you want to arrange to volunteer with a DSA buddy!!
Sign up here; shifts available every day: 7:30 PM - 12:30 AM 12:00 AM - 4:30 AM 4:30 AM - 8:30 AM |
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Intro to YDSA Townhall with Katie Valenzuela and Michelle Pariset |
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Join us this Sunday at 12:00pm for our townhall, "What is Young Democratic Socialist of America?" We have special guests that will speak, including Sacramento DSA-endorsed/
Open to all, but especially students looking to organize for DSA at their school! Register here
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International Solidarity Updates: Haiti, India, Palestine, El Salvador
DSA Supports Ongoing Protests for Elections in Haiti |
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DSA's International Committee recently expressed solidarity for protests in Haiti against President Jovenel Moïse’s illegal attempt to stay in power past his constitutional term. Says the statement (available in English and Haitian Creole):
As the first nation in the world to overthrow and ban slavery, Haiti is a symbol of justice to the globe, and we strongly oppose any attempt to erode Haiti’s democracy, already under threat from decades of interference from the United States security apparatus.
Haitians have been protesting and striking across the entire country for years against neoliberal austerity programs pushed by the IMF and the U.S. Now demonstrations and strikes -- including a recent two-day general strike led by 45 trade unions -- have intensified against the president's illegal power grab. In its statement of support, DSA "calls upon the Biden administration, the U.S. State Department, and the OAS to recognize the right of the Haitian people to a new president."
Free Nodeep Kaur: Dalit (Low-Caste) Labor Activist Arrested During India Strike
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An important development in extending the promise of the Kisan-Mazdoor farmers protest is the movement bringing light to the arrest of Nodeep Kaur on January 12, and the demand for her release.
Nodeep Kaur is an activist working for MAS, which is an established labor rights organization that has established a physical presence in the kisan-mazdoor protests to be in solidarity with the striking farmers. MAS has been fighting for the rights of workers in the industrial area that already existed in the area where the protest has been situated.
MAS held a demonstration in this industrial area in part to demand lost wages unpaid to workers at the factories in January. In the course of that demonstration, Nodeep Kaur was arrested and has been held since then. Her sister reports she has been beaten and sexually assaulted in custody.
The significant context of the situation is that Nodeep Kaur is a woman and Dalit, which is a caste group that is the object of vicious oppression in the South Asian caste system. Many of the workers in MAS are also Dalit, as are many of the farm workers who are participating in the Kisan-Mazdoor movement ("mazdoor" could generally be translated as landless workers, and "kisan" as landowning farmers -- albeit often poor farmers with less than 2 acres of land).
The groundswell of support for Nodeep Kaur is a tribute to her rock solid and powerful solidarity for the Kisan-Mazdoor movement (prior to her arrest she made strong statements which can be seen on videos recorded at the protest site) as well as a sign that the farmers movement is making some needed and concrete steps to address the role of the caste system in deep-seated economic and social oppression.
"Free Nodeep Kaur!" Is much more than a slogan, it's a demand for her dignity and a step forward in the dismantling of the caste oppression that is at the heart of the injustice of the economic and social systems of South Asia.
Solidarity For Palestinian Activist Issa Amro
Issa Amro, a Palestinian organizer of nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation in the West Bank city of Hebron (who visited Sacramento a few years ago), was convicted in January for bogus "crimes" and sentenced this week. (Among the charges Amro faced were “participating in a rally without a permit” and “obstructing a soldier"). International pressure from well-known human rights groups and many others led to a partial victory -- no jail time -- but the bigger picture is much less sanguine. As Amro said:
The real goal of Israel in prosecuting me has always been to stop me from continuing my work and make other Palestinians afraid to speak out and protest the apartheid system we live under.... The judge refused to give my witnesses an opportunity to speak about my work as a human rights defender or give context or background of Israel’s occupation and apartheid, even though this was the purpose for my civil disobedience. The apartheid regime is afraid of nonviolent resistance. The military ‘court’ is part of Israel’s military system. It exists to prolong the occupation and apartheid.
Amro's case also shows the farce of the so-called "limited self-rule" by Palestinians in the occupied territories. Supporters are asked to cite his case to our congressional representatives in appealing that they act to end support for the occupation. You can also donate to the U.S.-based Friends of Hebron, named for the city where the apartheid reality is most stark, as hundreds of extremist, illegal Israeli settlers have managed to take over much of the city center; the organization works with Amro's own group in Hebron calledYouth Against Settlements.
Learn More About Salvadoran Elections From a Social Movement Perspective
DSA recently expressed solidarity with the leftist FMLN and social movements in El Salvador as they face increased repression by right-wing forces in the country. Now you have an opportunity to learn more about events there, from the perspective of organizers on the ground.
CRIPDES is one of El Salvador’s largest campesino organIzations representing over 100,000 people in over 300 communities. Born out of the people’s struggle for liberation during the Salvadoran armed conflict of the 1980’s, Cripdes has been leading the fight for social justice in the Salvadoran countryside for over 35 years. U.S. El Salvador Sister Cities is collaborating with other U.S. solidarity organizations in El Salvador to put on a series of online events featuring CRIPDES organizers talking about the context of upcoming elections in El Salvador, which includes the recent assassinations of FMLN supporters. |
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All three events are on consecutive Wednesdays at 4PM PST and will be streamed on Facebook here. They are in Spanish, but an English translation stream is available by emailing [email protected].
Revolutionary Black History Month Events |
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National DSA is hosting a two-week reading group, "The Socialist Legacy of Black Feminism" this month! The second (online) meeting is Tuesday, February 23rd, at 5:00 PM PST. Register here, and check out the complete reading list!
Since slavery, Black feminist scholars and activists have articulated a socialist vision for ending systemic oppression. Black feminism recognizes how all systems of oppression are inextricably linked while maintaining the unique circumstances of anti-blackness, misogynoir, and class oppression. Understanding this theoretical framework is essential for those interested in developing strategies to end all forms of exploitation. To quote What is to Be Done? “Working-class consciousness cannot be genuine political consciousness unless the workers are trained to respond to all cases of tyranny, oppression, violence, and abuse, no matter what class is affected.” In this reading group, we will discuss the core tenets of Black feminist thought - the connections between race, class, gender, intersectionality, all to coincide with Black history month. |
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Upcoming Meeting Announcements: |
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Upcoming Sac DSA Meetings
Healthcare Committee, Thursday, Feb. 18 @ 7PM, Zoom link
General Membership Meeting, Saturday, Feb. 20 @ 1:30PM, Zoom link
Labor Committee, Sunday, Feb. 21 @ 11:00AM, Zoom link
International Committee, Thursday, Feb. 25 @ 7PM, Zoom link
Missed a Meeting? Here are the Notes!
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Upcoming National DSA Events & Programs
These events are hosted by National DSA or chapters outside Sacramento. As with all DSA events, they are free and open to anyone!
"The Fight for Safe Schools Today" Saturday, February 20th, 12:00 PM PST, RSVP Here
Join the DSA Educators and School Staff Network for a call on Saturday, February 20th at 3 pm ET/12 pm PT on demanding safe schools under a Biden administration with teacher strike leader Michelle Gunderson from the Chicago Teachers Union and others. We demand: #1 No premature opening of schools before school communities have herd immunity #2 Comprehensive vaccination plan for educators and all members of school communities: workers, families, and students #3 Paid sick leave, unemployment benefits, and passage of Healthcare Guarantee Act to support educators and people who cannot return to unsafe schools or go back to work without adequate child care coverage for their family If you are an educator, parent, student, or building power within your community for safer schools during the Covid-19 epidemic, this call is for you! "DSA Q&A feat. Medicare for All" Monday, February 22nd, 6:00 PM PST, RSVP Here
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Interested in DSA but haven’t joined yet? Looking to get involved in the fights to stop evictions, win Medicare for All, or defund the police, but unsure how to get started? Frustrated with the limited possibilities of national, top-down politics and looking for an alternative?
Join DSA leaders from across the country to talk about how organizing as socialists and engaging in mass, bottom-up movement struggle is the best path forward to winning our demands and building a better future, together. We'll also have leaders from our national Medicare for All committee on to talk about the next steps for winning Medicare for All under a Biden administration and how you can plug in to get involved! "Rediscovering Earth, Reclaiming Our Lives: A Conversation with Kim Stanley Robinson" Tuesday, February 23rd, RSVP Here
Kim Stanley Robinson has been called one of the greatest science fiction writers of our age and has shown a pronounced focus on the environment throughout his work. In this webinar, he talks with philosopher Anders Dunker about what it will take to re-imagine and achieve a new relationship to the Earth and to each other. Dunker is the author of a new book of interviews with Robinson and nine other environmental activists: Rediscovering Earth: Ten Dialogues on the Future of Nature, OR Books, February 25, 2021. The book is available to DSAers at a 20% discount using the code DSA20 at https://www.orbooks.com/ Following the discussion, members of DSA's Green New Deal Committee and Ecosocialism Working Group will discuss DSA's campaigns. "VIDEO PREMIERE: Union Organizer Reacts to 'Nurse Jackie' WALKOUT" Thursday, February 25th, RSVP Here
Join us for the premiere of the DSA Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)'s first YouTube video: Union Organizer Reacts! Our own Tristan Bock-Hughes, former organizer with the Illinois Nurses Association, watches and reviews an episode of "Nurse Jackie" where the nurses stage a walkout to stop their hospital from closing. Is it a realistic model of labor power, or just TV fantasy? Watch to find out! "Quienes somos y qué queremos los Socialistas Democráticos" Jueves, Febrero 25th, 5:00 PM PST, Registar aquí
El Grupo de Trabajo por los Derechos de los Inmigrantes de DSA los invita a un seminario web en español: "Quienes somos y qué queremos los Socialistas Democráticos." Escuche a algunos de nuestros miembros sobre su trabajo en DSA y en sus comunidades. |
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What We're Reading (Or Viewing, Or Listening To...)
"The Lockdown Showed How The Economy Exploits Women. She Already Knew" by Jordan Kisner
'Great article! Long interview with Silvia Federici.'
"Oh no! What a loss."
"Seven Theses on the Post-Trump Right and DSA’s Role in the Fight Ahead" by DSA Santa Cruz
"DSA Santa Cruz had a very powerful statement in regards to the insurrection on 01/06 and it’s good framework for how to move forward post-Trump"
"Amazon loses effort to halt Alabama union drive, voting begins next week" by Annie Palmer
"Super good news! Also the union won voting by mail."
"We Need Communism" by Sceneable (video)
"Classic argument, I am surprised we don’t address any of the points in this video"
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