Stay tuned and keep an eye on our social media for information about chapter preparations for the Chauvin trial. Our trial prep working group's next meeting is this Wednesday -- scroll down to Upcoming Events for details.
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Upcoming Events
NOTE: All events are on Zoom unless location is given. Zoom links are found on the calendar near the date of the event if public, otherwise in Slack.
SEIU Health Worker Picket Coordination
Abbott Northwestern Hospital, 800 E 28th St, Minneapolis, MN 55407
Wednesday, April 7, 2:00-5:00pm
Register here
For background, read this article
Trial Organizing Meeting
Wednesday, April 7, 5:00-6:30pm
Connect with the group and access the meeting Zoom link on Slack in the #chauvin-trial channel
Inreach / Internal Organizing Committee Meeting
Wednesday, April 7, 5:30-7:00pm
Register here
Health Justice OC Meeting
Saturday, April 10, 11:00am-12:30pm
Check the #healthjustice channel on Slack for more info on how to join Health Justice organizing committee meetings.
Electoral WG General Meeting (tentative)
Sunday, April 11, 1:00-3:00pm
Zoom link TBA, see #electoral on Slack for details
Steering Committee
Wednesday, April 14, 6:30-8:00pm
Steering Committee calls are open to all members! Check #steeringcommittee on Slack for Zoom links.
Socialism 101
Saturday, April 17, 11:00am-1:00pm
Register here
Socialist Reading Group
Sunday, April 18, 3:00-4:30pm
Register here
Ops/Tech Committee Meeting
Monday, April 19, 7:00-9:00pm
Register here
Inreach / Internal Organizing Committee Check-in
Wednesday, April 2, 5:30-7:00pm Register here
Left Social Democrats
Thursday, April 22
Time and Zoom link TBA
Health Justice General Meeting
Sunday, April 25, 11:00am-12:30pm
Register here
Socialist Feminist Branch Meeting
Tuesday, April 27, 6:30-8:00pm
Register here
Steering Committee
Wednesday, April 28, 6:30-8:00pm
Steering Committee calls are open to all members! Check #steeringcommittee on Slack for Zoom links.
Check our calendar for more events as they're scheduled or changed!
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Join SEIU health workers' informational picket
Twin Cities DSA is coordinating to assist info pickets by SEIU health workers! The first opportunity to show solidarity is this Wednesday, April 7 @ 2 - 5pm, at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis.
Here's a good article for background info.
GUIDE TO PICKETING:
tinyurl.com/comradelypicketing
SOCIAL MEDIA: Make sure to take photos! Tag @SEIUHCMN and @TwinCitiesDSA
SAFETY: Wear a mask! If you have any symptoms, please stay home.
DONATIONS: Food or coffee are welcome on the line.
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Socialist Feminist Reading Group
Tuesday, April 13, 7:00 – 8:30pm
This month we will be reading Beyond Survival, edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. All are welcome at this meeting. Register here
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It's time to register for the DFL caucuses
The DFL Caucuses are online this year and participating is super easy! **Go to caucus.dfl.org to register** You'll receive a ballot to vote for delegates between May 12-18. For more information about the online caucus/convention process for Minneapolis elections, visit: minneapolisdfl.org
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Register for Pre-Convention
Are you a member of DSA? Are you thinking about representing the chapter at the national convention this summer? Then sign up for a pre-convention conference! Find more info and register here.
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The deadline to support candidates moving forward in the TCDSA endorsement process is closing in fast!
An unprecedented eleven candidates have asked for TCDSA's support in the 2021 elections. To support any of them moving on in our endorsement process or just keep up with the news, check the wiki page (available to confirmed TCDSA members only - sign up for access at tcdsa.org/slack).
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TCDSA endorses Minneapolis United for Rent Control (MURC)
Here’s what you can do:
Sign MURC’s petition to help hit the goal of 20,000 signatures by the summer, when the City Council decides to put these amendments on the ballot. Take a few minutes to fill out how you would like to be involved. When you’re done, share it with your friends! Follow MURC on Facebook, Insta and Twitter to get updates.
There was already an affordable housing crisis in Minneapolis. Developers keep building, but prices are not going down. Now with COVID-19 and a new recession, this crisis is an outright emergency. Thousands of renters have simply moved out, and many more are taking on debt to make ends meet, which only delays the crisis. 40% of renters have taken out a predatory “payday” loan to pay rent, and there rental payments with credit cards have increased 43% since last year. Women, immigrants, people of color and the LGBTQ community have been hardest hit.
On Friday, February 26th Minneapolis City Council voted to send two Charter Amendments to the Charter Commission that could open up the legal pathways to achieve a rent control policy in Minneapolis. Read a full explanation of what’s happening here, and share it around to update your friends. Also check out MURC’s response to City Council’s initial study on Rent Control by CURA at the U of M. We need to get organized now! Big developers and corporate landlords have already voiced their opposition to the proposal, and are organizing right now to try to either block rent control altogether, or at least to water down the final proposal to protect their massive profits.
Join one of our committees:
Erin West, Field - [email protected]
Qannani Omar: Comms - [email protected]
Joe Hesla: Coalition Building - [email protected]
Southside Door Knocking - 1pm, every Saturday - meet at the Powderhorn Park parking lot. We will door-knock and have people sign the rent control petition with their phones. This petition is an organizing tool and will allow supporters of rent control to stay engaged and connected to events and updates. It's easy! Join us, FFI email Joe Hesla [email protected]
(And if you live in St. Paul, TCDSA has also recently joined the Housing Equity Now St. Paul (HENS) coalition in their fight to put rent stabilization on the 2021 ballot - keep an eye on their social media to find out where you can sign on!)
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Chapter News / Views of News
(Authors' opinions may not reflect those of TCDSA)
Thanks to our editors this month!
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TCDSA Statement on the Derek Chauvin Trial
Twin Cities DSA stands in solidarity with George Floyd’s family as the trial of the man who murdered him begins. We recognize that the state rarely holds police who harm people accountable because the intertwining of capital, the state, and police violence defines fascism. We hope that Derek Chauvin’s trial is the exception. Read more...
--Steering Committee
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We Have a New Electoral Committee
At the request of the former Electoral Working Group, the active WG was transformed by the Steering Committee into the Electoral Committee. Tim H. and Anna were appointed interim Co-chairs. Read more...--Electoral Committee
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A No Cages Update
What's been going on? Most recently, No Cages, in partnership with TCDSA and the Women's Prison Book Project, sent over 750 mailers with hand-written notes and a document with frequently asked questions* about the COVID-19 vaccine to help folks make the best decision for themselves related to the vaccine. Read more...
--No Cages
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Student, Worker Solidarity Leads to Victory at the U of M
The MN Higher Ed Worker Center (HEWC) and a coalition of faculty, student groups, frontline unions and community organizations (including TCDSA) experienced a big victory during Monday night’s UMN Board of Regents election. Read more...
--Jackson K.
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The Weimar Republic
Part 2 of Between the World Wars
A Political Education Snippet
The Weimar Republic was an experiment with democracy that ultimately ended in one of the most brutal totalitarian regimes known to world history. Nicknamed after the German city wherein its first constitutional assembly was held, the Weimar Republic emerged in 1918 from the chaotic fallout of World War I. Read more...
--Kelvin W.
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Do you have opinions? Hot takes? Cool things you've been doing with DSA? Or do you enjoy writing, editing, or creating? To get involved, pitch something here, join the #newsletter channel on Slack or come to a Comms Committee meeting.
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In Case You Missed It
With so many great podcasts, articles, books and videos coming out, it's easy to miss something. Here are a few things members have found and loved recently.
Whitmer picked to lead Nevada Democrats in major power shift
Las Vegas DSA and former Bernie volunteers have essentially taken over the Nevada Democratic Party. This is where a lot of the rubber will hit the road in our debates about DSA's relationship to Democrats. -NR
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, March 2021 | Climate & Capitalism
For ecofeminists, six new books worth reading, and one that isn't. -DR
Capitalism and Healthcare: The Con of “Nonprofit” Hospitals
-DR
Two Visions of Public Safety
Alexandra Carter (Southside Pride) covers two very different Zoom panels on transforming public safety. One was hosted by TCDSA member Robin Wonsley Worlobah and featured TCDSA member and Steering Committee member Bol Benjamin. The other was hosted by the city's Office of Violence Prevention. -DR
Today MPD woke up and chose to brutalize innocent people
Isra Hirsi (teenaged activist and daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar) tweeted about the brutal attack on defenders of houseless people in Near North on March 18. -DR
ALYSSA BATTISTONI | ON THE POLITICS OF OIL ABOLITION
Really appreciated this post that connects the struggle against fossil capital (“oil abolition”) to abolition struggles against prisons and policing. Also really relevant to what's happening right now on Line 3 and harassment of Water Protectors. -MS
Freelancers For The PRO Act w/ Megan Romer and Chris Curley
The PRO Act campaign is enabling us to form connections with other DSA member labor activists across the country. Also, we freelance writers are at the nexus of the infowar over how the PRO Act affects freelancers. (Basically, the antiunion forces are spreading the lie that the PRO Act will "abolish freelancing" and getting useful idiot freelancers to write about it.) Here is a podcast with two freelance organizers from DSA discussing this and the wider campaign. -DR
Policing Politics: Labor, Race, and the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, 1945-1972
Deep dive into the history of the Minneapolis Police Federation and a must-read for anticipating the charter amendment fight ahead. -MK
Justice for Trans People Requires Power/La justicia para las personas trans requiere poder
In Grief and Solidarity/En Dolor y Solidaridad
The National Political Committee released a few statements in March that are worth reading. -AB
If you find something that should be shared, you can post it to the #linkroundup channel on Slack, or just reply to this email.
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Follow TCDSA on social media!
If you want to help post with a purpose or stream for socialism, head to #communications on Slack and introduce yourself!
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As always, socialism can't be solitary: what do you think about the newsletter? Do you want to help? Want to create or suggest some #content for next time? Please do!
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