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In this newsletter:
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Chapter General Meeting This Saturday!
Our monthly general meeting is where all members of Sacramento DSA come together to receive updates on what the chapter has been up to, learn about upcoming events and campaigns, and discuss our local and national political priorities and internal organizing strategy.
This month, we’ll be discussing the City of Sacramento’s failed effort to get a restraining order against one of our members who was hired at the City Council; the successful strike by local Jack-In-The-Box workers against a manager who refused to fix the air conditioner during a heat wave; and hear a presentation from one of our members about the relationship between socialism and art (spoiler: it’s totally fine to be a socialist who enjoys Beaches).
We’ll also be having an in-depth discussion with our National Convention delegates to find out how our chapter feels about the following controversial items they’ll be voting on:
Resolution 17, “Internationalist Principles, Political Education and Solidarity”: Committing DSA to a policy of “critical support” of left-wing and social-democratic governments abroad, and committing staff and funding for political education and debates about imperialism, anti-imperialism, and international solidarity, prioritizing the voices and organization of struggles for liberation.
Bylaw Amendment #4, “Electing DSA’s National Director”: Converting DSA’s National Director from a staff position (which it is currently) into a position elected by convention delegates every two years and sitting on our National Political Committee.
Bylaw Amendment #6, “National Organizing Committee”: Establishing a 100-member “National Organizing Committee” to act as DSA’s chief policy-setting body between national conventions. (Currently, DSA has a National Political Committee of sixteen people to handle this function, elected every two years at our national convention)
You can read the entire agenda here. Come join us this Saturday, July 17 at 1:30! Zoom registration link is here
Announcing The Green New Deal For Public Schools Campaign
The climate crisis is wreaking havoc around the country, with record-breaking droughts, extreme temperatures, and mounting risks of wildfires. We need a Green New Deal now. Winning a Green New Deal will require accelerated working class militancy demanding a radical and transformative expansion of public goods in the United States.
We are excited to announce a new phase of DSA's Green New Deal campaign. The first phase of our campaign focused exclusively on the PRO Act. We have made strides, and that fight continues. We are now adding a new demand: a Green New Deal for Public Schools. Our campaign will organize key groups around public schools with the aim of politicizing a public institution that exists in every community and from which we can make broad-based demands for aggressive green investment. This is a campaign for dignified, unionized green jobs; it is a campaign for climate resilient and zero-carbon, public buildings; it is a campaign for high levels of public, green investment in multiracial working class communities across the country.
This campaign, like all DSA work, is based on the foundation of chapter-level leadership and organizing. Join us on July 13 at 5pm California time to learn how you and your chapter can get involved! Online meeting registration link here.
“Roses and Races”: Come Learn About Socialist Electoral Work on July 21
Interested in learning more about DSA's electoral work? Want to learn the skills you need to build socialism at the ballot box? Join Sacramento DSA's Electoral Committee to learn all this and more from our comrades in New York City. We'll be watching the intro video of their Roses and Races training series to learn the ins and outs of running electoral campaigns followed by a Q and A session with guests including veterans of NYC's electoral work. We hope to see you there! RSVP here Mutual Aid Opportunities This Week
Sac DSA's Mutual Aid Committee hosts a food and supply distribution for the unhoused at Cesar Chavez Plaza every other Monday. Our next distribution is Monday, July 26, at 5:30 PM. All members are invited to attend or donate. We especially need people to help prepare food, even if you can't take part in distribution! We are seeking donations to support this work through https://www.patreon.com/SacDSAMutualAid. Email [email protected] for more information.
Also, if you can do water drops in the next few days we might be able to reimburse a little. Let us know!
Meet Your Comrades
Women/Non-Binary-only Beer & Roses (Happy Hour) on 7/23
We will be hosting a Beer & Roses (happy hour) exclusively for our members who identify as women or non-binary on Friday, July 23 from 6-9PM at B-Side in Midtown Sacramento (1430 S Street). Drop on by to this casual event and come say hi! New members especially encouraged to attend. Drinking alcohol is not required.
Become a One-on-One Rose Buddy!
Interested in getting more involved with Sac DSA, but don’t know where to start? Or perhaps you’re an experienced member, and want to help some new folks get their bearings?
We’re starting a new “Rose Buddies” program here in Sac DSA, in which newer members can be paired with an experienced member to meet up for a coffee (or whatever else sounds good to you) and get to know more about each other and DSA. Sometimes it helps to have a friend when joining a new group!
New members looking for a buddy can sign up here.
More experienced members looking to mentor a buddy can sign up here.
Tickets Available to DSA Pre-Convention Telethon & Retrospective
DSA is kicking off our first-ever virtual National Convention this year with a virtual fundraiser to “Jumpstart Socialism for a New Tomorrow” on Friday, July 30 from 5-8PM California time, and tickets are now available! Come celebrate your comrades and our movement, and help us raise the funds we need to keep growing our working class movement and pushing for the change we need.
The telethon will kick off the Convention with a celebration of all that we’ve achieved as a democratic socialist movement, while raising funds to support the important work we still have ahead of us. DSA chapters and member leaders will be featured along with a few surprise special guests to round the evening out. We’ll also be hosting a friendly competition amongst chapters, and the chapter with the highest proportion of members who attend will get a special shout-out on the Telethon, so be sure to make sure your comrades have the link to register.
You can buy tickets for the event here. Donations are strongly encouraged, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds -- there is also an option to attend without buying a ticket (ie for free), using the same link.
Leadership Opportunities with National DSA
International Committee is Seeking Subcommittee Members
We welcome all DSA members interested in global solidarity to please fill out this application to apply to join National DSA’s International Committee (IC) via one or more subcommittees. The IC will be opening up to full membership in stages as we build capacity. Next application deadline is September 15, 2021, to be considered for our next round of onboarding. The subcommittees you can apply to join are:
DSA Muslims Leadership Election
DSA Muslims will be having elections very soon, and we want to encourage as many of our members as possible to take part! To run for a position or vote, you need to be a member of DSA Muslims, which you can join here. Members will have access to the DSA Muslims Slack and e-mail list, where nomination forms are available. Nomination forms are due no later than July 13!
Upcoming Sac DSA Meetings
All meetings taking place on Zoom, due to Covid. Open to all members! Some meetings require pre-registration so we can verify your DSA membership; just click the link and provide the email address you used when you joined DSA. Healthcare Committee meeting, Thursday July 15 @ 7PM, Zoom link here
General Membership meeting, Saturday, July 17 @ 1:30PM, Zoom link here
Executive Board meeting (open to all members), Tuesday, July 20 @ 7PM, Zoom link here
Electoral Committee meeting, Sunday, July 25 @ 12PM, Zoom link here
Labor Committee meeting, Monday, July 26 @ 7PM, Zoom link here 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!
"What is a Union?" Tuesday, July 13 @ 5:00 PM California time, RSVP Here
A conversation with union members about the basics of union organizing. We’ll work to get everyone on the same page with the nuts and bolts of unions today. Why should I join a union? What does union membership entail? The focus of this panel is to examine how militant workers and union staff navigate their unions, and to define some common language like dues, arbitration, collective bargaining, authorization cards, concerted activity, boycotts, lockouts, strikes, etc.
We hope to give new DSA members and folks who are new to the labor movement a solid basis of understanding how unions function today. We can also explore the possibility of building more militant unions, creating space for more discourse and political education amongst members, and agitating for more worker struggle against capital in the future.
“July General Meeting of the Immigrants’ Rights Working Group of DSA” Thursday, July 15 @ 5:00 PM California time, RSVP here
This month’s agenda will include an update on Convention Organizing and discussion questions: What is your chapter working on re immigrants rights? If N/A, what would you like to see your chapter doing? How can other chapters/WG help?
To learn about/join the national DSA Immigrants’ Rights Working Group, click here or email [email protected].
“How can we make DSA Anti-racist and Multiracial?” Sunday, July 18th @ 4:00 PM California time, RSVP here
A conversation connecting issues faced by people of color during DSA's origins and today, between the authors of “A people of color’s history of DSA” (2019), Alyssa de la Rosa and David Roddy of Sacramento DSA, and authors of two convention resolutions, #27 (Beyond 100K) and #31 (Making DSA a Multiracial and Anti-racist Organization). De La Rosa and Roddy conducted archival research and talked with founders of the people of color caucuses in the original DSA/NAM. They will present a short summary of their findings, followed by a moderated conversation with authors of resolutions #27 and #31. All DSA members welcome--for DSA to become a self-consciously multiracial and anti-racist organization, we need everyone's efforts.
"DSA Venezuela Delegation Report Back" Sunday, July 18th @ 5:00 PM California time, RSVP here
This June, DSA sent a historic delegation to Venezuela in order to represent the organization in the Congreso Bicentenario de los Pueblos in Caracas. For two weeks this delegation traveled the country, engaging with various political formations and communes, speaking to political leadership at every level, and witnessing firsthand the construction of Venezuelan socialism as it struggled against crippling US sanctions in the time of COVID.
For this special report back, join us for a thoughtful and frank reflection as our delegates discuss US sanctions, socialist solidarity, and the many contradictions and triumphs they experienced during their time in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
What We're Reading (Or Viewing, Or Listening To...)
This is a space where we share interesting articles, videos, podcasts -- whatever -- that our members have shared with each other online.
The new issue of National DSA’s “Democratic Left” magazine is out, and is available online for free in both English and Spanish! Articles include the following, plus more:
“DSA stands with the Cuban people and their Revolution in this moment of unrest. End the blockade.” --DSA International Committee |
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