f1ab045b-dba3-44c1-aa28-b085ea6b5449.png
East Bay DSA Newsletter August 26, 2021
In this is perhaps the outstanding paradox: we ourselves are imbued with urgency, yet the message of our society is that there is no viable alternative to the present. Beneath the reassuring tones of the politicians, beneath the common opinion that America will "muddle through," beneath the stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the future, is the pervading feeling that there simply are no alternatives, that our times have witnessed the exhaustion not only of Utopias, but of any new departures as well.
Students for a Democratic Society, The Port Huron Statement
Comrades,

Labor Day in the US is a little more than a week away. The United States is almost unique in celebrating our Labor Day in September instead May 1, despite the fact that the May 1 origin of International Worker's Day originates with the American Federation of Labor setting May 1, 1886 as the start date for a strike to demand an 8-hour work day.

Today, we take the eight-hour work day for granted, but at the time, this was a radical and "dangerous" demand that the powers that be fought tooth and nail to suppress. In the course of the strike for an eight-hour work day in 1886, a group of peaceful workers rallied in Haymarket Square in Chicago. Soon, police arrived with orders to disperse the gathering, and when a bomb went off near the group of police, they opened fire on the crowd, killing four and wounding as many as 70 others.

In commemoration of this struggle and those who were injured or lost their lives fighting it, the Second International adopted it as a global day of demonstration for the eight-hour work day.

So why is our Labor Day in September? As you might guess, conservative forces within the labor movement as well as president Grover Cleveland feared the radical connotations of a May 1 Labor Day and its association to the radical demand of an eight-hour work day, so in 1894, the first Monday in September — a date known for picnics and social events than strikes and worker repression — was formally adopted as Labor Day in the US instead.

But just because the US ruling class wants us to forget this radical — and successful! — fight for eight-hour work days doesn't mean that this Labor Day we can't celebrate this important victory for the working class, and more.

This Labor Day, the struggle continues. Just yesterday, Student Researchers United, the campaign to unionize 12,000 student researchers at the University of California — California's largest employer —rallied against UC's argument that researchers funded by grants and fellowships don't deserve union representation.

Meanwhile, bus drivers in AC Transit are fighting to win hazard pay for drivers exposed to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. East Bay DSA's People's Transit Alliance is leading up our chapter's efforts to support this important struggle.

Finally, East Bay Regional Park workers may be going on strike for the first time in 50 years. You can help support them this Sunday by canvassing for petition signatures at Temescal Regional Recreation Area.

Solidarity!
A supermajority of student researchers across California organized SRU-UAW, one of the biggest new unions in decades, mid-pandemic; UC management responded by asking for more time to craft a legal challenge. So SRUUAW members rallied yesterday, on the first day of class, on UC campuses statewide.
On Saturday, EBDSA members joined comrades from California Prison Focus and other organizations at San Quentin prison to demonstrate in support of Black August and the freeing of all political prisoners. The event marked the 50th anniversary of the assassination of George Jackson at San Quentin in 1971.
News and Information
Be sure to check out East Bay Majority, East Bay DSA's news source with a socialist perspective, for the latest news and information.

DEMANDING HAZARD PAY, TRANSIT WORKERS FORCE AC TRANSIT TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE

All across California, frontline workers have demanded and won hazard pay during the pandemic, especially in grocery, retail and healthcare workplaces. Transit workers in the Bay Area, though, have not received one penny of extra compensation for continuing to work in life-threatening conditions. On July 28, over 40 AC Transit workers and riders spoke up at the AC Transit board meeting to demand transit workers be paid retroactive hazard pay.

Read more
Featured Events
While we are still mostly unable to meet face-to-face, events are still going on that you can be a part of. RSVP below to stay updated. You can also keep track on our Events page.

ELECTORAL COMMITTEE MEETING

Tonight! August 26 | 6:30–8 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info ♿️
Join us for our monthly Electoral Committee Meeting! We'll be discussing electoral resolution results from the National Convention, People's Transit Alliance updates, research and more!

RSVP

CLASSROOM JUSTICE MEETING

Tonight! August 26 | 7–9 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info ♿️
Join the Classroom Justice Campaign! Classroom Justice is a locally-run campaign that seeks to fight against the injustices happening in our public school system by a cabal of privatizers, whose sole purpose is the dismantling of every public service in this country. If you want to join in the fight against these gentrifiers or merely have questions, sign up or send your inquiries to [email protected].

https://classroomjustice.org/en/

RSVP

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE MEETING

Saturday, August 28 | 10–11:30 a.m.
Online on Zoom
Join us for our International Solidarity Committee meeting! We will discuss the state of international struggles, ongoing solidarity work with other organizations, and planning the future work of the committee.

Join on Zoom RSVP

Canvass to Support East Bay Park Workers

Sunday, August 29 | 10 a.m.– 4 p.m. 

Temescal Regional Recreation Area, North Entrance parking lot 6500 Broadway, Oakland

East Bay park workers might be about to go on their first strike in 50 years. They’re the reason the nation’s largest urban regional park district keeps running — and yet they take home smaller paychecks than other workers doing the same jobs in the Bay Area. So they’re demanding respect and fair pay. And East Bay DSA is ready to throw down to support them.

Join us Sunday to gather petition signatures at Temescal Regional Recreation Area to show these workers and their bosses that the East Bay community has their back.

We'll be doing two shifts: 10 a.m.–1 p.m. and 1–4 p.m. Please attend one, or stay for both! Meet in the parking lot by the North Entrance and look for comrades.

RSVP

GREEN NEW DEAL COMMITTEE SOCIAL

Sunday, August 29 | noon–3 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info ♿️
Come meet and hang with your Green New Deal comrades! We will be having an informal social at our community garden spot (1969 Park Blvd. in Oakland) starting at noon. All are welcome; snacks and drinks will be provided, though folks are welcome to bring some to share.

RSVP

LABOR COMMITTEE MEETING

Sunday, August 29 | 6–8 p.m.
Online via Zoom ♿️
Please join the East Bay DSA Labor Committee for our regular monthly meeting. It's open to all DSA members who are interested in getting involved in labor work with their comrades! Learn more about how to get involved in the committee, our ongoing projects, and upcoming solidarity actions! If you'd like to submit an item for the agenda, please email [email protected].

RSVP

SOCIALIST NIGHT SCHOOL: CLIMATE CRISIS AND CAPITALISM 101

Tuesday, August 31 | 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Online via Zoom ♿️
Meeting of the Abolition Working Group to hear about work done by members who are organizing for the abolition of the Prison Industrial Complex, and to do political education, plan actions, and hold space for folks within the chapter to get involved.

Join on Zoom Readings and RSVP

GREEN NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS ORGANIZING MEETING

Thursday, September 2 | 6–7 p.m.
Online via Zoom ♿️
Join us to organize our campaign for the Green New Deal for Public Schools. Everyone is welcome – all skills, imagination, dogged determination needed.

Join on Zoom RSVP

DSA END-OF-SUMMER SOCIAL

Sunday, September 5 | 1–3 p.m.
Snow Park, Harrison St & 19th St, Oakland
Maybe you’ve been getting our emails for months or years but never come to a DSA event. Maybe you’re a veteran leftist with decades of battles under your belt. Maybe you’re a new member ready to take the next step and get organized. Wherever you’re coming from, we want to hang out with you!
 
🌹  Hear what we’re currently working on
💪  Get more involved in critical fights right here in the East Bay
🍪 Eat some snacks
 
Right now, we’re grappling with raging fires, looming climate catastrophe, and a Democratic establishment eager to yank the housing and unemployment checks away from regular people in the middle of a pandemic. Meanwhile, billionaires are hoarding workers’ money to fly to space.
 
There’s never been a more pressing time to make the jump from socialist to *organized* socialist. And that starts with meeting your comrades and taking action. Plus, it’ll be fun, we promise. Join us! Invite all your union friends and the socialism-curious!
 
Look for us at Snow Park (the corner of Harrison Street and 19th Street next to Lake Merritt).

RSVP

REFINERY TOWN READING GROUP

Monday, September 6 | 6:30–8 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info ♿️
Read & discuss with us. We're reading Chapters 1 & 2 of Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City by Steve Early, with a foreword by Senator Bernie Sanders.

RSVP
Upcoming Events

GREEN NEW DEAL COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING (VIRTUAL)

Wednesday, September 8 | 6:45–8:45 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info ♿️
Our Green New Deal Committee meets on the second Wednesday of each month. We will discuss eco-socialist issues, upcoming events and actions, committee priorities, and campaigns. All are welcome! Please RSVP to receive the URL to the meeting or email [email protected].

RSVP
Catch up on Socialist Night School
CATCH UP ON NIGHT SCHOOL
Even with social distancing guidelines lifted, now's still as good a time as any to catch up on our Socialist Night School.

Catch up on past night school readings and videos below.

Watch past Night School videos

Catch up on Night School readings
Not a Member Yet? Let's Fix That.
DSA now has more than 90,000 members nationally, and we're still growing. There's never been a better time to get involved than right now! Join our national organization by clicking below and become an official socialist organizer.

Join DSA
As we work for a Just Transition from fossil fuels, Refinery Town offers lessons on Richmond Chevron's divisive tactics to continue polluting, and the working class organizers who fought back. Join us on Monday, September 6 to discuss!
Caucus Corner
Our caucuses organize events too! Check out the Caucus Corner of our website to learn more about the activities of East Bay DSA caucuses and how to participate.
Announcements
SIGN UP TO TALK TO A MOBILIZER!
Are you a new DSA member? Or are you looking to get more involved with East Bay DSA's projects and campaigns? Sign up to talk to a mobilizer!

Here are three reasons to sign up to talk to a mobilizer:

  1. Meet a fellow socialist organizer
    We want to build a movement of millions of working class people and change the exploitative and oppressive system in which we live, but we do that first and foremost by building one-to-one connections with each other.
     
  2. Answer your questions
    Learn more about DSA, the local East Bay chapter, and our different committees and projects.
     
  3. Get more involved
    The main thing a mobilizer will help you with is getting more involved in DSA. Maybe there’s a campaign or project you’re particularly interested in, or maybe you’re a blank slate and you don’t really know what to do. Either way, a mobilizer will help you figure it out.
Sign up to talk to a mobilizer!
Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich — that is the democracy of capitalist society.
Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

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In this is perhaps the outstanding paradox: we ourselves are imbued with urgency, yet the message of our society is that there is no viable alternative to the present. Beneath the reassuring tones of the politicians, beneath the common opinion that America will "muddle through," beneath the stagnation of those who have closed their minds to the future, is the pervading feeling that there simply are no alternatives, that our times have witnessed the exhaustion not only of Utopias, but of any new departures as well.

- Students for a Democratic Society, The Port Huron Statement

Comrades,

Labor Day in the US is a little more than a week away. The United States is almost unique in celebrating our Labor Day in September instead May 1, despite the fact that the May 1 origin of International Worker's Day originates with the American Federation of Labor setting May 1, 1886 as the start date for a strike to demand an 8-hour work day.

Today, we take the eight-hour work day for granted, but at the time, this was a radical and "dangerous" demand that the powers that be fought tooth and nail to suppress. In the course of the strike for an eight-hour work day in 1886, a group of peaceful workers rallied in Haymarket Square in Chicago. Soon, police arrived with orders to disperse the gathering, and when a bomb went off near the group of police, they opened fire on the crowd, killing four and wounding as many as 70 others.

In commemoration of this struggle and those who were injured or lost their lives fighting it, the Second International adopted it as a global day of demonstration for the eight-hour work day.

So why is our Labor Day in September? As you might guess, conservative forces within the labor movement as well as president Grover Cleveland feared the radical connotations of a May 1 Labor Day and its association to the radical demand of an eight-hour work day, so in 1894, the first Monday in September — a date known for picnics and social events than strikes and worker repression — was formally adopted as Labor Day in the US instead.

But just because the US ruling class wants us to forget this radical — and successful! — fight for eight-hour work days doesn't mean that this Labor Day we can't celebrate this important victory for the working class, and more.

This Labor Day, the struggle continues. Just yesterday, Student Researchers United, the campaign to unionize 12,000 student researchers at the University of California — California's largest employer —rallied against UC's argument that researchers funded by grants and fellowships don't deserve union representation.

Meanwhile, bus drivers in AC Transit are fighting to win hazard pay (https://eastbaymajority.com/ac-transit-jovanka-beckles-covid-hazard-pay-bus-drivers/) for drivers exposed to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. East Bay DSA's People's Transit Alliance (mailto:[email protected]) is leading up our chapter's efforts to support this important struggle.

Finally, East Bay Regional Park workers may be going on strike for the first time in 50 years. You can help support them this Sunday (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1989/2021-08-29-canvass-to-support-east-bay-park-workers/) by canvassing for petition signatures at Temescal Regional Recreation Area.

Solidarity!

News and Information
Be sure to check out East Bay Majority (https://eastbaymajority.com/) , East Bay DSA's news source with a socialist perspective, for the latest news and information.


** DEMANDING HAZARD PAY, TRANSIT WORKERS FORCE AC TRANSIT TO THE NEGOTIATING TABLE
------------------------------------------------------------
All across California, frontline workers have demanded and won hazard pay during the pandemic, especially in grocery, retail and healthcare workplaces. Transit workers in the Bay Area, though, have not received one penny of extra compensation for continuing to work in life-threatening conditions. On July 28, over 40 AC Transit workers and riders spoke up at the AC Transit board meeting to demand transit workers be paid retroactive hazard pay.

Read more (https://eastbaymajority.com/ac-transit-jovanka-beckles-covid-hazard-pay-bus-drivers/)
Featured Events
While we are still mostly unable to meet face-to-face, events are still going on that you can be a part of. RSVP below to stay updated. You can also keep track on our Events page (http://eastbaydsa.org/events/) .


** ELECTORAL COMMITTEE MEETING

------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight! August 26 | 6:30–8 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1974/2021-08-26-electoral-committee-meeting/) ♿️
Join us for our monthly Electoral Committee Meeting! We'll be discussing electoral resolution results from the National Convention, People's Transit Alliance updates, research and more!

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1974/2021-08-26-electoral-committee-meeting/)


** CLASSROOM JUSTICE MEETING

------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight! August 26 | 7–9 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1971/2021-08-26-classroom-justice-monthly-meeting/) ♿️
Join the Classroom Justice Campaign! Classroom Justice is a locally-run campaign that seeks to fight against the injustices happening in our public school system by a cabal of privatizers, whose sole purpose is the dismantling of every public service in this country. If you want to join in the fight against these gentrifiers or merely have questions, sign up or send your inquiries to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

https://classroomjustice.org/en/

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1971/2021-08-26-classroom-justice-monthly-meeting/)


** INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE MEETING

------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, August 28 | 10–11:30 a.m.
Online on Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88679822433?pwd=TDd6cVl3dldGVUgxekJZbGhjWmdiQT09)
Join us for our International Solidarity Committee meeting! We will discuss the state of international struggles, ongoing solidarity work with other organizations, and planning the future work of the committee.

Join on Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82387292122?pwd=em5yWEF2S1Q3OGZ1U2ZlYjdXMytNUT09) RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1982/2021-08-28-international-solidarity-committee-meeting/)


** Canvass to Support East Bay Park Workers

------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, August 29 | 10 a.m.– 4 p.m.

Temescal Regional Recreation Area, North Entrance parking lot 6500 Broadway, Oakland
East Bay park workers might be about to go on their first strike in 50 years. They’re the reason the nation’s largest urban regional park district keeps running — and yet they take home smaller paychecks than other workers doing the same jobs in the Bay Area. So they’re demanding respect and fair pay. And East Bay DSA is ready to throw down to support them.

Join us Sunday to gather petition signatures at Temescal Regional Recreation Area to show these workers and their bosses that the East Bay community has their back.

We'll be doing two shifts: 10 a.m.–1 p.m. and 1–4 p.m. Please attend one, or stay for both! Meet in the parking lot by the North Entrance and look for comrades.

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1989/2021-08-29-canvass-to-support-east-bay-park-workers/)


** GREEN NEW DEAL COMMITTEE SOCIAL

------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, August 29 | noon–3 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1988/2021-08-29-gnd-committee-social/) ♿️
Come meet and hang with your Green New Deal comrades! We will be having an informal social at our community garden spot (1969 Park Blvd. in Oakland) starting at noon. All are welcome; snacks and drinks will be provided, though folks are welcome to bring some to share.

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1988/2021-08-29-gnd-committee-social/)


** LABOR COMMITTEE MEETING

------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, August 29 | 6–8 p.m.
Online via Zoom (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1654/2021-08-29-labor-committee-meeting/) ♿️
Please join the East Bay DSA Labor Committee for our regular monthly meeting. It's open to all DSA members who are interested in getting involved in labor work with their comrades! Learn more about how to get involved in the committee, our ongoing projects, and upcoming solidarity actions! If you'd like to submit an item for the agenda, please email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1654/2021-08-29-labor-committee-meeting/)


** SOCIALIST NIGHT SCHOOL: CLIMATE CRISIS AND CAPITALISM 101

------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, August 31 | 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Online via Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82877051499?pwd=U1ZZMzdWQ2dvMXJhbGhqcWxsc1R3QT09) ♿️
Meeting of the Abolition Working Group to hear about work done by members who are organizing for the abolition of the Prison Industrial Complex, and to do political education, plan actions, and hold space for folks within the chapter to get involved.

Join on Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82877051499?pwd=U1ZZMzdWQ2dvMXJhbGhqcWxsc1R3QT09) Readings and RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1973/2021-08-31-socialist-night-school-climate-crisis-and-capitalism-101/)


** GREEN NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS ORGANIZING MEETING

------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, September 2 | 6–7 p.m.
Online via Zoom (https://dsausa.zoom.us/j/97938031177) ♿️
Join us to organize our campaign for the Green New Deal for Public Schools. Everyone is welcome – all skills, imagination, dogged determination needed.

Join on Zoom (https://dsausa.zoom.us/j/97938031177) RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1977/2021-09-02-green-new-deal-for-public-schools-organizing-meeting/)


** DSA END-OF-SUMMER SOCIAL

------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, September 5 | 1–3 p.m.
Snow Park, Harrison St & 19th St, Oakland
Maybe you’ve been getting our emails for months or years but never come to a DSA event. Maybe you’re a veteran leftist with decades of battles under your belt. Maybe you’re a new member ready to take the next step and get organized. Wherever you’re coming from, we want to hang out with you!

🌹 Hear what we’re currently working on
💪 Get more involved in critical fights right here in the East Bay
🍪 Eat some snacks

Right now, we’re grappling with raging fires, looming climate catastrophe, and a Democratic establishment eager to yank the housing and unemployment checks away from regular people in the middle of a pandemic. Meanwhile, billionaires are hoarding workers’ money to fly to space.

There’s never been a more pressing time to make the jump from socialist to *organized* socialist. And that starts with meeting your comrades and taking action. Plus, it’ll be fun, we promise. Join us! Invite all your union friends and the socialism-curious!

Look for us at Snow Park (the corner of Harrison Street and 19th Street next to Lake Merritt).

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1975/2021-09-05-dsa-end-of-summer-social/)


** REFINERY TOWN READING GROUP

------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, September 6 | 6:30–8 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1976/2021-09-06-refinery-town-reading-group/) ♿️
Read & discuss with us. We're reading Chapters 1 & 2 of Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money, and the Remaking of an American City by Steve Early, with a foreword by Senator Bernie Sanders.

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1976/2021-09-06-refinery-town-reading-group/)
Upcoming Events


** GREEN NEW DEAL COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING (VIRTUAL)

------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, September 8 | 6:45–8:45 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1704/2021-09-08-green-new-deal-committee-monthly-meeting-virtual/) ♿️
Our Green New Deal Committee meets on the second Wednesday of each month. We will discuss eco-socialist issues, upcoming events and actions, committee priorities, and campaigns. All are welcome! Please RSVP to receive the URL to the meeting or email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1704/2021-09-08-green-new-deal-committee-monthly-meeting-virtual/)


CATCH UP ON NIGHT SCHOOL
Even with social distancing guidelines lifted, now's still as good a time as any to catch up on our Socialist Night School.

Catch up on past night school readings and videos below.

Watch past Night School videos (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeMYhhCCTFq1jGdOt6lcF8l7HQJwnJndD)

Catch up on Night School readings (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/night-school/)


Not a Member Yet? Let's Fix That.
DSA now has more than 90,000 members nationally, and we're still growing. There's never been a better time to get involved than right now! Join our national organization by clicking below and become an official socialist organizer.

Join DSA (http://dsausa.org/join?source=East%20Bay)


Caucus Corner
Our caucuses organize events too! Check out the Caucus Corner of our website (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/about/caucuses/) to learn more about the activities of East Bay DSA caucuses and how to participate.


Announcements

SIGN UP TO TALK TO A MOBILIZER!
Are you a new DSA member? Or are you looking to get more involved with East Bay DSA's projects and campaigns? Sign up to talk to a mobilizer!

Here are three reasons to sign up to talk to a mobilizer:

1. Meet a fellow socialist organizer
We want to build a movement of millions of working class people and change the exploitative and oppressive system in which we live, but we do that first and foremost by building one-to-one connections with each other.

2. Answer your questions
Learn more about DSA, the local East Bay chapter, and our different committees and projects.

3. Get more involved
The main thing a mobilizer will help you with is getting more involved in DSA. Maybe there’s a campaign or project you’re particularly interested in, or maybe you’re a blank slate and you don’t really know what to do. Either way, a mobilizer will help you figure it out.

Sign up to talk to a mobilizer! (https://forms.gle/np21b7Jt225z4xmq5)


Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich — that is the democracy of capitalist society.

- Lenin, State and Revolution (1917)

============================================================