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Friend, Over 25 members in good standing of DSA-LA have submitted the following proposal to form a new working group to support Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential primary campaign to DSA-LA’s Steering Committee by way of regular processes. The DSA-LA Steering Committee have reviewed the proposal and concluded that because it requires a significant amount of chapter resources, and its topic is of special interest to many of our members, it should be shared with membership for a chapter-wide review and vote. Please find this link HERE, at the bottom of this message, and in a separate email, to a submission form, for folks to offer amendments and / or comments for or against this proposal. We will post those comments or amendment ideas to this page at least once daily for the next week. The authors of this proposal will have time at our next chapter meeting, this Saturday, July 20th, to present it to membership, who will in turn have the opportunity to suggest amendments or voice opinions for or against the proposal at those chapter meetings, on our shared Slack message board, or via the link posted above, to share a comment or suggested amendment to the proposal on the site page for the proposal. We’ll accept suggested amendments and comments via the meetings and the form above for one week, until midnight, Thursday, July 25th. The authors will conclude a final proposal, it will be emailed to membership for a vote on Friday, July 26th, and voting will remain open for one week, until midnight of Friday, August 2nd. Results will then be emailed to membership on Saturday, August 3rd. Proposal Summary: By forming a proper working group that is dedicated to securing Bernie Sanders’ victory in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and general election, DSA Los Angeles can engage with prospective new members, advance chapter building around issues on which we are in accord with the Sanders platform, reshape the chapter to better reflect the ethnic composition of the city by targeted organizing in non-white areas (where, also, the campaign is in need of outreach) and significantly augment the infrastructure of an L.A. left through coalition building with issue organizations and intensive canvassing in selected neighborhoods for Bernie and, in some areas, down-ballot candidates or referenda/initiatives. Whereas:
The existing field of Bernie organizers in LA County is fragmented among a number of democratic clubs, online activist networks, and varyingly active Our Revolution locals, many of which count DSA members among their membership. By hosting a strong countywide network of canvasses, phonebanks, actions, and educational events, DSA-LA can become a go-to group for Angelenos looking to support the Sanders campaign, and build stronger coalitions with unions, Labor for Bernie, and political groups that oppose the centrist candidates. To be clear: any DSA-LA work under the purview of the “Bernie 2020 Working Group” would be fully independent of the official Bernie 2020 campaign or any organizations directly affiliated with the Democratic Party, as compliant with the National Independent Expenditure rules Be it resolved that:
COMPONENT
I The working group will require the following resources:
This working group will be supported by the following resources from DSA National:
When doing voter roll canvassing, the working group will adhere to campaign best practices by utilizing VAN to cut lists for each canvass and phone bank and focusing on accurate collection of voter data. All canvasses and phone bankers will be trained in VAN software and instructed to collect data as thoroughly as possible. Limited options in VAN scripts will be included to allow canvassers to mark those interested in DSA to allow for immediate follow-up. Region organizing While the Bernie 2020 Sub-Committee was organized by neighborhood, the addition of access to voter information databases provided by the national, and potential support of down-ballot candidates both creates a need and allows for more precise voter targeting. This working group will adhere to the districts identified and cut by the Electoral Politics committee. In other words, canvasses will be organized under the framework of existing political districts such as Congressional or City Council districts. This allows canvassers to properly inform voters about which down ballot races are relevant to the voters. This distinction is key, as some neighborhoods are composed of multiple districts and so organizing purely on neighborhood can create inefficiencies and inaccuracies in voter outreach Timeline
COMPONENT
II This proposal recognizes and enacts at least the following two Priorities, as defined in the DSA-LA Mission Statement & Organizational Priorities: Develop and implement training materials and protocols for a variety of skillsets that empower members to act as effective rank-and-file organizers and step into new leadership roles confidently. Electoral work is not the only focus of DSA, but elections are clearly focal points in the minds of the DSA-curious. Movement building is more than participation in electoral campaigns, but these campaigns provide concrete and accessible work that can be used to attract new members to DSA, train new leaders from our existing membership, and spread the reach of our issue-based campaigns. Electoral work is also extremely useful for developing new leaders and electoral talent. Through our electoral campaigns, DSA-LA has recruited and developed new leaders, who lead canvasses, run committees, facilitate meetings, participate in planning and strategy sessions and go on to be leaders in the organization in both electoral and non-electoral campaigns. It can be argued that traditionally one of the hardest tasks when starting a new non-DSA electoral campaign can be to identify talent, in particular field talent. This campaign provides an opportunity to train members on fieldwork, data management, compliance, fundraising, communications, and research skills. Building a bench of skilled members and leaders will only help strengthen all our campaigns. Undertake to exchange resources, build solidarity, and engage in campaigns with other DSA chapters regionally, and nationally. With the prospect of a high-profile national campaign, this is an opportunity to strengthen the statewide collaboration with other DSA chapters and the DSA Nationally. We will work with other DSA chapters around the state to coordinate our field strategy and to collaborate statewide. Once we have lists of Bernie supporters, we can use those positive IDs to increase the effectiveness of future campaigns regionally and statewide. In addition to coordinating with national for resources, data, and strategy, DSA-LA will have an opportunity to exchange tactics with other chapters engaged in Bernie work, especially those with earlier primaries. COMPONENT
III As much as possible, events and canvasses should be built around an issue where DSA and the Sanders campaign are in close agreement, especially those issues on which DSA-LA has already been organizing (see Component IV below) . Canvasses should, where possible, involve coalition partners (e’g. Environmental grass-roots groups in climate change canvasses, tenant unions in housing-related canvasses. Except where there is compelling reason such as a down-ballot candidate or referendum that DSA-LA strongly supports, canvass locations should be selected primarily on the basis of issue salience (e.g. fracking threat or eviction epidemic) . A central principle is to recruit people to Bernie’s cause through locally relevant issues, and among volunteers already committed to Bernie, that we try to deepen their involvement in one or more priority issues. The bulk of campaigning will be targeted towards non-DSA members who express interest in some aspect(s) of Bernie’s platform, informing them about various DSA activities and educating them on broader democratic socialist perspectives in the hope that this will promote recruitment into DSA-LA.
COMPONENT IV This strategy outlines a Bernie 2020 Campaign Working Group - Consisting of appointments from each Issue-Based Committee, and appointments by the Membership Committee and Agit-Prop Committee. Specifically, we would like to highlight the below: Climate Justice: Bernie Sanders persistently has called climate change the greatest existential threat to humanity. His campaign will be an opportunity to present an ecosocialist perspective on the Green New Deal and how climate change locally impacts Angelenos. Ecosocialist analysis should highlight how climate change is converting members of the Global South into climate refugees. Green New Deal advocacy will be integral to canvass messaging and ideally the subject of a Bernie 2020 Town Hall. Healthcare: As a champion of Medicare for All, the Sanders campaign will engage voters on Medicare for All and the need to dismantle the private health insurance system. DSA-LA can expand on the argument connecting it to local debates and explaining how the proposal could be more inclusive such as covering undocumented immigrants and how it would benefit communities of color. DSA-LA should amplify the role of reproductive rights in the 2020 election and put forward a socialist feminist analysis of Medicare for All. Medicare for All advocacy will be integral to canvass messaging and ideally the subject of a Bernie 2020 Town Hall. Labor: Bernie is the best candidate for unions, the labor movement, and the broader working class. As part of the DSA-LA campaign for Bernie, we must keep labor at the center of our organizing conversations. For example, a common talking point against Medicare for All is that union members shouldn’t be forced to “give up” the health insurance plans that their unions worked so hard to negotiate with their employers. As democratic socialists embedded in labor work, we can inoculate working people against this talking point by pointing out that aside from looking out for their non-union counterparts, union members should support Medicare for All because it will actually take healthcare off of the bargaining table, allowing union members to instead turn their focus on wages, other benefits and working conditions. More broadly, wherever possible, we should work in tandem with L.A. Labor for Bernie, as well as the rank-and-file members and staff of unions and other labor organizations. YDSA: The Bernie 2020 campaign offers an opportunity to build on the structure and political relationships with local Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) chapters in High Schools and Colleges all across Los Angeles. In the 2016 primaries, Sanders won 29 percent more votes among millennials than Trump and Clinton combined. Bernie’s campaign promise to make higher education tuition free and dramatically reduce student debt is aligned with YDSA’s College for All priority. The Bernie 2020 campaign can help mobilize, recruit, and develop future leaders of DSA. College for All advocacy will be integral to canvass messaging and ideally the subject of a Bernie 2020 Town Hall. Housing and Homelessness: Taking off from Bernie’s commitment to more affordable housing, our campaign would link spiraling rents, arbitrary evictions, and homelessness to lack of public housing, insufficient section 8 acceptance, gentrification and the exile of people of color from the California coast Our campaign will acknowledge that the housing crisis is exacerbated by local, statewide, and national politicians who are oblivious to resident needs, due to real estate and moneyed interests Electoral Politics: The Electoral Politics Committee will likely end up coordinating closely with the Steering Committee to establish the Bernie 2020 Working Group and they’ll likely have a significant amount of involvement with this working group. As written in its platform, the Electoral Politics Committee, “exists to help the chapter gain the power and knowledge necessary to work towards and realize its various goals using the existing power of the state as channeled through elected office.” Organizing for Bernie 2020, advances this purpose. The skills and experience that come from our Bernie 2020 organizing will have a positive impact on the committee's overall project. Political Education: One of the top reasons for engaging in the Bernie 2020 campaign is to educate potential voters about democratic socialism. Bernie’s platform is an opportunity to “expand our collective understanding of socialist concepts, histories, and strategies.” Through various means including town halls, DSA-LA can have a democratic socialist response to virtually every one of Bernie’s immediate demands. An argument to work on Bernie 2020 within DSA-LA is that critiques regarding the candidate’s stances on key issues such as Venezuelan intervention, boycott-divest and sanction, border security, and SESTA/FOSTA are encouraged alongside active campaigning. Membership: Regardless of whether DSA organizes in support for Bernie, membership will grow as a result of the campaign. A reason to organize Bernie 2020 in DSA-LA is that we can maximize potential recruitment and it will also be far easier to manage intake and anticipate orientation needs post-election. Signatories
Because the Steering Committee found that the creation of this working group would require a significant amount of Local resources, the committee required that these members submit a detailed analysis explaining how the proposal aligns with the Local Mission and Organizational Priorities - before advancing the proposal to a Local-wide vote. The analysis adheres to the guidelines laid out in the Local's Framework for Endorsement Proposal and Analysis. The analysis can be read HERE. To propose amendments or to submit comments for or against this proposal until midnight, the night of Thursday, July 25th, CLICK THIS LINK. SOLIDARITY 🌹 DSA-LA |
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Democratic Socialists of America - Los Angeles · 3573 W
3rd St, 210, Los Angeles, CA 90004, United States
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