MDC DSA Monthly Newsletter for November 2019

Comrade,   THIS WEEKEND – Lots of MDC DSA events: Saturday, November 2  Stomp Out Slumlords Tenant Canvass , Publications Working Group Planning Meeting,  Red Cubs Child Care Volunteer Orientation and Sunday, November 3  MoCo DSA 🌹General Branch Meeting and DSA for Bernie Canvass   The links will tell you more…
Plus it’s GOTV weekend for the Nov. 5 Virginia election; see events below from NoVA Labor
TODAY (Fri, Nov. 1)  CodePink joins Fire Drill Friday to oppose militarism and climate change – 11 AM, Capitol Building SE Lawn -- https://www.codepink.org/fire_drill_friday_110119/

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Washington Socialist featured articles for the November 2019 issue

JUSTICE
How can we reconcile our goal of ending incarceration with our valid desire to get justice for Botham Jean? Progressive Maryland executive director and MDC DSA member Larry Stafford faces the contradiction. Read more

The many tasks facing Maryland – officials and activists – in remedying the state’s criminal justice system. An account by UMCP student and activist Sonja Neves. Read more

HISTORY

Interview with Dorothy Healey – how DSA evolved from DSOC – an interview conducted by member Stuart Comstock-Gay in 1984, introduced by Bill Mosley. Read more

Review: The United States, Southeast Asia and Historical Memory outlines the way the brute facts of imperialist war in Vietnam and its neighbors were deformed for public consumption by a propaganda model that has persisted in the decades since. Reviewed by Woody Woodruff. Read more

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Solidarity Ask: Georgia Tech YDSA is being harassed and intimidated by the university administration for inviting pro-Palestinian speakers. Follow the link for details. The MDC DSA Steering Committee endorsed a letter of solidarity this week (Oct. 30) and members and readers can sign on as individuals as well …. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/reject-political-censorship

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BRIEFS
Thursday, November 7 Join us for the next #ShutDownDC General Meeting to find out how to get involved. We’ll be exploring plans for the December 6th climate strike, sharing updates on how to get involved in upcoming trainings and events, and continuing to look ahead to massive mobilizations this spring. Meet at 6:30 PM, Malcolm X Opportunity Center, 13351 Alabama Ave, SE, Washington DC, near the Congress Heights Metro Station (Green/Yellow) From NoVA labor: GOTV Activities for Nov. 5th Election!
Sat. Nov. 2nd - Labor Walk/Phone Bank with AFSCME President Lee Saunders and Governor Terry McAuliffe - 9 AM, 4536 B John Marr Drive, Annandale -- Breakfast and lunch are Served
Sun. Nov. 3rd - NoVA Labor Canvass Day with Neri Canahui-Ortiz – Noon -- Come to Fredericksburg to canvass for our union leader who will fight for working families in House District 54. 11409 Roslyn Rd. Fredericksburg, VA Sign up here: https://www.mobilize.us/dpva/event/129300/
Mon and Tues., Nov. 4 and 5 - All day GOTV at NoVA Labor -- Come to 4536 B John Marr Drive, Annandale starting at 9 AM
Labor has knocked on thousands of doors, made thousands of phone calls, leafleted hundreds of job sites, and sent tens of thousands of mailings. Let's keep up the momentum and elect legislators and local officials who will fight for working class families! – Ginny Diamond, NoVA Labor

And a local Maryland municipal election too, in Bowie: Labor Walk for Derrick Mallard (Bowie, MD Council candidate and ATU member): Sat, November 2, 9:30 AM – Noon at IBEW Local 26, 4371 Parliament Pl # A, Lanham, MD 20706 

STRIKE SOLIDARITY -- ATU 689 and allies are on the picket line in Virginia for the ninth day as drivers strike TransDev, a privatized WMATA function where they get less in pay and benefits than WMATA employees for the same work. Here are solidarity opportunities: Transdev bus driver picket line (ATU 689): Fri, November 1, 3:30 AM – 5 PM; Sat, November 2, 3:30 AM – 5 PM; Sun, November 3, 3:30 AM – 5 PM; Gates of the Cinder Bed Road Division, 7901 Cinder Bed Road, Lorton, VA. And A Nov. 6 Rally At WMATA HQ Noon, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 600 5^th Street NW, Washington, DC. Full story here 
  Monday, November 4 Rent Control Working Group Meeting  6:30 - 8:30 PM -- Petworth Neighborhood Library -- Join the Metro D.C. DSA's rent control working group for our next general business meeting -- we'll continue to talk strategy and also debrief last Saturday's Reclaim Rent Control Rally. Rep. John Conyers, who died Sunday at age 90, visited and spoke at our Metro DC DSA reception in 2013 in the good old Hunan Dynasty on Pennsylvania Avenue  after the 50^th Anniversary march commemorating the 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom…  his long career is remembered on Black Agenda Report, considerably more respectfully than the banal WaPo obit, unworthy of a link here.    Photo: Woody Woodruff Metro DC DSA has endorsed Mckayla Wilkes for Congress in Maryland’s 5th District.
Mckayla is an activist and Democratic Socialist who will fight for Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, and working people in her community and across the country; she is running against House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who has a massive war chest funded by the fossil fuel industry, the health insurance industry, pharmaceutical companies, and defense contractors. Want to get involved? We have a new MDC DSA Slack channel, #mckayla2020 – check it out and join.
Her campaign is completely grassroots. Donate here!  http://bit.ly/mckayla-donate  –Nathan L SAVE THE DATE Monday, December 2  Social Reproduction: Socialist Night School 6:30 PM,  Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library Large Meeting Room. What is the connection between gender and class? Why must socialists be feminists, and feminists be socialists? What does socialist feminist struggle look like? To answer these questions, we look to social reproduction theory —  the question of how workers are “reproduced” in order to keep capitalism surging along. Session led by Amanda Huron, UDC prof. in interdisciplinary social sciences tackling these readings: Capitalism’s Crisis of Care by Nancy Fraser; to dig a little deeper, check out Sylvia Frederici on elder care.
  Join the effort to expand child care for Metro DC DSA events! We already have child care at general body meetings, but we can do more! Register for the Red Cubs Child Care orientation on Sunday, November 3, 1:30-3:30 PM, at the Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library, 3160 16th St NW!
https://forms.gle/rr9k7vceL3hYb5fn7 Capital Reading Group: Socialist Night School
You don't need to read Karl Marx's Capital to know that you are exploited. But it will help you make sense of why you are exploited, why standard ways of trying to address this fall flat, and fundamentally how capitalism operates. Tackling Marx can seen as daunting. That's why it's best to do it collectively, as it's meant to be read. No prior Marxism required!  If you are interested, email David Kaib at [email protected].  
  Stomp Out Slumlords Canvass Events
Saturday Nov 2 @ 1:30 PM; also Sunday Nov 17 @ 1:30 PM
Location: L’Enfant Plaza Metro
We’re canvassing tenants facing eviction in DC! Come out and inform tenants of their rights in court, how to get a lawyer, and see if they’re interested in organizing their building. Join us – follow the links for details. Curious about Metro DC DSA? MDC DSA’s website has expanded resources on our chapter Campaigns, WGs and Caucuses – check it out here. Is your campaign, caucus or working group properly represented? Contact [email protected], attn: web managers.  MDC DSA Publications Schedule for November:  November Updates will be published Fridays Nov. 8, 15 and 22 and the December issue of the Washington Socialist will be published Friday, Nov. 29.
MDC DSA’s regular periodical publications are managed by the Publications Working Group. The Pubs WG meets this Saturday; join us to refine our work. You can also message [email protected] or visit our Slack channel, #publications, to see what we are up to. Our activism gains support when it is explained in a socialist context and voice, so check our submission guidelines, and add your voice to the mix. What shows up in the Washington Socialist? See the Index for 2016-18 and the supplemental the Washington Socialist Index for January-August 2019.

Follow links for details

Saturday, November 2  1:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Stomp Out Slumlords Tenant Canvass
L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station 600 Maryland Ave SW · Washington, DC
We’re canvassing tenants facing eviction in DC! Come out and inform tenants of their rights in court, how to get a lawyer, and see if they’re interested in organizing their building. Meet at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station near the 7th & Maryland exit above the escalators. If this is your first time canvassing with Stomp Out Slumlords or you want a refresher, come at 1:30 p.m. for a short training. Veteran canvassers can stop by at 2 for walksheets and to get paired with a partner. Follow link for details

Saturday, November 2  12 – 1:30 PM
Publications Working Group Planning Meeting
Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library 3160 16th St NW · Washington, DC
Join the MDC DSA Publications Working Group to discuss MDC DSA internal and external communications -- practices and prospects. Help shape how we talk to one another as socialists and make ourselves increasingly relevant to the interested, not-yet-socialist left in the DMV. Follow link for details.
 
Sunday, November 3  1:30 PM to 3:30 PM
Red Cubs Child Care Volunteer Orientation
Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library  3160 16th St NW · Washington, DC
Join us for a Red Cubs Child Care orientation!  The child care working group is looking comrades to join our volunteer team. At the orientation, you can learn about our chapter’s approach to child care, engage in discussion about gender division in care work, and make new friends!
Register at the link https://forms.gle/rr9k7vceL3hYb5fn7  Follow link for details.
 
Sunday, November 3  2:00 PM to 4:30 PM
MoCo DSA 🌹General Branch Meeting
Silver Spring Library  900 Wayne Ave · Silver Spring, MD
 Please join us for our November branch meeting! Help us build our vision for equality, democracy, and socialism in Montgomery County. We will work on plans for our rent control campaign! Afterwards, we’ll adjourn to a local bar for a social hour. Follow link for details.

Sunday, November 3  12-4 PM
DSA for Bernie Canvass
Cheverly Metro Station, 5501 Columbia Park Rd · Cheverly, MD
Join MDC DSA for a Sunday filled with knocking doors for Bernie Sanders. Bring water and comfortable shoes. Follow link for details.

Monday NOV 4 6:30 PM
Rent Control Working Group Meeting
Petworth Neighborhood Library, 4200 Kansas Ave NW, Washington, DC 20011
Join the Metro D.C. DSA’s rent control working group for our next general business meeting on Monday, November 4 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM at the Petworth Library. At this meeting, we’ll continue to talk strategy and also debrief last Saturday’s Reclaim Rent Control Rally. Follow link for details.
 
Tuesday, November 5  6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Introduction to Marxism (Socialist Night School)
Northeast Neighborhood Library  330 7th St NE · Washington, DC
“Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks.” This is how Marx, in one of his more literary moments, described the relation between capital and labor. Marx was predominantly a theorist of how capitalism worked, not what a future socialist society may look like. In this introduction to Marxism, which will strive to be light on jargon, we will focus on how Marxists view capitalism, how capitalist profit is rooted in the exploitation of labor, and how the class struggle is the result of this.
The session will be led by Chip Gibbons, who is co-chair of the Metro DC DSA Political Education Working Group. He is also a journalist whose work has been published in Jacobin and the Nation. Follow link for details
 
Sunday, November 10  3:00 PM to 5:00 PM
Metro DC DSA Monthly General Body Meeting
Friends Meeting of Washington  2111 Florida Ave. NW · Washington, DC
The monthly meeting of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America!
The agenda will be distributed the week before the meeting. Follow link for updates.

Wednesday NOV 13 7:00 PM
Steering Committee
Institute for Policy Studies, 1301 Connecticut Ave NW #600, Washington, DC 20036
Steering Committee meetings are open to any MDC DSA member who would like to attend. Please RSVP and message the hosts if you would like to join by videoconference so we can make arrangements to get you the appropriate URL. Follow link for details

Sunday NOV 17  4:00 PM
Socialist Feminism Reading Group 🌹
The Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Rd., NW, Washington, DC 20009
Please read our reading group Participation Guide and join us as we explore and discuss topics within Socialist Feminism. 🌹 Suggest readings yourself at https://goo.gl/forms/Rn7ktzvYmN2ZvEOT2 Follow link for details

Sunday, November 17  1:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Stomp Out Slumlords Tenant Canvass
L’Enfant Plaza Metro Station 600 Maryland Ave SW · Washington, DC
We’re canvassing tenants facing eviction in DC! Come out and inform tenants of their rights in court, how to get a lawyer, and see if they’re interested in organizing their building. Meet at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station near the 7th & Maryland exit above the escalators. If this is your first time canvassing with Stomp Out Slumlords or you want a refresher, come at 1:30 p.m. for a short training. Veteran canvassers can stop by at 2 for walksheets and to get paired with a partner. Follow link for details
 
Monday, November 18  6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
The Korean Peace Process and The Legacy of US Imperialism in Asia
Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library  3160 16th St NW · Washington, DC
The chaotic current state of a seventy-year standoff is untangled by Tim Shorrock, a Nation correspondent and expert in the region who has been covering the intersection of national security and capitalism since the late 1970s. The bipartisan US goal of maintaining an imperialist foothold in the region conditions the narrative and complicates the efforts of a national coalition of US and Korean activists in solidarity with Korean people’s movements.  Presented by the MDC DSA Socialist Night School. Follow link for full details.

Monday NOV 18  7:00 PM
NOVA Branch DSA 🌹 Organizing Meeting
Sterling Library, 22330 S Sterling Blvd Suite A117, Sterling, VA 20164
Welcome to our monthly NOVA DSA organizing and planning meeting. Please take a minute to read our short, brief, not very long, sort-of-illustrated NOVA DSA Socialist Meeting Participation Guidelines . We will be welcoming new members and continue discussing planning for our current actions and campaigns including support for DSA endorsed candidates (including Bernie Sanders) Follow link for full details.

Tuesday NOV 19  5:30 PM
Queer Socialist Caucus Monthly Happy Hour
Red Bear Brewing Co, 209 M St NE, Washington, DC 20002
Comrades, the Queer Socialist Caucus (QSC) will be having our monthly happy hour, for all queer, trans, and nonbinary comrades, as well as our allies and accomplices. This event is open to the public, and DSA membership is not required. Take a breather for a few hours of smashing the cis-hetero patriarchy and enjoy … Follow link for full details.
 
Thursday NOV 21  6:00 PM
Disability Justice Working Group Meeting
The Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009
Please join us for the November Disability Justice Working Group meeting at the Festival Center at 6 PM. Follow link for full details.

Sunday NOV 24  1:00 PM
Stomp Out Slumlords Business Meeting
Shaw (Watha T. Daniel) Neighborhood Library, 1630 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001
Come to our monthly business meeting to get updates from the buildings we’re organizing, hear report backs from the DC Tenant Union and Reclaim Rent Control campaigns, and volunteer for our next month of work! At this meeting we will set the month’s schedule for canvasses, trainings, and social activities. Email tenants [at] mdcdsa [dot] org   Follow link for full details.

DECEMBER

Monday DEC 2  6:30 PM
Social Reproduction: Socialist Night School
Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood Library, 3160 16th St NW, Washington, DC 20010
What is the connection between gender and class? Why must socialists be feminists, and feminists be socialists? What does socialist feminist struggle look like? To answer these questions, we look to social reproduction theory. The question of social reproduction is the question of how workers are “reproduced” in order to keep capitalism surging along. Follow link for full details.

Sunday DEC 8  3:00 PM
Metro DC DSA Monthly General Body Meeting
Friends Meeting of Washington, 2111 Florida Ave. NW, Washington, DC
The monthly meeting of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America! The agenda will be distributed the week before the meeting. Follow link for full details/updates.

Sunday DEC 15  2:00 PM
MoCo DSA 🌹General Branch Meeting
Silver Spring Library, 900 Wayne Ave, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Please join us for our December branch meeting at the Silver Spring library. This month, we’ll be joined by DSA members and state delegates Gabe Acevero and Vaughn Stewart, to talk about the upcoming state legislative session! Afterwards, we’ll adjourn to a local bar for a social hour. See you then! Follow link for full details.

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SAT Nov 2 COMMUNITY FORUM to discuss the post-conviction process as a pathway to freedom, 11 AM, Georgetown Law Center: 600 New Jersey Ave. Washington, DC 20001. Hosted by Color of Change and partners; lunch and discussion provided. RSVP and details.

SAT Nov 2 How to End Stop and Frisk in DC: A Teach-In  Noon-3 PM, 3224 16^th St NW, Washington, DC 20010-3356 Hosted by Stop Police Terror Project DC: Get up to speed on the context, goals, and strategy of our local campaign that aims to end one of the most pervasive tactics of racist policing. https://www.facebook.com/events/417937862249214/

SAT Nov. 2 Comp Plan Area Elements Summit 1:30 -  4 PM, Christ United Methodist Church -- 900 4th St SW, Washington, DC 20024  --  Explore the impact of the Comprehensive Plan. connect with DC residents across all 10 Area Elements, and read through the Office of Planning's proposed amendments for the remaining 900 pages.   RSVP: www.surveymonkey.com/r/HSNBY9P Info about the DC Grassroots Planning Coalition here.
 
SUN Nov 3 Alternatives to Calling the Police 7-9 PM, UUCF-Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, 2709 Hunter Mill Rd, Oakton, VA 22124 — Examine our reliance on police, identify the risks of involving police, and learn about resources that can be accessed or created to advance true public safety. Police don’t keep us safe. We keep us safe.  Hosted by SURJ Northern Virginia and Fairfax County NAACP: https://www.facebook.com/events/2405651732986607/

WED Nov 6 Police Accountability Workshop 6:30– 9:00 PM  Silver Spring Civic Building, 1 Veterans Pl, Silver Spring, MD 20910 Hosted by Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church and 2 others: The Together Diversity Team and Silver Spring Justice Coalition are co-sponsoring a session to get updates about police accountability in Montgomery County;  information about how state legislation impacts county law; and how you can have a voice about police accountability.
Speakers include Will Jawando, Montgomery County Council Member At-Large
Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/police-accountability-workshop-tickets-73695271541
https://www.facebook.com/events/690717518109813/

WED Nov. 6 Book launch for The United States, Southeast Asia, & Historical Memory, edited by Mark Pavlick with Caroline Luft. 6-8 PM, George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs 1957 E Street, NW Room 505 Washington, DC 20052 United States -- The book pays homage “to the unfinished agenda of the Indochina wars.” Details and RSVP

WED November 6, 2019 The Future of Work and Care: Universal Family Care  12- 1:30 PM at Economic Policy Institute 1225 I St. NW, Suite 600 -- Expert panel discusses major new report that explores strategies that states could pursue to better support families in meeting evolving care needs over the lifespan. Panel list and details at link. RSVP Here

THURS Nov. 7 Brown Bag: The Status of US-Cuba Relations Hidden From Headlines Noon-1:30 Institute for Policy Studies, 1301 Conn. Ave. 6^th Fl. Conversation with Miguel Fraga, Cuban official formerly with Cuban Interests Section.  https://ips-dc.org/events/brown-bag-the-status-of-us-cuba-relations-hidden-from-headlines/

THURS Nov. 7 Book Event —  A Conversation with Steven Greenhouse on his new book, Beaten Down, Worked Up , 3:30 PM at AFL-CIO • 815 16th St. NW • Washington, D.C.
Greenhouse talks to AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Liz Shuler about his book, spanning a century of labor history in the United States, from the early 20th century to the “Fight for $15” in recent years. RSVP

THU, Nov 7 Progressive Cheverly Community Choice Energy Forum,  7 PM at Gladys Noon Spellman Elementary School multipurpose room (3324 64^thAvenue — Del. Lorig Charkoudian (D-20) and Lily Hawkins from Food & Water Watch discuss community choice energy, a powerful tool that lets local governments bargain for cleaner, more affordable energy on behalf of residents and businesses. Maryland should join other states (including Virginia), in adopting legislation authorizing community choice energy, the speakers argue.

SUN Nov 10 Meet Pelosi's replacement Shahid Buttar at Busboys 5 -7:30 PM, Busboys and Poets, 450 K St NW, Washington, DC 20001 Civil rights/civil liberties lawyer and DJ/hip-hop artist Shahid Buttar with guest speakers including Medea Benjamin and Andy Shallal recounting Shahid’s decades of antiwar activism. Shahid and all of his staff are active DSA members, and his campaign is DSA-endorsed. Free and open to the public. Swing by to hang out after the Nov 10th GBM and chat with Shahid! RSVP 

MON Nov 11  Cop Watch DC - November Training!  1:30 – 4:00 PM  Teatro de la Luna 4020 Georgia Avenue NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20011 Document interactions between cops and our neighbors/community members in order to reduce harm and build community power together. -- building community solidarity and monitoring police are both crucial to helping keep our neighborhoods safe. Hosted by The Future is Feminist and Showing Up for Racial Justice - SURJ - DC: https://www.facebook.com/events/2341878706075481/  RSVP http://bit.ly/copwatchsignin

MON  Nov  11 Book Event: Waging Peace in Vietnam  5 – 7 PM  George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs, 1957 E Street, NW  Washington, DC 20052 co-sponsored by IPS; book launch and panel discussion on GI opposition to the war.

FRI Nov. 15 through SUN. Nov. 17 Jobs With Justice Organizing and Leadership Training Program 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. all three days, location TBD -- The annual DC JWJ training provides practical organizing skills, delivers a common organizing language and tools, and promotes a shared political and economic analysis regarding working people’s struggle for justice versus a corporate agenda. The fee for the training is $250.00 per individual. For more information or to apply please contact Sequnely Gray at [email protected] or 202-674-2847.

SAT Nov 16 Deep Canvass with SURJ 11 AM – 5 PM  by SURJ Northern Virginia and Showing Up for Racial Justice - SURJ - DC: The September canvass will be at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville, in Maryland. https://www.facebook.com/events/2074787809286786/

MON Nov 18, ROC DC Monthly Meeting  1-3 PM Restaurant Opportunity Center DC, Second Floor, 1100 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Come together and meet other restaurant and tipped workers in DC who want to build worker power in order to improve wages and working conditions in the DC restaurant industry! https://www.facebook.com/events/2261435187446709/                                      


MON Nov 18  Clínicas Legal // Legal Clinics: for Restaurant Workers! 6-8 PM at DC Bilingual Charter School, 33 Riggs Rd NE Hosted by Restaurant Opportunities Center of Washington DC (ROC-DC): https://www.facebook.com/events/1893144787451173/    RSVP: tinyurl.com/ROCDClegalclinic

WED Nov 20 -- Greensboro Massacre: 40 years later. 6-8 PM,  Busboys and Poets at Takoma, 235 Carroll St. NW, Washington DC --  Two survivors of the infamous November 3, 1979, killing of five young labor and community activists gunned down in broad daylight in Greensboro, North Carolina by KKK and neo-Nazis tell their stories. Survivors Rev. Nelson Johnson and Joyce Hobson Johnson and retired Attorney Lewis Pitts -- who argued the successful civil suit that unearthed the local government’s role -- will lead a panel discussion.  The panel will be preceded by a 23-minute documentary/retrospective film about the attack. 

WED Nov 20 Pack the Room--Dept Behavioral Health Public Oversight Hearing 5:30 – 8:30 PM -- 3000 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, DC 20020-3718 (Hearing has been rescheduled to Nov. 20) The city continues to fail patients at St. Elizabeth's and we will continue to put on pressure to ensure that this failing pattern is reversed!  Hosted by 350 DC and 5 others: https://www.facebook.com/events/809308169506883/

SAT Dec 14  Build and Mobilize a Stronger Union workshop at NoVA Labor — 4536 B John Marr Drive, Annandale 10 AM -- 3 PM – Free seminar taught by Rutgers University Labor center faculty on how to build a stronger union and mobilize your members to take action. RSVP to [email protected]

TUES Dec 17 End Violence Ki Ki Ball  6- 10 PM, Eastern Market North Hall located at 225 7th Street S.E. Washington DC, 20003– info and tickets at link — “International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers” is not just about ending violence against people engaging in sex work—it’s also about ending violence against Trans people, against people of color, against people who use drugs, against people living with HIV, against people experiencing homelessness, and the communities who love and support sex workers. Ki Ki Ball (as seen on T. V. hit series Pose) will raise awareness about the violence our communities face and continue funding the expansion of our support services. To SUPPORT:
endviolencekikiball.com

AAAND is 2020 that close already?!:
THURS Jan 16, 2020 Book Launch: Kate Aronoff, Peter Dreier, and Michael Kazin - We Own the Future: Democratic Socialism--American Style,  7 PM at Politics and Prose, Union Market, 1270 5th Street NE   Washington   DC    20002 This event is free to attend with no reservation required. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis.  Click here for more information.
  Good Reads
>> Celine McNicholas, Margaret Poydock, and Lynn Rhinehart of the Economic Policy Institute published this report on the Trump administration’s relentless attack on labor rights, headlined “Trump’s NLRB is 10 for 10 on targeting workers’ rights”  https://www.epi.org/publication/unprecedented-the-trump-nlrbs-attack-on-workers-rights/
(And if you are lucky and in a hurry, you might want to start with the precis version by the authors’ helpful colleague Lora Engdahl https://www.epi.org/blog/a-little-known-agency-that-is-supposed-to-protect-workers-is-instead-eroding-workers-basic-labor-rights/)
>> After ratification of the GM/UAW contract, where are the winners and losers – and how did they vote? Labor Notes has this breakdown: https://www.labornotes.org/2019/10/gm-workers-ratify-contract-though-mixed-best
 
>> Our footloose former DC comrade David Duhalde speaks well of this interview with Barbara Ehrenreich; “worth reading for the DSA history alone,” quoth he. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/on-the-origins-of-the-professional-managerial-class-an-interview-with-barbara-ehrenreich/

>> Yes, we are a long way from Brexit Ground Zero, and the yakety yak is deafening sometimes anyway. But your editor will run anything by Neal Ascherson that appears; his historical grasp of the current flux is without peer – anytime. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/27/brexit-politics-britain-england-union/

>>Our comrade Matt Bruenig lays out ways to think through the Medicare for All finance question in this account from his People’s Policy Project think tank https://www.peoplespolicyproject.org/2019/10/30/how-to-approach-medicare-for-all-financing/

>>Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine of 2007 examined how US imperialism  took advantage of natural and man-made disasters to maintain ruling-class formations around the globe. This NYT report on California’s constant pummeling by wildfires illustrates how today’s climate-fueled “natural disasters are another prism through which California’s vast income inequalities can be viewed” because these mega-shocks – like the smaller daily shocks that whack different classes differently -- are in effect part of the mechanism of capital accumulation that maintains the inequalities that most capitalist models require to stave off their inevitable contradictions. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/29/us/california-fires-homes.html/
  WHAT ARE “GOOD READS”? You know them when you see them – texts of exposition and analysis that are outside the center-lane of most media, though many of those MSMs can come up with surprises. And, of course, you see them all the time. When you see a Good Read, send it to [email protected]. Don’t keep it for yourself. Good Reads should of course be online, have links and be free of paywalls. Thanks for looking out for your comrades.