Out of necessity we organize for socialism

SV DSA Newsletter
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“Necessity is blind until it becomes conscious. Freedom is the consciousness of necessity. Karl Marx

Hi John!

This school year (2019-2020) saw the revival of the Stanford YDSA (Young Democratic Socialist of America) Chapter. One of their members writes about her experience with the chapter's reformation:

The story of the new Stanford YDSA chapter probably starts with MJ. I met him at a Stanford involvement fair. We were both interested in getting involved in lefty politics, but couldn’t find any avenues to do so. He told me about his interests, I told him I was a raging socialist, and the next thing we knew, our the search for the Stanford YDSA began.

We were told that the chapter existed, but all our attempts to find this mystical organization were in vain. At this point, MJ invited me to go to the Silicon Valley DSA meeting, where we went to a break out group to discus a Stanford YDSA chapter. It was at this break out that MJ informed me, JR, DS, and others that the old chapter had existed at one point, but had dissolved earlier this year. So we decided to start a new one.

We had our first meeting at Ray’s, where we discussed more logistical items, such as (1) how to become a registered organization and (2) if we wanted to become a registered organization. However we realized that we were already a registered organization. Our next step was conducting outreach to recruit more members before our first official meeting. Initially, outreach was done by multiple members.

After our first round of outreach and recruitment, we started to look for a place to meet. Out of pure luck, or maybe the stars aligned just right, the current Resident Assistant of Columbae had been the old president of the YDSA chapter, and he kindly let us hold our first two meetings in Columbae. The first meeting had quite a substantial turnout, with around 40 people showing up. Maybe it was the promise of snacks, maybe it was the allure of a more equitable society; regardless, it was beautiful. At the meeting, we talked about the history of Silicon Valley, about what socialism means, and about which issues we wanted to place our collective energy on.

Since then, we have created working groups to work on ecosocialism, mutual aid, campus justice, and political education, to name a few. We have worked on how to deal with Ben Shapiro’s talk on campus on November 7th., and are working on holding a brake light clinic in East Palo Alto. We hope to soon pass out flyers about ecosocialism, and work on anti-ICE/anti-Palantir initiatives. The feeling that people who are already busy with schoolwork will take time out of their day to fight for what they believe in warms my heart. I am proud of how far Stanford YDSA has come, and I am excited to see where it will go.

In Solidarity,
Your SV DSA Newsletter Team 🌹

Silicon Valley DSA is your local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). We're a nationwide movement organizing for democratic socialism.


** Calls to Action
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* Provide your comments on the Google Campus Project on December 5th, when the city of San Jose goes over the environmental impacts of the project. The meeting starts at 5:30pm, in room 225 of the Martin Luther King Jr library, 150 E. San Fernando Street.
* Stand with immigrants against violations of Santa Clara County's sanctuary policies during the TRUTH Act Forum on December 10th at 6pm, held in the County Supervisor chambers on 70 W. Hedding Street in San Jose. These forums are required by law whenever local police allow ICE access to any of our community members. Our presence makes it clear that we demand transparency and acountability from our local law enforcement.
* Save the date for our quarterly chapter meeting: December 14, noon to 4:00pm at Cubberly Community Center in Palo Alto. More details coming soon!


** Upcoming Events
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** Chapter Committee Meeting
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November 25th at 7:00pm-9:00pm
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Officers meet regularly to check in on all of our working groups and plan future events. If you’re interested in the nuts and bolts of chapter administration, or have questions for the officers, you’re welcome to attend.


** Lower Peninsula Branch Meeting
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November 26th at 7:00pm-9:00pm
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Join us for our Lower Peninsula Branch monthly meeting Tuesday, November 26th at 7-9pm! We’ll have a social from 6:30 to 7:00 to hang out and grab something to eat. If you’re new, this is a great chance to learn more about DSA and what we do! The meeting itself will center around reports from our Working Groups, and breakout session for planning and discussion.


** SVDSA Marching Band and Riot Choir (All Skill Levels Welcome)
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December 1st at 5:00pm-6:30pm
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The Silicon Valley DSA Marching Band and Riot Choir are practicing this Sunday, and you are very welcome to join us!

We are a very casual band and choir, while we do our best to sound as awesome as we can, there are no auditions or requirements for any particular level of musical ability, all are welcome! This includes if you are a newbie, or have not played or sung for a long time. Feel free to just show up, and we’ll help figure things out and we can print out music as needed.


** Electoral Working Group Call
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December 1st at 7:00pm-8:00pm
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Get involved with Electoral WG by planning the details of our upcoming canvass pilot happening on December 8! We get to discuss for whom and where this canvass will take place, along with nailing down logistical details.


** People Over Profit: Redwood City Meetup
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December 4th at 7:00pm-8:45pm
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Meet up with socialists and community activists from Redwood City! Come find out how you can get involved with local grassroots campaigns and with building socialist political organization. The meeting will feature a presentation on the contemporary political situation and how the Democratic Socialists of America are responding, with plenty of time for discussion and conversation.


** Announcements
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** Join DSA!
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To join DSA and vote at our meetings, you can pay dues ([link removed]) or request a waiver (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Dues%20waiver%20request) .
(If you're not sure your membership is current, we can check (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Membership%20check) . If you've moved, let us know ([link removed]) .)


** Support your local chapter
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Membership dues mostly go to support national DSA—to support Silicon Valley DSA directly, set up voluntary local dues ([link removed]) ! We recommend you pay up to $5 monthly in national dues, if affordable, and reserve your additional generosity for the local. 🌹


** Organize a local meet-up
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To win the world, we need to win our buildings, our neighborhoods, and our cities. If you want to start a DSA local meetup in your neighborhood, email us (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Interested%20in%20Local%20Meetup) ! This is a fun and easy way to connect local comrades and bring in new folks.


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** Questions?
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