Dear Friends and Comrades!

Winter is here and the contradictions of late capitalism are starker than ever. Chattanooga's homeless population is exploding while brand new high-end apartments partially funded by tax-breaks from the city sit empty or host intermittent tourists. The county government refuses to fund public school teachers while holding up bad results in education as a justification for further privatization.

Meanwhile, at the national scale, democratic candidates compete to see who can offer the most pre-compromised and milquetoast proposals to ease the collective agony of the working class and mitigate the devastating effects of climate change. We're not having it, and we're organizing to overturn these misconceived and unjust systems.

We're happy to report that all three resolutions voted on last month have passed without opposition.  That means we will be moving to general meetings to at least every second month (instead of quarterly), we will use a rolling quorum system to vote on business, and we will be electing a YDSA liaison officer to facilitate communications between our chapter and the UTC YDSA.

On the subject of internal elections, they're coming up in January!  Please start thinking about whom you'd like to nominate to lead our work in 2020.

So much is going on at the moment, it's hard to keep track of it all, but here are some key events for the next few weeks.

Labor Solidarity Happy Hour: Meet and chat with Farley Morrison of CWA on the recent strike against AT&T and building labor solidarity across workplaces in Chattanooga.  Please join us Thursday,  5 December at 5:30 PM at the Honest Pint (35 Patten Pkwy.)

CALEB Meeting:  We are discussing with CALEB leadership about becoming a member organization of this coalition.  CALEB has done incredible work in the last year, growing a community bail fund to nearly $100,000, and it's actively developing a progressive platform and agenda that could shape city politics in the coming years.  Please, if you're able, show up to learn about and support their work. They meet every second Thursday, which means: Thursday, 12 December at 6:30 PM in the Vine Building of First Centenary Church at the corner of Oak St. and Houston.

General Meeting:  We will have a holiday party/general meeting on Saturday, 14 December at the Honest Pint.  There will be both fun and business, but we promise to let the former outweigh the latter!

Also, the Bernie team has been doing incredible work and having great success connecting with voters in Chattanooga through multiple canvasses each month.  Reply to this email with your name and phone number if you'd like to get plugged in to some volunteer work, and stay tuned for upcoming events.

In Solidarity,
Chattanooga DSA