The OpaVote ballot includes discussion, member input and recommendations from the Political Engagement Committee on the endorsement. All members in good standing should have received an email ballot sent by OpaVote from around 10am Wednesday. Voting will close on Sunday, September 25, 2022 at 11:59pm ET. Results will be released on Monday, September 26, 2022 at 10am ET in the #announcements channel.
If any member in good standing did not receive a ballot, even in their spam folder, email Stephanie G. at [email protected]. If you are a member, please vote! Voting is an integral part of our chapter’s operation and group consensus/deliberation is a central component of ideas and vision of socialism!
Stomp Out Slumlords Cookout: Setpember 25th, 4pm at Petworth Rec Center
Come join tenants and organizers with Stomp Out Slumlords to end the summer and kick off the fall with a cookout in the park! We’ve had many fights over the summer and want to celebrate the victories and actions from the past few months. This is also a great opportunity for returning organizers to reconnect with folks they haven’t seen in awhile and for interested folks to get to know who we are and what we do!
We’ll be meeting under the canopy at the Petworth Recreation Center. We will have a couple grills going, with some drinks, but welcome folks to bring and share their own dishes. Sign up here!
Canvassing for Initiative 82 to begin this weekend — Saturday (9/24) and Sunday (9/25)
Canvassing operations in support of DC Ballot Initiative 82 are starting this weekend. Volunteers organized through Metro DC DSA will be talking with voters in Columbia Heights about the need to end the tipped minimum wage in DC. Earlier this year, 50 DSA volunteers collected over 1,500 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot. Now, the DSA is rolling out a public outreach and canvassing operation to box out the corporate-backed opposition campaign against the measure.
Canvassing will take place on Saturday from 1 to 4pm, and on Sunday from 11am to 1pm at 1345 Park Road NW, DC 20010 (Giant Supermarket) and there will be a happy hour after each canvass. Try to have miniVan and Signal downloaded onto your phone ahead of time. Newcomers are welcome — fresh literature will be available for canvassers.
Have questions or would like to join DSA’s I82 outreach team? You can send a note to Aparna R on the chapter slack (@Aparna) or through email ([email protected]) or send a note in the #labor channel in the chapter Slack.
BRIEFS
MDC DSA September General Body Meeting Notes
Branch reports MoCo report — The group had a successful hybrid general meeting and is continuing to fight for rent stabilization; MoCo DSA also tabled at two recent public events, the Takoma Park Folk Festival and the Long Branch Festival.
NoVA report — The NoVA branch is launching an electoral workgroup with a meeting this Sunday evening and continues to organize for teachers and other unions, as well as solidarity in the fight to defend LGBTQ+ students under attack; the branch continues tenant organizing and tenant unions as a steady practice, as well as setting up its first Game Night.
Prince George’s report — The Prince George’s branch’s upcoming general meeting will continue organizing an October Political Education session in concert with STMP’s (Stop the Money Pipeline) effort to call out big banks’ propping up fossil power despite its stranded-assets future.
Defund MPD Working Group — Brake Light Update Defund MPD WG had a very successful brake light clinic to reduce cop-motorist interactions. (See last week’s Defund BRIEF.)
Political Education Working Group Update — Walking Tours and Reading Groups
Over three of the past four weekends, the Political Education Working Group held walking tours around the District. The “Washington, DC: Capital of Neoliberalism Walking Tour” on Saturday, September 17th attracted 193 sign ups and ~115 attendees, exploring sites connected to how DC exported neoliberalism — and how it came to local government. The “Housing and Displacement: DC Walking Tour” attracted 143 sign ups and had 85+ attendees, exploring sites connected to racism and profit in real estate around Brightwood Park in DC. Working Group Members also reprised the “Walking Tour of DC’s Policing Landscape” for the ~12 attendees of the Regional Organizing Training. The walking tours connected attendees with chapter events and campaigns and familiarized them with the history and theory needed to build a better world …
The Political Education Working Group started a wide range of Fall reading groups with ~300 sign ups altogether across the nine reading groups. The reading groups cover a broad variety of topics — from Black Reconstruction to Marx at the Museum to a biography of Eugene V. Debs to a number of reading groups initiated by Chapter campaigns and working groups.
Chapter Action MDC DSA recently hosted a Regional Organizing Retreat with participants from central New Jersey, Charlottesville and Maryland chapters, as well as our own members. Organizing strategy, expansion with retention and building chapter capacity were all on the menu. Watch for a Washington Socialist article with details.
Endorsement Resolution The endorsement committee presented, and participants debated, an endorsement of our member David Schwartzman as Statehood/Green Party candidate for an at-large DC Council position. An OpaVote ballot was sent Wednesday; voting ends this Sunday. See UP FRONT (above) for details.
Mount Pleasant Art All Night: Anticapitalist Writing Workshop + Story Share — TONIGHT
After The Storm and Metro DC DSA will present an asynchronous anticapitalist writing workshop at Mount Pleasant Art All Night this Friday, September 23, followed by an open mic/story share at Lost Origins Gallery from 9 to 10pm.
Throughout the evening, keep an eye out for writing prompts posted around the neighborhood that you can write in response to (collected in a trifold guide available at the event’s info tent as well). Sign up (early) for the open mic here! Starting at 5pm, there’ll be tons of other fun things to do in the neighborhood from film screenings to performers to artist booths, plus food and drinks.
Washington Teachers Union seeking public support for contract negotiations with DCPS
The Washington Teachers Union is asking for public support as it seeks to negotiate a new contract with Mayor Bowser and DC Public Schools. Learn more here, and contact the mayor in support of teachers’ demands — including better pay, smaller class sizes and more — today.
INFO ACCESS
This is the last Update before the October Washington Socialist, which goes out next week with the Memo on September 30.
Get your articles for October’s issue in TOMORROW, Saturday, September 24; hit us up at [email protected]. What kind of articles appear in the Washington Socialist? What topics? What length? What style? What’s missing that you could furnish? Find out here.
Updates for October are scheduled Fridays, October 7, 14 and 21 and the November Washington Socialist will be sent Friday, October 28, in tandem with that week’s Update.
Repeating an appeal from the September GBM: Our Member Survey helps us organize and win more effectively participate.
COMMUNITY BULLETIN
Day Without Us, DC Pop Up | Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, Plantita Power, et al Join Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, Plantita Power, Libreaders DC andUntil Freedom DC at Eaton Workshop (1201 K St NW, Washington, DC xxxxxx) to prioritize self-care for #ADayWithoutUs. After the virtual national teach-in, there will be conversation about the meaning behind #ADayWithoutUs, along with painting, plant exchange and beverages (BYOB). Please bring the kiddos if you desire; Libereaders DC will be hosting a storytelling circle. RSVP here. Please contact Nef if you need to cancel or have any questions: [email protected].
Seed Swap + Little Free Seed Library Launch | Share a Seed, Lederer Community Farm, et al On Thursday, September 29, seed-sharing mutual aid organization Share a Seed will launch their third Little Free Seed Library at Lederer Community Farm (4801 Nannie Helen Burroughs Ave NE)! From 4 to 7pm come share seeds and tour the garden with friends and family. Tayala Whipple will be offering yoga in the garden, Little Halima Children’s Book will host a book market, and They All Know Jojo will lead a milestone charting workshops for youth to engage them with empowering activities to affirm their accomplishments and envision their futures. RSVP here and remember to bring your seeds to stock the new library! Also — on October 1 from 10:30am to 12:30pm, Share a Seed will be leading a cover crop and soil regeneration workshop at Upshur Community Garden. Register for that event here.
Writers, Editors and Designers Needed for Disaster Relief Toolkit | DSA Mutual Aid Working Group Do you have experience putting together disaster plans? Are you a top-notch researcher or project leader? Do you just like helping folks and have a little bit of time to spare?? If so, then the DSA Mutual Aid Working Group (DSA MAWG) needs YOU to help complete our Disaster Relief Toolkit! This toolkit will serve as DSA chapters’ go-to guidebook when it comes to preparing for and helping during/after natural disasters. DSA MAWG is looking for folks with a variety of skills to help us bring this project to completion. Email [email protected] to get involved!
Community Legal Clinics | DC Volunteer Lawyers Project Every Wednesday and Friday the DC Volunteer Lawyers Project provides comprehensive, pro bono legal assistance to domestic violence victims, including victims of dating violence, sexual assault, stalking and gender-based violence, at-risk children living with abuse, neglect, domestic violence and other dangerous circumstances, and vulnerable immigrant populations seeking humanitarian forms of immigration relief in Washington, DC. On Wednesdays, clinics are offered for both domestic violence victims and those seeking immigration legal assistance at Westminster Presbyterian Church (4001 I St SW) from 1-4pm. Friday clinics are specifically for domestic violence victims and are held at The Commons at Stanton Square (2375 Elvans Rd SE) from 10am to 1pm.
DC Budget and TANF workshops offered
Our comrades in DC’s Fair Budget Coalition have two workshops coming up next week, one on the DC budget process and another on TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) and how to improve it in DC.
DC Budget Workshop: Tuesday, September 27 at 6pm — RSVP by emailing [email protected]
TANF Reform Workshop: Thursday, September 29 at 6pm — Click here to register.
The Conversation asked aerospace engineer and assistant professor Gökçin Çınar about the key ways to cut aviation emissions today and where technologies like electrification and hydrogen are headed.
A double-breasted national rail system has proved it’s unworkable, soooo “Strike Settled. Now Let’s Nationalize the Railroads” — Did you know that railroads are the most profitable industry sector in America? No, that’s not a good thing. From the New Republic via Portside.
From Capital News Service, staffed by grad students at the UMD-CP Journalism school, this report: “Abortion providers in Maryland said they are seeing the impact of the reversal of Roe v. Wade as increasing numbers of out-of-state patients and even staff members from closed healthcare facilities make their way to their doors.”
Thom Hartmann, radical radio dude, recaps the slow decline of US folks’ notion of the Common School and the accelerating threat to what’s left of US public education from right-wing culture-war entrepreneurs like DeSantis. Tipped by an Upstate (NY natch) comrade.
Most MDC DSA meetings remain remote-only. To join remote meetings, members will need to register at the event link provided and receive the remote-access link by email.
The flame of thought, the magnificence of art, the wonder of discovery, and the audacity of invention all belong to revolutionary periods when humanity, tired of its chains, shatters them and stops inebriated to breathe the breeze of a vaster and freer horizon..
- Virgilia D'Andrea
Sent via ActionNetwork.org.
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