MDC DSA Monthly Newsletter for Friday, January 3, 2020


** What's On This Week
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Comrade, Welcome to 2020 and our first issue of the new decade. Our activism, our events and our socialist discourse all are on tap here.

Articles in this issue on MDC DSA through Japanese newspaper readers’ eyes ([link removed]) , the promise of the SEED the Vote project ([link removed]) for electoral advances, NOVA’s 2019 ([link removed]) plus, nationalizing Facebook ([link removed]) , diversity in Maryland ([link removed]) and more. See the complete contents below.

CAMPAIGNS UP FRONT on Sunday, January 12, 2020 – Kick Off 2020 with Metro DC DSA’s Winter Campaigns Fair & January GBM ([link removed]) 3:30 — 5:30 PM The Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Rd NW · Washington, DC – Save the date for MDC DSA’s first General Body Meeting/Campaigns Fair for 2020. We will have a few business items to discuss but this Campaigns Fair is for members, guests and interested folks wanting to get involved with the chapter’s various campaigns! There will be hot chocolate to warm us up — and feel free to bring some cookies or snacks to share!

This weekend: Sunday JAN 5, Stomp Out Slumlords canvass ([link removed]) and MoCo General Branch Meeting ([link removed]) – follow links or see calendar for details.
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BRIEFS
LABOR WORKING GROUP
Thursday JAN 9 Bust the Boss Planning Session ([link removed]) Pt. 2, Labor Working Group, 6:30 PM at 1616 P Street NW
"Bust the Boss is a project of the Labor Working Group that seeks to help workers in non-unionized industries fight for better working conditions. At this planning meeting we'll be continuing our conversation about how to improve the project in the new year. Newcomers are encouraged to attend."
Also – the Labor Working Group’s regular January Meeting January 11 in Arlington ([link removed]) . See the calendar for both events.

CLIMATE JUSTICE ACTION
Saturday JAN 4, 10:30 AM: #ShutDownDC grassroots organizing training, 1640 Columbia Rd NW, Washington DC: The #ShutDownDC coalition is getting ready for major climate strikes in the spring! We need your help recruiting new people to the movement. This 90-minute session will include a brief introduction to grassroots organizing and will emphasize role-playing and interactive exercises to build comfort and confidence in having one-on-one organizing conversations. More info: [link removed]
Monday JAN 13: Coordinated banner drops for climate justice: #ShutDownDC is hanging banners over busy overpasses during rush hour to draw attention to the climate crisis. This map ([link removed]) shows many places where it could be done. If you'd like to participate, fill out this form and specify that you want to join the DSA crew: [link removed]

MDC DSA 4 BERNIE UPDATE
SAT January 11, DSA 4 Bernie canvass! In Hyattsville (Exact Location TBD), 12 noon to 3:30 PM
Welcome to the new decade. Your resolution: Come knock doors for Bernie and tell voters how we will transform this country to work for the working class.
Our exact location is TBD, but we will be canvassing the general Hyattsville area. Check the Facebook and Meetup events (below) to RSVP and find out if we will meet at the West Hyattsville Metro or the Prince George's Plaza Metro (both Green and Yellow lines.)
If this is your first time canvassing for Bernie, first of all, welcome! We will provide a short training at noon, run through the script, teach you how to use VAN, and pair you up with a veteran canvasser. We’ll all gather at a bar afterwards to chat about how the canvass went and discuss future events for Bernie!
There will also be a canvass on Jan 18th!
[link removed]
[link removed]
>> Email us at: [email protected]
>> Join the convo on Slack: #bernie
---Kristen B
Want to be a Bernie delegate? Here’s a webinar on Wednesday, JAN 8 to check out. [link removed]

DISABILITY JUSTICE WORKING GROUP
Thursday JAN 16 6:30-8 PM Come join us for the January Disability Justice Working Group meeting ([link removed]) at the Festival Center at 6:30 PM. We’ll be diving into plans for a Disability Town Hall, disability narratives/comics, and reading groups.

ECOSOCIALIST CAUCUS
Tuesday JAN 14 January Ecosocialist Caucus meeting ([link removed]) 7 - 8:30 PM at the Southeast Neighborhood Library in the SOE Meeting Room.
The discussion will include next steps for our energy democracy and climate strike campaigns. A meeting agenda will be sent out via email the week before the meeting. Please email [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) with comments and any agenda suggestions.

INTERNATIONALISM WORKING GROUP
Next monthly meeting is Monday, JAN 13, 6:30 – 8 PM, at Cleveland Park library conference room
As we announced during the last chapter’s GBM meeting, we are hoping to revitalize the working group and hope you will be a part of it in 2020. If you’re interested in ensuring that our movement has a global perspective, fighting against US militarism and imperialism, and building solidarity across borders toward a global socialism, please join us at our next monthly meeting where we will be planning what’s next for the internationalism working group. -- Cesar G

Here is the MoCo branch email newsletter, including info on this weekend’s branch meeting [link removed]
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ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE
▲Journalist Nobu Tanaka of the West Japan Daily wrote a feature for his paper on our work as a chapter. Our comrade Kaiser F, who was one of Tanaka’s interviewees, brings this translated version ([link removed]) to us.
▲An innovative and neighborly project called SEED The Vote ([link removed]) helps activists cross state lines to push uncertain states toward purplish-blue. Kurt Stand provides program and background.
▲NOVA DSA provides a roundup of their activities in 2019 ([link removed]) and plans for 2020.
▲MDC DSA’s Socialist Heritage Caucus ([link removed]) has been making sure socialism’s present doesn’t lose its institutional memory, as Bill Mosley outlines.
▲Progressive radio host Thom Hartmann, in Progressive Breakfast, checks off the reasons Facebook should be nationalized. ([link removed])
▲Endless war-machinery or Medicare for All is the choice before US voters ([link removed]) , IPS researcher Lindsay Koshgarian writes for People’s Action.
▲Conversations about diversity and equity in Maryland, a Baltimore attorney-activist asserts, require that “Those most impacted must also be the ones most empowered ([link removed]) ”.
▲Bill Mosley notes that the same everyday ways of practicing one’s socialism in public life ([link removed]) are valid today as they were in 2013, when he first wrote about them.
▲And reprises of two articles published since the December issue: Kurt Stand on Prince George’s County’s failures on criminal justice reform ([link removed]) , and Andy Feeney’s article marking a singular moment in the climate debate ([link removed]) as denial begins to lose traction.
▲Last, and also first, here is the Washington Socialist 2019 article index ([link removed]) , all articles from last January through December – chronologically, and also by broad topic. Also included: links to previous indexes.

PUBLICATIONS-- Metro DC DSA Publications Working Group Year-end Report 2019 (as delivered at the December General Body Meeting)
Mission: Outward-facing and inward-facing communications to inform our members about perennial and evolving aspects of democratic socialism and attract new ones to democratic socialism.
Print publications: mostly one-off flyers promoting DSA or campaigns for outward-facing communication.
Online publications: the monthly Washington Socialist newsletter and Weekly Updates, generally every Friday. Audience: 3,500 email recipients, both members and non-members.
Shared duties: keep mdcdsa.org dynamic and informative. Provide graphic design and publications support for all of MDC DSA’s formations: working groups, campaigns and caucuses. Seek and develop new paths for communicating socialism.
In 2019 the Washington Socialist published 80 distinct articles in 12 monthly issues, nearly all by our own members. Topics: both our specific local campaigns and broad general socialist analysis, including of DMV, national and international political terrain.
In 2019 the Publications Working Group elected, as a 2018 bylaw amendment required, a five-member Publications Editorial Board to ensure all our communications were in the best interests of MDC DSA and socialism.
Needs: More and more diverse writers and editors. More awareness in campaigns of opportunities to gain support and participation through strategic communications.
* * *
PUBLICATIONS SCHEDULE: Updates in January Fridays, January 10, 17 and 24. The February Washington Socialist will be sent Friday, January 31 with an article deadline of Saturday, January 25.
Info bank: What does the MDC DSA local chapter do, week in and week out? See our working groups, caucuses and campaigns in the DMV here. ([link removed])
And speaking of info: Many of our campaigns, working groups and caucuses keep the conversation going between meetings on our MDC DSA Slack platform. If you are a DSA member in good standing and aren’t on our Slack you may not be getting the full picture about the rich array of activities suggested above in the chapter structure link ([link removed]) . To get on Slack, use the email by which DSA knows you and request access from [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])


** MDC DSA Events for January 2020
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Follow links for details
Sunday JAN 5 2:00 PM
MoCo DSA 🌹General Branch Meeting ([link removed])
Connie Morella (Bethesda) Library, 7400 Arlington Rd, Bethesda, MD 20814

Sunday JAN 5 1:30 PM
Stomp Out Slumlords Anti-Eviction Canvass ([link removed])
L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station, 600 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, DC 20024

Thursday JAN 9 6:30 PM
Bust the Boss Planning Session Pt. 2 ([link removed])
1616 P St NW, 1616 P St NW, Washington, DC 20036

Saturday JAN 11 12:00 PM
DSA 4 Bernie Canvass ([link removed])

Saturday JAN 11 2:00 PM
January Labor Working Group Meeting ([link removed])
Central Library, 1015 N Quincy St, Arlington, VA 22201

Saturday JAN 11 1:30 PM
Stomp Out Slumlords Know Your Rights Canvass with DCTU ([link removed])
L'Enfant Plaza Metro Station, 600 Maryland Ave SW, Washington, DC 20024

Sunday JAN 12 3:30 PM
Winter Campaigns Fair & January GBM ([link removed])
The Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009

Tuesday JAN 14 7:00 PM
NOVA Branch DSA 🌹 Organizing Meeting ([link removed])
Kingstowne Library, 6500 Landsdowne Centre Dr, Alexandria, VA 22315

Tuesday JAN 14 7 PM
Ecosocialist Caucus meeting ([link removed])
Southeast Neighborhood Library ([link removed])

Thursday JAN 16 6:30 PM
Disability Justice Working Group Meeting ([link removed])
The Festival Center, 1640 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009

Saturday JAN 18 3:30 PM
Participatory Budgeting Planning Meeting ([link removed])
Mount Pleasant, Washington, DC

Tuesday JAN 21 5:30 PM
Queer Socialists Happy Hour ([link removed])
Red Bear Brewing Co, 209 M St NE, Washington, DC 20002

Monday JAN 27 6:30 PM
So You Want to Organize #1: Socialist Night School ([link removed])
Shaw (Watha T. Daniel) Neighborhood Library, 1630 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

Tuesday JAN 28 7:00 PM
Participatory Budgeting Planning Meeting ([link removed])
Cleveland Park Bar and Grill, 3421 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008

Friday JAN 31 6:00 PM
DSA MoCo 🌹 Happy Hour ([link removed])
Not Your Average Joe's, 8661 Colesville Rd Suite C-153, Silver Spring, MD 20910



** Events from Our Allies in the DMV
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Follow links for details
Saturday, JAN 4 people from around the United States will be organizing local demonstrations to demand: NO MORE U.S. TROOPS TO IRAQ OR THE MIDDLE EAST and U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW! NO WAR/NO SANCTIONS ON IRAN. Join the rally at the White House at 12 noon Saturday, January 4th in a protest organized by the ANSWER Coalition, CODEPINK, and many other anti-war and peace organizations.

Tuesday JAN 7 PRIORITY CLIMATE LEGISLATION discussion at Greenbelt Climate Action Network meeting, 7-9 PM at Greenbelt Community Center, Room 114, 15 Crescent Road, Greenbelt, MD NOTE CHANGE FROM USUAL DAY. Briefing on upcoming session with Emily Frias of CCAN, including a new accelerated Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act. [link removed]

Sunday, JAN 12 OUR Revolution MoCo January meeting from 2-4 PM at the Rockville Library, 21 Maryland Avenue, Rockville MD, 20850. This will be our 2020 Kickoff & Planning meeting.

Friday, JAN 17, 2020 – Sunday, JAN 19 –the 2020 AFL-CIO Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Civil and Human Rights Conference ([link removed]) Capital Hilton 1001 16th Street NW RSVP ([link removed]) Conference theme is “Give Us the Ballot,” drawn from Dr. King’s pivotal voting rights speech delivered here in 1957. we are still facing voter disenfranchisement at alarming levels [so] ensuring full voting access and a fair count of every ballot are the most important work we are doing.

Saturday JAN 25, 10 AM -2 PM, CCAN Polar Bear Plunge, [link removed] ([link removed])

Sunday JAN 26, Medicare 4 All Town Hall in Annapolis 2-4 PM at Stanton Community Center, 92 W Washington St, Annapolis, MD 21401 among co-sponsors, Maryland Progressive Healthcare Coalition.

GOOD READS
>>The Guardian’s astute Zoe Williams on next steps for Labour ([link removed]) , but sounding notes we can profit from attending to: “Labour is constitutionally predisposed to internecine recrimination, and to try and stamp that out would be ahistorical. But those battles should be centred on real issues, not symbolic differences.” And “As a starting point, I would suggest that union activism across borders is the most creative way to prevent such exploitations as do arise from free movement.”

>>Augmented statement (re-launch) of DSA Communist Caucus ([link removed])

>>DSA's approach toward racial justice and attempt to become a more thoroughly multi-racial organization during its first years is often ignored in accounts of our past. Yet it is a meaningful part of our history, relevant to discussions about DSA's present and possible future directions. Here is a three-part series of articles, A People of Color's History of DSA by David Roddy and Alyssa De La Rosa (members of Sacramento DSA), that provides detail and analysis often lacking and deserves close attention by members today.
– Kurt Stand
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>>An excellent, detailed account in NY Magazine of what lessons US Dems should take from the UK election outcome and what they should not. An analysis one might have hoped for from Tom Edsall before his mortal fear of a Trump re-election began driving him into the BBB centrist lane. [link removed]

>>Dean Baker, among our top left economists, zings the WaPo for a too-brief obituary of William Greider, who was a leading reporter and editor at that now-diminished daily as well as at The Nation. [link removed]

>> Journalist Nobu Tanaka of the West Japan Daily had attended several of our meetings and has published his article. It is translated here through the efforts of our comrade Kaiser F. Here is the English translation ([link removed]) and here is the original ([link removed]) . We are also presenting Kaiser’s translation as an article in this issue, by permission of Nobu Tanaka and West Japan Daily.

>>W.E.B. Du Bois taught at the CPUSA’s Jefferson School in New York City during and after World War II, bringing a Pan-African vision to socialism and arguing that a white working class was too narrow a revolutionary subject. [link removed]

>>One-stop shopping: here is In These Times’s compilation of their fifteen most-read articles of 2019 ([link removed]) .

VIEW ALL UPCOMING DC DSA EVENTS ([link removed])

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