Comrades,
DSA SF is launching its People First San Francisco electoral campaign! We’re working to win three ballot measures that will advance worker and renter power here in the city. On the slate is our very own Empty Homes Tax (Prop M), SF WERCS to fund City College (Prop O), and Double the Vote (Prop H). We’ll be using this slate to push forward explicitly socialist messaging throughout the city not only with the goal of winning, but also with the goal of growing DSA SF and the broader socialist movement. So, come join us at the kickoff on Saturday, September 3 at 11:30 a.m. at the corner of 9th and Lincoln and help us take this important step towards winning socialism in our time!
Upcoming Events
🌹 Wednesday, 8/31 (5:00 p.m.-5:45 p.m.): Electoral Board Endorsement Strategy Discussion (Zoom)
🌹 Saturday, 9/3 (11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.): People First San Francisco Electoral Slate Kickoff Mobilization (in-person, corner of 9th and Lincoln)
🌹 Sunday, 9/4 (10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.): Rally to Support Tartine Workers (in person at 595 Alabama)
🌹 Sunday, 9/4 (6:00 p.m.): Book Discussion of Owning the Future with authors Adrienne Buller and Mathew Lawrence (in person at the DSA office on 1916 McAllister)
🌹 Thursday, 9/8 (6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.): What is DSA? (Zoom and in person at the DSA SF office on 1916 McAllister)
🌹 Saturday, 9/10 (12:00 p.m.): Empty Homes Tax Lit Drop and Blowback Podcast Discussion (in-person, location TBD)
🌹 Wednesday, 9/14 (6:45 p.m.-9:00 p.m.): September Chapter Meeting (Zoom and in-person at 518 Valencia)
Reportback from SFPUC’s Citizen Advisory Committee
| Comrade Emily A. has been serving on the SF Public Utility Commission’s Citizen Advisory Committee, working to hold the City accountable for its management of some of our most basic necessities. Here’s her reportback from the committee: Comrades, a year and a half ago Dean Preston’s office appointed me to the SF Public Utility Commission’s Citizen Advisory Committee (SFPUC CAC). To be clear, it’s an advisory role, so nothing we pass is legally binding, but we get a little bully pulpit and practice organizing. Water, Power and Sewer are all vital pieces of our city’s climate resilience, and I am proud of my work. Last week, we accomplished quite a bit that I am proud to have been involved with. – We passed the long-awaited Resolution in Support of Deepening Public Power Evaluations, a full year after this journey started. Yay! It was my first resolution with the CAC and I am proud and relieved that it passed with minimal amendments. This resolution asks the city to continue providing us information on what municipalization of PG&E’s wires in SF could look like. As we last left it in Ecosocialist Committee, the jury is still out on whether we’re throwing our lot in with a state level takeover or a city level takeover. Both have their benefits and drawbacks. I specifically included a lot of labor stuff. HUGE thanks to Reclaim Our Power for their help on this, as well as members of the Ecosocialist Committee and friends of Jackie Fielder. – Our comrade Alex L. passed his Resolution in Support of Transparency, Environmental Accountability, and Labor Standards for California Community Power, bringing some strong public comment from supporting organizations. It felt good to get that finished as well, although Alex did a lot of the heavy lifting! – During announcements, Barklee Sanders and I spoke about a draft resolution we are working on, “Putting Treasure Island on the Map.” SFPUC was very quick to respond, asking us for six months to prove they could turn that around. So, we are holding on that resolution, but I also drafted a template email for CAC members to share with their appointing supervisors. This email urges city leaders to require that future maps include Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island just like any other city neighborhood – it is insulting, marginalizing, and nonsensical to keep excluding them. |
Announcements
Join the Electoral Board for a discussion of the chapter’s electoral endorsement strategy!
The Electoral Board has received a couple of inbound endorsement requests from various campaigns. In the spirit of democratic socialism, we are hosting a meeting on Zoom tomorrow night, August 31 from 5:00 p.m.-5:45 p.m. to discuss our broader endorsement strategy and quickly review some of the inbound endorsement requests.
Although the discussion will not focus on individual measures, our specific political context is relevant to and informs our strategy for this election season. This discussion will directly inform the Electoral Board’s direction for the remainder of 2022. As a reminder, our electoral work is guided by the Electoral Strategy Resolution adopted by the chapter in 2021.
The agenda for the meeting is linked here, and you can take a look at the full list of ballot measures on the SF Department of Elections website here.
DSA SF now has a Protect Abortion Working Group
DSA SF now has a provisional Protect Abortion Working Group. The provisional co-chairs are Ellie G and Alyssa A, and initial plans are to organize pro-abortion actions in coordination with other groups including CA-DSA and National, hold a teach-in for the chapter, and organize mutual aid to support people seeking abortion access. To get involved, join the #abortion-working-group channel in DSA slack – we’ll have lots more updates about the working group’s plans and actions in the weeks and months to come.
Join us to lit drop for the Empty Homes Tax and to discuss the latest episode of the Blowback podcast
You can listen to Season 3 Episode 1 of Blowback on Spotify, Apple Music, and other podcast platforms.
Discuss the book Owning the Future with authors Adrienne Buller and Mathew Lawrence
The authors argue that the systemic change we need hinges on a new era of democratic ownership: a reinvention of the firm as a vehicle for collective endeavour and meeting social needs; against the oligarchy of the platform giants, a digital commons that uses our data for collective good, not private profit; in place of environmental devastation, a new agenda of decommodification—of both nature and needs—with a Green New Deal and collective stewardship of the planet’s natural wealth. Together, these proposals offer a road map to owning the future and building a better world.
Contribute to the DSA Labor national labor solidarity fund to help support local strikes and union drives across the country!
DSA Labor is launching the national labor solidarity fund, a collective resource for all DSA chapters to use in support of local strikes, union drives, and other forms of working class struggle. All we have is us – pitch in to make sure labor can keep up the fight everywhere, including upcoming strikes at Starbucks, Amazon, UPS, and more!
You can also get some sweet socialist merch for your contributions! DSA Labor has stickers and buttons available now, and you can pre-order t-shirts and tote bags. Proceeds from DSA Labor merchandise sales will go towards our labor solidarity fund!
The next chapter meeting is on Wednesday, September 14!
Join us on Wednesday, September 14 at 6:45 p.m. for our monthly chapter meeting! As usual, this will be a hybrid meeting – you can register to attend on Zoom using the link below, or come to the meeting in person at 518 Valencia. More details to come on the agenda in the days ahead!
