On Saturday, March 28, members of DSA SF’s Justice Committee dropped off 900 bottles of hand sanitizer for people being held in San Francisco’s jails in an effort to address the city’s failure to release more people amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The Justice Committee released the following statement:

San Francisco jails are on the brink of a crisis — a public health emergency that is threatening to undermine our efforts to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 and exposing the problems inherent to our criminal system. Five employees within the Sheriff’s office have tested positive for COVID-19. Nearly 830 people are incarcerated in San Francisco jails, all of whom are denied the opportunity to adhere to meaningful social distancing requirements that our city leaders and healthcare professionals demand. They are unable to isolate, unable to quarantine, and are exposed to jail employees who are expected to come to work as long as they’re asymptomatic, regardless of whether they’ve been knowingly exposed to someone infected with COVID-19. 

To slow the spread of COVID-19, the Democratic Socialists of America SF, in collaboration with The Science Policy Group at UCSF (SPG), distributed 900 individual bottles of hand sanitizer to incarcerated people in San Francisco jails this week.

The first batch of sanitizer was provided by UC Berkeley scientists Abrar Abidi and Yvonne Hao. The subsequent batches have been produced by The Science Policy Group at UCSF. This mutual aid effort aims to give people on the inside a tool to help slow the spread of the virus in our community and to survive in inhumane conditions. 

We have distributed hand sanitizer because the city has failed to protect our vulnerable populations and to protect us all. 

Although hand sanitizer will serve to reduce the public health risk, it does not address the root problem: incarceration and dehumanization. The City’s Director of Jail Health Services, Dr. Pratt, has called for “a rapid reduction” in the jail population. That is our minimum demand. We demand that the City recognizes the humanity of our incarcerated community members. We demand justice.

We demand decarceration. 

Today, we join the voices that call on Mayor London Breed, Sheriff Paul Miyamoto, Police Chief Scott, and District Attorney Chesa Boudin to follow the guidance of healthcare professionals and immediately release, at minimum, the following people:

– All people age 50 years and older.
– All people detained on bail.
– All children incarcerated in Juvenile Hall.
– All people with 3 months or fewer remaining in their sentence.
– All people with medical conditions that are risk factors for severe illness, including, but not limited to: Respiratory conditions, obesity, HIV-positive, & mental illness.

To be clear, “All people” described above includes individuals incarcerated for misdemeanors and all felonies, especially those that did not result in serious physical harm to a person and especially property crime.

We demand that District Attorney Chesa Boudin:
– Codify this policy and issue it as a directive to his staff no later than April 7th, 2020.  

We demand that Sheriff Paul Miyamoto:
– Release all people fitting the above criteria in accordance with his power under California Government Code 8658.

We demand that Police Chief Scott instruct his officers to:
– Cite and release all justice-involved individuals that do not pose a certain danger to cause immediate and severe bodily harm to another individual.

Ultimately, County Jail 4 at 850 Bryant must be closed. We, as part of the No New SF Jail Coalition, have been demanding this for months. Supervisors, the Sheriff, and the Mayor have all agreed CJ4 is decrepit, seismically unsafe, and a health hazard– even before the pandemic.

Funding for incarceration must be redirected to rehabilitation and restorative justice programs that succeed in bringing our neighbors back into our communities.

COVID-19 only highlights an ongoing public health & humanitarian crisis that existed before this pandemic, and will exist after it has passed.

We will continue to do true public safety work moving forward, including continuing to provide hand sanitizer manufactured by SPG at UCSF to people locked in cages in the Bay Area. Solidarity, decarceration, rehabilitation, transformative justice and mutual aid is the way forward, toward true public safety for all.

Democratic Socialists of America is an abolitionist organization that believes true public safety comes from building a just and equitable world where everyone is able to pursue comfortable and meaningful lives, where housing and healthcare are human rights guaranteed to all. Public safety comes from healthy, fulfilled communities that address harms with compassion and  accountability, not by criminalizing and caging the poor, desperate, and sick.

Press contact: Yuhe Faye Wang, Co-chair of DSA Justice Committee, justice@dsasf.org

Yesterday’s primary confirms that San Francisco’s working-class and young voters are ready to embrace the bold democratic socialist vision that candidates like Bernie Sanders and Jackie Fielder are putting forward. But the primaries are only one part of the movement toward a democratic socialist future.  

As a part of DSA SF, you can organize with like-minded and passionate comrades to make this movement a permanent part of the American fabric. Whether you are interested in electoral work, pushing for progressive policies and initiatives, helping build solidarity with workers and immigrants, abolishing the prison industrial complex, or demanding solutions to address the climate crisis, DSA SF has a place for you. 

Interested in joining our mass movement? Visit dsausa.org/join and join DSA today!

Trump may not be on the ballot for removal this Tuesday, but that does not make the election any less important. Primaries matter for national offices, such as the President, and other state and federal races as well. The positions and policies at stake are important and primaries are a chance to embolden aggressive change as incumbents are often challenged from within their own parties.

The importance of primary elections is especially critical to the democratic process of elections. Primaries are where democracy is exemplified most strongly, where there is often even greater choice for voters than in general elections. The primaries are where civic engagement flourishes; it is where coalitions ebb and flow and hopefully manifest into a movement. For those of us aching for political change, the primaries are a chance to find better candidates or challenge for more progressive action.

For progressive grassroots campaigns taking on the establishment, primaries are crucial for building momentum for the rest of the race. And you can’t be somebody without anybody— campaigns in the primaries rely on their supporters’ people power to get out the vote.

So don’t wait until the General in November to start taking notice. Civic energy and community engagement is an ongoing battle. Your landlord cares who primaries. The local police and city hall have a stake in who primaries. The local school board cares. It is imperative to get out to vote and fight for what affects you the most.  

A DSA backed candidate needs your support before Super Tuesday and beyond. Can you help support Jackie Fielder defeat Wiener for the 11th Senate District seat? There is still time to put in your support.

Keep with the fight. Solidarity. 

See here for information on how to support either Jackie!

On Wednesday, January 22nd, DSA SF voted to endorse Jackie Fielder for State Senate. Jackie is a longtime DSA SF member and managed our chapter-endorsed and successful No on H campaign, which defeated a dangerous use-of-force policy by the Police Officers Association despite being outspent five-to-one. Now, Jackie is running against none other than Scott Wiener. There will be a primary in March, and the top-two vote getters — regardless of party affiliation — will face off in the general election.

Jackie is an Indigenous (Two Kettle Lakota and Hidatsa), Mexicana, and queer educator and organizer. She was raised by a single working-class mother in an under-resourced community, graduated from California public schools, and earned a place at Stanford University. After earning a BA in Public Policy then a Masters in Sociology, Jackie joined the fight of her relatives and their allies against the Dakota Access Pipeline in her ancestral territories, and organized internationally for Indigenous Rights and Climate Justice.

That battle led her back to San Francisco with a vision to take on the banking industry. As the co-founder and lead organizer of the San Francisco Public Bank Coalition, Jackie took on Wall Street lobbyists to pass statewide legislation legalizing public banking and won sponsorship from a veto-proof supermajority to sponsor a local ordinance to create the first municipal bank in the country. This will allow San Francisco to divest our multi-billion dollar budget from destructive ventures like fossil fuel companies and private prisons, in favor of investment for public goods, such as infrastructure and affordable housing.

After successfully running the DSA campaign to defeat the Police Officers Association, Jackie was tapped by Black Lives Matter co-founder, Alicia Garza to take over her Race, Women, and Class course at SF State.

Jackie’s opponent has consistently contradicted the voters of his own district and the work of DSA SF. During the No on H campaign Jackie managed, Weiner sided with the Police Officers Association and Republican Party, both of whom were shot down by more than 60% of San Francisco voters. Later that year, he opposed another DSA SF-supported effort to pass a small tax on the biggest corporations to fund housing and services for our unhoused neighbors (Our City Our Home). In contrast, Jackie has proposed a detailed, socialist alternative in California Homes for All, as well as a comprehensive platform for Economic and Social Justice, and a Green New Deal for California.

Jackie represents a new wave of openly democratic socialists, both locally and across the country, running and winning against the status quo. Our movement is succeeding, and we need to keep elevating our cause to the highest seats of power.

In addition to our endorsement, Jackie has been endorsed by Supervisor Dean Preston, Supervisor Gordon Mar, the SF Tenants Union, the California Teachers Association, the United Educators of San Francisco, a majority of the Board of Education, ILWU Norcal District Council, #BLM co-founder Alicia Garza, among others.

Join the movement and sign up online. If you are able, make a donation here so Jackie can continue paying her DSA staff a living wage!

San Francisco is considering legislation which will disincentivize gas infrastructure in new building developments. At stake are at least 72,000 new residential units and numerous commercial buildings. This legislation follows similar “reach codes” adopted by San Jose and other Bay Area cities. Ultimately, the City will need to adopt a separate gas ban ordinance as soon as possible to comprehensively halt the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure for new projects, followed by an equitable plan to retrofit all existing buildings.

The recent decision to ban natural gas in Berkeley and other cities was based on three major factors: decarbonization, health and safety, and the economics of electrification. Natural gas leaks and combustion represents approximately 35% of San Francisco’s greenhouse gas emissions. While gas stoves are often considered a luxury, the health impacts of burning methane are significant. Burning natural gas indoors releases carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and other pollutants in confined spaces. Gas combustion also pollutes outdoor air. 

In September, DSA SF’s Ecosocialist Committee signed on to a letter to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors outlining the reasons to ban natural gas in new buildings. Despite the fact that fully electric units are cheaper to build, the majority of developers want to keep gas as a luxury selling point, or simply because they aren’t familiar with all-electric design.

 While the details of a Berkeley-style gas ban ordinance are being debated at City Hall, the crucial point which cannot be ceded is that in the interim any new developments featuring gas must not only be more efficient than code, but also be electric-ready, i.e. feature sufficient electrical capacity, conduit and wiring to facilitate future electrification. Such a provision would simplify electrification retrofits and be a major incentive for developers to choose all-electric infrastructure before a full ban can be enacted.

The vast majority of new buildings in the construction pipeline will feature fossil fuel infrastructure unless we intervene now. Without action, we could see an increase of up to 18% in fossil fuel infrastructure in the building sector. This increase complicates the investment that the SF Department of the Environment says we need to retrofit the existing stock of fossil fuel units at a rate of 3% per year. Why approve obsolete new fossil fuel buildings if we know they need to be all-electric, if not electric-ready, today?

Join us at the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Transportation Committee meeting on December 9, 1:30 PM at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Legislative Chamber, Room 250 to pressure the Board to amend the reach code ordinance to include an electric-ready provision and ban gas in new buildings to meet San Francisco’s climate goals.

You may also email your comments before the meeting (File #190974 in the subject line) to Erica Major, Clerk of the Committee: erica.major@sfgov.org. Please also sign the petition to ban gas in SF: https://sfgasban.org/. 

Interested in joining the Ecosocialist Committee? Email ecosocialist@dsasf.org.

During  the General Meeting on November 20th, DSA SF passed the resolution to work on the Bernie 2020 primary campaign. DSA SF will coordinate with the local Bernie 2020 campaign to support him leading up to the March 3, 2020 California Democratic primary. DSA SF aims to use Bernie’s campaign to reach out to local Bernie supporters, grow membership, and spread support for a socialist form of government. 

The resolution recognizes that “Bernie calls for policies in line with DSA SF’s values, including those that directly tackle climate change, massive healthcare costs, high housing costs, mass incarceration, corporate greed, rising right-wing oligarchy, the war on drugs, and so much more.” All other candidates are vocal capitalists, while Bernie is a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist. 

Working with the local campaign, DSA SF will host Bernie 2020 events and have contingents at official Bernie 2020 events, including debate watch parties, canvasses, and phone banks. DSA SF will also connect the Bernie 2020 campaign with our endorsed candidates in down-ballot races in 2019 and 2020, any endorsed state propositions or local measures, and any other nationwide campaigns (e.g. Medicare for All). California is the largest state in the country with a primary election on Super Tuesday, making the outcome potentially decisive in determining the nomination. 

In order to assess the impact of the endorsement and coordination, DSA SF will create a series of five (5) metrics, including hard targets surrounding chapter membership growth, engagement of current members, diversity of representation from our working groups and committees, and DSA name recognition in San Francisco. 

DSA SF will determine these metrics at the Electoral Committee meeting on Tuesday, December 3, 2019 during its regular meeting at 7:00 p.m. in the DSA SF office, located at 350 Alabama Street, San Francisco, CA. Interested members and prospective DSA SF members are welcome to come and participate (although non-members cannot vote). Once metrics are selected, the Electoral Committee and the campaign can pinpoint key activities to serve the dual goals of supporting Sanders and growing membership. 

Please reach out to the Electoral Committee at electoral@dsasf.org to get more involved.

After several days of counting votes and waiting for a concession in a close race, DSA SF member Dean Preston will officially become District 5’s next Supervisor. 

Preston, nicknamed “Extreme Dean” by his opposition, will join the Board of Supervisors on behalf of District 5 after unseating incumbent Vallie Brown. Preston ran on a platform to fight for more affordable housing and free MUNI. He also vowed to oppose homeless sweeps, rogue landlords, and mass incarceration. DSA SF endorsed Preston’s campaign early on, and DSA SF comrades showed up en masse to canvass for Preston throughout his campaign.  

Preston began his career as an attorney representing victims of police misconduct before moving on to full time housing work. Preston was a staff attorney for the Tenderloin Housing Clinic in San Francisco, where he defended tenants against evictions, substandard conditions, and fought for rent control. In 2008, he founded Tenants Together, a statewide tenants’ rights organization. Last year, Preston was one of the principal architects and advocates of San Francisco’s Proposition F. Proposition F passed last year, guaranteeing all San Franciscans facing eviction the right to counsel. He also provided seed funding and support for Proposition C, which secured funding to double housing and mental health care for our houseless population. Brown conceded the race to Preston on November 14. 

Asked about the incredible win in the District 5 race, Preston’s campaign manager and DSA SF comrade Jen Snyder stated: 

“We are so happy to have ran an unapologetically Democratic Socialist campaign and have been victorious. Dean called himself a Democratic Socialist in the intro of every single debate and forum. Most of our staff is DSA, and our platform is centered around the democratization of resources, universal rights, and equal access to power. The fact we won without ever compromising or telling voters anything but the honest truth about our platform has made us so hopeful for what we can do in the future. This campaign was a branch and continuation of so many other DSA SF projects, and that’s what it will continue to be in City Hall.”

Want to be part of the movement? Join the revolution today!

On Tuesday, October 22, members of DSASF’s EcoSocialist committee gathered at the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) offices in San Francisco. Members, who were there with the Utility Justice Campaign, rallied not only to criticize PG&E’s shutoffs, but also to demand accountability from PG&E for its actions in causing last year’s deadly wildfires. At the rally, members voiced opposition for the proposed California law, AB 1054, which would authorize a $21 billion fund to shield PG&E and other major California utilities from wildfire costs. The wildfire fund would be bankrolled by a mandatory surcharge on PG&E customers’ bills. TheEcoSocialist committee and other Utility Justice Campaign members oppose the charge as a bailout plan for PG&E.

During the rally, the group also called for a democratization of energy in California, via a community takeover and control of energy resources. According to the Utility Justice Campaign, the electricity shutoffs are not an inevitable consequence of climate change. Rather, they are a consequence of a utility like PG&E being a private company that places returns on shareholder value above the needs of its public ratepayers. The utility giant has been accused of continually deprioritizing maintenance of the vegetation around its power lines, as well as failing to invest in infrastructure, in order to maximize profits.

Members of the EcoSocialist committee also attended an October 24 CPUC meeting in Redding, California. After nearly two hours of public comments, the CPUC voted to approve the rate increase and AB 1054. Unfortunately, this means there is much work to be done to stop the bailout of PG&E. For those interested in joining the EcoSocialist committee in demanding community control over our natural resources and accountability from PG&E, you can reach the EcoSocialist committee at ecosocialist@dsasf.org. You can also learn more about DSASF and our many other active committees here.