Join the Tenant Organizing PWG this Saturday, June 17th at 6:00 p.m. for the third session of our Socialist Housing Organizing Project (SHOP). Hybrid on Zoom and DSA Office (1916 McAllister St).
Our goal with this 3-part workshop is to build DSA SF’s tenant organizing capacity and plug folks into autonomous tenant organizing efforts in the city. We will discuss a socialist perspective on housing, current tenant rights in the city, and collaborate with seasoned TANC (Tenant and Neighborhood Councils) organizers on learning direct action strategies.
The third session captures how to have a one-on-one organizing conversation with your neighbor to get them to join a tenant union or association. These conversations are also building blocks for all kinds of organizing, from building labor unions to community groups, helping turn DSA into the organization of organizers we aspire to become.
AfroSocialist Slow Book Club: Black Marxism (Chapter 4)
Please join DSA SF’s AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color Committee on Sunday, June 25, at 2:00 p.m. at the DSA SF office (1916 McAllister St) for one of our Slow Book Club gatherings. We will be covering Chapter 4 of Black Marxism by Cedric Robinson, and intend to cover approximately one chapter per month.
7/19 Free Outdoor Screening of the Documentary Live Nude Girls Unite! in Kerouac Alley
Join DSA SF Labor and Vesuvio on July 19 at 8:00 p.m. for a free outdoor screening of Live Nude Girls Unite!, about the 1996 unionization effort at The Lusty Lady. Come watch this iconic labor film in Kerouac Alley, right across the street from where it all happened!
Sign Up to Distribute Socks with Homelessness Working Group
Come do sock distro with HWG! DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group is currently organizing a sock distribution, and restarting our chapter’s efforts directed toward connecting with our homeless neighbors. We’ll be low-key training chapter members about our specific approach to mutual aid and street solidarity, as well as building capacity for this and, potentially, more expansive mutual aid projects in the future!
RESCHEDULED! Revolutionary Selfie: Red Battalion Film Screening on June 9
Join DSA SF International Solidarity Committee and Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle-San Francisco on Friday, June 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the DSA SF office (1916 McAllister St) for a rescheduled film screening of Revolutionary Selfie: The Red Battalion, which is a mock video game film that shows us face to face with the armed warriors of the New People’s Army, which the CIA dubs a foreign terrorist organization in the Philippines.
We’re back with a 🌹 Convention Update 🌹 – your easy guide to what’s happening with convention this week!
Chapter Convention is this weekend on June 10-11!
❗ Check your email for more details on the convention. Subject line: “2023 Chapter Convention Info and Packet.” Find the convention packet (on our new wiki): https://wiki.dsasf.org/s/conventionpacket/
Clear your calendar for June 10-11!!! This will be The. Most. Fun. Convention in our chapter’s history. There will be guest speakers and musical acts and 🍞 food and 🍾 drinks and a 🍪 bake sale and hanging out at 🏞️ Dolores Park 🌳 and a 🎉 fundraiser party 🍹 at Bar Part Time and limited edition merch and posters and more!
June 22: Labor Logistics 101
Join the DSA SF Labor Working Group at the DSA SF office or over Zoom to learn from labor organizers on how you can help organize the logistics industry!
7/19 Free Outdoor Screening of the Documentary Live Nude Girls Unite! in Kerouac Alley
Join DSA SF Labor and Vesuvio for a free outdoor screening of Live Nude Girls Unite!, about the 1996 unionization effort at The Lusty Lady. Come watch this iconic labor film in Kerouac Alley, right across the street from where it all happened!
Sign Up to Distribute Socks with Homelessness Working Group
Come do sock distro with HWG! DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group is currently organizing a sock distribution, and restarting our chapter’s efforts directed toward connecting with our homeless neighbors. We’ll be low-key training chapter members about our specific approach to mutual aid and street solidarity, as well as building capacity for this and, potentially, more expansive mutual aid projects in the future! Sign up here!
Join DSA SF’s Labor Working Group on May 31st at 8 p.m. in Kerouac Alley for a free outdoor screening of Harlan County, USA, Barbara Kopple’s unforgettable documentary of a coal miners’ strike! Register to attend here.
June Muni Ridership Outreach
Come canvass Muni riders with the Free Muni Full Service team! We will be talking to Muni riders about our work to raise awareness, and collect contact info to engage more riders in the future. We will be canvassing in Chinatown at Chinatown – Rose Pak Station on Friday, June 2nd from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and at 24th and Mission on Saturday, June 3rd from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. For more details and to RSVP, check out https://bit.ly/FreeMuniRiderCanvass
Powerlands Film Screening
The Ecosoc Committee, AfroSoc Committee, the Education Board, and an Indigenous comrade welcome you to join us at 1916 McAllister for an outdoor film screening of Powerlands on June 4th from 7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
🍿Doors will open at 7 p.m. A brief introduction to the film starts at 7:30 p.m. The screening begins at 7:45 p.m. and lasts 75 mins. A 30-minute community discussion will follow the film. The film is in Zapotec, Blaan, Visayan, Wayuunaiki, Diné, Spanish, and English, with English subtitles. This is a sober event. The event location is not ADA accessible. There are three stairs to climb to get from the front of the office to the back two rooms and the backyard where the film screening will take place.
Powerlands is a film about the extractive nature of both the usual polluting suspects and the so-called “green energy” movement, a colonizer “new deal” which often exploits Indigenous peoples and lands. Powerlands follows the trail of extractive industries that have exploited the land where the director, Ivey-Camille Manybeads Tso, was born and around the world. Over the course of the documentary, she meets Indigenous women leading the struggle against the same corporations that are causing displacement and environmental catastrophe in her own home, and underscores that an Indigenous socialism must be driven by consent and care.
🌹 Socialist Housing Organizing Project (SHOP): Tenant Rights Training 🌹
Join the Tenant Organizing PWG for the second session of our Socialist Housing Organizing Project (SHOP) on Sunday, June 4th at 3:00 p.m. at the DSA SF office (1916 McAllister St)! (Zoom available upon request.)
Our goal with this 3-part workshop is to build DSA SF’s tenant organizing capacity and plug folks into autonomous tenant organizing efforts in the city. We will discuss a socialist perspective on housing, current tenant rights in the city, and collaborate with seasoned Tenant and Neighborhood Councils (TANC) organizers on learning direct action strategies.
This second module will focus on tenants’ legal rights in San Francisco and California. We will discuss different legal protections for renters and how to best utilize the law to fight landlords.
RESCHEDULED! Revolutionary Selfie: Red Battalion Film Screening on June 9
Join DSA SF International Solidarity Committee and Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle-San Francisco on Friday, June 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the DSA SF office (1916 McAllister St) for a rescheduled film screening of Revolutionary Selfie: The Red Battalion, which is a mock video game film that shows us face to face with the armed warriors of the New People’s Army, which the CIA dubs a foreign terrorist organization in the Philippines.
We’re back with a 🌹 Convention Update 🌹 – your easy guide to what’s happening with convention this week and next!
Chapter Convention is around the corner on June 10-11!
❗ Check your email for more details on the convention. Subject line: “2023 Chapter Convention Info and Packet.” Find the convention packet (on our new wiki): https://wiki.dsasf.org/s/conventionpacket/
Join us this Saturday (6/3) at noon (hybrid office/Zoom) for an open 💬 discussion 🤔 on the proposed priority resolutions. Authors from all the priority resolutions will be attending and ready to take feedback and discuss their proposals
Clear your calendar for June 10-11!!! This will be The. Most. Fun. Convention in our chapter’s history. There will be guest speakers and musical acts and 🍞 food and 🍾 drinks and a 🍪 bake sale and hanging out at 🏞️ Dolores Park 🌳 and a 🎉 fundraiser party 🍹 at Bar Part Time and limited edition merch and posters and more!
June 22: Labor Logistics 101
Join the DSA SF Labor Working Group at the DSA SF office or over zoom to learn from labor organizers on how you can help organize the logistics industry!
Sign Up to Distribute Socks with Homelessness Working Group
Come do sock distro with HWG! DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group is currently organizing a sock distribution, and restarting our chapter’s efforts directed toward connecting with our homeless neighbors. We’ll be low-key training chapter members about our specific approach to mutual aid and street solidarity, as well as building capacity for this and, potentially, more expansive mutual aid projects in the future! Sign up here!
TODAY! They Don’t Speak for Us: Stop San Francisco’s Racist War on the Poor at City Hall Steps
Come stand with the Tenderloin Community at San Francisco City Hall today, 5/23, at 5 p.m. as we reject politicians’ racist, classist, and carceral response to the drug and homelessness crises in our city. Mayor Breed, Governor Newsom, District Attorney Jenkins, and members of the Board of Supervisors have tried to redefine public safety in San Francisco as the presence of more police on our streets. They attack the symptoms of poverty instead of seeking to transform the profit-driven system that produces it.
Their demands are about more and more of the City and State budget – our money – going towards SFPD and other police agencies which then result in the racist criminalization of our communities. These politicians do not speak for us! We are fighting for the guaranteed right to safe and dignified housing, living wage jobs, comprehensive healthcare services to address the public health crisis of addiction and overdose deaths, and community-led violence interruption programs as an alternative approach to improving public safety. Please attend the rally and sign the petition demanding that SF and California government fund and empower our communities, not police.
Book Talk with Visiting Organizers from London
Two comrades from London are visiting SF on a tour discussing their new book, Troublemaking: Why You Should Organise Your Workplace. Lydia Hughes and Jamie Woodcock have been organizing with gig workers in the UK for the past decade, and will be discussing their work on May 24th at 6:30 p.m. at 1916 McAllister Street.
The culmination of years of conversations on picket lines, in community centers, and in union offices, with workers in Britain, the US, India, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, and across Europe, Troublemaking brings together lessons from around the world. Precarious workers like waste collectors in Mumbai show that no worker is “unorganizable,” and cleaner organizing at LSE and St Mary’s hospital in London and Sans-papier workers in France indicate that demanding more at work can lead to big wins. Struggles like The Water Wars in Cochabamba, Bolivia show how we can use our power beyond the workplace.
On Thursday, May 25th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister, the DSA SF Labor Working Group is hosting our second session in our monthly series of meetups for workers in tech and adjacent industries to come together, educate each other, and develop organizing strategies for the next phase of the tech worker movement.
For this upcoming meeting we are pleased to welcome Valentina Luketa, an organizer with United Electrical Workers (UE) who will be giving a short talk on the UE rank and file model of organizing tech.
Join DSA SF’s Labor Working Group on May 31st at 8 p.m. in Kerouac Alley for a free outdoor screening of Harlan County, USA, Barbara Kopple’s unforgettable documentary of a coal miners’ strike! Register to attend here.
Powerlands Film Screening
The Ecosoc Committee, AfroSoc Committee, the Education Board, and an Indigenous comrade welcome you to join us at 1916 McAllister for an outdoor film screening of Powerlands on June 4th from 7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
🍿Doors will open at 7 p.m. A brief introduction to the film starts at 7:30 p.m. The screening begins at 7:45 p.m. and lasts 75 mins. A 30-minute community discussion will follow the film. The film is in Zapotec, Blaan, Visayan, Wayuunaiki, Diné, Spanish, and English, with English subtitles. This is a sober event. The event location is not ADA accessible. There are three stairs to climb to get from the front of the office to the back two rooms and the backyard where the film screening will take place.
Powerlands is a film about the extractive nature of both the usual polluting suspects and the so-called “green energy” movement, a colonizer “new deal” which often exploits Indigenous peoples and lands. Powerlands follows the trail of extractive industries that have exploited the land where the director, Ivey-Camille Manybeads Tso, was born and around the world. Over the course of the documentary, she meets Indigenous women leading the struggle against the same corporations that are causing displacement and environmental catastrophe in her own home, and underscores that an Indigenous socialism must be driven by consent and care.
Sign Up to Distribute Socks with Homelessness Working Group
Come do sock distro with HWG! DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group is currently organizing a sock distribution, and restarting our chapter’s efforts directed toward connecting with our homeless neighbors. We’ll be low-key training chapter members about our specific approach to mutual aid and street solidarity, as well as building capacity for this and, potentially, more expansive mutual aid projects in the future! Sign up here!
Sign Up to Distribute Socks with Homelessness Working Group
Come do sock distro with HWG! DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group is currently organizing a sock distribution, and restarting our chapter’s efforts directed toward connecting with our homeless neighbors. We’ll be low-key training chapter members about our specific approach to mutual aid and street solidarity, as well as building capacity for this and, potentially, more expansive mutual aid projects in the future! Sign up here!
Join the Tenant Organizing Provisional Working Group!
Overlapping TANC and DSA SF members have come together to start a Tenant Organizing Provisional Working Group! Our goal is to build a cadre of well-versed tenant organizers in DSA SF that will help us reach mass tenant organizing efforts in order to fight back against the landlord class, in San Francisco and beyond. Join your neighbors in the tenant organizing movement by joining our slack channel #Tenant-Organizing!
East Bay and SF DSA Social at Anchor Public Taps
DSA SF will be hosting a cross-bay social at the Anchor Stream Public Taps at495 De Haro Streettomorrow, May 17th at 6:00 p.m. with East Bay DSA! Come hang with your fellow comrades from the East Bay and enjoy some union-made brews. RSVP here!
Join the Tenant Organizing PWG for the First Session of Our Socialist Housing Organizing Project (SHOP)!
Please join us on Saturday, May 20th at 3:00 p.m. at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister for the first module of this 3-part workshop to build DSA SF’s tenant organizing capacity and plug folks into autonomous tenant organizing efforts in the city. In our sessions, will discuss a socialist perspective on housing, current tenant rights in the city, and collaborate with seasoned TANC (Tenant and Neighborhood Councils) organizers on learning direct action strategies.
The first module focuses on A Defense of Housing’s first chapter “Against the Commodification of Housing,” as well as Tenants in Movement Reader’s “Tenant Power is Proletarian Power” which are both available in our RSVP link below!
Please join DSA SF’s AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color Committee at our Slow Book Club gathering on May 21st from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister. We will be covering Chapter 3 of Black Marxism by Cedric Robinson, and intend to cover approximately one chapter per month.
Two comrades from London are visiting SF on a tour discussing their new book, Troublemaking: Why You Should Organise Your Workplace. Lydia Hughes and Jamie Woodcock have been organizing with gig workers in the UK for the past decade, and will be discussing their work on May 24th at 6:30 p.m. at 1916 McAllister Street.
The culmination of years of conversations on picket lines, in community centers, and in union offices, with workers in Britain, the US, India, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, and across Europe, Troublemaking brings together lessons from around the world. Precarious workers like waste collectors in Mumbai show that no worker is “unorganizable,” and cleaner organizing at LSE and St Mary’s hospital in London and Sans-papier workers in France indicate that demanding more at work can lead to big wins. Struggles like The Water Wars in Cochabamba, Bolivia show how we can use our power beyond the workplace.
On Thursday, May 25th from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister, the DSA SF Labor Working Group is hosting our second session in our monthly series of meetups for workers in tech and adjacent industries to come together, educate each other, and develop organizing strategies for the next phase of the tech worker movement.
For this upcoming meeting we are pleased to welcome Valentina Luketa, an organizer with United Electrical Workers (UE) who will be giving a short talk on the UE rank and file model of organizing tech.
Join DSA SF’s Labor Working Group on May 31st at 8 p.m. in Kerouac Alley for a free outdoor screening of Harlan County, USA, Barbara Kopple’s unforgettable documentary of a coal miners’ strike! Register to attend here.
Powerlands Film Screening
The Ecosoc Committee, the Education Board, and an Indigenous comrade welcome you to join us at 1916 McAllister for an outdoor film screening of Powerlands on June 4th from 7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
🍿Doors will open at 7 p.m. A brief introduction to the film starts at 7:30 p.m. The screening begins at 7:45 p.m. and lasts 75 mins. A 30-minute community discussion will follow the film. The film is in Zapotec, Blaan, Visayan, Wayuunaiki, Diné, Spanish, and English, with English subtitles. This is a sober event.
Powerlands is a film about the extractive nature of both the usual polluting suspects and the so-called “green energy” movement, a colonizer “new deal” which often exploits Indigenous peoples and lands. Powerlands follows the trail of extractive industries that have exploited the land where the director, Ivey-Camille Manybeads Tso, was born and around the world. Over the course of the documentary, she meets Indigenous women leading the struggle against the same corporations that are causing displacement and environmental catastrophe in her own home, and underscores that an Indigenous socialism must be driven by consent and care.
Call the Board of Supervisors Today to Demand Justice for Banko Brown!
We would like to encourage members of the chapter to give public comment at the SF Board of Supervisors meeting today (5/9) to call for the Board of Supervisors to demand that the SF District Attorney release all evidence related to the killing of Banko Brown and stand in solidarity with Brown’s friends and family. To give public comment, you can attend the meeting in person or call 415-655-0001 before or during the meeting’s public comment period. You can find additional public comment instructions in the meeting’s agenda.
Tech Workers Unite to Talk Organizing!
The first meeting of the Tech Worker Meetup subgroup of the Labor Working Group was attended by nearly 30 tech workers from a variety of backgrounds, from prospective members to organizers from the Alphabet Workers Union. We discussed the recent turmoil in the tech industry and the growing opportunity for new organizing in tech. Stop by #tech-talk in the DSA SF Slack or contact Jason Prado at jason.prado@gmail.com if you are a tech worker interested in joining the group. The next meetup will be scheduled for the end of May.
May Chapter Meeting
The May chapter meeting will be tomorrow, Wednesday, May 10th from 6:45 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. You can attend remotely via Zoom or in-person at 2969 Mission Street. Masks are required for in-person attendees.
The chapter is gearing up to vote for a variety of positions within the chapter and the larger DSA organization, which makes this an excellent meeting to attend whether you’re new to the chapter and curious about DSA SF’s democratic process, or a longstanding member who would like a say in how the chapter is run.
Upcoming Chapter Elections
We’re back with a 🌹 Convention Update 🌹 your easy guide to what’s happening with convention this week and next!
Sign Up to Distribute Socks with Homelessness Working Group
Come do sock distro with HWG! DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group is currently organizing a sock distribution, and restarting our chapter’s efforts directed toward connecting with our homeless neighbors. We’ll be low-key training chapter members about our specific approach to mutual aid and street solidarity, as well as building capacity for this and, potentially, more expansive mutual aid projects in the future! Sign up here!
Join the Tenant Organizing Provisional Working Group!
Overlapping TANC and DSA SF members have come together to start a Tenant Organizing Provisional Working Group! Our goal is to build a cadre of well-versed tenant organizers in DSA SF that will help us reach mass tenant organizing efforts in order to fight back against the landlord class, in San Francisco and beyond. Join your neighbors in the tenant organizing movement by joining our slack channel #Tenant-Organizing!
Apply to Be Part of the SF Civil Grand Jury!
Every year, each county in California convenes a Civil Grand Jury to investigate local city and county government. In contrast to a criminal Grand Jury, the SF Civil Grand Jury comprises 19 ordinary residents who research and investigate any topics of their choosing related to local government, then release reports with recommendations on how to improve City government. City and county officials are required to make themselves available for interview if the Civil Grand Jury requests it, and City departments are required to respond to recommendations by the Civil Grand Jury.
If you’re interested in the details of how City government works and want to help make it function better – and like conducting interviews and deep dives on documents and records – this opportunity may be for you! The only requirements for the SF Civil Grand Jury are that you are a U.S. Citizen, and that you have been a resident of SF for one year. The time requirements are generally around 10 hours per week, but anybody who is interested in doing more research and investigation can put more time in if they would like. Finally, Civil Grand Jury service is paid and fulfills requirements like normal jury service — a maximum of $75/week is paid depending on days worked on investigations.
The deadline for application is May 12, and anybody who is interested in applying can find the application form, as well as more information, here.
Revolutionary Selfie: The Red Battalion Film Screening
Join DSA SF International Solidarity Committee and Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle-San Francisco on May 12 at 6:30 p.m. at 1916 McAllister St, San Francisco for a film screening of Revolutionary Selfie: The Red Battalion, a mock video game film that shows us face to face with the armed warriors of the New People’s Army, which the CIA dubs a foreign terrorist organization in the Philippines.
DSA SF will be hosting a cross-bay social at the Anchor Stream Public Taps at495 De Haro Street on May 17th at 6:00 p.m. with East Bay DSA! Come hang with your fellow comrades from the East Bay and enjoy some union-made brews. RSVP here!
Free Outdoor Screening of Harlan County, USA!
Join DSA SF’s Labor Working Group on May 31st at 8 p.m. in Kerouac Alley for a free outdoor screening of Harlan County, USA, Barbara Kopple’s unforgettable documentary of a coal miners’ strike! Register to attend here.
Book Talk with Visiting Organizers from London
Two comrades from London are visiting SF on a tour discussing their new book, Troublemaking: Why You Should Organise Your Workplace. Lydia Hughes and Jamie Woodcock have been organizing with gig workers in the UK for the past decade, and will be discussing their work on May 24th at 6:30 p.m. at 1916 McAllister Street.
The culmination of years of conversations on picket lines, in community centers, and in union offices, with workers in Britain, the US, India, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil, and across Europe, Troublemaking brings together lessons from around the world. Precarious workers like waste collectors in Mumbai show that no worker is “unorganizable,” and cleaner organizing at LSE and St Mary’s hospital in London and Sans-papier workers in France indicate that demanding more at work can lead to big wins. Struggles like The Water Wars in Cochabamba, Bolivia show how we can use our power beyond the workplace.
DSA SF stands in grief and solidarity with the friends and family of Banko Brown, and we demand a full release of the video evidence pertaining to his horrifying public execution at the hands of an armed Walgreens security guard. While the investigation of Banko’s murder is ongoing, the San Francisco community deserves to know the full truth and see what led to this tragedy.
San Francisco’s Black, trans, homeless, and poor communities, like Banko Brown, deserve better. Local media initially claimed there was a knife in Banko’s possession, and that the security guard who murdered him was “acting in self-defense.” These details have since been shown to be false. Yet, this media misinformation has traveled and continues to be perpetuated; further normalizing an environment that effectively sanctions the killing of poor and homeless people—whether by the state or by private citizens—at the expense of protecting capital.
Banko, a Black trans man who was a homeless organizer with the Young Women’s Freedom Center, was also deadnamed and misgendered by this same local media that spread lies about his death. We express dismay with the process of Black and trans dehumanization following this tragedy.
We also note the parallels with recent events related to the murder of Bob Lee, and the former Fire Commissioner Don Carmignani, who allegedly bear maced at least eight homeless people, and we reject misinformation about vulnerable victims being spread across various platforms which was enabled in part by the police and DA’s decisions not to share crucial information with the public. As the DA’s office releases selective bits of information while withholding others regarding the circumstances of Banko’s murder, some are celebrating this tragedy.
Overblown narratives about crime have not only shifted attention away from those who need help the most in this city, they also have highlighted the closure of corporate stores that had been on the brink of shutting down for almost a decade. While local media and police fan frenzy over shoplifting, $9 million of wage theft by San Francisco’s Marriott hotels has been buried or downplayed by the press. We note the conspicuous absence of breathless opinion pieces detailing the descent into lawlessness by San Francisco’s corporations.
Law-and-order preachers across the political spectrum are fear mongering about poor people stealing items from shelves when they are in a country that has stolen all of its land from Indigenous peoples, and in a “golden” state that organized itself around the theft of people, resources, and land. On stolen land, everything is stolen and exploited by the capitalist class who continue to rake in profits that are unpaid wages.
Banko’s murder is a clear example of how capitalism fails poor and homeless people. Despite Mayor London Breed’s feel-good pledge to “end transgender homelessness”, the facts on the ground show many people like Banko have been turned away from supportive housing and were told to sleep on the street.
This society, in its infinite cruelty, puts vulnerable people into positions of desperation and then celebrates their deaths. As socialists, we reject this sickness completely. We must bring an end to the system that capitalists defend. Major corporations like Walgreens can replace or write off $14.00 worth of candy, but they cannot replace Banko Brown’s life.
The first meeting of the Tech Worker Meetup subgroup of the Labor Working Group was attended by nearly 30 tech workers from a variety of backgrounds, from prospective members to organizers from the Alphabet Workers Union. We discussed the recent turmoil in the tech industry and the growing opportunity for new organizing in tech. Stop by #tech-talk in the DSA SF Slack or contact Jason Prado at jason.prado@gmail.com if you are a tech worker interested in joining the group. The next meetup will be scheduled for the end of May.
UESF Informational Pickets This Week!
DSA SF stands with SF educators who are organizing for raises, improved working conditions, and the schools students deserve. UESF is putting on informational pickets every day this week at 50+ schools all over the city to talk with parents and community members about why this contract fight is important and how we can take action together to win the schools SF’s students deserve. Click here to find an informational picket near you!
These pickets will be taking place outdoors. Masks are optional.
Upcoming Chapter Elections!
We’re back with a 🌹 Convention Update 🌹 your easy guide to what’s happening with convention this week and next!
Coming up this week: – Wednesday, 5/3 – Pre-Convention Discussion & Workshop (Hybrid) – Drop-in when you can for open discussion, Q&A, workshopping priorities and charters, whatever folks bring!
Sign Up to Distribute Socks with Homelessness Working Group
Come do sock distro with HWG! DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group is currently organizing a sock distribution, and restarting our chapter’s efforts directed toward connecting with our homeless neighbors. We’ll be low-key training chapter members about our specific approach to mutual aid and street solidarity, as well as building capacity for this and, potentially, more expansive mutual aid projects in the future! Sign up here!
Join the Tenant Organizing Provisional Working Group!
Overlapping TANC and DSA SF members have come together to start a Tenant Organizing Provisional Working Group! Our goal is to build a cadre of well-versed tenant organizers in DSA SF that will help us reach mass tenant organizing efforts in order to fight back against the landlord class, in San Francisco and beyond. Join your neighbors in the tenant organizing movement by joining our slack channel #Tenant-Organizing!
Button and Sticker Making Workshop
Join DSA SF’s Communications and Chapter Coordination Committees (CCC) on Friday, May 5th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for a button and sticker making workshop at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister! No experience required.
We’ll be making buttons and stickers with various designs, and will show you the step-by-step process on how to make each of them. We’ll also have set designs ahead of time for you to choose from, but other designs that promote socialism are also encouraged.
Join DSA SF’s Communications Committee and AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color Committee for a self-guided group tour of “Seize the Time” by Angela Davis exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California (1000 Oak St, Oakland, CA 94607) on May 6 at 11:30 a.m., followed by a social at Mad Oak Bar ‘N’ Yard. Spots are limited for the group tour, so please RSVP here! All are welcome to join for this tour.
East Bay and SF DSA Social at Anchor Public Taps
DSA SF will be hosting a cross-bay social at the Anchor Stream Public Taps at495 De Haro Street on May 17th at 6:00 p.m. with East Bay DSA! Come hang with your fellow comrades from the East Bay and enjoy some union-made brews. RSVP here!
Free Outdoor Screening of Harlan County, USA!
Join DSA SF’s Labor Working Group on May 31st at 8 p.m. in Kerouac Alley for a free outdoor screening of Harlan County, USA, Barbara Kopple’s unforgettable documentary of a coal miners’ strike! Register to attend here.
🌹Saturday, 4/29 (2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): Coordination + Communication: How to Gear Up for the Right Tools (In person at the DSA SF office, 1916 McAllister)
🌹Monday, 5/1 (11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.): International Workers’ Day March (Meet in person at the DSA SF office, 1916 McAllister)
🌹Wednesday, 5/17 (6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): DSA SF + East Bay DSA Social (In person at Anchor Public Taps, 495 De Haro Street)
Announcements
Labor 101: Organizing Your Workplace
Join DSA SF Labor WG for a Labor 101 training session on April 26th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. to discuss new workplace organizing, exciting developments at places like Starbucks, share experiences and connect with your fellow socialist workers! This event is open to everyone of all levels and experience. This will also be a hybrid event, held both on Zoom and in person at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister. To attend the event, sign up at the link below.
👋 Some important chapter business is coming up in the next few months as we near our chapter’s annual convention in June and national DSA’s biennial convention in August.🌹 Steering will be following up every week or so with updates/reminders.
We’re highlighting the upcoming elections. Currently, Steering is:
Collecting nominations for delegates to National DSA convention. Elections will be held at the May general meeting.
Starting to collect nominations for Steering and Grievance Officers. Nominations will close at the May general meeting and elections will be held at convention in June.
DSA SF Labor Education and Training Interest Survey
Want to learn how to organize your workplace? Support workers’ fights against Amazon and Starbucks? Understand the importance of labor as a key to winning socialism? Complete the 2-minute DSA SF Labor Education and Training Interest survey to let the DSA SF Labor Working Group know what training and education you’re interested so we can tailor labor education and training events to your interests.
Looking Ahead to National Convention
The deadline for rank and file members to endorse proposals for the 2023 DSA National Convention in Chicago, IL is this Friday, April 28th. Chapter member and alternate to the 2021 convention Ryan V. shared his perspective on the DSA SF forum. Check out the official convention websitefor more information and nominate delegates to the convention today.
Sign Up to Distribute Socks with Homelessness Working Group
Come do sock distro with HWG! DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group is currently organizing a sock distribution, and restarting our chapter’s efforts directed toward connecting with our homeless neighbors. We’ll be low-key training chapter members about our specific approach to mutual aid and street solidarity, as well as building capacity for this and, potentially, more expansive mutual aid projects in the future!
Join the Tenant Organizing Provisional Working Group!
Overlapping TANC and DSA SF members have come together to start a Tenant Organizing Provisional Working Group! Our goal is to build a cadre of well-versed tenant organizers in DSA SF that will help us reach mass tenant organizing efforts in order to fight back the landlord class, in San Francisco and beyond. Join your neighbors in the tenant organizing movement by joining our slack channel #Tenant-Organizing!
DSA SF Labor Tech Worker Meetup: Organize Your Colleagues!
As the tech industry experiences upheaval after upheaval, what role can we play as workers in San Francisco, the heart of the international tech industry?
DSA SF is hosting a monthly series of in-person meetups for workers in tech and adjacent industries to come together, educate each other, and develop organizing strategies for the next phase of the tech worker movement. The first meeting will take place on Thursday, April 27th at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister. You can register to attend below!
Join DSA SF International Solidarity Committee and Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle-San Francisco for a screening of the film The Guerrilla is a Poet on Friday, April 28th at 6:30 p.m. at 1916 McAllister St. Based on the life of Jose Maria Sison (or Joma), a legend in proletarian struggles and People’s War in the Global South, the film depicts the resistance of Sison and other activists during Martial Law in the Philippines (which was silently supported by the US), as well as Sison’s capture and imprisonment in the years that followed. There will be time afterwards to discuss the film and ways that we can support the ongoing national struggle taking place in the Philippines. Masks are required. Food and drinks will be provided! To learn more about Sison, check out this interview with the Guerrilla History podcast.
Join us as we prepare for the May Day rally and march this upcoming Monday, May 1st!
To make sure we’re able to attend full force, be sure to attend our phone banktoday, April 25th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., at 1916 McAllister. We will also be hosting a Sign Making event on Saturday, April 29th, from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at 1916 McAllister to prepare banners and signs to showcase at the May 1st rally and march!
Want to join the march? We’re meeting up at the DSA SF office on 1916 McAllister at 11:00 a.m. Monday morning, so we can head over and march together – be sure to wear red! If you want to meet us at the ILWU Local 10 Union Hall, be sure to be there by 12:00 p.m. to make sure you march with the rest of the chapter. Just look for the red flags!
We will begin the march at the ILWU Local 10 Union Hall (400 North Point) at 12:30 p.m. where Angela Davis and other important labor organizers will rally us, and lead us into a march. DSA SF will be part of the International Workers’ Day march, followed by a picnic at Coit Tower at 3:00 p.m.
Button and Sticker Making Workshop
Join DSA SF’s Communications and Chapter Coordination Committees (CCC) on Friday, May 5th from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. for a button and sticker making workshop at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister! No experience required.
We’ll be making buttons and stickers with various designs, and will show you the step-by-step process on how to make each of them. We’ll also have set designs ahead of time for you to choose from, but other designs that promote socialism are also encouraged.
Due to limited space at the office, registration is required below. We hope to see you there!
Join DSA SF’s Communications Committee and AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color Committee for a self-guided group tour of “Seize the Time” by Angela Davis exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California (1000 Oak St, Oakland, CA 94607) on May 6 at 11:30 a.m., followed by a social at Mad Oak Bar ‘N’ Yard. Spots are limited for the group tour, so please RSVP! All are welcome to join for this tour.
DSA SF will be hosting a cross-bay social at the Anchor Stream Public Taps at495 De Haro Street on May 17th at 6:00 p.m. with East Bay DSA! Come hang with your fellow comrades from the East Bay and enjoy some union-made brews.
Join DSA SF’s Labor Working Group on May 31st at 8 p.m. in Kerouac Alley for a free outdoor screening of Harlan County, USA, Barbara Kopple’s unforgettable documentary of a coal miners’ strike! Register to attend below.
