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East Bay DSA Newsletter July 1, 2021
The key for us is to draw more and more people into pathways of thinking and pathways of action that go in the direction of questioning established authority and giving people a meaningful say about the realities and decisions affecting their lives.
Paul Le Blanc
Comrades,

If climate change was truly everyone’s problem, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten so bad. But the truth is, it’s not a problem for capitalists. For instance, even when a climate emergency hits the corporate headquarters of Amazon, you can assume it doesn’t really bother the asshole in charge.

Capitalists like Jeff Bezos dump fuel on the fire with Prime Day and private space flights, but they never feel the heat; that’s just how the economy works for them. Farmworkers toil in unbearable heat to make their living, and incarcerated people (when they’re not fighting our fires) are held in sweltering conditions without respite or recourse. But why should that cause the capitalist to sweat? That’s still just the economy working.

One of our tasks in the socialist movement is to bring balance back into this equation. Disrespect towards workers deserves our disrespect; the discomfort of the poor should discomfort us all! And the people who are heating the planet should have to feel the heat themselves.

We want to thank our outgoing steering committee, who concluded their terms this week. You all guided us during a chaotic and at times heartbreaking year, and achieved an incredible amount even without the in-person meetings and events that we used to take for granted. Thank you, cheers, and solidarity forever.

And welcome to the new SC, who are hitting the ground running with new ideas and tons of enthusiasm. We’ll have exciting updates to share from them shortly; for now, take a look at our events calendar to see how you can get involved! And please be careful setting off fireworks.

Solidarity!
Today at 4 p.m., meet at the San Francisco Federal Building! Let’s tell our government to stop enabling ethnic cleansing in Palestine.
News and Information
Be sure to check out East Bay Majority, East Bay DSA's news source with a socialist perspective, for the latest news and information.

TRANSIT CORRIDOR BULLETIN #3: FARES, WHY BOTHER?

On May 11, riders pressured the AC Transit Board of Directors to delay a proposed fare increase to 2022. But we should be talking about getting rid of fares entirely.

Read more
Featured Events
While we are still unable to meet face-to-face, events are still going on that you can be a part of. RSVP below to stay updated. You can also keep track on our Events page.

TAKE ACTION ON PALESTINE: TELL PELOSI TO END AID TO ISRAEL

Today! July 1 | 4–6 p.m.
San Francisco Federal Building, 90 7th St.
Join AROC (Arab Resource and Organizing Center), JFP (Jewish Voice for Peace), and other local orgs for a protest at the SF Federal building this afternoon! Palestinian families in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah continue to be in danger of being forcibly expelled from their homes by the Israeli government. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Jerusalem is part of apartheid Israel's long and violent history across all of Palestine, which is made possible with U.S. has funding. Join us to call on Democratic leadership, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to stop giving Israel the green light on ethnic cleansing and IMMEDIATELY halt scheduled expulsions.
Use this call-in link to email and call her office leading up to today’s event.

RSVP on Facebook

DEFUND OPD/REFUND OAKLAND PHONEBANK!

Tonight! July 1 | 6–8 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info ♿️
The Oakland budget is currently being negotiated in City Hall and we have until June 30th to make sure elected officials support defunding the police and refunding of services, housing, education, arts, mental health services, and other programs that enhance Black lives and Oakland's working class communities.

No experience is necessary! Making calls is easy, and there will be zoom training before you start. This is a great event for anyone whether you're new to political campaigns or a seasoned organizer! Phone banking is also a great activity you can do from the safety of your home, during COVID!

RSVP below to join the virtual phone bank at 6 pm. You will need a camera and microphone on your computer, as well as a phone or headset to make the calls. Instructions will be provided once you join!

RSVP

BRANCHES IN EBDSA: OPEN MEETING

Thursday, July 8 | 6–7 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info ♿️
Do you want to build local connections in East Bay DSA and orient our work regionally? Do you live/work north of Berkeley or south of Oakland and want to organize a DSA presence in your area?

Join the newly established Branches Working Group for an open meeting! We'll discuss our goals for the working group and how branch structures can help the chapter carry out its priorities.

RSVP for the Zoom link!

RSVP

PRISONS AND ALTERNATIVES TO HARM

Saturday, July 10 | noon–1:30 p.m.

Online via Zoom ♿️

The final class in our “What is Abolition?” series will take a look at the prison system and the conditions that prisoners face, as well as looking at alternatives to dealing with harm. Do prisons actually change people’s behaviors? Or reduce harm? What are alternative ways that we can address interpersonal harm? What is transformative justice? Join this discussion hosted by the EBDSA Political Education Committee and the Racial Solidarity Committee and explore these questions with your DSA comrades.

Readings + videos to come!

Join on Zoom

RSVP

July General Meeting & Chapter Social

Sunday, July 11 | 1–3 p.m.
TBD
Please join us for our July General Meeting. More details coming soon!

RED SQUARE: TRANSIT FOR THE PEOPLE

Tuesday, July 13 | 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Online via Zoom ♿️
Be it via car, bus, train, or bike, everyone uses some form of transportation as a daily part of their lives. But how does this connect to socialism, class struggle, and racial justice?

Join the People’s Transit Alliance and Political Education to learn about how public transportation is an important site for socialist organizing. From public transit’s role as a unionized labor sector to its crucial position as a tool in the fight for ecosocialism and collective struggle, it’s clear that the stakes of how we move around where we live are high.

We will reflect on transportation’s role in capitalism and how it might be transformed, important moments in socialist history that engage transit, and all the possible angles for organizing class struggle and winning a transit system that exists for and through the working class.

See you there!

Join on Zoom

RSVP
Upcoming Events

GREEN NEW DEAL COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING (VIRTUAL)

Wednesday, July 14 | 6:45–8:45 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info ♿️
Our Green New Deal Committee meets on the second Wednesday each month. We will discuss eco-socialist issues, upcoming events and actions, committee priorities, and campaigns. All are welcome! Please RSVP to receive the URL to the meeting or email [email protected].

RSVP
Catch up on Socialist Night School
CATCH UP ON NIGHT SCHOOL
With social distancing guidelines still in place, now's as good a time as any to catch up on our Socialist Night School.

Catch up on past night school readings and videos below.

Watch past Night School videos

Catch up on Night School readings
Not a Member Yet? Let's Fix That.
DSA now has more than 90,000 members nationally, and we're still growing. There's never been a better time to get involved than right now! Join our national organization by clicking below and become an official socialist organizer.

Join DSA
This Saturday, join our Political Education and Racial Solidarity committees for the final section of our spring Night School series, “What is Abolition?” We’ll be discussing prisons and alternatives to harm. Our ability to fight for a better world is only as strong as our capacity to envision it; come learn why prison abolition must be a priority in that fight, and how it can expand that vision.
Caucus Corner
Our caucuses organize events too! Check out the Caucus Corner of our website to learn more about the activities of East Bay DSA caucuses and how to participate.
Announcements
MEET WITH A MOBILIZER!
Are you a new DSA member? Or are you looking to get more involved with East Bay DSA's projects and campaigns? Sign up to talk to a mobilizer!

Here are three reasons to sign up to talk to a mobilizer:

  1. Meet a fellow socialist organizer
    We want to build a movement of millions of working class people and change the exploitative and oppressive system in which we live, but we do that first and foremost by building one-to-one connections with each other.
     
  2. Answer your questions
    Learn more about DSA, the local East Bay chapter, and our different committees and projects.
     
  3. Get more involved
    The main thing a mobilizer will help you with is getting more involved in DSA. Maybe there’s a campaign or project you’re particularly interested in, or maybe you’re a blank slate and you don’t really know what to do. Either way, a mobilizer will help you figure it out.
Sign up to talk to a mobilizer!
In fact, neither nature nor social reproductive capacities are infinite; both of them can be stretched to the breaking point. Many people already appreciate this in the case of nature, and we are starting to understand it as well in the case of “care.” When a society simultaneously withdraws public support for social reproduction and conscripts the chief providers of it into long and grueling hours of paid work, it depletes the very social capacities on which it depends.
Nancy Fraser

This email was sent to [email protected].

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The key for us is to draw more and more people into pathways of thinking and pathways of action that go in the direction of questioning established authority and giving people a meaningful say about the realities and decisions affecting their lives.

-- Paul Le Blanc

Comrades,

If climate change was truly everyone’s problem, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten so bad. But the truth is, it’s not a problem for capitalists. For instance, even when a climate emergency hits the corporate headquarters of Amazon, you can assume it doesn’t really bother the asshole in charge.

Capitalists like Jeff Bezos dump fuel on the fire with Prime Day (https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/21/tech/workers-amazon-prime-day/index.html) and private space flights, but they never feel the heat; that’s just how the economy works for them. Farmworkers (https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7ezk4/farmworkers-endure-brutal-conditions-during-historic-heat-wave) toil in unbearable heat to make their living, and incarcerated people (when they’re not fighting our fires) are held in sweltering conditions (https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/10/11/cooking-them-to-death-the-lethal-toll-of-hot-prisons) without respite or recourse. But why should that cause the capitalist to sweat? That’s still just the economy working.

One of our tasks in the socialist movement is to bring balance back into this equation. Disrespect towards workers deserves our disrespect; the discomfort of the poor should discomfort us all! And the people who are heating the planet should have to feel the heat themselves.

We want to thank our outgoing steering committee, who concluded their terms this week. You all guided us during a chaotic and at times heartbreaking year, and achieved an incredible amount even without the in-person meetings and events that we used to take for granted. Thank you, cheers, and solidarity forever.

And welcome to the new SC, who are hitting the ground running with new ideas and tons of enthusiasm. We’ll have exciting updates to share from them shortly; for now, take a look at our events calendar (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/) to see how you can get involved! And please be careful setting off fireworks (https://twitter.com/JessicaOhTV/status/1410428389983342592?s=20) .

Solidarity!

News and Information
Be sure to check out East Bay Majority (https://eastbaymajority.com/) , East Bay DSA's news source with a socialist perspective, for the latest news and information.


** TRANSIT CORRIDOR BULLETIN #3: FARES, WHY BOTHER?

------------------------------------------------------------
On May 11, riders pressured the AC Transit Board of Directors to delay a proposed fare increase to 2022. But we should be talking about getting rid of fares entirely.

Read more (https://eastbaymajority.com/buses-public-transportation-ac-transit-fare-free/)
Featured Events
While we are still unable to meet face-to-face, events are still going on that you can be a part of. RSVP below to stay updated. You can also keep track on our Events page (http://eastbaydsa.org/events/) .


** TAKE ACTION ON PALESTINE: TELL PELOSI TO END AID TO ISRAEL

------------------------------------------------------------
Today! July 1 | 4–6 p.m.
San Francisco Federal Building, 90 7th St.
Join AROC (Arab Resource and Organizing Center), JFP (Jewish Voice for Peace), and other local orgs for a protest at the SF Federal building this afternoon! Palestinian families in Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah continue to be in danger of being forcibly expelled from their homes by the Israeli government. The ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Jerusalem is part of apartheid Israel's long and violent history across all of Palestine, which is made possible with U.S. has funding. Join us to call on Democratic leadership, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to stop giving Israel the green light on ethnic cleansing and IMMEDIATELY halt scheduled expulsions.
Use this call-in link (https://act.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/a/nancy-and-chuck-are-complicit?fbclid=IwAR2abw4uCkv0k2wITcPe7JX-WMYJ6SUiPCQvT9GMGTDGhjFj421bnD4IYFU) to email and call her office leading up to today’s event.

RSVP on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/events/158525689599105/)


** DEFUND OPD/REFUND OAKLAND PHONEBANK!

------------------------------------------------------------
Tonight! July 1 | 6–8 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1931/2021-07-01-defund-opd-refund-oakland-phonebank/) ♿️
The Oakland budget is currently being negotiated in City Hall and we have until June 30th to make sure elected officials support defunding the police and refunding of services, housing, education, arts, mental health services, and other programs that enhance Black lives and Oakland's working class communities.

No experience is necessary! Making calls is easy, and there will be zoom training before you start. This is a great event for anyone whether you're new to political campaigns or a seasoned organizer! Phone banking is also a great activity you can do from the safety of your home, during COVID!

RSVP below to join the virtual phone bank at 6 pm. You will need a camera and microphone on your computer, as well as a phone or headset to make the calls. Instructions will be provided once you join!

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1931/2021-07-01-defund-opd-refund-oakland-phonebank/)


** BRANCHES IN EBDSA: OPEN MEETING

------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, July 8 | 6–7 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1944/2021-07-08-branches-in-ebdsa-open-meeting/) ♿️
Do you want to build local connections in East Bay DSA and orient our work regionally? Do you live/work north of Berkeley or south of Oakland and want to organize a DSA presence in your area?

Join the newly established Branches Working Group for an open meeting! We'll discuss our goals for the working group and how branch structures can help the chapter carry out its priorities.

RSVP for the Zoom link!

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1944/2021-07-08-branches-in-ebdsa-open-meeting/)


**
------------------------------------------------------------

PRISONS AND ALTERNATIVES TO HARM
Saturday, July 10 | noon–1:30 p.m.

Online via Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82412610160?pwd=NFNUU09WTHhTTGVCYSs1M2xMRlBqUT09) ♿️

The final class in our “What is Abolition?” series will take a look at the prison system and the conditions that prisoners face, as well as looking at alternatives to dealing with harm. Do prisons actually change people’s behaviors? Or reduce harm? What are alternative ways that we can address interpersonal harm? What is transformative justice? Join this discussion hosted by the EBDSA Political Education Committee and the Racial Solidarity Committee and explore these questions with your DSA comrades.

Readings + videos to come!

Join on Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82412610160?pwd=NFNUU09WTHhTTGVCYSs1M2xMRlBqUT09)

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1941/2021-07-10-prisons-and-alternatives-to-harm/)


** July General Meeting & Chapter Social

------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, July 11 | 1–3 p.m.
TBD
Please join us for our July General Meeting. More details coming soon!


** RED SQUARE: TRANSIT FOR THE PEOPLE

------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, July 13 | 6:30–8:30 p.m.
Online via Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85330903556?pwd=SFF2em5aa0RueHdLZVgwR1AySGxndz09) ♿️
Be it via car, bus, train, or bike, everyone uses some form of transportation as a daily part of their lives. But how does this connect to socialism, class struggle, and racial justice?

Join the People’s Transit Alliance and Political Education to learn about how public transportation is an important site for socialist organizing. From public transit’s role as a unionized labor sector to its crucial position as a tool in the fight for ecosocialism and collective struggle, it’s clear that the stakes of how we move around where we live are high.

We will reflect on transportation’s role in capitalism and how it might be transformed, important moments in socialist history that engage transit, and all the possible angles for organizing class struggle and winning a transit system that exists for and through the working class.

See you there!

Join on Zoom (https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85330903556?pwd=SFF2em5aa0RueHdLZVgwR1AySGxndz09)

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1940/2021-07-13-red-square-transit-for-the-people/)
Upcoming Events


**
------------------------------------------------------------

GREEN NEW DEAL COMMITTEE MONTHLY MEETING (VIRTUAL)
Wednesday, July 14 | 6:45–8:45 p.m.
Online via Zoom – RSVP for info (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1702/2021-07-14-green-new-deal-committee-monthly-meeting-virtual/) ♿️
Our Green New Deal Committee meets on the second Wednesday each month. We will discuss eco-socialist issues, upcoming events and actions, committee priorities, and campaigns. All are welcome! Please RSVP to receive the URL to the meeting or email [email protected].

RSVP (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/events/1702/2021-07-14-green-new-deal-committee-monthly-meeting-virtual/)
Catch up on Socialist Night School
CATCH UP ON NIGHT SCHOOL
With social distancing guidelines still in place, now's as good a time as any to catch up on our Socialist Night School.

Catch up on past night school readings and videos below.

Watch past Night School videos (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeMYhhCCTFq1jGdOt6lcF8l7HQJwnJndD)

Catch up on Night School readings (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/night-school/)
Not a Member Yet? Let's Fix That.
DSA now has more than 90,000 members nationally, and we're still growing. There's never been a better time to get involved than right now! Join our national organization by clicking below and become an official socialist organizer.

Join DSA (http://dsausa.org/join?source=East%20Bay)


Caucus Corner
Our caucuses organize events too! Check out the Caucus Corner of our website (https://www.eastbaydsa.org/about/caucuses/) to learn more about the activities of East Bay DSA caucuses and how to participate.


Announcements


MEET WITH A MOBILIZER!
Are you a new DSA member? Or are you looking to get more involved with East Bay DSA's projects and campaigns? Sign up to talk to a mobilizer!

Here are three reasons to sign up to talk to a mobilizer:
1. Meet a fellow socialist organizer
We want to build a movement of millions of working class people and change the exploitative and oppressive system in which we live, but we do that first and foremost by building one-to-one connections with each other.

2. Answer your questions
Learn more about DSA, the local East Bay chapter, and our different committees and projects.

3. Get more involved
The main thing a mobilizer will help you with is getting more involved in DSA. Maybe there’s a campaign or project you’re particularly interested in, or maybe you’re a blank slate and you don’t really know what to do. Either way, a mobilizer will help you figure it out.

Sign up to talk to a mobilizer! (https://forms.gle/np21b7Jt225z4xmq5)


In fact, neither nature nor social reproductive capacities are infinite; both of them can be stretched to the breaking point. Many people already appreciate this in the case of nature, and we are starting to understand it as well in the case of “care.” When a society simultaneously withdraws public support for social reproduction and conscripts the chief providers of it into long and grueling hours of paid work, it depletes the very social capacities on which it depends.

-- Nancy Fraser

============================================================

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