In an effort to build a culture of appreciation and solidarity, we’re starting a monthly feature to highlight comrades and their contributions to the chapter. If you want to appreciate comrades, please email comms@dsasf.org to tell us a little about them!

This month, we’re featuring Chris T., an IFPTE member, former co-chair of the Labor Organizing Committee (LOC) and former Steering Committee member and VP of DSA SF (2020-2021). In their work in DSA, Chris has demonstrated effective and principled leadership, even in their rank & file role. We in Comms know Chris as someone who consistently guides us towards long-term and thoughtful planning, and that also goes for their work within the International Solidarity Organizing Committee (ISOC) and the CCC Community Team.

One comrade says of Chris:

“Chris is kind, thoughtful, highly detail-oriented, and incredibly generous with their time when collaborating with others. They often take on work overlooked by others in order to make sure the projects they’re involved in are successful, even if they don’t get credit for it. When Chris disagrees with someone or has a question about a proposal, they are able to politely articulate their perspective and consider possible ways to resolve conflicts with humility, nuance, and sincerity. They go above and beyond in demonstrating what it means to be a good comrade, both in word and deed.”

If you have the opportunity to connect with Chris either in organizing or via the #donuts-and-roses channel – which they are helping organize in their community building work – then you would be lucky to meet one of the Chapter’s most thoughtful and kind members! 

Solidarity,

DSA SF Comms Committee

Events

🌹 Wednesday, 3/9 (6:45 p.m.): March Chapter Meeting (hybrid Zoom and in-person meeting at 518 Valencia St.)

🌹 Thursday, 3/10 (7:00 p.m.): Introduction to Democratic Socialism: Session One (in-person at the DSA SF office on 1916 McAllister Street)

🌹 Saturday, 3/12 (3:00 p.m.): Discussing Walter Rodney’s Groundings with My Brothers (Zoom)

🌹 Sunday, 3/13 (12:30 p.m.): Mobilization for the Empty Homes Tax Campaign (in-person at the Panhandle)

🌹 Saturday, 3/19 (2:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Book Club: Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future (in-person, at the Panhandle in Golden Gate Park)

🌹 Sunday, 3/20 (12:00 p.m.): Teach-In: Palestine & BDS 101 (Zoom)

🌹 Saturday, 3/26 (10:00 a.m.): Naila and the Uprising Film Screening (Zoom)

For more events, click here.

Announcements

Get more involved in the Empty Homes Tax campaign!

DSA SF is working to pass an Empty Homes tax on vacant apartments in San Francisco – the first thing we need to do is make it onto the ballot! We’ll be gathering signatures every weekend and making phone calls all week to make sure we hit our goal. Our next mobilization will be Sunday, March 13 in the Panhandle at 12:30 p.m. If you can’t make it to the event, we need all the help we can get making turnout and onboarding calls during the week. Pre-register for the event or sign up to volunteer here and help us get on the ballot!

Join the Education Committee for an Intro to Democratic Socialism!

Whether you’re new to socialism or just need a refresher on the basics, everyone is welcome to attend session one of Introduction to Democratic Socialism with DSA SF member and former Massachusetts House of Representatives member Tom Gallagher. The first session will take place at the DSA office on 1916 McAllister Street this Thursday, March 10 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and will cover class, political economy, labor theory of value, and what we mean when we talk about capitalism, socialism, and communism. Relevant reading for the session includes Socialism for Beginners by Anna Paczuska, Marx for Beginners by Rius, and Value, Price and Profit (Wages, Price, and Profit) by Karl Marx. We ask that all in attendance be masked and vaccinated.

RESCHEDULED! A Conversation about Internationalism with the International Committee

RESCHEDULED! Curious about our international work? Join DSA SF and members of DSA International Committee on Monday, March 21 at 5:30 p.m. PST for a conversation about internationalism, what the IC is doing, and how we can do this work on the local level. Register here!

Teach-In: Palestine & BDS 101

Want to learn more about Palestine and BDS? Join DSA SF and DSA East Bay for a teach-in on Sunday, March 20 at 12:00 p.m. to learn more about this topic. We’ll be joined by speakers such as Lara Kiswani from AROC, Olivia Katbi from BDS Movement and Portland DSA, and Nadya Tannous from Palestinian Youth Movement, NDN Collective, and Al-Shabaka. This is an amazing lineup, so people definitely don’t want to miss out! Register for the Zoom session here.

RESCHEDULED! Naila and the Uprising Film Screening

Join DSA SF & East Bay DSA for a rescheduled screening of the film Naila and the Uprising on Saturday, March 26 at 10:00 a.m. This film tells the story of Naila Ayesh, a Palestinian woman and activist, who resisted the Israeli occupation during the First Intifada from 1987 to 1993. The film also highlights Naila and other Palestinian women coming together to mobilize their community. This film is over an hour long, followed by a group discussion. Register here!

Reading Groups

Discussing Walter Rodney’s Groundings with My Brothers

Join Black Liberation and Indigenous Sovereignty and the Education Committee as we continue to discuss Walter Rodney’s Groundings with My Brothers. This Saturday, March 12 at 3:00 p.m. on Zoom, we will have a 1.5-hour free-form discussion of the last three chapters, chapters 3-6. You can register for the Zoom meeting here.
 
In this classic work published in the heady days of anti-colonial revolution, Groundings with My Brothers follows the global circulation of emancipatory ideas, from the black students of North America to the Rasta counterculture of Jamaica and beyond. The book is striking in its simultaneous ability to survey the wide and heterogeneous international context while remaining anchored in grassroots politics, as Rodney offers us first-hand accounts of mass movement organizing. Having inspired a generation of revolutionaries, this new edition will re-introduce the book to a new political landscape that it helped shape, with reflections from leading scholar-activists.

Ecosocialist Book Club: Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future

Join the DSA SF Ecosocialist Committee’s book club for a special one-shot discussion on March 19. We’re reading and discussing Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future – you can get the book here. The Ministry for the Future is a novel about the near future of climate change – the environmental cost, the human cost, and how we might work collectively for a different future. Open to all – register now!