DSA SF condemns the DSA National Political Committee (NPC) for their recent vote to endorse Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC). Though the NPC put conditions of a stronger commitment to Palestinian liberation for her endorsement, these conditions were established without expectation of commitment from her end. 

On July 10th, the NPC’s endorsement of AOC was rescinded before we could get a clear response from her on these conditions. This withdrawal does not erase the fact that the NPC decided to endorse her despite her posturing around Palestine. NYC-DSA also continues to endorse and have a relationship with AOC. 

We believe a strong commitment to Palestinian liberation is the bare minimum required of any socialist elected official.

We must do more as an organization to ensure that our endorsed elected officials have stronger positions on Palestinian liberation. Although the work for this has started locally, we need to go further and establish clear anti-Zionist standards across all of DSA. DSA SF calls on the NPC to commit DSA to anti-Zionism as a principle and policy of our organization. We also call on all chapters nationwide to push forward and uphold these principles at a local level.

AOC has, in her career so far, failed to uphold this basic anti-Zionist standard. This is precisely why many dedicated organizers in DSA advocated against her endorsement. Just this past April, she co-signed a press release expressing strong support for Israel’s “self-defense” including the Iron Dome. She has regularly conflated anti-Zionism with antisemitism, from her vote on H.Res. 888, to her smearing of our Palestinian comrades at Within Our Lifetime for their recent protests in New York. She is also still flagrantly campaigning for Joe Biden while he actively backs Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

While the decision to articulate specific conditions in the endorsement is a small step in the right direction, it ultimately fell short of actual accountability for the conduct of DSA’s most prominent endorsed elected official. DSA must apply these standards to all our endorsed candidates before we decide to endorse them, and make endorsement decisions based on our belief that those we endorse will actually follow through.

DSA needs mechanisms of accountability in case these elected officials fail to uphold their commitments in office, especially with regard to Palestine. As our comrades in the Palestinian Youth Movement have recently pointed out, Palestine is the first issue progressive organizations involved in electoral struggle are willing to sacrifice as soon as they face political tension. We have seen this dynamic with AOC, Jamaal Bowman, Bernie Sanders, and more. Our socialist organization cannot continue to make this mistake.

We must recognize the conditions that make these politicians turn their backs on Palestine. The United States’ close ties with Israel compel any politician who gains political power to maintain that relationship. The Democratic party is deeply embedded in this system. As long as the Democratic party is a vehicle through which we agitate for socialism, we will face this contradiction. DSA must resolve this to be a strong ally in the fight against Imperialism.

Whether it’s in Los Angeles or New York City, the transgressions of DSA-backed elected officials regarding Palestine ripple through DSA chapters across the country and make it harder for all of us to organize alongside Arab and Palestinian organizations for the liberation of Palestine. DSA must work to address this at the national level by establishing anti-Zionism as a principle and policy of the organization and supporting local organizers in their efforts to build stronger commitments to Palestinian liberation in their chapters.

DSA SF is proud to have passed an Anti-Zionist resolution just this past January, which has enshrined anti-Zionism as a core principle in our socialist organizing. Over 25 other chapters around the country have now also passed similar resolutions. This was the start of a productive relationship with the Palestinian movement in the Bay Area, a relationship that is growing and flourishing as we continue our organizing against Israel’s genocide and for Palestinian liberation. 

We cannot consider Palestinian liberation to be something candidates commit to on a case-by-case basis. We should not wait until a politician crosses the line to then ask for such commitments. We call on the NPC to pass an anti-Zionist resolution for the whole of our national organization, and to immediately put it into practice. It’s beyond time our organization enshrines anti-Zionism as a core, actionable socialist principle.

To this end, the NPC must ensure that all candidates endorsed by DSA, both locally and nationally, live up to specific anti-Zionist principles. This means the candidate must publicly oppose all funding to Israel, refrain from promoting any organizations or candidates that provide material aid to Israel, refrain from conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, publicly oppose any criminalization of anti-Zionism, publicly support the Palestinian right of return to ’48 Palestine, and publicly support the BDS movement. We must, as anti-Zionist DSA chapters, work together to make sure the NPC passes these standards.

Fighting American Imperialism is an integral part of fighting capitalism. We live in a settler-colony that was built on indigenous genocide and ethnic cleansing. Imperialism has exported the ideology and methodology of settler colonialism to Palestine, as Zionism. Zionism and Imperialism have done irreparable harm to Palestinians. We have a responsibility as socialists in the imperial core to combat this Imperialism from within. A better world is possible. A socialist world is possible, but not without the liberation of Palestine.