November 4, 2020 @ 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm Wooldridge Square, 900 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX 78701, USA
It doesn’t have to be this way: Two hundred thousand people have died from COVID-19, over 30 million of us have lost our jobs, five million of us have lost our healthcare, fire and smoke fill our lungs and our skies in the West. Our homes and livelihoods flood in the Gulf, from Minneapolis to Louisville, racist police and white vigilante violence against Black people continues, and ICE continues to detain and imprison immigrants across the country while forcibly sterilizing women.
Join us in fighting for real democracy -- at the ballot box, in our workplaces, on the streets, and in our everyday lives. This November, we fight for democracy against the rising tide of racism and authoritarianism. We’re building a multi-racial movement of, by, and for the working class.
We are coming together to demand that every vote be counted!
We are coming together to demand Unemployment Relief!
We are coming together to demand an end to Police Violence from the City all the way up to ICE!
We are coming together to demand Safety and Labor Rights for Teachers, for Nurses, for Restaurant Workers, and for ALL WORKERS!
We are coming together to demand a Green New Deal!
We are coming together to demand Medicare for All!
Join us in defending democracy, true democracy, and demanding a better world.
MASKS REQUIRED. WE WILL BE FOLLOWING COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS.
Schedule:
3:30PM Meet up
4:00PM March
5:00PM Rally at Wooldridge Square(900 Guadalupe St, Austin, TX 78701) with AJC
November 4, 2020 @ 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm https://actionnetwork.org/events/red-square-open-political-discussion/
You must RSVP here for the Zoom link: https://actionnetwork.org/events/red-square-open-political-discussion/
Red Square is Austin DSA's new series of meetings that are open to anyone to join and discuss politics. No preparation required.
Meetings begin with a brief presentation on a basic topic, followed by open question and discussion.
This is the place to bring any of your questions about socialism and the organizing it will take to get there! Please join us if you're a new comrade who feels like there's so much to learn, and invite your socialist-curious friends!
This week, you can plan to join us to discuss the previous night's election.
Jane McAlevey’s NO SHORTCUTS argues today’s organizers must go beyond mobilization or advocacy in favor of mass organizing, rebuilding unions to redistribute power for change with working class communities.
Join our weekly book club, as we work through MacAlevey’s theory of organizing, including dissecting lessons from labor unions & social movements, and discuss how we can use these lessons in organizing for power locally.
Book Club is open to anyone in Austin DSA who wants to learn more about organizing, and will take place every other week over Zoom. Meeting dates: 9/24, 10/8, 10/22, 11/5, 11/19, & 12/3, 7:30pm over Zoom.
Each week we’ll focus on a separate chapter of the book, hosted by a different book club member. Sign up at the Action Network link above to participate, choose a chapter, request a copy of the book, or ask questions! You'll receive the Zoom link upon RSVP.
Join your Feminist Action Committee comrades as we soothe our raw nerves with a movie night! We'll be watching the 2018 comedy Support the Girls, which follows a day in the life of the workers at a Texas roadside sports bar as they struggle against the crushing forces of capitalism and patriarchy. Good for a cathartic cry, I promise.
Please reach out to Ceci via Slack or using the email on the event page if you have questions or need help.
The Democratic Socialist Labor Commission’s DSA4USPS subcommittee is planning a series of educational webinars on the United States Postal Service. This webinar will explore the significance of Black postal workers and Black liberation struggles to struggles at the post office, including the 1970 postal strike.
We’ll hear from Mack Julion, National Association of Letter Carriers, President, Chicago; Courtney (CJ) Jenkins, American Postal Workers Union, Organization/Legislation director, Baltimore; Ajamu Dillahunt, APWU retired, Black Workers for Justice, Raleigh; Philip Rubio, former letter carrier, author “There’s Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality” (2010 UNC Press) & “Undelivered: From the Great Postal Strike of 1970 to the Manufactured Crisis of the U.S. Postal Service” (2020 UNC Press). Bianca Cunningham, DSA Afro-Socialist Caucus & Labor Notes staff, will be the MC.
No one knows what will happen on November 3rd. It certainly feels like we're in the fight of our lives with ongoing police violence, climate disasters, a raging pandemic, and high levels of unemployment and housing insecurity. Post-Election Day, we will need every one of our more than 75,000 members to plug into ongoing efforts to count every vote, keep each other safe, and demand democracy.
Register for our National Post-Election Call to discuss what socialists can do in 2020 and 2021. We know, that no matter what happens, socialism is the only real solution and we need to organize to win!
Are you a student who is interested in the Democratic Socialists of America but hasn’t joined yet? At a school without a YDSA chapter and not sure about starting one? Are you active in your YDSA chapter but not paying dues? This is the call for you!
Join YDSA leaders from colleges and high schools across the country to hear about who we are and what we do. This call is open to anyone looking to learn more about YDSA, especially non-members.
Red Square is Austin DSA's new series of meetings that are open to anyone to join and discuss politics. No preparation required.
Meetings begin with a brief presentation on a basic topic, followed by open question and discussion.
This is the place to bring any of your questions about socialism and the organizing it will take to get there! Please join us if you're a comrade who feels like there's so much to learn, and invite your socialist-curious friends!
Join us for a talk on the inhumane wages and working conditions of adjunct professors in higher education, and what socialists should think about this problem.
Our guest speaker will be Jessica Lawless, a former adjunct professor and currently a Field Representative for California Faculty Association (CFA) a member of the California Higher Education Staff Union. She will walk us through organizing for better working conditions at Santa Fe Community College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with the support of SEIU and the New Faculty Majority.
Higher education reflects both the current gig economy and the current capitalist economy. Though adjunct faculty are highly educated, they are highly underpaid, work on a semester-to-semester basis, and receive no pensions or medical benefits. In some cases, they hold meetings with their students in their cars or share offices with other adjuncts. Tenure has been reduced and academia is swarming with administrators who earn high salaries. This is the result of neoliberalism’s forty-year effect on higher education. We must end it — all workers deserve a living wage!
At the center of YDSA’s strategy and theory of change is the centrality of the labor movement and the need to rebuild it through democratic and militant unions. As YDSA members we have a role to play in this critical task. However, since YDSA is often focused on campus issues, labor outside of the campus is often overlooked.
This leaves many YDSA members in a position where they are unsure of how to pursue the socialist struggle outside of their high school and college years.
Many are faced with the question of what to do next. Should YDSA students take any random job and begin to do organizing on the side or is there a strategic option of entering high-impact fields to build working-class power?
On Wednesday, November 11th at 8:00 PM ET we’ll be joined by four rank-and-file labor organizers and DSA members to talk about what it’s like to be a socialist at work as a rank-and-file labor organizer in their industry.
Ashley Payne is a County social services worker, an elected leader in SEIU 1021, and a central labor council delegate. Ashley is also a member of East Bay DSA and is co-chair of DSA’s Democratic Socialist Labor Commission Steering Committee.
John Pearson RN is an Emergency Room nurse, President of the Highland Hospital Chapter of SEIU 1021, and a member of East Bay DSA.
Keon Liberato is a railroad worker, President of BMWED-IBT 3012, and member of Philly DSA. Keon also serves on DSA’s National Political Committee.
Rebecca Garelli is a Science and STEM educator, Phoenix DSA member, founding member and organizer with Arizona Educators United and National Educators United, and a member of the Democratic Socialist Labor Commission Steering Committee.
Whatever the results of the election, we must commit to building our base and organizing for housing justice. Join us for this meeting of the DSA Housing Justice Commission to discuss the relationship between the labor movement and the struggle for tenants’ rights.
In the first part of the meeting, we’ll talk about applying labor organizing strategies to building tenant unions. Following that discussion, we’ll talk about the role that labor plays in state politics and how to build coalition with labor to win pressure campaigns for tenants' rights.
Interested in DSA but haven’t joined yet? Looking to get involved in the fights to stop evictions, win Medicare for All, or defund the police, but unsure how to get started? Frustrated with the limited possibilities of national, top-down politics and looking for an alternative?
Join DSA leaders from across the country to talk about how organizing as socialists and engaging in mass, bottom-up movement struggle is the best path forward to winning our demands and building a better future, together.
DSA National: Workplace Organizing Training Program: Leader Identification (Make-up Session)
November 15, 2020 @ 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Workplace Organizing Training Program: Leader Identification (Make-up Session)
Sunday, November 15th, 2020
5:30 PM EST / 4:30 PM CST / 3:30 PM MST / 2:30 PM PST
Call / Meeting Info
RSVP: RSVP Here
Event Information
***This is a make-up training session for trainees that miss or cannot attend the Wednesday session.***
Join the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) for our five-session organizer training program, designed for people interested in joining a union, addressing safety or equality issues at work, or just learning more about labor! No previous experience required!
***Make sure to register for each session separately.***
These sessions are on Wednesday evenings, 8-9:30pm EST / 5-6:30pm PST, on the following dates, with make-up sessions on Sundays:
Week 1 Leader Identification: Wednesday, Nov 11, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, Nov 15, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
Week 2 Mapping and Charting a Workplace: Wednesday, Nov 18, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, Nov 22, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
Week 3 The Organizing Conversation: Wednesday, Nov 25, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, Nov 29, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
Week 4 Escalation and Public Action: Wednesday, December 2, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, December 6, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
Week 5 Inoculation and the Boss Campaign: Wednesday, December 9, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, December 13, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
EWOC training program participants must complete all five of these trainings and pass a final exam in order to graduate to get matched with a mentor.
What is a mass organization and why is it different from what many people experience as activists and organizers? Why build it? And what will it take to do so?
In this training, we'll cover some historical context along with discussions and breakouts to explore the idea of building a mass organization, and why DSA is committed to becoming a mass working class organization.
November 17, 2020 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm https://actionnetwork.org/events/austin-dsa-november-monthly-meeting/
You must RSVP here for the Zoom Link: https://actionnetwork.org/events/austin-dsa-november-monthly-meeting/
Agenda to come!
Every month, Austin DSA has a meeting open to members and prospective members. DSA is fighting to build a world where the working class are in charge. Our socialist vision is that if the working class can get political organized, every single person will have high quality healthcare, housing, and good union job. And, only the project of building socialism can stop climate change.
Our monthly meetings are a great way to keep up with and plug into the work of our chapter. We're currently working on a chapter-wide campaign to Defund the Austin Police Department. We're out at protests and we are organizing to build as much pressure as possible on City Council to defund the police to the tune of $100 Million — or more — and put that money into the social services, jobs, and housing that we need to thrive.
Stay tuned for a full agenda, and make sure to RSVP in order to get the Zoom Link!
Join the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) for our five-session organizer training program, designed for people interested in joining a union, addressing safety or equality issues at work, or just learning more about labor! No previous experience required!
***Make sure to register for each session separately.***
These sessions are on Wednesday evenings, 8-9:30pm EST / 5-6:30pm PST, on the following dates, with make-up sessions on Sundays:
Week 1 Leader Identification: Wednesday, Nov 11, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, Nov 15, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
Week 2 Mapping and Charting a Workplace: Wednesday, Nov 18, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, Nov 22, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
Week 3 The Organizing Conversation: Wednesday, Nov 25, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, Nov 29, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
Week 4 Escalation and Public Action: Wednesday, December 2, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, December 6, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
Week 5 Inoculation and the Boss Campaign: Wednesday, December 9, 8-9:30ET/5-6:30PT. Make-up session Sunday, December 13, 5:30-7ET/2:30-4PT
EWOC training program participants must complete all five of these trainings and pass a final exam in order to graduate to get matched with a mentor.
Red Square is Austin DSA's new series of meetings that are open to anyone to join and discuss politics. No preparation required.
Meetings begin with a brief presentation on the most pressing political developments of the past week, followed by open question and discussion.
This is the place to bring any of your questions about socialism and the organizing it will take to get there! Please join us if you're a comrade who feels like there's so much to learn, and invite your socialist-curious friends!
This page will be updated with readings a couple of days before the event.
The Political Education Committee (PEC) is a subcommittee of the Austin DSA Leadership Committee. Our purpose is to organize regular and special, one-off chapter political education events.
Join us if you are interested in learning how to organize events like our Socialist Night Schools, book talks with invited authors, or if you want help organizing other political education events! This committee meets monthly and we work to train organizers in the skills needed to teach and learn about class struggle with our comrades.
The spirit of black radical traditions, at their best, can turn the world upside down and help usher in a political economy of dignity, voice, and decision-making power for working-class communities. Liberationist streams of black radical spirituality are as contemporary as Alice Walker’s call for democratic socialist womanism, as old as Reverend George Washington Woodbey’s Black Baptist socialism and beyond.
The next discussion in the DSA Religion and Socialism Working Group's monthly series of webinars will feature Rev. Andrew Wilkes and Rev. Sekou, artist, author, and public theologian, in conversation about the ethical and religious streams of the black radical tradition on Thursday, November 19th at 7:30 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The conversation will cover origins of the tradition and its implications for our present moment.
November 19, 2020 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm https://houstondsa.org/event/texas-electoral-strategy-discussion/
Texas Electoral Strategy Discussion
November 19, 2020 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Join Texas DSA members and members of DSA’s National Electoral Committee for a discussion of DSA’s electoral strategy and what we can take on next in Texas.
Texas Electoral Strategy Discussion
Start: Thursday, November 19, 2020 • 7:00 PM • Central Standard Time (US & Canada) (GMT-06:00)
Jane McAlevey’s NO SHORTCUTS argues today’s organizers must go beyond mobilization or advocacy in favor of mass organizing, rebuilding unions to redistribute power for change with working class communities.
Join our weekly book club, as we work through MacAlevey’s theory of organizing, including dissecting lessons from labor unions & social movements, and discuss how we can use these lessons in organizing for power locally.
Book Club is open to anyone in Austin DSA who wants to learn more about organizing, and will take place every other week over Zoom. Meeting dates: 9/24, 10/8, 10/22, 11/5, 11/19, & 12/3, 7:30pm over Zoom.
Each week we’ll focus on a separate chapter of the book, hosted by a different book club member. Sign up at the Action Network link above to participate, choose a chapter, request a copy of the book, or ask questions! You'll receive the Zoom link upon RSVP.
November 23, 2020 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm https://actionnetwork.org/events/how-to-win-thanksgiving/
You must RSVP here for the Zoom link: https://actionnetwork.org/events/how-to-win-thanksgiving/
Do the coming weeks involve travel, COVID exposure, and/or complex feelings about a holiday rooted in colonial genocide?
If you’re already planning on gathering around a table and feeling uncomfortable, you might as well get ready to talk politics!
Don’t settle for being the sulky socialist in the corner this year. Be the sulky socialist in the corner who gets their relatives to fight for a democratic socialist revolution--or at least to stop blaming AOC for everything--with Austin DSA’s essential guide to How to Win Thanksgiving!
With special guest appearances and participatory discussions, you’ll find out:
**How to convince aunt Karen to stop watching MSNBC
**Who to get angry uncle MAGA Mark to blame for the state of the world
**What it takes for Failson Felix to get off the couch and into the streets
Join us--Because our loved ones deserve to hear from us about our vision of a world for the many and not the few!
Red Square is Austin DSA's new series of meetings that are open to anyone to join and discuss politics. No preparation required.
Meetings begin with a brief presentation on the most pressing political developments of the past week, followed by open question and discussion.
This is the place to bring any of your questions about socialism and the organizing it will take to get there! Please join us if you're a comrade who feels like there's so much to learn, and invite your socialist-curious friends!
This page will be updated with readings a couple of days before the event.
Instructions for adding Austin DSA to your Google Calendar
Go to Google Calendar on your computer, and look for the box which says “Add a friend’s calendar”. Type [email protected] in that box, as shown, and hit ENTER.
