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Category: Official Statements

  • DSA San Diego Passes Anti-Zionist Resolution

    DSA San Diego Passes Anti-Zionist Resolution

    The word "Zionism" in a dripping font with a red "no" sign overtop.

    We are pleased to announce that, at our chapter-wide General Assembly in April, members of our chapter overwhelmingly voted in support of a resolution that reinforces DSA San Diego as an anti-Zionist organization both in principle and in practice.

    The adopted resolution explicitly defines anti-Zionist expectations for both our membership and endorsed candidates. As a result of this resolution, we expect our members to commit to anti-Zionist practices and policies, refrain from any and all affiliation with the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups, to oppose legislation that harms Palestinians, and to support legislation that results in Palestinian liberation. Similarly, endorsed candidates must support Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), have no affiliations with any Zionist lobby groups (Democrats for Israel, J Street, AIPAC, etc.), and pledge to politically support the Palestinian cause from their elected positions. 

    After Israel’s latest genocidal assault on Gaza, DSA San Diego moved to call for a ceasefire, mobilized to phone bank for BDS, and supported protests that called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire as well as Palestinian liberation. As these mobilizations continued, it became clear that DSA San Diego had to address the history of DSA with regards to Zionism if we wanted to continue being an effective ally in this struggle.

    The Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) founding merger was heavily predicated on ensuring that it would uphold the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee’s position of supporting continued American aid to the Zionist settler-colonial project of Israel. DSA has publicly declared in recent years and on numerous occasions that it “unapologetically stands in solidarity with Palestinian people everywhere.”

    DSA San Diego

    stands in solidarity with

    Palestinians in their

    struggle for

    liberation.

    Following the lead of other chapters, including DSA Houston, DSA Inland Empire, and DSA San Francisco, we drafted a resolution to fully commit the chapter to anti-Zionism and place ourselves on the side of the Palestinian liberation struggle. This resolution commits DSA San Diego to anti-Zionism as a part of our socialist understanding of anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, and anti-racism. 

    Zionism is a nationalist political ideology and settler-colonialist movement that aims to establish and maintain a Jewish ethnostate in historic Palestine, requiring the systematic displacement and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people as a means of achieving Zionists’ desired demographic goal. 

    In 1975, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 3379, which designated Zionism as “a form of racism and racial discrimination.” The preamble of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which has been ratified by 53 African countries as of 2014, includes an undertaking to eliminate Zionism together with other practices including colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid, “aggressive foreign military bases” and all forms of discrimination. 

    Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. It is not discrimination against Jewish peoples to reject nationalist practices and ethnic cleansing. 

    This resolution will push DSA San Diego forward in efforts to stand in solidarity in the fight for Palestinian liberation. Let there be no confusion: DSA San Diego is fully committed to a free Palestine and we encourage members and non-members alike to support Palestinian-led grassroots relief efforts, as well as call local officials, join protests, and spread awareness of the ongoing horrors that Palestinians are facing.

    From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!



    DSA San Diego 

  • We can do better than SDG&E

    We can do better than SDG&E

    DSA San Diego has endorsed Power San Diego, a ballot measure to move the City of San Diego to its own municipal electric utility.

    The measure is currently gathering signatures to qualify for the November 2024 ballot. DSA members are helping gather signatures, including at some of the events you can find on the Power San Diego Events Calendar. The signature gathering has a deadline of May 7th, so sign as soon as you can!

    You can also request a mail-in petition.

    Find out more about the work our chapter is doing on Energy Democracy.

  • Standing in Solidarity with UPS Teamsters

    Standing in Solidarity with UPS Teamsters

    Every Friday morning for four months, rank-and-file UPS Teamsters have been meeting. They talk about their struggles and why their demands are necessary. Their struggle is ours. We as workers must stand with them in their fight for a better wages, better conditions, and a better life. If their demands aren’t met, they’re ready to strike on August 1, and ALL workers will stand with them. This is what democracy looks like. We were honored to be invited to this morning’s Unity Breakfast, and we are determined to support the rank and file as they organize.

    DSA San Diego stands in solidarity with UPS Teamsters. Click here to learn more and sign the pledge to get “strike ready” with us.

  • Our statement on the election

    The 2020 election is nearly over. We don’t yet know what the outcome will be in terms of which candidates will win or lose. Nor do we know if Donald Trump will accept a likely defeat or if there will be political violence if he loses. We do know that the election is supposed to mark a conclusion. An unalterable decision has been made which the American people must accept as an objective fact. 

    Indeed, it’s the main purpose of our political institutions to present the people with things they can’t change. The institutions decide and the people ratify. This point has been made more bluntly in 2020 than in most years. Reactionaries have been given control of the Supreme Court by Senators who represent only a small fraction of the populace. Senator Mike Lee of Utah helpfully tweeted “We’re not a democracy,” pointing to the US Constitution for support. The clear implication is that in the contest between democracy and the Constitution, the Constitution is expected to win. Precedent is on Lee’s side–public expressions of support for the constitutional system are common and genuine, resignation to its inequities are widespread. But precedent merely articulates the habit of obedience, and neither habit nor obedience are eternal. 

    The Democratic Party accepts the Supreme Court, the presidency, the Senate. These institutions, along with the media, say what’s possible and work to place limits on our aspirations. DSA San Diego is not the Democratic Party. Some of us in DSA are committed to engaging with the electoral process as a terrain of power that we have to contest. Others are committed to building working class organizations outside the state. Many believe in doing both. However, all of us recognize that this country’s institutional arrangements frustrate democracy more than they facilitate it and that politics doesn’t begin or end with elections. We don’t look to the Constitution to legitimize our fight for a better world. 

    We don’t claim that there is no difference between Trump and Biden. But what matters most about the election is that the moment of political decision is subordinated to the past and then closed off. Against this closure of politics we insist that the future is open and that the most important decisions remain to be made. To paraphrase Marx, the poetry of our revolution will be created not out of the past, but out of the future.

  • Statement in Solidarity with the Protests in India

    The San Diego chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America condemns the discriminatory and fascist turn of the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We stand in solidarity with the Muslim community in India, and the working and oppressed people struggling against this fascist regime. The Hindu nationalist BJP government plans to implement a National Registry of Citizens (NRC) in the country and has prepared for that with the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA). These policies are a step towards the stated goal of the BJP to convert India into a “Hindu Rashtra” (Hindu Nation) and to further discriminate against and marginalize the Muslim and other religious minorities in the region. As DSA San Diego we vehemently condemn these actions and ask for all working class and oppressed peoples to stand in opposition to this government’s disregard of human rights.

    The state of Assam on India’s border with Bangladesh is where the NRC was first proposed and is currently being implemented. We recognize that the desire for this National Register comes out of an anti-immigrant movement in Assam, where the implementation of the NRC has thus far declared 1.9 million people “illegal” and effectively rendered them stateless.

    As socialists based in San Diego, 20 miles from the US border with Mexico, we see a clear connection with these policies and the US government’s actions on the southern US Border. The rounding up of immigrants and holding them in concentration camps is a tactic used by fascists all around the world showing that the struggle for liberation here and in India are one and the same.

    Around the world, we are witnessing a rise of fascist governments, from the Bolsonaro Regime in Brazil to the Duterte Regime in The Philippines, and the Tory Government headed by the racist Boris Johnson. We see it in the popularity of Marine Le Pen in France, the Military Coup in Bolivia, the Trump Regime in the United States, and the Modi Regime in India. We condemn these regimes and stand in solidarity with the Muslim communities in India, and with all working and oppressed peoples around the world.

  • Urgent Call For Action Against A U.S. War On Iran

    Our chapter voted to endorse national DSA’s statement on Iran:

    Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) emphatically opposes a U.S. war with Iran. In light of the U.S.’s act of war against Iran, putting the two nations close to the brink of war, DSA calls on all members and chapters to mobilize against yet another U.S. war in the Middle East.

    On January 2, 2020, the U.S. military assassinated, on Iraqi soil, Iranian General Qassim Suleimani. Such a move is an act of war, and escalates an already tense military situation in Iraq and Iran. In addition to recklessly endangering millions of lives throughout the Middle East, yesterday’s action violates the War Powers Act, the U.S. Constitution, and international law.

    These strikes come on the heels of an increased military presence in Iraq, part of decades of military intervention in the country. Even prior to its illegal, criminal invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq in 2003, the U.S. was bombing the nation an average of once every three days and imposing brutal sanctions on it.

    The U.S. has long held Iran in its sights since it broke free of despotic rule under the U.S-backed Shah. Donald Trump and his cabinet of war hawks have dramatically escalated military tensions to their highest point in decades. Trump unilaterally pulled out of the Iran Nuclear Agreement, in spite of Iran’s compliance with it. Trump has reimplemented brutal, unilateral sanctions against Iran that are inflicting real suffering on Iranian civilians in no way responsible for the policies of their government. In June, Donald Trump claims to have ordered, but called off, strikes against Iran, after the U.S. alleged the Iranian military shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone. Tensions were further inflamed in September when Saudi Arabia accused Iran of attacking a Saudi oil field.

    A U.S. war against Iran would be catastrophic. U.S. wars in the Middle East have left a bloody legacy, killing over a million people. This new conflict would endanger the lives of millions of Iranians, Iraqis, and others throughout the Middle East, potentially creating a near continuous warzone from Lebanon to Afghanistan. As internationalists we stand in solidarity with the people of the Middle East, from the streets of Baghdad to Beirut, in their struggles for liberation and against the scourge of war.

    As Democratic Socialists, we reject further war, imperialism and militarism by our government. We oppose a war against Iran, call for the lifting of sanctions, the rejoining of the Iran Nuclear deal, and the removal of U.S. troops from Iraq. We encourage DSA members to find a protest action near them to engage in.

  • Rojava Solidarity Statement

    The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, better known as “Rojava,” is a self-proclaimed Internationalist Commune representing the liberation movement of both women and workers in the region.

    We pledge our international solidarity to the people of Rojava against Erdogan and reactionary nationalism in their struggle for autonomy and self-determination!

    (DAWG) The Direct Action Working Group of the Democratic Socialists of America, San Diego, wholeheartedly condemns the imperialist aggression(s) committed against the Kurdish people and their allies. These atrocities include: summary killings, bombings of civilians, and extrajudicial violence against activists and political dissidents within Turkey, but also expanding to those affected by the multi-ethnic diaspora.

    We recognize that this application of democratic confederalism requires an international show of solidarity in the fight for a better, more just world. The members of (DAWG) send our highest regards and goodwill to the freedom fighters in North-East Syria and their comrades in arms! We commit to engaging our community in regard to this cause and encourage collaboration with like-minded organizations and individuals in this struggle.

    Solidarity Forever!  
    Biji berxwedan!

    Below are additional resources useful for learning more and staying up to date.
    https://rojavainformationcenter.com
    https://internationalistcommune.com
    https://newint.org/features/2019/10/11/assault-rojava

  • DSA San Diego Immigration Working Group Statement Urging Senator Sanders to Adopt Human-Rights Focused Immigration Policy and Uplift Border Community Voices

    DSA San Diego Immigration Working Group Statement Urging Senator Sanders to Adopt Human-Rights Focused Immigration Policy and Uplift Border Community Voices

    We, the Immigration Working Group of the San Diego chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), are dismayed by the DSA National-endorsed Presidential candidate, Senator Bernie Sanders, and his continued capitulation to the right-wing of American politics with  backwards statements on immigration and immigration policy. First, Bernie Sanders used right-wing talking points in his misinformed position against ‘open borders’, with an open and continued use of the dog whistle phrase “comprehensive immigration reform.” Now, in a moment where Senator Sanders could have stood up for Democratic Socialist values, he fails to appropriately name the atrocities being orchestrated by the Trump Administration at the border, and instead distances himself from their characterization as concentration camps.

    Because of the Trump Administration’s increased militarization of the southern border, and its violent enforcement-only policies, at least seven children have died in U.S. custody since late last year, and trans women, like Johana Medina Leon and Roxsana Hernandez, have also died languishing in detention cells. The Department of Homeland Security’s own inspectors have cited detention facilities as overcrowded and unsanitary, with “unusable toilets, mildew and mold on the showers … little to no access to recreation, horrible food conditions” among other appalling problems. These facilities do little more than punish people fleeing dangerous conditions and seeking safety and deny them their human rights.

    In short, they are the very definition of a concentration camp.

    Since 2010, at least 90 people have died as the result of an interaction with U.S. border agents,  and the number of stories of death and abuse of children and adults in detention facilities grows with each passing week.

    As  socialists who live and work in the southern border region, we urge Senator Sanders to leave behind these outdated and misinformed talking points on immigration and border policy, and to adopt a human-rights first approach in his immigration platform, one that falls in line with our socialist values, and upholds the legal right for people to seek asylum, without criminalizing asylum-seekers or anyone fleeing dangerous situations and seeking safety.

    We urge Senator Sanders to work with organizations and communities that actually live and work in the southern border region, to gain their perspective and trust, and to incorporate our vision and needs into his immigration and border platform.

  • Supporting Migrants and Refugees

    At our November 18 chapter meeting, DSA San Diego endorsed our participation in a robust coalition of San Diego grassroots organizations who are united in our solidarity with members of the Central American Exodus. (Text of the original resolution here.) Since inception, the San Diego Coalition for Migrant and Refugee Solidarity has organized a high-profile international day of action and strengthened the ongoing humanitarian relief effort in Tijuana. Thousands of asylum seekers continue to await the consideration that is their due in conditions where their safety and health are fragile at best, nutrition is minimal, and their rights insecure.

    As many of us join our loved ones in celebrating the holidays, we invite you to consider making a gift to support members of the exodus through the Coalition’s designated fund steward, Otay Mesa Detention Resistance. The entire amount of your donation will be used to purchase the food, bedding, hygiene supplies, and medications needed for the care and sustenance of asylum seekers.

    Gracias por todo – solidaridad.

  • Statement from Direct Action Working Group on Timken Action

    On October 15, 2018, the Direct Action Working Group (DAWG) of the San Diego DSA, a local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, conducted an action of protest at the Timken Museum of Art in solidarity with Portland DSA and the Holgate Manor Tenant Union.

    We conducted the action to bring the public’s attention and scrutiny to the damage Fred Kleinbub, treasurer of the Timken Museum, has wrought at Holgate Manor, an 81-unit apartment complex in Portland, Oregon.

    For decades, Holgate has been the home of immigrants and refugees hailing from regions that have experienced war and terror in recent years such as Ukraine, Russia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. In January 2018, Kleinbub purchased Holgate Manor for $12 million. As related by the Holgate Manor Tenants Union, Princeton Property Management, Mr. Kleinbub’s company that manages over 170 properties including Holgate, has employed duplicitous and aggressive methods to remove Holgate tenants. These tactics have included:

    • Raising rents of disabled, elderly folks by as much as 100% ($900/month to $1800/month) over the course of a few months.
    • Making cosmetic “renovations” while actively ignoring deleterious problems that plague the manor like rats, cockroaches and black mold.
    • Hiring a private security firm shortly after tenants went on rent strike in a likely bid to intimidate noncompliant residents.
    • Retaliating against striking tenants by using forced eviction

    Instead of demonstrating base-level compassion for people living on the margins of society, Mr. Kleinbub spent thousands on a PR firm to make claims for him that Holgate’s new management would be making improvements that are “designed to provide safe, comfortable homes at affordable rates.” One tenant who returned to their home after these “improvements” found energy efficient windows, but also black mold and a rent that had increased by $340/month. With his network of hired property managers and PR consultants, Mr. Kleinbub has demonstrated that his interest in Portland is rooted in in the value of its property and the wealth he can extract from its residents. The tenants of Holgate Manor value Portland as a refuge, a community, a place of work, and a home.

    We call on Timken treasurer Fred Kleinbub to meet with the Holgate Manor Tenant Union and engage with their reasonable demands:

    1. Allow displaced tenants who wish to return to Holgate Manor to do so without submitting new applications, and at a rent that is affordable to them.

    2. Retract the 9.9% rent increases until after the construction is complete, including a rent refund for the months construction was taking place, and commit to no new rent increases until negotiating with representatives from the Holgate Manor Tenants Union and Portland Tenants United.

    3. No new fees or no-cause terminations to be issued until after negotiations. No 72-hour eviction notices or retaliation against striking tenants.

    4. All communication from management should be professionally translated in the tenants’ native languages of Khmer, Spanish, Russian, Burmese, and Ukrainian. Google Translate is not an accurate translator.

    5. Respond to property maintenance needs as required by law, especially the existing issues of pests and mold.

    Solidarity,

    DAWG of San Diego DSA