The Digital Dispatch

From NOEBIE.net

DSA

Public Safety Alternatives

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BLM Sticker Brian Bean PhotoPublic Safety Without Police – Chicago Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez speaks with Rampant Magazine’s Brian Bean about her efforts to reprogram $150 million in funding from the Chicago Police Department to an alternative Chicago Crisis Response and Care System.

The CPD’s annual budget is $1.8 billion, so this shift would represent less than 10% of the city’s current police funding.

For those who consider calls for “defunding the police” ludicrous, as if major city police departments would cease to exist altogether, I would urge you to read the interview with an open mind, and try to envision how a relatively subtle shift in the way public safety funds are used might improve our lives and communities.

https://rampantmag.com/2020/10/13/public-safety-without-police/

People Get Ready

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Here is what won last night in New York’s 14th District:

  • Medicare for all (including medicine, vision, dental and mental health care)
  • A universal jobs guarantee
  • Fully funded public schools and taxing Wall Street to support tuition-free public universities and trade schools
  • Housing as a human right
  • Ending the War on Drugs, demilitarizing the police, abolishing for-profit incarceration
  • Abolishing ICE, protecting DREAMers, simplifying the path to citizenship
  • Investing in 100% renewable green industry
  • Clean campaign finance
  • Peace

This is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez‘ platform. She walloped a long-tenured, establishment Democrat who spent $3 million dollars to try to stave her off. She did it on a shoestring, running openly as a socialist, and a “card-carrying member” of the DSA.

The lesson here is not that “progressives” can “run to the left” in Democratic primary elections and win. The lesson is that more and more people are ready to abandon the politics of “let’s be reasonable.”

Medicare for all? Yes, please. Guaranteed jobs? Why not? Abolish ICE? It’s high time, and don’t let the screen door hit you on the way out, fellas. Housing as a human right? Makes sense. Everybody needs a home. Good education for everybody? Green jobs? Stop putting an entire generation of young black men in prison? Of course.

Queue “Eli’s Comin'” and turn it up loud. Here’s to a new world.

Jacobin Group Featured in Daily Journal

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jacobin-group-october-2017

Thanks to Allison Shapiro of the Daily Journal for her interest, and for presenting an accurate picture of who we are and what we’re trying to do.

Whether it left you thrilled or heartbroken, most of us agree the 2016 presidential election had a profound effect on our political landscape. Here, in Kankakee County, Jacobin Reading Group for the South Suburbs meets to discuss articles from Jacobin, the leading magazine of the far left, and to talk about what comes next.

Source: Socialist group plants seeds in Kankakee County | Local News | daily-journal.com

Refoundation

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New Left Caucus Established

On April 29th of 2015, I became a member of the Left Caucus of the Democratic Socialists of America. The caucus had been established to push for a fairly specific program within DSA, many of which points were adopted at the organization’s Biennial National Convention this Summer (including withdrawal from the Socialist International and formal endorsement of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement).

Although the group was ultimately largely successful in accomplishing the goals it had established when first formed during the Summer of 2014, it was becoming clear for some months leading up to the convention that commitment of many long time members to the caucus beyond the accomplishment of those goals was beginning to fade.

I was delighted earlier this month to learn of a new group forming that proposes to be “The Radical Left Caucus of DSA” and after reading their points of unity and political program, I agreed wholeheartedly to an invitation to join the ranks.

The public announcement of the Refoundation Caucus was made today. You can learn more on the website.

DSA Refoundation Website

We are a caucus of revolutionary Marxists active in Democratic Socialists of America. We wish to see DSA grow, flourish, and become a mass, independent socialist party in the United States. The times demand it. With the massive growth of DSA over the past year and a half, we believe we have a unique opportunity to build a movement and a party that can fight for and win socialism in the United States. We cannot let this opportunity pass.

I would invite all to review the points of unity and political program of the group, and to keep an eye on the site for position papers and statements to come. To my DSA sisters and brothers who are interested in being part of a vital and vigorous self-conscious left wing, I urge you to consider joining us.

As to the comrades who have been working so hard to organize and develop this caucus, I thank you.

Read More: Refoundation – The Radical Left Caucus of DSA

Interview with Laura Barrett of Interfaith Worker Justice

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On the second episode of the Religion and Socialism Podcast, Reverend Jean Darling interviews Laura Barrett, Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice Network.

Thanks to Bob Roman and Tom Broderick of Chicago DSA for recording the interview.

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/religious-socialism-podcast/id1103945328

SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/religioussocialism/

Left Electoral Strategy 2016 and Beyond

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power-to-the-people

I’m thankful to Chris Maisano for crafting together this statement on electoral strategy for the American Left, and I’m proud to have added my signature to the statement, along with 74 other DSA comrades.

But if we want to move beyond the cycle of mobilization and retreat that dominates left electoral activity in the US, we have no choice but to build our own political formations, as difficult as that will be. They will have to do what all parties do – run candidates for office, particularly in states and localities where competition between Democrats and Republicans is low. Considering the many institutional barriers to effective independent politics, they will also have to launch fights to change ballot access  laws and other measures aimed at maintaining the two-party duopoly.

Read the full statement here: Give The People What They Want: DSA Members on 2016 and Beyond – Democratic Socialists of America

Response to DSA’s 2016 Electoral Strategy

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never-clinton

The National Political Committee of the Democratic Socialists of America released bullet points of the organization’s 2016 electoral strategy a few weeks ago. They ask that DSA members who don’t agree “articulate these points as the organization’s perspective and then indicate where the individual member disagrees.”

You can read all of their points for yourself at the link included below. I have to say that I am deeply disturbed by what I interpret to be their (at least tacit) encouragement of strategic voting and organizing for the Democratic Party ticket.

…DSA will work with the emerging labor, immigrant, and anti-racist-led “Dump Trump” movement. For this reason, we do not endorse the #BernieOrBust tactic, though we understand the sentiment behind it. Our perspective can best be summarized as: “Dump the Racist Trump: Build the Left from the Grassroots Up.”

Although I certainly agree that a Trump Presidency would be a disaster, I also believe that a Clinton Presidency would be a disaster. The NPC’s strategy does call for turning a critical eye toward Clinton should she win, but placing emphasis on opposition to Trump alone during the campaign is a mistake, in my opinion. Socialists ought to take a principled stand to oppose both Trump and Clinton between now and November.

My own efforts will be in support of the Green Party candidacy of Dr. Jill Stein. It’s way past time to break with the Democratic Party and build a true party of the people.

I hold no illusions that someone other than Trump or Clinton shall prevail in 2016, but I cannot in good conscience lend my support nor my vote to someone I consider to be an enemy of working people. In the words of the great Eugene V. Debs,  “I’d rather vote for something I want and not get it than vote for something I don’t want, and get it.”

I am thankful that the NPC anticipated and explicitly allowed for dissent within our ranks, and am certainly thankful that they didn’t endorse Clinton. This is one of those times, though, when I wonder whether I’m a member of the right organization.

Read the DSA Strategy Points Here: Talking Points for DSA’s Electoral Work between May and November 2016 – Democratic Socialists of America

★ ★ ★

Here are a few more relevant links.

This is why a Clinton Presidency cannot defeat Trump.

This is why I broke with the Democrats, and quit voting for the “lesser evil.”

This is why I voted Green in 2012. I’ve since joined the Green Party and am actively working for Jill Stein’s campaign.

Remembering Father Berrigan

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Bernardine Dohrn writes of her memories of Father Berrigan, from a time when both of them were wanted by the FBI.

Dan Berrigan refused to report to prison, and during his time “underground” he repeatedly appeared publically to conduct church sermons or to give anti-war speeches, further infuriating FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. His was both a playful “underground” and a passionately moral one. He wrote, of the Catonsville action: “Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children…”

The Weather Underground responded with a much less eloquent “communiqué” to “Brother Dan,” just after he was arrested in 1970. “We watched you, Dan, on TV when they took you to jail, smiling and with hands raised, handcuffed, giving the sign of peace. You have refused the corruption of your generation.”

I ran across these links today. Rest in power, Father.

The Priest Who Practiced Radical Direct Action: Father Daniel J. Berrigan | Beacon Broadside

Imagining The New Creation | Religious Socialism Blog

Bearing The Cross | Chris Hedges at Truthdig

The photo of Father Berrigan is by Jim Forest.

Beyond The Campaign

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What do we do next?

beyond-the-sanders-campaign

If you’re one of the millions who have been invigorated by the Bernie Sanders campaign and want to join the ongoing political revolution, this May 7th forum on movement building beyond the election is for you. We’ll discuss the significance of the Sanders campaign, the meaning of democratic socialism, and strategies for confronting exploitation and inequality at the state and national level. We’ll also offer skills training on coalition building and grassroots organizing. Together, we’ll plan ways to channel the renewed interest in democratic socialism toward a sustainable movement for political transformation. There’s never been a more exciting or vital time to work for change.

The forum is co-sponsored by the Alliance for Community Services, Chicago Democratic Socialists of America, National Nurses United, and Progressive Democrats of America.

There’s more information on this Facebook event page.

The Religion and Socialism Podcast

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The Religion and Socialism Podcast

I’m pleased to be working on a new podcast project for the Religion and Socialism Commission of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The first episode of the program is an interview with renowned theologian and ethicist Gary Dorrien of Union Theological Seminary. Professor Dorrien discusses the relationship between Christianity and socialism, and particularly focuses on issues of racial justice in the United States.

Here’s the iTunes listing. You can also find the program at Soundcloud or click on the player below to listen in your browser.