June 2019

Denver Democratic Socialists of America Spring Quarterly

Agitprop Committee

In addition to the usual banner, sign, design, and swag creation, Agitprop has worked on:

  • Video  created by DSA member Jeremy capturing the energy at the Teacher’s strike back in February.
  • A new ballot guide for the 2019 municipal elections (shout out to electoral for providing content).
  • For the future, we are planning a skill share event teaching people how to use open source software, crafting, cross-stitching, video and photo editing, principles of graphic design and more.  

Agitprop produces all of the outward communications and design work for the chapter. If you’re an artist or creatively inclined person, please reach out at agitprop.committee@denverdsa.org!

EcoSocialist

Direct-action taken in conjunction with our friends at Front Range - Extinction Rebellion!

This past quarter, the EcoSocialist working group became the EcoSocialist Committee! Among our first priorities are:

  • Starting in on work to overturn the monopoly and fossil fuel energy system and to transition into one that is committed to energy justice, democracy and public ownership of energy.
  • Local committee endorsement of the National 2019 DSA Ecosocialist Green New Deal Priority Resolution.
  • Direct-action taken in conjunction with our friends at Front Range – Extinction Rebellion!

Electoral

Electoral has been hard at work in recent months, canvassing and phone banking for our endorsed City Council Candidates, as well as Initiated Ordinance 300.

  • DSA member and endorsed candidate Candi CdeBaca is facing incumbent Albus Brooks in the City Council District 9 runoff, to take place on June 4th
  • After that, we’ll be turning our attention to Aurora City Council and Denver School Board elections, both in November
  • Electoral is writing a ballot initiative to protect renter’s rights in Denver

If you would like to get involved with our chapter’s electoral work, come to our meetings on the second Thursday of every month, from 7-8:30 PM, at the Mathansium, 2500 E 6th Avenue. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at electoral.committee@denverdsa.org.

Healthcare

Medicare 4 all canvassing

The Healthcare Committee this quarter has been continuing multiple ongoing projects:  

  • A lawsuit against a hospital system in Denver, with the aim of exposing the hospital’s corrupt practices and garnering attention to demand administrative changes.
  • Medicare for All Canvassing - we aim to canvass at least once a month as well as put pressure on legislators in Denver to support the upcoming Medicare for All bill. The Healthcare Committee canvassed last month at the Health 9 News Fair, and our next canvass will likely be at Denver Pride in June.
  • This quarter healthcare endorsed the Health Care Cost Savings Act, which has passed through the Colorado legislature and is sitting on the governor’s desk!

Most recently, the committee has been establishing a document for their anti-oppression principles and working on coalition building in the city of Denver.

To get involved e-mail healthcare.committee@denverdsa.org.

Our next meeting will be May 30th from 7-8:30pm, location TBD. Hope to see you there!

Labor

The Labor Committee has been hard at work helping revive a militant, democratic labor movement in Denver.

  • We started a new Unions and Socialism Reading Group in March. It meets monthly to discuss opportunities and challenges to organizing the unorganized and revitalizing existing unions.
  • Workplace Organizing Collective – in our most recent meeting, we practiced “inoculation,” or how to prepare our coworkers for the boss’s ant-union tactics. And we’ve been putting these skills to good use!
  • DSA members knocked doors with AFSCME throughout April to help sign up Adams County municipal workers for the union.
  • In May about fifty members, educators, and students attended our book talk with labor journalist Eric Blanc on the nationwide teacher strike.

For questions about the committee or upcoming events, email the chair, Jake, at labor.committee@denverdsa.org.

Internal Organizing

The Internal Organizing Committee is continuing to develop the chapter stewards program, which will be piloted over the summer. This program will help develop leaders' organizing skills in the chapter, develop relationships among DSA members, and strengthen ties between members and their local communities.

Housing Justice (formerly Mutual Aid)

Housing Justice Committee (formerly Mutual Aid Committee) holding a bilingual 'Know Your Rights' workshop

The Housing Justice Committee (formerly the Mutual Aid Committee) has been very busy talking to hundreds of tenants and organizing the Stomp Out Slumlords campaign. The committee and volunteers from the chapter have been reaching out to tenants facing eviction both by knocking doors and meeting tenants in the courtroom. The committee recently began organizing in an apartment complex with high eviction rates and rampant habitability issues, and held a bilingual "Know Your Rights" workshop.

The committee's next meeting is June 5 at Coffee at the Point, and we'll be looking for more comrades to join us in door knocking throughout June and the rest of the summer.

Come get involved with a campaign to fight slumlords and transform tenants’ rights in Denver! Contact housing@denverdsa.org

Political Education

For the monthly “Socialist Day School”, pol-ed presented discussion groups on topics like:

  • The Police State | April
  • Capitalism & Mental Health | May

Upcoming Socialist Day School events include:

  • Queer Socialism Part I | June
  • Fascism 101 | TBD Summer month
  • What is Democratic Socialism? | TBD Summer month
  • Capitalism & Suicide | TBD Summer month

We will also be reviving our Marxist Reading Group as well as starting our Anti-Oppression Reading Group in August. In addition, we are working on a Socialist Movie Night Series.

If you are interested in getting involved, please come to our one of our monthly business meetings or look us up on Slack at comm-pol-ed.

Socialist Feminist

The Socialist Feminist Committee for the past quarter has been involved in:

  • A social media campaign for Women’s History Month featuring the voices of left wing and socialist women throughout history.
  • Has worked with all the committees on adopting anti-oppressive principles for all committee work

New Events include:

  • June 7th: Dish & Dish | Bringing allies into the socfem conversation | Location TBD, check events on the website
  • June 22nd: Books and Brunch | Eastern Philosophy | Location TBD, check events on the website

Tech

The Tech Committee has been focusing on making it easier to conduct business within the chapter. Toward this end, we have done the following in the last month:

  • Launch a new website design
  • Procure a PA system for use in our business meetings.
  • Introduce Slack Guidelines

The new website should make it easier to interact with DSA and find necessary information and resources.

The Slack Guidelines should help keep correspondence less chaotic and more predictable for everyone within Slack. To get involved with Tech, contact info@denverdsa.org!

YDSA - Auraria

This past Spring, YDSA at Auraria campus engaged in building membership and raising awareness. We had a lot of success and have swelled our numbers and brought many passionate socialist students into the fold. Actions took this quarter include:

  • Regular flyering and tabling, especially our table at the annual Spring Fling event, that attracted an impressive multitude, interested in democratic socialism.
  • One of our new members, Robert, set up and hosted an open discussion about socialism that attracted 10 people from within and without YDSA.
  • Tabled at the District 9 debates and cheered on DSA Denver endorsed candidate Candi Cdebaca.

We are working right now on electing our new steering committee, finding a new faculty advisor, and getting members to go to the National Conference in August. If you have any further questions, about YDSA contact us at denverydsa@gmail.com.