The membership of DSA-LA recently voted to form an Eastside/San Gabriel Valley branch. The new branch now needs coordinators. These coordinators will serve an abbreviated term before our regular chapter elections this December. The election will be held between Monday, June 8-Sunday, June 14.Each branch should have 2 Branch Coordinators.Branch Coordinators will have the responsibility of ensuring that branch meetings occur, executing the branch meeting agenda, facilitating relationship-building among branch members, geography-focused recruitment, facilitating portions of branch meetings, and determining potions of branch meeting agendas.   Continue reading

DSA-LA Statement Regarding Police Violence in Response to George Floyd Protests As this statement is being written, thousands of Americans are taking to the streets to protest the unjust and unlawful murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department, along with the countless other acts of racist violence perpetrated against Black Americans, both by police and private citizens. As members of our nation’s largest and most prominent democratic socialist organization, it is imperative that we respond directly to racial injustice. Many of our members were on the streets this weekend to express their rage and bear witness to the violence and brutality inflicted on protestors. We listened to mealy-mouthed reassurances from elected officials all over Los Angeles, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and members of LA City Council, and watched with horror as curfews were imposed, transit riders were left stranded, and the National Guard was called in. These same leaders have stubbornly refused to defund the LAPD, one of the nation’s deadliest police forces, and our District Attorney Jackie Lacey has continually refused to prosecute killer cops, in one case overriding a direct request to prosecute from the chief of police himself! Our members are angry, frustrated, and confused. Many of them have been on the frontlines of these struggles for years and long for change. We don’t have all the answers, but this is some of what we know.  We fully support and echo the demands of Black Lives Matter – Los Angeles: Defund police. Prosecute killer cops. Unseat District Attorney Jackie Lacey in the November election. Continue reading

Unable to join the protests on the ground in Los Angeles? No problem, here are ways to support protests, aid efforts, and bail funds from afar. We'll continue to update this page as we find more resources. Continue reading

We know that many of our members, comrades, and allies feel compelled to join the rebellions and protests springing up across the country right now, in response to the ongoing police violence and murders against black and brown people. DSA-LA has compiled a list of short tips for comrades to protest as safely as possible. Continue reading

DSA-LA Response to the Death of George Floyd Thu May 28th, 2020   On Memorial Day in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a forty-six-year-old Black man named George Floyd was murdered by white Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin forced his knee on Floyd’s neck, ignoring his gasping pleas of, “I can’t breathe,” and, “I’m about to die.” It is yet another documentation of the dehumanization of Black people by an animalistic U.S. law enforcement that blatantly disregards Black lives. Chauvin’s past police record, which included nearly a dozen complaints for use of force and involvement in two other police shootings but no disciplinary action, is further evidence that the entire institution of policing has failed. Protests that have followed the death of George Floyd, from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, will continue to grow. These are rebellions of the oppressed. It is the collective cry of the unheard. We are in an ongoing struggle to dismantle the systemic oppression and abuse of Black lives by the white supremacist institutions our country was founded on and continues to uphold. This is a fight we all must take on.  We demand that MPD Officer Chauvin be prosecuted and convicted of murder. We demand that the California Highway Patrol officer who drove their cruiser into protesters yesterday also be prosecuted and convicted for attempted murder. We demand the prosecution and conviction of LAPD officers Luke Coyle and Kevin Ruiz for last month’s killing of Daniel Hernandez Bravo. We demand the prosecution and conviction of Officer Frank A. Hernandez for the murder of Manuel Jaminez and the abuse of numerous Angelenos. We demand the prosecution and conviction of the LAPD officer who killed an unnamed man just yesterday in North Hollywood.  We demand an end to the mass murder of Black and Brown Americans at the hands of U.S. law enforcement. Continue reading

Call for Amendments and Chapter Resolutions: Timeline and Guidelines for Submission The DSA-LA Bylaws establish an Annual Convention as the highest legislative body of the Local. This year’s convention is scheduled for September 12, 2020. Pending an unforeseen circumstance, it will be held online. Given the already corrosive effects of social distancing, this decision is regrettable, but it may be our only option and it is certainly the best choice for the safety and wellbeing of our members and comrades at this time. Between now and the convention, steering will work hard to make the online convention experience as accessible and productive as possible. Despite our challenges, this year’s Annual Convention will be an opportunity for the Local to come together to reflect on the past year’s work, collectively refine our governing documents, and set priorities for the coming year.  As a Local, we aim to exist along organizational lines developed and led by members—not an order imposed on members from above. Our governing processes reflect this deep commitment to democratic participation at all levels, and to this end, the Steering Committee is opening a call for Proposed Amendments to our Local Bylaws and Organizational Priorities and Chapter Resolutions in advance of our upcoming Annual Convention.  Timeline and submission guidelines are outlined in detail below.  Continue reading

Today, we celebrate the radicals who came before us, and all of the comrades in the international struggle today. We celebrate the workers who filled the streets to demand an 8-hour work day, the demonstrators who have marched against war and for immigrants’ rights, and all of the workers organizing during a global pandemic to demand safe working conditions on this very May Day. Continue reading

Los Angeles is in crisis — and not just a public health crisis, but a deep economic crisis that is deepening the housing affordability and homelessness crises we've already been facing. Many of us have always been one paycheck away from losing our housing, and we are now losing work and facing housing insecurity. Many of us won't be able to pay our rent on May 1.  Continue reading

Earlier in the year, the Steering Committee asked DSA-LA’s Local Subgroups to update their platforms. These updated platforms will be voted on, together, after the 2020-03-28 Local Meeting. We present them to be voted on as a package via the consent agenda. At the forthcoming Local Meeting we will present the consent agenda for amendments before preparing it for an online vote to follow the meeting. Please review the consent agenda here. Continue reading

In times like these, we need each other. Join us for our first online Local Meeting of the year where we will discuss and vote on new resolutions, and figure out how to best organize in Los Angeles over the next few months in our new reality living during a global pandemic. Now more than ever is the time to come together, organize, and work together (even if remotely)! Come hang out with your fellow comrades online on Saturday, March 28th from 3-5pm.  Continue reading