Immigration Justice Committee Statement on the Need to Abolish ICE
We, the Democratic Socialists of America - Los Angeles (DSA-LA) Chapter, Immigration Justice Committee demand the abolition of ICE, the immediate reunification of detained families, the halt of any detentions or deportations, and for the immediate resignation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions & Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen. DSA-LA’s participation in today’s “Families Belong Together Mass rally & March,” is intended to show solidarity with undocumented peoples from all across the country. Our participation does not condone the march’s humanization of the police or its attempts to discourage dissent.
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The Truth About Criminalization & Homelessness In Garcetti's LA
This is a film culled from DSA-LA’s Street Watch team about what our locals leaders say is happening on the streets versus the reality: relentless harassment and shakedowns by city agencies against the unhoused. If this isn’t barbarism, what is?
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DSA-LA Statement of Solidarity with Sex Workers
In April, President Trump signed two bills, together called SESTA-FOSTA into law: the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), and the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). While proponents of these bills say they are meant to protect victims of human trafficking in the sex trade, a functional analysis of both show that they delineate no material difference between coercive trafficking and consensual sex work. Instead both bills further endanger sex workers themselves, in place of attacking and dismantling human traffickers and their systems.
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LAPD Does Not Spell HOPE: A DSA-LA Statement on the 2018 Homeless Count
“The way the city treats us out here, it feels like genocide.” — anonymous unhoused Angeleno in Echo Park, recently deceased.*
Los Angeles County is releasing their estimate of the number of residents that are unhoused. We at the Democratic Socialists of America, Los Angeles believe that this number is absolutely unconscionable — it should be zero. As the homeless population of Los Angeles is disproportionately Black and Latinx, this crisis represents the continued, systemic racialized violence that should not be tolerated in a supposedly progressive city like ours. Earlier this year, the Department of Mental Health reported that 831 unhoused Angelenos died in 2017, mostly due to treatable medical conditions. How many will die in 2018? One thing is certain: County and City leadership are actively making this ongoing humanitarian crisis worse by further criminalizing, harassing, and banishing homeless individuals, all while publicly claiming that they are working to help them.
We demand that Mayor Garcetti and City Council immediately place a moratorium on all quality-of-life arrests and citations, and redirect all resources allocated for LAPD homeless outreach to fund permanent supportive housing.
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DSA-LA Electoral Politics Committee Primary Voter Guide
Hello, and welcome to the DSA-LA Electoral Politics committee’s voter guide to the elections on June 5, 2018. Click here to read the complete guide, and check out a cheat sheet for the races below.
There’s a lot to vote for this year, so we decided to do the research on every contested race on the ballot so you could know who and what you’re voting for when you mark those little dots in the polling booth.
Given the huge number of races pertinent to LA county, we decided to create a cheat sheet with our recommendations—many of which represent “lesser evil” calculations. Only Gayle McLaughlin for Lieutenant Governor and Steve Dunwoody for Assembly District 54 have been endorsed by DSA-LA as a whole, so please don’t take these suggestions as the recommendation of the entire chapter—these are just what a few dedicated DSA members in the Electoral Politics committee came up with after hours of researching the races through a pragmatic leftist lens.
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Sustaining Socialism for All in 2018
In the weeks leading up to DSA-LA’s inaugural Annual Convention, the Steering Committee launched the first of what will become periodic chapter-wide fundraisers to sustain our work, aptly named “Sustaining Socialism.” Our members banded together to donate and promote the fundraiser culminating with an in-person event at Rockwell Table and Stage directly following the Annual Convention. We set an ambitious goal for ourselves, hoping to raise $6,000 to help sustain the work of our chapter and support long-term strategic planning. Steering is thrilled to announce that between the online fundraiser and the in-person event, our chapter raised a grand total of $6,936.02! By raising almost $1,000 more than our goal, our chapter is in a stronger position to fund our work and embark on the ambitious political projects encapsulated in our three chapter resolutions.
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Statement of Solidarity with Burlington and Exposition Tenants
DSA-LA stands in solidarity with the tenants from Burlington Ave. (Westlake) and Exposition Blvd. (South Central) resisting the mass evictions being carried out by the respective slumlords Lisa Ehrlich and Chung Suk Kim (and his daughter Gina Kim, who is representing the family in court). Hundreds of tenants across these buildings, almost all low-income and Black or Latinx, are displaying incredible courage and building off the momentous victory of the tenants and Mariachis at 1815 E 2nd St in Boyle Heights, who won the right to stay in their homes after a year-long struggle. DSA-LA will support and struggle with these tenants, through both media campaigns and direct actions.
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Why We Bowled: DSA-LA Demands Reproductive Justice
By members of our Healthcare Committee, Socialist Feminist Reading Group, and NOlympics Working Groups
On April 21, DSA-Los Angeles participated in the National Network of Abortion Funds Bowl-a-Thon at Pinz Bowling Center in Studio City. Our team, The Bowl-Sheviks, comprised of fifteen awesome women from our chapter (along with another awesome woman from the Bay Area), set a fundraising goal of $7000 to be met in one month and ended up raising an astounding $7826 thanks to their hard work and our awesome donors.
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Watch: History of American Socialism, Episode 1
Even though America's political landscape is shifting, socialism isn't something new or alien in American life. It has been with us longer than jazz, basketball, or even most of the states. In "American Socialism, Part 1," we'll look into the origins and history of socialism in the United States.
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First Annual Convention Recap
Last weekend was a major milestone for DSA-LA. Over 200 members gathered at Friendship Auditorium for our first-ever Annual Convention, helping launch the highest legislative body of the local with a tradition of enthusiastic political discourse and comradely debate. Over the course of the day, we democratically amended our governing documents and set priorities for the coming year, passing chapter resolutions for the first time to guide our collective work. And we even finished 45 minutes early!
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