My Vision for East Bay DSA
I have been a South Berkeley resident for 7 years with a two year stint in the UK as a graduate student. In college, I became interested in liberal politics through LGBT rights and Women’s Rights activism in Tucson, Arizona. This led to volunteering for Planned Parenthood and Democratic Party electoral campaigns.
I first became interested in anti-capitalist politics during Occupy Oakland in 2011. In my naïveté, I still believed the hype around Obama and thought that Democratic reforms would lead us to a European-style democracy. My time in the UK and my involvement in the primary campaign of Senator Sanders pushed me away from American liberalism toward socialist politics, and then to Democratic Socialists of America after the 2016 election.
For this reason, I am enthusiastic about being part of a socialist organization
I have worked at a liberal “social justice” minded non-profit and have personally seen how their tactics do not effect meaningful change. A socialist organization directly challenges the capitalist order, while liberal organizations pander to capital to nudge it toward equality.
However, in order to thrive, a democratic socialist organization needs an active, involved membership that knows the Steering Committee (SC) will act as a facilitator of member activity. Unfortunately, the current policies of East Bay DSA are extremely top-down. As a member of the SC, I would work to limit the power of the SC and give it back to the membership in the forms of committees, branches, and caucuses with real power. These would provide points of entry for a mass socialist movement in the East Bay.
I would work towards creating:
Stronger working committees that could help people find their organizing niche within EBDSA, whether it be housing, Medicare for All, prison abolition, homelessness, or political education. Because we have so many problems in our society stemming from so much capitialistic greed, we need to all come together and create new socialist solutions. I do not believe that there is one “right” way to achieve what we need that is controlled by a few at the top who need to work as managers. As leftists, we need to reject the politics of a privileged managerial class. A facilitator model reflects the values of leftism- cooperation of equals.
A branch structure, so that members in the same cities or neighborhoods could work together to effect change in their own communities. The East Bay is a large region that encompasses two counties and at least 10 towns and cities. I am inspired by the work of Pablo Iglesias, the founder of the Spanish “Podemos” party. Podemos organizes at the street level by connecting neighbors with one another. While the alienation of workers and eviction rates are at an all-time high, this is a way to empower workers collectively. These bonds could be used to rally home defense to protect one another from evictions. Additionally, EBDSA members in each neighborhood or town can focus on the local politics and races, and become intimately aware of how to elect socialist candidates to local positions
Some Working Groups I feel personally invested in:
Disability Working Committee
As an SC member, one of my focuses would be creating an EBDSA Disability Working Committee connected to the larger National DSA Disability Working Group. I am neuroatypical and have worked in disability/health fields (including NHS) on and off for 7 years. I have worked as a care attendant for people with disabilities on and off for five years. In that time, I have seen how Medicare and “generous” welfare benefits offered in California have led to policing of disability and obstructive bureaucracy. I have seen how disability nonprofits pit disabled people against care workers, who tend to be immigrant mothers of color.
Berkeley is the birthplace of the Disability Rights Movement. However, EBDSA’s Medicare for All campaign does not include the voices of disability activists. Many disability activists understand that the for-profit healthcare system is inherently ableist. Many have been policed about their disability by the state. Certain ways that the Medicare for All campaign is conducted are alienating for disabled people. The focus on canvassing for hours doesn’t work for many with physical disabilities. A strong Disability Working Committee could work with the Medicare for All Committee to create opportunities for disabled people to be included in the struggle. Additionally, a strong Disability Working Committee would be able to make sure that the accessibility needs of disabled comrades are taken into account. These needs include,, but are not limited to: ASL interpretation, accessible meeting spaces, space reserved up front for those with limited vision or are hard of hearing, and access to proxy voting.
Such a committee would be used to build connections within the wider. East Bay disability community and to advise the chapter on how to combat ableism internally. Through my contacts in this community, I know that there is a real desire among disabled people for comprehensive healthcare and a growing recognition that capitalism will never protect their rights. We can see this in the national protests lead by ADAPT; many disabled people are rejecting the neoliberal establishment. Strengthening a Disability Working Committee could go a long way to attracting disability leaders who are tired of the Democratic Party.
Socialist Feminism
I have been involved with feminist organizing since college. I was one of the founding members of the East Bay Feminist Socialist Caucus, and I have been active in planning the 2017 & 2018 Women’s Marches and the “Women’s Strike” in 2017. I believe that there needs to be a stronger Feminist Socialist Caucus in the East Bay that prioritizes getting EBDSA involved in feminist actions in the Bay and beyond. Feminist activism cannot be yielded to the Democratic Party/liberals, as women workers face sexism on top of oppression as workers. With a stronger Feminist Socialist Caucus, we can direct male comrades to help each other unlearn sexist assumptions and reliance on female/non-male comrades to perform administrative and emotional labor.
To empower women and non-male comrades in the struggle, we need to have an organizational structure that takes harassment seriously. That is why I support the adoption of the proposed bylaw amendment that creates a Transformative Justice Commission. We need a committee outside of leadership to ensure abuse and harassment are dealt with in a unbiased manner.