North NJ DSA

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter. Say it with me, aloud, wherever you are. Keep repeating it: Black. Lives. Matter.

I can’t think of any words of more vital importance to The Left in New Jersey right now. When we start with Black Lives Matter, other phrases like Medicare for All, Affordable Housing Now, Raise the Wage, and even Fix the Trains follow right behind. ‘Cause, as it turns out (and as the women of the Combahee River Collective told us back in 1977), asserting Black Lives Matter also argues for criminal justice reform, single-payer healthcare, tenant’s rights, a living wage, and fair access to public transportation. BLM and DSA share a common vision: A society re-organized along lines of greatest social and economic justice.

On that point, I want to highlighting an upcoming event accessible to a good chunk of RSL readership: North NJ DSA is one of the co-hosts of Black Lives Matter Morristown’s CommUNITY Summer Event on July 23 at George Gramby Memorial Park in Morristown. It’ll be a gorgeous afternoon of activism, barbecue, and community-building. (The best possible ABC’s, in my book.) So please: Come out and spend some time in solidarity and sunshine with BLM Morristown. 

Finally, remember the last edition of RSL, when I said it was an exciting time? WHOA, NELSON! There is a slew of news incoming — So much, in fact, that you’ll be getting this letter, plus one later this month (our “Pre-Convention” edition), and then another toward the end of August (a “Post-Convention Back-to-School” issue). So read on and stay tuned.

Activities Reminder

A take on Warhol's Cambell's Soup series, but promoting DSA South Jersey

For North NJ DSA: The chapter Electoral Politics committee meets July 12 at 6 PM at the Bloomfield Public Library, NNJDSA elected delegates (plus any other interested members) meet July 15 in Montclair for the Virtual Conference, and the chapter’s full member meeting happens July 22 at 2 PM at the Morris County Library in Whippany. (And don’t forget the BLM Morristown CommUNITY event on July 23!)

For Central NJ DSA: The chapter will hold its Virtual Conference on July 15 at the George St. Co-Op, followed by a Socialist Happy Hour on July 21 (Time and Location TBD), and will have its full member meeting on July 29 at 2PM in the New Brunswick Free Public Library‘s Community Room. 

For South NJ DSA: The next general chapter meeting will be July 15 at 1PM at the Camden County Library in Atco, where you’ll have a chance to get your hands on one of the best bits of local chapter swag available in all of DSA (at right). 

And, as always, don’t forget to stay looped-in using your chapter Facebook pages, the statewide listserv and our calendar of actions.

— Bradley Philbert, RSL Editor


Stand by for nnnnnnews on Delegate ElectionsConvention Fundraising, Executive Committee Elections, and reports on Jersey Pride, the NYC DSA Convention, and a brief tribute to Sacco and Vanzetti!



Delegate Elections in NNJ/CNJ (plus Fundraisers!)

June saw national convention delegate elections in both North Jersey DSA and Central Jersey DSA. North Jersey elected Richard AzierskiNatasha AbnerAndrew BurkeJames Capozzi, Brian DiMennaSean OrlowiczBradley Philbert, Craig Spivack, and Johnathan Taddei to represent at the convention, assembling a full slate of nine delegates. Central Jersey elected Ben BurgisChristian Bowe, Melanie ChambersMatt Hancock and Casey Westerman as delegates, with Jose Cortes Sanchez as an alternate. CNJ also elected to give two of its awarded seven delegates to the OCs it’s ceding. 

Now that both of the full chapters in Jersey have slates of delegates to send to Chicago, it’s vital (as right and proper socialists!) that every elected delegate has the chance to attend regardless of ability to pay. To that end, DSA put together a scholarship fund and is welcoming donations to offset convention costs, and North Jersey and Central Jersey both have crowdfunding campaigns to get their delegates to the convention. At press time, Central Jersey was near its $600 goal, but North Jersey is shooting to offer each delegate a reimbursement for travel, so it still needs funding from generous comrades to meet its $4,000 goal.

South, Central Jersey Executive Committee Elections

The new SNJ EC, including Vice Chair Nicole Wismer, Secretary/Treasurer Leslie Watson, Membership Coordinator Sarah Filippi-Field, YDS Coordinator Michael Picardi, and Chair Shannon Vasile

On June 17, the South Jersey DSA OC elected its first full executive committee! Our new cousins in leadership can (mostly) be seen in the included image; clockwise from the top left, we have YDS Coordinator Michael Picardi, Chair Shannon Vasile, Membership Coordinator Sarah Filippi-Field, Secretary-Treasurer Leslie Watson, and Vice Chair Nicole Wismer. Not pictured is South Jersey’s Social Media Coordinator, Josh Forrest

Aaaaand on May 27, Central Jersey voted in a new leadership team as well. (The previous chair, Christian Bowe, stepped down from leadership to run for DSA’s National Political Committee!) The chapter’s new Chair is Matt Hancock, who will be joined by Melanie Chambers as Vice Chair, Casey Westerman as Membership Coordinator, Mark Alper as New Brunswick Chair, and Matt Golden as Social Media Coordinator. The chapter’s YDS coordinator and Princeton branch chair positions are both open.

JerseyPride Report

by Adam Varoqua

Surrey bike decorated with flowers, rainbows, and the NJDSA banner.

As Democratic Socialists, we must stand in solidarity with marginalized and oppressed groups. In a time where the rights of many are threatened, the newly-formed Jersey Shore DSA OC marched in support of the LGBTQIA+ community. On June 4, JSDSA rode on a Surrey bike in Asbury Park for Jersey Pride. The event was attended by thousands of people and DSA buttons were hugely popular with the crowd. 

By pedalling for socialism at this event, we affirmed DSA’s stance against homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and the various other tools of oppression used against the LGBTQIA+ community. Marching alongside other groups that support human rights, JSDSA showed solidarity and that there is no stopping a movement when the many stand up and fight back against oppression and discrimination.

Report on the 2017 NYC DSA Convention

by Casey Westerman

New York City DSA held its convention on May 6, 2017. With more than 2000 members at the time of the convention, NYC DSA is by far the largest local of our national organization – approximately one in ten DSA members belongs to the NYC local. Nearly 200 delegates, organizers, and observers attended the convention. I went as an observer for a number of reasons, one of which was simply to have the experience of being in the room with a full 1% of DSA’s national membership.

As of June 2017, New Jersey DSA has just over 500 members between its three locals, and Central NJ DSA — my chapter — is 150 strong. NYC DSA had more delegates (including alternates) at its convention than we have total members. I have a strong interest in how a rapidly expanding chapter copes with sudden and sustained growth. It’s not just a matter of how an organization survives and adapts when tripling in size; NYC DSA is actively trying to change New York City’s politics and the lived reality of its residents through its work. Getting two hundred socialists together for a day-long convention on a lovely Saturday was a feat to begin with, and the fact that the convention pushed through its full agenda and concluded all its business before we had to clear out of Judson Memorial Church was an impressive feat of logistics.

The business of the convention, after a sing-along to get us all warmed up for an hour of procedural information and reports from the local, began with debates over amendments to the NYC DSA constitution, followed by a vote to adopt the new constitution. After this, we were addressed by Khader El-Yateem, a candidate for New York City Council, who asked the local for its formal endorsement. I didn’t envy El-Yateem’s speaking slot: He addressed us after noon; we hadn’t eaten lunch yet, and his stump speech was the only thing standing between us and the buffet of Indian food cooling on the tables at the back of the room. He performed admirably under this pressure, laying out his positions and strategy. After lunch, the delegates engaged in earnest debate over his platform before voting — overwhelmingly — to endorse his candidacy.

Following this vote, we heard from the seven working groups of NYC DSA. Some of these, like the Housing Working Group, are more obviously New York-specific than others, such as the Climate Justice Working Group. As I learned, the Climate Justice group has a statewide reach and its projects include working to persuade the New York state government to pass the Climate and Community Protection Act. The diversity of working groups allows NYC DSA members to focus their efforts on effecting specific changes. The last order of business was the election of officers to the Steering Committee. Six members ran for four available positions, and every position except Secretary was contested, with four candidates running as a slate that swept the election. NYC DSA’s new leadership is predominantly Brooklyn-based, reflecting the geographic concentration of its membership. We closed the day as we began, with a sing-along.

The interesting thing about watching two hundred democratic socialists sing “Solidarity Forever” is that you can see how it changes them: by the third chorus, even the shyest and most reluctant people in the crowd are lifting a fist into the air and shouting the words. Attending the conference as an observer, I had the luxury of being reflective while the delegates engaged in real praxis. In a year or two, will openly socialist, politically viable candidates come to NJ DSA meetings to ask for our endorsement? When we have a thousand members, will we have our own local strategies to change the course of global history? And will we find a translation of “The Internationale” that we can all agree on? (And which of us will start singing it first?)

Remembering Sacco and Vanzetti

by Marty Oppenheimer

A "Save Sacco and Vanzetti Protest" image from a London protest in 1921.

2017 marks the 90 th anniversary (April 23, 1927) of the execution of anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. They were convicted of the murder of a paymaster and his guard in the course of a robbery in 1920. The bulk of the evidence is that they were innocent. However, in that period of anti-radical hysteria following the Soviet Revolution and World War I they were guilty of being Italian immigrants, labor agitators, and atheistic renegades.

Protests against their conviction (like the one in London at right) were worldwide and included attacks on U.S. embassies, boycotts of American goods, and petitions headed by many famous people, including Albert Einstein. On the day of the execution, the entire city of Paris shut itself indoors in silent protest.

Solidarity forever.


Calendar

Actions and programs are added to the DSANJ Calendar as they’re announced. See event descriptions on the calendar for additional details. Members will be contacted via text, email, and Facebook for targeted resistance events. Please let us know if there are any events to add to the calendar! 


Images are sourced from Facebook pages of the Central NJ DSA, North NJ DSA, South NJ OC, the DSA Dank Meme Stash, Wikimedia and coalition partners.

The Red Star-Ledger is a publication in the New Jersey Democratic Socialists of America. Have something to contribute to The Red Star-Ledger or know about an event of interest to our members? E-mail us!
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