This month, let us come in like lions, let us go out like lions, let us just be lions.

The regime of the inhumane right sure has been up to some things. But so have we. Members of the Democratic Socialists of America around the country and all over the state of New Jersey have been in the streets fighting back and have been everywhere from conference rooms to performance spaces organizing that fight. Both the Central and North NJ DSA Chapters continue their commitments to defending and reforming healthcare and to engagement in electoral politics. On February 11th, the Princeton DSA Branch conducted a training in lobbying elected officials, presented by Theo Siggelakis, former legislative aide to NJ Assemblyman Daniel Benson. At their March 4th meeting in New Brunswick, Central NJ DSA voted in favor of a resolution making a Medicare for All campaign its next main initiative. Meanwhile, to the North, labor, healthcare, and electoral politics committees are being formed, with North NJ DSA members working with the DSA national office and our comrades in NYC DSA on strategizing and training in local campaigning. Not to mention that South Jersey DSA is fixin’ to (I got that from the other kind of south) have its first organizing meeting!
Please join them or us (or all!) for our upcoming DSA activities and keep an eye on the calendar and Facebook for future activity announcements:
- DSA Monthly Meeting – North NJ DSA
Saturday, March 25th – 2pm
Facebook Event
- Jacobin Reading Group – Central NJ DSA
Sunday, March 26th – 1pm
Facebook Event
- DSA Organizing Committee Meeting – South NJ DSA
Sunday, April 9th – 1pm
Facebook Event
With the effective date of Muslim Ban 2.0 quickly approaching, we would like to especially draw members’ attention to some upcoming actions for immigrant justice, including this May Day’s Un Día Sin Inmigrantes organized nationwide by Cosecha:
- No Ban No Wall Rally & Press Conference – NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice
Thursday, March 16th – 11am
Facebook Event
- No Hate, No Fear Rally – Wind of the Spirit
Saturday, March 18th – 2pm
Facebook Event
- May Day March & Rally (associated with Un Día Sin Inmigrantes) – Cosecha
Wednesday, May 1st – 2pm
Facebook Event
In addition to the statewide listserv we’ve also now put together a calendar of actions organized by our coalition partners that are happening around the state.
National YDS Conference: Revolution at the Crossroads
“Weaponize your privilege”
-Winnie Wong

Our college YDS chapter formed this past fall much in response to the election results. Once I found out about the first meeting, I had a moral urge to attend and discuss my dissent through what I had lacked before: organization. I was delighted to find that YDS would provide me with a community not only against the Trump regime, but for a larger purpose, that is, an anti-racist and feminist socialist alternative.
Attending the National YDS Conference: Revolution at the Crossroads did much to solidify our group’s solidarity. Within our chapter we joined the conference scattered and with different ideas about YDS, but left the conference as one with a better understanding of our role in the struggle for our vision of the future.
Through panel discussions, workshops on specific issues, self-criticism, and most of all from casual conversation with peers and new friends, our YDS chapter listened, learned, and shared. I think in that the conference gave us the space to do that, and that we as Young Democratic Socialists were able to come together in solidarity is what encouraged me the most. I found that the fight on our small, neoliberal campus is much larger than us, that our fight is part of a movement.
– Cole Diehl, Princeton YDS
The New Jersey Resistance Has Its Moral Kick Off
“It’s not moral if you don’t fight everybody when they’re wrong.”
– Reverend Barber
On Friday March 10th, 2017, the NJ Resistance Movement hosted Dr. Reverend William Barber for a teach-in on building a moral movement to Resist the current administration’s agenda and the important role of implementing moral policies at the state level. Reverend Barber began the Moral Movement in North Carolina, organizing citizens from all walks of life to put bottom-up pressure on elected officials, regardless of political affiliation. The Moral Movement is dedicated to building an economically just society that does not persecute people for the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, or their gender identity.
The NJ Resistance Movement will continue its work to defend the ACA, work that has clearly shifted at least one NJ Republican‘s position. On March 18th, civil disobedience training will be provided for individuals in Republican districts or who are directly impacted by the ACA; please e-mail if you meet these criteria and are interested in participating.
- Health Care “Stakeout”
Thursday March 16th & Friday March 17th – 8am – 6pm
Information & Locations
- Vigils to Save Our Health Care
Every. Single. Wednesday. 4:30pm. GO!
Information & Locations
– James Rosenstein, North NJ DSA & NJ Resistance Organizer
Education and Educators On the Left
“Racism can be undone but that needs to be done through organizing.”
-Awo Okaikor Aryee-Price (at BLM in Our Public Schools)
Teachers across NJ have been getting involved. On March 8, the ACLU-NJ, NJCORE, the Alliance for Immigrant Justice, and United We Dream hosted a webinar titled “The Role of Teachers and Education Support Professionals in Supporting Undocumented Students”. Topics discussed included the results of the recent executive orders regarding undocumented immigrants, ramifications for those students who are DACA/Dreamers, how to offer your students and their families emotional and social support, and the status of NJ advocacy at this point.
On March 11, the first Northeast conference of the United Caucuses of Rank and File Educators (USCORE) was held at Cedar Grove High School in Cedar Grove. Sessions involved topics such as organizing, fighting charter school expansion, the anti-immigrant agenda, “Right to Work”, corporate education issues, and Black Lives Matter in the schools and beyond.
Both events were well attended and the teachers involved are ready to take action in their communities, both school and home. DSA had a large presence and you should be seeing a great deal more activity and action from your public school teachers in the future.
– Melanie Vasa, North NJ DSA
Calendar
Resistance actions are now being added to a Google calendar as they are announced. Please see the event descriptions on the calendar for additional details about events. Members will be contacted via text, e-mail, Facebook, and the Rapid Response Team for targeted resistance events. Let us know if there are any events to add to the calendar!