APRIL 4, 2025
This is the weekly newsletter of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America (MDC DSA), which is produced by local members of the chapter’s Publications Working Group. The Weekly Update publishes every Friday at 9am. Ready to fight the Trumpocalypse? Join DSA, fight to win with a real alternative!
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CONTENTS
UP FRONT
Mass protests expected on DC streets this weekend as national rage builds against Trump’s fascist state
SUNDAY, April 6: Chapter General Body Meeting to go over DSA National Convention engagement
The Burning Case for a Socialist Green New Deal: A Conversation with Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò — Tuesday, April 8 at 7pm
Mass protests expected on DC streets this weekend as national rage builds against Trump’s fascist state
Another week in the heart of empire: The Republicans’ plot to destroy the social safety net begins to emerge; the extra-judicial kidnappings of immigrants by ICE squads continue; the illegal assault on collective bargaining rights by Trump’s cabal of morons drones on; techno-fascists loot the government for profit; and the US keeps up the support for Israel’s genocide and never-ending war. This weekend, mass numbers of Americans are planning to take to the streets across the country to voice their opposition to this rogue regime.
Could this be the emergence of an American popular front? The streets will tell the story. Here’s what socialists have planned this weekend:
- DEFEND IMMIGRANTS: Press conference to Protect DC’s Sanctuary Status — TODAY — 5pm in Mt. Pleasant
As cruel ICE raids and mass deportations continue nationwide, the Migrant Families Collective will be holding a press conference at 5pm at Lamont Plaza (3210 Mt. Pleasant St NW) to tell Mayor Bowser and councilmembers to protect DC’s status as a Sanctuary City (limiting cooperation with immigration authorities). Mayor Bowser’s cowardly submission to Trump will not stop at the assault on immigrants — when will this city fight back? Attendees are requested to wear black and bring face masks. - DEFEND LABOR: Hands Off! Rally to tell oligarchs HANDS OFF public services — Saturday, April 5 — 11:45am at Pershing Park
This Saturday, April 5, federal workers, labor unions, and the broad left are organizing a mass national mobilization to denounce the corporate takeover of the United States. Masses will march for many reasons, but are determined to send a common message: Hands Off our democracy, our rights, our livelihoods, and our neighbors! The DSA contingent is planning to meet at Pershing Park (1440 Pennsylvania Ave NW) at 11:45am, and will march to the Washington Monument to join the broader mobilization by 12pm. Members and allies can RSVP here for detailed notice. Check out handsoff2025.com for more information. - DEFEND STUDENTS and FREE PALESTINE: March on Washington for Palestine — Saturday, April 5 — 12:30pm at Marshall Park
As the Trump state expands repression at home, Israel’s US-backed genocide of Palestine continues. Thousands are converging on Washington to demand an end to genocide, a liberated Palestine, and the freedom of students and immigrants taken as political prisoners by Trump’s gestapo for their pro-Palestinian speech. The DSA contingent is planning to meet at John Marshall Park (400 C St NW) at 12:30pm, to join the wider mobilization at Pennsylvania & 3rd at 1pm. Members and allies can RSVP here for detailed notice.
Nonviolent action is a core commitment of these mass events. All participants are expected to de-escalate potential confrontations. Chapter members can read a more detailed accounting in the chapter Slack #announcements and #action-alerts channels.
Can’t attend events this weekend? The DSA will be organizing beyond protest. DSA members interested in getting involved in migrant justice support can review the #migrantjustice Slack channel and/or fill out the Migrant Justice Subcommittee’s interest form. Those looking to organize with the Internationalism Working Group can visit #internationalism and fill out the IWG interest form. And prospective DSA labor organizers should visit #labor and fill out the LWG interest form.
Planning to go out this weekend? We urge you to review the COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY notice in briefs below before heading out.
SUNDAY, April 6: Chapter General Body Meeting to go over DSA National Convention engagement
Metro DC DSA is holding a General Body Meeting (GBM) this Sunday, April 6, from 2 to 4pm. General Body Meetings are where chapter members receive updates on campaigns and administrative updates, and discuss chapter resolutions and governance. The meeting is taking place at Rockville Memorial Library (21 Maryland Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850), but will also be fully hybrid for those who can’t attend in person. Hybrid attendees can receive login details on registration. Members are strongly encouraged to register in advance of the meeting.
At this GBM, members will be receiving notice of upcoming delegate elections for the DSA National Convention. This summer, hundreds of DSA members from across the US will be converging in Chicago to consider and vote on national resolutions, national bylaw changes, the national platform, and National Political Committee leadership.The chapter will need to elect delegates to represent Metro DC DSA at the convention (the chapter is estimated to have 46 delegates). Find more info RE convention rules in the 2025 DSA Convention Handbook.
The Metro DC DSA Steering Committee voted previously to set the tentative opening for delegate nominations on April 20th, and identified the May 18th GBM as the meeting where delegate voting method will be decided by the membership. At this GBM, assembled members will also discuss a resolution and amendment relevant to the upcoming delegate elections:
- Resolution 2025-04-GR01 — To Poll Membership on Delegate Election Voting Method proposes conducting a nonbinding poll of chapter members via OpaVote on different delegate voting systems. It also confirms that a separate, official vote for ratifying the delegate election voting method will take place via live voting at the May 18th GBM.
- Amendment to 2025-04-GR01 — proposes facilitating this poll through the chapter’s Weekly Update (the official vote on chapter process will take place on May 18th). This amendment will be discussed before the base resolution is considered.
Although alternative voting systems are allowed for consideration by the chapter, Article VI, Section 3 of the National DSA Constitution clarifies that the Hare system (STV) is to be used if: (1) a petition from ten percent (10%) of a Chapter’s membership; (2) a motion supported by fifteen percent (15%) of those present and voting at a Chapter meeting determining delegate election methods; or (3) if a meeting determining a voting method is not held. Chapter members in support of Hare/STV have been circulating this petition for consideration.
Register here for the General Body Meeting this Sunday, April 6.
The Burning Case for a Socialist Green New Deal: A Conversation with Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò — Tuesday, April 8 at 7pm
Join Metro DC DSA on Tuesday, April 8 from 7 to 9pm for a conversation on socialist climate politics with Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Georgetown professor, DSA member, and author of Reconsidering Reparations and Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else), followed by an interactive session about DC’s local Green New Deal campaigns and strategies for the path forward. The neoliberal climate agenda has failed us. As Americans face down four years of federal environmental backsliding, the need for locally driven movements to advance transformative climate justice policy and build a Green New Deal has never been more urgent. Register for the conversation here.
BRIEFS
Metro DC DSA to hold special election to fill Steering Committee vacancy — ballots to go out Saturday, April 12 through April 14th
Metro DC DSA’s Steering Committee currently has a vacancy. As of April 1st, two candidates have accepted their nominations to run to fill the slot: Julia P and Shawn V. A full ballot will go out to eligible voting members on April 12th and will stay open until April 14th. Chapter members are encouraged to read their self-submitted survey questions here and will be able to interact with the candidates in a chapter forum to occur sometime next week (a recording will be made available). Chapter members with Slack access can review more details in the #announcements channel (see Info Access, below, for access details). The election is being facilitated by the Internal Elections Facilitation Department, and will use the approval voting system.
Communications security and protest safety notice
Under the Trump administration, there has been an increased willingness to target demonstrations, including seizing phones. As many protests are taking place this weekend, and more are likely to emerge throughout the spring, all activists, protesters, and leftists should take as many safety precautions as possible. Not sure where to start? Read this protest preparation checklist. Don’t overlook technological self-defense — read this self-defense guide for surveillance-prepping your tech before you march.
Socialists planning to join the DSA contingent are encouraged to follow this guidance:
- If you don’t already have it on your phone, Signal is recommended for coordinating with people in your contingent.
- Write the DC National Lawyers Guild legal helpline number (202) 850-0010 in sharpie somewhere on your body that will be easy for you to see such as your forearm. This way, you can readily call the number from jail even if you don’t have your phone.
- Most importantly: Turn off Face ID, thumb scans, or any other biometric way to unlock your phone. The police cannot force you to give them a password, but they can legally hold your phone up to your face (or thumb, or however it works on your device) to unlock it. Doing this doesn’t just protect you — it protects everyone in your phone.
Metro DC DSA Street Team monthly meeting — Saturday, April 5 at 11am
Build power in the DMV and join the Metro DC DSA Street Team by attending the monthly meeting on Saturday, April 5 from 11am to 12:30pm at the Cleveland Park Library 2nd floor meeting room. This event is for anyone interested in getting active in the chapter’s Street Team to build socialist power in the DMV. The Street Team hosts and attends community events to connect Metro DC DSA and its campaigns with the community in the DMV in order to expand the chapter’s base and build a more democratic society. A Street Team tabling at the DC History Conference at MLK Memorial Library will follow. All are encouraged to attend in-person. RSVP here for the Street Team monthly meeting.
Restaurant workers rallying at Wilson Building on Tuesday, April 8 at 10am in response to I82 threat from RAMW
The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) is pressuring the DC Council to repeal Initiative 82, despite no councilmembers introducing such legislation. Instead of respecting the will of voters, RAMW is spreading misleading claims about job losses while restaurants impose confusing service fees that cut into workers’ tips.
RAMW’s focus on worker wages is curious, given that it is not the largest source of cost increases posed to restaurants. They could be advocating for policies in DC that would actually control costs posed to restaurants: commercial rent control, fairer licensing fees, or expanded public benefits such as paid family leave or universal healthcare coverage to reduce business overhead. RAMW’s mission, however, is not to represent the interests of legitimate local business. Their objective is to represent the interests of the National Restaurant Association. In creating a stir, their objective is to seed the impression that increasing worker wages is creating problems for restaurants, so that similar initiatives do not take hold in other states and cities. Bastards.
The Fair Price, Fair Wage coalition, which includes Metro DC DSA, is calling on the public to show support for Initiative 82 by attending a press conference in front of the Wilson Building at 10am on Tuesday, April 8. Workers and allies intend to lobby the council afterwards in order to steel resolve in the Wilson Building against RAMW’s cynical propaganda campaigns. View the latest Fair Price, Fair Wage policy memo to learn more about the ongoing fight.
Austerity & Fascism reading group to hold conversation with author and economist Clara Mattei — Thursday, April 10 at 6pm
MDC DSA’s Austerity & Fascism reading group will be speaking with Clara Mattei about her book The Capital Order, the implications of the history she recounts, and the analysis she provides on our present political-social-economic conjuncture. The conversation will be online on Zoom at 6pm on April 10 — details and an RSVP will be forthcoming at #political-education.
Metro DC DSA Book Exchange at Wangari Gardens Spring Festival — Saturday, April 12 at 1pm
The Metro DC DSA Book Exchange and Street Team will be at the Wangari Gardens Spring Festival on Saturday, April 12 from 1 to 4pm with button-making and print-making, book sales from After the Storm, and ways to get involved with the chapter. Bring a book, take a book (or two or three), and join your neighbors for a potluck, yard games, music, and educational workshops. Learn more about Wangari Gardens Spring Festival on Instagram.
The Facility hybrid film screening and panel discussion — Saturday, April 12 at 2:30pm
Join the NoVA Abolition Working Group on Saturday, April 12 from 2:30 to 4pm at Arlington Central Library and online for a hybrid film screening and panel discussion of The Facility, a documentary about the organizing led by migrants detained in the Irwin County Detention Facility at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Organizer Nilson Barahona, featured in the film, will be part of the panel. The event is free to the public.
Whether or not you can attend, if you are financially able, NoVA Abolition is encouraging supporters to make a donation to Free Them All and LaColectiva’s Liberation Fund. This fund supports migrants affected by systems of detention and deportation with needs such as commissary, post-release support, and more. You can donate through Venmo @LaColectiVA with the note “Liberation fund.” *This event is not sponsored by Arlington Public Library. RSVP for the film screening here.
INFO ACCESS
MDC Dispatch (new feature!) The MDC Dispatch is the chapter’s new video news series, published on the first and third Sunday of each month. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and enable “All” notifications to be alerted to new installments.
On the record: Learn more about our local MDC DSA chapter — structure, campaigns and working groups, Night Schools, and reading groups — HERE. And live from our studio, Wednesday, April 9, 7–8pm, Why You Should Join DSA: New Member Orientation (with Q&A). Want to fight fascism from the heart of the empire? Join DSA and fight to build socialism!
Staying current: MDC DSA members: Join our all-member Slack for real-time info on working group and campaign events, convo, and inspiration. Email slack@mdcdsa.org with your most recent DSA dues receipt to get Slack access. Chapter members are also invited to read — and edit — MDC DSA’s internal wiki. Email techops@mdcdsa.org to get set up or ask in #helpdesk.
Making MDC DSA hum: MDC DSA Publications Working Group is information central not only for MDC DSA but the entire DMV left. #publications (our working group’s Slack channel) is how to get a flavor of how we work. Weekly Updates like the one you are reading are scheduled and emailed on Fridays; current and past Updates are on the web here. Not subscribed? DSA member or not, sign up to get the Update here. Submit your Update suggestions or DMV scandal tips to our tip line.
The Washington Socialist, published since the 1970s, offers in-depth analytical/opinion articles on a quarterly schedule; the Spring 2025 quarterly issue went live a week ago. Check out our indexed and searchable archive to see what we write — and what you can write. Anyone, MDC DSA member or not, interested in contributing to the Washington Socialist can email submissions or questions to washingtonsocialist@mdcdsa.org. Get your socialist self on the record. Donate to our Comradery page if you would like to financially support socialist publishing in the DMV.
DSA CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Friday, April 4
5:30 – 9pm | April Adcom Social and Happy Hour
6 – 9pm | Green New Deal Happy Hour
6:30pm | NoVA DSA April GameNite
Saturday, April 5
11am – 12:30pm | MDC DSA Street Team monthly meeting
11:45am – 3pm | Hands Off Rally DSA Contingent
12:30pm | March for Palestine DSA Contingent
Sunday, April 6
2 – 4:30pm | MDC DSA General Body Meeting
7 – 8pm | NoVA Electoral Monthly Working Group Meeting
Monday, April 7
5:30pm | Housing Justice Montgomery Budget Hearing Dinner
Tuesday, April 8
6pm | April Upcounty MoCo Branch Meeting
6:30pm | Labor Working Group April Meeting
7 – 9pm | The Burning Case for a Socialist Green New Deal: A Conversation with Dr. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò
Wednesday, April 9
7 – 8pm | Why You Should Join DSA/New Member Orientation
Thursday, April 10
6:15 – 7:30pm | NoVA DSA Monthly Organizing Meeting
Saturday, April 12
1 – 3pm | Prince George’s County Branch DSA General Body Meeting
1:30pm | TOPA Canvass
2:30 – 4:30pm | “The Facility” documentary screening and liberation fundraiser
3 – 5pm | Federal Workers Rights Training: Fighting Back Against Trump’s Illegal Purges
Monday, April 14
7 – 8pm | DC Abolition Working Group biweekly meeting
7pm | Trans/Queer Liberation biweekly meeting
Tuesday, April 15
6pm | NoVA Medicare for All WG meeting
Thursday, April 17
6pm | Social Housing WG organizing meeting
Saturday, April 19
1pm | Chapter Spring Picnic
COMMUNITY BULLETIN
Hands Off Our Schools Student Rally on April 4
A coalition of student governments of local universities are holding a student rally TODAY, Friday, April 4, at 4pm outside the Department of Education. They are protesting the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on our education, stripping our schools of diversity, freedom of speech, and access. K-12 students and all community members are invited to join. Learn more in this Instagram post and let them know if you’ll make it here.
Recess at the Capitol Pt. 2 on April 7 | Free DC
Congress is threatening funding for DC schools. Keep making noise! Meet at the Spirit of Justice Park on Monday, April 7, any time between 9:30am to 3pm. Advocacy trainings and family-friendly recess activities are happening all day. Learn more and RSVP here.
“Stop Solitary” Event on April 7 | UDC
This in-person gathering will bring together advocates from the community to raise awareness and drive change to end solitary confinement. On Monday April 7, between 11am and 5pm at UDC, meet community partners like Harriet’s Wildest Dreams and Voices Unbarred, and attend film screenings, workshops, and panel discussions. More info here.
Copaganda on April 8 | Busboys and Poets
Writer Alec Karakatsanis is well known on social media and substack for writing about the police, media, and “copaganda.” He is coming to DC on a book tour for his new book, Copaganda, on Tuesday, April 8 at Busboys & Poets on K St. All book royalties are being donated to community organizations. Book event info is here.
ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES
ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES are articles and opinion pieces of interest to DMV leftists but not, generally, appearing in local media. They should have links without paywalls. Readers are invited to submit candidates at our tip line.
Radical Change Isn’t Free
The Black Panthers shook America awake before the party was eviscerated by the US government. Their children paid a steep price, but also emerged with unassailable pride and burning lessons for today. A generational account of an enduring factor in today’s struggle. From The Guardian via Portside
Bernie Sanders Is Tapping Into a Deep Vein of Anger in America
On the ground and in the crowd in Las Vegas as Bernie and AOC’s “Fight Oligarchy” tour continues. NYT
America Is Watching the Rise of a Dual State: For most people, the courts will continue to operate as usual — until they don’t. The Atlantic
Studio Ghibli in the Age of AI Reproduction
The writer notes the underhanded use of AI knockoffs of the popular and beloved Studio Ghibli style in right-wing and deformative propaganda: “Fascism attempts to organize the newly proletarianized masses while leaving intact the property relations which they strive to abolish. It sees its salvation in granting expression to the masses — but on no account granting them rights. The masses have a right to changed property relations; fascism seeks to give them expression in keeping these relations unchanged.” — from the blog Read Max
Will Federal Workers Rediscover Their Militancy?
Trump has destroyed a federal system of labor relations that helped contain conflict for decades. The move could have unintended consequences, one being rousing the union movement and its allies to a more confrontational opposition to his agenda than anyone could have foreseen. DISSENT.
Choosing Lawlessness
Despite having no criminal convictions and possessing a valid “withholding of removal” order based on credible threats to his life in El Salvador, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was sent by the Trump administration to a notorious Salvadoran prison without due process, prompting accusations that the administration “has chosen lawlessness.” Learn more and read his story. Popular Information — and Thursday’s latest from NYT
The Trump Administration’s goal for cutting educational funding: “Trump loves the poorly educated”, and he prefers more, not fewer. Julianne Malveaux examines this in the Washington Informer.
And the other side of cutting education is keeping people in prison. There is a major push now in the Maryland legislature to pass the Second Look Act — a bill that would give people who have been locked up for 20 years the opportunity to get parole. The title of the article by Leigh Goodmark in Maryland Matters says it all: Some Offenders Were Victims First; It’s Time to Pass the Second Look Act.
Longtime chapter member Kurt S writes about the new anti-fascist resistance in Z: All of us or none of us.
The flame of thought, the magnificence of art, the wonder of discovery, and the audacity of invention all belong to revolutionary periods when humanity, tired of the chains of its restrictions, shatters them, and stops inebriated to breathe the breeze of a vaster and freer horizon.
–Virgilia D’Andrea
Not a member yet? Join DSA and fight to build socialism!