May 9, 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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UP FRONT

Israel details plan to “capture” and occupy all of Gaza
Trump & Bowser spark chaos at DC restaurants with ICE raids and proposed I82 repeal
Ecosocialists urging public input into DMVMoves by May 14

Israel details plan to “capture” and occupy all of Gaza — get involved in Palestine solidarity work on May 17

As reported in Drop Site News earlier this week: “Israel’s government has approved a sweeping plan to seize all of Gaza, indefinitely occupy its territory, and displace its population southward — advancing what rights groups warn is a military-engineered campaign of ethnic cleansing.” The BBC adds: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the cabinet had decided on a ‘forceful operation’ to destroy Hamas and rescue its remaining hostages, and that Gaza’s 2.1 million people ‘will be moved, to protect it.’ … He did not say how much territory would be seized by troops, but he stressed that ‘they will not enter and come out.’”

This brazen plan of full military occupation and displacement comes as Israel continues its genocidal assault on Gaza, blocking nearly all aid even as it conducts brutal and near constant military attacks. The United States has maintained its full-throated, material support of the genocide, which has remained constant under both the Biden and Trump administrations.

Those looking to get involved in the fight for Palestinian rights, from Gaza to the West Bank and beyond, can attend the May 17 Metro DC DSA Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Walking Tour. The tour will be led by the local Internationalism Working Group in partnership with Jewish Voice for Peace-DC Metro, Palestinian Youth Movement-DMV, and other local groups. The sites will cover the links between dark money and political repression, oil, and Israeli apartheid, and connect attendees to organizing efforts in the DMV to support boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel and to end the state’s genocide of the Palestinian people. The tour will meet at 12pm at Farragut Square and adjourn by 3pm after about one mile of walking to three or four sites around downtown DC. Please note that this walking tour will include protest efforts along the route; participants will engage in low-risk chanting at the end of each stop. This walking tour and protest will have marshals assessing the situation and any risks. Afterwards, participants will be encouraged to attend the Arab American festival at Dew Drop Inn starting at 4pm. Sign up for event notices here.

Trump, Bowser spark chaos at DC restaurants with ICE raids and proposed I82 repeal

At least a dozen restaurants were targeted by ICE this past week — including Ghostburger in Shaw, Chang Chang and Pupatella in Dupont, Call Your Mother in Park View, and Millie’s in Spring Valley — with agents issuing notices for an I-9 inspection in order to verify employment eligibility and attempting to speak to kitchen staff without a warrant. By law, establishments have up to three days to provide the paperwork.

Ongoing work between organizations like Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network (MSMA), Free DC, ROC DC, and CASA led local cadres, including socialists, to protect restaurant staff. Organizers canvassed at neighborhood restaurants, passed out red cards, ran Know Your Rights trainings, and documented ICE officers when spotted. Restaurants and businesses in DC are still on high alert.

Meanwhile, local bars and restaurants have been thrown into chaos from DC Mayor Bowser’s proposed repeal of Initiative 82. The initiative, which passed in 2022 with over 70% support from DC voters, slowly phases out the subminimum wage by raising tipped-worker base wages yearly to the normal minimum wage. If repealed, DC’s bartenders, servers, waiters, bussers, barbacks, valets, and more could see their wages cut in half! Local small businesses, too, would have their business models and long-term plans completely destabilized as workers have been stating publicly an intent to find new lines of work if I82 is repealed. The repeal effort is being led by RAMW, a lobbying organization that represents the interests of corporate eatery chains in DC. The organization is an affiliate of the National Restaurant Association, which publicly advocates for lower minimum wages, looser workplace protections, and the expansion of child labor.

On Tuesday, over 100 service-sector workers and allies swarmed the DC Government’s building in response to Bowser’s audacious proposal. The scramble — organized by UNITE HERE, LiUNA! (for union jobs and a PLA at RFK), Metro DC DSA, and DC Jobs with Justice — was able to nail down most of the council on their positions. CM Lewis George (Ward 4) and CM Nadeau (Ward 1) publicly expressed opposition to Bowser’s maneuver and have committed to help lead the anti-repeal fight in the Wilson Building. CM Parker (Ward 5) publicly stated he opposed repeal. CM Allen (Ward 6) is also opposed to repeal — although he is considering a freeze proposal — but has maintained open contact with workers on the matter. Most alarming was CM White (at-large), CM Bonds (at-large), and CM Mendelson (Council Chair), who dodged and evaded workers; a repeal (and really, a freeze) would violate their own reelection pledges to respect the will of voters. MDC DSA Publications will continue coverage on the matter over the next few months, until this repeal effort is fully defeated.

DC residents and socialists are encouraged to send letters demanding defense of I82 to the DC Council. See ICE in your neighborhood or know someone who was detained? Call MSMA’s hotline at (202) 335-1183 and access their resources on their website. Resources for DMV area immigrants are also available in both English and Spanish. Want to get plugged into MDC DSA’s Migrant Justice Subcommittee? Fill out the interest form to get connected before the next meeting on Wednesday, May 14 at 6pm.

Want to support equity, affordability, and sustainability through public transit? Email DMVMoves before May 14

DMVMoves, a joint initiative by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, will be convening for a discussion on the future of financing for the regional transit network on May 16. While no in-person public comment will be permitted at the meeting, locals can submit written or recorded comments to comment@dmvmoves.org by May 14. To get in touch with Metro DC DSA’s Public Transit Campaign and receive further guidance on contacting DMVMoves, sign up here.

This is an important time to highlight the opportunity for a land value tax for Metro. A land value tax applied to the land surrounding transit stations, the value of which increases greatly due to the presence of transit stations, would:

Incentivize the development of land near transit stations, lessening the burden of the regional housing crisis
Reduce the tax burden on multi-family housing and on low-income and middle-income households
Provide sustainable funding for the regional transit network through an equitable method, unlike Metro’s current plan to lay off thousands of workers through automation

See further reading on ATU Local 689’s report on land value taxation and the potential for increased housing near transit stations.

BRIEFS

Sign up for the socialists’ famous summer reading groups — 12 different programs on offer

Don’t do socialism alone. This summer, Metro DC DSA is assembling 12 distinct reading and discussion groups on socialism, anti-capitalism, anti-fascism, future fiction, and more. The chapter’s reading groups provide an opportunity to learn in a group setting, and help members develop their organizing and knowledge alongside comrades. Topics range from a viewing and discussion group for the Andor TV series; fiction connected to Palestine and anti-fascist organizing; theoretical analyses on the chapter’s Abolition, Social Housing, and Internationalist campaigns; and much more. Locals can find out more about each group here and sign up for the reading groups here.

Chapter Program Commission survey open for submissions, input requested

At Metro DC DSA’s last convention, the chapter voted formally to establish a two-year political program for the chapter, to be developed by a standing Program Development Commission (PDC). The PDC, which is made up of 13 chapter members from across working groups and the larger DMV region, is gathering member input to help develop that chapter program.

The PDC has opened their survey and is seeking input from DSA members, regardless of activity and level of involvement, and interested community members. Share your thoughts on MDC DSA’s future here.

Help tenant organizers fight appalling living conditions — Oaklawn Eviction Defense Picnic Fundraiser, May 10

Stomp Out Slumlords has been fighting hand in hand with Oaklawn Terrace Apartments tenant leaders for a year and a half against the appalling living conditions in the complex that have persisted for decades. When the landlords refused to lift a finger to improve the building, tenants decided to go on a rent strike, knowing that the rich only pay attention when their pockets hurt. During the last few months renters and organizers have spent all day in court, and have searched up and down the city for lawyers to represent them. The evidence is on the tenants’ side, and it lives in the apartments of the people organizers now consider family.

Stomp Out Slumlords is fundraising to help people fight their cases and give them the chance to win the dignity they deserve. Join comrades this Saturday, May 10 from 2 – 5pm at Malcolm X Park for a fundraiser and social. Organizers will be selling homemade empanadas, elotes, and custom-printed tote bags. The working-class tenants have been forced to pay a protection order by the court while our fight continues, as if the greedy landlords don’t already have enough money. All proceeds raised will be used on an ongoing basis to fight other cases of eviction and provide support by other means to keep our neighbors in their homes. Donations can be made directly via GoFundMe.

Montgomery County tenant groups organizing large Tenants Summit on Saturday, May 17 at 10am

Montgomery County DSA, Progressive Maryland, Housing Justice Montgomery, CASA, and tenants associations from around the county are hosting the first Montgomery County Tenants Summit on May 17 in Rockville. This will be a gathering of tenants from all over the county — folks who are fed up with the way things are and ready to do something about it. There will be food, workshops, and space to meet tenants who are fighting for better conditions, fair rents, and real accountability from landlords. It’s a chance to build power together and learn what’s working in other buildings. Anyone who is interested in building tenant power from across Maryland is invited to join. The priority deadline to RSVP for food and childcare is Tuesday, May 13. RSVP here. Interested in calling tenants before the priority deadline? RSVP for a phone bank on Tuesday, May 13.

Discussion on South Korean politics to follow screening of Warmerica documentary — Saturday, May 10 at 2pm

Metro DC DSA’s Internationalism Working Group is co-hosting a screening of Warmerica’s Fate 2, a 2024 South Korean documentary looking at US imperialism around the world, along with Korea Peace Now (KPN) DC. The screening is scheduled for 2pm on Saturday, May 10 at Petworth Library. After the film, a KPN organizer will give an update on the current state of South Korean politics since Yoon’s attempted coup and will share how folks can get plugged into their Peace in Korea campaign. Snacks will be provided. Register for the screening here.

Metro DC DSA Street Team monthly meeting — Saturday, May 10 at 3:30pm

Build power in the DMV and join the Metro DC DSA Street Team by attending their next monthly meeting on Saturday, May 10 from 3:30–5pm at the MLK Memorial Library, room 205-B. 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 happy hour is to follow. All are encouraged to attend in-person.

Ecosocialists planning H Street wheatpasting expedition — Saturday, May 17 at 3pm

Join We Power DC on Saturday, May 17 at 3pm to put up posters around NoMa and H St. Help spread the word about the excesses of Pepco and a real public power alternative, and tap into that latent anger against our greedy utilities. Materials and training will be provided. The expedition is expected to go on even in the case of inclement weather, but receive updates on the event by RSVPing here.

New to DSA and looking to connect with others? Join the new member cohort this June

Everyone new to Metro DC DSA is invited to apply to join the Summer 2025 New Member Community Cohort. The group will participate in Wednesday night sessions for three weeks starting June 4 at MLK Library in DC. Participants will cover foundational organizing concepts, creating a meaningful framework for socialism, and how to become an active member in DSA. At least one session will be followed by a social hour, and comrades in the cohort will be signing up together for direct actions throughout the month. Applications are due by May 26.

India-Pakistan tensions rise as India launches ‘Operation Sindoor’ military strikes in retaliation for Pahalgam attack

In the early hours of Wednesday, May 7, Indian military forces launched a series of missile strikes against nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistani-occupied territory in Kashmir, targeting what it claimed were “terrorist infrastructure sites.” According to Pakistan’s military spokesperson, the strikes killed 26 civilians and injured 46 more. Pakistan responded with shelling, with India’s military stating that at least 15 civilians were killed and 43 injured on India’s side of the disputed border. The operation, codenamed ‘Operation Sindoor’ by the Indian military, is India’s largest aerial strike against Pakistani territory since the two countries went to war in 1971, and has raised fears of all-out war between the two nuclear-armed powers.

The launch of ‘Operation Sindoor’ follows weeks of rising tensions since the Pahalgam attack on April 22, the source of which remains unclear. The day after the attack, India suspended the crucial Indus Waters Treaty that ensures the flow of water to Pakistan, which was signed in 1960 and had previously remained in place even during two wars and numerous military clashes. Both countries recalled diplomats and suspended visas for each other’s citizens, and Pakistan suspended a 1972 agreement that partially normalized relations between the two countries after the 1971 war.

Meanwhile, India has responded to the attack with a brutal crackdown in Kashmir, detaining thousands under draconian anti-terror laws and blowing up homes belonging to relatives of suspected militants. Human rights violations by the Indian military are rampant, with soldiers enjoying effective legal impunity under special laws that shield them from being disciplined for abuses. These abuses have intensified under the far-right government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has long sought to fully integrate Kashmir into India as part of its expansionist Hindu nationalist project — including by revoking the region’s special semi-autonomous status in 2019.

Metro DC DSA’s Internationalism Working Group is keeping eyes on this conflict and planning for actions in demands for peace should escalation continue. Socialists and allies can get involved in the Internationalism Working Group by filling out this form.

Amended Resolution To Poll Delegate Election Voting Method results

Voting for the amended Resolution 2025-04-GR01: To Poll Membership on Delegate Election Voting Method closed Wednesday at 11:59 pm. With 14.2% of the vote, the resolution has not passed.

INFO ACCESS

Want to fight fascism from the heart of the empire? Join DSA and fight to build socialism! Our next new member orientation is a virtual orientation Wednesday, May 21, 7–8pm.

Want to stay updated? MDC DSA members are encouraged to 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. 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. 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 submit your Update or Dispatch 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 now leads the queue. 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

DSA CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Saturday, May 10
2 – 4:30pm | WARMerica’s Fate 2 documentary screening
2 – 4pm | Wheatpasting for incarcerated Poets Event
2 – 5pm | Oaklawn Eviction Defense Picnic Fundraiser
3:30 – 5pm | Metro DC DSA Street Team monthly meeting

Sunday, May 11
11am – 1:30pm | Informational Picket at Le Diplomate

Monday, May 12
7 – 8pm | DC Abolition Working Group Biweekly Meeting
7 – 8pm | NoVA Electoral Research Meeting

Tuesday, May 13
6:30pm | Labor Working Group May Meeting
7 – 8pm | MoCo Tenant Summit Phonebank

Wednesday, May 14
5 – 8pm | Informational Picket at Le Diplomate
6:30pm | SOS Anti-Eviction Canvass Planning Meeting
7 – 8pm | Repro Justice Campaign Meeting (special guest EC4DC!)

Thursday, May 15
11:30am – 2pm | Informational Picket at Le Diplomate
6:30 – 8:30pm | NoVA branch DSA Social Meetup

Friday, May 16
5 – 8pm | Informational Picket at Le Diplomate
6pm | DSA and CPSADC Joint Happy Hour

Sunday, May 18
2 – 4:30pm | Metro DC DSA May General Body Meeting
3 – 5pm | Poetry with Ketu
7 – 8pm | MDC DSA Internationalism Working Group Monthly Meeting

Monday, May 19

7 – 8pm | NoVA Electoral Research Meeting

Wednesday, May 21

5 – 8pm | Informational Picket at Le Diplomate
7 – 8pm | Why You Should Join DSA/New Member Orientation

Thursday, May 22

11:30am – 2pm | Informational Picket at Le Diplomate
6:45 – 8:30pm | DC Labor Filmfest: “Bless Their Little Hearts”

COMMUNITY BULLETIN

DC Labor FilmFest | Labor Heritage Foundation

The Labor Heritage Foundation and AFI Silver’s 2025 DC Labor FilmFest continues through May. Don’t miss out on a dozen powerful films about workers and their stories — including LILLY, NINE TO FIVE, and STRIKE — screening at the AFI Silver Theatre at the 25th edition of the annual festival. The screenings will reveal powerful storytelling that honors the dignity, struggle, and spirit of working people. The Labor Working Group has been given a limited number of FREE TICKETS which will be distributed to DSA members who attend labor actions in the coming weeks.

Yard Sale Fundraiser on May 17 | Park East Co-op
The Montgomery County

Saturday, May 17, is the Adams Morgan neighborhood’s annual “Mother of All Yard Sales,” and Park East Co-op is participating to raise funds to support their formation of a limited equity housing co-op. People interested in seeing this affordable, resident-owned housing happen in the neighborhood are encouraged to drop by their yard sale fundraiser at 1845 Summit Pl NW. More info on Instagram here.

Filipinx Book Club on May 18 | Anakbayan and Katarungan DC

Join Anakbayan DC and Katarungan DC to read Patricia Evangelista’s Some People Need Killing on Sunday, May 18, at Loyalty Bookstore at 4pm. This book is about extrajudicial killings during President Duterte’s “War on Drugs,” and they will be reading it through an anticapitalist, anti-imperialist lens. RSVP here.

New zine by local arts co-op | Transverse Cooperative

An artist-owned local co-op, Transverse Cooperative, recently launched a zine A Conversational Guide to Unions and Worker Cooperatives. Created in partnership with the Austin Cooperative Business Association and funded by the Cooperative Education Fund, this guide is available for anyone to print and distribute freely, and is available in English and Spanish. Find the zine 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.

STATES’ RIGHTS EDITION! Fifty Hills Socialists Can Choose to Die On… winning is better but fighting matters.

Maryland, other states, take more legal actions against Trump administration
“Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has already led or joined more than two dozen suits against the administration since Trump was sworn into office, including taking the lead in a suit challenging the summary firing of thousands of probationary federal workers.” Most recently, Brown joined 16 other Blue-state attorneys general and the District earlier this week contesting “an executive order Trump signed on his first day in office that ordered federal agencies to pause approvals, permits and loans for all wind energy projects both onshore and offshore.” Maryland Matters (Trump’s odd opposition to wind projects is also detailed in Utility Dive’s roundup)

State lawmakers launch group to spur ‘guaranteed income’ cash to residents
More than 20 lawmakers want to see states play a larger role in the programs meant to fight poverty. They are joining a large coalition of mayors from big and small cities, seeking to extend this effort. “More than 20 Democratic lawmakers from 17 states [are] launching Legislators for a Guaranteed Income [this week] to advocate for programs that provide direct, regular cash payments to lower-income residents to help alleviate poverty. They join a network of more than 245 mayors and county officials who have pursued dozens of basic income pilot projects across the country.” Stateline Daily

Maine bill would make oil companies pay into ‘climate superfund’
“Similar climate superfunds in Vermont and New York, which impose fees on fossil fuel extractors and crude oil refiners for greenhouse emissions, are being challenged in court by the Trump administration and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Pluribus summarizes: “Maine lawmakers have introduced legislation to create a climate superfund that would require fossil fuel companies and oil refiners to pay for greenhouse gas emissions. Similar laws have passed in Vermont and New York; the Trump administration is suing to block those existing laws.” (Maryland debated such a law in the most recent session but it failed to make it for the second year in a row.)

20 attorneys general sue Trump administration to restore health agencies
Twenty [state] attorneys general sued the Trump administration Monday over its mass firings and the dismantling of agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services. The lawsuit alleges that the administration violated hundreds of laws and bypassed congressional authority by endeavoring to consolidate the number of HHS agencies from 28 to 15 and initiating layoffs of around 20,000 employees. NBC News

“Trump is not crazy”
And as a change of pace — discussion of a different state of things — a probing interview (paywall-free) with La France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who says “in Europe it [the 1991 Soviet dissolution] was a crisis, indeed, a series of crises, with the disappearance of the Communist Parties and the collapse of the social-democratic parties. The relationship between labor and capital changed. And in a very brutal way, the dominant conservative sectors broke their commitment to freedom. …Then everything became a commodity. The policies that had been applied elsewhere in the world were now applied to us.” David Wallace-Wells in NYT

As we face the threat of fascism — we should not forget that May 8 marked the 80th anniversary of the victory against fascism in World War II. Walter Baier, President of the European Left Party (and previously chair of the Austrian Communist Party) writes about the need to oppose a new Cold War in remembrance of the 55 million people killed in the Second World War. See History is Our Battleground in Transform!Europe.

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 its chains, shatters them, and stops inebriated to breathe the breeze of a vast and free horizon.

–Virgilia D’Andrea

Not a member yet? Join DSA and fight to build socialism!

MAY 9, 2025

CONTENTS