My draft SDA April newsletter
Dear Comrades,
Since October 7th, 34,000 killed in Gaza and 1,700 in Israel. 77,143 injured in Gaza and 8,700 in Israel.
When I take the subway in Paris, I always feel that the citizenry cares about what is happening to Paris, whereas when I step in the subway in New York, the 96% that are not protesting do not care; they are too busy surviving to care.
Society includes representatives of every trade and profession, educated and uneducated, but in the United States, I realize that all these citizens are kept apart in silos only for professional representatives to defend their voices through civic organizations.
Before I illustrate those points, I want to share the general agenda for SDA in the next two years (in no particular order).
- Draft AOC 2028 for President
- Ideas for Growing SDA
- Progressive Alliance Board meeting in Rio & upcoming one in Santiago, Chile
- Policies from European PES Campaign
- Abortion Constitutional Amendment
- Anti Death Penalty Constitutional Amendment
- Request from SI Comrades
- States:
- Minnesota: Uncommitted for Chicago
- Tennessee: Chicago & local campaign
- North Carolina: Local Democratic Party
- Florida: Florida
- Texas: Local Democratic Party
- California: Progressive Democrats of America
- New York: Board of Election, Working Families, Campaigns
I won’t discuss this agenda in this newsletter because it’s for our monthly Zoom meeting on May 1st, 2024.
The problem with building this Socialist organization is that we are attacked and fighting on all fronts: technology, where sending notifications gets flagged as spam, slander from people who lack a moral compass, and vilification from both Liberals and Communists to steal our accomplishments.
How can we educate anyone in this perpetual violence?
To answer the first problem, which is technological, I decided to publish my newsletter on the last day of each month and organize monthly onboarding Zoom on the first Wednesday of each month.
Regardless of what the email providers do, it becomes the responsibility of Social Democrats to look for my post on the first of each month.
I started with a mailing list of about 500 people across the United States who claimed to be Progressives, Leftists, and Socialists. The first batch of 227 unsubscribed were, in fact, Revolutionary Communists from the 4th International.
Over time, I emailed about 300,000 New Yorkers organizing physical meetings across New York City, and the list grew by 15 people.
SDA is not a mass movement, and we train people to represent the needs of their community, respecting the planet’s needs.
We will grow through word of mouth just like we used to do 25 years ago before the Internet.
As we educate activists drawn to the Liberal Laissez-Faire about our accomplishments, we will grow.
One of our first resolutions is to mark the international campaign for an eight-hour working day. Tomorrow, May 1st, we will observe the 134th year of this resolution’s decision.
The second issue is the candidates who lack a moral compass like these events labeled a “Public Town Hall against DSA” by a Brooklyn Democratic Club but turned out to be a “Press Conference/Campaign Launch” for the incumbent.
Attacking DSA as a campaign strategy is attacking the idea of Socialism, and it’s a disservice to the progressive cause, and we must be present to call it out.
Democratic organizers used our ideals and values as their own while attacking us at the same time.
This behavior is reminiscent of what happened in Minneapolis when our comrade Sam Dolten was chairing a Democratic endorsement meeting.
The violence is caused by the citizenry’s lack of civic knowledge, a fact illustrated by Benjamin Yee, a candidate for Public Advocate. His proposal to reinforce Civic Education is spot on.
New York City has a Civic Engagement Commission, but it’s a sham because it’s simply promoting the Liberal Laissez-Faire policy. He doesn’t teach about the various philosophies that people believe.
The Civic Engagement Commission was established by the voters of New York City as part of an amendment to the City Charter adopted in 2018. The Commission’s mission is to enhance civic participation, promote civic trust, and strengthen democracy in New York City. — https://www.participate.nyc.gov
That lack of civic education can be seen all over the country, as in this Community Board meeting in New York City.
While everyone explodes, screaming at each other with expletives can be entertaining, but critical civic decisions are being discussed. It’s a very well-polished technique described in the FBI CointelPro files.
The task will be challenging until we elect real Socialists and we can only advance with baby steps.
This meme, made famous by Elon Musk, summarizes the state of American politics. I added the philosophies to match the world.
In 2008, we Socialists were branded extreme left. As Americans expanded their horizons traveling the world, our comrades’ ideas developed as well, but without using the Socialist Label.
It can take multiple months before folks understand Socialism and how it affects their daily lives. They will join us and then leave us to return later. This is not a failure on the organization’s part; it’s how this organization has grown over the past century.
That is also what Democratic Clubs are all about, but many of them have become too obtuse, and their ways will continue to perpetuate violence. Democratic Clubs are supposed to be places where opposing, challenging ideas are debated, but instead, under the tutelage of Taminy Hall, they have become a soundboard for established ideas.
We can see that in the framework of the Gaza/Israel conflict.
Liberals, who control every level of the Democratic Party apparatus, are caught between the reality and the impossibility of expanding beyond the aggressive stance. With the help of the left, they are obligated to move beyond their preconceived notions.
In an interview Michael Harrington in 1975 said:
“The problem is that there is a conflict between Jewish and Palestinian self-determination. Both want the same land, yet both cannot have self-determination on the same spot. I think that the best long-range solution in terms of both politics and justice is a two-state solution.” https://fathomjournal.org/democratic-socialism-israel-and-the-jews-an-interview-with-michael-harrington-1975-with-new-preface-by-mitchell-cohen-2020/
My solution is simple: I would like to bring two French people to New York, Ramzi Sfreir from Montreal and Meyer Habib from France, and have them sit down with a map until they can hash out a plan for the Middle East.
That is my solution for peace.
When it comes to Socialism, we can’t run away from our history; and today’s modern conflict goes back more than a century accusations surrounding the Dreyfus affair where playwright Emile Zola accuses the French president’s government of antisemitism.
Today, everyone accuses everyone of antisemitism, but the reality is different. Both sides have used word of total alienation of the other camp.
To conclude my long newsletter, I announced my candidacy for Public Advocate and will now take the show on the road across New York City.
Our comrade Rick Echeverria, who represented us at the Progressive Alliance in Rio de Janeiro will manage the campaign.
The goal is to create a Social Democratic slate of 59 candidates running for New York City municipality and find 25,000 New Yorkers willing to donate $50 to the Socialist slate.
Those $1,25 million will be matched to $10 million by the City of New York Matching Fund.
In solidarity,
Hasta la victoria, ¡siempre!
Theo
