Boston DSA is proud to welcome Brendan O'Connor, author of Blood Red Lines: How Nativism Fuels the Right, and respected journalist on immigration, labor, the far right, and their intersections.

Throughout the history of the US far-right, nativism has played a key role. Contemporary far-right groups with strong nativist influence, from the Tanton network of think tanks to street groups like American Guard, draw on that history. Neo-nazis marching through the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville in August 2017, were referencing a nativist, antisemitic conspiracy theory in some of their most famous chants. But how did this come to be? How do these different pieces of the far-right relate to each other and larger movements? How should antifascist activists understand this sector of the far-right and its role in contemporary far-right organizing and mobilization? How should they respond? How do we build bridges between antifascist, migrant justice, labor, and other movements, capable of effectively opposing it?

Building upon his book, O'Connor will discuss these subjects and more with comrades from BDSA's Direct Action, Deescalation, and Security Committee and Immigration Working Group.

Please register in advance at bit.ly/BRLreg. If you have any questions or concerns, please email the DADS Committee at dads@bostondsa.org.

https://www.facebook.com/409751723455601

Grassroots communications expert Lawrence Dreyfuss will be leading a training for those interested in building out our chapter's communications committees. We'll workshop building out a communications arc for 2021, think strategically about the components involved, and then zoom in on how we can utilize tools such as social media and our volunteer structure to actualize the work.

Lawrence Dreyfuss (He/Him) served as DSA's national press secretary from 2017-2020. As a staff member, he coordinated our organization's national communications and design committees. In addition, Lawrence helped organize a staff union at the DSA through the CWA and served as union co-chair for 3 years. In 2019 he also organized a tenants’ union in his Brooklyn apartment building through the Crown Heights Tenant Union. Prior to the DSA, Lawrence was a public school teacher and rank-and-file member of HSTA.

Register for the training on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZclf-yrpjksG9W0YJI_vRYFqd-MYnQwBVwW

https://www.facebook.com/468543587487948

Project Right to Shelter is phase 1 of a larger emerging Project Right to Housing. It demands that our elected officials take immediate action to protect the current homeless population under COVID-19 through temporary placement in hotel rooms, while also pressuring them to pass guaranteed housing legislation into law. Project Right to Housing is being piloted in Cambridge, MA, but it is easily replicable in other local communities across the nation. This project challenges local governments to adopt a housing first model. Once phase 1 is completed successfully then phase 2 will be enacted, which will ensure that all residents are provided with permanent housing within six months of their residence at a hotel or motel. We are at a critical juncture where we have made significant progress on attaining non-congregate shelter for unhoused community members in Cambridge, but while we continue to organize for this demand we are now ready to shift into building out phase 2 of this project.

Project Right to Shelter will not solve every struggle in the homeless community. It does not immediately alleviate the long-term issues that have left them to live on the streets. But it does grant residents protection and dignity in an incredibly vulnerable moment, and it does it in a way that benefits cities and communities. In the long term, through phase 2 of Project Right to Housing, we hope that this project will lead to a greater focus on the provision of housing and building support structures for every resident of our city, state, and country. In the meantime, now is our chance to demonstrate to the world that local communities truly care about all community members.

Read our proposal and get involved by attending our open weekly meetings on Mondays from 6-7pm.
#HousingFirst🏠
#Hotels4UnhousedCambMA

https://www.righttohousing.com/

https://www.facebook.com/893484314801059

A reading group that meets every Monday, studying various theoretical works that cover socialist organizing, Marxist economics, building in a pre-revolutionary moment, the historical meaning of the Russian Revolution and the effects of Stalinism.

For more information about the current readings and the Zoom link, contact bostonmarxist@gmail.com.

You can also fill out this Google form to register interest: https://forms.gle/4158uVY7mvWoDqot6

https://www.facebook.com/1082367292184360

COVID-19 is exacerbating the housing crisis. Rents continue to rise, the landlord class prospers, and the working class continues to get squeezed. But our chapter is part of the growing movement to change all of this. We are putting principles into action and loudly saying: housing is a human right!

Boston DSA has formed a Rent Control Campaign to coordinate housing justice issues in the current moment. We will organize to fight for the immediate demand of today-- an emergency cancellation of rent and mortgages -- and pave the way for further mobilizations to win state-wide rent control.

Each monthly meeting will be held over Zoom. Please register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvce6trjMiGdOTAMMCFhrWenx5CuE6t3mp

https://www.facebook.com/674398193401335

Meeting of Boston DSA's demo team! Help us expand our infrastructure for quickly and efficiently establishing robust presences at marches, rallies, standouts, and other demonstrations so that we can see and be seen!

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwrd-mgqzwiG9aimWGCKddstLJZE8ThaPQ6

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

https://www.facebook.com/508232653491713

Hey Comrade,

Living under capitalism is hard. We want a better world, but for the mean time, those of us with burdens are really struggling. This is a safe space to decompress, and share struggles and successes so we keep going. Self-care is important, and sometimes it works better together.

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0lfuGvrjwsHdBWscC5OQubCbjMN-QixBuZ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

https://www.facebook.com/709983679936649

The Boston DSA Coordinating Committee meets semimonthly, usually on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. We will be meeting online only for the foreseeable future.

We use these meetings to brainstorm and address administrative issues in the chapter. The Zoom link and CC meeting notes are posted in the #ask-cc channel in the chapter Slack. In addition, you can email the CC at boston-dsa-coordinating-committee at googlegroups dot com.

All CC meetings are open to the general membership, but not to the general public. On specific occasions where the CC is handling sensitive information, it may go into executive session for a portion of the meeting; this will be made known beforehand.

https://www.facebook.com/3188933347997995

Do you love socialism and posting? Do you have skills in email-writing, newsletter-laying-out, social media, and other officey stuff from your corporate job that you'd like to use to smash capitalism instead? Do you hate canvassing and would prefer to just draft emails for the revolution? Are you good at graphic design (because I'm not and could really use some help on that front)? Then the Boston DSA Communications Committee wants YOU! *World War II recruitment poster pointing*

This Committee is open to all members in good standing, but is only open to DSA members. If you are not a member but are Comms-Committee-curious, you are still welcome to call in, or you can DM us and someone from the Comms Committee will be happy to chat with you about what kind of stuff we do.

Zoom registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAoc-2vrDsjH9yZ5X8zTM9Q9iWKduzsgK4T

https://www.facebook.com/2480758945381987

This is the monthly meeting of Boston DSA's electoral working group. This meeting is open to all DSA members, non-members, allies, and coalition partners.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are holding this meeting online. The Zoom link will be emailed to the electoral working google group list before the 14th. If you are not on that google group, please register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/v5Mpf-uopjMr5ofu92wMNMb7rvcc4RqNSQ

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

https://www.facebook.com/979529932503167

New to Boston DSA? Not sure how to get started? Not a member yet, but looking to dip your toe in? Or maybe you're a not-so-new member, but haven't been active in a while? Then please join us via Zoom for a New Member Orientation call.

Comrades from our Membership Committee will walk you through the chapter's structure, answer questions, facilitate discussion about socialist organizing in Boston, and discuss how the chapter is responding to the COVID-19 state of emergency and the associated crises of capitalism it has accelerated.
Due to the aforementioned pandemic, this meeting, as well as most of our other meetings and events for the foreseeable future, will be held over Zoom. RSVP at bit.ly/BDSANewMember for the link!

https://www.facebook.com/1011505159283072

We are currently undertaking new exciting campaigns. We need to make sure we are doing everything we can to activate our members and engage them in this work of transforming our communities. This training will focus on how to engage in effective conversations to get fellow members and the broader community actively involved in organizing. We will cover the importance of making an ask, the 6 specific steps in an organizing conversation, and best practices for engaging in organizing conversations during social distancing, and practice these skills with each other. This skill will be particularly useful in keeping active members engaged in our work during this time of social distancing, but it is also a key skill for all organizers to learn and practice. This training is being offered by Boston DSA in coalition with Our Revolution Medford.

This training is scheduled to run for 90 minutes, but may run over.

Please register at https://actionnetwork.org/events/structured-organizing-conversations-training/. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

What you will take from it:
The purpose and six steps of an organizing conversation and the ability to see it modeled and practice it yourself.

https://www.facebook.com/843148692905432

Project Right to Shelter is phase 1 of a larger emerging Project Right to Housing. It demands that our elected officials take immediate action to protect the current homeless population under COVID-19 through temporary placement in hotel rooms, while also pressuring them to pass guaranteed housing legislation into law. Project Right to Housing is being piloted in Cambridge, MA, but it is easily replicable in other local communities across the nation. This project challenges local governments to adopt a housing first model. Once phase 1 is completed successfully then phase 2 will be enacted, which will ensure that all residents are provided with permanent housing within six months of their residence at a hotel or motel. We are at a critical juncture where we have made significant progress on attaining non-congregate shelter for unhoused community members in Cambridge, but while we continue to organize for this demand we are now ready to shift into building out phase 2 of this project.

Project Right to Shelter will not solve every struggle in the homeless community. It does not immediately alleviate the long-term issues that have left them to live on the streets. But it does grant residents protection and dignity in an incredibly vulnerable moment, and it does it in a way that benefits cities and communities. In the long term, through phase 2 of Project Right to Housing, we hope that this project will lead to a greater focus on the provision of housing and building support structures for every resident of our city, state, and country. In the meantime, now is our chance to demonstrate to the world that local communities truly care about all community members.

Read our proposal and get involved by attending our open weekly meetings on Mondays from 6-7pm.
#HousingFirst🏠
#Hotels4UnhousedCambMA

https://www.righttohousing.com/

https://www.facebook.com/893484318134392

A reading group that meets every Monday, studying various theoretical works that cover socialist organizing, Marxist economics, building in a pre-revolutionary moment, the historical meaning of the Russian Revolution and the effects of Stalinism.

For more information about the current readings and the Zoom link, contact bostonmarxist@gmail.com.

You can also fill out this Google form to register interest: https://forms.gle/4158uVY7mvWoDqot6

https://www.facebook.com/1082367305517692

The Membership Committee meets via Zoom on the third Tuesday of every month. MemCom handles member data and membership issues, hosts New Member Orientations, and runs trainings for chapter members on organizing skills. It is also charged with implementing our Member Engagement and Inclusion priority for 2021. Meetings are open to all Boston DSA members in good standing. For the agenda and call-in link, please email the Membership Committee at membership at bostondsa dot org.

https://www.facebook.com/424738108627602

New to Boston DSA? Not sure how to get started? Not a member yet, but looking to dip your toe in? Or maybe you're a not-so-new member, but haven't been active in a while? Then please join us via Zoom for a New Member Orientation call.

Comrades from our Membership Committee will walk you through the chapter's structure, answer questions, facilitate discussion about socialist organizing in Boston, and discuss how the chapter is responding to the COVID-19 state of emergency and the associated crises of capitalism it has accelerated.
Due to the aforementioned pandemic, this meeting, as well as most of our other meetings and events for the foreseeable future, will be held over Zoom. RSVP at bit.ly/BDSANewMember for the link!

https://www.facebook.com/1139498853150368

The Boston DSA Labor Working Group meets *twice* each month - on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. New, old, and potential DSA members are all welcome! Come for a discussion on local labor updates and a wide variety of projects, including new worker organizing, labor solidarity campaigns, events and panels, as well as our blog, Working Mass (working-mass.com).

Please email us at labor@bostondsa.org for the Zoom link, and to get on the mailing list.

If you're interested in getting involved, you can also fill out our interest form (bit.ly/BDSAlabor), and follow us on Twitter (twitter.com/BDSA_Labor).

https://www.facebook.com/1045963119233637

Join us for the monthly Tech & Infrastructure Committee meeting where we discuss ongoing projects and opportunities for direct action.

Join the #cmt-tech-infra channel on Slack or send an email to boston-dsa-tech-infra@googlegroups.com for more information on how to get involved.

https://www.facebook.com/3175583172486196

Monthly meeting of the Take Back the Grid campaign, in which we’ll discuss campaign strategy and updates with people new to energy democracy and experienced campaigners alike. For zoom information, if you are not on our mailing list, please email takebackthegrid.boston@gmail.com.

https://www.facebook.com/672255940152116

The Boston DSA Internationalism Working Group meets the 3rd Thursday of every month.
Mission: The Internationalism Working Group aims to build global solidarity for global liberation. We oppose globalized capitalism, imperialism, militarism, settler colonialism, and all forms of oppression wherever they occur. Capitalism is global — to defeat it, we must be too.
We will have Zoom call available. Details are at the bottom.
Send a DM or email internationalism@bostondsa.com if you would like to put something on the agenda.
Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bdsa_global
If you need assistance with accessibility, please reach out via email to accessibility@bostondsa.org or through this form: http://bit.ly/bdsaaccess
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/537353376?pwd=WVRwc3pnTFhqQm5uU2NyRXRZRE5XQT09
Meeting ID: 537 353 376
Password: 255964
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Meeting ID: 537 353 376
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/aceONcxwLQ

https://www.facebook.com/205185867888189

Hosted by Boston DSA Internationalism Working Group

In the new book ‘Palestine: A Socialist Introduction’ contributors explore through an internationalist, anti-imperialist, and socialist lens the links between the struggle for freedom in the United States and that in Palestine, and beyond. It examines both the historical and contemporary trajectory of the Palestine solidarity movement in order to glean lessons for today’s organizers, and compellingly lays out the argument that, in order to achieve justice in Palestine, the movement has to take up the question of socialism regionally and internationally.

Please join Boston Democratic Socialists of America in a panel discussion and Q&A with the book contributors on socialism, Palestine solidarity, and building movements for liberation in Boston. Speakers include:

- Shireen Akram-Boshar - is a socialist organizer and writer and alum of Students for Justice in Palestine. She has organized, given talks, and written on the Syrian uprising, Palestine, anti-imperialism, and Middle East/North African solidarity. She has been published in the International Socialist Review, Jacobin, Socialist Worker, and other publications.

- Khury Petersen-Smith - is an activist and researcher who focuses US empire, borders and displacement, Black internationalism and decolonization, and the Palestinian freedom struggle. He is the Middle East Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. He lives in Dorchester, on Massachusett and Wampanoag land.

- Sumaya Awad - is a Palestinian writer and organizer based in New York City. Her writings focus on BDS, anti-imperialism, Islamophobia, and immigration. Sumaya is the co-editor of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction (2020) published by Haymarket Books. She is a member of the New York City chapter of the DSA.

- brian bean - is a Chicago-based socialist activist, writer, and speaker originally from North Carolina. He is one of the founding editors of Rampant magazine. His work has been published in Jacobin, Socialist Worker, Red Flag, International Viewpoint, Bel Ahmar (بالأحمر), Spring Magazine, Green Left Weekly, Chronique de Palestine, Agency, Viento Sur, and more.

Co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace Boston.

Questions? contact us at internationalism@bostondsa.org

https://www.facebook.com/259185172470308

Boston DSA's General Meetings are on the third Saturday of every month from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, they will likely be held over Zoom for the next several months. General Meetings are open to the public; to register, please go to bit.ly/BDSA_GM.

This event will be updated with the agenda and further information when it is available. If you are interested in helping us plan and develop programming for our General Meetings, please contact the General Meeting Planning Committee at boston-dsa-gm-committee@googlegroups.com.

https://www.facebook.com/405257137492123

Project Right to Shelter is phase 1 of a larger emerging Project Right to Housing. It demands that our elected officials take immediate action to protect the current homeless population under COVID-19 through temporary placement in hotel rooms, while also pressuring them to pass guaranteed housing legislation into law. Project Right to Housing is being piloted in Cambridge, MA, but it is easily replicable in other local communities across the nation. This project challenges local governments to adopt a housing first model. Once phase 1 is completed successfully then phase 2 will be enacted, which will ensure that all residents are provided with permanent housing within six months of their residence at a hotel or motel. We are at a critical juncture where we have made significant progress on attaining non-congregate shelter for unhoused community members in Cambridge, but while we continue to organize for this demand we are now ready to shift into building out phase 2 of this project.

Project Right to Shelter will not solve every struggle in the homeless community. It does not immediately alleviate the long-term issues that have left them to live on the streets. But it does grant residents protection and dignity in an incredibly vulnerable moment, and it does it in a way that benefits cities and communities. In the long term, through phase 2 of Project Right to Housing, we hope that this project will lead to a greater focus on the provision of housing and building support structures for every resident of our city, state, and country. In the meantime, now is our chance to demonstrate to the world that local communities truly care about all community members.

Read our proposal and get involved by attending our open weekly meetings on Mondays from 6-7pm.
#HousingFirst🏠
#Hotels4UnhousedCambMA

https://www.righttohousing.com/

https://www.facebook.com/893484341467723

A reading group that meets every Monday, studying various theoretical works that cover socialist organizing, Marxist economics, building in a pre-revolutionary moment, the historical meaning of the Russian Revolution and the effects of Stalinism.

For more information about the current readings and the Zoom link, contact bostonmarxist@gmail.com.

You can also fill out this Google form to register interest: https://forms.gle/4158uVY7mvWoDqot6

https://www.facebook.com/1082367242184365

Join Boston DSA members to discuss ongoing local mutual aid efforts in response to COVID-19 and how to get involved. This meeting will be held over Zoom. Contact mutualaid@bostondsa.org with any questions or if you want to be added to the working group mailing list.

https://www.facebook.com/2511858239128362

Let's put the social back in Socialism! Everyone knows that nothing compares to hanging out and socializing with comrades in-person, but since that's not possible due to Covid, this is the next best thing! Take the opportunity to socialize with members of the chapter, as well as cope with the social isolation imposed by the pandemic. There's no meeting agenda for this event, no readings to do in advance, just show up and have a good time! If you have any questions at all, feel free to email us at, mentalhealth@bostondsa.org. We hope to see you there!

Register in advance for this event:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkdO-orjIuGdRD7KJ2nHNofZJFYeEVorOY

https://www.facebook.com/3128983310661675

The Boston DSA Coordinating Committee meets semimonthly, usually on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month. We will be meeting online only for the foreseeable future.

We use these meetings to brainstorm and address administrative issues in the chapter. The Zoom link and CC meeting notes are posted in the #ask-cc channel in the chapter Slack. In addition, you can email the CC at boston-dsa-coordinating-committee at googlegroups dot com.

All CC meetings are open to the general membership, but not to the general public. On specific occasions where the CC is handling sensitive information, it may go into executive session for a portion of the meeting; this will be made known beforehand.

https://www.facebook.com/3188933351331328

Calling all leftists of color! Boston DSA AfroSocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus is hosting a hangout on Zoom to discuss how to build a strong, diverse, and organized Left -- and why BIPOC socialists in Boston and beyond might consider joining DSA and getting active in Boston DSA.

DSA is the largest socialist organization in the United States, with 70K members, and growing daily. But we can only win radical demands like the Green New Deal and Medicare for All if our membership reflects the working class generally. Share how you're holding up during the Covid-19 pandemic, tell us your stories about what it means to you to be a leftist of color, and have a good time! Let’s build the bonds that can pull us closer to take on the fights ahead.

Register for the Zoom link at: https://actionnetwork.org/campaigns/boston-dsa-afrosocialists-socialists-of-color-caucus

https://www.facebook.com/755378845274945

"It’s in making decisions that we learn to decide." - Paolo Friere, Pedagogy of Freedom

Boston DSA's Political Education Working Group meets on the last Thursday of every month at 7 pm, unless we have to move it for a holiday, which happens more often than you'd think. PEWG's goal is to provide our members with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills to organize effectively and strategically, and to educate the wider public on DSA's vision for a socialist future and the often-erased leftist movements of the past.

PEWG hosts a number of ongoing projects, such as the chapter's political education blog (bostonpewg.org), our Socialist Fundamentals and Socialist Book Report lecture series, and periodic New Member Reading Groups. We also run one-time (or a-few-times) events such as reading groups, lectures, and panel discussions; and work with other working groups in the chapter to run political education events related to their areas of organization.

Due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, working group meetings and events will be held over Zoom only until it is safe to meet in person. You can request to join the working group mailing list, where we send out meeting agendas and Zoom links, at https://groups.google.com/g/boston-dsa-education-wg. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email us at education@bostondsa.org.

https://www.facebook.com/745531509585457

Project Right to Shelter is phase 1 of a larger emerging Project Right to Housing. It demands that our elected officials take immediate action to protect the current homeless population under COVID-19 through temporary placement in hotel rooms, while also pressuring them to pass guaranteed housing legislation into law. Project Right to Housing is being piloted in Cambridge, MA, but it is easily replicable in other local communities across the nation. This project challenges local governments to adopt a housing first model. Once phase 1 is completed successfully then phase 2 will be enacted, which will ensure that all residents are provided with permanent housing within six months of their residence at a hotel or motel. We are at a critical juncture where we have made significant progress on attaining non-congregate shelter for unhoused community members in Cambridge, but while we continue to organize for this demand we are now ready to shift into building out phase 2 of this project.

Project Right to Shelter will not solve every struggle in the homeless community. It does not immediately alleviate the long-term issues that have left them to live on the streets. But it does grant residents protection and dignity in an incredibly vulnerable moment, and it does it in a way that benefits cities and communities. In the long term, through phase 2 of Project Right to Housing, we hope that this project will lead to a greater focus on the provision of housing and building support structures for every resident of our city, state, and country. In the meantime, now is our chance to demonstrate to the world that local communities truly care about all community members.

Read our proposal and get involved by attending our open weekly meetings on Mondays from 6-7pm.
#HousingFirst🏠
#Hotels4UnhousedCambMA

https://www.righttohousing.com/

https://www.facebook.com/893484331467724

A reading group that meets every Monday, studying various theoretical works that cover socialist organizing, Marxist economics, building in a pre-revolutionary moment, the historical meaning of the Russian Revolution and the effects of Stalinism.

For more information about the current readings and the Zoom link, contact bostonmarxist@gmail.com.

You can also fill out this Google form to register interest: https://forms.gle/4158uVY7mvWoDqot6

https://www.facebook.com/1082367255517697