Features

That’s a Wrap on the 2025 Local Convention!

New Orleans DSA held our Local Convention on Saturday at Big Couch. Thank you to all the members who brought food and volunteered for the event, and a special thank you to our wonderful hosts. Our State of the Chapter report introduced all the work we’ve done over the last twelve months, and the recent upsurge in members ready to take on the Trump administration and excited about Zohran Mamdani and the DSA electoral program!

During the convention, members approved our new Local Council leadership. Congrats to co-chair Jack S, at-large members Wash F and Burrell P, membership chair Bob M, treasurer Savannah C, and our committee chairs Charlie B (electoral aka Municipal Action Committee), Grant C (communications), Cody K (labor aka Worker Power Louisiana), Ari O (political education), and Tristan R (health justice). Additionally, our members approved a series of by-laws amendments including the move from Slack to Discord for chapter communications, cleaning up old language in our bylaws, and supporting anonymous membership that requires special approval from the Local Council.

Our chapter also passed two political resolutions. First, our chapter has recommitted to Eye on Surveillance and appointed Bob M and Aaron Z as representatives to the coalition. Second, we passed an organizing vision until the next Local Convention to consolidate our focus toward Growing Our Membership, Organizing Our Communities, and Fighting for Power. This organizing vision ensures that the priorities of our highest decisionmaking bodies – Local Convention and General Membership meetings – are receiving our members’ efforts and attention. 

Special thanks to Luisa from the DSA National Political Committee for her presentation on immigration justice, and Cynthia with Indivisible NOLA on local ICE protests and court watch efforts.

New Orleans DSA Will Qualify Three Candidates for City Council Races

On July 9, at 8:00 a.m., join City Council candidates Bob Murrell (District A), Jackson Kimbrell (District C), and Danyelle Christmas (District E), as they kick off their campaigns at a rally and press conference in front of Criminal District Court, 2700 Tulane Avenue. All three candidates are members of New Orleans DSA and have been endorsed by the chapter’s membership. This is the first time New Orleans DSA has three members running for City Council. Supporters should show up and sound off for our bold platform to put people before profits. Get our latest updates at Endorsement HQ.

Bob Murrell is a technical project manager and parent of two young children in Lakeview. Born at Charity Hospital forty years ago, Bob attended public schools and graduated from Riverdale High before studying Computer Science at Tulane University. He is running because he wants the next generation of New Orleanians to grow up in a city where you can afford to live here, have a good paying job, the lights stay on, and the streets don’t flood. His top issues for District A are the housing affordability crisis, adapting to climate change, childhood poverty and literacy rates, and fighting corruption and fascism. His campaign website is bob4districta.com.

Jackson Kimbrell is construction project manager who lives in Algiers with his wife and two boys. He grew up in Arkansas, and after graduating from The Citadel, moved to Louisiana to get his master’s degree from LSU. He is running to ensure all New Orleanians can be prosperous and the city can thrive for another 300 years. He brings new and innovative solutions for the problems the city faces. His top issues for District C are affordable housing, universal PreK, affordable utilities, resilient buildings, and expanded public transit. His campaign website is jacksonkimbrell.com.

Danyelle Christmas works in dentistry and is a single mother of four kids in the Lower 9th Ward. She went to Warren Easton High School and studied pre-law at Seminole State College in Orlando. She is running because everyone deserves a great quality of life no matter where they live: “We all deserve working street lights, parks for our kids to play in, and streets that don’t flood at the drop of rain or have pot holes older than our kids.” Her top issues for District E are affordable housing, making Entergy pay their fair share, and quality of life. Her website is bit.ly/danyelle4districte.

Don’t Let These Candidates Lower the Bar: The VOTE Mayoral Town Hall

Congress has decimated hurricane forecasting, cut cancer research and is shuttering rural hospitals, and is stealing  from our tattered social safety net to prop up the last two jobs they want remaining in this country: cops and prison guards. With this backdrop, mayoral candidates Arthur Hunter, Helena Moreno, and Oliver Thomas sat down for a town hall.

The takeaway is that none of these candidates could give clear and thoughtful answers to the most pressing issues of our day. Each of these people has been planning their mayoral run for years. They should know the problems that plague our city: our land is sinking while the seas rise, hurricanes come more frequently and intensely, insurance rates make housing unaffordable, our power and water systems routinely fail, our public schools funnel profits to corporate charter networks, and our sky-high incarceration rate doesn’t make us any safer.

When asked about housing, Thomas declared he’d build 10,000 new homes and public housing. When has Oliver Thomas built affordable housing, much less 10,000 units? Moreno talked about transforming unused city property into affordable housing. Has the realtor and council president given us reason to believe this would ever happen? Hunter offered workforce training and a 25-year housing plan, but both fail to address that people are being forced out of their homes today because insurance costs are astronomical and city council has been letting landlords make a killing on short term rentals.

Could these candidates at least take a stand against Entergy, the for-profit corporate utility that doesn’t care if we live or die as long as the auto-pay keeps on keeping on? Hunter said yes, Moreno said yes and no, and Thomas said, “That’s a deeper dive than a yes or no answer.” Well then give us your answer – you’re the career politicians who want to be in charge of this city, you’ve been workshopping your positions and rehearsing your pitches for years, you’re sitting on a stage with the entire city paying attention. Your unwillingness to give clear and detailed answers tells us that you just aren’t going to put in the effort to fix any of these problems.

Reader, you keep up with public transportation and ICE and Palestine. You have strong beliefs about what needs fixing in this city. Is it really so much to ask for politicians to put in half as much thought? The city is sinking. Fascism is enveloping the country. We deserve better than councilmember Thomas declaring, “I support undocumented criminals being deported.”

It’s socialism or barbarism. Which side are you on?

Support the UMC Nurses Strike Fund

Eighteen months after nurses at UMC overwhelmingly voted to create a union, the hospital’s executives and their lawyers continue to delay, distract, gaslight, and stall at the negotiating table. Now they’re intensifying their union busting by terminating nurses active in the union and promoting a blatant misinformation campaign across the hospital in a futile attempt to dampen nurses’ commitment to making the hospital the best it can be.

Left with no other choice, nurses are now preparing for a FOURTH strike, demanding the immediate reinstatement of the two nurses terminated in the hospital’s retaliation, the stop to all union-busting actions, and a reasonable contract that reflects the simple things that will make UMC better for staff and patients alike.

Nurses on the picket line will be making the sacrifice to go without pay for the duration of the strike. Nurses put themselves on the line every day, and no one should have to worry about making their bills as they fight for what’s right at UMC. That’s where you come in. Your donation to the Strike Fund helps a nurse stand with the strike for another day.

It’s simple: a fair union contract improves care for people in our community. Union busting does not. By giving to the Strike Fund, you stand with nurses and with everyone who is ready to create the best UMC possible.

Forget-Me-Not Friday: The Capitalist Running Dog

A Running Dog is a disparaging name for someone who sucks up to someone more powerful to curry favor or gain protection. Mao Zedong would refer to allies of imperialist counterrevolutionary forces as Imperialist Running Dogs. The expression blossomed into other forms as it made its way into the culture, but has fallen out of favor. 

That’s a shame, because it’s useful in a few ways. First, it reminds us the bourgeoisie don’t have to do the actual physical oppression because they get others to do their dirty work. Cops are absolutely Running Dog Class Enemies: as long as they enforce property rights, they’re pretty much free to do whatever they want to do. Second, it illuminates the power imbalance between those giving the orders and those executing them. Everyone doesn’t meet up, hash out what should be done, and work towards that goal; one side says “do it” and the other complies. 

That’s not the world that we as socialists want to build. We’re working towards more direct democracy, where we decide together how our world will be. That’s not just a pipe dream, by the way: for 120 years, Ancient Athens practiced a radical democracy that randomly picked 500 men (ok, they weren’t quite socialists) to govern the city over a one-year period. That society over that time frame gave us Sophocles, Pericles, Demosthenes, Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Hippocrates, and countless other thinkers who laid the foundation of Western civilization.

So take some time and look at your situation. We all have bills to pay, but don’t be a capitalist running dog if you can avoid it. And definitely not when you’re on your own time. That’s time for Liberation! 

Red Rabbits Recommendation – Buddy Up!

When you go out to a protest or some other event, bring a comrade along. Or maybe even a pal whom you’d like to turn into a comrade. There are all kinds of advantages to using the buddy system. It’s comforting to know that in a sea of people, you have a friendly face by your side. You’ll have a companion to commiserate with during gaps in the program or long speeches. Anything you learn will be learned by another person, doubling the exposure. If you need to move quickly, you’ll have another set of eyes scouting out the path ahead or watching out for threats from behind. If you become injured, there will be someone to watch over you. Learning to act together is a basic tenant of solidarity, and it needs to be practiced, just like any other skill.

As part of proper planning, make sure that you and your buddy are in agreement about what level of risk you’re both comfortable with. If things go pear-shaped and you’re ready to make like a shepherd and get the flock out of there, you don’t want to find out that your buddy is actually ready to mount the barricades.

Never forget the wise words of Mariame Kaba: Everything worthwhile is done with other people.

Bulletins

We’ve Moved to Discord!

New Orleans DSA members should get on our Discord server to keep up with your comrades and our efforts. We’ve phased out Slack and will migrate old conversations over.

School Supply Drive with the Direct Service & Health Justice Committee

We’re planning a school supply drive for the August 9 Brake Light Clinic & Health Fair. Chip in for supplies at our School Supply Drive Wishlist, or bring your own to our next General Meeting where we’ll assemble the kits.

Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing: EWOC Training Series on How to Unite and Win

Come join Worker Power Louisiana for a four-part training on fundamental principles of effective shop-floor organizing. Four sessions will cover Developing Leadership (July 12), The Organizing Conversation (July 19), The Arc of the Campaign (July 26), and Inoculation and the Boss Campaign (August 2). All sessions are from 3:00-4:30p Central. Sign up here to get started.

City Council Endorsement HQ

Election Day is October 11 and New Orleans DSA has three endorsed members running for City Council. Keep up with Danyelle Christmas, Jackson Kimbrell, and Bob Murrell’s campaigns at Endorsement HQ. Volunteer, donate, follow on social media, and fill out the Campaign Outreach Survey to get involved.

Community Calendar

Complete Calendar

Solidarity Means Action is the weekly newsletter of the New Orleans Democratic Socialists of America. Subscribe for updates every Friday at 8:00 am Central.