Features
Local Convention Next Saturday, June 28
Local Convention is our chapter’s largest event of the year, where we review the past year and current state of the chapter, plan the course of the next year, and vote on important business like bylaws amendments and Local Council members. You can check out the proposed amendments, resolutions, and Local Council nominee bios on the Convention Compendium. We’ll also hear from speakers about standing up in the face of recent attacks on immigrants, and will break bread while building community with our comrades! Check out the full agenda here.
This year’s convention will be on Saturday, June 28th, 1-5pm at Big Couch. We encourage you to arrive at 12:30 to sign-in and hang out before we start the meeting at 1:05. This is the highest decision-making body in our chapter, so we strongly urge you to join us in person or online! Food and masks will be provided. Please indicate other childcare and accessibility needs when you RSVP.
Observers are welcome to sit in on our discussions and hear from our speakers, but only New Orleans DSA members in good standing are eligible to vote, so be sure to check your membership status at proof.dsausa.org before the day of convention!
RSVP for Local Convention, share childcare and accessibility needs, and indicate if you can volunteer day-of at this link: https://actionnetwork.org/events/new-orleans-dsa-local-convention/
We Do Not Want to Live in a Minimum Security Prison
NOPD lied about surveilling us with facial recognition. They got caught.
Then they just kept doing it, laundering it through ex-officer Bryan Lagarde’s Project NOLA surveillance system.
They wasted money on racist and ineffective Shot Spotter sensors.
Now they want to start that all over again.
They made our city a testing ground for fascist Peter Thiel’s massive data scraper Palantir. The same Palantir that’s making an “ImmigrationOS” Surveillance Platform to track people for ICE.
City Council, NOPD, and the District Attorney already have drones in the sky, and they’re already scraping our socials and calling it Open Source Intelligence. Now they want more surveillance, including live facial recognition, characteristic tracking, and cell-site simulators. They’ll take up Ordinance 35,125 at Thursday’s Council meeting.
These cameras track your every move, identifying you by your face, your clothing, or the dents on your car. It gives the government unprecedented power to track your daily life. As our political landscape evolves, we are seeing these surveillance technologies used against our immigrant community, abortion seekers, labor movement leaders, and activists exercising their right to free speech. The data collected through these technologies can be shared with third parties, including private companies and federal agencies like ICE or the National Guard.
“Always in Minimum Security” is how artist Jackie Sumell has described the surveillance state in New Orleans. We don’t want to build a surveillance infrastructure to hand over to our authoritarian president’s secret police force. We don’t want to be the architects of our own imprisonment. Oppose Ordinance 35,125 at City Council’s Thursday meeting and beyond.
What Did You Do During the War?
The long-anticipated (not in the good way) war between Iran and Israel has begun. Israel was unable to Shock-and-Awe their way to victory and is now calling for the US to come to their aid. Another way to see the US/Israel relationship is not so much one of patron state and client state, but more like Good Cop/Bad Cop. The reality show president is trying to wield a trillion-dollar military like a reveal on The Apprentice. Will he or won’t he “enter the war” and hit Iran with the bunker-buster bombs?
As it turns out, the US is already involved in the war, using our missile defense systems and fighter planes to shield Israel from Iranian reprisals. Mostly. Iranian weapons are increasingly getting through the Iron Dome. The hypocrisy of Israel unilaterally launching a sneak attack and then begging for help from the people who told them not to do it is an affront to anyone who understands that actions have consequences. Except that’s not really true for everyone is it? This kind of contradiction is a powerful organizing tool, and we should not waste this opportunity.
The cracks are there and growing. We need to keep asking the kinds of questions that will make people confront the BS contradictions that they’ve internalized and adapted to: If you thought that Trump was going to keep us out of wars, then why this change? How are the ICE raids affecting you? How long has the road been torn up in front of your house? Talk to people. Listen to people. Help them figure out that no one is coming to save them, that we have to do this ourselves.
Red Rabbits Recommendation – Protest Planning
People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. Protesting in NOLA these past few years has ranged from impassioned speeches at Lafayette Square to storming the Crescent City Connection and getting tear-gassed by NOPD. You need to know what kind of protest you’re going to and plan accordingly.
Talk with your household so everyone understands and agrees about the level of activity you will engage in. If things go pear-shaped, the repercussions will affect them as well.
If you get arrested, it’s good to already have a lawyer that you can call. Although there are groups organizing bail and jail support, having this set up means you’ll be one less person drawing on limited resources.
If things take a bad turn, protect your head and the back of your neck. If you do get a projectile or blow to your head, be sure to get it checked out, even if you feel okay afterwards. You’ll want to make sure that you don’t have a brain bleed.
Water is essential. A camelback is great, but bottles of water will do fine.
Tear gas should be flushed out with water. Lots of water. ONLY water. If water is applied quickly, you’ll only be debilitated for a few minutes. Mace is designed to disable you for 20-30 minutes. You treat it with lots of water and Dawn dish soap. Another option for Mace is Sudecon wipes. Maybe keep a few of those with you, if you can.
Wear glasses instead of contacts. Chemical agents can fuse the lenses to your eyeball.
And don’t get kettled. We owe it to each other not to make anything easy for the class enemies. Stay smart. Stay safe.
Bulletins
Erica Johnson Wins Soil and Water Conservation District Election
Last Saturday, you packed the polls to elect DSA-recommended Erica Johnson to the Crescent Soil and Water Conservation District. Erica will continue serving on CSWD’s District Board of Supervisors. You can keep up with CSWD on Instagram.
Support Our Endorsed Candidates for City Council
Our chapter voted to endorse three candidates in this year’s City Council races. Now, it’s up to us to help get our members into those seats! Check out our newly launched Endorsement HQ to find up-to-date info on all of our endorsed candidates! Take a minute to follow them on social media, donate to their campaigns, and volunteer using the links provided. Also, fill out our (very brief) Campaign Outreach Survey and let us know how you can best get involved.
Municipal Action Committee Wants You!
MAC currently has 2 vacant co-chair positions. While they aren’t strictly defined roles, we think it would be extremely useful to have one that is focused on electoral work, such as coordinating with our endorsed candidates, and one that is focused on civic engagement, such as keeping tabs on our various city governmental institutions. If either of these areas interest you, please shoot an email to hello@dsaneworleans.org or find Charlie B on Slack!
Chapter Merchandise Available Now!
Support and rep your favorite socialist organization with merch! Help us fundraise to send our delegates to DSA’s biennial National Convention, move into a new space by ordering a shirt, or just give us feedback on what items you might want to see in the future. Check it out at bit.ly/dsanola-merch.
Community Calendar
Friday, June 20
12:00-12:45p Free Palestine! Abolish ICE! Weekly Lunch Hour Rally – Immigration Court, 365 Canal St.
Saturday, June 21
10:00a-12:00p Canvass for Danyelle Christmas, District E – Get involved
12:00-6:00p Jane Place 30 Days of Housing Justice Celebration & Resource Fair – First Grace United Methodist Church, 3401 Canal St.
Sunday, June 22
9:00a-12:00p Canvass for Jackson Kimbrell, District C – Get involved
10:00a-12:00p Canvass for Danyelle Christmas, District E – Get involved
Wednesday, June 25
12:00-1:00p NOLA Grannies / Indivisible Weekly Rally – ICE Field Office, 1250 Poydras St.
2:00-6:00p Geaux Get Ready Hurricane Prep Party – Women With a Vision, 2028 Oretha Castle Haley Blvd.
7:00-8:00p Municipal Action Committee Meeting – Meet
Thursday, June 26
10:00a City Council Facial Recognition Meeting – City Council Chamber, 1300 Perdido St., Second Floor West Live Stream
Friday, June 27
12:00-12:45p Free Palestine! Abolish ICE! Weekly Lunch Hour Rally – Immigration Court, 365 Canal St.
Saturday, June 28
10:00a-12:00p Canvass for Danyelle Christmas, District E – Get involved
1:00-5:00p New Orleans DSA Local Convention – Big Couch, 1045 Desire St. RSVP here
6:00p Convention Afterparty – Location TBD
Sunday, June 29
10:00a-12:00p Canvass for Danyelle Christmas, District E – Get involved
Down the Road
July 17 Poli-Ed Reading Group: On Contradiction & The Master’s Tools – Oak St. Brewery, 8201 Oak St. Reading List
August 8-10 DSA National Convention – Chicago
October 11 Municipal Election Day – Open Primary
November 15 Municipal Election Day – Runoff
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.