East Bay DSA on Jacobin Panel

On Friday, February 3, more than 200 people filled the California Nurses Association headquarters to attend a panel called "Resisting Trump in California." The panelists included our own East Bay DSA co-chair Jeremy Gong, editor and founder of Jacobin Magazine Bhaskar Sunkara, and Stephanie Schwartz of the International Socialist Organization. Each gave a brief talk about tactical approaches to opposing Trump from the Left, with an eye toward California as a crucial and viable region of resistance.

In his talk, Gong explained the strategy behind our chapter's forthcoming campaign to pass single-payer legislation in California. Health care reform would impact millions of Californians. In the process of organizing a campaign, said Gong, we'll be building a powerful movement of and for the 99 percent. Battle-tested coalitions like these will reinvigorate working class politics and rebuke Trump's capitalist extremism.

There was some unresolved debate that evening about the importance of electoral politics and the efficacy of engaging with the Democratic Party. But there was agreement on one point: the opposition to Trumpism should be mounted not from the center, but from the Left. If we work strategically and passionately to build a mass politics at home, California might just be able to show the nation how it's done.

Update: You can come take part in East Bay DSA's campaign for single-payer in California by coming to our Campaign Canvas Kickoff on February 25.