General Meeting: November 15th, 2020

November 2020 EBDSA General Meeting Agenda

East Bay DSA

General Meeting

November 15, 2020

1 pm - 3 pm

The Meeting was called to order at 1:05 pm

report back by Lindsey
Won 11 elections (Jovanka Beckles, Carroll Fife, Mike Hutchinson, Richmond City Council Slate, Berkeley Tenants Board)
Overview of DSA national Campaigns (highlighted LA City Council, Florida minimum wage, and Portland Universal Pre-K)

Delivered by Fred
Prop 15 Lost 52/48 statewide
Alameda had 2nd highest return in the state by county results 2:1
Created statewide structure for DSA to continue infrastructure
Biggest disadvantage despite volunteer advantage, was inability to be talking to folks door to door when being outspent by $20 million
Out of this emerges a campaign PAC amongst CA DSA
30,000 phone calls from our dialer, which was more than some unions
Prop 22- some $200 million spent in ads as a way to roll back AB5 passed by CA state legislatures
Won statewide 60-40
Ca ballot propositions is a two edged sword, allows us to get ballot measures on, flip side is major corporations can sink money to frame own law

Keynote Panel: Building Power on New Political Terrain

The candidates gave a post mortem from their respective campaigns and answered questions such as:

“How do you understand our new political terrain, locally, statewide, nationally?”

"How do we keep building? Not that you're in office what are you going to face, what are you going to pursue… What's next?"

Report back by Mike T. & Allie L.
Currently DSA has 80,000 members nationally. Our chapter goal was 225 members, we didn’t hit that but we did hit 150. We were in about the top ⅓ of chapter recruitment.
The national goal was 5,000 members, and we ended up recruiting over 12,000 members.
We phone banked Bernie Supporters, our peers, colleagues, roommates etc.
Even if you have friends that aren’t local, you can give them info on other local chapters to keep them engaged
On our way to 2,000 members as a chapter

Given by Andrew R.
What is DSA? What are we here for? What is Democratic Socialism?
“When you lean over a water fountain, you have a right to expect that it delivers clean, safe water for anyone and everyone. It should not be a segregated service. It should not be a form of means-tested charity for the needy, or run through decaying lead pipes. Water is life, water is precious, and water is not something to be privatized. It is a public good. We seek to take more parts of the economy out of the hands of profit-seekers, and instead treat them like you might treat clean water from a public fountain. (That’s what we mean when we talk about decommodifying something.) There are many other examples of profit motives creating screwed-up situations, like privately owned prisons or price-gouging during disasters. That’s part of why we’re socialists.”
Getting involved with one of our many committees is the best way to get involved
Socialist Night school, a more in depth Intro to DSA, Wednesday the 18th at 6:30p

Membership announcements

Eric V gave an update on the Medicare for All Committee and upcoming meetings.
Bonnie L gave an update for Green New Deal Committee. The day of action is December 12th, for GND programs needed. The National NPC and the national labor commission are in on this and our own GND committee wants you to join us to plan that kickoff. https://bit.ly/ebdsa1212

The Meeting was adjourned by Will S at 13:05