Features

Join the No Appetite for Apartheid Campaign

No Appetite for Apartheid (NA4A) is a multi-city retail- and consumer-boycott campaign against the zionist occupation of Palestine. By boycotting, we strengthen our solidarity with Palestinians against ongoing genocide, apartheid, and colonization. NA4A gives us an easy way to ensure our purchases aren’t contributing to the oppression of Palestinians, and it gives businesses an easy way to show and stand behind their values.

Volunteer to canvass with Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) or register your interest as a store-owner. The campaign primarily targets grocers and restaurants, but other stores are welcome to have their business certified apartheid-free. We will also be joining PYM for a Mid-City group canvass at a date TBD.

Divestment is a process. We’ll work with storeowners to reach full apartheid-free status. A store qualifies as Level 1 if it (1) has a written policy or statement supporting anti-apartheid principles and commits to not engaging (or not re-engaging if contractually locked) with primary BDS targets; (2) removes Sabra, Sadaf, and israeli wines from its catalog; and (3) removes any products labeled “made in israel,” which includes any 729 barcode; Jordan River, King Solomon, Star Dates, Galilee Export, and Carmel Agrexco dates; and brands like Jaffa Oranges, Mehadrin, Agrexco, Arava, Tivall, and more.

To reach Level 2, a store must begin to remove products from popular, ubiquitous brands known for complicity in apartheid and colonialism: Nestle Pure Life Water, Nescafe, Coca-cola, Sprite, Pepsicola, major Mars candies. Businesses may be certified Level 2 once any complicit brand is removed and replaced by an ethical alternative.

A store reaches Level 3 once all complicit brands are removed. A Level 3 store actively advocates for anti-apartheid principles in the community, including by participating in campaigns and coalitions that promote these values, and invests in community development projects aimed at empowering Palestinian liberation struggles. Check out the map to view participating stores in the New Orleans area.

Red Talk: The Rise of Violence Against Black Americans

Tory Medley, 39, Tasia Fortune, 29, Kyle Bassinga, 21, Syriah Henderson, 29, Justice Kai James, 21, Juliana Nzita, 16, Trey Reed, 21, and Tonea Miller, 27, all found hanging since 2025. Robert Elliot, 37, found burned and wrapped in a tarp on the side of the road. Jonah Neal, 25, Darrin Pigram, 41, Alfonso Ivy, 47, and Tyrin Johnson, 20, all murdered by the Memphis Special Task Force. Nolan Wells, 18, found dead after being abandoned on a trip. Was he lynched? And this is all just the tip of the iceberg.

Violence against Black Americans is on the rise right now, and even though it’s not something that melanin-deficient folks find easy to talk about, we need to. JULIAN’s Crimson Report documented over 70 cases of suspected Modern Day Lynchings from 2000 to 2025 in the South. EmeraldBook.org reports “an alarming uptick between March 2025 and August 2026, finding at least 22 Black individuals dead under unusual or suspicious hanging circumstances across the country.”

And lynching isn’t just when someone is hanged. It’s also when someone is murdered after an accusation and without a trial or jury—police lynch people as well. And because this is the 21st anniversary of Katrina, we also remember James Brissette, 17, and Ronald Madison, 40, lynched by police on the Danziger Bridge while looking for supplies to live.

This is all tied to capitalism, since many Black people were brought to the Americas to continue the work of stripping the lands for the benefit of the European elite, and today, cops continue forcing Black people and People of Color to work for the state. That is what the American for-profit carceral system is, including immigrants being fed into the machine.

Anyone who’s studied fascism knows that it never stops with one marginalized population. Like violence against the trans community, violence against the Black community is normalized by the silence of the news and politicians. We all must be prepared to move with marginalized communities today. It’s easy for some of us to say nothing, but that’s what the systems that are oppressing us want us to do, so we won’t.

This isn’t a direct call to action, but a call to attention. In the words of Lead Belly, stay woke, comrades.

Help DSA and Renters’ Rights Assembly Save Tenants’s Rights to Counsel

Evictions are violent and harmful. New Orleans’s Tenants’ Rights to Counsel Program guarantees an attorney for tenants facing eviction or subsidy loss. The program works: it’s ensured that 40% of people facing housing loss are represented by counsel. Of those represented, fewer than 2% evicted. Most cases result in a payment plan agreement, allowing a social work team to connect tenants to community resources.

This program resulted from a hard-fought campaign in 2021, including a joint DSA-Renters’ Rights Assembly shutdown of eviction court. We had one of the highest eviction rates in the country, and about double the national average.

Now, the program is facing a huge budget cut. We need you to get involved by talking to your neighbors about Right to Counsel, attend an upcoming Renters’ Rights Assembly meeting on the first Thursday of the month at First Grace United Methodist Church, and following the discussion on Discord at dsa-topics>Rights to Counsel Organizing.

Bulletins

Voter Guide Training Tomorrow

Learn with others how the voter guide gets made & start helping make our upcoming edition. Come this Tuesday 9/1 at 8:00 pm online. RSVP.

Voter Guide Working Group is looking for writers, researchers for Jefferson Parish researchers including for school board, editors, and artwork for the guide.

Contact Bob M or get on Discord channel #voter-guide.

We’ve Founded an Afro-Socialists & Socialists of Color Section

At Saturday’s General Meeting, the chapter endorsed an Afro-Socialists & Socialists of Color Section to plan events and be an accommodating space to affirm and organize Black, Indigenous, and Members of Color in our chapter. If you would like to join this section, please reach out in Discord: #afrosoc!

Afro-SoC monthly meetings are 4th Thursdays at 6:15 pm online.

Chapter Adopts Medical Debt Relief Campaign with Undue Medical Debt

New Orleans DSA is partnering with Undue Medical Debt to raise $15k by February to eliminate medical debt in Orleans, St. Tammany, and Jefferson parishes. Since 2014, Undue Medical Debt has abolished billions of dollars in medical debt for over 31.6 million people in the United States. Every dollar we raise forgives $100 of debt. Stay tuned for updates from this exciting new campaign!

Direct Service: Meeting, Fork & Knife, and Health Justice

August’s Brake Light Clinic was another success: 13 brake lights changed, 5 patients treated, over 100 meals distributed. We can’t do this work without those of you who continue to show up. Thank you.

Come to our next meeting, Tuesday, September 8, at 6:00 pm online. We are planning for our next Fork & Knife Club to distribute meals to local community fridges. The F&KC is Saturday, September 12, from 11 am – 1:30 am, Healing Center #258. We always welcome donations for food and supplies.

Health Justice is in the process of becoming its own working group, officially has its own Discord channel, and will be kicking off their Medical Debt Relief campaign in November. Any health professional comrades: join us on the Discord!

Trivial Pursuits

Join us for weekly trivia on Wednesdays at 7:00 pm! Test your knowledge and share joy with other nerdy socialists. We typically meet at Pepp’s Pub, 706 Franklin Av, New Orleans, LA 70117. Check the Discord or reach out to Troy W. or Alex P. for location confirmation!

Immigration Advocacy Working Group

Do you have an interest in supporting our immigrant neighbors & comrades? Maybe you are already active with immigration aid organizations and want to share their support needs & campaigns? Join the IAWG Discord channel to help keep our comrades informed and share resources. Reach out and we can help you get connected! The next meeting is online Monday, Sept 7th, at 6:30 pm.

Our next Spanish Language Exchange will be at the Healing Center on September 20th from 1-2pm Sunday to work on language skills.

September Social & Cohort #3 Graduation

Join us for New Orleans DSA’s September Social and Cohort #3 Graduation! Come out to Skeeta Hawk Brewery on Saturday, September 12, from 2-5 pm. Bring your family and meet your fellow chapter members. Not a member? Come anyway! Children welcome; NA drink selections and food for purchase available. Cohort Graduation begins at 3:30pm. Cohorts help members become familiar with New Orleans DSA, get comfortable talking about our work, and strengthen connections and camaraderie among comrades. Sign up for our next Member Cohort beginning mid-October if you’re interested in expanding your involvement with New Orleans DSA. Solidarity!

Stand Up for Palestine Fundraiser September 18

The 5th Stand Up for Palestine at Okay Bar, 1700 Port St, is coming up, hosted by DSA member Tina McCrory! Featuring hilarious local comics, including DSA member Benjamin Hoffman, and co-sponsored by New Orleans Musicians for Palestine. Stand up for Palestine shows have raised over $2700 for the incredible humanitarian organization Anera and are excited to raise even more. Come join in community, solidarity, and laughter. Friday, September 18: doors at 7:00, show at 8:00. $10- $20 suggested donation, but no one turned away due to lack of funds.

New Orleans DSA Proudly Endorses Comrade Lauren Jewett for Congress, LA-01!

Volunteer Hub | Contribute | 7:30p Monday volunteer calls | Request a sign

Election Day is Tuesday November 3, 2026. Special education teacher, DSA member, and longtime United Teachers of New Orleans (AFT Local 527) member Lauren Jewett is running for Congress in LA-01, which covers much of the Greater New Orleans metro, Lakeview, and parts of Uptown and Mid-City.

She’s fighting for public schools and their teachers; Medicare for All, reproductive freedom, and keeping our hospitals open; paid family leave and universal childcare for every worker; restoring our coast with union jobs; and ending the billionaire takeover of our government.

Comms Projects on the Horizon

Upcoming projects that we need help on: a video series imagining what Mamdani’s policies in NYC could look like for us here in New Orleans (next up: food policy! city-run grocery stores!), attack ads against Steve Scalise in support of Lauren Jewett’s campaign, and a Frankie & Johnny style video for the upcoming Medical Debt Relief campaign. We can always use help creating flyers, slides and videos. Join us on Discord!

Shirts Are In! Designed by Sign Painter Pam Collins

If you’ve been to the chapter’s office in the New Orleans Healing Center in the last couple of months, you may have seen a new hand-painted New Orleans Democratic Socialists of America sign. This was made by Pam Collins, an influential sign painter who was described as “unofficially, the official artist of the city of New Orleans” by the time she retired in 2013. You can now order shirts featuring her design as well as red DSA logo shirts and Global Liberation Now pelican shirts. You can also order a Skulls and Roses shirt design on our Good Press shop.

Community Calendar

Monday, August 31

DSA for Lauren Jewett Weekly Call
7:30 pm – 8:15 pm (Mondays)
Volunteer | Meet

Sober Soc Support Group
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Meet

Tuesday, September 1

Voter Guide Training
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Online RSVP

Wednesday, September 2

Eco Soc Meeting
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Meet

Electoral Committee Co-Work & Talk
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm (Wednesdays)
Morning Call, 5101 Canal Blvd (cash only) & online

Trivia Night with Team DSA
7:00 pm
Pepp’s Pub, 706 Franklin Av

Thursday, September 3

DSA Hangout: Downtown-Marigny
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Anna’s, 2601 Royal St

Friday, September 4

🌹 🌹 🌹

Saturday, September 5

Lauren Jewett Uptown Canvassing
9:30 am – 11:30 am
Junk Drawer Coffee, 2045 Broadway St

Sunday, September 6

Coffee With Comrades
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Coffee Science, 410 S Broad St

Poli-Ed Committee Meeting
5:00 pm – 6:30 pm (first Sunday)
Healing Center, 2372 St Claude Av #258 – Meet

Queer Soc Gayme Night
6:00 pm
Z’otz Cafe 8210 Oak St #2042

Chapter Orientation
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm
RSVP

Sober Socialists Planning Meeting
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm (Sundays)
Meet

Down the Road

September 11 Northshore Reading Group
September 12 Caregivers Park Hangout
September 12 Fork & Knife Club Food Distribution
September 12 Cohort Graduation & Chapter Social
September 19 Sober Soc Tubing Trip
September 24 AfroSoC Meeting
September 20 Poli-Ed Reading Group
September 26 New Orleans DSA General Meeting
October 3 Dance Party for Lauren Jewett
October 30 DSA Gala