Features

We Are Going to Win

CBP and ICE have started their New Orleans operation in earnest. Trump and Landry announced a National Guard deployment down here later this month. They are moving as comrades in Chicago and Charlotte told us to expect: leaving Belle Chasse early in the morning, targeting where they expect to find vulnerable immigrants according to their stereotypes—Lowe’s parking lots, grocery stores, construction sites, schools—and doing these abductions masked, with unmarked and tinted cars, in 5-7 minutes. We’re seeing kids missing school, businesses shutting down, and residents postponing needed medical care.

In the face of this cruelty, we are still organizing. DSA members have flocked to Ojos trainings and are flying around town every day, filming ICE, and scaring them away from schools, work sites, and City Park. We’re forming coalitions with partner orgs and putting our mutual aid skills and infrastructure to work. We’re making our demands known to City Hall, and we’re keeping receipts on who steps up and who stays quiet. When the people come together, the people will win.

Tonight at Broadmoor Community Church, 2021 S Dupre St, we continue our Friday Night School series with an Exercise Your Rights Workshop with local defense attorneys. Come link up with people from your own neighborhood and learn how to organize, help your neighbors, and build the community and the structures that will make us unconquerable to fascism.

Organizing is about trust. Courage is a muscle. We keep us safe. See you all tonight.

Protect the Leah Chase School from Charter Profiteers

The future of our city’s only publicly run school, the Leah Chase School, is at risk. The business lobby and charter school profiteers have been contacting school board members incessantly about closing the school. They want to spread that lie that direct-run schools are doomed to fail. Direct-run schools are accountable to residents who live here, and not to out of town charter school networks.

DSA elected Orleans Parish School Board member Gaby Biro is fighting hard for the students, families, and staff of Leah Chase. Let your school board member know you want them to stand up for the Leah Chase School. Defend and expand direct-run schooling in our city. Don’t let them set the Leah Chase School up to fail. Invest in our children’s and our city’s future and protect public education!

Red Rabbits Recommendation: The Importance of Red Cards and Keeping Your Mouth Shut

Don’t talk to any of the law enforcement menagerie that has invaded Our Fair City. I recently heard a lawyer state that in over 30 years of practice, he could not think of a single instance of permanent adverse consequences befalling someone who declined to be interviewed by the police. Another lawyer I know champions the expression “Nobody Talks, Everybody Walks.” If the pigs want to talk to you, decline to talk to them without your lawyer present, and ask them if you are being detained. If they say “no,” then walk away—don’t run. If they say “yes,” ask them for the charge, and then keep your mouth shut until you get a lawyer. Every time.

Even answering simple yes/no questions can be perilous for our comrades with accents. The Immigration Goons look for any reason to fill their quotas, and someone speaking with a non-perfect US accent can become a target. That’s why the good folks at The Immigrant Legal Resource Center created Red Cards, available in 56 different languages. On one side they lay out a few important constitutional rights guaranteed to every person. The other side spells out in English that the card holder does not wish to answer any questions, does not consent to a search, and will not open the door without being shown a legal warrant under the door. The card holder shows this to the officer then stays silent, not saying anything that can be used against them.

There is an effort to distribute these to everyone in the metro area. Many hands make light work, so join the fun by downloading the cards, printing them yourself, and getting them out there. Give them to friends and family. Give them to work crews. Give them to people who know people who are at risk. Knowledge is power.

Bulletins

DSA on the Radio: Black Mental Health Matters

Tune in to WHIV 102.3 FM this Sunday at 9:00 am for Conversation for the Culture: No ICE in New Orleans. Dr. Chanelle Batiste, Psy.D., hosts DSA member and public defender Aaron Zagory for a conversation about about what is happening in New Orleans now that ICE and border patrol have arrived, what your rights are if you come in contact with them, and how we can support community members at this time.

Winter Coat Drive for Next Brake Light Clinic

We’ll be handing out winter coats at our December 13 Brake Light Clinic. If you’re able to donate winter clothing, please bring it by the office, Healing Center #258. Get in touch with the Direct Service & Health Justice Committee to learn more and help out. Volunteer here.

Immigration Advocacy Working Group Launches

The Immigration Advocacy Working Group held its first organizing meeting last night. We formed the structure for the group, assigned a chair, and appointed representatives to coalition partners. This is a regionwide response to a regionwide crisis, and we need to coordinate how DSA members can show up for our neighbors and coalition partners. Join our Discord channel to plan our Night School workshops, steer our neighborhood groups, and build transformative campaigns to run Greg Bovino out of our town.

Poli-Ed Reading Series

The Reading Group meets every third Sunday, from 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm, at the Healing Center #258. Our current reading series focuses on Palestine. See you at the next meeting!

December 21
No Other Land by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal & Rachel Szor
The Dig: Thawra hosted by Daniel Denvir

January 18
The Gender of Fossil Fuels by Shira Pinhas
Spatial and Temporal Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment in West Bank, Palestine by Sandy Alawna & Xavier Garcia
Gas & Oil in Palestine by Marketline (copies available at the office)

February 15
Arab-Israeli Eco-Normalization by Manal Shqair
Poetry Share Out

Join Your Neighborhood Circle Today

Organizing is about trust, and trust gets built by showing up again and again and getting to know your neighbors. Neighborhood circles are how we connect with comrades where we live, where we work, or where we otherwise spend our time. We’re using them to host gatherings, plan events, and organize around issues in our neighborhoods. Click here to join yours today! Neighborhood circles follow the chapter’s code of conduct and guidelines for respectful discussion.

Write Like a Socialist: We Have a World to Win!

Have an update from your committee or working group? That’s a Bulletin! Want to tell us about an upcoming event? Add it to the Community Calendar! Got some opinion or analysis to share for the good of the membership? Write us a Feature! Make your contribution to the next edition of Solidarity Means Action from the link on Discord.

Community Calendar

Friday, December 5

DSA Fund: How We Win Conference Day 1

Ojos Training
5:00 pm
Uptown (contact a DSA member for address)

Organizing Against CBP, ICE & the National Guard with Defense Lawyers: Exercise Your Rights Workshop
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Broadmoor Community Church, 2021 S Dupre St – Meet

Saturday, December 6

DSA Fund: How We Win Conference Day 2

Labor Notes New Orleans Troublemakers School
9:30 am – 4:00 pm
IATSE Local 478, 511 N Hennessey St – Register

Ojos Training
10:00 am
New Orleans East (contact a DSA member for address)

New Orleans Bookfair
11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Fred Hampton Free Store, 5523 St Claude

Ojos Training
3:00 pm
Gentilly (contact a DSA member for address)

DSA Uptown Neighborhood Social & Holidays Party (all neighborhoods welcome)
7:00 pm
8722 Willow St

Sunday, December 7

DSA Fund: How We Win Conference Day 3

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

Ojos Training
11:00 am
Bywater (contact a DSA member for address)

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

Chapter Orientation
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm (first and last Sunday)
Meet

Monday, December 8

Ojos Training
5:30 pm
Lacombe (contact a DSA member for address)

Tuesday, December 9

Direct Service & Health Justice Meeting
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Meet

Wednesday, December 10

Ojos Training
12:00 pm
Gert Town (contact a DSA member for address)

Eye on Surveillance Meeting
6:30 pm
Zoom

Thursday, December 11

DSA Bywater-Lower 9th Neighborhood Meetup
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Bud Rips, 900 Piety

Friday, December 12

Queer Soc Meeting
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
bit.ly/queersoc

Organizing Against CBP, ICE & the National Guard with Eye on Surveillance: Digital Security Workshop
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Broadmoor Community Church, 2021 S Dupre St – Meet

Saturday, December 13

Brake Light Clinic & Winter Coat Drive
11:00 am – 2:00 pm
AP Tureaud Civil Rights Memorial Park, 1800 A P Tureaud Av – Volunteer

Sunday, December 14

DSA Northshore Neighborhood Social
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Roots Plants + Coffee, 124 Erlanger Ave Suite B, Slidell

DSA Comms Meeting
6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
Healing Center, 2372 St Claude Av #258 – Meet

Down the Road

December 15 New Orleans Community Organizing Fair Org Registration Deadline – Interest Form
December 20 New Orleans DSA General Meeting
December 21 Municipal Action Committee Meeting
December 21 Poli-Ed Reading Group
December 22 Local Council Meeting
January 4 Coffee with Comrades
January 11 New Orleans Community Organizing Fair – Interest Form