This Friday evening, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, held a meeting with representatives of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), the largest left-leaning political organization in the United States.

Happy to say ive heard lots of great things from comrades who were there who include several NPC members.

https://twitter.com/NicolasMaduro/status/1411121788701052933

https://twitter.com/Gaius_Gracchus_/status/1411129317208244224

https://twitter.com/nicolasmaduro/status/1411150426049810434

:maduro-coffee:

  • Vncredleader
    ·
    3 years ago

    I am very glad they are doing this, and the IC had been based as fuck for a long time. I am hesitant with how everything involving them becomes a binary issue for the left. I've seem dedicated members get shit here for having nuanced critiques of their own org. They've always had channels open with PSUV, but the national caucus and plenty of actions have been frustratingly socdem particularly with imperialism. I want to celebrate this happening, while also not wanting to treat this as being indicative of DSA writ-large because when push-comes to shove the IC does not dictate the direction of the party and the national org needs to be challenged on foreign policy regardless of good things like this.

    What I am saying is the International Caucus should coup the entire org

    • mrbigcheese [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I dont expect you to know this because its not exactly public knowledge, but the International Committee is directly appointed by the National Political Committee which is the highest elected administrative body in DSA, elected by a convention of thousands of delegates from every chapter once every 2 years. The NPC appoints the leadership of the IC, and the NPC has to approve all the things the IC decides to do. So this IS national doing this, and the majority of the delegation that met with Maduro are NPC members and appointed IC leadership, that second post from Austin for example is one of the elected NPCs. This is as "national" as it gets ha

      • Vncredleader
        ·
        3 years ago

        Gimme those details plz?

        but yeah thanks that's cool to have clarified (I did know it was chosen by a national convention was all) however its not like the IC and the official line are the same. National level or not the IC is certainly more radical than the NPC. I am assuming they don't have the power to rescind endorsements or as easily pressure candidates to take their line? Cause that's what I was (half-jokingly) getting at. How much policy power does the International Committee have, cause we know how easily something like the UN can get away with a progressive resolution being passed, or a committee that is more radical only for any and all suggestions to be ignored.

        • mrbigcheese [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Well for one thing we have BDS basically as a policy platform now which different chapters use to determine endorsements from, and for example all the NYC state and local reps and candidates support it. And we are taking up voting on a party platform this year, which includes a lot of things, you can read the draft here if curious. This sort of builds our general policies which individual chapters take up to make their endorsements process, but this differs a lot from state to state or region to region because of a lot of local factors that chapters will have to decide. There cant really be a single thing we can apply to everyone, tho theres ways to move towards that. The IC in that regard I think has made a lot of inroads in determining our foreign policy platform which is pretty great and the work done there is good too. What that's important for is building internal political ideology which is more impactful on what chapters decide to take up in regards to different policy matters for candidates. But yeah basically the political makeup of our candidates is more indicative of the state of the left and the us in general than DSA itself.

          • Vncredleader
            ·
            3 years ago

            Nice to hear, specifically about BDS. Always a work in progress, but the IC is giving me faith. Is there any way to specifically help the IC and their work?

            • mrbigcheese [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              Yeah I think theres a lot of stuff about DSA in general thats not so obvious unless youre actually in it working on this stuff. If youre in DSA you should apply to join the IC and theres several subcommittees you can join depending on what you're interested in.

    • comi [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      That’s fair with nuance, but I think natural ebb and flow of “this is shit, they are all bad, this is rad, they are all good” are just consequences of talking about single event, and kinda fair game (or at least natural structural consequence)

      Re: last point :sankara-shining: