After over four decades as a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, one of the group’s founding members is leaving in sorrow and anger.

This vibes anecdotally with my local chapter. In the face of overwhelming membership solidarity with Palestinian liberation, the social imperialist reactionaries are purging themselves.

  • porcupine@lemmygrad.ml
    ·
    11 months ago

    Same deal here. Working on chapter bylaws, ran into the clause nobody could explain. “Don’t worry about it”, but “National says it has to stay”. As my political education grew it became clear that, far from a “leftist big tent”, DSA was always designed to be an explicitly pro-US anticommunist organization. I left after the Bowman affair the expulsion of the international committee Palestine Solidarity Working Group. The old permanent self appointed chapter leadership has since come out in favor of sending arms to Ukraine, and came out against the local Palestine solidarity rally because it was “infiltrated by the PSL”.

    • PM_ME_YOUR_FOUCAULTS [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      11 months ago

      That's when I finally gave up on DSA for good. What's the point of getting these clowns elected there's no party line and no discipline? If I wanted to knock on doors for liberals, I'd join ActBlue or whatever

    • hotcouchguy [he/him]
      ·
      11 months ago

      expulsion of the international committee

      What happened? I havent kept up I guess. The international committee seemed great.

      • PM_ME_YOUR_FOUCAULTS [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        11 months ago

        They were, in fact cool, which is why they harshly criticized Bowman for voting to send Israel money for the Iron Dome and went on a visit to Israel.

        The working group demanded that he break ties with Zionist lobbyists like J Street which sponsored the trip. Bowman refused. The working group demanded that DSA begin the process of expelling Bowman.

        DSA National Leadership pissed its pants and dechartered the working group

        Actually, you know what I hate that I know all this shit. I'm going to forget it right fucking now

        • Chapo_is_Red [he/him]
          ·
          11 months ago

          One of the members of the disbanded working group, Ahmed Husain, was elected to DSA's national political committee.

      • porcupine@lemmygrad.ml
        ·
        11 months ago

        I remembered incorrectly: it was the Palestine solidarity/BGS workgroup that got dechartered around the time of the Bowman affair. I recall pretty continuous calls for the expulsion of the IC at the time, and it got conflated in my memory.