Abel Amene Questionnaire
Please describe your past and current involvement in DSA. This may include your involvement in the metro D.C. chapter, another chapter, and/or work at the national level.
I first came into contact with MDCDSA while volunteering for Jeremiah Lowery’s campaign for a seat on the DC Council. I joined MDCDSA in October 2020 and became active in December 2020. Since then, I have been most active in the M4A Working Group where I served as one of the co-chairs leading on our vaccine outreach and DC M4A resolution campaigns. I drafted the first version of a Medicare for All Resolution which passed in the DC Council in October 2021. I have also been involved in Defund MPD and am a member of the leadership council of our chapter’s AfroSOC Section. In the National DSA M4A campaign, I currently serve on the Steering Committee (2021 - 2023) and as a Regional Organizer for MD/VA/DC/WV. I helped start a BDS/Palestine Solidarity campaign in our chapter and am part of the national BDS & Palestine Solidarity Working Group. I have served on the MDCDSA Steering Committee and Political Engagement Committee since May 2021.
Why do you believe that you are a good fit for this position?
I have attended almost every single meeting of the Steering Committee since becoming active. I have become very familiar with the issues brought to SC and the roles and responsibilities of the various SC members. I have been involved in several different working groups and sections within the chapter and familiar with their membership, goals, structure, and priorities. I have shepherded the M4A Working Group through two successful campaigns. In the process, I learned a lot about organizing within Metro DC DSA, and developed connections with organizers in National DSA and local coalition partners in DC. With coalition partners both locally and nationally, I helped organize a campaign that convinced the Biden administration to tentatively support the TRIPS Waiver at the WTO.
What do you hope to accomplish for the chapter if elected to this position?
I would like to serve on the Steering Committee to expand our capacity for legislative outreach and advocacy, and serve as chair of the 5-person Political Engagement Committee (PEC). Per §6.1.4 of our bylaws, the PEC is responsible for assisting with legislative advocacy efforts and I would like to make this one of my major responsibilities. As an at-large member of the SC, I would like to further refine our priority campaign program and better define the relationship between said campaigns and branches. I also want to ensure that identity-based sections are given additional funding and resources for recruitment and retention towards the goal of building DSA as a multiracial and multigenerational mass socialist movement.