February 2023 Ballot Member Statements

Member Statements
21

IN FAVOR by Tim S.

Removing Cuba from the State Sponsors of Terror list is a winnable demand that would materially benefit our comrades in Cuba, suffering under the effects of decades of U.S. aggression. Our chapter has a unique role to play in the campaign to win this demand, alongside comrades in the wider DSA and coalition partners in other organizations. I fully support our involvement, and will be voting for the resolution when this amendment passes. I support this amendment because it clears up ambiguity in the move towards consolidating our organization’s work on Cuba under national, which has much greater legal and financial resources than our chapter. International Working Group (IWG) leadership wisely worked to consolidate fundraising procedures under National after last year’s Cuba delegation cost the chapter a significant amount of money due to the freezing of funds, while also exposing our organization to legal risks. This amendment extends that consolidation to other activities, particularly communications, around this campaign, clarifying that our chapter’s official position is that National is taking the lead here, and that local organizers will be working closely with the National campaign. I think this is necessary to minimize the risk of further funds freezes, audits, investigation, or legal action. Any of these would be deeply unjust, and the law may well be on our side, but all are extremely costly in cash, capacity, time, and stress on leadership and institutions, all of which are resources that we need to be stewarding strategically. Opponents of this amendment argue that it places an undue burden on IWG organizers in its coordination requirements. I agree that it places a higher burden on those organizers than they have dealt with in the past, but my view is that this is appropriate: it would be inappropriate for me to have total autonomy as Treasurer for numerous reasons, including legal and regulatory ones, and it would be inappropriate for electoral campaigns to proceed without safeguards to ensure that election laws are followed, which nearly always involves boring oversight and meetings that slow down the real work. This is a serious campaign with serious stakes, and this amendment brings the rules surrounding it in line with comparable work.I’ve been disappointed by some comments suggesting that I, and others in favor of this amendment, do not care about Cuba solidarity, or about international work more broadly, or that our politics are simply too timid. If I thought this campaign was unstrategic I would simply say that, as our chapter abstaining from involvement would bring the risks I summarize to zero. That is not my position, however: I believe that this amendment will let our chapter contribute to this important work at very low risk, which is why I will be voting for it and encourage you to do the same.

23

AGAINST by Stephanie K.

The amendment to Amendment to Resolution to Support Efforts to Oppose the US Blockade on Cuba appears, at best, to be a hubristic and ill-advised exercise of power, and at worst, an attempt to damage and undermine the mission of the Internationalism Working Group. The amendment’s stipulation that the WG “use only language provided by National or approved by National’s legal and comms team when communicating to chapter members about [Cuba] delegations” will grind to a halt all work necessary to carry out future delegations; additionally, it’s an severely restrictive measure that solves no outstanding problem. Claims of money having been lost are untrue, and the resolution itself already ensures that all future Cuba fundraising will be organized via national DSA.

24

AGAINST by Michael McV.

The amendment to the Resolution to Support Efforts to Oppose the US Blockade on Cuba seems like needless self-handicapping by our chapter that has received little justification for changes in the language in the original resolution. Let’s not prevent ourselves at DSA from doing what needs to be done to restore our relations with Cuba!

25

IN FAVOR by Stu K.

I’m writing this statement to urge all Metro DC DSA members to vote YES on the amendment to the Resolution to Support Efforts to Oppose the US Blockade on Cuba.

This amendment is a common-sense solution to ensure that our DSA chapter is taking necessary precautions as we organize to end the imperialist blockade of Cuba. Specifically, these precautions would amount to a vetting process provided by the national DSA office for chapter-level communications related to national-level DSA delegations to Cuba. This sort of process is unfortunately necessary due to the stringent legal and financial regulations that the federal government has imposed on activities related to ending the blockade.

It’s disappointing that we even have to debate such an amendment. But as multiple members of the Metro DC DSA Steering Committee noted in statements at the general body meeting last Sunday, this amendment is necessary to safeguard the financial infrastructure and legal status that enables our DSA chapter to fight for a better world. As context for this amendment, the Metro DC chapter’s internationalism working group failed to account for federal regulations related to advocacy against the Cuban embargo. This negligence resulted in a third-party fundraising platform freezing $10,000-worth of chapter funds—including reimbursements for fellow chapter members who organized a contingent of militant tenant leaders to travel to an organizing conference—and the loss of $5,000 in recurring donations to the chapter. According to steering committee members at the general body meeting, internationalism working group members continued to undermine and reject efforts by the chapter steering committee to draft communications about Cuba. Based on working group members’ statements at the general body meeting, this is a posture that has continued until now.

We can’t always choose the regulatory environment that defines our organizing conditions, but what we can do is fully understand the actual bounds of these regulations. That’s true when it comes to organizing to end the crushing blockade of Cuba, but it’s also true of a range of different organizing activities—from electoral campaigns to labor union drives to other forms of civil disobedience. For instance, as I’ve led several Metro DC DSA-endorsed electoral campaigns, I’ve repeatedly dealt with federal, state, and local campaign finance regulations that required careful navigation and consultation with a campaign finance expert in the national DSA office. I didn’t want to put our DSA chapter at risk of legal or financial damage, but I also sought to learn as much as possible about what we could do so that we could plan and execute campaigns that delivered results.

I also reject the notion that ensuring chapter formations go through similar steps to mitigate legal and financial risk is somehow a bureaucratic overreach or tyrannical imposition. The national DSA office has always been quick to respond to my campaign finance questions. Additionally, such protocols are part and parcel to any democratic socialist organization worth its salt. These structures help ensure that no one formation of an organization can impose risk on other formations.

It’s for these reason that I strongly urge all members of Metro DC DSA to vote YES for this amendment.

26

IN FAVOR by Sam R.

I am in full support of the spirit of this resolution as originally proposed, and wholeheartedly support the amendment. While I hope the resolution will greatly advance our Cuba solidarity work, I also believe that the amendment makes some important adjustments.

First, US imperial policy and legal strictures governing that relationship have been woven into a complex web in the decades since the revolution in Cuba. These regulations are not easy to navigate, and it is evident that the legal resources at Metro DC DSA’s disposal are not adequate to wholly address them. This makes it important for the chapter to follow national’s lead on sensitive legal matters surrounding this issue.

Second, it is not uncommon for DSA formations to be asked to use national’s substantially greater legal resources in chapter-led campaigns. On the national body that I sit on, the National Electoral Committee, chapters are frequently asked to check with national’s compliance staff before undertaking particular electoral approaches. The clauses in this amendment do not seem to institute measures that are any more onerous that that requirement.

Finally, part of solidarity means minimizing the downside risk we expose other comrades to, especially when they are not consenting or not aware that that risk exists. When chapter funds are frozen or hung up, it affects every member of the chapter and the urgent work that we are doing. To know that we risk repeating this mistake, and to not takes steps to insulate ourselves from that possibility, is unconscionable and unfair to our many comrades who are dependent on the chapter’s resources to continue their work.

For these reasons, I urge everyone to vote in favor of the resolution to Support Efforts to Oppose the US Blockade on Cuba, as amended.

27

AGAINST by Rosie S.

May it be on the record that I oppose this amendment. As a socialist organization, we should be doing everything in our power to align ourselves with the people of Cuba and join in the efforts of many other organizations that are working to end the blockade and sanctions. After many years of hard work and advocacy, there seems to be an opening again in ending the embargo, even locally in evidence at recent activity in the DC Council. This amendment will just hamper local organizing efforts. If the concern is over 3rd party apps or corporations, and the answer is top-down control of working groups in the name of “chapter security”, then we have truly lost our way. Since National now deals with the financial and legal aspects, and all previous issues around the finances have been addressed in a most responsive manner, this amendment will only serve to restrict Cuba organizing. We are at a critical moment that took a lot of work to get to, and this is when we should be expanding our work and comms on Cuba, sharing about the delegation’s trip and work in places like the Washington Socialist and elsewhere. These are the things that will help us grow the base of socialists, anti-imperialist internationalists in true solidarity with Cubans. I oppose this amendment because it does nothing to help efforts, and in fact, will hamper the good work of our comrades.