Member Statements for PCR04: Make Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a Chapter Priority Campaign for 2026
IN FAVOR by Nikolai K
I urge voting members to support designating Palestine solidarity as a priority campaign for 2025.
Why Now
The US public in 2025 is recognizing not only the genocide but also the reality of settler colonialism and a decades long ethnic cleansing campaign to maintain an apartheid ethnostate. In the last 2 years while the Palestinian people paid a heavy price but this is an issue that we have come closer to winning on in the public domain than ever before.
The Work We’re Building
Virginia Retirement System (VRS) divestment campaign, participation in the national Stop Fueling Genocide campaign, and mobilization for an arms embargo on Israel. Labor organizing in our unions, electoral pressure on endorsed candidates, and mass action in our communities.
With this campaign we are coming closer to divestment locally than we have before
BDS actions like these ended the apartheid in South Africa and I hope they will do the same in Palestine.
Strategic Value for Our Chapter
Palestine has become a defining political issue that moves people toward democratic socialism and away from establishment Democrats. When Metro DC DSA leads with clarity on Palestine, we build credibility, attract committed members, and commitment to a defining issue for much of the public.
I hope this priority campaign will have your supporting vote this year, thank you.
IN FAVOR by Alex Y
It remains harder than ever to keep up the fight for Palestine and the attention on it at home. More and more the media chooses to highlight the bogus “peace” plans the Trump administration is considering with Netanyahu. The death toll has shown no signs of slowing either and the emotional toll of this work cannot be underestimated either. The United States has never had any interest or care in ending genocides. It merely uses the military actions in WWII to retroactively make it look like it actually wanted to end the Holocaust as one of its main reasons for entering the war and as another one of its victories from the war. No one is coming to save Gaza. We must stay vigilant and remain the voices of reason calling for compassion, humanity, and anti-colonialism. We cannot afford to reduce our capacity for this work by not having this remain a priority campaign next year. It is the least we can do in a nation with so many stained bloody hands.
IN FAVOR by Jane N
Comrades,
I encourage members to vote IN FAVOR of PCR04: Make Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a Chapter Priority Campaign for 2026. We stand at a critical juncture in our work, both as a chapter and as socialists living in Washington D.C., the heart of the empire. Over the past year, we have worked to integrate into community coalitions and campaigns with DC4Palestine, Alexandria 4 Palestine, and the Palestinian Youth Movement. Our 60 member strong working group has organized local political education sessions (Anti-Imperialist Summer School) We have planned Palestine Solidarity Walking Tour which was attended by ~100 allies. We also provide support local BDS campaigns (VRS Campaign, the Apartheid Free DC Campaign, Drop the MIDC Campaign), with some members serving in leadership positions on these campaigns. I believe that comrades should vote IN FAVOR of our Priority Campaign to guarantee that the chapter stays committed to an international socialist vision.
Solidarity!
IN FAVOR by Nell G
Our international solidarity organizing connects Metro DC DSA to the global working class through alliances with diaspora communities here in the heart of empire. Together, we are fighting neocolonial violence against the people of Palestine, the Philippines, Cuba, Sudan and beyond. Prioritizing Palestine solidarity organizing is as urgent today as it was two years ago, as Palestinians face a Trump-backed plan for continued genocidal occupation that risks being railroaded through despite global popular opposition.
Our Internationalism Working Group is playing leading roles in multiple Boycott Divestment and Sanctions campaigns across the DMV and has built strong relationships with Palestine solidarity and anti-imperialist organizations across the region. To keep building this momentum, we seek priority status so we can hold larger political education events, print and distribute more literature, make events more welcoming with food and accessibility measures, build art and signs for actions, and otherwise level up.
I helped rebuild the IWG two years ago and have seen many new members become active in our chapter through the working group. I hope the chapter will continue to put internationalism at the center of its socialist praxis.
IN FAVOR by Sheryl K
My name is Sheryl K and I am a member of the Internationalism WG. I primarily focus my energy on Palestine: ending the genocide and liberating Palestinians. This working group enables me to take actions in ways small and large. My favorite way that I contribute is through my co-facilitation of the Palestinian Poetry Reading Group (Which will start Part II in spring - please join!). We have had Palestinian poets join our meetings on two occasions. Both the poets and the RG have gained so much from each other. Sometimes we cry together, but mostly we celebrate the unique voices of Palestinian poets in their homeland and in the diaspora.
As my comrade Hasan said at Convention, choosing this working group as a Priority Campaign is required. There is a genocide happening right now. The time to act is right now. Socialists can’t be silent when our sisters and brothers in Palestine have bombs raining down on their water-logged tents. We have so much to do. America is intertwined with Israel. This genocide is on our country and we have to do everything in our power to make the slaughter end.
It is imperative that you vote YES for the Internationalism WG to be a Priority Campaign.
IN FAVOR by Max H
I am asking my comrades to vote YES for Internationalism getting priority status this year.
Internationalism work is one of the most important endeavors our chapter involves itself in. Solidarity both here and abroad are essential to our values, and I think our priority campaigns must reflect this
Over the last year, we’ve made great progress in repairing our relationship with the Palestine movement, and I want our working group to be set up for continued success here.
Most specifically, I think this year will be big for the Chevron campaign; our working group’s team has come in for landing on some great secondary campaign targets: the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Ford’s Theater, pressuring them to end their sponsorships with the energy company. It is here where I think we will need as much support from the chapter as we can get.
Beyond our work on Palestine, but an issue with similar urgency, the wg has begun planning some solidarity work and political education regarding the ongoing genocide in Sudan, as we view it as the same struggle for liberation. While there is no campaign yet, this could very well become an important issue in the upcoming year.
So please vote YES.
IN FAVOR by Far
Hello friends. I urge everyone to vote in support of priority campaign status for the Palestine Solidarity campaign of the Internationalism Working Group. Palestine is the most important litmus test for our organization and how we respond to its call will have effects for many years.
In a year with a lot of electoral activity, it is also incredibly important to have Palestine as a priority informing the people we are working to elect. Our organization both locally and nationally has passed some very strong red-lines for our electeds in this respect, and having the Palestine Campaign as a priority and participating fully in the SIO we passed at convention is of utmost importance. We cannot afford to ignore Palestine again or treat it as an afterthought.
Over the past couple years we have seen many moved to action by the atrocities they were seeing in Gaza. The work the Internationalism Working Group has done to reinvigorate the previously nascent working group, and the slew of talented people that now steward it gives me a lot of confidence in DSA’s ability to truly do justice to the Palestinian cause and build up our organization with strong leaders. The internationalism working group and its leaders have developed strong skills in both leading and sending contingents to direct action, and also taking part in tangible BDS campaigns embedded within our communities. We are a core member of the steering coalition of the VRS No Pensions for Genocide campaign as a result of our strong work with our partners like PYM. This campaign particularly is a Labor fronted campaign to get public sector workers to advocate that the Virginia Retirement system divest from genocidal companies. This will fit as a local version of the Labor for an Arms Embargo campaign we have nationally.
Palestinian liberation is, and has been, and will be one of the most important issues of our time. It is a lens through which we can frame so much of the rest of the work our org hopes to do. DSA is not just a vehicle through which we build a mass movement. DSA is a vehicle, the mass movement is a vehicle, and we ride to obtain dignity and liberation for us all. No one is free until we are all free. Free Palestine.
AGAINST by Irene K
I am writing this statement encouraging members to vote NO on Internationalism: Palestine Solidarity Program as a priority campaign for 2026. I voted in favor of Internationalism as a priority last year, in large part because the anti-Zionist resolution we passed at local convention emphasized that the working group would focus efforts on external-facing campaigns and better integrate our work with national DSA’s efforts and national campaigns. Unfortunately, this work has not materialized over the past year.
There have only been a couple of meetings on Labor for an Arms Embargo this entire year, with no follow-up to members who attended the training, and there is no mention of Labor for an Arms Embargo in the priority application despite being a clear opportunity for us to mount a class-struggle campaign that explicitly organizes workers around Palestine solidarity. There’s been little local communication about the Chevron BDS campaign, which was endorsed by National DSA nearly a year ago. Based on the chapter Slack, the Internationalism WG Twitter account, and the Weekly Update, I’ve seen the working group direct people to various actions and protests, put on political education events, and strengthen our presence within the DC for Palestine coalition, such as by canvassing small businesses in the District, but little organizing around DSA-specific campaigns.
I’m glad that our internationalism-focused organizing has been an avenue to recruit new members, build connections with other groups, and organize valuable political education events. However, being a chapter priority campaign requires specific, strategic plans for the year with an explicit vision around how to mobilize members around a campaign, ideally one where DSA is driving the work or is the key member of the coalition. I do not see a meaningful campaign plan in this application (would have really liked to see more of a focus on the pension divestment campaign, which is a clear organizing project with material consequences), and certainly not to the degree of other campaigns applying for priority status. I believe our members can continue engaging in anti-imperialist organizing and upholding the values of international solidarity outlined in our chapter program without needing the substantial funds conferred by priority status. Given that we can only approve a maximum of five campaigns, I encourage members to vote NO on internationalism and put our member dues to DSA-led campaigns with a clear plan to win.
AGAINST by Carl R
Comrades, I urge you to vote AGAINST priority status for the internationalism working group. I urge this for two reasons: the work outlined in the application is doable without priority status, and it is mostly not a campaign.
First: most of this work can be done without priority status. For example, placing DSA members into leadership positions in groups outside of the chapter does not require the chapter to devote a specific amount of funding to that work; members are able to do that on their own. Political education events, which can at times require funding, don’t always require it; and we can approve, as a chapter, individual expenditures as needed in case opportunities arise where it makes sense. Walking tours are informative here: while sometimes connected to and funded by priority campaigns, they just as regularly have happened without that backing. Large scale protest actions by the chapter have also been very successful independent of priority campaign status; we organized huge contingents in 2023 and 2024 to stand in solidarity with Palestine without priority status, and we can continue do so. Because priority campaign status is in no small part about the funding, a group that can do its work successfully without the funding shouldn’t receive the status: let’s save it for the campaigns that need it!
Second: the work listed in the application is not a campaign, but simply the different organizing work of the IWG. It’s not even specific to palestinian solidarity, despite the title, as it includes direct reference to work on anti-imperialist solidarity with the Philippines and Cuba. I want to be clear: all this work is valuable and in line with our values, but priority campaign status is not the chapter saying “we believe in these things!” It is the chapter devoting a specific set of resources to organizing work. By giving the IWG priority status in 2026, we will not be giving resources to a campaign with a clear focus, organizing goal, and way to determine if we are succeeding. What does that look like when, for a lot of the work in the application, the goal is raising awareness or placing DSA members into the work of other groups? Once again, I believe this work is good and hope IWG continues doing it; but priority status does not change their ability to do so for most of the work in the application.
Some individual pieces of the application are more campaign like, and I’m confused why we aren’t considering a specific application for one of those pieces. But even then, it’s multiple separate pieces, many of which involve DSA joining a coalition led by others. I believe we should lead as DSA, as out and proud socialists, and DSA has multiple Palestine solidarity campaigns active nationally (like the mentioned Chevron campaign). But the application is quite clear that this would only be a small part of the work; why else list all these other things? Additionally, while there’s specific mention of organizing businesses to oppose apartheid, the only section specifically about organizing workers against Zionism is about changing Virginia’s pension system. I think this part is great - and I’d like a campaign that focused on this with a plan to win - but it’s a real shame it’s the only mention, since DSA is currently running the Labor for an Arms Embargo campaign that focuses on moving workers into class struggle by standing in solidarity with Palestine.
I want to state again that the vote for or against a priority campaign application is not a vote that determines the chapter’s position on solidarity with Palestine, the Philippines, Cuba, or the Global Majority writ large; we took that vote at convention when we passed a Chapter Program that commits us to solidarity with Palestine and the Global Majority. Your priority campaign vote is a vote to support specific organizing in a specific way, limited to a maximum of five campaigns in one year. And because we can do almost all of this organizing in this application that is not for a campaign without priority status, I urge you to vote AGAINST IWG’s priority campaign application.
IN FAVOR by Eliza G
Our most profound moral and political obligation at this time is our commitment to opposing genocide. Metro DC DSA’s Internationalism Working Group has been part of a coalition organizing consistently through multiple BDS campaigns in the DMV, and it is imperative that we reassert our commitment to Palestinian solidarity and anti-imperialist organizing in the region. The necessity for Palestinian solidarity has only increased over the last two years, and to deprioritize this vital work now would be a failure to live up to the commitments that have brought so many new people to the organization over the last few years, as well as our many coalition partners in this fight.
The United States is an active participant in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and our position in the capital makes it all the more imperative that we make our commitments clear and unequivocal. I urge you to vote yes on making Internationalism WG a priority campaign.
IN FAVOR by Radia L
IWG should be a priority campaign because we need to ensure global solidarity is at the center of our socialist practice. We need to stand with Palestinian liberation and against US-baked Israeli genocide, to support Palestinian’s rights to self-determination, and to challenge the capitalist interests that profit from Palestinian oppression and also create poverty, inequality, and insecurity here in the U.S. IWG has supported regional BDS campaigns, as well as a Chevron campaigns, and more. They stand in solidarity with Cuba, the Philippines, and all those oppressed by US empire. To continue this work, they will need funding: for literature, space rental, food for actions, as well as protest and art supplies. Additionally, granting this working group priority status helps solidify our chapter’s commitment to solidarity with Palestine.
IN FAVOR by Mihir S
The genocide in Palestine is a massive event that needs to be addressed. I am writing to support the DSA IWG’s campaign to create solidarity, awareness, and aid for the people of Palestine and to make it a priority campaign for the chapter. This is a humanitarian crisis caused by Israel and the United States, and as a citizen of the U.S. I would like our tax dollars to go towards aiding Palestinians as well as healthcare, trains, and housing rather than the billions of dollars going towards Israel.
IN FAVOR by Jasmine P
I’ve been an Internationalism WG member since 2024 and have helped lead our chapter’s Boycott Chevron campaign for the last year. Palestinian solidarity is just as important for Metro DC DSA to prioritize as it was last year and the year before. We need to leverage our position in the capital of the US empire to call for an end to the Zionist regime. That looks like (1) continuing our strategic campaigns like Boycott Chevron and Apartheid Free DC, (2) ongoing coalition-building, and (3) broad political education on BDS and other pressure tactics.
Boycott Chevron is a national DSA campaign and our chapter has consistently collaborated with and learned from other chapters who are participating in the campaign. In 2026, we plan to escalate the boycott by targeting local events that Chevron sponsors, like the Cherry Blossom Festival. We also need to further mobilize our members to not only attend mass actions, but organize and lead them.
Our chapter needs to challenge the basic militarist and imperialist underpinnings of global capitalism. That’s why Palestine solidarity work is vital to our chapter and should be prioritized.
IN FAVOR by Hasan I
Opposing genocide is the clearest and most fundamental moral obligation we have. MDC DSA has been meeting that obligation through real, sustained organizing, including its Palestine Solidarity priority campaign in 2025. And that work is part of a broader shift. The anti-genocide coalition that has formed around the Palestinian cause is winning. Support for Zionism—politically, culturally, and morally—is weaker today than at any point in modern memory.
We can see it in the fact that the zionist regime is pouring over $720 million into propaganda next year—an act of desperation, not confidence. We can see it in the absurd spectacle of zionists attacking Ms. Rachel, a children’s entertainer, simply for affirming that all children deserve to live. And we can see it in the massive democratic mandate behind Comrade Zohran Mamdani, who campaigned unapologetically on arresting war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and went on to win the mayorship of New York City. The ground is shifting beneath the institutions that have enabled this violence for decades.
Of course, these changes have come at a tragic cost. The Palestinian people in Gaza have endured unimaginable suffering, and it is their resilience, steadfastness, and struggle that have awakened the world. But part of this global shift is also the result of the international solidarity we have seen from ordinary people, from students, from labor unions, from diaspora communities, and yes, from organizations like DSA that refused to be silent.
Our chapter played a real role in that, and now we face a choice: whether to deepen that role or retreat from it. We must choose to deepen it.
By voting YES on making the Internationalism Working Group’s Palestine Solidarity Program a Priority Campaign for 2026, we recommit ourselves to the work ahead. Priority status will allow us to scale up our campaigns, strengthen our coalition partnerships, expand political education, and organize strategically in the places where U.S. power is concentrated—including right here in the nation’s capital.
This moment demands clarity and courage. Our chapter has already shown both. Now we must give the organizers doing this work the mandate and resources they need to meet the urgency of the political moment, stand with the Palestinian people, and build the anti-imperialist movement our future depends on.
At convention there were a few speeches given to demotivate against Palestine as a priority campaign.
A point was made that our working group mostly participates in campaigns led by other organizations rather than spearheading our own; hence, we don’t need the resources of a priority campaign. However, the cause of Palestinian liberation must naturally be led by Palestinians themselves.This has no bearing on whether those groups have the resources they need to best wage this struggle. If we have resources to spare, then surely we should use it to support this cause.
Another point was made that priorities from the National DSA like a Chevron boycott and Labor for an Arms Embargo were not incorporated into the text of the priority campaign; therefore, this priority campaign is somehow contrary to national priorities. This is simply untrue and rests on a misunderstanding of the local conditions. There is indeed a lack of Chevron gas stations in the area, making a certain kind of boycott all but impossible for us. However, Ford’s Theater and the Cherry Blossom festival are both sponsored by Chevron, and the resolution text mentions actions around these entities. Labor for an Arms Embargo is incorporated into this priority campaign via the VRS Divest campaign, which is mentioned in the priority campaign, where the labor of Virginia public employees is invested into weapons manufacturers. Frankly, the idea that the Internationalism Working Group is ignorant of National DSA priorities is a strange one to level against us.
Additionally, I strongly urge membership to consider the optics of removing priority campaign status from Palestine especially considering DSA’s history of being a liberal zionist organization. The coalitions we have been able to build so far have not been built easily. The Anti-zionist Resolution was a great step in the right direction. Zohran winning while confronting zionism was another step. Deprioritizing the Palestinian struggle now would be a big blow against our anti-imperialist credentials.
I urge you to vote YES.
IN FAVOR by Max H
I am asking my comrades to vote YES for Internationalism getting priority status this year.
Internationalism work is one of the most important endeavors our chapter involves itself in. Solidarity both here and abroad are essential to our values, and I think our priority campaigns must reflect this
Over the last year, we’ve made great progress in repairing our relationship with the Palestine movement, and I want our working group to be set up for continued success here.
Most specifically, I think this year will be big for the Chevron campaign; our working group’s team has come in for landing on some great secondary campaign targets: the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Ford’s Theater, pressuring them to end their sponsorships with the energy company. It is here where I think we will need as much support from the chapter as we can get.
Beyond our work on Palestine, but an issue with similar urgency, the wg has begun planning some solidarity work and political education regarding the ongoing genocide in Sudan, as we view it as the same struggle for liberation. While there is no campaign yet, this could very well become an important issue in the upcoming year.
So please vote YES.