Democratic Socialists of America New Orleans Chapter

Organizer School: Democracy and Power

March 10, 2020

1. Introductions, What is DSA, What is Socialism (10 minutes)
2. Presentation: Power Analysis (15 minutes)
3. Discussion: What kind of power analysis informs our existing campaigns? (15 minutes)
4. Break * (10 minutes)
5. Presentation: Democracy and Democractic Participation (15 minutes)
6. Discussion: How can our chapter model and democracy better build power? (20 minutes)
7. Next Steps (5 minutes)

*Smokers, please remember to stand at least 20 feet from the building entrance. Thank you!

Have a question or concern? Look for someone wearing an Ask Me About DSA button.

DSA Guidelines For Respectful Discussion

Assume good faith. We assume good faith in each other. We speak from experience, speak for ourselves, and actively listen to each other. Everyone is welcome to share. We try to stay positive, honor the work of others, be open to legitimate critique and challenge oppressive behaviors in ways that help people grow.  

Know if you need to “step up” or “step back.” Help create a safe and inclusive space for everybody.  We respect others by recognizing how often, much, and loud we speak. Step back to leave space for others to share their opinions and feelings. On the other hand, if you don’t often speak up, we encourage you to do so now!

Ask yourself  “Why am I Talking?” We have a limited amount of time for discussion and to accomplish the tasks before us.  We respect everyone’s time by asking ourselves if what we want to say has been said, whether its on topic, and whether this is the best time to say it. We can also use other ways to show how we feel, like snapping or nodding our heads.

Recognize and respect others' feelings, background, and cultural differences. Everyone has  different levels of experience, knowledge, and feelings about social change and politics, and we respect and embrace this diversity.  While we all don’t have to agree on everything, we should respect our diversity of opinions.  Recognize that everyone has a piece of the truth, everybody can learn, and everybody has the ability to teach and share something.  

We have “one mic.” We don’t interrupt the person talking. We all have different opinions, but speaking while others are talking, or adding comments when they cannot respond does not build community. If we have a disagreement we wait for our turn to address it.

Respect the facilitator when they use Progressive Stack. Progressive Stack is a way to lead discussions which involves a facilitator keeping a list of names of people who wish to speak, prioritizing people who haven’t spoken. We also prioritize people from marginalized communities unless they’ve already contributed significantly to the discussion.

Have a sense of humor. This is a great opportunity for people to get to know one another, build lasting friendships, to laugh, love, and strengthen our movement.

And, as always, please inform organizers of inappropriate behavior immediately by emailing our chapter’s Harassment & Grievance officers at hgo@dsaneworleans.org.

Questions for Discussion

• Power Analysis

Democracy 

• In No Shortcuts, Jane McAlevey outlines the membership requirement for Make the Road New York (MRNY): “Members must attend at least two meetings a month, and must participate in a series of workshops during his or her first year in the organization. Workshops include “Understanding Sexism”, “LGBTQ Tolerance”, education on each issue area in the organization, and a session on effective recruitment.

 This creates a uniform set of skills and perspectives for members, what sort of skills or perspectives should every DSA organizer have? How would we implement such a program if we wanted to?^[a]

• As part of their DSA for Bernie Campaign, Philly DSA passed a resolution^[1] that it’s members pledge to participate in the DSA for Bernie Campaign in one of the following ways:  

1. Knocking 250 doors for Sanders

2. Attending 3 DSA sponsored Sanders canvasses by February

3. Hosting 1 canvass for Sanders

4. Hosting fundraising house parties for Sanders

5. 10 hours of phone banking Sanders supporters and undecided voters

6. Bringing 2 co-workers/neighbors/non-DSA members to Sanders canvasses in the next two months

How might specific commitments build internal solidarity and grow our movement and power?

• If we understand power comes from the collective actions of a supermajority, how can our chapter organize as a single unit?

• Do we currently face challenges doing this? How?