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DSA North Star Caucus blog

North Star Perspective Missing from Socialist Forum Publication

7/8/2019

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A new issue of the DSA publication Socialist Forum has been posted with an emphasis on electoral strategy. Here. https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/spring-summer-2019/electoral-politics-class-formation-and-socialist-strategy/
 
The editors selected articles that seem not to notice that Latinos participate in politics and there is a pivotable election in 2020. The Latino vote is growing rapidly in key states. 44% of Latino voters are millennials.   A second item missing from this article and the selection of articles is a recognition of how important the election of 2020 is to communities of color.
 
I had proposed a piece for Socialist Forum based upon the work of the North Star caucus with such an anti-racism focus.  Here is our argument in brief.
 
"Our first priority  in this election is the electoral and political defeat of Donald Trump, the Trumpist Republican Party and all of the authoritarian forces aligned with them. The white nationalist authoritarianism of Trumpism poses a ‘clear and present danger’ to working people and their unions, to people of color, to women, to LGBTQIA people, to immigrants, to members of minority religious faiths and to democracy itself. Trumpist victories in the 2020 elections would mean the consolidation of an authoritarian state with the most reactionary politics, the expansion of imperial aggression abroad and the collapse of the political space for democratic and left forces at home. The defeat of Trumpism is thus a strategic imperative, the most important political task of our time.
 
Given the central role of racism, white nationalism and bigotry against immigrants and Muslims in the political agenda of Trumpism, and the echoes of the most shameful racist moments of past U.S. history in Trumpian discourse, a failure to prioritize its defeat would be nothing less than the abandonment of the struggle against racism. "
 
See here. https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/proposed-resolution-defeating-trump-trumpism-and-election-democratic-socialists-and-progressives
 
The editors selected articles that seem not to notice that Latinos participate in politics and there is a pivotable election in 2020. 
 
A similar argument has been made by members Bill Fletcher and Carl Davidson in Portside, ITT, and a number of publications. 
https://portside.org/2019-04-23/left-strategy-2020-elections-and-beyond
 
They, too proposed a piece for Socialist Forum and it was also not accepted for publication. 
 
A strategy for DSA and the left needs to look closely at the potential Latino vote. In 2018 the Latino participation was a relatively low 44%.  This vote exists in states critical to the Democratic primary and any Democratic candidates victory. Latinos make up  28 % of Nevada,  in Texas, Latinos are 39.6 % of the population, in California 39.3 %, and 21.7 % in Colorado.  See Pew for more.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/01/historic-highs-in-2018-voter-turnout-extended-across-racial-and-ethnic-groups/
 
A strategic direction by DSA should recognize that the electoral victories in 2018 by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib  and others, and the 2019 election victories in Chicago occur in districts with large Latino and other People of Color voters. 
 
Most in the democratic left have  recognized this approach since at least the 1988 Rainbow Coalition campaign and it should have been included in the Socialist Forum issue.
We have supported the creation, the recreation, of the Socialist Forum.  At the same time, we  in the North Star Caucus want to be certain that Socialist Forum is fulfilling its mandate to post a wide diversity of views on the topic of electoral participation representing the diversity of views within  DSA.
 
   DSA needs to incorporate a significant anti-racism agenda in its electoral work . North Star resolutions to start from an anti-racism agenda will be considered at the DSA convention, particularly resolutions 13 and 17. We encourage members and allies to cooperate to pass these resolutions. 
 
Latino Vote.  Pew
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/01/historic-highs-in-2018-voter-turnout-extended-across-racial-and-ethnic-groups/
 
Duane Campbell,
Sacramento. 
DSA North Star Caucus  
 
 
 

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