Political Education

On this page you can find videos and resources on various international topics from our webinars, panels and events with various experts, organizers and political activists around the world.

Check our Campaign Page for more topic specific projects.


Hands off Niger! Opposing U.S. and French Imperialism in West Africa

Panelists: Dr Ndongo Samba Sylla, Gbenga Komolafe, Tunde Osazua
September 9, 2023

A political education webinar for DSA members and the general public to understand recent developments across West Africa, including the levying of sanctions and the ongoing threat of military action against Niger. Hosted by DSA IC’s Middle East and Africa Subcommittee.

Read DSA IC’s Niger Statement


The Zenko Henoko Anti-Base Project (ZHAP) in Okinawa

Panelists: Takuma Tanaka, Nick Watkins, Andrew Basta
July 2, 2023

The YDSA Youth Leadership Committee of the DSA International Committee hosted an event to share information about our ongoing campaign to oppose building a US military base in Okinawa, specifically in partnership with the ZENKO Henoko Anti-Base Project (ZHAP). ZHAP is an anti-war campaign based in Okinawa fighting against the construction of the new US military base in Henoko.

More info: dsaic.org/zhap


The Korean War 70 Years On

Panelists: Noah Kulwin, Ju-Hyun Park, Sheen Kim, Jeong-eun Hwang, Cathi Choi
June 24, 2023

70 years passed since the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, yet the Korean War never officially ended. Join DSA International Committee with the host of Blowback to hear from Korean organizations and activists from the US and South Korea about the history and impacts of the war and the possible solutions for organizing toward peace.

Actions & Resources: dsaic.org/korea


International Conference for Peace in Northeast Asia

May 15, 2023

DSA International Committee co-hosted this peace conference in Korea organized by the International Strategy Center and the Justice Party, featuring elected members of Parliament from the National Assembly in South Korea and organizers from Korea, Japan, Okinawa, US, and UK, to discuss the need for peace and to oppose a growing new US-driven Cold War in the Asia-Pacific.


Triangle to Rana Plaza to Temp Workers: Building Worker Power for Safe Healthy Workplaces

May 6, 2023

Join DSA International Committee to commemorate the lives lost in the Rana Plaza Collapse, and to learn and build connections between workers in the US and Bangladesh, both of whom are fighting for safe working conditions.


The Little Girl of Hanoi with Luna Oi!

Panelist: Luna Nguyen
March 29, 2023

Join DSA International Committee on Vietnam Veterans Day for a film screening of The Little Girl of Hanoi, a Vietnamese movie filmed a year after the massive 1972 US bombing campaign of Hanoi, followed by a discussion with guest speaker from Vietnam and host of Luna Oi! show Luna Nguyen.

Watch the full film: bit.ly/vietnam-film


AMLO’s Election Reform in México

Panelists: José Luis Granados Ceja, Meizhu Lui
March 19, 2023

DSA International Committee and panelists discuss AMLO’s election reforms in México, and examine why US media coverage and the right wing in México are opposing the reforms.


Shut Down AFRICOM: Exposing US Empire in Africa

DSA Speaker: Matt Almonte
November 17, 2022

DSA International Committee and Black Alliance for Peace provide a teach-in on the history of AFRICOM and US imperialism in Africa, its ongoing militarism across the continent, and the longstanding local opposition against it.


International Solidarity is Brewing

Panelists: Tom Wojck, Riley Davis, Pablo Guerra, Edith Saldano, Joe Carolan
October 24, 2022

Join DSA Labor and the International Committee to hear about how Starbucks workers across the world are organizing!


Labor Against Empire: Voices from Honduran US Embassy Strike

Panelists: Adolfo Álvarez, Carlos H Reyes, Dr. Adrienne Pine, and Brigitte Gynther
October 23, 2022

DSA’s International Committee hosted a strike fundraiser with Honduran workers building the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa. We are pressuring AL-based contractor Harbert, and raising money for the workers’ strike fund!

To donate to the strike fund, visit: gofund.me/e084bc4c


Pakistan Underwater: Debt & Climate Justice now

Panelists: Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, Ammar Ali Jan, Asad Rehman, and Bhumika Muchhala
October 8, 2022

Pakistan is drowning. Following the devastating floods starting in June 2022, roughly a third of Pakistan is underwater, affecting upwards of 33 million people and causing an estimated $30bn in damages. These are the socialized costs borne by the Global South of a world system of expropriation to the benefit of fossil fuel, mining, and other extractive corporations headquartered in the Global North.

Unfortunately, Pakistan is not alone, and their demands are part of a growing global climate justice movement which seeks to hold the Global North and corporations accountable for the crisis that they created. But, in addition to financial support to countries suffering the impacts of the climate crisis, we have to undo a global economic system that keeps them down, that works to keep countries in debt, and that forces them to adopt austerity measures that are fundamentally incompatible with the kind of societal investments needed to respond and adapt to climate change.

Join the DSA International Committee and guest speakers Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (author of Reconsidering Reparations), Ammar Ali Jan (Haqooq-e-Khalq Party, Pakistan), Asad Rehman (Director of War on Want), and Bhumika Muchhala (Senior Advisory, Third World Network) to learn about the devastating situation in Pakistan and how Pakistan’s demands are linked to movements for debt and climate justice, and what truly transformative reparations should look like.

DSA IC Pakistan Floods Statement


Lessons From The 2022 National Strike In Ecuador

Panelists: Kasha Rojas, Toa Tituana
October 6, 2022

In June 2022, indigenous organizers principally led by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE) called for a national strike in the face of rising inflation, deteriorating social services, and lack of enforcement of constitutional rights by the right-wing and neoliberal government of Guillermo Lasso. The government responded with widespread violence and military crackdowns. Ultimately, the strikes went on for nearly a month before they brought the government to the bargaining table.

Indigenous organizers from the June 2022 national strike in Ecuador will join the DSA International Committee for a webinar in order to reflect on their organizing, report on the status of negotiations with the Ecuadorian state, and share lessons for the possibilities of massive labor action.

DSA IC Ecuador Strike Statement

Vídeo en español


Cuba’s “Families Code”: A Reading & Discussion

DSA Speakers: Steven Rizzo, Sam Heft-Luthy
September 21, 2022

DSA’s International Committee shares a short lecture and discussion of Cuba’s (at the time, upcoming) Families Law referendum. We cover the law itself and the consultative legislative process that produced it.


Panel Discussion on “The Kingmaker” Documentary Film

Panelists: Brace Belden, Bernadette Ellorin
September 7, 2022

The Kingmaker is a 2019 documentary about the Marcos family, beginning from their rise to power, continuing through the years of Martial Law, and concluding with their participation in the 2016 Philippine presidential election. It focuses heavily on the resistance to the Marcos regime of the 60s and 70s, and features in-depth interviews with Imelda Marcos and various opposition figures like Leni Robredo and Andres D. Bautista. September 21, 2022 was the 50th anniversary of Martial Law. With the election of Ferdinand (“Bongbong”) Marcos Jr, the month of September is an important time to be reminded of the factual history of the Marcos dictatorship and to combat disinformation in all its forms.

Watch the film The Kingmaker (2019)


The War in Ukraine, Impacts and Perspectives: Women, Workers, and Global South

August 28, 2022

Join us for an anti-war DSA webinar on the war in Ukraine and its impacts on women, workers, and the global south. The event features left perspectives from Ukraine, the region, and others who will talk on opposition to militarism, regional anti-war organizing, and what a resolution to end the war and avoid a larger conflict could look like.

Panelists:

For more info: dsaic.org/ukraine


The Victory of the Nobodies: The Electoral Victory of the Left in Colombia in Historical Perspective

Panelists: Adriaan Alsema, Esteban Pinilla, Natalia Mosquera
August 16, 2022

For over 70 years, Colombia has been mired in violence that has taken the lives of more than 700,000 people. This violence can be understood as having two phases: the first phase is a consequence of the assassination of Jorge Eliécer Gaitán in 1948, which unleashed a wave of violence between liberals and conservatives called the Bogotazo.

The second phase is ushered in by a conflict between revolutionary forces and a state captured by a powerful oligarchy, in which those in power have resorted to using every means at their disposal to maintain their control, including the use of political assassinations, paramilitaries and even narcotraffickers to shut out the left from any viable legal or civil path to power. This entrenched oligarchy has been extremely successful in not yielding an inch of power to any elements of the left or popular forces, thus an armed conflict arises between the peasants in the countryside and their urban allies forming a militant and armed left in the FARC, ELN and EPL.

In the context of this violent class conflict, the electoral victory of Gustavo Petro and Francia Marquez is a testament to the power of decades of organizing and resistance to an oligarchic-controlled state.

DSA IC Colombia Statement


Turkey’s NATO-Backed War on the Kurdish People and Other Regional Minorities

Panelists: Meghan Bodette, Khabat Abbas, Adem Uzun, David Adler
July 9, 2022

Turkey is poised to invade Syria yet again to carry out its targeted ethnic-cleansing project against the Kurds and other Syrian minorities. Our panel of experts discussed the situation in Syria, the role of the US and NATO in the conflict, and the history of the Kurdish liberation movement.

DSA IC Turkey Statement


DSA in Brazil Report Back Call

Panelists: Rosane , Alexandre Pupo, Gabriel Acevero, Kristian Hernandez, Ashik Siddique, Jana Silverman, James E-T, Sofia Guimaraes
June 27, 2022

From April 29 – May 4, Kristian Hernandez, Ashik Siddique, and Sofia Cutler Guimaraes (NPC), Jana Silverman (International Committee), James E-T (NCC-YDSA), and Gabriel Acevero, (Maryland State Delegate – Socialists in Office) went to Sao Paulo, Brazil as part of an exchange hosted by the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), Central Unica dos Trabalhadores (CUT), and Foro de Sao Paulo.

During the week they spent in Brazil, they heard first-hand about the attacks against workers being spearheaded by Jair Bolsonaro’s neo-fascist government, and the tragic consequences of the 1964-1985 US-sponsored military dictatorship. However, they also learned about how unions, social movements and socialist activists are resisting neo-fascism and neoliberalism, and building the campaign to elect Lula in this October’s Presidential elections.

Join the webinar to hear from the members of the DSA in Brazil delegation about what DSA can learn from the struggles of Brazilian popular movements, and discuss how DSA can play a role in defending democracy in Brazil during this crucial election year. In addition to the delegation members, the call will also feature James Green, Co-coordinator of the US Network for Democracy in Brazil, Alexandre Pupo, International Affairs Secretary of the PT youth wing, and other representatives of the PT and CUT that DSA met with during the trip.


Intro to Global Economics, S3: The World Bank and IMF

Panelists: Jayati Ghosh, Bhumika Muchhala
June 26, 2022

The IMF and the World Bank are two of the most consequential institutions in the world. In theory, they exist to protect the global economy and help developing countries. But the reality has often proved far different. In this session, leading experts and activists seek to answer: Why were the IMF and World Bank established? How do these institutions operate? What role have they played in making the world that we have today? And most of all, how can we in the US left join in solidarity with people around the world — from Argentina, to Kenya, to Lebanon — to build a better alternative and a global economy that works for everyone.

Featuring UMass Amherst economist Jayati Ghosh, and the Third World Network’s Bhumika Muchhala. Moderated by the DSA IC’s Josh Brown.

This is the third session in the DSA International Committee’s Intro to Global Economics series, organized by the Climate and Economics subcommittee.


Iran: The Battle in Washington to Avert the Next Forever War

Panelists: Assal Rad, Matthew Petti
June 15, 2022

The people of Iran have been under economic siege ever since the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from a successful nuclear nonproliferation agreement between Iran and the P5+1 powers. The economic war waged on the nation has exacted severe human costs, especially on the most marginalized demographics. With tensions rising, that economic war threatens to become a real war.

DSA International Committee organized this political education panel covering the status of the JCPOA (Iran nuclear deal), the coalition of Iran hawks trying to sabotage peace, as well as the nature of the economic destruction being imposed on Iran by the United States.

Join International Committee member Amir as he discusses the pertinent facts with researcher Dr. Assal Rad and journalist Matthew Petti. Learn what you can do to avert the United States’ next imperial forever war.


Solidarity message against construction of new US military base in Okinawa

Speaker: NY State Senator Jabari Brisport
May 30, 2022

New York state senator and DSA representative Jabari Brisport shares a message of solidarity to comrades from ZENKO and others in Okinawa and Japan fighting against the construction of a new US military base in Henoko.

Learn more at dsaic.org/zhap


Intro to Global Economics, S2 –
Cancel the Debt: Breaking the Shackles of Global South Indebtedness

Panelists: Heidi Chow, Mae Buenaventura-Dolleton, Natalia Renta
May 22, 2022

“Debt is neo-colonialism”—these are the words of Marxist revolutionary and President of Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara, proclaimed in his celebrated 1987 call for an African united front against debt. Within a year, he would be dead, in what was likely a Western-backed assassination.

What is government debt? How is debt wielded as a tool of imperialism, from Argentina to Puerto Rico to Zambia? Why was Sankara’s challenge against debt deemed so dangerous that it helped get him killed? And how can we help to break these shackles that bind the Global South and restrict global climate action?

Part 2 of the DSA IC Climate and Economics Subcommittee’s Intro to Global Economics series seeks to answer these questions and more.

Featuring:

Cancel the Debt is Session 2 of the new Intro to Global Economics series, by the DSA IC Climate and Economics Subcommittee. Watch Session 1: “The World We Have,” with Adom Getachew, Jason Hickel and David Kotz.


US Military in the Pacific: Anti-War Conference

Panelists: Mark Tseng-Putterman, Dae-Han Song, Seishi Hinada, Sarah Raymundo, Lisa Natividad, Keoni DeFranco
May 18, 2022

DSA International Committee has organized this anti-war conference on May 18, 2022 about the history, ongoing contemporary struggles, and local resistance by anti-war organizers, indigenous activists, environmentalists, socialists, and other progressive forces in the Pacific opposed to US militarism, occupation, and imperialism. Join local organizers in the Pacific to hear about campaigns, strategies, and tactics for opposing militarization and growing the left anti-war and anti-imperialist movement.

For more info and resources on the event:
dsaic.org/us-military-pacific


Solidarity Message to Russian Left Against the War in Ukraine

Speaker: Noam Chomsky
May 11, 2022

Noam Chomsky gives a solidarity message to people in Russia who are opposing the war in Ukraine even against their own government’s repression. We need to build a global anti-war movement that can oppose militarism and reject wars and instead put working-class interests first.


Rebuilding Socialism in Brazil

Panelists: Monica Valente, Juneia Batista, Fabio de Sa e Silva
April 19, 2022

Twenty years ago, the Workers’ Party (PT) came to power in Brazil and implemented policies that brought 40 million people out of poverty, offered new educational opportunities to poor, Afro-Brazilian and indigenous youth, and strengthened South-South solidarity, in order to counterbalance US imperialism in Latin America. However the attempts to advance towards democratic socialism in Brazil under the PT governments were derailed after the 2016 parliamentary coup against President Dilma Rousseff and then definitively buried after the election of neo-fascist Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. In Bolsonaro’s three and a half years in office, his government has destroyed record swathes of the Amazon forest, persecuted social movement leaders, gutted labor rights, and deliberately mishandled the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the deaths of over 661,000 Brazilians from the virus. As Brazilians prepare to head to the polls this October, their choice between rebuilding their democracy or continuing a barbaric slide towards authoritarianism could not be any clearer.

In this webinar, we will hear from Brazilian political and union leaders on the front lines of the struggle for human and labor rights, and learn about what we can do as activists in the US to fight against any undue US government intervention in the Brazilian political process. We will also give details about the upcoming NPC/IC May Day Delegation to Brazil and talk about what DSA aims to learn from the PT and other social movement partners during this trip.


Intro to Global Economics, S1: The World We Have

Panelists: Adom Getachew, Jason Hickel, David Kotz
April 17, 2022

How does the global economic system work? How do the rules of the capitalist, imperialist system work to benefit the few at the expense of the many? And how do we transform this world for the protection of the planet and the liberation of workers in the Global South and North alike?

Over the coming months, the Climate and Economics Subcommittee of the DSA International Committee will present a new political education series—an Introduction to Global Economics—to answer these questions and more, exploring the key dynamics of, and actors in, the contemporary global economic system.

Read more…


NO-Kinawa: Stop Construction of New U.S. Military Base in Henoko

Panelists: Fumihiro Mori, Masanori Okuma, Patterson Deppen
March 19, 2022

Join the DSA International Committee and ZHAP (ZENKO Henoko Anti-base Project) for an urgent call to action to prevent the construction of a new US military base in the already heavily militarized islands of Okinawa. Panelists include Fumihiro Mori of ZENKO, Masanori Okuma of Okinawa Drone Project, and Patterson Deppen of DSA IC.

For more resources and information on DSA’s involvement with the ZHAP campaign:

dsaic.org/zhap-campaign


Colombia at A Crossroads: Perspectives on The Upcoming Elections and Peace Process

Panelists: María José Pizarro, Yeisson Cajamarca, Karmen Ramírez Boscán
March 4, 2022

The Democratic Socialists of America International Committee presents Colombia At A Crossroads, a webinar that allows DSA members and the public to hear directly from progressive candidates running in the March 13th Legislative Elections in Colombia about the political situation in Colombia. Featuring: María José Pizarro, a Representative for Bogotá, Activist, Artist, and current Senate candidate with the progressive Pacto Histórico coalition. Yeisson Cajamarca, a union leader and Congressional candidate with the progressive Pacto Histórico coalition in Cundinamarca. Karmen Ramírez Boscán, a Wayuu Community Leader and Congressional candidate with the progressive Pacto Histórico coalition for Colombians abroad.


Philippine Trade Unionists Under Attack

Panelists: Josua Mata, Chrissi Fabro, and Ann Castillo
March 3, 2022

DSA International Committee was honored to host Filipino union leaders to speak about ongoing government repression and how U.S.-based activists can stand in solidarity by holding the U.S. government accountable for its complicity. DSA has been working together with Philippine solidarity and diaspora organizations in the USA – BAYAN USA, the Malaya Movement, Kabataan Alliance and ICHRP-US — to lobby for the legislative passage of the Philippine Human Rights Act [PHRA]. At the time of the event, the KMU and SENTRO had asked DSA to support their campaigns against this savage repression ahead of elections.


The Belmarsh Tribunal

DSA Panelists: Austin Gonzales, Chip Gibbons
February 25, 2022

Inspired by the Russell-Sartre Tribunals of the late 1960s, which put the US government on trial for its war crimes in Vietnam, the Belmarsh Tribunal will expose the crimes of the so-called War on Terror 20 years after the first prisoners were brought to Guantánamo Bay — and call for Assange’s freedom. The event is convened in partnership with DiEM25, the Courage Foundation, The People’s Forum, DSA International Committee, The Intercept, People’s Dispatch and the International People’s Assembly.


Revolutionary Grounds: Starbucks Workers United

Panelists: Andrés Giordano, Jaz Brisack, RJ Red, Yvette Seep, Joe Carolan
February 23, 2022

The Democratic Socialists of America International Committee – led by its Americas and Labor Subcommittees – hosted a global exchange between unionized and organizing Starbucks workers. Speakers included:
– Andrés Giordano, incoming leftist Chilean congressman and a founding leader of Sindicato Starbucks Chile
– Jaz Brisack and RJ Red, organizers in the US-based Starbucks Workers United
– Yvette Seep and Joe Carolan, fast food worker organizers in the New Zealand-based UNITE union


The War on Yemen and the Ongoing Role of the US a Year Into the Biden Presidency

Panelists: Shireen Al-Adeimi, Aisha Jumaan, and Erik Sperling
February 20, 2022

Saudi Arabia launched its offensive on Yemen with U.S. backing nearly seven years ago. Since then hundreds of thousands of Yemenis have died, causing what is widely considered one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. A year ago, President Biden announced that the U.S. would end all “offensive” support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, effectively promising the U.S. would provide less material support for the war. Unfortunately, the U.S. continues to provide logistical support for airstrikes and sells billions of dollars in weapons to the Saudis. Join Shireen Al-Adeimi, Aisha Jumaan, and Erik Sperling for a discussion on the history of the US-backed Saudi offensive on Yemen, the current humanitarian crisis in the country, U.S. involvement under the Biden administration, and the steps we need to take to help bring this devastating war to an end.

For additional and related resources: dsaic.org/yemen


Chile Awakens: The Mass Movement to Defeat Neoliberalism

DSA Speaker: David Duhalde
Feb 1, 2022

DSA Fund Vice-Chair and former DSA Deputy Director David Duhalde joins Atlanta DSA for a review of the DSA delegation to the 2021 Chilean presidential election.


Chile Awakens: The Mass Movement to Defeat Neoliberalism

Panelists: Carlos Fuentealba, Diego Vela, Eric Campos
December 13, 2021

Join the DSA International Committee, Apruebo Dignidad, and the Gabriel Boric campaign on December 13th at 7PM ET to learn about how left activists in Chile are turning the energy from protests against neoliberalism in 2019 to movements for lasting change today, joined by three guests from Chile: Carlos Fuentealba from the Boric campaign, Diego Vela, the executive director of Rumbo Colectivo, a grassroots social movement org in Chile, and Eric Campos, the general secretary of CUT Chile, the largest trade union federation in Chile.


Virtual Movie Night – Korea: Until Daybreak, with Nodutdol and ISC

Panelists: Dae-Han Song, Juyeon Rhee, Haruki Eda
November 18, 2021

Join the DSA International Committee for our first Virtual Movie Night for a streaming of the documentary “Korea: Until Daybreak”, which details footage of decades of mass struggles and popular uprisings across the Korean peninsula, followed by a post-screening discussion and audience Q&A with special guests from Nodutdol and the International Strategy Center in Korea talking on contemporary Korean leftist movements and current struggles.

To watch the film: vimeo.com/178262707

For additional and related resources: bit.ly/korea-resources


Thomas Sankara: Life, Legacy and Lessons for Contemporary Movements

Panelists: Ernest Harsch, Benjamin Talton, Brian Peterson
November 10, 2021

From DSA International Committee’s Middle East & Africa Subcommittee: A panel to commemorate the life and work of African revolutionary figure Thomas Sankara. Featuring esteemed Professors Benjamin Talton of Temple University, Brian Peterson of Union College, and Ernest Harsch of Columbia University, this webinar explores the role Sankara played in post-colonial revolutionary Africa and the lessons to be drawn for our modern understanding of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist movements.

For additional and related resources: bit.ly/sankara-resources


Illegal Sanctions Against Venezuela: A Feminist Human Rights Perspective

Panelists: Leonardo Flores, Laura Franco, Lucrecia Hernandez
October 23, 2021

In October 2021, DSA’s International Committee hosted a discussion “Illegal Sanctions Against Venezuela: A Feminist Human Rights Perspective” featuring Lucrecia Hernandez of the human rights NGO Sures; and Laura Franco of La Quinta Ola (La 5ta Ola), a national feminist organization and co-author of a rebuttal to a New York Times article about contraception in Venezuela that barely mentioned illegal sanctions. The moderator was Leonardo Flores of Code Pink.


DSA Says Let Cuba Live: Ending the US Blockade Today

Panelists: Brendan James, Gail Walker, Manolo De Los Santos, Daniel Montero
September 30, 2021

Since its genesis in 1960, the US embargo of Cuba has been a criminal disaster.

US sanctions have besieged socialist Cuba for over six decades. While 2018 UN estimates have calculated a direct loss of $130b in trade alone, the toll of the embargo on Cuban life can hardly be quantified. Most recently, US economic interference has stymied Cuba’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in deteriorating conditions on the island. With escalating tensions coming from the Biden administration against the Cuban people, solidarity is more timely than ever.

The time has come for DSA to demand an end to the economic sanctions against the Republic of Cuba. In this panel, DSA International Committee joins the world community as we reaffirm our commitment to ending the immoral, illegal economic blockade, and calls upon our membership to mobilize against the outrageous injustice of the US embargo of Cuba.

Panelists: Gail Walker (Executive Director, IFCO/Pastors for Peace, and co-chair of National Network on Cuba), Manolo De Los Santos (Founder/Co-Director, The People’s Forum, and researcher at Tricontinental), and Daniel Montero (Havana journalist, and producer of Belly of the Beast). Moderated by Brendan James, co-host of Blowback.

For additional and related resources: bit.ly/cuba-resources


For A Just Global Recovery: Debt, Solidarity, and the Left Case for Special Drawing Rights

Panelists: Jayati Ghosh, Alex Main
September 28, 2021

The people of the Global South are struggling to survive Covid’s economic storm, and the neocolonial world order is pulling them down. The shackles of debt, dollar supremacy, the specter of a new round of IMF-imposed austerity — join leading development economist Jayati Ghosh and Director of International Policy at CEPR Alex Main as we discuss how the inequities of the global economic order have hindered the Global South’s recovery, our vision for a just alternative, and how DSA members are organizing to support the “Robust International Response to Pandemic Act” to help the Global South in the here and now.


No Cold War: Opposing the USICA and US Escalations Against China

Panelists: Vijay Prashad, Tings Chak, Richard Wolff
September 20, 2021

The US escalation of tensions with China is well-documented, but the looming passage of most anti-China bill since the Chinese Exclusion Act has received little attention in the US. Join the IC, Richard Wolff, Vijay Prashad, and Tings Chak for a discussion on the US Innovation & Competition Act (USICA), which was originally recorded on Monday, September 20, 2021.


The Rising Tide of Ecosocialist Left in Ireland

Panelists: Paul Murphy
September 19, 2021

Join us as we learn about the rising left wing of Ireland’s political horizon. Paul Murphy will discuss the climate crisis, housing, international solidarity, and more.


Organizing call on Afghanistan

Panelists: Zaher Wahab, Taimur Rahman, May Jeong
August 21, 2021

DSA’s International Committee hosted an urgent organizing call on Afghanistan on August 21, 2021. Watch the video to learn more about the decades-long imperialist interventions + unfolding crisis in Afghanistan. We also share ways to organize in solidarity with Afghans and against U.S. war and imperialism.

We were honored to welcome:
• Zaher Wahab, Professor Emeritus at Lewis & Clark College
• Taimur Rahman, General Secretary of Mazdoor Kisan Party and Associate Professor at Lahore University of Management Science
• May Jeong, investigative journalist at Vanity Fair with pieces in the New York Times, The Intercept, and more


DSA Convention: Socialist Internationalism in the 21st Century

Panelists: Jeremy Corbyn, Dilma Rousseff, Kara Taggaoa, Karina Sosa, Monica Valente, Omar Barghouti
August 7, 2021

The workers struggle knows no borders, thus socialism has always been internationalist in nature. However, with worsening global economic disparities, climate catastrophe that demands an international response, militarism, imperialism, and neocolonialism, and a global pandemic exacerbated by the profit system, socialist internationalism is imperative to our collective survival. In order to help forge ties between DSA and socialists the world over, DSA’s International Committee is sponsoring a plenary featuring socialist leaders from across the globe, including former heads of state, leaders of international fora, trade union activists, and social movement leaders. Through these diverse voices, we take on the urgent task of building a world based on solidarity, not domination and competition. Another world is possible, but only when we stand together.

Panelists:

Jeremy Corbyn, member of the British Parliament since 1983, has been an anti-racist activist throughout his life and has always fought for social justice in UK and around the World. He was leader of the Labor Party from 2015 to 2019, the party became the largest party in Europe and very popular for its socialist policies of the Manifestos in 2017 and 2019. He is the founder of the Peace & Justice Project in 2021 which will continue to campaign for peace, social justice and human rights around the world.

Dilma Rousseff, Former President of Brazil, Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT)

Kara Taggaoa is a trade union leader who serves as the Secretary for International Affairs of Philippine labor center

Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU). She studied Sociology at the University of the Philippines. She was first organized in an anti-imperialist youth organization that strongly integrated with and campaigned for workers’ rights. Since her teenage years, she was active in workers and peoples issues, and in the collective crafting of alternatives and solutions.

Karina Sosa, Adjunct Secretary General FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front), El Salvador left political party 

Mônica Valente, Executive Secretary of Foro de Sao Paulo (Sao Paulo Forum)

Omar Barghouti, Palestine, Co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement 


DSA Venezuela Delegation Report Back

DSA Panelists: Marvin Gonzalez, Jen M, Tom Wojcik, Kristian Hernandez, Austin Gonzalez, Luisa M., Carrington Morris
July 21, 2021

This June, DSA sent a historic delegation to Venezuela in order to represent the organization in the Congreso Bicentenario de los Pueblos in Caracas. For two weeks this delegation traveled the country, engaging with various political formations and communes, speaking to political leadership at every level, and witnessing firsthand the construction of Venezuelan socialism as it struggled against crippling US sanctions in the time of COVID.

For this special report back, join us for a thoughtful and frank reflection as our delegates discuss US sanctions, socialist solidarity, and the many contradictions and triumphs they experienced during their time in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.


Organizing call on Sheikh Jarrah and Gaza

Panelists: Asaf Calderon, Samy, Arpi, Khury Petersen-Smith, Dylan Awalt-Conley, Sepehr Makaremi
May 22, 2021

Please join the International Committee and the Palestine & BDS Working Group for a special organizing call on Sheikh Jarrah and Gaza. The call will cover historical background, what’s happening now, practical organizing tips, and more.


Race, Politics, and the Democratic Socialist Left: Perspectives from France and the U.S

Panelists: Danièle Obono, Asad Haider, Philippe Marlière, Nichole Mossalam
May 2, 2021

How is the US democratic socialist left doing in matters of race/ethnicity? Since the Bernie Sanders campaign of 2016, is this emerging left, in different cities and different regions of the country, managing to form broad coalitions and alliances in pursuit of common objectives while also embodying the constitutive diversity of social movements?

PANELISTS:

Députée Danièle Obono – Deputy in the French National Assembly for La France Insoumise

Asad Haider – founding editor of Viewpoint Magazine and the author of Mistaken Identity. His writing can be found in The Baffler, n+1, The Point, Salon, and elsewhere.

Philippe Marlière – professor of political science at the University of London

Nichole Mossalam – Boston DSA member, Massachusetts Democratic Party State Committee (DSC) member, founding director of the Islamic Cultural Center of Medford


Love and Sex Behind the Iron Curtain: 20th Century State Socialism in Eastern Europe

Panelists: Kristen Ghodsee, Kateřina Lišková, Agnieszka Kościańska, Polina Aronson
March 7, 2021

DSA IC-Europe, DSA SocFem WG, and Lux magazine present this fascinating discussion on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

Speakers:

Prof. Agnieszka Kościańska, author of Gender, Pleasure, and Violence: The Construction of Expert Knowledge of Sexuality in Poland (Indiana University Press 2021). Visiting Professor at the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies and Associate Professor in the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw.

Prof. Kateřina Lišková, Masaryk University, Czechia, and author of Sexual Liberation, Socialist Style: Communist Czechoslovakia and the Science of Desire, 1945–1989

Prof. Kristen Ghodsee, University of Pennsylvania, author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence.

Moderated by Dr. Polina Aronson (Germany/Russia), freelance Journalist is a sociologist and the debate editor of openDemocracy Russia. She was born in St Petersburg and lives in Berlin. She is working on a book about perceptions of love in Russia and in the West.


DSA, BDS, and Palestine Solidarity: A Panel Discussion

Panelists: Omar Barghouti, Marc Lamont Hill, Sumaya Awad, and Ajamu Amiri Dillahunt
February 6, 2021

Palestine is not only a humanitarian issue, nor is it only a Palestinian issue. Palestine is a political issue with serious consequences at stake for both Palestinians and average US residents. As socialists, we recognize the interconnectedness of our struggles under capitalism. In solidarity with Palestinian civil society’s nonviolent struggle for equality, human rights, and self-determination, DSA adopted a resolution at our national convention in 2017 in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. In 2019, DSA reaffirmed its commitment to the BDS movement by voting to establish a BDS and Palestine Solidarity national working group.


Indigenous Resistance in a World On Fire w/ Nick Estes and more

Panelists: Nick Estes, Bryan Parras, Ruth Alipaz Cuqui, Heloise Rocha
December 17, 2020

Indigenous communities are fighting for their survival and for self-determination. But what is the relationship between their struggle to the broader class struggle and the fight for a socialist future? The DSA National Political Education Committee, International Committee, and Ecosocialist Working Group are co-hosting an international panel featuring Indigenous leaders from the U.S, Brazil, and Bolivia. Drawing on the long legacy of Indigenous movements, and with an emphasis on environmental justice and class struggle the speakers will discuss indigenous protection of the environment in the Americas and the role their resistance plays within the struggle against capitalism and the extractivist state.


Empire in Crisis: a Teach-In and Symposium on U.S. Imperialism Today

October 22-23, 2020

Signs of U.S. imperialism are omnipresent: from trillion-dollar defense budgets to fighter jet flyovers at professional sporting events; from “endless war” abroad to local police, in military kit, beating, gassing, and shooting protestors at home.

Empire in Crisis: a Teach-In and Symposium on U.S Imperialism Today will take place Thursday and Friday, October 22 and 23. Participants will include BISR faculty, Nikhil Pal Singh, Jeanne Morefield, Laleh Khalili, Catherine Lutz, Jodi Byrd, Sara Salem, Tobita Chow, Benjamin Schrader, and Vijay Prashad—with more to be announced. During the learning sessions, BISR faculty will teach from specific texts, which viewers can access and read in advance by RSVPing at the link below. Read more…

Hosted by Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, DSA International Committee, National Lawyers Guild, and Justice Is Global.


Labor Rights and Struggle in Mexico

October 18, 2020

October 18, 2020—Watch DSA Labor and DSA International Committee Labor panel, including author and journalist David Bacon, Suzanna Miller of the IndustriALL International Union Federation, and Héctor de la Cueva of the CILAS Labor Center of Mexico City on the conditions of struggle for workers’ rights and politics in Mexico.

Read more…


Popular Uprising & Counter-Revolution in Iraq: A Teach-In

October 17, 2020

An IC Middle East + Africa subcommittee teach-in on the current situation in Iraq, marking the one-year anniversary of the Iraqi popular uprising.

Since October 2019, Iraq has seen massive demonstrations against the political corruption and economic malfeasance of the country’s governing class. The protesters in cities across the country’s south and in the capital of Baghdad have sustained this movement for a year now. “Even if the current movement fails to achieve a political revolution,” the Iraq scholar Fanar Haddad has observed, “it is undoubtedly a revolutionary movement that has already achieved a cultural revolution.”

Read more…


Covid-19, Crisis, and Conflict in Europe

September 26, 2020

More than 170,000 people have died in Europe from Covid-19 and the economy has pitched into a crippling recession. Healthcare and political systems across the continent have been pushed to the breaking point, raising critical questions about the role of governments, trade unions, social movements and political parties on both the left and the right.

The IC – Europe brought together a panel of European activists and experts to discuss the depth of the crisis and how the left and social movements are responding.

Read more…


Forum: Labor & Popular Struggles in the Middle East & North Africa

June 2, 2020

DSA’s International Committee and the Global African Worker in critical dialogue about the role of labor movements in current popular struggles in the Middle East and North Africa.

Participants include Joel Beinin, Bill Fletcher, Brahim Rouabah, and Rabab Elnaiem. Moderated by Ella Wind.

Read more…


How Should Socialists Understand the Israeli Election?

October 6, 2019

The Middle East + Africa subcommittee host an online event for understanding the recent Israeli elections and what their implications are in Israel, Palestine, and the United States. Basma Fahoum, Haggai Matar and Osamah Khalil presented, and the event was moderated by Joel Beinin.

Speaker Bios:

–Basma Fahoum–
Basma has a master’s degree in culture research from Tel Aviv University. She is currently a PhD candidate at Stanford University, working on the history of commercial tobacco cultivation in Palestine in the late Ottoman and British Mandatory periods, as well as in Israel. She serves as a co-editor of the Social History Workshop which is published on Haaretz’s website. Basma is a member of Academia for Equality, an organization promoting an equal, accessible, and demilitarized education in Israel and the OPTs. She was for several years an activist with the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality, one of the components of the Joint List.

–Haggai Matar–
Haggai Matar is an Israeli journalist and political activist. Haggai is the Executive Director of 972 – Advancement of Citizen Journalism, an Israeli nonprofit committed to democracy, social justice, freedom of information and ending the Israeli occupation. The nonprofit publishes two independent media outlets: +972 Magazine, operating in English since 2010, and Local Call, operating in Hebrew since 2014, and co-published with Just Vision.

Haggai is an award-winning journalist and political activist. Before his current position he was a co-founding editor of Local Call, a blogger on +972 Magazine, and had written for Ha’aretz, The Forward and other outlets. Haggai is also a board member of the Journalists’ Union in Israel, and was head of the Ma’ariv Journalists’ Committee.

In 2002, Haggai was imprisoned for two years for refusing Israeli military conscription. Since then, he has been active in various anti-occupation organizations, labor unions, educational activities and initiatives for peace, equality and social justice in Israel-Palestine.

–Osamah Khalil–
Osamah Khalil is an Associate Professor of History at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Khalil is the author of America’s Dream Palace: Middle East Expertise and the Rise of the National Security State (Harvard University Press, 2016) and editor of United States Relations with China and Iran: Toward the Asian Century (Bloomsbury, 2019). He has been a frequent media commentator and contributor, including for the Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, The National, Al Akhbar, and Al Jazeera.

–Joel Beinin–
Joel Beinin is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History, Emeritus at Stanford University. From 2006 to 2008 he served as Director of Middle East Studies at the American University in Cairo. In 2002 he served as president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America. Beinin is a member of the Portland, OR, DSA chapter.