DSSL Resolution For an Internationalist DSA

DSSL Resolution For an Internationalist DSA

Whereas the State of Israel has carried out a regime of occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people; and

Whereas the U.S. government continues to fund and arm the Israeli settler state, sending billions of dollars in military aid with congressional approval; and

Whereas our position as a left, anti-imperialist, working-class group striving for the freedom, peace, and safety of oppressed peoples here within the imperial core, ourselves residents of a settler colonial state, is only strengthened by principled and active solidarity with Palestine; and

Whereas an array of Palestinian civil society organizations has called for a policy of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) to pressure Israel to comply with international law by:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall.
2. Granting Palestinian/Arab citizens of 48’ (‘Israel’) their right to full equality.
3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN Resolution 194; and

Whereas the Democratic Socialists of America national convention voted to support the BDS movement in 2017, reaffirmed its commitment in 2019 by establishing a BDS & Palestine Solidarity national working group, and in 2021 included BDS in our National Platform; and

Whereas this struggle is critical to those of us here in Utah, which is one of 32 states with an anti-BDS law on the books; and

Whereas our state capitol (Salt Lake City) currently engages in police exchanges and training programs with Israeli occupation forces [SLCPD in Israel]; this training has been happening in cities across the state and country for more than two decades; and

Whereas our state currently sends $24,031,816 of our tax dollars to fund the Israeli military, instead of investing in our communities in the forms of, for example, 297 elementary teachers, 15,970 people receiving food assistance, or 324 clean energy jobs [https://uscpr.org/militaryfunding].

Whereas our lives are already negatively intertwined with our comrades outside the US, through our government’s contributions to apartheid structures in the Israeli state, and as socialists it is our responsibility to redirect that harm within the imperial core away from our comrades, reinvest that money and energy in our own communities, and foster solidarity by joining Palestinian civil society’s call for a US policy of BDS of Israeli apartheid.

Whereas the illegitimate vote by the National Political Committee to decharter the BDS & Palestine Solidarity Working Group was the latest overreach (according to the national Bylaws, the NPC does not have this authority) and continues a pattern of crossing the BDS picket line in defiance of DSA’s stated mandate to support BDS.

Whereas the illegitimate vote to decharter overrode the decisions made by the majority of convention delegates at the 2019 Convention that established this Working Group in the first place, and was won by only a simple majority, lacked credibility, and will harm our larger organization if any part of it is allowed to stand.

Therefore be it resolved that we, the Democratic Socialists of Salt Lake, stand in active solidarity with the DSA BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group, and while we approve of the NPC’s recent decision to reverse its attempt to decharter, we call for the reinstatement of the leadership of the Working Group, reversing the NPC’s one-year ban on members of the steering committee from participating in national positions.

We concur with the Working Group’s Statement in response to NPC’s egregious and illegitimate punitive acts and the authors of the For An Internationalist DSA in their support of dissenting NPC members when they write: “we invite you to commit to struggling through conflict, to remain true to our anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist values, and support us in standing with our Palestinian and Palestinian-allied comrades against censorship.” 

Be it further resolved, DSSL will publicly announce the resolution in the form of this statement on its website and social media accounts, and send a brief notification of the resolution statement to NPC.

March 2022