Las Vegas DSA passes Resolution For an Anti-Zionist LVDSA in Both Principle and Practice

September 6, 2024 | Chapter News
Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America

At September 2024’s General Body Meeting, Las Vegas DSA passed a Resolution For an Anti-Zionist Las Vegas DSA in both Principle and Practice. The vote passed 90% in favor, 10% opposed.

Read the full resolution below:

Resolution For an Anti-Zionist Las Vegas DSA in both Principle and Practice

Adapted from; Resolution: For an Anti-Zionist DSA San Francisco in both Principle and Practice and Resolution: For an Anti-Zionist Houston DSA in both Principle and Practice

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolutions #4 and #62 from 2019, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is an anti-imperialist organization;

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolution #50 from 2019, DSA is an anti-colonialist organization committed to advancing decolonization projects;

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolutions #41 and #45 from 2017 and Resolutions #4 and #31 from 2021, DSA is an anti-racist organization;

Whereas, and in line with Convention Resolutions #7 and #8 from 2017 and Resolution #35 from 2019, DSA National has publicly declared on numerous occasions in recent years that it “unapologetically stands in solidarity with Palestinian people everywhere;”

Whereas, Zionism – as popularized by Theodore Herzl and explicitly described by him as “something colonial,” meant to be “a wall of Europe against Asia… an outpost of [Western] civilization against [Eastern] barbarism” – is and has always been a racist, imperialist, settler-colonial project that has resulted in the ongoing death, displacement, and dehumanization of Palestinians in Palestine and in diaspora around the world;

Whereas, by Zionism, we refer to the philosophy that took hold and stands today and is a settler-colonial movement, establishing an apartheid state where the Jewish people have more rights than others, and which has resulted in Palestinian dispossession and occupation;

Whereas, Zionism transforms the victims of a millennium of European bigotry into a buffer class it scapegoats first for British, and then for American imperialism, while deliberately and ceaselessly working to identify the safety of international capitalism – a system that eighty years ago murdered two-thirds of European Jews – with the safety of Jewish people worldwide;

Whereas, and antithetical to DSA’s contemporary principles and policies, DSA’s founding merger was heavily predicated on ensuring that DSA would uphold DSOC’s (Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee) position of supporting continued American aid for Israel’s Zionist settler-colonial project, as explicitly noted in our organization’s founding merger documents (e.g., Points of Political Unity) and by Michael Harrington himself in his autobiography;

Whereas, and antithetical to DSA’s contemporary principles and policies, a number of DSA endorsed electeds (e.g., Jamaal Bowman & Nithya Raman) have consistently demonstrated a commitment to Zionism through their public opposition to BDS and/or support for legislation that harms Palestinians everywhere (e.g., public support for and votes in favor of U.S. financial aid to Israeli military, which forcefully advances the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestine through systematic tactics of abuse, forcible displacement, and murder of Palestinians; governmental adoption of definitions of antisemitism that conflate anti-Zionism and antisemitism, leading to the suppression of speech of Palestinians and those in solidarity with them);

Whereas, DSA’s historic and contemporary association with and enablement of Zionism has jeopardized DSA rank-and-file membership’s confidence in the integrity of DSA’s overall politics, as well as our organization’s working relationships with major Palestinian-led grassroots organizations across North America;

Whereas, DSA membership has overwhelmingly denounced Zionism through its stated principles and convention mandates since 2017 but has struggled to articulate these newfound principles into a more coherent praxis;

Whereas, the resolution “Make DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis” (MSR #12), failed to be heard or deliberated on at the 2023 National Convention, and there is an urgent need to address this on a chapter level;

Therefore, be it resolved, LVDSA denounces the national organization’s Zionist roots and reaffirms its commitment to being an anti-racist, anti-imperialist organization by explicitly committing to being an anti-Zionist chapter– in both principle and praxis;

Be it resolved, LVDSA once again reaffirms our organization’s commitments to Palestinian liberation and the broad, international BDS movement

LVDSA’s endorsed candidates hold true to the following basic commitments:

  • Publicly support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement;
  • Refrain from any and all affiliation with the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups, such as, but not limited to, AIPAC, J Street, or Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI), including participating in political junkets or any event sponsored by these entities;
  • Pledge to oppose legislation that harms Palestinians, such as…
    • Any official adoption of a redefinition of antisemitism to include opposition to Israel’s policies or legal system, or support for BDS (e.g., IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism);
    • Legislative and executive efforts to penalize individuals, universities and entities that boycott Israel;
    • Legislative and executive efforts to send any military or economic resources to Israel;
  • Pledge to support legislation that supports Palestinian liberation, such as…
    • Legislative and executive efforts to end Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians and promote Palestinians’ rights to return to and live freely on the land (e.g., H.R. 2590), the right to resistance, the right to self-determination (statehood), and Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine;
    • Condemnation of Israeli apartheid and colonial practices (e.g., H.Res. 751);
    • Attempts to end the spending of U.S. tax dollars on Israel and/or sanction Israel until it ceases its practices of apartheid and colonialism;

Be it resolved, potential candidates who cannot commit to the aforementioned basic expectations will be disqualified from endorsement by LVDSA at every level;

Be it resolved, endorsed candidates who do not commit to the aforementioned basic expectations will have their LVDSA endorsements swiftly revoked;

Be it resolved, all LVDSA members who are credibly shown to:

  1. Be consistently and publicly opposed to BDS, Palestinian liberation, the right to return and land back, the Palestinian right to self-determination, or
  2. Be currently affiliated with the Israeli government or any Zionist lobby group(s), or
  3. Have knowingly and intentionally provided material aid to the state of Israel’s Zionist colonialist project

will be considered in substantial disagreement with LVDSA’s principles and policies, and thus, the chapter will initiate the expulsion process in line with Article 10, Section 3 of the LVDSA bylaws;

Be it resolved, members expelled on these grounds may be reconsidered for membership reinstatement once per year provided they write a statement to chapter membership that 1) demonstrates a basic understanding of Palestinian issues and Zionism and 2) apologizes for past anti-solidaristic behaviors with a commitment to putting their new anti-Zionist principles into practice.