DSV hits the ground running with first in-person meeting

The first-ever meeting of the Democratic Socialists of Vancouver (DSV) was held at Trout Lake in East Vancouver on Sunday, July 26. 

Over 20 people attended throughout the afternoon, comprising activists from a range of movements and at least 13 different campaigns or groups from across the Lower Mainland. DSV is a new political initiative that has been discussed for the past several months by a group of activists meeting and planning online due to COVID-19. 

This initial in-person meet up, held on the unceded territory of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, was delayed due to the pandemic. The meeting was held outdoors and observed physical distancing protocols, and most participants wore masks. The format of the get together was simple, with participants introducing themselves and sharing a couple of key political goals or aspirations they’d like to see DSV contribute to achieving. (Check out the full list below!) 

After an initial Go Around with the full group, we broke into working groups — Housing Justice, Environmental Justice/Decolonization, and Solidarity/Coalition Building — to brainstorm ideas for campaigns and to discuss issues in more depth. Everyone was also invited to take a button — yes, we already have buttons! — and to share their reasons for wanting to get involved in a new, non-sectarian socialist group. 

In many ways — with this pandemic and with the longer-term scourges of inequality and injustice produced by capitalism and colonialism — we are living through frightening and difficult times as a society. But there’s also hope, as we see in powerful social movements like Black Lives Matter and in the successful insurgent left electoral campaigns we’ve seen across North America from Vancouver to the Bronx. 

It’s never been a better time to be a socialist, and it’s never been so urgent to get together and organize collectively. If you’d like to join one of the working groups, send us an email and we will put you in touch with an organizer. Or go to our website and join! 

You are also invited to join our next meet up of the Democratic Socialists of Vancouver, which will take place Sunday, August 16, 2-4 p.m. at the same location next to Trout Lake. Look for our tent and DSV banner at John Hendry Park near the parking lot at 13th Avenue and Templeton Dr., site of the Trout Lake Farmer’s Market.) 

Sample of what people shared July 26 in terms of their political priorities and goals: 

• Decriminalize homelessness + poverty

• Tax the rich and fund social programs

• Action on climate change that is concrete and effective

• Stigmatize billionaires

• End imperialism

• Forge lasting social change in the wake of COVID-19

• Graduated corporate tax rate proportional with inequality between top and bottom income earners in the company.

• Manufacturers to be forced to take responsibility for disposal of the products they produce

• Better valuation of human life

• Implementing climate friendly institutions rather than colonial ones

• Vienna model of social housing

• Increased access to transit

• Develop new tactics internally and externally to propel the revolution

• Foster community within leftwing movements

• Decolonize

• Municipal politics- develop community response teams

• Hold politicians accountable

• Fight union busting

• Formalize and organize socialist groups better

• Universal pharmacare

• Green New Deal/ Just Recovery

• Abolish tar sands

• Jobs program to kickstart green economy

• Find common ground between leftwing factions successfully

• Democratize workplaces