For DSA to realize its potential as a party for the multi-racial working class, it must base its practice in its stated principles of universal solidarity by fighting for the liberation of all. In pursuit of that horizon and in light of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, DSA national, its chapters, and its elected officials must stand firm in the face of political cowardice and lead with a politics of international solidarity.

Emerge is deeply disappointed by the amendments made to the National MSR-12 resolution, “Making DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis” which passed over the weekend, especially given the stakes of the current historical moment. The NPC has gutted this resolution of its enforcement measures and compromised its original intent. This resolution as amended now applies only to national, not local, endorsements and muddles important language acknowledging DSA’s enablement of Zionism – a political choice which has strained our relationships with Palestinian-led organizations. The original resolution’s section on membership standards has been removed, fumbling an opportunity to explicitly state that support for Israel is not welcome in DSA.

Any power DSA has through our association with politicians is vacuous if our strategy is not driven by the organized working class. Since October 7 we have witnessed a mass awakening and mobilization in solidarity with Palestine, led in the US by the street and student movements. Though DSA has supported and marched in these movements, we have not been able to consistently participate as coalition partners with Palestinian organizations leading this political awakening because of mistrust fomented through years of refusal to hold our endorsed electeds to a meaningful standard of anti-Zionism. 

As we have committed to fighting racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other bigotries, DSA must be committed to fighting the genocidal racism inherent to Zionism. For that reason, and considering our organization’s historical normalization of Zionism, we are obligated to make clear that we do not expect our comrades to work within an organization that tolerates its members and endorsed officials supporting the Zionist project.

We refuse the notion that rejecting Zionism in our ranks is sectarian or inward-facing. On the contrary, it is our fair weather solidarity with Palestine, and the consequent boycotts by the leaders of these street and campus movements, which threatens to make DSA into a marginal, isolated player on the stage of a historic struggle. We do not accept that alienating our comrades in YDSA, PYM, and other organizations is a worthwhile trade-off for shallow relationships with “progressive except for Palestine” elected officials. We must differentiate ourselves from politics as usual by holding our electeds to our platform, otherwise we are just another interest group.

If we as DSA meet the responsibility posed by the emergent conditions of the mass movement for Palestinian liberation, we may see new possibilities unfold for us. We have been offered a warm welcome back into this ongoing mass movement should we choose to take these basic steps of accountability. This movement reverberates in our fights for labor, climate justice, the abolition of policing and prisons, collective care, the end of empire, and our battle against the rising fascist right. But to fight with trust alongside our comrades leading the movement in the streets, we must uphold the standard of unapologetic Palestinian solidarity across our organization.