We will be voting on this Focus Campaign proposal at the next General Meeting.
@Bozzii and I expanded on what was discussed in the initial proposal. Please take some time to read it so we can have an informed discussion at the General Meeting. If you have any questions, please reply to this thread or reach out to one of is.
Planned Actions
No Votes for Genocide Pledge
We invite voters to pledge not to support Joe Biden, Josh Harder, or any candidate endorsed by or endorsing them (except McNerney). You can sign the pledge via:
- Online: NoVotesForGenocide.com
- In person: Sign-up sheets that collect names, addresses, and contact information
- Phonebank: We’ll text the link to voters who express agreement during calls
- Email: We’ll invite our list to join
Details
- Online Petition: Hosted through New/Mode, possibly using a superior design from an older ActionNetwork petition (Harpreet is investigating this option).
- After signing, the page will link to a “Join/Donate to WCU” page with a volunteer option.
- Sign Up Sheets: The sign up sheets should be easy to print and ask for people’s names, zip code, phone number, and email address, and a check box if they would like to join the effort.
- Phonebank: Using our existing TalkThru account. We may need an updated voter file for newer voters.
- Email: We can create an email funnel, starting with petitions that just ask Harder to vote against certain legislation that then escalates to the No Votes for Genocide pledge.
Toolkit
A dedicated webpage will provide information about the petition drive and downloadable materials like sign-up sheets and flyers.
Disrupt Fundraising Events
Once we learn about fundraising or public events by candidates, we will mobilize to demand for the attendees to join us in pushing Harder to support a ceasefire and to stop donating to their campaigns. We can use either fake email addresses or help from affluent contacts to infiltrate these events. This will require a trusted volunteer list, kept confidential from broader channels like our General Discussion WhatsApp group. These actions should be approved by both the Campaign Coordinator and the Focus Campaign Leadership.
Phonebank Large Donors
We will call Josh Harder’s campaign donors to urge them to stop future donations or request refunds. Donor names are available on the FEC website, and contact details can be purchased. We will list these names on DonorsForGenocide.com and possibly create a map to locate “Genocide Donors Near You”
To start off, we can list the names/locations of people who have donated to PACs like AIPAC or other pro-Israel PACs since we already know their position on the issue.
Rallies
Continuing to organize rallies centered around the ongoing genocide in Palestine and the hand local representatives play in funding Isreal and the IOF. Working with CVBIPOCC, Progressive Unity, and 209forPalestine to coordinate events.
San Joaquin County Labor for Ceasefire
We’ll initiate dialogues with local unions about a Ceasefire Now pledge, distinct from the No Votes for Genocide Pledge, to engage union members in our cause.
We should research which national unions are already on board and then ask the locals if they are willing to sign a similar pledge. Even if the unions do not endorse a no votes pledge, we may be able to recruit members to join the cause.
Outreach Events
Organizing Meetings
At least once a month, invite public + people who sign the pledge to attend a meeting to learn how they can help spread the message and help us pressure Josh Harder. At these events, we should have outreach material prepared to hand out, have a few tabling “shifts” already scheduled, but we should also allow for volunteers to organize in their own communities.
We can offer to hold these events at locations that others choose (churches, homes, parks) if they are willing to do the outreach effort. We can also drop flyers in those neighborhoods ahead of the meeting.
Social Events
Teach-ins, movie nights, picnics, poster/art making, grieving spaces, reading groups, inviting speakers.
Other
Delta College: Activate the students on SJDC campus. Flyering on campus to recruit new WCU members/volunteers. Through recruiting new members we can learn about professors and/or faculty that support the cause and reach out to them to announce upcoming rallies.
Outreach Materials
Materials will include flyers with QR codes linking to our main website and NoVotes pledge.
Flyers that only have a Ceasefire Now demand that we can place at local businesses.
Half page flyers of the following:
- Information about current events in Palestine
- Josh Harder’s voting record
- CA Senators’ voting records
- Down ballot Democrats
Goals
The goals should be to have one event per month the first two months, two events per month the two months after that, and three events per month during the last six months. These events can include tabling/phone banking/rallies that are primarily organized by WCU. However, we should attempt to have volunteers organize a similar number of outreach events per month on their own as well.
Communication / Strategy
Why are we targeting Josh Harder?
As our Representative, Josh Harder is the smallest target that we can influence in Congress. Our two California Senators would take a state-wide coordinated effort. And it is clear that polling alone will not be enough to shift the Biden Administration’s stance on Israel/Palestine.
Why are we attacking Democrats?
Removing Democrats from office would at least put support for Israel up against other capitalists that want to keep Democrats in office for their own purposes. Democratic Party is also the party that a majority of Palestinian supporters previously voted for and so it is the party we can most influence by withholding our vote.
The hope is that the local and state California Party sees the No Votes for Genocide pledge as a large enough of a threat that party leaders and capital supporting Democrats are willing to pressure politicians, like Josh, to drop the Israel issue in order to maintain power. If they do not and they end up losing, then it will be a credible threat that can be made in future election cycles.
Concerns over local Republicans winning office
Even in local elections, you are never voting for a single candidate. You are voting for the network of power/capital/influencers who support their campaigns. These networks largely remain static, especially in local elections. In Stockton specifically, there are a small network of families who run the show: Grupe, Spanos, Eberhardt, Rishwain, Barkett. In San Joaquin more broadly, there are Nakanishi, Pombo, and Osso. And then there are groups like Truman Club of San Joaquin County that are also heavily involved in candidate grooming and selection.
Most of these structures lead back to a similar group of people and what we are left with is differences in prioritizing one industry over the other. If you get someone like Tubbs (Jason Lee now), you will get more outside influence (Bloomberg/Tubbs), but this is normal city corruption.
Splitting People From the Democrats
California has record levels of inequality. Legislation like CalCare, housing reforms, or even protecting trucking jobs regularly are vetoed either by Newsom or killed before it reaches his desk. Legislation that passes, like the limits on rent increases, are near useless - no one is making 10% more each year.
At the federal level, issues like immigration, military expansion and privatizing medicare are now getting even worse than under Trump. Democrats have also allowed abortion rights and trans rights to be taken away under their watch with little pushback.
The goal with this campaign is not to break the two-party control in a single election cycle. But if we cannot use a genocide to show people that the Democratic Party does not represent their interests, then what will?