Neighborhood Meetings are part of DSA-LA’s Neighborhood Solidarity Program—our chapter’s campaign to strengthen and grow socialist organization by uniting with our neighbors through tenant organizing, mutual aid work, and political study. This and all other Coastal Areas Neighborhood Meetings are open to new and long-time comrades who live in the range of coastal cities and areas, including: Santa Monica, Venice, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, Playa Vista, Del Rey, Mar Vista, Marina del Rey, Malibu, Topanga, and the Pacific Palisades.

Our third Coastal Areas Neighborhood Meeting will build on discussions and projects outlined in our previous meetings, including organizing work in solidarity with Street Watch in Venice and Mar Vista.  

Our study topic for this meeting will be Socialist Struggles for Decommodified Public Goods. Totaling ~20 pages, the following set of recommended excerpts and articles provide a foundation for interactive discussion:

• Labour Wants to Free Us From the Market, by Thomas Hanna / Saoirse Gowen (Jacobin Magazine, 2019) This piece goes over decommodification through the lens of government intervention and how universal programs—specifically the NHS—can be used to take public goods out of the market.

• Decolonial Feminist Economics: A Necessary View for Strengthening Social and Popular Economy by Natalia Quiroga Diaz (Viewpoint Magazine, 2015) Along with presenting some different forms and features of solidarity/popular economies, the reading contextualizes them with examples from South America focusing on a decolonial and feminist perspective.

• Seven Ways to Build the Solidarity Economy -- by Emily Kawano (Open Democracy, 2018) A brief explanation of some ways individuals can foster a solidarity economy.