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The Bowman Affair and National DSA Palestine Solidarity, 1979-2023

Attempted Dechartering of the BDS Working Group

The 2021 convention chartered the BDS WG to organize around BDS and part of that (in my opinion) is holding elected officials who are DSA members and/or endorsed by DSA to it. When they did that for Jamaal Bowman they got push back from comrades engaged in electoral work and due to a series of disagreements (both political and inter-personal) the NPC decided to ban their leaders from holding leadership positions in DSA and de-charter the working group to move it to the international committee. They did not have the power to do this as the convention was the one who chartered the group and they didn’t consult either wg before doing this so it blew up. Over a thousand members signed an open letter condemning the action and a number of Palestinian organizations announced they would not work with DSA until these disciplinary measures were reversed. This caused the NPC to backtrack on the de-chartering but they left the leadership ban in place. It seemed to blow over until a recent controversy over a series of bad twitter posts by the working group re-opened the controversy and led to the resolution to merge BDS WG with the IC. Since the convention was the one who chartere d the working group to begin with, some NPC members figured it should be the convention that decides the issue.
Most of this information comes from the Wiki:BDS WG situation post on the forum or folks who participated in the process.

Timeline

1979: Before the merger between the The Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and the New American Movement (NAM) that created DSA, there were already arguments about the organization’s position on Palestine and Israel.
2017: DSA passes a resolution expressing support for BDS, representing the first piece of anti - Zionist rhetoric in org history and ending DSA’s pro:Zionist stance in principle.
2019-08-04: 2019 DSA convention passes a resolution to form the DSA BDS and Palestine Solidarity WG (BDS WG)
2020-06-01: NYC-DSA endorses Jamaal Bowman. A subsequent article from 2022 shares his candidate questionnaire, wherein Bowman enthusiastically agreed to oppose sending military aid to Israel.
2020-??-??: National DSA endorses Jamaal Bowman
2020-11-08: Bowman wins election to the US Congress
2020-fall: DSA BDS and Palestine Solidarity WG (BDS WG) formed and begins work on resources around BDS
2021-spring: BDS WG meets personally with approximately a dozen chapters around the country to familiarize them with BDS and how to incorporate it into endorsement processes. Eventually they hold a large meeting due to lack of capacity for 1:1s with every chapter (12 chapters attended the large meeting)
2021-??-??: BDS WG discusses what to do about already endorsed electeds who waver on Palestine. The decision is made candidates should be accountable to BDS and to engage Bowman as he is the least supportive of BDS out of DSA’s electeds
2021-05-03: In an interview with the Jewish Community Relations Council, Bowman says that he does not align himself with pro-BDS groups and reiterates he does not support BDS. He also said he disagrees with groups lobbying politicians against traveling to Israel on sponsored trips and that he planned to go there soon.
2021-06-10: (1, 2): Members of the BDS WG, another NYC member, a LHV member, and 4 others from different chapters met with Bowman’s Legislative Director to walk through the resources created by the BDS working group. The hard ask was removing the opposition to BDS from his website and for Bowman to follow the “do no harm” line.
2021-07-XX: Bowman took his opposition against BDS off his website
2021-07-23: Jamaal Bowman votes in support of direct military aid to Israel (H.R. 4373)
2021-09-24: Statement by the NPC condemning the Iron Dome vote (both Bowman’s yes and AOC’s abstention)
2021-10-XX: MUG circulates a petition to have the NPC deliver a formal warning to bowman and other electeds
2021-11-XX: Bowman’s chief of staff tells the BDS WG that they were “100% committed” to taking Congressman Bowman’s name off the Israel Relations Normalization Act as soon as it was “logistically feasible,” noting broad concerns about Riverdale and Scarsdale potentially remaining in their district. As it was explained to the BDS WG, Bowman signed onto the bill because 3,000 verified constituents requested his sponsorship.
2021-11-03/13th (1, 2, 3): NPC reaches out to BDS WG, LHVDSA and NYC DSA in advance of Bowman’s trip to Israel to discuss a course of action. Some NPC members were aware of this trip in advance and did not disclose it until it was too late to stop. BDS WG and NPC work together on a statement about Bowman’s trip with a set of expectations but without references to accountability and discipline.
2021-11-10: Pictures of Jamaal Bowman on a trip to Israel organized by J-Street with then Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett are published
2021-11-15/16 (1, 2, 3): An NPC member who was not part of the meetings suggests publishing a short statement instead of the BDS WG statement with specific demands. NPC votes (15-0-0) for this option.
2021-11-17: BDS WG publishes statement condemning Bowman’s trip including the axed portions about discipline and accountability
2021-11-18: For Unity Not Unanimity open letter published (550 signatures)
2021-11-19 (1, 2): Off-the-record meeting between Jamaal Bowman, his staff, and representatives from the NPC, BDS WG, LHVDSA, and NYC DSA. Bowman mentioned being blindsided by this and BDS liaison pointed out they had met with his legislative director. Bowman agrees to the following:

  • Supporting pro-Palestinian policies such as the right to boycott and bills that would condition aid
  • Rejecting anti-Palestinian policies including removing his name from the normalization bill and not signing J-Street’s 2-state solution bill
  • Actively voting no on any future bill that provides more military assistance to Israel
  • No more propaganda trips
  • Refusing to accept campaign contributions or event invites from pro-Israel lobby groups (including an upcoming town hall with J-Street)

2021-11-24: BDS liaison receives a call from Bowman’s chief of staff back-tracking on everything except for the normalization bill
2021-11-29: BDS WG formally calls for the expulsion of Jamaal Bowman (480 individual signatures, 53 chapters calling for expulsion)
2021-12-??: During the endorsement interview with Austin DSA Greg Casar says he believes the US aid should not go to the Israeli occupation
2021-12-02: NPC votes on six possible accountability measures

  • Only endorse nationally in 2022 if he can commit to opposing any funding to the Israeli state or military and opposing any anti-free speech legislation (PASSED 16-0-1)
  • Condemn the actions (PASSED 14-0-3)
  • Censure (FAILED 7-9-1)
  • Revoke 2020 endorsement (FAILED 4-11-2)
  • Ask to resign from DSA (FAILED 3-13-1)
  • Expulsion (FAILED 2-13-2)

2021-12-20: BDS WG holds a forum to share their knowledge with DSA membership 2021-12-21: Internal Statement on Congressman Bowman from the NPC 2022-02-??: BDS WG informs the NPC there are zionists trying to infiltrate the working group
2022-02-15: Bowman removes his sponsorship of HR 2748 (Israel Relations Normalization Act). Some NPC members tout this as a win from engaging Bowman.
2022-02-01 (1, 2): Jewish Currents publishes an article about Greg Casar’s position on Palestine. The article details a letter to a Rabbi saying he does not support BDS. In the 2021-12-?? Town hall that took place a day after the letter was sent, he said he was willing to learn more before coming to a clear position.
2022-02-02: Maria confirms the BDS WG is in conversation with Austin DSA
2022-02-06: Austin DSA announces the Casar campaign has rescinded their request for endorsement and they will no longer be supporting the campaign as an organization.
2022-02-16: BDS WG publishes a tweet thread disagreeing with the NPC member’s characterization of Bowman removing his sponsorship of HR 2748.
2022-02-16: Jose L (SMC) makes a forum post about allegations he threatened to leave DSA and condemn it as racist if Bowman were expelled during an executive session
2022-02-18: Email from NPC demanding BDS WG delete the tweet thread critical of Bowman and his supporters within DSA and to comply with national committee criteria to submit social media passwords to the NPC within eight hours.
2022-03-09 (1, 2): Bowman issues a press release explaining his vote on government spending clarifying “There were elements of the defense spending section that, if voted on separately, I would have supported, including additional military aid to Ukraine and funding for the Iron Dome — which I have already voted once before to fund and support.”
2022-03-17: BDS WG hands over social media passwords to National Staff after a week of ensuring their login capabilities (see BDS WG 2022-03-22 statement below).
2022-03-18: NPC announces they voted to punish the BDS WG due to the 2022-02-16 tweet thread including:

  • decharter the BDS WG
  • move BDS work into the International Committee
  • ban the BDS leadership from any DSA leadership positions

2022-03-18-20: Letters of dissent from NPC members who voted against de-chartering and leadership suspension

2022-03-18: In Support of DSA’s Democratically Elected Leadership open petition published (361 signatures)
2022-03-19: For an Internationalist DSA petition published (1,416 signatures)
2022-03-19: In Defense of DSA’s Democracy letter published
2022-03-19-24: Statements on the de-chartering and leadership suspension from NPC members who voted in favor of it:

2022-03-19: Austin G resigns from the NPC and leaves DSA
2022-03-21: Bowman staffer and DSA member gives his personal perspective
2022-03-22: BDS WG publishes a statement rejecting the NPC’s decision (431 individual signatures, 16 org signatures)
2022-03-23: BDS WG twitter account suspended
2022-03-23: DSA North Star releases a letter in support of the NPC decision (archived copy of signatories)
2022-03-23 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5): Palestinian grassroots orgs condemn the de-chartering and leadership ban and announce a boycott of DSA until both decisions are rescinded.
2022-03-24: NPC unanimously votes to rescind their decision to de-charter the BDS WG. Leadership ban remains in effect. Justin C is chosen to be a liaison for the wg.
2022-03-24: Matt M resigns from NPC
2022-03-26: Jenbo clarifies the situation around the BDS WG twitter account suspension
2022-03-27: BDS WG holds the previously scheduled emergency forum with movement partners.
2022-05-??: LHVDSA and NYC-DSA schedule an endorsement interview with Bowman. Interview gets postponed a couple of times and eventually never happens.
2022-08-24: NPC votes to uphold the leadership ban.
2023-06-28 (1, 2, 3): The BDS WG twitter account makes a controversial post that is quickly deleted but Ritchie Torres (an anti-DSA congress member from NY) posts a screenshot of it and condemns it (2). In response the working group posts a thread clarifying their position (3). DSA members come out for and against the statements.
2023-06-30: The NPC Steering Committee discusses the situation with the BDS WG tweets but does not take action, instead handing it off to the communications committee to deal with.
2023-07-05: The BDS WG retweets statements casting doubt on the reason a missing Israeli academic was in Iraq. The retweets are undone after they receive criticism. Screenshots show up on the forums by members asking for accountability.
2023-07-01: Meeting between BDS WG SC and NPC (SC?) was canceled because no more than one NPC member could attend.
2023-07-02: Meeting between BDS WG SC and NPC (SC?) was canceled because no more than one NPC member could attend.
2023-07-05: Another meeting is requested after the attack on Jenin and the WG asked if they could communicate over email so they could discuss while focusing on relief work. They are told it’s ok to not meet and to focus on Palestine.
2023-07-17 (1, 2): A new NPC recommendation is brought before the full NPC meeting to merge the BDS WG with the International Committee despite the self-imposed deadline for NPC recommendations having already passed and the agenda survey already being live. The NPC votes to move voting on the proposal itself to Loomio (Loomio votes have not been published publicly for quite some time)
2023-07-18: Jenbo writes up a description of what the BDS WG does on the DSA forums in response to a request from another member