Come review our 2024 with us!

Our AfroSocialists & Socialists of Color Section (AFROSOC), alongside other chapter members, kicked off our 2024 by showing up, tabling, and speaking at a Martin Luther King Jr. Day rally with former DSA honorary chair Cornel West! AFROSOC continued the year with monthly meetings and bimonthly game nights, affirming a space for our BIPOC-identifying members to build power in Birmingham DSA and their communities.

In February, we approved our Save Our Libraries campaign! With our comrades at North Alabama DSA, we pushed back against the censorship of LGBTQIA+ and racial justice materials in Alabama’s public libraries, speaking in opposition to far-right groups at board meetings for North Shelby Library and the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS). We also organized “write-ins” in Shelby County and Tuscaloosa and online to overwhelm the APLS with anti-censorship letters.

Also in February, our Palestine Working Group gathered outside pro-IDF musician Matisyahu’s show at Saturn to let him know he’s not welcome in Birmingham. Subsequent protests in the Southwest led to Matisyahu’s shows being cancelled in Arizona and New Mexico.

Following our March endorsement of voting “Uncommitted” in the Alabama presidential primary, a March vigil for martyr Aaron Bushnell, and a May Nakba Day rally, we joined local Palestine solidarity organizations to pack a Birmingham City Council meeting. As a result, we successfully pressured our councilpeople to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza (albeit a watered-down version of our original proposal).

On May Day, our Labor Working Group gathered to create solidarity signs and banners for Mercedes workers unionizing in Vance. We continued our labor solidarity by supporting striking AT&T workers on their summer picket lines, and organizing “sip-ins” in support of the unionized Midtown Birmingham Starbucks partners.

And, alongside our North Alabama DSA comrades, our members continued to develop their own workplace organizing skills at October’s Alabama Troublemakers School.

We kicked off Pride Month in June with our Queer Socialists Member Section (QueerSoc)’s first-ever meeting! Tabling at Central Alabama Pride (CAP)’s Pridefest and marching in CAP’s Pride Parade, QueerSoc and chapter members handed out literature on how Israel “pinkwashes” their genocide of Palestinians.

After disrupting multiple summer town hall meetings of transphobic Alabama politicians, QueerSoc closed out the year with a November Queersgiving potluck, a December gift swap, and a reading group for David Levithan’s “Two Boys Kissing.”

In July, our Mutual Aid Working Group expanded its Brake Light & Fuse Replacement Clinic program from clinics every three months to clinics every month. The program, which aims to protect working-class Birminghamians and Tuscaloosans from police violence, also began offering free oil and filter changes.

In August, our Mutual Aid Working Group also expanded its Street Solidarity houseless/homeless resource program from once-a-month to twice-a-month actions every 1st and 3rd Sunday in Linn Park. We also began a reading group for Deborah K. Padgett’s “Housing First,” to continue thinking of ways we can build power for our houseless and homeless neighbors.

In October, we launched our “Stop Fueling Genocide” priority campaign! This campaign, begun by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, aims to pressure Chevron, the largest natural gas supplier to Israel, into leaving Palestine. Our members agitated for boycotts of local Chevron and Texaco stations by canvassing local outdoor markets. They next aim to pressure local station owners into disaffiliating from Chevron.

Following the Democrats’ Election Day losses, our membership grew by nearly 15%, as Birmingham and Tuscaloosa socialists sought to fight back against a second Trump presidency. With our spike in membership, we moved our general meetings to Saturn to accommodate our increased attendance, restarted our “Birmingham DSA 101” orientation events, and experienced record attendance at all our chapter meetings.

Throughout the year, we held socialist social hours, new member happy hours, and debate and Election Night watch parties to build our camaraderie. We also created an Electoral & Legislative Working Group to continue building working-class power through elected office.

And, to close out 2024, we spent our Christmas Eve on the Midtown Birmingham Starbucks partners’ picket line, supporting their fight for better raises and to stop Starbucks’s union busting.

Thanks for reviewing our 2024 with us! Want to join us in 2025? Go to bhamdsa.org/calendar, and look for events with a bread 🍞 emoji. These are events we recommend for new members and those who are DSA-curious.

And join DSA! Start your monthly dues at dsausa.org/join.