Here’s what High Peaks DSA has done in the past and is currently working on. If you’d like to get involved in one of these campaigns, feel free to reach out through our Contact page.
Reading Group
This year, we started a new reading group with the goal of uniting theory and action. We seek to bring people together, provide a space to process all that’s happening in the world, encourage open dialogue, and collectively articulate both short-term and long-term goals to achieve together.
However we envision the goals of DSA—to create social change, advocate for a more equitable distribution of resources, promote worker rights, sustainably develop rural areas, foster a democratic sense of community, etc.—we need to first situate ourselves and build our knowledge-base.
This reading group is open to all!
Free Palestine
High Peaks DSA has been active in demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Our chapter helped organize a film series highlighting Palestinian culture and have been strong supporters of PS Letters for Ceasefire.
PS Letters for Ceasefire continues to meet on the first Saturday and third Thursday of the month. Send letters to Congress demanding a ceasefire!
Care Not Incarceration
On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin of the Minneapolis Police Department. Three other officers watched and did nothing as Floyd said, “I can’t breathe.”
Widespread police brutality is just one result of our systemically racist criminal justice system.
Black Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by the police than white Americans. Black Americans are incarcerated at five times the rate of white Americans. The incarceration rate of Black women is twice as high as that of white women.
Check out the NAACP’s fact sheet to learn more about racial disparities in our criminal justice system. In response to the murder of George Floyd and police brutality nationwide, High Peaks DSA helped organize protests in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid.
We’ve also organized around incarceration, as corrections accounts for so many jobs in the North Country. We worked closely with the Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP) campaign after Governor Andrew Cuomo transferred eight dozen elders to Adirondack Correctional Facility, co-hosting one online and one in-person event.
The opioid epidemic has ravaged the U.S., and the Adirondacks have not been immune to its effects. The vast majority of our 911 calls are related to substance use. High Peaks DSA believes in the practice of harm reduction, and seeks to reduce the stigma around Substance Use Disorder.
Pro-Choice, Fighting for Abortion Rights
On March 4, 2020, the Saranac Lake Development Board approved a site plan for the Adirondack Pregnancy Center (APC). The APC is a crisis pregnancy center — an anti-choice, anti-abortion organization masquerading as a legitimate healthcare facility. This dangerous anti-choice center is now open and operating.
Like other crisis pregnancy centers, the APC is within walking distance of the town’s Planned Parenthood. The APC is connected to shady outside organizations, such as Heartbeat International and Extend Web Services, which have been caught exploiting visitors’ personal data.
The Democratic Socialists of America are staunchly pro-choice. We believe healthcare is a human right, and that abortion is healthcare.
To learn more about this campaign and the actions we’re planning, read our official statement on the Adirondack Pregnancy Center.