May 24, 2023
Today, the Democratic Socialists of America issue a call to freedom for the people of Florida in opposition to the fascist actions of their politicians. We recognize the travel advisory issued by Florida Senator Rick Scott as part of an ongoing pattern of red harassment and attacks against black organizations like the NAACP in our country’s history. Scott’s “socialist travel advisory” is a mocking response to the NAACP rightly warning people about openly hostile laws created and championed by Florida Senator Rick Scott and Governor Ron DeSantis that target African-Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ people.
While we disagree with the Biden administration attempting to erase capitalism, the Democratic Socialists of America openly acknowledge our goal of replacing capitalism with a more just and democratic social and economic system. The billionaire class cuts essential social services like education and social security, demands that workers work harder for less pay, pollutes the air and water and drives climate change, promotes racist police violence, and uses a culture of hyper-individualism that puts us all against each other. others and alienates us from the kinds of collective, democratic organizing needed to challenge those in power and win the rights we all deserve. Reactionaries like Senator Scott have always opposed democratic socialists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who fought for civil rights and dignity for blacks, the poor, and working people of all races.
Under the authority of elected officials like Senator Scott and Governor DeSantis, Florida has:
DSA members in Florida and across the country vow to fight fascism while we still can. we don’t apologize socialist because we share a vision of a society where we have democracy in all aspects of our lives: in our workplaces, in our economy, at the polls, and in our communities. Florida workers deserve better than the dangerous threats from Scott and DeSantis.
We know that capitalism is inherently opposed to freedom. A society in which the vast majority of our lives is spent working for the benefit of another person is not free. A society in which a person can only have food, shelter, or medical care if it is profitable for someone else to provide it is not free. A society where humans are powerless to fight an ongoing mass extinction and where our movement across the land is criminalized is not free.
They fear us for the future we promise them. Join us in the fight for our lives and against the fascism that promises to destroy everything we hold dear. Another world is possible.
