IN THIS ISSUE:

Events

• Experienced Dems Meet-Up
• Flipping the House - Phone-banking parties in August & September
• Amsterdam Pride Fundraiser on August 4
• Young Dems August Pub Night

Midterm Elections

• Election Calendar: Register, Request, Return!

Issues & Actions

• Postcard Outreach Action
• Enough! Vote Them Out
• Final Deliberation on the Unity Reform Commission (URC) Proposals

Reviews

• Solidarity Sundays Vienna Targets Gun Violence
• An Event-full June

Save these Phonebanking Dates!

• Summer Voter Shout-Out on Wednesday, August 22
  
• SolSun Civics Special on Tuesday, September 4
• Dems Dialing for Voters on Thursday, September 20
  
• Don’t Wait, It’s Late! on Monday, September 26
  

WE’RE RECHARGING OUR BATTERIES AND TAKING A SUMMER BREAK.

WE'LL SEE YOU AT OUR FALL EVENTS BEGINNING ON AUGUST 22. ENJOY THE SUMMER!

EVENTS:

Experienced Dems Meet-Up

Come one, come all to the July meet-up of Experienced Democrats. Take the time to discuss the latest news from the USA, positive and negative, with like-minded people of a certain age.

WHEN: Tuesday, July 17

WHERE: Cafe Museum, Operngasse 7 1010 Wien

RSVP: Experienced Dems

FLIPPING THE HOUSE - 

PHONE-BANKING PARTIES IN AUGUST & SEPTEMBER

What could be a better way to spend an evening than with other DAA members working to flip the House? It’s easy, fun, and the most effective way to get our members to the polls. Join us at one of our get togethers from the end of August through September. The midterm clock is ticking...

In the 2014 Midterms only 4% of Americans living abroad voted. We must do better! The upcoming midterm election is probably one of the most important in our lifetime. Help us save democracy one call to a voter at a time!

Bring your laptop, charger, and earbuds/headphones with microphone. We'll supply the pizza and beer.

You've never phone-banked before? No problem! We have a training session for newbies from 6-6:30pm. We'll walk you through it, you'll be comfortable in no time. We're calling our members and they LOVE hearing from us!

You’re fed up with the current administration and want to start calling immediately to vote them out? You can’t attend one of our phonebanking parties? You can still save our democracy by getting out the vote! Go to the handy Phonebanking Introduction to get started. And feel free to email if you have any questions or need assistance.

WHEN: Always from 6pm - 9pm on the following days: Summer Voter Shout-Out on Wednesday, August 22; SolSun Civics Special on Tuesday, September 4; Dems Dialing for Voters on Thursday, September 20; Don’t Wait,It’s Late! on Monday, September 26

WHERE: The phonebanking parties will be held in private homes, please rsvp below to get the exact address.

CONTACT: Jennifer Rakow-Stepper · demsabroadaustria@gmail.com or Tanya Lolonis · tanya.lolonis@mac.com

JOIN DEMOCRATS ABROAD FOR A UNIQUE FRONT-ROW VIEW OF AMSTERDAM’S WORLD FAMOUS GAY PRIDE CANAL PARADE!

If you’ve never experienced Amsterdam Gay Pride, thousands line the streets along the canals jostling for a glimpse of the parade as it sails past. But we’ll have our very own boat moored at a prime location along the route!

We guarantee you the best view in town — complete with unlimited beer, wine, soft drinks, snacks and our own sound system to get the party started. You’re welcome aboard from 12:30, with the first floats arriving around 14:00. The last one closes the parade around 17:30. A limited number of VIP ticketsare also available, which include a 90 minute boat tour of the city with refreshments early the evening before (Aug 3). Click here for more information.

Visiting from out of town? Homestays are possible on a first come, first served basis. You’re welcome to contact Democrats Abroad Netherlands Chair Kendra Borgen at chair@democratsabroad.nl.

WHEN: August 4, 2018

WHERE: Amsterdam, Netherlands

CONTACT: Kendra Borgen · chair@democratsabroad.nl

RSVP: Amsterdam Gay Pride Fundraiser

YOUNG DEMS PUB NIGHT

Join us at our summer meet-up. We hope to see a lot of you and you’re welcome to bring friends! Please look for updated information on our facebook page.

WHEN & Where: TBA, August 2018

CONTACT: Ashley Arreola · Ashley_arreola@yahoo.com

ISSUES & ACTIONS:

Postcard Outreach Action

Are you a swing state voter? Do you not receive our emails or calls? If so, you’ve most likely heard from us over the past few months. DA activists have been busy writing members like you a postcard to remind you to register, request, and return your ballot for the midterm election. Drop us a line. We’d love to hear that our work paid off!

MIDTERM ELECTIONS: ELECTION CALENDAR – REGISTER, REQUEST, RETURN!

Lots of primaries are coming up and many of them have summer deadlines! Check below for important registration dates. But why wait? Register to vote today at Vote from Abroad and you’ll have registered and requested your ballot for all 2018 elections in one easy step. Midterm elections are Federal elections and you can vote in them. Don’t be a victim of voter purges. By law, overseas voters MUST register every calendar year!

Do you vote in one of these States?Alabama (run-off), Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia (Primary run-off), Guam, Hawaii, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina (Federal run-off), Oklahoma (run-off), Rhode Island, Tennessee Vermont, Virgin Islands, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming. Then READ MORE for your State’s upcoming deadlines and mark your calendar today!

DNC RULES AND BYLAWS COMMITTEE (RBC) – FINAL DELIBERATION ON THE UNITY REFORM COMMISSION (URC) PROPOSALS

The DA Progressive Caucus(ProDA) hosted a vibrant online cafe on June 17th, focusing on the final phase of RBC work with reforms the URC proposed in the aftermath of the 2016 primaries. The RBC must vote on its version of the reforms by the end of June. The DNC is scheduled to vote on them in August. The main proposals foresee changes in primary/caucus models; party outreach, diversity, and transparency; and superdelegate influence. Special ProDA cafe guest Selina Vickers (West Virginia), who has provided excellent live stream coverage and commentary on the URC/RBC reform work for well over a year, summarized the process and offered scenarios for the upcoming final voting. Here is a condensed scenario version:

1. Accept Unity Reform Commission changes
   
2. Keep automatic delegates in the convention, but not allow them to take part in the initial vote,
3. Vote down the Unity Reform Commission recommendations in their entirety, in other words, vote for the status quo,
4. Add delegates from the community to the states using a 25% proportionality formula.

Selina is hopeful that the Party will become more inclusive, diverse, and transparent, as we strive for greater strength and unity on the road to the midterms and beyond.

UPDATE: On June 27th, the RBC endorsed what it refers to as the third way plus for “superdelegate” voting at presidential nominating conventions. It is intended to curb the influence of superdelegates by conditionally removing the unpledged delegates from first ballot at the convention.

The conditions of those contingencies for superdelegate participation fall into three categories.

1. If a candidate wins 50 percent of the pledgeddelegates plus one during or by the end of primary season, then the superdelegates are barred from the first ballot.
2. If a candidate wins 50 percent of all of the delegates (including superdelegates) plus one, then the superdelegate opt-in is triggered and that faction of delegates can participate in the first (and only) round of voting.
3. If no candidate wins a majority of either pledged or all delegates during or by the end of primary season, then superdelegates are barred from the first round and allowed in to vote in the second round to break the stalemate.

Importantly, the first contingency allows a candidate to win without superdelegates, while the second deprives superdelegates through a supermajority requirement the ability to overturn the pledged delegate majority scenario in the first contingency. Here is a source of more information.

– Bruce Murray, DA Austria Counsel

REVIEWS:

SOLIDARITY SUNDAYS VIENNA TARGETS GUN VIOLENCE

On June 24th, Solidarity Sundays took a deep dive into what the data tells us about gun violence in America, and how effective policy needs to address different causes.

We learned how to make sense of the NRA‘s resistance to public safety concerns, and how early signs are showing some movement in the direction of common-sense gun laws. While the NRA remains largely unassailable at the federal level, activists are making meaningful gains in state houses across the country.

Test how well you know America‘s gun culture by taking the „Make My Day Gun Quiz“, (insert link to SS FB page). Solidarity Sundays attendees found some answers more surprising than expected.

Getting any progress on gun control means getting good politicians into office. With that in mind, the band turned to getting DA members in Austria registered to vote. In all, over 150 postcards were handwritten reminding voters to register and request ballots at VoteFromAbroad.org. The postcard project is part of Solidarity Sundays Vienna’s ongoing focus on getting out the 2018 vote in Austria, which has included phonebanking and registering Americans at various public locales. When David Byrne asked DAA to set up and register voters at his concert in the Museumsquartier, SolSunners were tapped to help DAA woman the tables. Got a suggestion where we might meet a lot of Americans? Send us a message: solsunvienna.

– Tanya Lolonis, Solidarity Sundays Co-Coordinator

AN EVENT-FULL JUNE

It was great to see so many of you at one or more of the whopping eight different events that happened in June! We’ll be recharging our batteries over the summer and gearing up for a big push to get all our members to vote in the midterm election in November. But before we head off for distant ports, here’s a quick recap of June’s events.

We began the month under LGBT Caucus leader Juan Cerda’s guidance and participated in the annual Regenbogenparade. At March in Pride DA members and friends showed our support and solidarity with our LGBTQ friends and family. The following Monday, a group of seven members gathered at Tanya’s place for pizza and beer and phone banked lots of our members to remind them they have to re-register every year. On the last Sunday of June, Solidarity Sundays discussed gun violence in America (see article above) and reached out to members to affect change at the ballot box.

David Byrne has also been encouraging Americans to vote and has invited Vote From Abroad to set up a stand at his concerts on his current European tour. We were in the Museums Quartier’s Halle E on the 26th and registered a bunch of grateful Americans – Burning Down the House!

Finally, on the 30th DA Austria joined more than 700 Families Belong Together marches worldwide to demand the end of Trump’s Zero Tolerance policy and the reunification of the families. It was a somber demonstration as a variety of members read the tragic stories of parents and children who had been torn apart at the border. Danny Chicago and Raina Saul-Ganev provided wonderful music and songs and some of the of the more than 30 members who attended left chalk-written messages in front of the US Consulate. 

And if that wasn’t enough, Black Caucus Book Club, Young Dems, and Experienced Dems all had their regular monthly meet-ups! As you can see, DA Austria is rev’d up and busy. Enjoy the summer break and I hope to see you soon at an upcoming event!

– Jennifer Rakow-Stepper, DA Austria Chair

In this issue:

Events

• Phonebanking Party
• March with Pride
• Experienced Dems
• SolSun Battleground America: Looking at the Policy of Guns
• Global Black Caucus Book Club
• Young Dems June Pub Night

Save the Dates!

Issues & Actions

• Election Calendar: Register, Request, Return!
• Midwest Midterm Progressive Bikeathon

Reviews

• Graz Voter Registration Pub Night
• Shining a Light on Dark Money
• Why I Am No Longer Talking [With White People] About Race

Events:

Phonebanking Party

Join DAA members and friends as we celebrate another day at the polls. Between 6 and 9pm on Tuesday, June 5th we're calling members from States who have primaries coming up and reminding them to Register, Request, and Return their ballots.

What better way to build the Blue Wave than with pizza and wine and other wave makers! Bring your laptop, charger, and earbuds/headphones with microphone. We'll supply the rest.

You've never phone-banked before? No problem! We have a training session for newbies from 6-6:30pm. We'll walk you through it, you'll be comfortable in no time. We're calling our members and they LOVE hearing from us!

WHEN:Tuesday, June 5th at 6pm - 9pm
WHERE:The listed addressis only for orientation. This phonebanking party is in a private home, please rsvp below to get the exact address.
CONTACT:Tanya Lolonis · tanya.lolonis@mac.com
RSVP: Phonebanking Party

March with Pride

Join Democrats Abroad Austria as we march and dance at this year’s Vienna Pride Parade. This year's Pride Parade theme is "Love, Respect, and Solidarity."

Agenda layout:

2pm: We will start forming our contingent. We’ll know our pride parade contingent number closer to the parade date and will keep you posted. We’ll probably start marching somewhere between the hours of 3pm - 4pm, so please remember to eat something beforehand, bring water and suntan lotion, and wear comfortable shoes.

We urge participants to bring signs—the more colorful and creative the better:)

Participants may simply join the group at the beginning of the parade route, but RSVPs are strongly encouraged. For any questions please email Juan. Our parade group is open to all. Visit us on Facebook

WHEN: June 16, 2018 at 2pm - 6pm

WHERE: TBD front of University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, Vienna 1010

Google map and directions

CONTACT: Juan Cerda · juandcerda@gmail.com· +43 676 921 7865

RSVP: March with Pride

Experienced Democrats Meet-Up

This is the 6th monthly meeting of the Experienced Democrats. All are welcome to join us! Visit us on Facebook

WHEN: Tuesday, June 19, 2018 at 6pm

WHERE: Café Museum, Operngasse 7, 1010 Vienna

CONTACT: John Cahill: jmcahill47@yahoo.com +436766952766

RSVP: Experienced Democrats

Global Black Caucus Book Club II

Join us as we conclude our journey through "Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race" by British author Reni Eddo-Lodge. We will discuss the last four chapters (Fear of a Black Planet, The Feminism Question, Race and Class and There’s no Justice, There’s Just Us). So read up and come ready with comments, questions and reflections.

Please remember to bring a donation, as we will begin fundraising for the Innocence Project, an organization devoted to exonerating the wrongly convicted and working towards criminal justice reform https://www.innocenceproject.org/. We look forward to reading and discovering with you! Power to the readers!

WHEN: June 20, 2018 at 7pm - 10pm

WHERE: Phil, Gumpendorfer Straße 10-12, 1060 Vienna

Google map and directions

CONTACT:Faith Herbold· Faith_hg@yahoo.com· 0660 277 6485

RSVP: GBC Book Club

Solidarity Sunday #16

Battleground America: Looking at the Policy of Guns.

Join the hardy band of Solidarity Sundays activists on June 24th when we will start with the three hundred million privately owned firearms in the United States and ask: How did we get here? Is there a real chance for change? What will it take to make changes happen?


We’ll continue writing postcards reminding DA members to register, request ballots for November, and vote. Coffee, tea and snacks will be on hand to fortify the good people working to build the Blue Wave.

WHEN: June 24, 2018 at 4pm - 6pm

WHERE: Amerlinghaus, Stiftgasse 8,1070 Vienna

Google map and directions

CONTACT: Tanya Lolonis · tanya.lolonis@mac.com

RSVP: SolSun #16

Young Dems Pub Night

Dear fellow Democrats, We cordially invite you to a fun get together at our June Pub Night at Peter Pane's! We hope to see a lot of you and you’re welcome to bring friends! Please rsvpto let us know how many people to expect. See you soon!

WHEN June 29, 2018 at 7pm - 10pm

WHERE Peter Pane, Mariahilfer Str 127, Vienna 1060

Google map and directions

CONTACT David Heckenberg · david.heckenberg@gmail.com· +43 664 378 2040

RSVP: Young Dems Pub Night

Save the Dates!

• 4th of July party – TBA
• September welcome back wine and art in the Welt Museum – TBA

Issues & Actions:

Midterm Elections: Election Calendar 

– Register, Request, Return!

Lots of primaries are coming up over the next few months and many of them have June deadlines! Check below for your state’s upcoming deadlines and mark your calendar today. But why wait? Register to vote today at Vote from Abroad. Remember, by law, overseas voters MUST register every calendar year!

Tuesday, June 5:

Alabama, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota

READ MORE

Tuesday, June 12:

Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Virginia

Tuesday, June 19:

District of Columbia, Arkansas Runoff

READ MORE

Tuesday, June 26:

Colorado, Maryland, New York Federal Primary, Oklahoma, Utah, South Carolina Runoff

READ MORE

Tuesday July 17:

Alabama Runoff, North Carolina Fed. Runoff

Tuesday, July 24:

Georgia Runoff

Saturday, August 4:

Virgin Islands

READ MORE

Midwest Midterm Progressive Bikeathon

As you may have heard, DAA Counsel Bruce Murray is planning to bike from Madison, WI (15 September) to Braddock, PA (6 November). Along the way, he wants to learn what is on the minds of Midwesterners, get out the vote, volunteer for progressive candidates, and have fun! After each week of what he calls “cycling for sanity,” he will hold rallies (Chicago, Kalamazoo, Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh), encouraging all of us to join together in ensuring that we “switch gears” with the Midterm Elections to get our country back on track!

Curious?

The Bikeathon Facebook Pageprovides a wealth of information. Click on its interactive map to see the course, calendar, and mileage. Click on the Bikeathon PODCASTand THEME SONGfor some excellent audio! Scroll down to the Bikeathon Playlist post and add your favorite biker song! Also, feel free to contact Bruce (bamurray54@gmail.com) if you have questions, feel the urge to volunteer, and/or want to cycle for sanity!

Reviews:

Graz Voter Registration Pub Night

Over a dozen Americans in Graz - and a few Austrian partners - defied the pouring rain to make it to Culture Exchange and request their ballots! I carried my printer in my stroller; parenting small children is no excuse not to participate in our democracy! Once their absentee ballot requests were printed, our members relaxed with mojitos, burgers and breakfast burritos and wrote postcards to Americans in battleground states while chatting about all things political and personal. We had a fabulous evening and are looking forward to bimonthly meetings in the future!

–Caitlin Ahern, Member-at-Large, Database Manager

SolSun #14 – Grassroots Organizing in the Time of Trump

Solidarity Sundays Vienna took a deep dive into grassroots organizing and activism on Sunday, March 29th. We remembered some key individuals (Harvey Milk, Martin Luther King Jr., Betty Friedan) and grassroots movements (civil rights movement, peace protests, the feminist movement, LGBTQ rights) from the past that spawned major social change. We touched on a few classic grassroots success stories (Love Canal, ActUp, and the Arab Spring).

We took a close look at key current grassroots movements in the states (Indivisible, gun safety legislation, environmental protection) as well as major organizations (Code Pink, She Should Run, MoveOn, Black Lives Matter). In discussion we considered issues that most inspire us personally.

– Tanya Lolonis, Solidarity Sundays Co-Coordinator

Global Black Caucus Book Club Meeting

A small group of DA Austria members attended the newly formed Global Black Caucus’ first official book club on May 29that the local Starbucks. Yes, you read that right, Starbucks. The date and location were specifically chosen to highlight the recent events following the arrest of two black men simply because they were waiting for a friend while black. 8,000 Starbucks US locations were shut down for an afternoon of racial bias training, which cost the company over 12 million in lost sales (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/17/business/starbucks-arrests-racial-bias.html). But is this enough to combat structural racism and implicit bias?

This question lingered in the minds of the group as they delved into the personal experiences and conceptual thoughts of author Reni Eddo-Lodge in her book entitled Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race (Bloomsbury Circus, 2017). The group discussed their first impressions about such a controversial book (in both title and content) and how those impressions were shaped by their life experiences surrounding race, culture and politics.

This was not a forum for white members to engage in self flagellation when it comes to white guilt or privilege, but rather to engage in an open and straightforward dialogue about how they view these concepts in light of their own experiences, as well as viewing them through the lens of the author and people of color. The attendance of a French born Algerian expat also added another layer of depth as she recounted her experiences being a woman of color in Europe. Overall, it was night full of revelations, laughter and learning. The group also discussed possible selections for the next book and sponsoring non-profit organizations like the Innocence Project and the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI).

The discussion continues in part II of Reni Eddo-Lodges’ book and will be discussed on June 20th, 2018 at 7pm at Phil. We hope to see you there! Power to the readers!

– Faith Herbold, Global Black Caucus Coordinator