In This Issue–
Events:
Issues & Actions:
- Gearing up for 2020– Sign Candidate Petitions!
Review:
- November Watch Party
- Solidarity Sundays
- WC Film Night
- Thanksgiving
Our Executive Committee meetings are normally held on the second Wednesday of the month. The next meetings will be held on:
- Wednesday, December 11
Members are welcome to join us at the meetings! Please contact Jennifer at [email protected]for the location.
Follow us on:
Events
Progressive Pizza Kitchen Table Talks
We’re partnering with Solidarity Sundays to offer a series of Kitchen Table Talks— here all of us will help shape the 2020 DNC platform, discussing the most pertinent campaign topics. Does an issue directly impact you? Share your story and influence how DA addresses it!
Solidarity Sundays hosted the first Kitchen Table Talk with coffee and banana bread. Our group of 15 formulated great suggestions for the Green New Deal, Equal Rights Amendment, and Voter Protection.
ProDA Austria will host the next Progressive Pizza Kitchen Table Talks.
We'll focus on:
- Medicare for All
- Revitalizing rural America
- Gun safety
Shape the issues our candidates will run on in 2020! A baker’s dozen have registered so far. In this case too many cooks definitely will not spoil the broth at all. Register here!
Where: L’Osteria, Florianigasse 55, 1080 Vienna
When: December 7 at 12:30 p.m.
RSVP: Pro DA
Experienced Dems
We hope you wil join us at our next meet-up!
Where: Café Museum, Operngasse 7, 1010 Vienna
When: December 10 at 6:00 p.m.
RSVP: Experienced Dems
We’ll See You In January:
- Salzburg Meet-Up
- Young Dems – Relaunched!
- Solidarity Sundays
Issues & Actions
Gearing Up For 2020
Over the next months, this column will provide a space for the thoughts, opinions and announcements from both the DA Executive Committee and our members. While we may not endorse or support any particular candidate before the primaries, we are interested in sharing ideas about what Democrats can and will do to win up and down the ballot in 2020.
Important Presidential Voting Information!
Do you realize that if you don’t sign the petitions for Presidential candidates then there is a chance your favorite candidate will not be on DA’s Global Presidential Primary ballot for our primary election in 2020? Please sign up for several candidates to ensure we have a full ballot with all the candidates on our ballot. The process requires this procedure and otherwise several candidates could be left off.
OVERSEAS VOTES MATTER!The world is watching. Let's make sure we have a FULL Democrats Abroad Global Presidential Primary Ballot. Get everyone on the petition and vote your choice next year here in Austria on Super Tuesday (we'll keep you posted on when and where).
Your vote weighs even more as an overseas voter with Democrats Abroad so be sure to vote for the Democratic presidential nominee in the global primary and not on your state’s primary ballot. Of course you want to vote for the nominees for Senate, Congress, etc on your state ballot and by law you need to register and request it every calendar year. Please follow this link for the candidates you prefer and sign their petition to by on DA's ballot by January 6, 2020!
We Can’t Win Without You
DA Austria is looking for people to fill the following positions so together we can dump Trump and elect Democrats up and down the ballot in 2020!
It will take a village to do all the things we need to do. Here are some opportunities to help:
Take our Volunteer Survey. Have an hour to spare? We are looking for volunteers in all areas and with any time availability.
DA Austria is looking for members interested in heading our Get Out the Vote, Media Relations and other vital positions. Find out more information about how to join our team.
Do you have an idea? We're looking for suggestions on how we can connect with more Americans in Austria, find places to advertise, events to have, and any suggestions you have to get more people to vote. Bookmark this link and submit your ideas at any time.
Reviews
Drinks, Debate, and Discussion!
Democrats Abroad Austria members and friends once again got together at Beaver’s Brewing Company to watch November’s Democratic Presidential Primary Debate that took place in Atlanta on November 20. We hope to see you at our next Primary Watch Party in January – the field has to narrow at some point!
Solidarity Sundays #28: A Kitchen Table Talk
With the lights and seasonal bustle of a Christmas market outside the window, Solidarity Sundays held its last meet up of 2019. Fifteen activists gathered around a table to brainstorm on the Democrats Abroad 2020 platform.
DA members around the world are collaborating on the policies that Democratic candidates will run on next year. On November 24, the group examined three platform planks: Climate Change, ERA Ratification, andElectronic Ballot Access for Overseas Voters. They hashed out concerns and improvements on the proposals and identified overlooked issues. Discussion was animated and reflected the high stakes of the upcoming election. The crew did an outstanding job on our behalf.
This Solidarity Sundays gathering was the first of two “DA Kitchen Table Talks.” The second, hosted by ProDA, considers three more planks: Healthcare, Rural Development, andGun Violence Legislation.The results of these gatherings will be forwarded to Global DA who will incorporate our feedback into the political platform.
There is no Solidarity Sundays meet-up in December --you’ve earned a restorative Holiday Season! We resume rescuing democracy in January — and need strong, happy warriors! Over and over again, votes from abroad are proving decisive in close elections. There are many ways you can help get out expat votes, and Solidarity Sundays will show you how. On January 26th, learn how to phonebank: DA is organising several phone-banking parties in 2020, and this is a chance to jump-start (or review) your skills. Phone-banking with friends is easy, it’s fun, and it’s really important.
GBC Book Club IX:
Under Fire: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Trump White House by April Ryan
GBC book club members met at Cafe Weimar for another interesting and insightful discussion, this time centering on the personal experiences of veteran reporter April Ryan. April Ryan has worked for over two decades as a White House correspondent and as the bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks. She also works as a political analyst for CNN. As April recounts her experiences with the current administration, one thing is clear: this administration’s overt and hostile demeanor towards the press and people of color within the press corps is unprecedented. Ryan reveals that she has never feared for her personal safety as much as she has during this administration. However, she continues to show up each day because she feels a duty to the American people to continue to ask the tough questions and speak truth to power.
Please join us in January for our next book: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migrationby Isabel Wilkerson. Date and location TBD.
The next three books for February, March, and April:
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo"by Zora Neale Hurston
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in Americaby Ibram X. Kendi
Between the World and Meby Ta-Nehisi Coates
All power to the readers!
Women’s Caucus Watches Toni Morrison
Over a dozen Democrats Abroad members and guests gathered on November 25 to share a meal and view the documentary “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am.” It was a great opportunity to get to know each other over delicious food and drinks, and encounter on screen the joy and energy of Toni Morrison.
The documentary offered a look at Morrison that both complemented those familiar with her work and inspired new reading. It was less biography and more extended essay: an argument for her historical importance, while also offering a close-up view of her buoyant presence. Through an extended interview with Morrison, we had the opportunity to experience both her irreverence and humor, while also learning of the clarity she had from an early age for the focus and purpose of her work. She talked about “resisting the primacy of the white gaze,” and about the challenge and reward of “imagining black lives on their and her own terms.”
Given the accolades showered on Morrison in the last 25 years of her life, it came as a surprise (or is easy to forget) how her work was received in the early part of her career. Though immediately lauded as a brilliant writer and thinker, there were many tone-deaf reviews that found her emphasis on black lives narrow. We are all fortunate that she knew better!
If you didn’t get to join us for this showing—don’t miss the opportunity to see it onDecember 15 at 3:00 pmat the Filmhaus, Spittelberggasse 3.
Talking Turkey & Other Things We’re Thankful For
Wow! Once again our members, friends and family packed the atmospheric vaulted cellar of Melker Stiftskeller in Vienna’s first district to join together for wonderful food, meeting other like-minded individuals, and looking forward – with funds, new volunteers and continued sustainable donors – to 2020. Thank you for joining us and especially to those who brought a pie to share!