In this Issue:
Events
- Experienced Democrats
- Young Dems Pub Night
- Graz Voter Registration Pub Night
- Solidarity Sundays #15
Issues & Actions
- Election Calendar
- Tiny Action: Power the Blue Wave
Reviews
- Solidarity Sundays Vienna #14
- DAATalks: Trump, Russia, and Purpose of Foreign Policy
Members Corner
- From Able Amateurs To Global Presence – A History of American Diplomacy
Events:
EXPERIENCED DEMOCRATS MEET-UP
This is the monthly meeting of the Experienced Democrats of Democrats Abroad Austria. Join us for conversation – political and otherwise! Find the event on Facebook
WHEN: Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at 6pm
WHERE: Café Museum, Operngasse 7, 1010 Vienna
CONTACT: John Cahill: [email protected] +436766952766
RSVP: Experienced Democrats
YOUNG DEMS PUB NIGHT
This month we'll be headed outside to the Prater Hauptallee at the new grill restaurant DIE ALLEE for our monthly pub night. Voter registration will also be possible. Our reservation is at 7PM for 10 people, so please RSVP. Contact Ashley Arreola if you have trouble finding us +436503749481. Find the event on Facebook.
WHEN: Wednesday, May 16, 2018 at 7pm
WHERE: Die Allee, Hauptallee 124, 1020 Vienna
CONTACT: Ashley Arreola: [email protected] +436503749481
RSVP: Young Dems Pub Night
GRAZ VOTER REGISTRATION PUB NIGHT
We invite everyone in the Graz area to come join us for a drink or dinner at Culture Exchange, a restaurant/cafe & bike shop, with a bike rental, library, workshops, gallery, music events, English-language movie nights, quiz nights & more. Enjoy some delicious wraps, veggie burgers, cocktails or a beer. We'll help you fill out and mail your ballot request form for the 2018 midterms! Printer, envelopes and stamps will be provided for a 1 EUR donation. We'll also share some ideas for Getting Out the Vote! Bring your friends and spread the word! Find us on Facebook
WHEN: Friday, May 18, 2018 at 5pm-9pm
WHERE: Culture Exchange Graz, Grazbachgasse 47, 8010 Graz
CONTACT: Caitlin Ahern [email protected]
RSVP: Graz Voter Registration Pub Night
SOL SUN #15– SHINING LIGHT ON DARK MONEY
Join us as we shine a light on dark money in US politics. What is Dark Money? How does it distort our democracy? What remedies do we have?
Then we'll brainstorm on ways to raise for the Democratic Blue Wave and design a fundraiser of our own. Find us on Facebook
WHEN: May 27, 2018 at 4pm-6pm
WHERE: Amerlinghaus,Stiftgasse 8, 1070 Vienna
CONTACT: Juan Cerda · [email protected] · +436769217865
RSVP: SolSun#15
Issues & Actions:
Election Calendar – Register, Request, Return!
Lots of primaries are coming up over the next few months and many of them have May deadlines! Check below for your state’s upcoming deadlines and mark your calendar today. READ MORE for full details.
Tuesday, June 5:
- Alabama, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota
Tuesday, June 12:
- Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, South Carolina, Virginia
Tuesday, June 19:
- District of Columbia
Tuesday, June 19:
- Arkansas Runoff
Tuesday, June 26:
- Colorado, Maryland, New York Federal Primary, Oklahoma, Utah
Tiny Action: Power the Blue Wave
A lot of people ask us if they can vote this year, and if voting in 2018 is worth it.
Yes. And yes.
Midterm elections are federal elections, which means that anyone who can vote in a presidential election year can also vote for Senate and House races in the midterms.
And WOW is this year’s election important. If Democrats take back Congress - and we can - we will change Washington. Which is why our single most important task this year is getting all Democrats abroad to vote. This is not a task for October. This is an action for NOW.
This week's Tiny Action: Sign up to be a phone bank volunteer, and start making those calls!
88% of members we called in 2016 submitted a ballot, but less than 2 in 10 of you signed up to phonebank when we asked in February. So we’re asking again.
Phone banking is easy, flexible, free (with an internet connection and laptop) and rewarding. Phone bankers in the U.S. are shocked to hear how often our members THANK us for calling them about voting!
New to phone banking?
- Log in to democratsabroad.org and sign up to help with phone banking.
- Review important info for first-time phone bankers.
- You will receive an email from CallHub - the system we use to call Americans abroad - to activate your account.
- Log in to CallHub and get started!
Returning phone banker?
- Review the refresher materials and info on current campaigns here: https://www.democratsabroad.org/phonebanking
- Go to https://callhub.io to enter your username and password.
- - Your username is probably country code and name. Ex: CA-Heidi-Burch
- - Forgot your password? Click Forgot to receive CallHub instructions to set up a new one.
- Start making those calls!
Overseas votes HAVE decided close elections in the past, and we’ll do it again - but not without your help.
Read more and take a moment to explore the wealth of information and actions that are regularly updated at Democrats Abroad.
Reviews:
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
DAATalks: Trump, Russia, and Purpose of Foreign Policy
Prior to a dynamic discussion at the Republikanischer Club on May 2nd, Dana Allin, Senior Fellow at London think tank IISS*, challenged DAA members to jettison conventional approaches to Donald Trump’s foreign policy. Americans need a better understanding of the purpose of foreign policy. Specifically, Allin made a full-throated case for restoring an ideological component to foreign policy.
Post-war American foreign policy was animated by the pursuit of American interest and values. Richard Nixon pursued détente with the Soviet Union and opening to China to change the world order and improve America’s position within it. For all the defects in George W. Bush’s response to 9/11, he grasped that his policies would inspire anti-Muslim backlash, and took steps to prevent this. Uniquely for an American president, Trump’s foreign policy is unmoored from any concept of American interest.
How might liberals articulate the purpose of American foreign policy after Trump?
Dana Allin offered two proposals. First, America needs to acknowledge that Russia’s aggression is rooted in NATO and EU expansion. George Kennan, architect of soviet containment policy, warned that no nation can sit passively while a rival studs its borders with military bases and allies. Allin’s proposal: recognize Russia’s geopolitical interests and find ways to cooperate so America can move on to other pressing international challenges like China, terrorism, and the technical revolution.
Second, current debate – is America in a new Cold War with Russia, or is America’s enemy really China? – misses an important point. Trump's and Putin’s nativism and nationalism demand a response based on liberal principles. Allin returned to the 20th-century to explain his reasoning.
Policymakers after 1945 linked affluence created by liberal economic and trade policy with the moral vision of shared prosperity (the New Deal). This approach united Americans at home and built alliances abroad. A return to uniting geopolitical goals with liberal values – civil and economic equality, democracy, internationalism – can shore up support for foreign policy both at home and among allies.
Animated discussion followed Dana Allin’s presentation. Topics ranged from North Korea, China, European social democracy, and the rise of illiberalism, to the history of America’s liberal tradition. Appropriately, no wine remained at the end of the evening.
– Tanya Lolonis, Solidarity Sundays Co-Coordinator
* International Institute for Strategic Studies is one of the world’s leading research institutes for international affairs. Dr. Allin is the author or co-author of 7 books on international topics, and is currently working on a history of American liberal thought.
Member's Corner:
From Able Amateurs To Global Presence – A History of American Diplomacy
The Austro-American Society and the U.S. Embassy in Vienna invites you to a talk by Stephen A. Hubler, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy Vienna
WHEN: Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 7pm
WHERE: Clubrooms of the Austro-American Society, Stallburggasse 2, 1010 Vienna
CONTACT: Austro-American Society [email protected]
RSVP: Please RSVP by E-mail: [email protected] “We are registering the following persons to the talk on “From Amateur Diplomats to Global Presence” on Wednesday, May 24th 2018: Participants: (Address, telephone, full name)”