Theresa Alt
Theresa F. Alt is an Ithaca activist.
DSA Feminist Commission
In 1985[1] and 1986,[2] Theresa Alt of New York was listed as a member of the Feminist Commission of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Democratic Socialists of America
In 1986, Theresa Alt was Chair of Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America.[3]
In 1994 Joseph Schwartz and Theresa Alt of Ithaca, New York were members of the Democratic Socialists of America Steering Committee.[4]
Alt, of the Ithaca, NY DSA, was elected to the Democratic Socialists of America National Political Committee, at the November 1997 DSA National Convention in Columbus Ohio.[5]
Running for office
In 1995 DSAer Theresa Alt ran for pubile office; she sought a seat on the Common Council from the Fourth Ward (central Collegetown).[6]
DSA 1997-1999 leadership
DSA National Political Committee elected at the Columbus, Ohio, 1997 National Convention.[7]
- Theresa Alt, Ithaca, NY
- Ron Aronson, Huntington Woods, Mi
- Marsha Borenstein, Brooklyn, NY
- Lynn Chancer, New York, NY
- Rachel Dewey, Princeton, NJ
- Bill Dixon, Chicago, IL
- Barb Ferrill, Denver, CO
- Julia Fitzgerald, Brooklyn, NY
- Virginia Franco, San Diego, CA
- Karen Gibson, Rochester, NY
- Jeff Gold , New York, NY
- Michael Heffron, Chicago, IL
- David Knuttunen, Belmont, MA
- Daraka Larimore-Hall, Chicago, IL
- Michael Lighty, San Francisco, CA
- Frank Llewellyn, Brooklyn, NY
- Bill McIver, Boulder, CO
- Tim Parks, Los Angeles, CA
- Katie Romich, Chicago, IL
- Joseph Schwartz, Ithaca, NY & Philadelphia, PA
- Raybblin Vargas, Chicago, New York, NY
- Eric Vega, Sacramento, CA
- Juanita Webster, New York, NY
Youth Section Representatives:
- Oscar Owens, Brooklyn, NY
- Jessica Shearer, Bryn Mawr, PA
DSA’s Cuba Letter
Alt signed an April 2003 Statement on Cuba, initiated and circulated[8] by prominent Democratic Socialists of America member Leo Casey, calling for the lifting of trade sanctions against Cuba.
- "a statement circulating among democratic left/socialist folks, largely by members of Democratic Socialists of America, condemning the recent trials and convictions of non-violent dissenters in Cuba".
The petition criticized Cuba's poor human rights record, but shared the blame for Cuba's problems with reactionary elements of the U.S. administration...
- The democratic left worldwide has opposed the U.S. embargo on Cuba as counterproductive, more harmful to the interests of the Cuban people than helpful to political democratization. The Cuban state's current repression of political dissidents amounts to collaboration with the most reactionary elements of the U.S. administration in their efforts to maintain sanctions and to institute even more punitive measures against Cuba.
Many of the petition's 120 odd signatories were known members of DSA.
"Ithaca DSA Presents"
In 2004 Theresa Alt and Wayles Browne interviewed participants at a festival celebrating peace activism at Cornell for the community access cable television show Ithaca DSA Presents.[9]
Open Letter to Obama on Iran
In 2008 Theresa Alt of Democratic Socialists of America, Ithaca, NY signed an online petition “A Open Letter to Barack Obama on Iran”.[10]
DSA Renegotiate NAFTA petition
In 2009 Theresa Alt, Democratic Socialists of America, signed a petition calling on President Barack Obama to Renegotiate NAFTA. The petition was initiated and circulated by Democratic Socialists of America.[11]
In These Times
As of 2009 Theresa Alt was a member of the Publishing Consortium of Chicago based socialist journal In These Times.[12]
DSA contact
In 2009 Theresa Alt was Ithaca contact for Democratic Socialists of America[13].
DSA NPC member
At the Democratic Socialists of America 2009 National Convention Evanston, Illinois November 13-15, 2009, a new National Political Committee was elected;[14]
- Theresa Alt
- David Duhalde
- Stuart Elliott
- Virginia Franco
- Paul Garver
- David Green
- Seth Hutchinson
- Barbara Joye
- Simone Morgen
- Michele Rossi
- Jason Schulman
- Joseph Schwartz
- Herb Shore
- Maria Svart
- Rannfrid Thelle
Ithaca DSA officers, 2011
Ithaca DSA Officers, 2011;[15]
- Marty Luster, Chair
- Petra Hepburn, ViceChair
- Theresa Alt, Secretary
- Wayles Browne, Treasurer
DSA 2011 leadership
Elected to serve on the Democratic Socialists of America National Political Committee – the leadership body described as “the engine room of the organization”, in November 2011, were;[16]
- Theresa Alt (Ithaca, NY)
- Stuart Elliott (Wichita, KS)
- Paul Garver (Boston, MA),
- Virginia Franco (San Diego, CA)
- David Green (Detroit, MI)
- Barbara Joye (Atlanta, GA)
- Frank Llewellyn (New York, NY),
- Dan Michniewicz (Pinckney, MI)
- Simone Morgen (Columbus, OH),
- Joseph Schwartz (Philadelphia, PA)
- Peg Strobel (Chicago, IL)
Plus the two YDS co-chairs, Sean Monahan (Philadelphia, PA) and Jackie Sewell (Lawrence, KS).
DSA 2016 leadership
The 2016-17 Democratic Socialists of America National Political Committee elected members are: Jared Abbott, Hope Adair, Theresa Alt, David Green, Jose Gutierrez, Elizabeth Henderson, Frank Llewellyn, Sean Monahan, Simone Morgen, Brandon Payton-Carrillo, Joseph Schwartz, Peg Strobel and Russell Weiss-Irwin. The convention also voted to add two new honorary vice chairs: Deborah Meier and Bhaskar Sunkara. [17]
NPC candidate
In August 2017 Theresa Alt stood for election to the Democratic Socialists of America National Political Committee, at the National Convention in Chicago.[18]
- I was born in New York City but went to school in the middle-middle-class DC suburb Silver Spring MD. After college, I returned to New York City for too many years of grad school. I spent 1971-72 in Poland and the Soviet Union, witnessing a system I would not want to imitate. A PhD in Slavic Linguistics never got me a proper job. It was the following years of clerical work in Ithaca NY that turned me from liberal to being a socialist. I could feel how the condescending attitude of the boss was undermining my and my co-workers’ self-confidence. Two years in Yugoslavia and some travel in Europe showed me models worth imitating (worker self-management, swift railroads, double-paned windows, etc.) The high point of my secretarial years was serving as administrative assistant to Ithaca’s socialist Mayor Ben Nichols (a DSA member who ran as a Democrat). I am now retired and a full-time activist.
- I picketed in the Civil Rights movement in 1960-61, demonstrated for nuclear disarmament in the early 1960s, and from 1965 on worked against the Vietnam War. My grad school activism was sporadic, but it included sitting on the steps of Fayerweather Hall at Columbia during the big bust in spring 1968.
- Later in Ithaca I joined the local of DSOC in 1980 in time to help the UAW win recognition at Cornell. At first I was a purely local activist in newly-merged DSA and its allied work with the Labor Coalition, the left wing of the Democratic Party, and a Latin America solidarity organization. In the Jesse Jackson presidential primary campaign of 1988 I was countywide volunteer coordinator and in charge of the voter database. Jackson won the City of Ithaca. In 1989 green Democrats joined with Jackson backers to get Ben Nichols elected as Mayor of Ithaca. Over the years I held every office in the local: treasurer, chair, newsletter editor, secretary and video producer.[19]
Democratic Socialists of America Unity
Theresa Alt supported the Democratic Socialists of America Unity grouping, established for the 2017 Democratic Socialists of America National Convention in Chicago.[20]
2017-2017 DSA NPC members
Members elected to the Democratic Socialists of America National Political Committee, August 2017;
- Catherine Hoffman
- Chris Maisano
- Christian Bowe
- Christine Riddiough
- Danny Fetonte
- Dele Balogun
- Ella Mahony
- Jeremy Gong
- Joseph Schwartz
- Theresa Alt
- Allie Cohn
- Leslie Driskill
- Natalie Midiri
- R.L. Stephens
- Ravi Ahmad
- Zac Echola
DSA 2019 National Political Committee Candidates
Democratic Socialists of America 2019 National Political Committee Candidates
• Austin Gonzalez • Sauce • Theresa Alt • Sean Estelle • Daniel Merrill • Darby Thomas • Russell Weiss-Irwin • Michelle Bruder • Zac Echola • Jen Snyder • Jennifer Bolen • Blanca Estevez • Marsha Niemeijer • Marianela D'Aprile • Tawny Tidwell • Lloyd Goldsmith • Erika Paschold • Emily Cameron • Dan Quayle • Valerie Sinclair • Natalie Midiri • Ravi Ahmad Haque • Jose G. Perez • Tim Zhu • Rachel Zibrat • Abdullah Younus • Megan Svoboda • Maikiko James • Kristian Hernandez • David Pinkham • Hannah Allison • Jen McKinney • Austin Smith[21]
References
- ↑ DSA Feminist Commission Directory, 1985
- ↑ 1986 DSA Feminist Commission Directory
- ↑ Democratic Left, May/August 1986, page 18
- ↑ email from C Riddiough to S Tarzynski Dec 9 1994
- ↑ http://www.chicagodsa.org/ngarchive/ng56.html#anchor1041945
- ↑ Dem. Left, Sept./Oct 1995, page 40
- ↑ [ Democratic Left • Issue 7 / 8 1997]
- ↑ http://www.nathannewman.org/log/archives/000912.shtml
- ↑ Democratic Left • Summer 2004
- ↑ petitions.com/petition/obamairan/signatures?page=1 Open Letter to Obama on Iran
- ↑ Renegotiate NAFTA website: Signatories to the petition to President Barack Obama, April 16, 2008
- ↑ In These Times website: About
- ↑ http://www.dsausa.org/about/locals.html
- ↑ [1] DSA 2009 National Convention Evanston, Illinois November 13-15, 2009 report, DSA website, accessed June 11, 2010
- ↑ http://ithacadsa.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-06-29T14%3A48%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=7 Ithaca DSA website, accessed march 8, 2011]
- ↑ Dem. left. Winter 2012
- ↑ Dem Left, DSA Convention: New Strategy for a New Era Posted by Dsa on 11.18.15 Barbara Joye
- ↑ [2]
- ↑ [3]
- ↑ [4]
- ↑ [5]