The Democratic Socialists of America North Bay (California) (DSA NB) is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone. We do not tolerate harassment of comrades in any form. This Code of Conduct outlines our expectations for all those who participate in our community, as well as the consequences for unacceptable behavior. We invite everyone to help us create safe and positive experiences for everyone.
Participate in an authentic and active way. In doing so, you contribute to the health and longevity of this community.
Exercise consideration and respect in your speech and actions.
Attempt collaboration before conflict.
Refrain from demeaning, discriminatory, or harassing behavior and speech.
Please avoid making assumptions. If you aren’t aware of what someone’s gender is, and you can’t figure out what pronoun to use, just ask or look at our name tags, where you may find their name and favourite pronoun!
Please ask before touching anyone at our events. It’s easy, and the worst thing that happens is someone says no! That includes hugging – you might not know that it makes some people uncomfortable, but it does, so please ask first.
Be mindful of your surroundings and the other participants. Alert community leaders if you notice a dangerous situation, someone in distress, or violations of this Code of Conduct, even if they seem inconsequential.
Unacceptable behaviors include: intimidating, harassing, abusive, discriminatory, intentional misgendering, derogatory or demeaning speech or actions by any participant in our community online, at all related events and in one-on-one communications carried out in the context of community business. Community event venues may be shared with members of the public; please be respectful to all patrons of these locations.
harmful or prejudicial verbal or written comments related to gender, sexual orientation, transness, physical appearance, body size, technical choices, lack of technical knowledge, ability, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion (or lack thereof), age, and other personal conditions and choices trolling, i.e. sustained disruption of conversations, talks or other events non-consensual photography or recording inappropriate use of nudity and/or sexual images in public spaces (including presentation slides) deliberate intimidation, stalking or following non-consensual physical contact unwelcome sexual attention microaggressions, i.e. small, subtle, often subconscious actions that marginalize people from oppressed groups minimizing other people’s experiences Additional unacceptable behavior includes: contacting any form of law enforcement about any past, present, or upcoming political and/or public action in a manner that causes members and/or the group as a whole to experience: scrutiny from law enforcement, to be placed at risk of danger from law enforcement, and/or to be harmed, harassed, or in any other ways subjected to violence by law enforcement. Furthermore, it is unacceptable for members to contact any form of law enforcement about any past, present or upcoming political and/or public action such that the contact significantly risks threatening or directly threatens the integrity of the action itself.
The reputation of our chapter is based on socialist ideals and accurate representation of our chapter values. Unacceptable representation includes:
claiming to speak on behalf or represent the chapter without the chapter’s approval
reporting on closed meetings or reporting without consent
Ask everybody in the picture if they agree to be photographed or filmed.
For group shots, ask if anyone wants to opt-out before taking any, or ask people if they need their face obscured after taking photos.
Members and guests asked to stop any hateful or harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. If a person insists on such behavior, the administrators may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning or removing them from the event, communication channel, etc.
If you are being treated disrespectfully or harassed, notice that someone else is being treated disrespectfully or harassed, or have any other concerns, please point out the problem to the administrator or any member you feel comfortable talking to as soon as possible.
You can also report any violation here: will have link for DSA-NB For more information about Conflict Resolution please see here will have link for DSA-NB
If you feel you have been falsely or unfairly accused of violating this Code of Conduct, you should notify one of the event organizers via email or in person with a concise description of your grievance. Your grievance will be handled in accordance with our existing governing policies.
This code of conduct applies to all DSA NB online activities, including mailing lists, Twitter and social media, as well as any future public discussion forums. Anyone who violates this code of conduct may be sanctioned or expelled from these spaces at the discretion of the moderation team.
We would prefer to live in a society where we do not need Codes of Conduct. However, Codes of Conduct are essential to establish spaces that are different from – and more inclusive than – general society. If you don’t set up your own rules, you implicitly endorse those prevalent in society – including the unwritten ones – many of which we recognize as unfair to many people. When privileges are not explicitly addressed by the ethos of a space, the burden of education will often be placed upon the people who are living the oppressions. Moreover, since we still perform – consciously or unconsciously – behaviours that have oppressive potential (i.e.patriarchal, racist, sexist, capitalist, (neo)colonialist, etc.), it is essential to reflect on our privileges and on the ways in which they have an impact on our lives and the lives of others.
A code of conduct can help do just that: to bring awareness, consciousness, reflexivity and ultimately change.
DSA NB who are running as candidates for public office but have not received the chapter’s endorsement are forbidden from advertising or publicizing their member status in a manner designed to promote their candidacy. Unacceptable behavior includes, but is not limited to, publicizing the candidate’s membership in DSA or DSA NB in campaign materials or social media, or in public statements. Candidates may state the fact of their membership in DSA or DSA NB if they do so in a manner that a reasonable person would not view as an attempt to use the fact of their membership to promote their candidacy. For example, a candidate may normally discuss the fact of their membership in private settings and in limited public settings (such as at a DSA meeting or event, or if directly asked about membership), or may list it on a non-public social media profile.
This Code of Conduct is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. It is based on the DSA-SF Code of Conduct, Berlin Code of Conduct, and the Central New Mexico DSA code of conduct.
Suicide Hotline: (855) 587-6373
24-hour Emergency Mental Health Hotline: (800) 746-8181
Family and Young Children Natural Disaster Coping Hotline (800) 985-5990
24/7 Adult Protection Hotline: (800) 667- 0404
24/7 Domestic Violence Crisis Hotline: (707) 546-1234
Sexual Violence Crisis Line: (707) 545-7273
North Bay Suicide Prevention Hotline of Mendocino County Contact: (855) 587-6373
Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800) 273-8255
24/7 Toll Free Crisis Line (800) 555-5906
24/7 Toll Free Crisis Line (855) 838-0404
Mendocino County Substance Use Disorder Treatment (707) 472-2637
Adult Protective Services 24-Hour Toll Free Line: (877) 327-1799
Domestic Violence Shelters (707) 462-9196 (Ukiah) (707) 961-1507 (Ft. Bragg)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: (800) 273-8255
Community Violence Hotline (also Rape Crisis) 800-670-7273
Abused Women’s Services (415) 924-6616
Suicide Prevention (415) 499-1100
Drawn from INCITE and Twin Cities DSA, with slight additions:
“Create and affirm values & practices that resist abuse and oppression and encourage safety, support, and accountability Develop sustainable strategies to address community members’ abusive behavior, creating a process for them to account for their actions and transform their behavior Commit to ongoing development of all members of the community, and the community itself, to transform the political conditions that reinforce oppression and violence Provide safety & support to community members who are violently targeted that respects their self-determination6” The process must keep the victim/harmed individual at the very center of its process, and ensure the individual’s rights to confidentiality, safety, and freedom from repercussions for reporting a grievance or conflict (partially adapted from “Community Accountability,” INCITE!: https://incite-national.org/community-accountability)
Adapted from DSA SF
Purpose of CR is to educate and facilitate communication between comrades who are experiencing a sense of conflict with each other and would like help working through their differences.
CR offers voluntary, informal peer counseling to any Chapter member upon request - no issue is too large or too smallto request individual counseling or multi-party mediation. In any matter beyond the Chapter about how to improve communications with comrades and develop practices that will minimize conflicts and build mutual respect and support.
CR is confidential, non-judgmental, and voluntary and involves no disciplinary actions.
CR process is aimed at empowering the participants to reach goals that they set for themselves to work towards a resolution.
Purpose of the Grievance Officer is to “hear and provide recommendations on Code of Conduct grievances against Chapter members.”
GOs follow a specified process, stipulated in the DSA-NB By-Laws, upon receipt of awritten request to address complaints encompassing: harassment, abusivebehavior, offensive remarks, physical orverbal intimidation that create a “hostile environment” and that are alleged to violate the DSA-NB Code of Conduct
GOs will adjudicate disputes, determine credibility of complaints and makerecommendations that could lead to various forms of disciplinary action based on the perceived severity and pervasiveness of theoffense.
GOs evaluate, make recommendations and report publicly on whether or not the recommendations were adhered to.
GO process results in arbitration: a recommendation to the General Assembly on whether and what kind of disciplinary action should take place.
Summary: From the above comparisons, it should be clear that the functions and actions of Conflict Resolution and those of the Grievance Officer reflect very different roles. CR is aimed at being educational and supportive to members seeking help to resolve a conflict. The GO role is to evaluate, form an opinion, and propose possible corrective or punitive actions when members report a serious breach to DSA-NB’s Code of Conduct. Because of these different roles, it is necessary that CR is not involved in any formal grievance process so as to preserve their function as nonjudgmental listeners and confidential advisors to any member seeking their help. Likewise, no active GO will serve as a CR counselor; and while an active GO may recommend that a member seek Conflict Resolution as a possible step toward redressing a grievance filed against them, such a recommendation is never mandatory since CR counsels on a voluntary request basis.
Choosing CR or GO: Both CR and GO roles serve important functions within DSA-NB.
Members seeking assistance with a conflict should fully understand the differences between these two roles before selecting a course of action. Although CR and GO roles serve different functions, they are not mutually exclusive. Efforts to resolve a conflict through CR could ultimately transition to a formal grievance process and vice versa; and under certain circumstances a member could be involved in both processes simultaneously. The goal of both CR and GO processes is to resolve debilitating conflicts within DSA-NB in an effort to maintain the overall health of the organization and its work. Members seeking help should choose first the process that most reflects what they would like to see as a desired outcome, based upon their perception of the situation they are experiencing.
Please contact the CRC cochairs at David Leyba dsleyba@gmail.com or Carolyn Epple, applewithe@gmail.com.
(The following is adapted from DSA-SF’s By-laws, Article XVI. We are indebted to their work)
The complaints that the GOs are empowered to address will encompass the following:
Complaints regarding harassment on the basis of sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, physical appearance, disability, race, color, religion, national origin, class, age, or profession. Harassing or abusive behavior, such as unwelcome (in the sense that the complainant did not solicit or incite it, and found it undesirable or offensive) attention, inappropriate or offensive remarks, slurs, or jokes, physical or verbal intimidation, stalking, inappropriate physical contact or proximity, and other verbal and physical conduct constitute harassment when:
Complaints regarding alleged violations of the North Bay DSA Code of Conduct including:
Complaints regarding a member informing law enforcement of past, present, or future actions that: provide law enforcement with names of individuals organizing the action; or compromise the integrity of the action; or in any other way places individuals and/or groups at risk of scrutiny by law enforcement or other dangers posed by law enforcement, such as, but not limited to: arrest, surveillance, police aggression, and other forms of intrusion or violence.
Upon receiving a written complaint, the GOs will follow the steps outlined below.
In the event that the GOs determine a complaint is not credible, they may recommend either that the General Assembly take no action on the complaint or that it request the parties undergo voluntary, informal conflict resolution. The complainant may also take the complaint to the GA for the GA to decide.
The GOs can suggest courses of action from among the below list of disciplinary and remedial actions. In all instances, the GOs will be victim-focused, while also seeking to address injury to the North Bay DSA community, and where applicable, seeking restoration of the individual charged with committing the violation.
Temporary or indefinite suspension and/or removal of the accused from some or all North Bay DSA activities, events, spaces, committees, and communication channels; Formal notice of expected changes in behavior; Voluntary, informal mediation or conflict resolution; No action; OR Other disciplinary or remedial measures as necessary to protect the complainant and/or other members from an unsafe space or to repair harm done to individuals, relationships and/or the organization.
Consensus: When addressing a complaint, GOs must act through consensus whenever possible. When this is not possible, each GO will prepare a proposal for the General Assembly containing recommendations for action. The Assembly may choose to utilize parts of each proposal or to adopt one or the other.
Recusal: Any GO who is personally involved in the issues raised in the Grievance must recuse themself. GOs may also voluntarily recuse themselves in other situations where they do not believe they can fairly investigate the grievance.
A complainant or accused party may also request that a GO recuse themself from a case if they feel there will not be a fair investigation, in which case that GO must recuse themself. In the event that all GOs recuse themselves, the General Assembly shall appoint a non-conflicted member to temporarily take on the GO role to handle the grievance. The General Assembly may also require the temporary GO to enlist a professional.