Maria L. Svart is an American activist and National Director of

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a Left-wing politics, left-wing Democratic Socialists of America#Tendencies within the DSA, multi-tendency Socialism, socialist and Labour movement, labor-oriented political organization. Its roots ...

, the largest socialist organization in the United States. She has been National Director since June 2011. She succeeded Frank Llewellyn, who had announced earlier that year that he was stepping down after ten years.

Early life and education

Svart was born and raised in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, where she attended Lincoln High School. She then attended the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, where she became a member of the university's Young Democratic Socialists chapter. She served as the feminist issues coordinator on the YDS Coordinating Committee and later as co-chair. Her campus activism, through YDS and other student organizations, focused on feminist,

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

, immigrant rights, anti-war and labor solidarity work.

Career

After college, Svart became a campus organizer with the

Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) is a non-profit organization that is one of the largest of the state Public Interest Research Groups, PIRG organizations. It works on a variety of political activities, including textbook tra ...

, while simultaneously helping successive YDS organizers and leaders begin to bridge the generational gap between YDS and DSA. Svart then worked for seven years with the

Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...

and the Committee of Interns & Residents/

SEIU Healthcare SEIU Healthcare is a Canadian trade union representing more than 60,000 workers in Ontario, Canada. Through collective bargaining, the union represents workers in hospitals, home care, nursing and retirement homes, and community services. The un ...

. At CIR, she organized resident physicians to speak out in support of

Medicaid Medicaid in the United States is a federal and state program that helps with healthcare costs for some people with limited income and resources. Medicaid also offers benefits not normally covered by Medicare, including nursing home care and per ...

and funding for safety net hospitals. She served as chair of the New York City DSA local and was elected to the National Political Committee at the 2009 DSA convention. On the NPC, Svart has chaired the Program Committee, which has provided materials and guidance that have helped DSA locals and YDS chapters participate in the fight against state and federal budget cuts and to defend the rights of public employees. Throughout involvement in DSA, Maria has stressed the importance of understanding how patriarchy,

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...

, and other structures of oppression intersect with capitalism; the need to train more activists in the skills necessary to intervene effectively in politics; and the "crucial role of both public and internal socialist education in the building of our movement".

Personal life

Svart lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. Svart is biracial, and has Mexican ancestry.

References

External links

Constitution of the DSA
dsausa.org Retrieved February 25, 2010.
Young Democratic Socialists official website
— youth affiliate of the DSA.
National Public Radio segment on the burgeoning interest in the DSA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svart, Maria Living people University of Chicago alumni Members of the Democratic Socialists of America American feminists Socialist feminists American people of Mexican descent American people of Danish descent Year of birth missing (living people)