On Thursday, June 19, we celebrate what began as Jubilee Day, and what we now recognize as Juneteenth. This year, it marks 160 years since Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to finally enforce the Emancipation Proclamation and deliver the word of freedom to some of the last enslaved Black Americans.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 19 2025

Info@portlanddsa.org

Update: sign our petition to tell Gov. Kotek hands off!

In an article published on June 18 by Willamette Week, Governor Tina Kotek is quoted as suggesting to Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pedersen a restructure of the Preschool for All tax, a levy on Oregon’s top 5% which funds universal preschool for everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. This is an unacceptable capitulation to the demands of Oregon’s rich and super-rich, whose feelings have been hurt by being required to contribute to the society that made it possible for them to get so very rich.

Portland DSA led the fight for universal preschool in Multnomah County, and we count its adoption as one of our largest victories. The law levies a very small tax on Portland’s very highest incomes, and the programs funded by that small tax have broad and powerful impact. In the Willamette Week article, Kotek is described as making the argument that the tax is causing Portland’s wealthy “job-creators” to flee the city. This assessment couldn’t be further from the truth.

Kotek’s argument is based on spurious data: in a chart created by economist Mary King and posted on Bluesky by DSA City Councilor Mitch Green, the data clearly show that the percentage of high-income earners in Multnomah County is dramatically increasing. 

Kotek’s fear-mongering about the loss of the city’s tax base because of a tax which funds a universal program for every resident of the county is a great disappointment, but not unexpected. It shows how subservient our political class is to the moneyed elite, who pay high prices to get access to them and their political power.

It also hinges on the tired myth that Portland is a city in decline, burnt out after so much conflict. The reality is that Portland is a vibrant, thriving city that the rich want to live in, along with the rest of us. In part because of its social programs, not in spite of them. Working-class voters won this social program and will defend it — and Portland DSA is proud to be a part of that fight.

In Solidarity,

Portland DSA

The post Defend Preschool For All! appeared first on Portland DSA.

Boston DSA is proud to endorse Willie Burnley Jr. for Mayor of Somerville! Willie has been a voice for working people, tenants, and marginalized communities — and we’re ready to fight alongside him for a Somerville that works for all!

We are experiencing the most sustained and broad attacks on US democracy since the McCarthy period. MAGA has put together a fascist coalition of white supremacist, reactionary nationalists, Christian fundamentalists, libertarians, and techno-authoritarians, and they are on an offensive against the 20^th century. All the gains of labor, civil rights, women, and the LGBTQ community are under assault. The fascists intend to fundamentally restructure institutional democracy and to impose a straitjacket on civil society. This closely parallels the McCarthy period, and there are important similarities and differences between now and then, and lessons we can draw.

My uncle (Fred Fine) was on the leading committee of the Communist Party (CP) and closely involved in discussions about organizing an underground apparatus of safe houses for Party leaders. Fine himself was assigned to the underground, and was there for four years. During that time, he was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List, and never once spoke with his wife or young son. My father, who had fought in the Spanish Civil War, was threatened with deportation, and the FBI threatened to declare my mother “unfit” and told her they would have her children (ages 6 and 11) put into foster homes without visitation rights. Thousands suffered similar threats and intimidation, key leaders were jailed, some cadre turned informant, and Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed.

When the Party leadership discussed how to respond to McCarthy, there were two key assumptions: fascism was imminent and war with the Soviet Union inevitable. The similarities to today are striking. Many people feel fascism is imminent and war with China inevitable. The CP drew a number of conclusions from these assumptions that had drastic consequences for its members and mass organizing.

First, they purged members they considered untrustworthy or politically weak. And perhaps more damagingly, the Party concluded repression would be worst in the South, and so shut down all its southern districts and withdrew its organizers after 25 years of outstanding work organizing the South. When my parents divorced, my mother left Chicago and went to Florida with my brother and me to join a close friend—a woman who had been a nurse in the Spanish Civil War, working with the world famous doctor Norman Bethune. My mother was kicked out of the Party for moving to the South, and was only let back in when we moved to California. That didn’t stop the FBI from following her to Florida and getting her fired from several jobs.

My mother kept a journal of her time in Florida. Here is one short excerpt of her experience:

TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY…35 years. Nobody knows except the FBI. My gift from them
was once again being fired. This time from a job short lasted.
But I truly enjoyed working as proofreader on the St. Petersburg Times.
Well, at least I was let go early in the day. So now I’m home with enough time to
change into my waitress uniform. And time enough left to wait for Paulie to come home
from school. Young Jerry is only 4 and Paulie 9. The best birthday.
We’ll be playing a few games of baseball before I take off for my night shift.
There sits the limousine of the FBI. Another obstacle of fears,
confusion of what the future holds. This is the time for courage and bold adventures.
For it is now, I have come to understand, and someday so will my sons.
Of that I’m confident. For my mother’s heart tells me so.

The author’s mother, Rose Fine, (center) at a protest in Chicago (c. 1955)

The Party went to great lengths to set up an underground apparatus. This had at least two levels: the most secure, in which eight national leaders were sent into hiding, and a less secure state and city underground into which hundreds of local leaders were assigned. This eliminated many of the best organizers from doing mass work. Moreover, local underground networks were largely penetrated by the FBI. Even at my uncle’s level, four of the eight leaders were captured by the FBI. Although he had a number of close calls at different safe houses, he held out until the Party decided to come out of hiding and he eventually stood trial with several other leaders in New York.

When the Party’s first line of leadership (William Foster, Eugene Dennis, and others) went on trial, they tried to defend themselves by educating the jury about the true meaning of Marxism-Leninism. The result was prison time for all. On my uncle’s wanted poster (up in post offices throughout the country) was the following charge: “unlawfully conspiring with other persons to knowingly teach and advocate the duty and necessity of overthrowing and destroying the government of the United States by force and violence.” Of course, the Party never told members to arm themselves, they never organized armed cells, nor did they have plans for an armed insurrection. They did teach about the armed revolution in Russia, the history of capitalist violence, and the ultimate need to defend any socialist electoral victory from a reactionary counterrevolution.

FBI “Most Wanted” Poster for the author’s uncle, Fred Morris Fine

By the time my uncle stood trial, the Party had switched its defense strategy to asserting the freedoms of speech, association, and assembly. There is a difference between speech and advocacy and actively organizing acts of violence. This focus on civil liberties proved more successful with the courts. In 1957 the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment protected radical speech, overturning the conviction of 14 Communist Party officials and effectively ending the use of the Smith Act to target leftists for their political beliefs. A series of subsequent rulings forbade the use of blacklists and other methods of political persecution, which helped bring about the end of the Second Red Scare. However, the proceeding period of internal debates and bitter feelings resulted in about half the remaining members leaving the Party by 1957.

Lessons for Today

During the McCarthy period the ruling class was united in its efforts to destroy the left. From conservatives to liberals, Republicans to Democrats, a united front was made impossible. Even the ACLU purged Elizabeth Gurley Flynn from its board for being in the CP. Furthermore, social democratic union leaders like Walter Reuther were more than happy to rid labor of Communists. Loyalty oaths were demanded at universities, public schools, unions, Hollywood, and various industries. Public show trials were held by the House Un-American Activities Committee in cities across the country. Many former friends of the Party were running scared.

But while the persecution the Party faced was real, “the almost fatal blow,” as Party leader Peggy Dennis later wrote in her Autobiography of an American Communist, “was self-inflicted.” The decision to shutter its Southern districts and take the Party leadership underground anticipated a level of repression far greater than that which materialized. Designed to protect the Party from the advent of fascism and world war, it instead deprived mass struggles of thousands of their most militant organizers and activists, weakened the labor movement, cut off key linkages with the Black freedom struggle, and contributed to a decline of CPUSA membership from 80,000 in 1945 to less than 15,000 by 1957.

Today, conditions are in some important ways more favorable for us than during the McCarthy era. The ruling class is split. Already we see mass rallies and protests. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Bernie Sanders, Hands Off, and May Day marches have already gathered millions in opposition to fascism. Courts as of yet have often ruled against Trump. A united front is not only possible, but is in early formation.

In this moment, many leftists are concerned about safety and security – understandably. The harms caused by Trump’s repressive regime are real. But a key lesson from the McCarthy Era is that we must not let our fear of persecution isolate us from the masses and from mass movements. We can and must continue to organize, even as we take measures to help keep ourselves and each-other safe. The following are some suggestions for this period:

• Stay rooted to mass work, defend our friends and allies, and ask them to defend us.
• Defend the Bill of Rights, civil society, civil liberties, and civil rights for all.
• Stay calm but be aware of security.
• Make sure your financial records—particularly organizational finances—are in order.
• Organizations should have a house counsel, and individuals should always keep the number of a lawyer with you.
• Never write on social media or in email what you don’t want read back to you in court.
• Vocally reject all proposed violent acts at public meetings
• NEVER TALK TO THE FBI. Legally you don’t have to, but if you lie, you’re committing a federal crime. So, NEVER TALK TO THE FBI.

This is the time for courage and bold adventures. Collectively, our actions now will help determine what the future holds.

The post Lessons from the McCarthy Red Scare appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

As part of our 2025 Migrant Rights Campaign, DSA San Diego is pressuring Grossmont Union High School District to defend students against ICE raids. Read more. [...]

Read More... from Migrant Rights Priority Campaign: Summer 2025 Update

The post Migrant Rights Priority Campaign: Summer 2025 Update appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America | San Diego Chapter.

[[{“value”:”Fenway Park on the week of workers’ strike authorization. (Working Mass)

By: Andrew S

FENWAY PARK, MA – Concessions workers at the world’s oldest baseball stadium have decided resoundingly to strike for the first time in their 113-year history. On Sunday, June 15, 2025, Fenway Park concessions workers and MGM Music Hall workers across the street officially voted to authorize a strike against their employer, Aramark. The membership of UNITE HERE Local 26 passed authorized the strike with an overwhelming majority of over 95% workers in favor. In their press conference, Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo declared that management “has been nothing but disrespectful” and the “union could go on strike as early as this afternoon.”

On May 15, 2025, UNITE HERE Local 26 officially decided to hold a strike authorization vote a month later if the bargaining committee and Aramark were not able to come to any agreement on wages or technology. They didn’t, forcing workers to strike as a result.

Aramayo cited low wages as one primary reason for authorizing a strike: “The wage structure here is embarrassingly low, not just compared to other jobs in the region but also in comparison to other stadiums in the United States.” Organizers passed around flyers showing that cashiers at the Miami Marlins stadium made $21.25 an hour while beers there only cost $5.19. In contrast, beers at Fenway are sold for $10.79 a pop while workers are only paid $18.51 an hour. Aramark charges fans at Fenway more than any other ballpark in the country, and their workers still make less despite higher costs of living. 

The Red Sox are worth $4.8 billion and Fenway was the most expensive stadium to attend a ballgame in 2024. So, you’ve got to wonder – why are workers paid peanuts?

Automating Fenway

Part of it is a broader anti-worker strategy also involving automation. Workers have also noted that a source of tension with Aramark has been with technological changes forced on the workplace at the expense of workers. Aramayo claimed that Aramark had replaced some of Fenway’s highest paying jobs with automatic computer-based systems that recorded sales. 

That had two consequences. The first was that a significant amount of opportunities for promotion were eliminated or nullified, which directly impacted workers’ ability to survive rising rent and cost of living. That affected not only their ability to stay on the job, but also embedded in their communities around Boston. 

There is another consequence, though – poorer service. During the June 15 press conference, Local 26 member Natalie Green described the labor done by the thousand-strong workforce. On a daily basis, workers perform a variety of tasks that automated technology cannot:  

A computer cannot check if you are over-served or underage drinking. The reason why we stay here is that we are good at our jobs and we want to protect the community. 

Fenway Park: A Community-Rooted Workforce

Protecting the community is one dimension of Fenway work that comes alive in the hands of the workers. Many workers’ own ties to the park and to each other run deep. Fenway Park concessions workers share a remarkable legacy of working for many years at the park, season after season, bonds that have made labor organizing more effective. 

Laura Crystal and Richard Moffat are a couple who work concessions at Fenway, mentioning to Working Mass that both have been working at Fenway since they were in high school. Crystal’s and Moffat’s lives have revolved around the park. They emphasized that this is normal for Fenway workers: 

We got married here, we got engaged on the field, and we’re pregnant…this place becomes a part of your DNA. How do we not love this place? It’s so fundamental to us on top of being a job.

Fenway Park on the week of workers’ strike authorization. (Working Mass)

Mass Bargaining and Solidaristic Bonds

Fenway Park employees have used close familial networks as leverage for labor organizing in spite of Aramark’s disdain. President Aramayo noted that there were 75-80 people on the negotiating and organizing committee that spearheaded the campaign amongst workers in Fenway. In other words, a little less than 10% of the entire workforce was represented on the bargaining committee – ensuring that bargaining committee members and workplace leaders could convey and mobilize their networks directly.

Beer-seller Richard Moffat noted that, as a collective with UNITE HERE, Fenway Park workers used their close relationships to bring people on board for the strike vote and stand up to management. “Everyone has a larger network of friends here, and they try to use that to connect us as a large group,” Moffat said.  “We all help each other to vote, do actions. We have huddles during check-in to show that we can do this in front of management, and that you’re going to be okay. You’re not going to get into trouble, or sent home, or fired. It’s all about gaining momentum.” 

Crystal also chimed in to describe how Fenway’s high-pressure work created ideal conditions to build friendship and, thus, solidarity: “Everyone knows that you don’t know somebody better than when they’re your coworker on their worst day at the job. In there, it’s a hundred degrees, you’re behind a steamer making hot dogs, or running around with drunk fans. It’s a high-pressure situation, and we have strong friendships because of that. Local 26 used those strong friendships to push the message out and hold each other accountable.” 

The strong network built among coworkers at Fenway emboldened one another to organize on the shop floor, because workers knew they had each other’s backs – both as individuals and as a union.

Nonetheless, Aramark tipping workers to a boiling point with low wages and automation still leaves a bad taste in his mouth – just like many of his coworkers who have been fixtures of the park for decades. “A lot of us have had to sacrifice a lot to keep up with the high demands and to maintain seniority…it means a lot to us.” Moffat sighed.

We feel like [Aramark is] destroying the sanctity of America’s most beloved ballpark.

Andrew S is a member of Boston DSA and a contributing writer to Working Mass.

Fenway Park on the week of workers’ strike authorization. (Working Mass)

The post 1000 Fenway Park Concessions Workers To Strike For First Time in 113 Years appeared first on Working Mass.

“}]] 

By: Andrew S

FENWAY PARK – Concessions workers at the world’s oldest baseball stadium have decided resoundingly to strike for the first time in their 113-year history. On Sunday, June 15, 2025, Fenway Park concessions workers and MGM Music Hall workers across the street officially voted to authorize a strike against their employer, Aramark. The membership of UNITE HERE Local 26 authorized the strike with an overwhelming majority of over 95% of workers in favor. In their press conference, Local 26 President Carlos Aramayo declared that management “has been nothing but disrespectful” and the “union could go on strike as early as this afternoon.”

On May 10, 2025, UNITE HERE Local 26 officially decided to hold a strike authorization vote a month later if the bargaining committee and Aramark were not able to come to any agreement on wages or technology. They didn’t, forcing workers to authorize a strike as a result.

Aramayo cited low wages as one primary reason for authorizing a strike: “The wage structure here is embarrassingly low, not just compared to other jobs in the region but also in comparison to other stadiums in the United States.” Organizers passed around flyers showing that cashiers at the Miami Marlins stadium made $21.25 an hour while beers there only cost $5.19. In contrast, beers at Fenway are sold for $10.79 a pop while workers are only paid $18.51 an hour. Aramark charges fans at Fenway more than any other ballpark in the country, and their workers still make less despite higher costs of living. 

The Red Sox are worth $4.8 billion, and Fenway was the most expensive stadium to attend a ballgame in 2024. So, you’ve got to wonder – why are workers paid peanuts?

Longtime workers at Fenway consider themselves part of the same family. They are dedicated to their jobs & speak passionately about how much @Fenwaypark means to them. Like Melvin, a Grill Cook, many of them have worked there for decades. They deserve much higher pay! pic.twitter.com/xXYA7qeS2d

— UNITE HERE Local 26 (@UNITEHERE26) April 15, 2025

Automating Fenway

Part of it is a broader anti-worker strategy also involving automation. Workers have also noted that a source of tension with Aramark has been with technological changes forced on the workplace at the expense of workers. Aramayo claimed that Aramark had replaced some of Fenway’s highest paying jobs with automatic computer-based systems that recorded sales. 

That had two consequences. The first was that a significant number of opportunities for promotion were eliminated or nullified, which directly impacted workers’ ability to survive rising rent and the cost of living. This affected not only their ability to stay on the job but also their embeddedness in their communities around Boston. 

There is another consequence, though – poorer service. During the June 15 press conference, Local 26 member Natalie Greening described the labor done by the thousand-strong workforce. On a daily basis, workers perform a variety of tasks that automated technology cannot:  

A computer cannot check if you are over-served or underage drinking. The reason why we stay here is that we are good at our jobs and we want to protect the community. 

Fenway Park: A Community-Rooted Workforce

Protecting the community is one dimension of Fenway work that comes alive in the hands of the workers. Many workers’ own ties to the park and to each other run deep. Fenway Park concessions workers share a remarkable legacy of working for many years at the park, season after season, bonds that have made labor organizing more effective. 

Laura Crystal and Richard Moffatt are a couple who work concessions at Fenway, mentioning to Working Mass that both have been working at Fenway since they were in high school. Crystal’s and Moffatt’s lives have revolved around the park. They emphasized that this is normal for Fenway workers: 

We got married here, we got engaged on the field, and we’re pregnant…this place becomes a part of your DNA. How do we not love this place? It’s so fundamental to us on top of being a job.

Mass Bargaining and Solidaristic Bonds

Fenway Park employees have used close familial networks as leverage for labor organizing in spite of Aramark’s disdain. President Aramayo noted that 75-80 people were on the negotiating and organizing committee that spearheaded the campaign amongst workers in Fenway. In other words, a little less than 10% of the entire workforce was represented on the bargaining committee, ensuring that bargaining committee members and workplace leaders could convey and mobilize their networks directly.

Beer-seller Richard Moffatt noted that, as a collective with UNITE HERE, Fenway Park workers used their close relationships to bring people on board for the strike vote and stand up to management. “Everyone has a larger network of friends here, and they try to use that to connect us as a large group,” Moffatt said.  “We all help each other to vote, do actions. We have huddles during check-in to show that we can do this in front of management, and that you’re going to be okay. You’re not going to get into trouble, or sent home, or fired. It’s all about gaining momentum.” 

Crystal also chimed in to describe how Fenway’s high-pressure work created ideal conditions to build friendship and, thus, solidarity: “Everyone knows that you don’t know somebody better than when they’re your coworker on their worst day at the job. In there, it’s a hundred degrees, you’re behind a steamer making hot dogs, or running around with drunk fans. It’s a high-pressure situation, and we have strong friendships because of that. Local 26 used those strong friendships to push the message out and hold each other accountable.” 

The strong network built among coworkers at Fenway emboldened one another to organize on the shop floor, because workers knew they had each other’s backs – both as individuals and as a union.

Nonetheless, Aramark tipping workers to a boiling point with low wages and automation still leaves a bad taste in his mouth – just like many of his coworkers who have been fixtures of the park for decades. “A lot of us have had to sacrifice a lot to keep up with the high demands and to maintain seniority…it means a lot to us.” Moffatt sighed.

We feel like [Aramark is] destroying the sanctity of America’s most beloved ballpark.

Andrew S is a member of Boston DSA and a contributing writer to Working Mass.

The post 1,000 Fenway Park Concessions Workers May Strike For First Time in 113 Years appeared first on Working Mass.

[[{“value”:”

By Chris B.

BEACON HILL, MA – In 2024, as Israel escalated its genocide in Gaza and the political establishment ran cover, State Senator John Velis (D – Westfield) led Massachusetts legislators to authorize a state-level Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. The Commission was charged with holding public hearings, reporting its findings, and recommending how to combat antisemitism to the Legislature by the end of November 2025. 

The amendment passed in a political environment where hate crimes and violence against minority groups, including antisemitism, are rising. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), often seen as an authority on antisemitism, claims 2024 as a high-water mark for antisemitic incidents recorded in a year. But that statistic is misleading. The ADL, a pro-Israel organization so explicitly Zionist and outwardly political that Wikipedia no longer considers it a reliable source for citations, equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. But while antisemitism is form of white supremacist hatred against Jews historically tied with the political Right (e.g., Hitler’s Third Reich or auto tycoon Henry Ford), critics of Zionism look to a settler colonial history in the government in Israel, which violently enforces what it sees as a divine right to a religiously segregated ethnostate, wherein the indigenous (Palestinian) people are annihilated.

The Massachusetts Teachers Union (MTA), Massachusetts’ largest union by membership, is no stranger to ire from the ruling elite, Republican and Democrat. Back-to-back victorious state ballot campaigns spearheaded by the MTA – the Fair Share Amendment in 2022, and removing the MCAS graduation requirement in 2024 – have cemented public educators as a powerful force for the Commonwealth’s working class. When the Globe routinely cites Boston-based “free market” think tank Pioneer Institute against teachers’ unions and public education, and Democratic Governor Maura Healey union busts striking local educators desperate for student resources, the ideological overlap of the settler-colonial (“Pioneer”) project and the anti-union project, both of the bipartisan ruling class, reveals itself.

Special Commission on a Zionist Mission

From its very inception, it was clear that the Special Commission was, in reality, a Zionist political project cloaked in virtuous language. Activists were quick to criticize the Special Commission for being a Trojan horse for anti-Palestinian repression during its founding. Sixty-four organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace, the Boston Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), UAW Local 2322, and 1,100 individuals, signed onto a June 2024 letter to the legislature requesting that the budget amendment authorizing the Special Commission not pass.

Written signatories also cited a lack of public input, the Special Commission failing to incorporate antisemitism into a generally anti-racist framework, and its adoption of the controversial, ADL-aligned International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. The IHRA definition, which considers some criticisms of the state of Israel as a form of anti-Jewish hate, has far-reaching implications on education policy, civil rights protections, and the expansion of Massachusetts’ hate crimes statute.

Concerns about Israel’s influence over the Special Commission are well-founded. A June 2024 webinar on antisemitism in Mass. public schools, hosted by the Israeli-American Civil Action Network (ICAN) where Sen. Velis was a panelist, was sponsored by extreme Zionist groups such as StandWithUs, the Consulate General of Israel to New England, CAMERA Education Institute, and Christians and Jews United for Israel.

The webinar was exclusively focused on the alleged antisemitism of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Association (MTA). The presentation came from a group of Zionist rank-and-file MTA members calling themselves Massachusetts Educators Against Antisemitism (MEAA) who have worked to stomp out advocacy for Palestinians in Massachusetts and their union.

Sen. Velis has been on no fewer than three trips to Israel paid for by Israel-affiliated organizations. He emphasizes that these trips do not influence his credibility as Commission co-chair, since he claims to have also spoken to Palestinians on these trips. Still, in an October 2024 panel hosted by ICAN, Velis expressed doubt about well-documented Israeli apartheid and human rights violations. He then waxed about his experience on a tour of an Israeli air missile battery during his latest trip, commenting on the attractiveness of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers: “I’m thinking it’s gonna be a bunch of U.S. service members coming out, in my mind what U.S. service members look like…and please don’t take this the wrong way…but five of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my life walk out…and I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the Iron Dome, because you know.” 

Working Mass applauds Senator Velis for his even-keeled assessment of the situation in Palestine.

Special Commission vs. The MTA

Sen. Velis’s amendment, passed last spring, also instructs the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to create antisemitism educational curricula for Massachusetts public schools. Under this pretense, the Commission summoned MTA President Max Page and Lexington High teacher Jessica Antoline to testify on February 10th, 2025. 

It quickly became clear that the hearing was a setup. Almost immediately, the testimony became an interrogation. What was advertised to MTA leadership as a good-faith dialogue regarding the resource page turned into a McCarthyist inquisition of the MTA, aiming to corner Page and Antoline into “gotcha” soundbites over any good-faith discussion. 

The Special Commission’s interrogation focused on the MTA’s internal list of resources for educators to use to teach a balanced approach to Israel/Palestine with respect to Palestinians’ self-determination. A democratic and popular MTA resolution led to the creation of the list. Sources in MTA tell Working Mass that over 1000 rank-and-file members and the MTA’s Board of Directors supported the resolution. Retired librarian and MTA member Sue Doherty said that since “most teachers are terrified to teach about this topic,” the resource list was broadly welcomed.

The Special Commission’s co-chair presented a list of images retrieved from secondary links embedded within the resource list and repeatedly demanded that President Page denounce them as antisemitic. He repeatedly ignored Ms. Antoline’s request to present her testimony, pushing it after the one-hour mark. Images selected included an image of Joe Biden with “serial killer” superimposed over him and another image saying “Zionists Fuck Off.” These images were not explicitly provided to teachers or students, but were found uploaded to some of the websites on the resource list. The individual images were presented to demonstrate an “anti-Israel” bias within the MTA, and to create an impression that the MTA is encouraging Massachusetts teachers to indoctrinate their students with antisemitic beliefs. 

A graphic published by the pro-Palestine rank-and-file caucus of MTA members demonstrates the Commission’s cherry picking. Image source: MTA Rank & File for Palestine

The Special Commission’s hearing was not expected, but not surprising, as rank-and-file MTA members have self-organized a powerful pro-Palestine caucus within the union, culminating in a successful resolution to divest their pension fund from military contractors. A simple Google search of ‘MTA antisemitism’ reveals countless articles demonstrating a concerted effort by Zionist organizations to punish the MTA for its pro-Palestine advocacy. The Free Press, an outfit of the Israel hawk Bari Weiss, summed it up in an article titled “Hamassachusetts”.

In the wake of the Special Commission’s interrogation, reactionary forces have capitalized on the MTA’s public flogging to attack public-sector unions writ large. These anti-labor efforts align with Trump’s attacks on federal workers, as well as long-standing warfare against teachers through efforts to privatize public education and kneecap the strongest union in the Commonwealth. The Special Commission is providing them with ammunition to make their case. 

Organized Educators Push Back

The attack was, of course, trumped up. Left out of the inquisition were critical facts, like how most of the resources presented were never actually shared with students in the classroom. The resource page includes a plethora of optional – not mandated – resources to utilize to help instructors learn and teach about Palestine. One of these resources was the organization Artists Against Apartheid, without any specific images attached, only a link to the website. The Commission combed through this website and others from the list, found the images it defined as the most antisemitic, and cited them as holistically indicative of the type of resources the MTA provided to its membership. 

The Commission cited an infographic about Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer with offices in MA, to attack the MTA.  However, the infographic was never included in the MTA’s list of resources, nor could it be directly navigated to from the list. This did not prevent the Special Commission’s co-chair, Rep. Simon Cataldo (D – Concord), from attempting to conflate criticism of an Israeli corporation with antisemitism. 

As members of MTA Rank and File for Palestine documented in an exhaustive report they submitted to the Special Commission in response to the February 10th hearing, the co-chairs’ cherry-picked “exhibits” may have criticized Israel and/or Zionism, but they were not antisemitic. The report also analyzes how the line of questioning and many of the images shown promoted anti-Palestinian racism. Merrie Najimy, former MTA president and organizer with MTA Rank and File for Palestine, also testified:

As an Arab-American educator, I bring to my teaching my own experience with racism, that very racism that I just experienced here. My watch went off, telling me my heart rate was elevated to 122.

Deep connections between Jewish labor and the MTA challenge the Special Commission’s incredulous charge of antisemitism to attack the union. Page himself is the child of two Massachusetts public educators, one of which was a Jewish refugee from WW2-era Nazi terror. And three different MTA locals were recently honored at the New England Jewish Labor Committee’s 2025 Labor Seder.

Image source: Union of Gloucester Educators Instagram

These facts complicate the Special Commission’s politically motivated smear campaign and highlight the absurdity of lecturing the child of Jewish refugees about antisemitism. As President Page continuously reiterated, teachers have the critical thinking skills to understand that a poster saying ‘Zionists Fuck Off’ is not relevant to the classroom. The labor leader argued:

Our highly educated teachers and other education professionals – creative individuals who have dedicated their lives to building a culture of learning for young people – are not robots who would somehow be brainwashed by a single set of resources.

Leaders of Jewish communities have also stepped up against the politically weaponized overreach of the Special Commission. On March 31st, 90 local rabbis and Jewish community leaders wrote arguing that the Special Commission’s activity was contributing to President Trump’s free speech crackdown under the pretense of combating antisemitism.

Elsa Auerbach, a professor emeritus at UMass Boston, MTA member, Boston Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) member, and one of the signatories of the letter, added that the trajectory of the Commission seems like a giant missed opportunity:

I will not project the intent of the Commission. But, Massachusetts has the opportunity to be the model to fight antisemitism in the current historical moment …  clearly framed as a Commission which stands against white supremacy… After the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia, I read that some rabbis were saying the suffering of Jews was being co-opted for an antisemitic agenda. That is the framing I’d like to see the commission looking at.

In Defense of Union Democracy and Public Education

Educators are fighting not only to keep the democratic will of their union’s membership respected in the face of the Special Commission’s attack, but also to teach facts. The death count in Gaza is estimated to be over 200,000, more than one in every two buildings is destroyed, and its entire living population is currently on a trajectory to starve to death. Constantly, Palestinians are told to put their lived experience as secondary to narratives mandated by polite society, when the reality is depravity that can never be truly articulated or taught. During a genocide facilitated by our United States government, and with our taxpayer money, it’s no surprise that organized educators are determined to teach the truth. Doherty summed it up:

Silencing the truth about the history of Israel and Palestine and marginalizing the experiences of Palestinian students and their families doesn’t do a thing to help fight antisemitism or make Jewish students safe.

Chris B is a DSA member, public sector union member and contributor to Working Mass.

The post How A Mass. Special Commission Became a Trojan Horse to Crush A Powerful Statewide Educators Union  appeared first on Working Mass.

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By Chris B.

BEACON HILL, MA – In 2024, as Israel escalated its genocide in Gaza and the political establishment ran cover, State Senator John Velis (D – Westfield) and Rep. Simon Cataldo (D – Concord) led Massachusetts legislators to authorize a state-level Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism. The Commission was charged with holding public hearings, reporting its findings, and recommending how to combat antisemitism to the Legislature by the end of November 2025. But in its most publicized hearing, the Commission called to the stand representatives of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), the statewide educators’ union, to scrutinize an internally shared list of resources for member education on Israel/Palestine.

The amendment passed in a political environment where hate crimes and violence against minority groups, including Jewish people, are rising. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), often seen as an authority on antisemitism, claims 2024 as a high-water mark for antisemitic incidents recorded in a year. But that statistic is misleading. The ADL, a pro-Israel organization so explicitly Zionist and outwardly political that Wikipedia no longer considers it a reliable source for citations, equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. But while antisemitism is a form of white supremacist hatred against Jews historically tied with the political right (e.g., Hitler’s Third Reich or auto tycoon Henry Ford), critics of Zionism take a historical materialist analysis of the settler colonial ideology behind the modern Israeli statehood project. As the United Nations recognized the state of Israel in 1948 as a post-World War II settlement in the wake of the Holocaust, they also granted official superpower backing to the Zionist political movement for a Jewish ethnostate, which took for granted the annihilation, expulsion, and subjugation of the native Palestinian population. The U.S. and its allies have continued to support Israel primarily for their own colonial interests, since it serves as a friendly military outpost in the Middle East, a key shipping route and oil-rich region, even as blatant land grabs, civilian slaughter, and other abuses occur daily.

The MTA is no stranger to fury from the ruling class, Republican or Democratic. Democrat Governor Maura Healey, leading a consensus of state legislators, intervened to crush local MTA unions on strike in 2022, 2023, and 2024. The union’s victories in popular, back-to-back ballot campaigns it supported in 2022 and 2024, also opposed by Healey and state Democratic leadership – the Fair Share Amendment removing the MCAS graduation requirement – cemented organized public educators as a powerful, politically independent force for the Commonwealth’s working class. When the Globe routinely cites Boston-based “free market” think tank Pioneer Institute against teachers’ unions and public education, and a Democratic governor union busts striking local educators desperate for student resources, the political overlap of the settler-colonial (“Pioneer”) project and the anti-union project, both of the bipartisan ruling class, reveals itself. Still, the swift interrogation by the newly formed Special Commission on Antisemitism marked an escalation of manipulative tactics and state repression.

Special Commission on a Zionist Mission

From its inception, it was clear that the Special Commission was, in reality, a Zionist political project cloaked in virtuous language. Activists were quick to criticize the Special Commission for being a Trojan horse for anti-Palestinian repression during its founding. Sixty-four organizations, including Jewish Voice for Peace, the Boston Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), UAW Local 2322, and 1,100 individuals, signed onto a June 2024 letter to the legislature requesting that the budget amendment authorizing the Special Commission not pass.

Written signatories also cited a lack of public input, the Special Commission failing to incorporate antisemitism into a generally anti-racist framework, and its adoption of the controversial, ADL-aligned International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. The IHRA definition, which labels some criticisms of the state of Israel as a form of anti-Jewish hate, if legitimized by the state, has far-reaching implications on education policy, civil rights protections, and what is considered hate crimes.

Concerns about Israel’s influence over the Special Commission are well-founded. A June 2024 webinar on antisemitism in Mass. public schools, hosted by the Israeli-American Civil Action Network (ICAN) where Sen. Velis was a panelist, was sponsored by extreme Zionist groups such as StandWithUs, the Consulate General of Israel to New England, CAMERA Education Institute, and Christians and Jews United for Israel.

That webinar included a presentation on the alleged antisemitism of the Massachusetts Teachers’ Association (MTA). A group of Zionist rank-and-file MTA members calling themselves Massachusetts Educators Against Antisemitism (MEAA), who have worked to stomp out advocacy for Palestinians in Massachusetts and their union, led the presentation.

Sen. Velis has been on no fewer than three trips to Israel paid for by Israel-affiliated organizations. He emphasizes that these trips do not influence his credibility as Commission co-chair, since he claims to have also spoken to Palestinians on these trips. Still, in an October 2024 panel hosted by ICAN, Velis expressed doubt about well-documented Israeli apartheid and human rights violations. He then waxed about his experience on a tour of an Israeli air missile battery during his latest trip, commenting on the attractiveness of the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) soldiers:

“I’m thinking it’s gonna be a bunch of U.S. service members coming out, in my mind what U.S. service members look like…and please don’t take this the wrong way…but five of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen in my life walk out…and I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the Iron Dome, because, you know.” 

Working Mass applauds Senator Velis for his even-keeled assessment of the situation in Palestine.

Special Commission vs. The MTA

Sen. Velis’s amendment, passed last spring, also instructs the Mass. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to create antisemitism educational curricula for Massachusetts public schools. Under this pretense, the Commission summoned MTA President Max Page and Lexington High teacher Jessica Antoline to testify on February 10th, 2025. 

It quickly became clear that the hearing was a setup. What was advertised to MTA leadership as a good-faith dialogue regarding the resource page promptly turned into a McCarthyist inquisition of the MTA, aiming to corner Page and Antoline into “gotcha” soundbites. 

The Special Commission’s interrogation focused on an MTA internal list of resources for educators to use to teach a balanced approach to Israel/Palestine with respect to Palestinians’ self-determination. A democratic and popular MTA resolution led to the creation of the list. Sources in MTA tell Working Mass that over 1000 rank-and-file members advanced the resolution democratically, and the MTA’s Board of Directors voted in favor. Retired librarian and MTA member Sue Doherty said that since “most teachers are terrified to teach about this topic,” the resource list was broadly welcomed.

Rep. Cataldo presented a list of images retrieved from secondary links embedded within the resource list and repeatedly demanded that President Page denounce them as antisemitic. He repeatedly ignored Ms. Antoline’s request to present her testimony, pushing it after his presentation. Images selected included an image of Joe Biden with “serial killer” superimposed over him and another image saying “Zionists Fuck Off.” These images were not directly provided to teachers or students, but were found on tangential pages on some of the websites on the resource list. Cataldo presented the images to demonstrate an “anti-Israel” bias within the MTA, pressing Page and Antoline to confirm what he described as the union’s “indoctrination” of students with antisemitic beliefs. 

The Special Commission’s hearing was not expected, but not surprising, as rank-and-file MTA members self-organized a powerful pro-Palestine caucus within the union, culminating in a successful resolution to divest their pension fund from military contractors. A simple Google search of ‘MTA antisemitism’ reveals countless articles demonstrating a concerted effort by Zionist organizations to punish the MTA for its pro-Palestine advocacy. The Free Press, an outfit of the Israel hawk Bari Weiss, summed it up in an article titled “Hamassachusetts”.

In the wake of the Special Commission’s interrogation, reactionary forces have capitalized on the MTA’s public flogging to attack public-sector unions writ large. These anti-labor efforts align with Trump’s attacks on federal workers and long-standing warfare against public education through efforts to privatize schools and kneecap educators’ unions. The Special Commission sought to supply the offensive with additional ammo.

Organized Educators Push Back

The attack was, of course, trumped up. Critical facts were left out of the inquisition, like how most of the resources presented were never actually shared with students in the classroom. The resource page includes many optional – not mandated – resources to help instructors learn and teach about Palestine. One of these resources was the website for the organization Artists Against Apartheid, without any specific images attached. The Commission combed through this website and others from the list, found the images it defined as the most antisemitic, and cited them as holistically indicative of the type of resources the MTA provided to its membership. 

The Commission cited an infographic about Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer that had an office in Cambridge until recently, due to public outcry, to attack the MTA. However, the infographic was never included in the MTA’s list of resources, nor could it be directly navigated to from the list. This did not prevent Cataldo from attempting to conflate criticism of an Israeli corporation with antisemitism. 

At one point, Cataldo asked Page and Antoline to name individuals who had posted pro-Palestine sentiment on their personal social media accounts. An audience member rose and shouted, “Senator McCarthy, how is this any different than naming names of coworkers and associates during the 1950s Red Scare?” The crowd erupted in rapturous applause. Cataldo pounded his gavel to restore order and stated, “That was a nice remark from a former teacher of mine who taught Marxism class.”

As members of the MTA rank-and-file pro-Palestine caucus documented in an exhaustive report they submitted to the Special Commission in response to the February 10th hearing, the co-chairs’ cherry-picked “exhibits” may have criticized Israel and/or Zionism, but they were not antisemitic. The report also analyzes how the line of questioning and many of the images shown promoted anti-Palestinian racism. Merrie Najimy, former MTA president and organizer with MTA Rank and File for Palestine, later testified with a community group at the hearing:

As an Arab-American educator, I bring to my teaching my own experience with racism, that very racism that I just experienced here. My watch went off, telling me my heart rate was elevated to 122.

Deep connections between Jewish labor and the MTA challenge the Special Commission’s incredulous charge of antisemitism to attack the union. Page himself is the child of a Jewish refugee from WW2-era Nazi terror. And three different MTA locals were recently honored by the New England Jewish Labor Committee for their courage in going on strike, technically illegally as public sector workers and with the opposition of Gov. Healey, at the 2025 Labor Seder in Boston.

These facts complicate the Special Commission’s politically motivated smear campaign and highlight the absurdity of lecturing a first-generation descendant of Jewish refugees about antisemitism. As Page and Antoline continuously reiterated, teachers have the critical thinking skills to understand that a poster saying ‘Zionists Fuck Off’, on its own, with no context, is not relevant to the classroom. The labor leader argued:

Our highly educated teachers and other education professionals – creative individuals who have dedicated their lives to building a culture of learning for young people – are not robots who would somehow be brainwashed by a single set of resources.

Leaders of Jewish communities have also stepped up against the politically weaponized overreach of the Special Commission. On March 31st, 90 local rabbis and Jewish community leaders wrote arguing that the Special Commission’s activity was contributing to President Trump’s free speech crackdown under the pretense of combating antisemitism.

Elsa Auerbach, a professor emeritus at UMass Boston, MTA member, Boston Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) member, and one of the signatories of the letter, added that the trajectory of the Commission seems like a giant missed opportunity:

I will not project the intent of the Commission. But, Massachusetts has the opportunity to be the model to fight antisemitism in the current historical moment …  clearly framed as a Commission which stands against white supremacy… After the arrest of Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia, I read that some rabbis were saying the suffering of Jews was being co-opted for an antisemitic agenda. That is the framing I’d like to see the commission looking at.

In Defense of Union Democracy and Public Education

Educators are fighting not only to keep the democratic will of their union’s membership respected in the face of the Special Commission’s attack, but also, as they are obligated to do by their profession, to teach facts. The death count in Gaza is estimated to be over 200,000, more than one in every two buildings is destroyed, and its entire living population is currently on a trajectory to starve to death. Constantly, Palestinians are told to put their lived experience as secondary to narratives mandated by polite society, when the reality is depravity that can never be truly articulated or taught. During a genocide facilitated by our United States government, and with our taxpayer money, it’s no surprise that organized educators are determined to uphold truth. Doherty summed it up:

Silencing the truth about the history of Israel and Palestine and marginalizing the experiences of Palestinian students and their families doesn’t do a thing to help fight antisemitism or make Jewish students safe.

Chris B is a DSA member, public sector union member and contributor to Working Mass.

The post How A Mass. Special Commission Became a Trojan Horse Against the Powerful Statewide Educators Union  appeared first on Working Mass.