SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15: GREEN MOUNTAIN DSA ANNUAL CONVENTION

Green Mountain DSA’s annual convention will take place on Sunday November 15th at the Socialist Labor Party Hall (46 Granite St) in Barre, VT.

The convention will run from ~11:00 AM until the late afternoon. You can participate in-person or virtually. More details to follow.

For planning purposes, please register in advance here: https://greenmountaindsa.solidarity.tech/green-mountain-dsa-annual-convention

Submit resolutions or bylaws amendments here BEFORE NOVEMBER 1st: https://forms.gle/J7h8XDZHCyTTsbGk8

Make nominations for chapter officers and committee chairs here: https://forms.gle/mJYoXD4qtGku47he9

The convention bulletin will be published in early November.

AG CLARK MUST DROP THE CHARGES; GMDSA STANDS WITH WILLISTON PROTESTORS AHEAD OF SHUT DOWN ICE WEEK OF ACTION

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."

• Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)

Last week, Vermont’s Attorney General Charity Clark brought charges against 13 people who took non-violent direct action in front of an ICE surveillance facility in Williston. Clark boasts on her website and social media of the lawsuits her office has brought against the Trump administration and highlights the importance of “battling federal overreach.” Yet, as our communities fight back against the monstrous activities being committed by ICE, Clark’s choices have displayed her commitment to “order” over justice, as Dr. King describes.

Read the rest of the statement on our website at: https://greenmountaindsa.org/statements/ag-clark-must-drop-the-charges-gmdsa-stands-with-williston-protestors-ahead-of-shut-down-ice-week-of-action

Read our other two statements released this month re: UVMMC and Molly Grey here: https://greenmountaindsa.org/statements

GMDSA-ENDORSED CANDIDATES WIN BIG IN VERMONT THIS SUMMER: HELP GET THEM OVER THE FINISH LINE NOVEMBER THIRD!

This summer, Green Mountain DSA-backed candidates showed that socialist and working-class politics can win in Vermont. But winning a primary is only part of the fight. On November 3, our endorsed candidates will face voters in the general election, and they need our help to finish the job.

Elections are not a substitute for organizing, but they are one arena where organized working people can challenge the power of landlords, bosses, corporations, and the wealthy. Every door knocked, voter contacted, volunteer recruited, and conversation with a neighbor helps build the organization we need beyond Election Day.

Over the next month, GMDSA members will be canvassing, making calls, spreading the word, and working alongside our endorsed candidates across Vermont. Whether you have been organizing with us for years or have never canvassed before, there is a place for you in this work.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3. Help us send working-class champions to Montpelier.

Sign up: https://forms.gle/q4FFyFo4XKxxfEiv5

TAX THE RICH: MONTPELIER AND WINOOSKI CANVASSES FOR TOWN MEETING DAY 2027 BALLOT QUESTIONS

Working Vermonters are being squeezed while the richest continue to benefit from tax cuts paid for by cuts to healthcare. Medicaid and ACA subsidies are on the chopping block, putting tens of thousands at risk. This is a choice. We can let working people carry the burden, or we can demand that the wealthiest pay their fair share.

We are calling on the Vermont Legislature to pass legislation that raises taxes on the richest 5 percent, taxes wealth proceeds, and invests that revenue into affordable and accessible healthcare for all. Half measures are not enough. Policies that only target the top 1 percent or shift taxes around without raising new revenue will not meet this moment.

Sign up to help us collect signatures on our Tax the Rich ballot petitions (advisory questions for the Town Meeting Day Ballot in Montpelier and Winooski)!

Winooski -- Saturday, October 10, 1-3 p.m. @ 53 Lafountain St.

Montpelier -- Saturday, October 17, 1:30-3:30 p.m. @ Christ Episcopal Church (64 State St.)

Sign up: https://forms.gle/dEngxC4rR9giKGx27

GREEN MOUNTAIN DSA MONTH IN REVIEW

Change rarely arrives all at once. More often, it is built through dozens of small acts: a conversation at a door, workers standing together on a picket line, neighbors meeting one another for the first time, or someone deciding they are ready to organize.

September gave us plenty of those moments.

Across Vermont, Green Mountain DSA members joined workers, candidates, organizers, and community members in building power together. We gathered at the Labor Day Festival of Resistance, supported the continued growth of socialist organizing in Southern Vermont, stood alongside Healthy Living Workers United, marched with our endorsed candidates at Pride, and knocked doors for both our electoral work and the Tax the Rich campaign.

Just as importantly, we spent time together. We talked, marched, laughed, organized, and strengthened the relationships that make sustained political work possible.

No single march, canvass, meeting, or campaign builds socialism. The work accumulates. Every conversation creates another connection. Every campaign develops new organizers. Every act of solidarity reminds workers that they do not have to face bosses, landlords, politicians, or the wealthy alone.

Join us this month of October for a spooky themed month of building solidarity and pushing for a better Vermont for all.

WE’RE BUILDING A FAMILY-FRIENDLY GMDSA

Green Mountain Democratic Socialists of America is working towards making our organization more accessible to parents and guardians. In August we were approved to receive a chapter Growth and Development grant from DSA national to help with this effort, among other priorities. You can help us by letting us know if you would benefit from childcare being offered at our general meetings.

Please fill out our Childcare Needs Survey: https://forms.gle/6Mq1KHWGrc3QgLGv8

UPCOMING GREEN MOUNTAIN DSA MEETINGS

Our Labor Committee meets on the second Monday of every month at 6:00pm on Zoom, including Monday Oct 12.

Talk about your job and learn about shop-floor organizing from peers at Workers' Circle (co-hosted with the Green Mountain IWW) on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, including Wednesday Oct 14 at 6:00pm at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Av in Burlington).

Our Electoral Committee will meet again on Wednesday Oct 14. The electoral committee meets at 6:00pm on Zoom.

GMDSA's branches will come together for our monthly general meeting on Saturday Oct 17 at 11:30 a.m. at Christ Church (64 State St in Montpelier). Newcomers are encouraged to show up at 10:30am for an optional “DSA 101” orientation. Everyone is welcome to join for coffee hour with snacks and discussion at 11:00am prior to the start of the general meeting.

Our Tax the Rich Working Group will meet on the first and third Sundays monthly, starting Sunday Oct 18 at 6:00pm on Zoom.

Find out how you can help our Membership Committee improve recruitment and involvement in our chapter on Monday Oct 19. The Membership Committee meets on the 3rd Monday of every month at 6:00pm on Zoom.

Our Palestine Solidarity Committee will meet on Monday Oct 26. The Palestine solidarity committee meets on the 4th Monday of every month at 6:00pm on Zoom.

Our Communications Committee will meet on Monday Oct 26. The communications committee meets on the last Monday of every month at 7:00pm on Zoom.

Our Steering Committee meets on the first Monday of every month at 7:30pm on Zoom, including Monday Nov 2. All members are welcome to participate in the meeting discussion, only members of the steering committee can vote.

Tuesday Nov 3 is ELECTION DAY. Stay tuned to learn where you can poll-stand with our endorsed candidates and celebrate with GMDSA and our newly elected socialists in office after the polls close. Check the GMDSA calendar and the campaign volunteer form.

Our annual chapter convention is Sunday Nov 15 at the Socialist Labor Party Hall (46 Granite St in Barre). This is the most important GMDSA event of the year!

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IMPORTANT DATES THIS YEAR

• GMDSA October General Meeting: Saturday October 17 in Montepelier

• General Election: Tuesday November 3

• Next GMDSA Convention: SUNDAY NOVEMBER 15 in Barre, at the Old Labor Hall!

• Next DSA National Convention: August 2027 (Date TBD)

Gen Z is warming to socialism though they’re not ready to be labeled. This and more in Red All Over, Democratic Left’s occasional round-up of media coverage.

The post Trump Wants a ‘Generation of Capitalists,’ Gen Z Has Other Plans appeared first on Democratic Left.

By organizing statewide to back State Rep. Shaun Scott’s push to tax the rich, DSA had an impact much larger than its legislative delegation. The state's socialists-in-office committee discussed the experience at a recent retreat.

The post Washington DSA Chapters Turned One State Rep Into a Big Budget Win appeared first on Democratic Left.

How San Diego Tenants Went on Strike Over Their Utility Bills – and Won

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

The tenants at the La Suzanna building in San Diego were recently hit with a massive increase to their cost of living. The landlord brought down on them a “change” to the way they would be billed. This scheme is referred to as RUBS, or “ratio utility billing system”, and it’s just another way for landlords to squeeze blood from a stone, separating utility costs from the rent and passing the burden of payment onto the tenants. Some tenants in the building reported their utilities going up from $60 per month to over $450!

So what did the tenants do? They fought back by first going on RUBS Strike, a tactic we’ve seen play out in numerous locations across the country. The landlord retaliated by sending them a nearly $4000 bill for trash collection! The tenants negotiated but the terms were far more favorable to the landlord and they were ultimately rejected. The tenants then got in touch with the Tenant Councils of San Diego, an ETOC cadre tenant union, and formed a tenants’ association, the La Suzanna Tenant Council.

Finally able to negotiate collectively, they got the utilities capped at $100 per month in a year-long agreement. However, the flight clearly doesn’t end there as future negotiations will likely push for more utility money year over year. This shows the need for sustained, politicized tenant unions and communities of strong solidarity in our buildings; just the kind of thing you’ll get at the ETOC cohort training sessions!

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

The Mediterranean sun beat down upon the dusty limestone streets of Jerusalem, casting sharp shadows across a city fractured by imperial occupation, grinding poverty, and rigid social stratification. On the surface, the Roman peace—the Pax Romana—reigned supreme. But beneath that veneer lay a harsh economic reality: wealth was concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite, temple elites exacted heavy tributes, and the margins of society were choked with day laborers, widows, and orphans always on the brink of starvation.

Yet, among a clandestine gathering of believers who had recently embraced the resurrected Galilean teacher, a radically different world was being born.

Luke, recording these events in the Book of Acts, captures a moment in human history where the fundamental rules of survival were rewritten. Standing in the courtyard, watching these Jesus followers unburden themselves of their deeds, scrolls, and surplus wealth, one could hear the quiet hum of a new social order taking shape. This was not merely a spiritual revival; it was an embryonic blueprint for a democratic socialist society.

The Abolition of Destitution: Reclaiming the Commons

To walk among the early Jerusalem believers was to witness something entirely alien to the ancient world: the total eradication of destitution. Luke writes in Acts 4:34–35:

There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

When property owners liquidated their estates, they were enacting structural redistribution. As Luke notes, “no one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but everything was held in common” (Acts 4:32). In modern political economy, this mirrors the core tenets of democratic socialism: the belief that the material prerequisites of life—housing, food, security—are human rights, and that surplus capital must answer to human need rather than private hoarding. The Jerusalem church instituted a micro-economy where wealth was stripped of its power to oppress, ensuring that basic human dignity was guaranteed for every member of the community.

Participatory Democracy and the Feminist Critique:

Solving the Crisis of Equity

Eventually, every radical movement faces an administrative crucible, and the early church was no exception. As the community grew, cracks began to show. In Acts 6:1–7, a serious crisis of equity erupted: the Hellenistic (Greek-speaking) Jewish widows were being systematically overlooked in the daily distribution of food in favor of the Hebrew widows.

In any other ancient institution, this administrative failure would have been handled from the top down by an autocratic ruler issuing decrees. But the apostles’ response anticipated the core mechanisms of participatory democracy.

They did not hide behind closed doors to draft a corporate fix. Instead, as Acts 6:2 records, “the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples.” They brought the systemic failure directly to the people, acknowledging that administrative power belonged to the community. They established a transparent, democratic process:

• Decentralization of Power: Authority was shared rather than hoarded at the top.
• Community Vetting: The broader assembly was tasked with selecting leaders from among themselves—traditionally recorded as men of good repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom—to manage the communal treasury and welfare distribution.
• Accountability: The newly appointed administrators were directly accountable to the public they served.

However, a critical historical and feminist lens—championed by contemporary theologians and scholars such as Meggan Watterson—forces us to look closer at who was actually doing the heavy lifting of survival and community care. Watterson’s work on alternative and marginalized early Christian texts (such as Mary Magdalene Revealed and The Girl Who Baptized Herself) underscores how patriarchal structures often whitewashed or edited out the active, frontline leadership of women.

While the canonical text of Acts tells us that male deacons were appointed to solve the Greek-speaking widows’ crisis, feminist biblical scholarship suggests that women were the vital connective tissue of these early house-church economies. They were the ones hospitality-girding, networking, and sustaining communal life on the ground. The actual survival of the community depended heavily on women’s unrecognized or under-reported labor. The distribution to widows was not merely a top-down handout managed by men, but a grassroots crisis solved because marginalized voices—the neglected Hellenistic widows—refused to be rendered invisible and demanded systemic equity.

Voluntary Association vs. Coercion: The Philosophical Bridge

Critics often point out a fundamental tension when comparing the Jerusalem church to modern democratic socialism: the early believers operated through voluntary spiritual devotion, whereas modern socialism often utilizes state legislation, public policy, and taxation to achieve equity.

There was no Roman legion, no temple police, and no state decree forcing citizens to liquidate their assets. The redistribution in Acts was entirely voluntary. 

Yet, despite the difference in enforcement mechanisms, both systems seek to move human society away from a predatory, survival-of-the-fittest ethos toward a cooperative commonwealth. While democratic socialists use the lever of the democratic state to shield citizens from the predations of unregulated capital, the early church used the power of communal solidarity to achieve that same goal: a society where no one is left behind to suffer the indignity of poverty.

The Messy Reality of Commune Life: Ideals vs. Unfinished Chores

It is easy to romanticize the Book of Acts as a utopian snapshot of a society where everyone lived in frictionless harmony. But anyone who has ever been in an intentional community or a cooperative knows that political alignment does not automatically erase human friction. Any commune member can readily testify to the corrosive power of unwashed dishes, passive-aggressive chore wheels, and ego clashes to erode solidarity—even when every member is on the same political and ideological page.

A broader reading of the Christian Bible shows that the early church was plagued by these same dysfunctions. The letters of Paul to the Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans reveal communities riven by squabbles, socioeconomic elitism (even during the communal Love Feasts or Lord’s Suppers), petty power struggles, and failed attempts at radical solidarity. The Jerusalem church itself eventually suffered severe economic collapse, requiring Paul to spend years organizing a massive international collection across the Gentile churches to bail out the impoverished Jerusalem believers.

The radical sharing depicted in Acts was a messy, high-stakes experiment in human cooperation. The fact that it often fractured under the weight of human selfishness and administrative strain does not invalidate its democratic socialist principles. Rather, it humanizes them. It shows that economic justice is not an automatic spiritual state but a daily, difficult practice of negotiation, accountability, and grace.

From Capitalism to Community

The narrative preserved in the Book of Acts remains a powerful historical and moral provocation. Long before Karl Marx penned his critiques of industrial capitalism or modern democratic socialists campaigned for universal healthcare and housing, a small band of believers in Jerusalem proved that human beings could organize their economic lives around equity, shared labor, and radical care—even if the housekeeping, the gender exclusions, and the internal squabbles made it infinitely more complicated than the highlight reel suggests.

Whether viewed through the lens of divine intervention or sociopolitical history, the early church blueprint challenges every modern economy to answer a timeless, haunting question: Why should anyone suffer in need when there is more than enough to go around?

For further reading:

• Bauckham, Richard. Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2006.
• Hengel, Martin. Property and Riches in the Early Church: Aspects of an Early Christian Social History. Fortress Press, 1974.
• Kootstra, Paul. “Christian Socialism and the Early Church: Reading Acts in Modern Political Contexts.” Journal of Theological Politics, vol. 42, no. 3, 2018, pp. 145–162.
• Stassen, Glen H., and David P. Gushee. Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context. InterVarsity Press, 2003.
• The Bible. English Standard Version (ESV). Crossway Bibles, 2001. (Specifically referencing Acts 2:42–47, Acts 4:32–35, Acts 5:1–11, and Acts 6:1–7).
• Watterson, Meggan. Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel & the Christianity We Haven’t Tried Yet. Hay House, 2019.
• Watterson, Meggan. The Girl Who Baptized Herself. Hay House, 2024.

The post Democratic Socialist Principles in the Book of Acts appeared first on DSA Religious Socialism.

By: Liam Noble

BOSTON COMMON – On Saturday, October 3, anti-war protesters and left organizations rallied against the multiple simultaneous illegal wars prosecuted by the United States under the current regime — with a particular focus on the war in Iran. Protestors and local activists including Rabbi Greg Hersh and Tony Van Der Meer gave speeches condemning the loss of life caused by imperialist violence, especially in Latin America and West Asia.

The atmosphere at the protest was one of shared outrage: against the illegal wars of aggression, the insanity of the US leadership, as well as over the deaths of and intentional targeting of civilians. At least two signs carried photographs of dead children, their gravesites, or of family photos from when they were still alive. The message spoke for itself even as many vocalized: “We Want The Murder to End Now.”

The life lost was staggering and never far from the center stage of protest. The number of dead children is particularly chilling: 247+ in Lebanon, 350+ dead children in Iran, tens of thousands of dead in Palestine. More than 220 fishermen in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean have been murdered by the US military in senseless drone strikes. The blockade of Cuba has also been tightened, with the U.S. intercepting $3 million in fuel shipments the week of the rally alone, working people suffering and dying because of the loss of electricity to homes and hospitals. The United States stands also on the brink of potential invasion of Cuba itself.

Increasingly, the intentions of the US empire might be seen as waging a war on life.

One rallying cry in a speech by prominent Massachusetts Peace Action activist Paul Shannon was a cardinal demand: “the state should get pension funds away from murderous military contractors.” This demand to separate state employee investments, or divestment, shows the depth and pragmatism of the struggle.

Nationalist Counterprotesters

The anti-war event became tense when counterprotestors arrived.

Persian nationalists, or Pahlavi supporters, carried large flags showing Pahlavi, Trump and Netanyahu shoulder to shoulder, the national flags photoshopped to blend into one another. If nothing else, the display was a true expression of the Pahlavi movement— farce to encourage the waging of the conflict and intimidate the peace activists. A man with a bullhorn, wearing a Persian nationalist flag as a cape, screamed “USA, USA,” in an attempt to drown out the speakers.

When a woman approached him to ask the aggressor to stop, he put the bullhorn in her face and screamed, “Terrorist, terrorist.” A short time later, he tried to enter the crowd and disrupt the event, but some mischievous comrade broke his bullhorn in half, leaving him despondently carrying a broken piece of it in each hand.

At no point could the counterprotestors muster more than two people for their cause.

War Felt at the Gas Pump

The most prominent aspect of the peace protest was opposition to the war on Iran.

The most visible and tangible conflict, the Iran war is a new energy conflict. It is one of many of the wars, the pain of which is felt at the gas pump itself. Diesel, the life-blood of commercial transportation, averages $6.50 in Massachusetts – roughly double what it was at the beginning of the year. While higher gas prices can trigger a decrease in car usage by regular consumers who rely on personal vehicles, diesel is far less elastic: widely used in construction, railways, and trucking, the supply chains themselves are heavily and institutionally reliant on diesel.

Additional shortages of industrial lubricants and petroleum byproducts will continue to have knock-on effects of price inflation. These effects cannot be underestimated; one expert has called the likely impact inflation “turbocharged” beyond record numbers. All of these factors all but assure the international tightening of petroleum supply is likely at the very least to result in a worldwide recession.

In principle, the war itself is a crime, let alone the social murder caused by its externalities, but it’s remarkable to reflect on the incompetence with which it was pursued. The Iran War seems executed on impulse, with no plan. Perhaps initiated under the assumption of a mere three-day war, a weekend war, that the Islamic Republic would capitulate similarly to Venezuela following Maduro’s abduction if the leadership were murdered. Instead, Iran was prepared and immediately struck back on vulnerable American positions. Within a week, Naval Support Facility Bahrain— the logistics headquarters of the US fifth fleet— was destroyed, and will probably never be rebuilt. Subsequently, aircraft carriers like USS Abraham Lincoln were forced to withdraw from the area because keeping them properly supplied proved impossible. The radar sites in the region used to gather early warning and telemetry against Iranian ballistic missiles were also destroyed with drones.

This leaves the US/Israeli axis critically vulnerable to the most effective and well-stocked weapon Iran has: ballistic missiles.

Should the war heat up again (which seems positively inevitable), it is bewildering how vulnerable Israel’s position appears. Buttressed only by ideological fanaticism, the position of the Israeli state itself could become totally unsustainable under concentrated missile fire on its cities, infrastructure, and sensitive military sites. This has not yet come to pass because of the calculations around the potential use of nuclear weapons, and an Iranian desire to show restraint in escalation.

At the rally, a frequent question asked was: “How do you think this will end?” The better question is probably, how will this all end up?

Its corollary answer: In an unfamiliar world. But probably not anytime soon.

The curious position of war protest this year is that the Iran War is very different from the Vietnam War, or the Iraq War, or even the contemporary blockade against Cuba. Iran is a middle-tier power, a nation fighting a war of national defense. This is not an American war against a poorly-organized adversary, or against a near-defenseless civilian population; rather, the conflict is peer/peer between states. In the context of this war, the United States is a weakened country, no longer hegemonic, throwing the last of its strength at an entrenched and prepared enemy with significant moral investment and landed base. The result is that the United States has been decisively defeated and pushed out of the region.

All this is to say, regardless of flareups of the future, the United States lost a war, and lost it badly and quickly. The illusions of American fighting power seemed to have vanished quicker than a glass of neat whiskey left around Secretary Hegseth. What then is the responsibility of anti-war protestors? To champion the cause of peace, of course. And to use their activism to restrain the American military, to prevent other possible wars, to illuminate the foul intentions and terrible crimes; and to delegitimize the wars wherever they are pursued.

Liam Noble is a Boston DSA member living in Somerville and a contributing writer to Working Mass.

The post Fall is Here but Prices Aren’t Falling: Protestors Rally Against Iran War, for Divestment as Gas Prices Skyrocket appeared first on Working Mass.

With the undemocratic constitution off our backs and a new political playing field, a better world will be possible.

The post DSA Is Right: We Need a New Constitution  appeared first on Democratic Left.

By: Nesrine Malik

This article was originally published by The Guardian on September 30, 2026.

The question of the week is: “who are Uber drivers always talking to on the phone?” It’s one that regularly surfaces on Reddit threads and social media and even, on a couple of occasions, in the office. It’s not my question (I know who they are talking to), but I think the fact that many people are so baffled by it tells us a lot about the separate worlds we occupy.

When you get a cab on a ride-hailing app, the chances that your driver will be on the phone is high. The conversation is almost always quiet, containing pauses so long that it often seems they are actually no longer on a call. But then comes a rejoinder, a laugh, an interjection, and the marathon continues.

For anyone of an immigrant background, the question of who they are talking to is absolutely no mystery. They are talking to us; their siblings, parents, cousins and friends. Sometimes the person on the end of the line is back home, other times they are in a western city also navigating the dislocations of immigrant life. The long phone call is a regular feature of diaspora lives, and even more so for those employed in long, solitary work such as cab driving. These conversations are about nothing and everything.

This is not an exhaustive list, but based on the calls I constantly field from friends and family, the content I receive in a follow-up call, and familiar themes from chats with drivers in Arabic (which I sometimes get drawn into), the subjects are remarkably consistent. The range includes family gossip, wedding updates, complaints about the cost of living in the west, advice on navigating complex immigration systems, extremely detailed health updates, and political analysis of whatever crisis is unfolding. These conversations can broadly be sorted into one of two categories: “serious technical resolution of a problem” or “shooting the breeze”.

In my experience, these beast mode long phone calls are between someone on a long shift, commute or drive, and a mother cooking in the kitchen. There is a languorous quality to the call. Time and conversational convention shift to accommodate long silences without explanation, as one person or the other breaks away to get on with something – dismount or park or blitz something in the food processor. Because the point is not the actual chat. It is a broadly phatic – that is to say language used for bonding – form of communication, an exercise in yearning and homesickness. It helps us bridge a gap between long distances and absences, and simulate a proximity that is so deeply longed for.

The interminable phone call is an immigrant’s lifeline, now made cheap and stable by voice over IP (the ability to make calls on an internet connection). But it is also a feature of broader cultural and economic patterns. Western time is personal, individual, literally “me time”, something that is violated if demanded without permission. This time is parcelled out necessarily for decompression, for work, for leisure. In other cultures, time is social and public.

In Sudan, for example, there is no such thing as calling ahead before a visit. Your home is a drop-in destination from about 11am onwards. A neighbour will pop in for a chat, a relative will be driving home and swing by, and if there are children in the household, their own social lives mean you just never know how many people you are cooking for. The corner shop is a lifeline of last minute provision as numbers swell unexpectedly. If you are an introvert, good luck.

When that physical socialisation is impossible, the phone does the work. Certain conditions make the visit and the call possible. Homes where there is often a homemaker to receive, or work that does not require strict, in-office professional deportment and execution. Highly structured working environments and fast-paced modern lives mean that entire societies are firmly post-casual-phone-call. In these contexts, I find myself so wary of ambushing or alarming people with a call that I send a clear warning beforehand. No, there is nothing to worry about, and are you sure this is a good time to speak? Absolutely no worries if not.

But it is also a mindset, which you can lose over time. I find myself becoming increasingly post-phone call outside work, constantly thinking to myself that I will ring a relative back when I have the time. Generally, I prefer to message or voice note, conscious that when I return the call, it absolutely will not be a quick and efficient catch up. But, in truth, I do have the time, I have just assimilated the same rigid notions of downtime and non-urgent phone calls as an incursion. Fundamentally, this is an extremely capitalist notion of time as purely a function of work, where even if you are not working, you are “re-charging” in anticipation of more work.

The fact that the long driver call is such a bewildering anomaly is a meeting of those two worlds. In one, a passenger cannot fathom that you might have so much to say to someone over the phone, because everyone you love or want to see is generally within your immediate social reach, and because it is unfathomable to dedicate so much of your precious bandwidth to seemingly aimless conversation. In another, loved ones are in a different country or sprawl all over the world, and without their constant companionship life is just alienation and monotonous work.

But I suspect there is more to the lost art of the phone call in certain societies than just the pressures of modernity. In contemporary life, there are so many ways to feel like you are in touch and in conversation when you are not. So many ways to feel part of some slipstream of humanity, when in fact we are scrolling, meme-ing, seeing news from friends and strangers alike via story updates, while not exchanging anything meaningful or even uttering a single word. Those in exile are acutely aware of alienation, and reach out to remedy it. But for those in their home countries, loneliness still lurks in ways harder to recognise. A phone call is honestly less time consuming and more replenishing than anything else we use our devices for.

Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist and the author of We Need New Stories: Challenging the Toxic Myths Behind Our Age of Discontent.

The post Who’s Your Uber Driver on the Phone to? Welcome to the Long, Long Diaspora Call appeared first on Working Mass.

Madrid Tenants Union expresses solidarity with US tenants!

Solidarity from the Madrid Tenants Union to tenants, tenant unions, and organizers in the US! The struggle against private property and capitalism is truly universal, and we in DSA can make a massive contribution by organizing our buildings, forming new tenant unions, and joining the ones that already exist in our areas.

WATCH THE VIDEO CLIP HERE