DSA San Diego, as part of TRUST Coalition, is demanding the end of Automatic License Plate Readers used by the San Diego Police Department. Read statement. [...]

Read More... from DSA San Diego Calls on the San Diego City Council to End the use of Automatic License Plate Readers

The post DSA San Diego Calls on the San Diego City Council to End the use of Automatic License Plate Readers appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America | San Diego Chapter.

by Rochester for Energy Democracy

While Rochesterians continue to struggle with out of control bills and shut offs, Metro Justice and allies delivered a Replace RG&E Organizational Sign On Letter for City Leadership at the Speak to Council session Thursday evening. In this letter, 41 Organizations, Labor Unions, Congregations and Businesses called on the City Council and the Mayor to lead in the face of the RG&E crisis: to commission a Phase 1 Feasibility study that still covers scenarios for a public transition at the City and County levels during this budget cycle with the money they’ve already set aside for this purpose.

Community members called out the fact that while the progressive caucus of Council and almost all challengers in the City Primary have committed to using funds already reserved to move forward with a City-led public utility study to investigate replacing RG&E, Mayor Evans, Council President Melendez, Mitch Gruber, Bridget Monroe, Michael Patterson, and Lashay Harris have refused to commit. 

“Don’t you feel the urgency of having the 3rd highest energy burden in the country? Of 13,000 shut offs last year? Why are Mayor Evans, Miguel Melendez and a slim majority of City Reps using inaction at the County as an excuse for the City not to lead, especially when they’ve already reserved the funds needed to move forward? When the head of the chamber of commerce is on RGE’s parent company’s board, it makes you wonder – who are these representatives standing up for?” asked Dr. Michi Wenderlich, Metro Justice Campaign and Policy Coordinator. 

Metro Justice also joined community calls for action on an enforceable Sanctuary City ordinance at this Speak to Council, asking for it to be released from committee and voted on. 

The organizational sign on letter can be found and also signed here. The petition for individuals can be found at ReplaceRGE.com.  

The post Metro Justice delivered Organizational Sign on Letter at Speak to Council, calling on City Reps to Fund a Phase 1 study with reserved funds, responding to Public Power Report Cards  first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

As the current administration bemoans the lack of a baby boom in the U.S., many public commenters have staked out their own “natalism” positions. Pro-natalists believe there need to be more births, while anti-natalists believe there need to be fewer births. Motivations on various sides come from fears of race replacement, overpopulation, underpopulation, environmental catastrophe, a desire for stronger community, religion, misogyny, and more¹.

The modern debate on natalism in the U.S. is irrelevant to the experience of working people in this country. People are going to have children whether or not a stranger takes a pro- or anti-natalist stance. The question we should be asking isn’t whether people should or shouldn’t have children. We should instead ask how our society should provide for the physical, emotional, and psychological needs of children who are learning about the world around them and how to be a person, the parents who need support to survive, and the health of society as a whole. To support the needs of those children, leftists must fight for paid parental leave and universal childcare among other policies such as Medicare for All, abortion protections, and more to advocate for what is best for humans not corporations.

The Status Quo

Currently, the only form of guaranteed leave for new parents in the U.S. is offered under the Family Medical Leave Act. This provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave for employees working for employers with more than 50 employees. Only 56% of employees in the U.S. are eligible for FMLA, and the current program could easily be scaled back or eliminated by the Trump administration. In a country without universal healthcare, many new parents are expected to go without pay after likely incurring an exorbitant hospital bill. The resulting financial strain often leaves working-class families without the means to support their young children. The current system exacerbates systemic problems of child poverty, homelessness, and the extreme cost of childcare serving as a barrier to reenter the workforce, creating a cyclical crisis.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022 because abortion rights were not codified into law, abortion rights have come under attack across the country. States that still have expansive abortion protections, such as Illinois, are seeing an uptick in people traveling to them for abortion care. In 2024, the Chicago Abortion Fund received requests from over 16,000 people in 41 states for assistance receiving abortion care in Chicago. Chicago DSA members are currently fundraising for the organization as part of the National Network of Abortions annual Fund-a-thon. In states with abortion bans, maternal deaths are on the rise, although those states refuse to investigate. 

Looking at just Illinois, in 2025 average rent is $1,592 while average childcare for 1 child was $1,364. The state’s $15 minimum wage puts a single full-time earner at $2,400 monthly pre tax. This already puts a single parent earning minimum wage at -$556 per month (pre-tax) after rent and childcare. A two-adult household on minimum wage would have just $1,844 (pre-tax) after rent and childcare, which quickly disappears considering utilities, transportation, clothing, additional medical costs, groceries, and more. In Illinois, a two-person household can’t qualify for SNAP benefits if family members earn more than $2,811 a month, and those benefits amount to $536 for a two-person household. This is unsustainable for our society. 

Despite no efforts to advance the policy during Biden’s term, the 2024 DNC platform included support for 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave. The platform also supports investments in child care to make it affordable. It references the American Rescue Plan’s subsidy of childcare centers, but crucially it does not propose universal childcare. Even in Illinois, where Democrats have fully controlled the state government since 2019, the state still has no paid parental leave or universal childcare. It is clear that Democrats either don’t believe in those rights, they don’t see them as a priority, or they don’t want to fight for them. The socialist left must be making these demands. 

There are currently 13 states (plus DC) that have mandatory paid family leave systems. These are either a social insurance policy funded through a payroll tax or a private insurance system. Ten states have a scheme endorsed by the National Council of Insurance Legislators (a lobbying organization for the insurance industry) that has pushed for states to adopt private family leave insurance. The most generous paid parental leave, provided by 12 states, is just 12 weeks².

Most states that are working towards universal childcare plan to offer universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds. This reinforces the need for paid parental leave that can cover families until a child ages into universal childcare. Six states have universal preschool for four year olds. Vermont also has universal preschool for three year olds. Four states are implementing universal preschool, while four other states have recently passed laws to implement universal preschool. In Illinois, JB Pritzker’s 2025 budget proposal included money for the early childhood education block grants and child care assistance program, though the block grants are only for preschool aged children and the child care assistance program is means-tested. 

Democratic Socialist of America (DSA) chapters have fought for reforms across the country, with varying degrees of success. Information on local chapter endorsements without national DSA endorsement of the campaign is only available to the national organization starting in 2024, so some data is incomplete without reading every single chapter’s website or social media, or knowing who to ask in every chapter. Looking at the DSA National Electoral Committee’s available endorsements information, which includes endorsements for candidates and ballot referenda but not endorsement of legislative efforts in city councils or state houses, we see a picture of strong fights for abortion rights, with some movement to universal preschool. Oregon chapters won a statewide campaign to protect abortions there in November 2018. Portland DSA won a preschool for all campaign for Oregon in November 2020. Lawrence Kansas DSA won their campaign to protect statewide abortion rights in August 2022. Kentucky chapters won their campaign for abortion protections statewide in November 2022. Western Montana DSA won a campaign for abortion protections in November 2022. Chapters across Florida endorsed and unfortunately lost a referendum to protect abortion rights in November 2024. 

The Right Ratchet

The right wing, in their pushes to repeal abortion rights and more, clearly wants to have birth for birth’s sake. They want a steady stream of new workers who have no expectations. They are punishing people for having abortions, including imposing the death penalty. Project 2025 is attempting to exert patriarchal control over society, which requires strict gender norms, leading to their attacks on bodily autonomy of LGBTQI+ people and women. They want to force women out of the workplace and trap them in the domestic sphere. By weakening workplace protection enforcement through firing and cutting staff at the NLRB, EEOC, OFCCP, and dismantling DEI programs, the Trump administration is setting the field for a mass push of women out of the workplace. They are enacting voting restrictions to discourage participation in democracy. Trump has effectively tasked Elon Musk’s “DOGE” with gutting all public social safety nets that do currently exist, including removing funding for the Head Start early education program.

The Left Horizon

As socialists, we should always fight for universal programs. There are basic policy objectives the Left needs to fight for, if not at the federal level at this moment, then at state levels. This ensures equal access to benefits and reduces administrative burden and costs³. These include establishing a Medicare-for-All program covering all reproductive healthcare, expanding and protecting abortion rights, federal laws guaranteeing comprehensive paid parental leave,  universal childcare, and prenatal paid time off, to name a few. If we are going to have shorter paid parental leaves, we need to have universal childcare start sooner than three or four years old. 

Paid Parental Leave and Universal Childcare must be won in tandem with abortion rights. We need to create a world that works for people, not an economy that wants to extract maximum profits out of people. If someone chooses to have children, we must give time for parents to recover from birth and the adjustment to a new child, and for that child and their parents to bond and have their needs met. We must also provide a place for children to be safe to grow when parents choose to return to work before the child reaches school age. This includes accessible childcare after school and during school breaks. 

This will require us to tax the rich to provide the world we want and deserve. We must fight for a vibrant public life to ensure we do not isolate new parents. We must invest in places with programming for child development and socialization with their families, including robust public libraries, public parks, public transportation, investment in public arts and cultural events, and public community centers. We need democratic socialist cadre candidates and elected officials who will publicly fight for these policies. We need democratic unions that will fight alongside us for these reforms and who will organize the public workers who will make up this infrastructure and services. We need DSA chapters putting on public political education and talking to people on the doors about who we are and why we support these initiatives, and we need to be clear to the public about who is preventing us from creating a better world when capitalists seek to stop us.

1. For a fuller accounting on the natalism debate from the Left in date publication order, see Dustin Guastella in Damage Magazine, Elizabeth Bruenig in The Atlantic, Nathan J. Robinson in Current Affairs, and Robin Peterson in Spectre Journal.  ︎
2. For a comprehensive list of what states have what levels of coverage, consult this Bipartisan Policy Explainer. ︎
3. For more about the benefits of universal programs, see Abdallah Fayyad’s “What if everyone qualified for welfare benefits?” ︎

The post A Socialist Future for Families: Paid Leave, Childcare & Reproductive Freedom appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

By Liz Henderson

So far this spring has been cold and rainy. When the soil is wet and cold, seeds that are not treated with chemical fungicides can rot, so organic gardeners hold off until the soil warms up (or, as Petra Page-Mann of Fruition Seeds suggests, when the phenological signs are right, as in the old-timey wisdom that the time to plant corn is when the oak leaves are the size of squirrel ears.) Also, you do more harm than good if you walk on wet soil, packing it down with your weight so that shoots have trouble emerging. If you think of garden soil as a living community, you will treat it with appropriate care.

“Memorial Day is the traditional Rochester planting date for frost tender plants.”

Memorial Day is the traditional Rochester planting date for frost tender plants. But to assuage your spring impatience, you can set out seedlings of hardy crops (kale, collards, other greens, onions) as soon as the soil is workable.

While storm clouds darken around us, the gardening scene in Rochester is getting brighter! The Urban Agriculture Working Group (UAWG) (Editor’s Note: Not ROC DSA affiliated) started over a decade ago as an all-volunteer effort of folks who met during Occupy Rochester. We were supposed to be a working group of a Rochester Food Policy Council, but when the council did not get off the ground for lack of funding, we persisted and started organizing an annual gardening conference, workshops on how-to and open-garden days. The 2025 conference was the ninth and by far the best attended.

When Rochester finally got a Food Policy Council (FPC), the UAWG voted to become a project of the council. These days, the FPC, the city Recreation Department, the Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Monroe County Soil and Water Conservation District, FoodLink, the Taproot Collective and an assortment of enthusiastic city gardeners work together harmoniously in the UAWG. Starting in June, meetings move from zoom to in-person gatherings at gardens and there will be a series of work sessions at community gardens that need help.

Besides supporting gardening know-how, the UAWG works to make city policy and regulations more garden-friendly. After some negotiating, the City agreed to change its garden permits from 9-months to year-round, ensuring that if gardeners plant garlic in the fall, they get to harvest it the following July and can enjoy overwintering greens. The UAWG is still waiting to see if the Zoning Adjustment Process ends up with garden-friendly zoning.

Gardeners are welcome to become UAWG members by emailing Mallory (mdh286@cornell.edu) and requesting to join the Google group to get messages of meetings and events and opportunities to volunteer.

490 Farmers (www.490farmers.org) started when Chloe Smith learned at an UAWG meeting that the Department of Transportation had available land. Gardeners can get a plot (or join the waiting list) at the garden site (corner of Broadway and Meigs St), or come to the Wednesday 5 – 7 pm work sessions and workshops.

City support for community gardens is blossoming with a Plant Swap at the Public Market, Friday May 16. Community gardens and other gardens that are on city-owned land can come from 4:30 – 5:30 to receive free vegetable and flower seedlings. Everyone is welcome from 6 – 7:30 to get free plants and to give away extra plants you want to share.

The post Getting Grounded: Join UAWG first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Seattle Children’s Hospital has once again blindsided staff and community members by halting the provision of gender-affirming surgeries for patients under 19 years of age. This news comes only a couple of months after the turmoil that erupted in February when news first broke that Seattle Children’s had decided to cancel gender-affirming surgeries, folding almost immediately under the Trump administration‘s threat to withhold federal funding from hospitals providing the surgeries and other gender-affirming care. An estimated 1,000 hospital staff and community members rallied to protest this decision.

This massive overreach by the Trump administration was one of many to be challenged in Washington state courts. On February 14, Western Washington District Court Judge Lauren King blocked Trump’s executive order. The court ruling was a momentous win for staff and community members. As reported in The Stranger, Seattle Children’s responded to this win by stating that it had the “clarity it needed at this time to deliver on our mission while ensuring we operate within all applicable laws.” With these pretty words and reassurances that Seattle Children’s would indeed continue its mission, staff returned to work breathing a sigh of relief.

However, on April 16th news broke that Seattle Children’s had decided once again to stop providing gender-affirming surgeries to patients under 19. Sources inside the hospital say that rather than cancel existing surgeries, the hospital has quietly decided not to schedule them. This refusal to schedule surgeries is a clever roundabout way to avoid negative press and public outrage by misleading communities and by outwardly suggesting that care would be continued. This is a strategy of silence and complicity: rather than risk their funding, Seattle Children’s decided to quietly bend to governmental overreach despite a State judge’s block of the executive order.

These decisions to comply without due process are directly contributing to the demise of our democracy. When the checks and balances that we once relied on are being eroded, larger organizations like hospitals, universities, and retail chains have the power to resist the federal government’s attempt to strip liberties from entire communities. Unfortunately, organizations like Seattle Children’s Hospital are choosing self-preservation and complicity.

In the days since the start of this administration, Congress has only weakly challenged this administration over its actions that are destroying the economy and removing the rights and freedom of many. The administration has begun targeting a number of communities and programs, spreading our focus and attention among numerous societal concerns: immigration, tariffs, trans rights, national forests, the Department of Education, research, Medicaid, and many more. This strategy causes institutions to become self-interested, focusing only on their own budgets and longevity and turning their backs on the communities that are most vulnerable.

However, this strategy can also be the administration’s undoing. If only one or two organizations decide to stand on the side of justice and human rights, the federal government will be able to focus all of its energy on stamping out one or two fires. But if many larger organizations choose to resist, the federal government will need to allocate much of its own resources to fighting the many fires it has ignited.

The choice comes down to this: will the people comply in advance, or will they resist? Seattle Children’s has made the choice to comply, and we cannot accept that choice. We cannot stand by and watch as organizations comply in advance; we must put pressure on organizations like Seattle Children’s to protect marginalized communities. Allowing institutions to quietly bend to this administration will be our downfall.

This is where we as individuals have the power to enact change. It is up to us to change the minds of workers and community members that refuse to resist. They act out of fear and self-preservation; we must act out of bravery and hope for our communities. When we write history, we will write it in the streets, with our voices and with our actions. This is where we, the people, have power. We can and we must demand that institutions like Seattle Children’s choose to prioritize the health and well-being of the communities they serve. Healthcare organizations should provide care based on evidence, not on the commands of a political party.   

This is a call to action — it is time to organize, it is time to rise up! Go to protests, sign petitions, call your representatives, and put pressure on your place of work if they are not representing you. When you are at protests and rallies get connected with groups that you identify with. Make your actions impactful, not performative. Use your anger as fuel and then hone that anger into carefully crafted weapons for change. If you are feeling burned out, rest and recoup, but then return to action. Challenge yourself to be defiant and persistent. Remind yourself of what keeps you in this fight and of who you fight for. Remind yourself of your own strengths and of the community that you are working to build.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, May 14 (6:45 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): May General Meeting (Zoom and in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Thursday, May 15 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Da Vinci Code Reading Group – Day 1 (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, May 15 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigrant Justice Working Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, May 17 (2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): No Appetite for Apartheid Consumer Pledge Canvass! (Meet outside 3100 16th St)

Sunday, May 18 (5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Capital Reading Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, May 19 (5:50 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Socialist in Office + Electoral Board Meeting (Zoom)

Monday, May 19 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Planning for Vision and Strategy (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, May 19 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Tuesday, May 20 (7:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m.): Socialist Night School: Salting (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, May 21 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): What is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, May 21 (6:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (In person at 438 Haight)

Thursday, May 22 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

Thursday, May 22 (7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.): Comrade Karaoke (In person at 34 7th St.)

Saturday, May 24 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Food Service (Meet at Castro St. and Market St.)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates.

Events & Actions

Apartheid-Free Bay Area: Consumer Pledge Canvassing

Help gather signatures in order to build public support for local apartheid-free stores and to raise awareness about Israeli apartheid! We’ll be meeting at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 17th in front of 3100 16th St. We will first train you, and then you will put that training into practice by collecting signatures at the Nakba Day Rally. RSVP here! New members encouraged to join!

Rally: Remember the Nakba, Demand an End to Genocide in Gaza

Saturday, May 17 will mark 77 years since the Nakba. Since then, Palestinians have faced genocide, displacement, and occupation under Zionism. This Nakba Day, we will rally at 16th St. and Valencia St. starting at 2:30 p.m. alongside cities worldwide to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza, a full and immediate two-way arms embargo on Israel, the release of all Palestinian political prisoners, Immediate humanitarian aid and reconstruction for Gaza, and an end to the Zionist occupation of all Palestinian land.

The world stands with Palestine—see you in the streets!

Socialist Night School: Salting

Curious about salting? Heard the term but not sure what it means? Interested in learning about salting opportunities in the Bay Area? Join the Labor Board for a Socialist Night School on salting on Tuesday, May 20 from 7:00 p.m. – 8:15 p.m. at 1916 McAllister. We’ll learn about salting strategies, examine past SF wins, and hear about current opportunities to salt a workplace.

Masks are encouraged but not required. Food and drink will be provided!

RSVP at https://actionnetwork.org/events/socialist-night-school-salting/

DSA Karaoke

Come hang out and do some karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! Thursday, May 22 from 7:30 – 10:00 p.m. at The Roar Shack (34 7th Street at Market). Suggested donation of $10, no one turned away for lack of funds. No songs refused, no entry denied! Cheap drinks available to purchase or feel free to bring your own! RSVP here.

Office Hours

Co-work with your comrades! Come to the DSA SF office and get your DSA work or work-work done, or just hang out. We’ll  be at 1916 McAllister from 12:00 p.m to 5:00 p.m. on Fridays.

EWOC Training Reportback

9 of us gathered at the Office on Wednesday with wide-eyed curiosity for the first session of the EWOC Fundamentals Training series. While some of us are actively looking to engage in workplace organizing, others are motivated to become informed and fluent supporters of the fighting section of workers. Across both groups, learning the brass tacks of Analyzing Your Workplace is the common first step, i.e. mapping the workplace for workers’ concerns, their shifts & departments, relationships, willingness to get involved and more. This all informs who we should approach to gauge interest about joining the organizing committee (OC), or a representative group of the workplace that democratically drives the strategy and bottomlines the organizing efforts. Our biggest shared takeaways from the lecture were (1) the importance of acting like a union, even if you aren’t legally recognized as one yet and (2) the fact that the OC model minimizes unnecessary risks taken by workers and is the safest method for workplace organizing. Next week, we’re going to run it back and learn all about how to Bring Coworkers Together!

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.

To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.

The following remarks, written by Skye, were delivered by Alexa at the LGBTQ+ Together Rally, held April 6.

At an immigrant rights rally held by Metro Justice recently, Mary Lupien read First They Came, a poem version of a 1946 piece by a German pastor who lived through the Nazi regime (Martin Niemöller). The poetic version, which you very likely know, goes as follows: first, they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists—and so on. He doesn’t speak out about anyone, even when the Nazis penultimately come for the Jews in the next-to-last stanza. Then in the end the Nazis come for him. The piece is about the privilege of comfortable silence, and tacit complicity in monstrous, structural, horror…

It has long been salient, tacit complicity in structural violence is nothing new at all, just ask a Black person. The reasons someone would read this poem in 2025 are very obvious. Literally every single morning, I hear stories about the new-fashioned gestapo disappearing people off the street with no due process—even less accountability than the cops! And the cops are actively, loudly complicit in this, becoming less accountable and more emboldened. I’d wager that none of us here is comfortable with the growing power of fascism in the US, and that’s why we’re here. We must remember this feeling well, and hold onto it.

The last time many of us felt this way was probably toward the end of 2020—in Rochester we were witnessing a mass uprising, furious at the murder of Daniel Prude, on top of ICE raiding our communities. What happened!? Where did that fury go? Account-ability was not had. No justice was seen for the murders of Daniel Prude, George Floyd, Samuel Ellis, Andre Hill, Brianna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson, and many more–countably many, yet too many to contemplate. What happened is this: the Democrats won, and they did nothing with their power. It’s like clockwork in America. The bad guys are out—we can go back to sleep, because our lives are no longer directly impacted.

If it isn’t true comfort—no matter how relatively-privileged, our trans siblings are not safe—then part of it is also a presumption that the Democrats want the same things we do, and a trust that they will work towards it. But the Democrats are a party of the ruling class—they want a return to the relatively-stable status quo of 2012, and the illusion of that is what they worked to maintain throughout the Biden administration, at the cost of materially supporting a genocide in occupied Palestine, and allowing the Republicans back into power.

Even now, in the midst of a bloody purge of our society, the Democrats appeal to decency and decorum, coor-dinating their outfits in meager protest while anonymous plain-clothes thugs cart their constituents off to a concentration camp in El Salvador.

Black trans lives are under attack! What do we do?

We fight back! Indigenous trans lives, immigrant trans lives, homeless trans lives, all trans lives—our siblings, in identity and in class, are scapegoats for the fascists. And if we will have any hope of protecting the whole queer community, we must start with our trans brothers and sisters, and our non-binary siblings.

But how! If the Democrats can’t be trusted, what should we do? Something that’s pretty funny, in the last week or so, is the insistence by Republican sympathizers hat any protest or rally at which an organization is present must in fact be astroturfed—because to people who live their whole lives by the dollar, organizations equal money! But look at this rally—there are at least eight organizations represented here! Are any of you getting paid!? The world’s biggest secret, apparently, is that life is politics and politics is life. There is no such thing as being apolitical: if you are apolitical, you are comfortable with the status quo.

“This is what we’ve got to do, to build a better tomorrow: Organize.”

This is what we’ve got to do, to build a better to-morrow: Organize. Organize politically! Always be organizing. Don’t have a boring old social club where you talk about coordinating your vacations, and discuss who’s with who at the office; have a fabulous new social club where you talk about coordinating your messaging at the next Speak to Council meeting, and power map the politicians and business interests standing in your way! It’s exactly the same, but you will have accepted that the politicians and business interests are in fact your peers, and you are theirs.

The next step, right now, should probably be to join any of the organizations represented here, or stay in touch with all of them, or at least network and form alliances and bonds with other organizers. Learn from those who came before you, from the Black and queer radicals who rose up and rioted to bring us here today, and read theory. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be an active participant in politics, or in your own life! Not only can you—you must!

The post LGBTQ+ Rights Are Under Attack. What Do We Do? first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

By Jeremy Sitarek

On March 8th, 2025, Mahmoud Khalil was put in handcuffs and taken from his home in New York City by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Mahmoud moved to the U.S. in 2022 on a student visa while pursuing graduate studies at Columbia University. He married his U.S. citizen wife in 2023 and became a legal permanent resident in 2024. Mahmoud’s wife, Noor Abdalla, is pregnant with their first child and is expecting in April 2025.

When ICE agents detained Mahmoud, they were acting on orders from the State Department to revoke Mahmoud’s student visa. Mahmoud’s wife presented his green card, proving he was a legal resident and ICE agents informed Mahmoud and Noor that they were also revoking his green card.

Five days ago, on Tuesday, March 25th, 30-year-old Rumeysa Ozturk was on her way to a friend’s home when she was detained by ICE. Rumeysa has a valid F-1 visa, which allows her to pursue full-time academic studies at Tufts University where she was enrolled in a PhD program. Facing the same accusations as Mahmoud, the State Department deems Rumeysa a threat to foreign policy for her vocal support of Palestine.

Mahmoud and Rumeysa have no criminal charges against them.

“The detaining of a legal U.S. resident for their political activism should terrify U.S. citizens because the rebirth of McCarthyism has arrived.”

The detaining of a legal U.S. resident for their political activism should terrify U.S. citizens because the rebirth of McCarthyism has arrived. In the 1950’s, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy helped initiate a nation-wide witch hunt for suspected communists. McCarthyism or the Red Scare resulted in the repression and persecution of individuals with left-wing ideologies and spread fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions. It was this historical period of paranoia and political oppression that allowed the passing of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. The exact act that is being used to detain Mahmoud and Rumeysa.

Eventually it came to light that McCarthy’s witch hunt was unsubstantiated, and he was criticized by colleagues and the public at large. McCarthy was on the wrong side of history, and if this administration continues to detain and deport legal residents for their political views, they will be on the wrong side of history as well.

We call for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk.

The post Batavia Rally for Palestine first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Portland Democratic Socialists support Councilor Novick’s Park Plan

Increasing the existing CEO surcharge Novick championed in 2016 equitable move to fund parks

The Portland Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America supports Councilor Novick’s move to increase the surcharge on companies with highly skewed ratios of CEO to worker pay. Portland DSA recently launched a new campaign for a Family Agenda for Portland, to fight for concrete public investments in Portland families, children, and communities. We appreciate Councilor Novick’s bold proposal that will protect programs families rely on. We also support DSA member Councilor Green’s PCEF loan proposal as a vital part of this package. Novick’s complement to Green’s plan is an example of the creative policy-making this city desperately needs.

An increase in taxation aimed at the city’s vast wealth inequality is an appropriate way to pay for infrastructure vital to working Portlanders’ lives. Parks are some of the few remaining publicly shared free spaces; third spaces where we can exist in community. They function as oases when heat waves hit the city, and provide connections to nature that we depend on. They are places of solace in a too-hectic time.

Parks programs and community centers are the cornerstone of Portland communities, and anyone who attended the public listening sessions on the city budget that were held in every district in Portland this spring heard personal testimonies of how much parks programs had transformed the lives of Portlanders and their families. Parks programs also provide jobs and support livelihoods. They must be defended.

Portland DSA Co-Chair Olivia Katbi testified at the District 2 listening session accompanied by her family, urging the council to raise revenue by taxing the rich, and to keep open the community center where she brings her daughter. “At a time when Trump and Musk are gutting critical services at the federal level, the response from our city government cannot be to turn around and do the same thing. Do we want to have a nice city that families with children want to live in, or do we want to just have a shell of a police state with shitty services and abandoned parks? What is going to be left for us? The billionaire class is growing while the rest of us are fighting for scraps. We need to present an alternate vision forward.”

Socialists understand that austerity always functions to the detriment of working people, and we believe strong progressive tax measures targeting the wealthy are good for the economy, and a sign of independent, uncaptured political leaders. We also understand that the underlying issue is the limitations of capitalism’s ability to provide for full lives. We cannot afford a market-driven neoliberal urbanism, which privatizes and undermines public goods in the name of profit, at a terrible human cost.

Councilor Novick proposed, championed, and helped pass the first CEO surcharge in any city in the US in 2016; another reason Portland is a leader in public policies.

Portland DSA urges City Council to pass Councilor Novick’s CEO surcharge increase. We urge the people of Portland to contact your district Councilors and speak in favor; to protect our communities, our parks, and our future!

WORCESTER, MA — Dozens of union organizers, labor activists, and organized working class supporters gathered at University Park on May 1 to celebrate May Day, organized by the Worcester chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Speakers covered the often violent history wielded against the burgeoning labor movement by the capitalist class of the 19th and 20th centuries in America, from the Haymarket Affair to the Palmer Raids, the central impetus for May Day. Then, they knit together the struggles of the past to the struggles of today in central Massachusetts.

Worcester Labor History

Worcester is no stranger to contentious flashpoints of class struggle.

Peter Fay, a movement elder, longtime labor organizer, and member of Rhode Island DSA, talked about Worcester’s role in labor suppression. He recalled his friend and prolific labor organizer Anne Burlak. Burlak, known as “The Red Flame” and “Seditious Anne” was at the forefront of the labor movement in the early 20th century. She began organizing as a teenager in the textile mills of Pennsylvania, worked to organize multiracial unions in the South, where she was jailed for insurrection.

Burlak continued to live up to her nicknames, leading textile strikes in early 1930s Rhode Island, before settling in Massachusetts where she faced more persecution from the federal government during crackdowns on communists. In one of her many clashes with Worcester police in 1937, Worcester banned Anne from speaking in the city.  She remained an icon of Massachusetts labor for decades.

“Not only was her speech banned, but according to the chief of police, all speech by anyone in any foreign language was banned, all singing must be in English, no literature could be distributed, and no bandstand could be used,” Fay said. With a wry note, the labor organizer said:

It’s pretty clear that no one in the history of Worcester has scared capitalists so much as that little Ukrainian woman with red hair who told workers to join together to overthrow capitalism.

The Hope For Labor

While speeches often noted the grim state of the labor movement and U.S. politics, all May Day speakers used this context to galvanize action and remind people of the power of the labor movement. They pointed to the labor ferment in the heart of the Commonwealth today.

Speakers noted graduate and undergraduate workers’ ongoing campaign to unionize at Clark University. Student workers went on strike for about ten days in March. Backed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the workers fought for card check neutrality, a legal agreement that would have made forming a union easier, without an election. Clark University roiled with “We are the Teamsters! And if they forget it, they’ll live to regret it!” from the lips of workers across campus during the strike.

May Day speakers also shouted out the units of the Massachusetts Nursing Association (MNA) that led successful strikes this year, bending hospital administrations to better contracts and defending important community medical centers and the immense number of nurses’ union jobs that arm those vital service providers. Zach Wright, a Registered Nurse (RN) and rank-and-file worker, spoke on MNA’s victories.

The Democrats vs. the Might of Labor

Worcester DSA’s James L. stepped up to call for more from U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA). McGovern expressed interest in a general strike about two months ago, as a means to combat the Trump administration, yet McGovern also voted to approve a bipartisan bill in 2022 forcing rail unions to accept a deal and avert a strike. The crowd boos showed that Worcester labor believed workers deserved more.

James L. also spoke to the Democratic Party’s facilitation of US-Israeli genocide in Gaza:

Most of the so-called opposition party is happy to collaborate, sign off, or roll over.

That was particularly on May Day. Israeli news outlet Channel 13 and the Middle East Monitor had both reported the Biden administration knowingly allowed the genocide in Gaza to continue without ever approaching Israel about a ceasefire deal. Biden’s vice president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris infamously shut down Gaza protesters with “I’m speaking” at a rally early on in her campaign.

But labor had far more power than the figureheads of resistance. “When we organize —  when we stand together —  we can bring the whole damn system to a stop,” said Cayla Dodd, a bus driver and union activist with Local 170 of the Teamsters. Dodd asked the multigenerational crowd to organize, join a union, start a union, and demand more from unions.

Don’t settle for a union that plays defense, build one that goes on the attack!

James Niedzinski is a member of the Worcester DSA.