Thorn West: Issue No. 227

City Politics

• The Charter Reform Commission, which is expected to consider municipal reforms including a potential increase to the size of city council, has not been able to begin meeting, because Mayor Bass has not yet appointed anyone to the four seats designated to the mayor to fill. This week, after the delay received media coverage, applications for the positions were posted to the public.

• Recent reports on the city budget from both the City Controller and Chief Administrative Officer have projected a larger than expected budget gap.

• Two weeks ago, Mayor Karen Bass fired LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley. Crowley appealed the decision to the City Council, but the termination was upheld by a vote of 13–2. An after-action report on the city’s preparedness for and reaction to the wildfires is still being drafted.

• As the mayor faces sustained criticism over her handling of the wildfires, a group of right wing opponents, including RFK Jr’s running-mate, Nicole Shanahan, has initiated a recall effort.

Labor

• It’s been one year since California law raised the minimum wage for fast food workers and created the Fast Food Council to oversee labor conditions in large chains. CalMatters summarizes year one of the council. Capital & Main has more, including a recent study indicating that so far, the wage increase has had a minimal effect on either the number of jobs, or the price of fast food.

• A package of protections for fast food workers, authored by Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Katy Yaroslavksy, passed unanimously out of the city’s Economic Development committee.

• The Original Pantry Cafe has survived as an institution for over a century, but new owners, the heirs of former mayor Richard Riordan, are closing the restaurant for good after its workforce refused to negotiate its union contract.

• Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order requiring that most state employees work from the office at least four days a week – echoing a similar effort from the Trump administration. SEIU Local 1000, which represents 100,000 state workers, has filed an Unfair Practice Charge with the Public Employment Relations Board.

Housing Rights

• An audit has concluded that the city and county’s homelessness response programs are disorganized and lack adequate financial oversight. At both the city and county level, plans to restructure homelessness around newly created organizations have already been proposed..

• In Pacific Palisades, plans to use the opportunity of the rebuilding effort to increase affordable housing stock have met with pushback from local homeowners.

Local Media

• This week, Patrick Soon-Shiong, the Los Angeles Times’ billionaire owner, announced “Insight,” a new AI program that will chart the paper’s opinion columns on a left-right spectrum, while automatically generating the “opposing view.” Within a day of its launch, the program drew controversy by offering a defense of the KKK.

• Governor Newsom has launched a podcast. His first guest was hard right podcaster and political operative Charlie Kirk, to whom Newsom capitulated on a variety of issues. Newsom drew the most criticism for agreeing with Kirk that Democrats were too supportive of trans rights. Statement from Equality California here.

Environmental Justice

• The cities of Pasadena and Sierra Madre, along with LA County, are suing Southern California Edison, alleging that the utility company’s equipment is responsible for starting the Eaton fire.

The post Scathing Audit of Homelessness Spending Released + LA Times Owner Introduces AI to Editorial Page appeared first on The Thorn West.

DSA’s city council victories draw out true face of ‘progressive’ corporate agenda.

Written by Brian D.

In a recent interview in the Rose City Reform Podcast, two reporters were asked about the Democratic Socialists of America, and the significance of three DSA members on a newly elected Portland City Council. The host quoted this Instagram message from Portland DSA after DSA candidates won their election:

“The socialist movement is in City Hall. CEOs, developers, landlords, union-busters, billionaires and their puppets are now on notice…”

Neither reporter spoke of the landlords, developers, billionaires, CEOs, or union-busters in their response; nor are they discussed much at all in describing local political stories. In describing “special interest groups” having influence in City Hall, the capitalist media often omits the key players who are also their advertisers, bankrollers, corporate partners.

The interview demonstrated three clear points. First: reporters can struggle to report issues centered in class, and centered in the power of ordinary people. Secondly, local media feeds into false narratives about the political spectrum in Portland, just like the media does in other “progressive” cities, like San Francisco, and at the national level. And third, reporters and their corporate media outlets have clear political agendas, even when they pretend otherwise.

Reporters struggle to parse socialists because solidarity is an alien concept under capitalism, and class as a concept is stripped from public discourse in America. Socialism and the power of regular people to come together confuses reporters also because the media industry is actually the media and entertainment industry, worth about $570 billion in the United States. The profit incentives under capitalism define how our media functions- as entertainment or an algorithm designed to stimulate outrage and clicks on your device- and what is allowed to be a story. Under capitalism the incentive is to pretend that exploitation in society has nothing to do with class, nothing to do with being intentionally divided and conquered so that the passive incomes of the wealthy shall not be disturbed.

There is irony here; from camera operators and photographers, to journalists, reporters, and copy editors- the actual workers in the media industry have been devastated by the capitalist pressures of financialization and the gutting of news rooms.

Socialized health care, free or low-cost secondary education, paid family leave, effective and safe free public transit, robust infrastructure, social housing, and much lower rates of child poverty are conditions the majority of countries choose when given the opportunity, and much more the norm across the world. They are possible here- but one would not know it from any capitalist media in Oregon.

“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.” ― Dom Helder Camara

Many of the reporters interviewed on Rose City Reform, and in the Portland City Cast, consistently describe Portland politics as a spectrum: from “moderate,” to “progressive,” to “far left”. This is false, and pretends that there is not a right wing. By omission or downplaying, reporters maintain the pretense that powerful interests aren’t right wing, and pit “moderates,” and “progressives”, against a “far left,” purposefully obscuring the field and players.

The Portland Metro Chamber bankrolled their servant Sam Adams for Multnomah County Commissioner; but local reporters never describe Sam Adams as right wing; despite his clear agenda and masters. Portland Metro Chamber and the powerful developer and real estate lobby are rarely identified as critical players in local politics; the local media obscures reality. This is an example of the political agenda behind the local capitalist publications and their editorial biases.

Developers are the fourth branch of City Hall, but reporters are busy framing the fights between the “far left”, and “progressives” who just aren’t realists like those moderates. The powerful class interests in operation are whistled away; nothing to see. Wealthy developers threaten to sue the city when they don’t like the policies or reforms presented, guaranteeing a lose-lose scenario as the issue crawls through the courts for years. Too often, the city attorney lays out how it is in the cities’ best interest to capitulate. Reporting on this is not robust; instead the framing is how unions and DSA have more power in City Hall relative to the past.

In San Francisco, wealthy property owners coalesced to express how they want to make their city better; using the language of progressivism to make their case, and framing the discussion as if there was no right wing politics in San Francisco, no politics of class. That public relations campaign, led by local wealthy business interests, quickly pivoted to criticizing politicians and a campaign to remove the progressive District Attorney, who was falsely made the scapegoat for the homeless crisis and the crime spike during the pandemic.

Portland follows the same trend. People for Portland, a front group for wealthy business interests, coalesced to express how they want to make the city better for everyone, using the language of progressivism to make that case. That public relations campaign quickly pivoted to criticizing politicians and a campaign to remove the progressive District Attorney, who they made the scapegoat for the homeless crisis and fentanyl drug use. People for Portland violated Oregon election law in 2022, and disbanded in 2024, after the attention on the group made it clear they were no longer an effective front for the business interests and wealthy.

Pretending that politics here is just moderates, progressives, and the far left gives cover to the moves of the powerful in Portland and Oregon, and leaves journalists in a blind spot. Phil Knight funded the Republican Party of Oregon outright not that many years ago; Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle helped fund People for Portland. The previous City Council established numerous “Enterprise Zones” that also come with massive tax incentives that pauperize the City in the years to come. Clear analysis of the massive transfer of wealth out of the hands of the working class and permanently into the accounts of the owning class is required to address the real struggles of Portlanders and Oregonians, not false narratives that omit the key players.

Pretending that the class, corporate, and Right-wing interests who have influenced, profited from, and largely controlled Oregon for decades aren’t factors then makes it hard to address homelessness, quality of life issues, and the need for public goods and services. When you can’t analyze the causes for your current crisis, you fail to address the issue and fail to lastingly improve conditions.

Willamette Week for example, has a massive and obvious editorial bias: Oregon and Portland taxes are too high, Portland spends too much, is the subtext, if not the main text, of every third article produced. Divide and conquer narratives straight from the comfortable and wealthy. Here’s a stellar example of what might have been written by Portland Metro Chamber staff:

From the article:

“High taxes are hurting job growth in Portland and chasing wealthy people out of town. Despite those aggressive levies, many government services are poor, in part because specialized taxes aimed at girding for climate change, getting kids into preschool, and helping the homeless have, at various times, gone unspent. In June 2024, the unspent hoard totaled $1.26 billion.”

The tactic on display in the article quoted above: these identified funds are to compete against each other to see who can fend off cuts, while “moderates” demand that progressives and the left divide the baby.

Because what is required, according to the wealthy and powerful, is austerity for working class people and socialized risk for the wealthy, just like in the last Gilded Age, and the beginning of the Great Depression. By their lights it only makes sense to take from homeless funds, preschool funds, funds to address climate change, or all three.

Willamette Week quotes extensively from reports from business interests assessing Oregon and Portland as having too high taxes and wealthy fleeing the state; no opposition to this was interviewed nor quoted, despite the fact that this argument is trotted out over and over and usually debunked as skewed and inaccurate. The peoples of Oregon deserve better- better reporting for sure; but more crucially, better quality of life generally, struggling under huge rent, utility, and grocery cost increases, without the wages to match.

The Oregonian unsurprisingly has decades more experience burying the lead, for example regarding Zenith Oil in Portland. The opposition to Zenith is framed as ‘activists’- not entire neighborhoods of working people and families living in a liquefaction zone next to massive oil storage tanks- who see Big Oil in Portland has no plan when the big earthquake comes, except maybe mass funerals.

Austerity will ill prepare this generation, and the next to contribute, support, and be supported within a community. Austerity means instead of services to keep families in housing, they are unhoused. Austerity means instead of a tree canopy, you get more heat deaths in East Portland. Austerity means instead of access to education you get crowded, underserved classrooms. Austerity means less investment in infrastructure that makes Portland livable and functional.

The interests of the wealthy are not the interests of the working class. It’s time to cut through the false media and right-wing narratives, and time to stop pretending. Let’s invest in the working families, the working peoples of Oregon and Portland. Let’s talk about a jobs program and a social housing program, not how regular folk must make due with less. Workers really do deserve more!

In moments of historical consequence, everyday people can rise as a chorus that shakes the foundations of power–or be intimidated into silence. Today, we stand at such a crossroads. The pillars of democracy tremble not from natural disaster but from calculated erosion. This is not politics as usual but the dimming of lights that have guided our journey toward justice.

When power concentrates in fewer hands, when dissent becomes dangerous, when truth bends to serve the powerful—these warning signs demand our attention. Democracy dies in silence, withering through a thousand small concessions, each seemingly reasonable alone, catastrophic together.

The Democratic Socialists of America represent a vision where power rests with the many, not the few. In this critical moment, this vision becomes necessary. We offer a framework for resistance that is both principled and practical, understanding that true freedom requires both political rights and material security.

Participating in resistance means recognizing democracy is not a spectator sport. Voting is just the beginning of our civic responsibility. True democratic participation happens in community meetings, mutual aid networks, labor organizing, public demonstrations, and countless daily acts of solidarity. Democracy is a thing that becomes real when we engage in it.

When we join DSA chapters, we declare our commitment to a democracy that works for all. We assert that healthcare, housing, education, and dignified work are not commodities to be rationed by the wealthy but human rights to be guaranteed by society. These rights are not privileges to be granted or withheld at the whims of parasitic wealth extractors and bloodless billionaires.

Collective action transforms fear into courage. Alone, we feel overwhelmed by state and corporate power. Together, we know that no system of control can withstand the sustained resistance of ordinary people determined to live in dignity.

The path forward requires courage to stand firm when intimidated, to speak truth when lies become policy, to protect the vulnerable when targeted. It requires care to build relationships across differences and create spaces where democracy is practiced.

In joining DSA, you become part of a living tradition stretching from abolitionists to suffragists, from labor movements to civil rights struggles, from environmental justice to queer liberation.

The question isn’t whether history will judge our actions—it already is. The question is whether we’ll tell our children that when democracy was in peril, we did more than watch. That we stood with our neighbors. That we chose solidarity over cynicism. That we helped bend history toward justice.

The time for that choice is now. Join us.

The chaos induced by Musk and friends is already causing mass outrage. Millions of ordinary people affected can become allies of workers and unions. Here's how to join the fight.

The post How Federal Workers Can Organize for Defense Against DOGE appeared first on EWOC.

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, March 4 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): DSA Board Game Night (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, March 5 (6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): New Member Happy Hour (In person at Zeitgeist, 199 Valencia)

Thursday, March 6 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity and Anti Imperialist Working Group (Zoom)

Thursday, March 6 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigration Justice Priority Working Group (Zoom)

Friday, March 7 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, March 8 (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Training & Outreach (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Sunday, March 9 (10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.): Chapter Local Vision and Strategy Meeting (In person TBD)

Monday, March 10 (6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Tenderloin Healing Circle (In person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

Monday, March 10 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (Zoom)

Monday, March 10 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Electoral Board Meeting (Zoom)

Monday, March 10 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Wednesday, March 12 (6:45 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): March General Meeting (In person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

Friday, March 14 (4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

Saturday, March 15 (1:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity and Anti Imperialism Reading Group: Ten Myths About Israel (Zoom)

Sunday, March 16 (1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): DSA SF Socialist Job Fair (In person at 215 Golden Gate)

Monday, March 17 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

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

Events & Actions

Board Game Night

We’re hosting board game night! Come get to know your comrades while playing some board games. All are welcome. We’ll be at 1916 McAllister 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. tonight, March 4 with some games, snacks, and drinks to share. 

Socialists in Office Hours

Socialists in Office Hours will be 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. this Friday, March 7 instead of our usual 3:00 p.m. time! Join us to look ahead at Jackie Fielder’s hearing on the ‘Four Pillars’ and other Supervisors’ anti-harm reduction solutions to the drug crisis. Does this sound like jargon to you? No worries! Join us to find out and ask questions, no experience required.

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.

Depending on where you work, you may be covered by the NLRA or other federal or state laws. See what covers you and how to use it.

The post Am I covered by the NLRA? appeared first on EWOC.

Every year the chapter conducts a census of the members and creates a report on how the dynamics of the chapter function along with vital information about demographics. Read the report here.

The post 2024 CNJ DSA Chapter Census appeared first on Central NJ DSA.

Monthly Newsletter of the Rochester Chapter of Democratic Socialists of America

ROC DSA is stepping into 2025 with the same momentum that has been steadily building our movement. Our membership continues to grow, as the realization sets in that we must do more than vote every four years to make the world a better place. Without the unified action of the working class, the gains that have been won from their struggle—through strikes, protests, and resistance—are eroded and overturned.

The post Rochester Red Star | March 2025 (Issue 11) first appeared on Rochester Red Star.