On Tuesday, April 9th, the Board of El Paso County Commissioners unanimously voted to join Douglas County as co-plaintiffs in their lawsuit against the State of Colorado to repeal laws preventing state and local law enforcement from cooperating in federal immigration policing. This lawsuit is intended to strip immigrants of important protections that allow them to live lives of safety and dignity. 

The Colorado Springs Democratic Socialists of America strongly condemns this effort by the county to waste public resources in their ongoing attempts to scapegoat immigrants and create a local panic over non-existent crime. Such political posturing creates a dangerous local climate for immigrants as well as asylum seekers and distracts the public from the true sources of our economic distress: exploitative labor practices, unlivable wages, unaffordable housing and healthcare, and artificial inflation driven by corporate greed and political corruption. 

The El Paso County Board of Commissioners are also working closely with local law enforcement to further expand the police state through these efforts. If successful, this lawsuit will continue to siphon important public resources away from services and supports that enhance the quality of life for residents and into oppressive systems that punish poverty and breed injustice and inequality. As an abolitionist organization, DSA is committed to fighting all efforts to expand or reinforce the criminal injustice system and to uplifting life affirming institutions that center equity, human rights, and the dignity and worth of each person, regardless of where they come from. 

Colorado Springs DSA reaffirms our commitment to fighting state oppression in all its forms, and we stand in solidarity with immigrants and asylum seekers who come to this country fleeing the poverty and violence created by the United States’ history of economic, political, and military interference around the world. We believe that all people deserve lives of freedom, means, and leisure, and we continue to work towards a global movement built upon the principles of international working class solidarity. We welcome our migrant siblings and know that, when we work together, a better world is possible. 

The Colorado Springs Democratic Socialists of America strongly condemns the brutal attack on the National Garment Workers Federation by capitalist goons as the workers demanded Eid bonuses for workers  producing clothing for international brands. The goons attacked and injured leadership and many women who were out demanding fair compensation for the Eid holiday.

These workers create $30 billion in wealth for the country and yet struggle to live on 417 Taka per day (less than $4 a day, $113 a month). Garment workers protested for months demanding 22,000 Taka ($208) minimum wage, highlighting the wealth they create for the country, and yet the government refused to listen and settled on the lower minimum wage. Each year as workers celebrate the Eid holiday, garments workers rely on Eid bonuses to help with the costs of celebrations. This year as garment workers struggle to survive despite massive profits within the industry, the NGWF marched to demand that workers get their Eid bonuses. While they marched, they were brutally attacked. Despite this they have continued to demand they get their deserved Eid bonus and have marched in condemnation of the attacks. 

We send our support and solidarity and demand that workers get their Eid bonus and that the attackers are held accountable for their actions. We at the Democratic Socialists of America know that only a united global working class can take on the power of the global capitalists and we stand with workers whenever they struggle for higher wages, rights and dignity. 

Solidarity,

Colorado Springs DSA

Musings on the regional structures of socialist organizations: their aspects, strengths and drawbacks.

Without a clear goal and plan of attack, can socialists really contest the power and hegemony of the capitalist state?

The Secure DC omnibus crime bill (“Crimnibus”) was passed by the DC Council. Here's what's in and what's out of the unpopular carceral package.

Anti-mask bans are making a comeback, and they are disrupting anti-capitalist resistance movements and suppressing civil liberties in the process.

A new vision for technology can radically challenge the myth that capitalism is the fastest route to innovation and progress for working people.

If you’re interested in democratizing the economy then you’re going to need to build a social base capable of such a dramatic transformation of our way of life. The only way to shift the balance of power toward the working class is to build the labor movement. Organized labor remains weak in the United States with about 10 percent of all workers organized into unions. This number has dropped nearly 25 percent since the peak of the AFL-CIO during the 1950s following the incredible surge in organization in the mass production industries during the New Deal and World War II. What is to be done to demonstrate our strength in organized numbers? Today we continue our series with labor organizers here in New York City fighting to build unions in the service sector. We’ve already spoken with workers at Starbucks, Trader Joes, Barboncino’s, and Nitehawk. Now we’re joined by organizers from Partners Coffee Union who are attempting to form a collective organization that can improve their material interests.

By Ash T

“The Spring Revolution is coming closer than ever!”

It’s not hard to see why so many comrades have completely lost hope in the state of the world. As we see ongoing genocides in Rojava and Palestine, many watch in horror as American bombs and money fund genocidal wars of conquest by the Turkish government and Israeli state. At the ballot box, we see the horrors of both the Biden government’s treatment of the Palestinian people and the possible future horrors that will await under a Trump presidency. The Palestinian struggle is something that is ongoing and our solidarity with the Palestinian people should be central in the coming days. 

However, this is not a call to pessimism. In fact it’s quite the opposite. One struggle goes unnoticed amongst fellow comrades that I’ve seen, and learning about it can give your average socialist something that seems too far gone on the left: hope. And you know which revolutionary struggle gives me hope? Myanmar. Myanmar, in my view, is a beacon of hope and in need of our solidarity. Their revolution against fascism and a repressive military junta is shocking the world as we speak. A group of ragtag militias, ethnic minorities, and even college students have taken up arms and are now making solid ground in the country. 

History

For some short context, Myanmar as a nation emerged out of conflict with the Japanese Empire, British, and later from themselves. In 1948, groups like the Karenni National Union and the Communist Party of Burma gained support from the country’s non-Bamar peoples. Since then, the Burmese state was ruled by various military governments, but this flared up after the 2021 Myanmar coup d’etat. After a short period of democracy under Aung San Suu Kyi, the Sit-Tat (commonly known as Tatmadaw) took power in the country. Win Myint and Aung San Suu Kyi were arrested and small elements of civil disobedience occurred with minority groups, who were most at threat when the military junta decided to oppose their existence.

The Burmese population appeared at protests across the nation in opposition to the junta, only to be gunned down on the streets. The Sit-Tat’s grip on the country is not a new sight, however, since the nation was wrecked previous to  the existence of the Tatmadaw by fascist, ultranationalist elements of the military. The problem of “Buddhist nationalism” with the Sit-Tat became a cause of  the Rohingya genocide. This is not to say that the existing government wasn’t complicit in this genocide. Aung San Syu Kyi was noted to have allowed the whole process to happen, not doing anything about the Sit-Tat’s brutal massacres. Buddhist monks in the 969 movement fanned the flames of Islamophobia, and the government used this to mandate a Buddhist nationalism and a Bamar-centric system that left minorities in the dust.

This is where the revolutionaries come in. The Burmese Revolution or the People’s Defensive War began shortly after the repression. One interesting thing as a result is the shift in politics at play in the region. After the military went on the offensive on its own people, the people of Myanmar themselves decided enough is enough and the minorities and oppressed people of Myanmar decided to take matters into their own hands.

The War

One of the enshrining unified ideologies of most people in the rebellion is the idea of federalism and democracy. Their political ideology seems to be a very big tent style organization with disgruntled minorities like the Chin and the Karenni in under one large flag. 

After scrolling and wandering and talking to various people on the Burmese side of the Internet, you see a wide array of opinions of what to do when the fascist junta is obliterated, but most agree on a democracy for all people in the nation. Looking at the military side of things, the NUG rebels are made up of various people in Burmese society. Ethnic minorities, college students, deserted soldiers, and almost every sector of Burmese society has decided to fight against the junta and strive for something better.

And they’re doing quite well at it. One video shows PDF revolutionaries being able to take a police station with AK-47s while wearing flip flops. NUG leader, Duwa Lashi La, has said that the PDF forces have made “stunning gains” in the past 3 years. A large portion of the country has decided to take up arms and fight the Sit-Tat. The fascist military junta is now overworked and dying by the hand of revolution.

It’s easy to look at the state of affairs in the world and feel depressed. But people in Myanmar are fighting an objectively good fight. The Burmese struggle needs our solidarity.