Decommodification of Housing in Berlin and how we can learn from it in the Twin Cities(Originally Published in Streets.MN) BERLIN, GERMANY — Berlin residents have shown a path out of our global housing crisis via the Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen (DWE) movement — a mass civil society campaign to socialize tens of thousands of […]

A Line in the Sand On September 28, 2024, the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America (TCDSA) etched its name into the annals of socialist anti-imperialist struggle. By passing the resolution “Make Twin Cities DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis,” the chapter didn’t just condemn Zionism—it declared war on the settler-colonial project itself. […]

I started the Street Corps Working Group shortly after I joined Twin Cities DSA back in 2021 in response to the collapse of the previous Mutual Aid and Solidarity Economy (MASE) Working Group. Besides filling in the important organizing around mutual aid and dual power that I believed this chapter should be doing, I wanted […]

Don’t let private interests loot education dollars and defund important programs. Charter-school lobby-backed politicians, including IPS board members Angelia Moore, Hope Hampton, Deandra Thompson, and Ashley Thomas, want to redistribute […]

Hello,

The struggle of working people for an equitable society free from injustice and oppression has sharpened in recent months, taking center stage through headlines on everything from the devastating climate catastrophe to anti-immigration raids. As that fight shows its face in Milwaukee, we must say no to the elements of hatred and division, even when our institutions appear to embrace them.

Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and our allies are calling on CBS 58 and their parent company, Weigel Broadcasting, to restore former meteorologist Sam Kuffel to her position.

We’ve launched a petition Monday rallying their supporters behind Kuffel and against the notion that a stand against fascism should cost someone their employment. Can you sign?

The people of Milwaukee deserve local reporting that is unafraid to challenge the rising tide of far-right hatred instead of running cover for its leading figures. As we reflect this year on Holocaust Remembrance Day, it is important that we recognize and fight the forces behind historical atrocities as we see them in the present.

Sign the petition online. View the chapter calendar.

In solidarity,
Milwaukee DSA

Sam Z. is a co-coordinator of the DSA-LA Mass Transit for All campaign, and Correna T. is a co-coordinator of the bathrooms side of the campaign. 

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

GNDCC: Tell me about your campaign and what you’re currently focusing on.

Sam Z: Transportation is the largest source of emissions in California. Los Angeles is the driving capital of the world, basically. So we find a transportation-motivated, Green New Deal-style campaign to be the most strategic and possibly most impactful.

Our entire chapter votes on our chapter priorities. In April 2023, the chapter voted to make public transit a priority campaign and then re-upped the campaign, so we’re currently in year two. We decided to pursue a two-pronged campaign: the first prong aimed at the county government, the second prong aimed at the city government. There are tons of ways in which public transit could be improved/expanded here as well as life for the working class in LA to be made better—and political and economic power built at the same time. 

The county transit system is governed by the LA Metro Board. LA County is huge—there are 88 cities within LA County. It’s a really powerful governing body. We decided to prioritize public bathrooms as a way to improve and expand transit for riders and for workers—especially transit workers. Our high-level goal is to expand publicly owned brick-and-mortar bathrooms at the LA Metro system level that are serviced by union workers.

At the city level, our second priority is to intervene in a particular moment when, this year, voters in the city of LA voted to pass an unfunded pro-transit mandate that says: we want the city to fully implement the mobility plan. The mobility plan does a lot of good stuff: more rapid bus lanes, more pedestrian infrastructure, more bike infrastructure; all things that are not cars, basically. The mobility plan does not have any power. The ballot question that passed gave it some legal power, but no public budgetary power. So we decided that our campaign would focus on trying to get more budgetary power behind this implementation. Similar to bathrooms, this would make life better for working class Angelinos in terms of riding transit also for potentially lots of union workers who might be building more bus lanes, driving more buses, etc. That has involved trying to intervene in the city council.

Correna T: That second goal, we are pivoting a little bit in our campaign. Sam and a couple of other members have been meeting pretty regularly with our socialists in office. A couple of the staffers from the current city council electeds that we have have been meeting with them in order to try to get that funding for Measure HLA, whether it be some capital campaign, just include it in the city budget for next year, etc. As the city budget is super tight this year, that ask for $100 million or whatever it is to try to get new paved streets with bike lanes, etc. is hitting a wall. 

It’s been really good to develop that relationship. But last month, a new opportunity actually came up for a potential push as a campaign to instead work on a fare-free drive. There’s a city bus route that’s not run by the county metro system. It’s run by the city—by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation—and those buses have been free ever since the pandemic started. Due to all the budgetary cuts in the city, they are trying to reinstate fares as of January. There was a public hearing last month, and we, as a campaign, got together at our last meeting and voted to see if that’s something actionable that we can affect, to transition some of our city council-focused energy to fare-free rather than working on this capital campaign. 

Sam Z: The one other campaign description comment I wanted to add in is, especially in year two of our DSA-LA transit campaign, we are making sure that organized labor is at the center. Both in terms of the policy goals we have and in terms of the strategy. So for bathrooms and the city government-level transit build-outs and now fare-free, we have actively tried to build relationships with the relevant unions. That’s been somewhat successful on the bathroom side; that helped us do at least one motion at the Metro Board level. At the city level, It’s been a little trickier, but we’re still working on it.

Correna’s been super involved in trying to build our transit labor circle, which has been experimental and successful in some ways, and still growing. In an ideal world, our campaign would be members of DSA-LA who are also transit workers. We have tried to borrow some ideas from that kind of model from the East Bay DSA folks and their transit work. We’re not there. We have some transit workers; they’ve maybe thought about getting involved sort of on the periphery.

Correna T: There’s definitely been a lot of labor discussion and coordination on the bathroom side of our campaign that I can talk about, too. I was not as involved with the first year of the campaign, but the public services—as we call it—side of things, was more general. We were doing a lot of canvassing at stations, talking to folks about fare-free, talking to folks about what kind of services they wanted. Part of the reason, I think, that we focused on bathrooms here in year two is that Metro started a pilot program last year where they unfortunately partnered with a Silicon Valley startup company that provides public restrooms. They are free; you use this little QR code to scan and get into the stall.

And so we were like, They’re clearly acknowledging that there is a need for public restrooms, especially because Los Angeles is hosting the 2028 Olympics. That is a huge thing with Metro, that they’re going to do a car-free Olympics in Los Angeles somehow. And they’re acknowledging that there’s a need for things like public restrooms. We were like, There might be some leverage here with the board to increase this public service here. We started off canvassing folks about these restrooms. We’ve seen them there, they function, but we want brick-and-mortar restrooms. We want these to be built at all these stations, we want them to be Metro-owned and -operated.

Then, over the summer, we found out that not only were they using this third party contractor, but the employees who service them are gig-work employees. So they’re not even just part-time or full-time workers. They get paid 15 to 20 bucks per restroom that they clean, which, especially out here in LA, is ridiculous. It’s almost comical that they can even get people to service them. So that became our push, and that was a moment where we were able to successfully do some lobbying.

We reached out to TCU, the Transportation Communications Union, which is the union that represents all the unionized janitorial staff that actually work for Metro, that do all of the cleanings of the stations in the very few staffed bathrooms that they actually have. They reached out to their union leaders and presented this as an opportunity for them. Essentially, these are jobs that should be going to that union, and instead are being proposed to go to this gig work model. At the time, they were still a pilot program, but there was about to be a vote in the Metro Board to extend the program for the next four years. They’re talking about 64 bathrooms that are going to be potentially operated and cleaned by gig workers. This union that we partnered with was able to get an amendment through the Metro Board using their contacts. It didn’t stop the expansion of the program from happening, but it did make sure that we look into the opportunity of using union work instead.

I think right now they’re at a bit of a standstill because there may or may not be a part of the union contract that requires that any janitorial or custodial work on Metro property be done by the union, but they approved to expand the program for this gig work company. So neither one of them is happening right now, and this is a place where we’re trying to wedge ourselves in there to see if we can influence it to go in one direction and actually do have the restrooms and make sure that they’re union labor. It’s been a really interesting connection/crossover there.

I can also talk about our labor circle up here, which is a little bit separate. This has been a really interesting thing, because we started off talking to riders. We were talking about doing lobby meetings, but it wasn’t until we had this union connection that some of our gears actually started turning and things actually started happening, which has been really cool to experience.

GNDCC: Tell me about the labor circle.

Correna T: It came partially from this union partnership that we had. But also, just in our canvases of riders, of workers, one of the things we were hearing over and over again was that even people who work for the same company, people who both work for Metro who aren’t contracted employees, just have no idea what’s going on. The lack of transparency between the bosses and the actual workers seems to be keeping a lot of people in the dark. They don’t know what people at other stations are doing, they don’t know what people across different departments are doing. So we felt like we, as DSA, had an opportunity to come in and create a space where workers could come together and talk about different issues that they’re facing. 

We’ve had two labor circles so far. Our third one is going to be this coming Sunday. A couple of really interesting things have come out of that. We’ve had workers who are contracted, whether they’re unionized or not, who have been able to talk to each other about different union pushes that they have. There is a group of workers right now that are being contracted through a nonprofit organization that are going to become part of Metro at some point in the next year. And we’ve been working really, really closely with them to see if they can get organized ahead of being pulled in-house so that they have cards ready to sign and an OC ready to make sure that their bargaining agreement is on par with what they’re wanting once they’re pulled in-house. So it’s been a really interesting space for us to be able to get workers together across all different parts of Metro. Even after the campaign ends in April, we’re really hoping that that’s something that we can keep going in conjunction with our labor committee. So that’s been a really cool thing for a lot of folks to be a part of.

GNDCC: Why should DSA members in LA get involved in this campaign, or DSA members in general get involved in public transit campaigns in their local chapters?

Correna T: I think transit is a really interesting issue, and I’m really glad we’ve been able to do a transit-focused campaign. It is a combination and amalgamation of so many different other areas of socialist ideals. It’s a Green New Deal campaign. It focuses on clean energy and on reducing our usage of cars. It’s a mutual aid concept, because a lot of our transit resources go towards homeless outreach and towards crisis intervention. The ambassadors that are on our transit system carry Narcan with them; they’ve saved over 300 lives. It’s also pro-labor. What we want is essentially a robust system that creates thousands of more unionized government jobs. So it’s a really interesting crossover of a bunch of different areas and ideals that DSA members I hope would carry. It’s a cool way to engage with a bunch of different topics. We’ve had a lot of really good energy from people coming from all different sides of that, which is pretty cool.

Sam Z: Yeah, I second all that, I think with the caveat that different campaigns should be run in different places based on their local politics and policy context. In LA at least, and translatable elsewhere, I would say something similar, but maybe I would phrase it like: do you think climate change is an existential crisis? Do you think that local air pollution and environmental injustice in cities is a horrific problem that we should not have? Do you think that public goods need to be expanded universally? Do you think we need way more union jobs? Then, boy, have I got a campaign for you.

Electric vehicles are not the future. They’re here, they’re for rich people. They’re probably going to come down in price, but we don’t want to be living in a future in which we are trying to mitigate the climate crisis and expand public goods where everyone’s still driving in their fucking solo cars. We’re going to need shit-tons of buses and trains, and the way to get to that future in which we have stronger societies, happier lives, things are not as expensive, and people have way better jobs and union workers have a lot more power, than we need to be running local public transit campaigns.

Correna T: I think it’s a really interesting topic of what it means to have a community and to build a community, because we’re so individualistic. Elon Musk wants us to believe that the future of climate justice is every individual person getting their own Tesla. Public transit to me—being on a bus, being on a train—is a physical representation of the fact that we cannot do this alone and that it takes community, it takes people coming together to actually solve this problem. If that means that you have to deal with the fact that people are kind of annoying on the bus sometimes, that’s what that means. And if that’s a sentiment that people in your local chapter are having, then maybe that’s an opportunity for a conversation about what it is that we’re trying to build here as an actual socialist community.

The post CAMPAIGN Q&A: DSA-LA’s Mass Transit for All appeared first on Building for Power.

As DSA’s National Political Education Committee finishes our fourth year of service, we’d like to reflect back on 2024 — a year that saw us expand our capabilities and offerings — as we prepare for a new year of challenges and opportunities for the socialist movement and political education.  

Capital Reading Group

One of the developments  we are most excited about is the debut of our first-ever national reading group, with Marx’s Capital Vol. 1. This reading group has been facilitated through a combination of Zoom calls, a dedicated category on the national discussion board, and chapter/regional groups. Our reading group doesn’t favor one translation over another, but was timed to coincide with the release of the new North and Reiter translation and has found a reinvigorated study of Marxist political economy and its application in membership new and old. We have learned much through this process and feel better prepared to facilitate additional national reading groups.  

Chapter Support

In 2024, our Chapter Support Subcommittee conducted six trainings, including a new collaborative training with San Francisco DSA focused on helping chapters establish their political education programs. We also hosted a Spring Educators’ Conference that examined political education’s role in building working-class power and how to develop our local and national programming further. Chapter Support also continued its mission of mentoring chapters as they establish and build their political education programs. Chapter educators and members can find training materials on our website here: https://education.dsausa.org/resources/trainings-catalogue/ 

Comms 

Our podcast team has kept busy pushing out 18 episodes over the last year. We have transitioned to producing our podcast Class under our Comms Subcommittee, which has experienced its highest monthly listeners and total downloads, receiving over twelve thousand in 2024 which surpassed our cumulative total downloads in history. We’ve had several prominent guests on Class, like Aziz Rana and Dr. Manisha Sinha, while producing more multi-part episodes for significant issues, like our most recent on EWOC.  Check out Class on your favorite podcast platform or our website: https://education.dsausa.org/class-the-npec-podcast/

Comms continues to post regular updates on our Facebook, Twitter(X), and Bluesky accounts, along with some of our newest platform editions, the NPEC, and Capital Reading Groups categories on the national discussion board. Our monthly newsletter, Red Letter, remains a popular repository for all things NPEC, reaching an ever increasing amount of people with each edition. We are also exploring other social media and content options for 2025, like Instagram.  

Curriculum 

This year, we are debuting two new modules: Race and Capitalism in the United States, and An Introduction and Fascism and the American Right.  We have also revamped our foundational modules for use with our Socialist Night School trainings. We also plan on re-running our Foundational Political Education Series covering our three 101 modules on capitalism, socialism, and the working class — more on that soon! Check out our newest modules on our curriculum website: https://dsa-education.pubpub.org/

Events

Over the last year, NPEC hosted eight panel events on a variety of topics, ranging from the National Capital Reading Group kickoff, to Palestine solidarity organizing, along with other essential topics to DSA right now, like Marxism and Queer liberation and examining democracy in the lead-up to the presidential election.  

You can check out recordings of all of NPEC’s events on our website here: https://education.dsausa.org/resources/events-catalogue/ 

Convention Season

Haymarket Books’ Socialism 2024 Conference in Chicago featured a large DSA presence with eleven panels and hundreds of members attending. NPEC and the NPC kicked things off with our first ever Organizers Conference before DSA members spent the weekend speaking at sessions on labor organizing, bodily autonomy, a new Red Scare, ecosocialism, and more. You can see a full list of our panels here (https://www.dsausa.org/socialism-conference-2024/), and audio recordings from the conference here (https://soundcloud.com/socialismconf). This year, DSA expects to return to Haymarket Books’ Socialism 2025 Conference in July (https://socialismconference.org/), with NPEC doing its part to contribute to DSA’s biannual convention later in the summer.

2025 Onwards

It is not lost on NPEC that this year may prove a is a crucial juncture year for DSA and the socialist movement in the United States.  We look forward to finishing the Capital Reading Group and hosting events to prepare members for the next DSA Convention while also stepping up to help chapters and new members prepare for a second Trump term with national foundational calls for new socialists and more political education trainings. We have a lot of work to do, but NPEC and DSA are better prepared and ready to onboard new members and turn them into socialist organizers for years to come. 

If you’re a DSA member that ever thought of contributing to our organization’s national political education efforts, applications will be opening in the next few months. If you haven’t yet joined DSA, there’s never been a better time to: https://dsausa.org/join

Follow us here and join our listserv so you can keep up with the latest! 

The post From Our Co-Chair: A Vision for Memphis Midsouth DSA 2025 first appeared on Memphis-Midsouth DSA.

Thorn West: Issue No. 223

Last week, several explosive and destructive wildfires erupted across LA County. Over 25 casualties have been reported, and many thousands of homes have been destroyed in and around the communities of Altadena and Palisades Park. DSA-LA has put together this evolving emergency resource guide, containing news and organizing opportunities.

State Politics

• In response to the devastation of the ongoing wildfires in LA County, Governor Newsom has proposed a 2.5 billion aid package. Newsom also called for the suspension of some environmental laws that he argued would impede rebuilding.
• Newsom also published an open letter inviting incoming president Trump to tour the areas devastated by wildfires. Trump has incoherently blamed environmental conservation policy for causing the fires, and threatened to withhold disaster relief.
• On Friday, the Governor released an early draft of the proposed budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year. Though drafted before the wildfires, the budget forecasts a small and unexpected surplus after two years of heavy shortfalls.

City Politics

• LA Public Press breaks down the controversy surrounding recent budget cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Many departments experienced cuts after hundreds of millions of dollars were committed to raises for LAPD officers. More granular breakdown here.
• Former mayoral candidate and real estate billionaire Rick Caruso, who has been outspoken in his criticism of Mayor Karen Bass’ handling of the fires, hired private firefighters to protect his Palisades mall while local public hydrants ran out of water.
• In response to the wildfires, Los Angeles has extended the filing period to register as a candidate for Neighborhood Council elections, and also made it for Neighborhood Councils to issue monetary grants to local nonprofits.

Housing Rights

• The wildfires have been followed by rampant price gouging on rent, as landlords attempt to profit from the devastation. While citizens have responded by collaborating on a rent-gouging spreadsheet (here), the State Attorney General has vowed to investigate and prosecute landlords in violation of the price gouging laws; violations can also be reported here.
• A motion from Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez would reintroduce COVID policies mandating a blanket temporary rent freeze, as well a moratorium on evicting tenants affected by the fires, but the city council postponed voting on it.
• LA Public Press documents the work of unhoused communities and advocates in developing networks of mutual aid during the wildfires.
• Grist puts the recent fires in the context of the rapidly rising cost of homeowner insurance in California, and the recent state attempts to regulate and reform the market. Meanwhile, The New Republic debunks the myth that insurance companies are being “forced” to raise rates, rather than using disasters as an opportunity to maintain and increase profits.

Immigration

• In neighboring Kern County, Border Patrol agents conducted a massive raid, targeting agricultural workers for detainment and deportation – a return to the practice of frequent workplace raids carried out during the first Trump administration.
• Capital & Main explores how immigrant communities mobilized local relief efforts to help navigate the wildfires.

Local Media

• As false information about the wildfires is proliferating, The Institute for Nonprofit News is offering grants for local independent news sources covering the wildfires.

Environmental Justice

• Climate protesters with Sunrise Movement LA rallied outside a facility operated by oil company Phillips 66, and 16 demonstrators stormed the facility’s office building. The protestors demanded that the oil industry accept financial responsibility for the damages caused by current wildfires.
• Why does climate change lead to more dangerous wildfire seasons? Not only because of the longer dry seasons, but also because of the wild swings between drought and heavy rain.
• KCRW conducted a panel discussion (available in English and Spanish) on the impact of the wildfires on air quality in Los Angeles.

The post Wildfires Devastate Los Angeles County Communities appeared first on The Thorn West.

Nosferatu demands we critically examine our social order and how it has deluded social relationships. What demons have we summoned and what would their pact demand of us?