Photo credit: Ian Castro

The historic strike of 48,000 academic workers across the ten campuses of the University of California and the Lawrence-Berkeley National Laboratory came to a close on December 23, when the two remaining bargaining units of the United Auto Workers – UAW Local 2865 and SRU-UAW – voted to ratify new contracts. That ratification vote ended one chapter in the long struggle of academic workers for union recognition, fair working conditions and a public education system that elevates the public good over private profit. 

Striking workers and their supporters utilized a range of tactics during the six-week work stoppage, from pickets, rallies and marches to building occupations and actions against individual Chancellors and Regents. Among the tactics that, many believe, put the greatest pressure on the University were pickets at loading docks. Strong contingents of strikers at several campuses picketed deliveries. At UC Berkeley these pickets, organized by rank-and-file strikers, became known as “gas pickets” due to their focus on stopping the delivery of gasses and other essential research supplies on which labs commonly depend. The result was to spread the work stoppage by slowing the progress of labs that attempted to function during the strike. 

These loading-dock pickets operated not by blockade, but by the power of solidarity. Picketers informed drivers of the nature of the strike, and requested that they honor the picket line. Many drivers – including both UPS Teamsters and non-union delivery drivers – complied. 

As academic workers reflect on their experiences, they are not only concluding that they came out of this strike stronger than they went in, but are also envisioning the next chapter in their struggle – and its connection with the broader struggles of the multiracial working class. Here, we present the reflections of one group of strikers on the lessons that emerged from the gas pickets. – The Editors

We want to take a moment to reflect on the last several weeks and on the path forward. We are fighting for contracts that make academic work accessible to all regardless of socioeconomic background, access-needs, residential status, or status as parents or caretakers. Though the gains in our newly ratified contracts are not insignificant, we have not yet achieved this goal. Regardless of whether we could have achieved more in our recent negotiations, overhauling a system that was not built to include many of our workers will take long-term and resolute persistence in the face of formidable challenges. 

We believe that the power of our strike was not discrete nor pre-determined but rather a dynamic function of our sustained individual and collective actions. No single one of us had the power to make the University concede to the demands of our union but each of us made our strike more powerful when we came together. We believe that the leverage our bargaining teams had at their disposal was primarily determined not by the size of the picket lines, but by the collective stoppage of our work and the immense amount of organizing that went into supporting members of our union in continuing to do so, through infrastructure set up by both union leadership and by rank-and-file members. Even when the University feigned normality and SRU-UAW and UAW 2865 leadership told us that our power was waning, so many of us responded not by declaring defeat, but by continuing to organize even harder to grow the power of our strike. This alone is an act of courage, an empowered recognition of our value to the University and affirmation that we can fight for what we deserve. 

Our gas and delivery pickets were organized not through a directive, but through the desire to put pressure on the University of California even beyond the stoppage of our own work. These efforts emerged organically from our involvement in similar efforts to shut down construction work and garbage pickup which were fruitful but ultimately limited by legal technicalities and by severe no-strike clauses to which the University binds its workers. As we are researchers who work in many of the buildings we picketed, we know all too well what slows research operations; in non-strike times, we are the ones eagerly awaiting packages and calling gas and cryogen companies to accelerate the deliveries and the speed of our research, the research that the University of California proudly publicizes and profits from. 

While at present we do not have the opportunity to continue to grow our strike to win more of the demands that our workers acutely need, we are very proud of the momentum that we have all built together through stopping our research and teaching and through our disruptive picket lines. Although thorough quantification of our impacts remains an effort in progress, in addition to countless anecdotes of significant threats of and actualized disruption to research and university operations, we have several concrete indications: 

• Thanks to the solidarity of the Teamsters Joint Councils 7 & 42 issuing a sanction so that members could honor our picket lines, few UPS deliveries occurred over the course of our six week strike. According to a UPS driver we spoke to, local UPS warehouses accumulated 35,000 packages that they have been unable to deliver to our campus. 
• On 12/21 UC Berkeley described their efforts to surmount our picket lines, and the impact of Teamsters not coming to campus at all, as triaging deliveries. 
• In terms of general research stoppage, a UC Berkeley HazMat employee recently told us that hazardous waste production was reduced by half during the strike.
• Tens of thousands of grades were withheld across the UC system, and at UCSD quantified to 23% of fall quarter grades 

Beyond direct impacts on the university, our picket lines were a place where we built solidarity and community. Workers from distant departments across campus stood together for hours, sometimes in the dark, cold, and rain to fight for our shared goals. We discussed bargaining and newly pertinent legal concepts, learned about the ways proposals would affect other workers in our union, creatively crafted chants, and respectfully challenged each other’s ideas. We benefited immensely from the solidarity of workers in other unions who expressed support and in many cases made monetary sacrifices or risked discipline or dismissal to refuse to cross our picket lines. We got a unique view of day-to-day University operations and the essential work that AFSCME 3299 members do on our campus every single day. We appreciate the unwavering support of DSA members, undergraduate students, and other community members who joined us on the line, shared wisdom, picked up slack when our members needed a break, and made sure we never went hungry or without caffeine. Our pickets at the loading dock became a praxis of our solidarity, bringing us together with all who share our struggles. 

So where do we go from here? What do we do with our grassroots energy and new reflexive reactions to seeing trucks on the horizon? It may take some time to get over the latter, so let each truck be a reminder of the solidarity we cultivated and received and of the fights we, as workers, have left to win. Contract ratification does not mean the end of our fight, only that it will look a little different now. Returning to our individual work does not preclude the longevity of our collective action. 

Just as we were supported by so many workers, we too can support workers in other trades in their own struggles to fight the boss, whether physically on local picket lines or from a distance. Workers in our own community are on strike or will be on strike in the near future; nurses at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center are on strike until January 2, 2023. The teachers union, Oakland Education Association, is in the midst of contract negotiations and the United Teachers of Richmond voted to authorize a strike just last week. The Teamsters, our staunchest supporters, have a national contract with UPS that expires on August 1. These are opportunities to pay back the solidarity that our community has shown us, and to prove to them that our union fights for all workers, and not just for our own self interests. Furthermore, each and every one of us has lived experience that is extremely valuable for other academic workers going on strike. We are in the process of compiling the resources that we have developed over the last six weeks and documenting them so other academic workers can hit the ground running with disruptive pickets from the very first day of their strike. In addition to these more procedural documents, we would like to collect advice for future academic workers on strike from anyone willing to contribute. 

Lastly, though very importantly, we hope that all of you who spent the last six weeks fighting for a contract that would be transformative for all of our workers, and are in a position to do so, keep fighting both within and alongside the existing local UAW organization. We recognize that our union has failed to negotiate contracts that allow all of us to persist as graduate workers at all and to continue this fight. For those of us with more privilege, it may be tempting to give up and return to our siloed ivory tower labs and offices where we can better control our individual progress. But this is OUR union and OUR university and we must instead look forward to forging a more democratic union that fights for all of our workers, including those most precarious and those that cannot yet afford to work within this system at all. To achieve this, we need the active members of our union to be people as dedicated as all of you, who are willing to make sacrifices for each other, who read and listen to all — with critical eyes and ears and through the lens of strong principles. 

Through our grassroots efforts and those of other rank-and-file members, we have seen firsthand the power that each of us has to make things happen without waiting for directions or approval from a higher authority. The bold vision for our fight– to bring all of our workers out of the rent burden and make academia more equitable and just– was shaped by rank-and-file members. It was the principled fortitude of the rank and file that pushed our bargaining team to not settle for UC’s 12/2 offer and continue bargaining for a contract that brings us closer to what we deserve. The strength of any union, and especially our union, lies in the breadth and depth of engagement of its members. This strike and contract ratification vote represents an unprecedented volume of participation by the members of our union. Let us not take for granted that seven thousand of our colleagues believed in our collective power to keep fighting for a contract that serves all of us. 

It is difficult to find words to describe all that was our gas picket, but in this moment of history, we get to share these spots of time. We feel so grateful to have stood alongside you all over the last several weeks and want you to know that we continue to stand with you, even if not physically. We hope everyone takes time to rest and care for themselves and each other. 

Wishing you a restful holiday and an empowered new year. 

In solidarity, 

UC Berkeley ‘gas picket’ organizers

Wheareas,

1. The labor movement has long been recognized as the most important engine for socialist change in society due to its power to halt the flow of goods and services the capitalist class depends on.
2. Socialists recognize that the right to strike or threat thereof is the primary and most powerful instrument of the labor movement and should never be surrendered under any circumstances.
3. Railroad workers have been working under inhumane Dickensian conditions where their employers will not grant them even a single sick day during a pandemic in order to disgustingly benefit themselves by extracting larger profits from their labor.
4. A central demand of the rail worker’s unions has been to be granted a reasonable period of sick leave.
5. Rail workers died at more than twice the rate of other workers from Jan. 2020 to May 2022 and more than three times other workers in 2021 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s MMWR.
6. The United States shifted to a service economy model, which reduced reliance on domestic production for the stuff of everyday life. This reduced the power of domestic factory workers, but wildly enhanced the potential power of logistics workers in airline, shipping, trucking, and rail industries that are situated between a global production system and a domestic consumption system.
7. Threatened by this potential halt to critical infrastructure, the capitalist government is attempting to declare the strike illegal via the passage of legislation. This in effect would make railroad workers involuntary labor, banned under the 13th amendment (except for its racist loophole for people convicted of a crime). Presumably, such a law will be eventually backed with force of arms if workers disobey.
8. DSA National put out a statement calling for a NO vote on H.J. 100 at 10:41am, about two hours before roll call at 1:02pm. While not ideal, this is sufficient time for DSA federal representatives to be made aware of it.
9. Three DSA elected officials, Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortes (AOC), Jamaal Bowman, and Cori Bush voted for a bill that would make the railroad strike illegal. We applaud the fact that Rep. Rashida Tlaib did vote no.
10. AOC tweeted that the union asked her to vote this way to protect a sick days amendment that would obviously die in the Senate (and did).
11. The DSA has long had issues with our federal elected officials deviating from our political platform.
12. We must call our representatives to explain themselves to the DSA National Political Committee. While we are encouraged by DSA National releasing a statement that denounces the vote to break the strike and which calls for a town hall to discuss this, this statement does not meet all of our demands, which include a meeting with the wayward electeds to demand an explanation.
13. It is critical that DSA state in the clearest terms that we did not endorse H.J. 100 and do endorse workers’ right to strike. To do otherwise will perhaps irreparably damage our ability to support striking workers. Why would they trust an organization whose representatives actively attacked them from the heights of federal power?

Therefore be it resolved,

1. Central Jersey DSA endorses the “Railroad Workers United Open Letter to Congress and the President”.
2. Central Jersey DSA endorses the letter authored by Seattle DSA Local Council “3 DSA Members in Congress Vote to Ban Railroad Strike — They Don’t Speak For Us”.
3. If a railroad strike actually develops, Central Jersey DSA will do its part to support the strike.
4. Central Jersey DSA will publish this resolution on social media to educate our constituency and the broader public on our position.

The post Endorsing & Enforcing Railroad Workers’ Right to Strike appeared first on Central NJ DSA.

The strikewave within higher education came ashore in New York last month, as more than 1600 part-time faculty members at The New School, represented by ACT-UAW Local 7902, went on strike, hitting the picket line for higher pay, benefits, and greater security for their work. After a 25-day long strike in what some have called the longest strike by adjuncts in US history and a brutal battle with New School management, the university and the union reached a tentative agreement on December 10th, which included a number of key wins for the striking faculty. Tonight, we will hear from Annie Levin, an ACT-UAW staff organizer and political writer, and Brian Allen, also an organizer for ACT-UAW and formerly a member of Teamster Local 528, to tell us more about this historic strike at the New School, and how adjunct faculty won their new contract. We will also cut to a brief interview with Bucky, a student at the New School, and hear how they and their fellow classmates occupied a university building in support of their striking faculty and their thoughts on what can be done to build a better & democratic academy. 

The Georgia runoff election is an important window into the political trends of both Georgia and the country at large. Although the individual characters of Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock are important, it is equally important to understand the larger movements at play, in order to inform a political strategy that advances the interests of the working class. 

Raphael Warnock is not a socialist. His voting pattern has been squarely in line with the record of Democratic Party leadership, although he has taken notably progressive stances on specific votes such as student loan forgiveness. However, it is significant that the Republican Party did its best to portray him as the imagined radical socialist of which they caricature even the most milquetoast Democrats. This strategy ultimately failed.

The obvious answer for why lies in his opponent. Herschel Walker, with his record as a multi-millionaire scammer, domestic abuser, and reactionary extremist, proved repulsive to enough Georgia voters that fear of “socialism” was insufficient for him to win. However, Walker’s actual policies fall squarely in line with the core of the Republican Party, and his nomination as the GOP Senate candidate was virtually uncontested among Georgia Republicans. 

The truth about American politics, that is rarely discussed directly in the press, is that the vast majority of the electorate’s votes can be predicted before any counting begins. While there are variations between individual voting habits, there are certain trends that are impossible to ignore. The vast majority of black voters, especially working class black voters, vote Democratic. Likewise, the vast majority of rural, evangelical Christian white voters, will vote Republican. Similar tendencies are visible in trends of college-educated white voters in dense, urban districts; older, white non-college-educated men; etc. Altogether, the number of “swing” voters is relatively small, even though they are the disproportionate focus of political ads, network television focus groups, and newspaper editorials.

Despite these polarizations, there are elements of the elections that are difficult to predict in advance. Why was Warnock able to win, when Barack Obama, an equally charismatic candidate, decisively lost to weak Republican opponents twice? To answer this question, we must pay attention to the changes in the margins, particularly in the shifts in demographics in Georgia, and the shifts in party coalitions.

There are three key observations from the runoff results that indicate far more at play than the candidates as individuals.

1. Racial Polarization

The racial polarization of Georgia’s rural working class remains a strong force. Nonwhite working class voters have  historically been a core constituency of the Democratic Party, but starting with Donald Trump’s reelection attempt in 2020, Republicans have seen surprising gains with Hispanic and Asian voters, with varying degrees in different regions around the country. Republican strategists cynically hoped that Walker’s candidacy would expand these trends to the black vote.

Looking at December’s results, however, there was no indication that the Republicans gained ground with rural black voters, with Warnock flipping the predominantly black rural areas of Washington County and Baldwin County from the November election. Conversely, while Warnock improved his margins in the predominantly white industrial regions of Glynn County and Lowndes county, they still voted overwhelmingly Republican. This polarization of the working class remains a long-term barrier for building a robust political movement against the capitalist class. Georgia, and much of the deep south, are right-to-work states in large part because of racist propaganda in the postwar period.

2. Changing Suburbs

The Atlanta suburbs have increasingly become home to black and Hispanic workers, which provided the margins needed for Joe Biden, Jon Ossoff, and Raphael Warnock to win their seats. Once strongly Republican upper-middle-class strongholds, these counties’ demographics have massively changed  due to working-class black and Hispanic people moving away from the city core and rural areas and into the more affordable suburbs.

Share of Votes for Democratic Candidates by County

These regions have also been the notable sites of militant labor struggles, including the locations of the John Deere and Nabisco strikes last year. A critical test in the coming years will be whether the Democratic leaders can respond adequately to the labor movement that has contributed so much to their victories. Unfortunately, their recent betrayal of rail workers is a worrying sign in this regard.

3. Abortion Rights

The right to abortion is a critical issue facing the working class, and it was a major factor in this year’s elections. Although Hershel Walker has shown unique hypocrisy in his record of funding abortions, his platform on abortion rights is in no way unique for Republicans. The Republican leadership, and the overwhelming majority of their politicians, are extremists who wish to end the right to bodily autonomy. Although Georgia lacks ballot initiatives, anti-abortion referendums have resoundingly failed even in deeply conservative states such as Kansas and Kentucky. The election results and exit polls show that the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade was a major motivation for working-class people to cast their vote against Republicans.

Tasks for Socialists

While Warnock’s victory represents a defeat of the reactionary right, socialists cannot rely on politicians to protect the working class out of some inherent generosity. It is necessary to organize from below and force elected officials, even ostensible “progressives” to fulfill their mandate. 

With the Democrats now having 51* votes in the Senate, there is no excuse for their failure to codify Roe vs Wade, pass the PRO Act and fully fund the NLRB. Such actions are the bare minimum needed to address the needs of workers and unions that have provided countless funds and people power for Democratic campaigns, particularly in Georgia. 

Ultimately, we need representatives at all levels of government who are accountable to the working class, rather than the Democratic establishment and the billionaire class. Atlanta DSA  will continue to fight in the coming years to elect socialist candidates who are willing to fight against both corporate Democrats and reactionary Republicans.

*Kyrsten Sinema, Bernie Sanders, and Angus King are independents, but they have caucused with the Democrats and have voted with the party line more than 90% of the time.

The post 3 Takeaways from Georgia’s Runoffs appeared first on Red Clay Comrade.

In this episode of Revolutions Per Minute, we will taking you first to Brooklyn and then to Puerto Rico, to explore how neoliberal austerity is wreaking havoc on the lives of ordinary people. I’ll be talking to New York City Council Member Alexa Aviles, of District 38 her first year in office.

Alexa is a proud DSA member and was endorsed by the movement prior to her election. She doesnt take real estate donations and has a track record of opposing the prison industrial complex, having worked to empower marginalized communities before her election as program director of the Scherman Foundation.

The second half of the show takes us to an interview with Ruth Santiago, a trustee of the non-profit Earthjustice who lives on Puerto Rico’s southern coast. As an attorney, Ruth has represented those fighting against environmental injustice in all its forms.

Fascist violence against LGBTQ+ people in America is a terrible and growing force. Last month, five people – Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, and Derrick Rump – were murdered and nineteen others were wounded at Club Q in Colorado Springs. We will remember their names as well as the right-wing cultural narrative that made their suffering possible. Right-wing politicians, media figures, and pretend intellectuals have furthered violence against the LGBTQ+ community by spreading fear and misinformation. The entire right shares the burden of responsibility for the massacre in Colorado.

Here in Ohio, we have become intimately acquainted with the right-wing political movement. It has gained critical ground in our state and scored brutal victories against our people. From shameless police violence in Akron and Columbus to assaults on reproductive rights statewide, artifacts of the right’s surging hatred can be seen everywhere. It will next rear its ugly head here in Columbus on Saturday, December 3, when the Proud Boys – a fascist, white-supremacist paramilitary organization – will menace children and harass families at a drag queen story hour hosted by Red Oak Community School at the First Unitarian Universalist Church. This action is no doubt aligned with the fascist strategy to demonize LGBTQ+ people, incite political violence, and prevent those they deem lesser from ever feeling safe – even in places of worship. We join other groups in our city in condemning the Columbus Proud Boys, their violent rhetoric, and their intrusion into our communities. We call on our members and allies to challenge homophobic ideology wherever it manifests in central Ohio.

No one should ever feel threatened because of their sexuality or gender identity. As human beings, we all deserve safety, freedom, and joy. There is no room for joy in a culture that denies the existence of LGBTQ+ people or that subjects them to mass death for having dared to be who they are. We are finished ceding ground in Ohio to the far right. To counter the spread of fascism, we must build a unified left here in Columbus and abroad.

Columbus DSA is proud to be a part of that struggle, now and forever.
DSA is a socialist feminist and anti-fascist project for collective liberation. Our members are coordinating among themselves and within the community to protect Columbus from extremist violence. For information on how to support the event, including opportunities to fundraise for LGBTQ+ causes and volunteer on the day of, visit the Red Oak Community School website.
Additional Reading:
Abolition of White Supremacy
Gender and Sexuality Justice
Justice for Trans People Requires Power

The rail freight carriers that employ approximately 125,000 unionized employees have spent years prioritizing shareholders and executives, making record profits for the railroad industry. At the same time, the carriers have downsized the rail workforce by furloughing approximately 30% of rail workers, increasing the workload for those who remain. Workers do not receive paid sick time and are expected to be available to work any time of day or night at short notice. On top of this, workers have received a 0% pay increase over the last three years. 

The Biden administration brokered a tentative agreement that excluded a substantial amount of the unions’ demands. In a vote of the rail union membership, over half the rail workforce and four of the 12 unions representing those employees voted down this proposal. If there is a strike by the rail workers, any damaging effect on the economy will have been caused by the greed and intransigence of the rail companies, and the failure of Congress and the Biden administration to broker a decent agreement that addresses the workers’ demands.  

Boston DSA fully and adamantly supports the democratic right of the rail union workers to vote down any proposed agreement, including the tentative agreement brokered by the Biden administration. Boston DSA opposes any legislation that would impose terms and conditions of employment on the rail unions and thereby take away the workers’ right to strike. The National DSA has also recognized the rail workers right to strike and has put out a statement in support of the rail workers, and Boston DSA concurs with the statement issued by the National DSA.

Most importantly, if and when Congress and President Biden enact legislation taking away the right to strike by the railway workers, Boston DSA will support the actions of the rail workers, including any decision to strike. Boston DSA will be there to support the workers, including joining them on the picket lines. Solidarity now, solidarity forever.

While a “Red Wave” of victories did not materialize for Republicans earlier this month on election day in most parts of the country, conservatives won big here in New York gaining congressional seats as well as seats in the New York State Assembly and Senate. Republican Lee Zeldin centered his gubernatorial campaign around a false and racist narrative on crime, that dominated media coverage, and it was almost enough to defeat Governor Kathy Hochul, who ran a lackluster campaign despite a large fundraising haul.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that Republican ad blitzes focused on crime, motivated voters  to head to the polls in suburban Long Island and the Lower Hudson Valley, despite many of those voters living in some of the safest places in the country, where crime rates have flattened and that many of them had exaggerated views about crime rates in New York City, which are still well below where they were for decades. 

Today we’re joined live by Nomi and DJ to break down some of the misinformation that blanketed the airways before the election. Nomi is the Constituent Services and Organizing Manager for Council Member Tiffany Caban and worked with DJ and other volunteers from the district to create a Public Safety Resource poster along with Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani’s office. We’ll talk to Nomi and DJ about how socialist are not only battling right-wing propaganda stoking fear of crime, but organizing for real public safety in our communities and dignity for all. 

We’ll also talk to Michaelangelo with Mid-Hudson Valley DSA about what Neoliberal Democrats are getting wrong in their post-election analysis and how centering socialist messaging led Sarahana Shrestha to victory in her Assembly race in the Hudson Valley.

To join a Public Safety Canvass in Western Queens on Saturday, December 3, visit: Bit.ly/safetycanvass 

Strikes are erupting across the country, from railroads to the New School and your local Starbucks. Reminder from your comrades at RPM - never cross a picket line, just grab a sign and walk alongside them. Workers  

Today we will hear from rank and file organizers about the Labor Notes troublemakers school, speak to Shep Whanon of Gays Against Guns on Trans Day of Remembrance and close out the show with Caitlin of the GYM on the brutal sweeps Eric Adams is unleashing upon our most vulnerable unhoused neighbors.

It is hard to find the words to express the depth of the trauma and grief that our chapter and community are experiencing in the wake of the mass shooting at Club Q. That we are issuing this statement a few days after the event is a testament to the fact that we have been in deep mourning as we attend multiple community vigils and spend time supporting one another. We all understand how close this act of hatred brought us to losing chapter members who are deeply loved and valued, and our hearts break for our comrades who lost friends and loved ones to this tragedy. 

As difficult as it is to move forward, our solidarity with one another and the greater LGBTQ+ community is helping us find the strength to begin the organizing work that must follow. It has not been lost upon us that while CSPD was busy surveilling our chapter last summer and arresting our comrades who were marching for affordable housing in our community, the District Attorney was busy dropping charges against the right-wing terrorist that perpetrated this weekend’s armed attack. It is not lost upon us that this terrorist is the grandson of a fascist MAGA politician in California. It is not lost upon us that Colorado Representatives Lauren Boebert and Doug Lamborn have boosted anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric while supporting the gun lobby that made this weekend’s tragedy possible. It is not lost upon us that evangelical churches in our city operate as political actors to create a climate of intolerance where bigotry and zealous hatred are incubated. And it is not lost upon us that all these fascist bad faith actors ultimately work together to silence and oppress our community, especially those amongst us who are the most marginalized. 

Colorado Springs DSA and the community we serve will not be silenced. We will not submit to the fear that right-wing politicians and their followers try to instill in us. This moment makes it clearer than ever how urgent it is for us to stand up for our community and fight for our rights, to stand against hatred and violent state oppression, to stand against the cold and calculated sacrifice of our BIPOC and LGBTQ+ siblings by fascist capitalists seeking a scapegoat for the inhumane inequality that their greed creates, and we take that stand now, together. 

We’ve got us. We stand strong in solidarity, carrying those who are wounded, and march on.