Sixty Years after the US Navy’s Caribbean fleet first created a picket around the island of Cuba, the United States’ cruel and aimless embargo of Cuba continues. Despite decades of red scare tactics, designed to silence Socialists who believe the embargo is a moral and political failure, people of all political stripes have come out in opposition of the ongoing embargo. So why is the embargo still in place? Simply put, it’s good politics for certain voting blocs. Though America’s ruling class hopes Cuba can continue to be the US’s socialist boogeyman next door, the embargo should galvanize support for Socialism.

Burdensome Sanctions Limit Medical and Food Imports

The embargo’s continuing existence remains as enduring evidence of US imperialism’s cruelty against countries that dare to pursue an alternative to the capitalist economy. Cubans find themselves cut off from critical sections of trade and the global economy as a result, limiting the import of medical items, food, and cash remittances that can enter Cuba from the US. Cuba can’t even import these necessities from non-US countries due to the threats of the US’s secondary sanctions. 

While the embargo in theory allows the import of food and medical items to Cuba, the structure discourages these imports in practice. For instance, the Calixto Garcia Hospital in Havana, which is Cuba’s main trauma hospital, has only two working anesthesia machines. Although they had contracted with a Swiss company to purchase more, cash-in-hand, the threat of secondary sanctions killed the deal. The threat of sanctions that would cut off foreign companies from financial processing and credit institutions housed in the United States, in addition to burdensome application and approval requirements, discourage most American or global companies from doing business with Cuba. 

Similarly, while the embargo theoretically allows food exports into Cuba, US sanctions still cut off critical food imports to Cuba. Sanctions require Cuba to purchase all food with hard currency or through third-party guarantees from foreign banks. This again is where the threat of secondary sanctions discourages foreign companies and countries from providing Cuba with financing for food. Cuba’s access to hard currency is further limited by US imposed travel restrictions, limits on remissions, and restrictions on foreign currency exchange, meaning Cuba can find little relief by trading with other countries. Moreover, if a product contains more than 10 percent US-made components, then US sanctions apply to the product, effectively locking Cuba out of critical technologies in domains dominated by US production such as agriculture, computing, and aerospace. (You can read more on the sanctions here and here) 

But this has not stopped Cubans from carrying on. In the face of the embargo, the country has shown extreme resilience, building a leading health and pharmaceutical industry, becoming a global leader in sustainable development, and even creating its own COVID-19 vaccine when the embargo would have excluded the country from global stocks. 

Though in many ways the country is a success story in how to thrive without globalization, Cuba should never have had to adapt to such a situation. From every angle, the US embargo of Cuba is a failed and cruel policy.

DSA Leads a National Campaign to End the Embargo

With widespread consensus on the embargo’s failure comes the opportunity for DSA to achieve an elusive political goal: permanently ending the embargo. DSA has kicked off a national grassroots campaign to end the embargo that reflects the importance of strategic organizing in achieving big, progressive wins, and Boston DSA is leading the way.

The campaign begins with cities. Local DSA chapters are lobbying their city councils to pass resolutions against the Cuba embargo, through constituent lobbying, public education events on the embargo, and demonstrations against the embargo’s negative effects. Boston DSA has already achieved the passage of resolutions in the Boston City Council, Somerville City Council, and Brookline Town Meeting. (Cambridge passed a similar resolution in early 2021) 

With local support for ending the Cuba embargo firmly established, the campaign now expands to coalition work. The city council resolutions are strategically written to provide the foundation for developing ties between Cuba and local constituencies in Massachusetts in domains such as biomedical research, public health, academia, and cultural institutions. Providing the basis for doctors, public health officials, artists, academics, researchers, environmental activists, religious leaders, farmers, union organizers, and others to develop concrete ties to Cuba and experience first-hand the difficulties of the embargo is a crucial piece of broadening our base of support and creating new activists organized around ending the embargo of Cuba. 

This broadened coalition will provide additional leverage as we move to federal pressure campaigns. Since the legal framework of the embargo is a construction of Congress, it is vital to push elected officials in the House and Senate to respond to their constituents’ wishes and propose or support legislation that will end the embargo. Not only do municipal resolutions provide tangible  evidence of the desire for a change of Cuba policy, but the new movement created by using resolutions as coalition organizing tools will provide powerful leverage from our region’s top leaders in various industries. 

Organizational Structure, Elected Allies, and Localized Issues are Critical to Success

The Cuba campaign’s organizing strategy greatly benefits from DSA’s decentralized structure while leveraging the organization’s national reach. Local chapters know how to best navigate the local political dynamics and pass city resolutions, but large-scale change at the congressional level will require national coordination across DSA chapters. Chapters are working independently to pass city resolutions and then with DSA’s International Committee to coordinate the national congressional campaign across chapters. If successful, this interlinked local and national approach can serve as a template for future DSA organizing campaigns that want to build a national campaign from the grassroots. 

One of the key lessons learned to date is the importance of developing strong relationships with our local electeds in order to encourage the praxis of internationalism from local office. Kendra Lara, a DSA member and Boston City Council member, introduced the Cuba resolution to the Boston City Council and was an important ally in navigating the political dynamics and procedures to pass the resolution. Willie Burnley Jr., a DSA member and Somerville City Council member, approached Boston DSA about passing a similar resolution in Somerville and drew on our support to pass a resolution in his city. Likewise, Ryan Black, a Boston DSA Coordinating Committee member and former Brookline Town Councilor, was the primary citizen petitioner who introduced the successful resolution in Brookline. 

The campaign has also solidified the importance of finding local connections to issues of national and international relevance. Though Boston and Cuba are 1,500 miles apart and the Cuban population in Boston is miniscule compared to cities in Florida,Boston and Cuba are both global leaders in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. The Boston resolution emphasized how Boston academia and businesses could benefit from knowledge exchange with Cuba. Cuba is also a leader in sustainability, a growing concern as the Boston area adapts to the impacts of the climate crisis. Thus, collaboration on sustainability between local cities and towns with Cuba may form promising bases for future resolutions.

Join Our Campaign

Want to end the Cuba embargo? Or just interested in strategic organizing campaigns? Join us! You can email the Boston DSA campaign at cuba.bdsa@gmail.com and we will link you up with the work. Be on the lookout for upcoming political education events as we move new resolutions forward! If you would like to directly help Cubans, who experienced a disastrous fire in early August and the devastating impact of Hurricane Ian in September, you can donate through Code Pink or Global Health Partners. The embargo limits donations that can flow to the country and only certain organizations are able to send assistance.

For the month of October we will be raising funds for the creation of Abortion Care kits for our local clinic. Come join us at our special fundraiser bake sale and event or donate online (and get some special treats, no tricks). Abortion Bans are Scary! Fundraiser Shop

Click here to Donate: Abortion Bans are Scary! Fundraiser

74 people in Milwaukee County Jail receive $3,200 in mutual aid funds

In 2020, Cooperation Milwaukee and Milwaukee DSA started a mutual aid fundraising campaign in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We were able to work with the Brown Berets and the Milwaukee Turners to distribute food, supplies and gift cards to people directly impacted by the pandemic on three separate occasions. Funds continued to grow after these food drives. We coordinated the distribution of funds to incarcerated people at Milwaukee County Jail with Milwaukee DSA’s Abolition Working Group.

As a result of the fundraising campaign, we have been able to equitably donate a total of $3,200 into the accounts of 74 people who are incarcerated in the Milwaukee County Jail.

The pandemic has created an especially dire situation for people incarcerated in jails and prisons across the United States and the world. The close living quarters in carceral facilities inevitably created a challenge in a pandemic, but there are many steps that could have been taken to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. People in carceral facilities across the country have reported medical neglect and unsanitary conditions. Many staff have shown indifference to safety precautions, often refusing to get vaccinated or declining to wear masks.

To make matters worse, hygienic products, such as soap and hand sanitizer, have been sporadically provided and only consistently available through the commissary (store). People in the Milwaukee County Jail are not paid for labor they perform while incarcerated, so those with no outside source of funds often have no way to access these basic sanitary items.

While we realize this won’t undo the damage that the inhumane conditions have imposed on Wisconsin families, we hope these funds will make life in custody a little more bearable for incarcerated people. We also hope that they will take solace in the fact that there are people on the outside who do care about them.

COVID-19 may be past its peak, but we are seeing a resurgence in cases and we must think of ways to help incarcerated people continue to navigate the pandemic. We certainly can’t rely on current leadership to address this crisis. Mutual aid via funds generated and submitted to incarcerated workers is one way in which we can support those most marginalized by the current oppressive system.

We envision a world where mutual aid, equity, solidarity and cooperation flourish, and will ultimately replace the hierarchical capitalist system which thrives on predation, exploitation, racism, classism, endless war and mass incarceration. We will continue to promote mutual aid for incarcerated people until such a world is achieved.

RPM takes you to Brazil and Florida, two places on the frontlines of climate chaos. We are joined by Benjamin Fogel from Jacobin and Richie Floyd from St Petersburg City Council. We will be talking about the elections in Brazil and the impact of Hurricane Ian on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Since their election victory on June 22, unionized workers at the Ansley Mall Starbucks in Atlanta are still waiting on Starbucks corporate to meet them at the bargaining table. Despite over 200 Starbucks locations voting to unionize across the country, including two stores here in Atlanta, Starbucks has refused to engage in good faith to reach a bargaining agreement with Starbucks partners. As of last week, only 3 of the 240 unionized stores have begun bargaining sessions with corporate.

To escalate their demands to begin negotiations, unionized stores have launched strikes, lasting a day or more, to demonstrate to management and corporate how much their labor is really worth. On National Coffee Day last Thursday, partners at the Ansley Mall Starbucks walked out at the start of their 5:30 AM shift, in protest of Starbucks’s refusal to bargain, in addition to a recent rescinding of COVID-19 benefits which the company introduced at the start of the pandemic.

Starbucks partners, DSA, and community supporters convened outside the store with coffee and donuts, holding picket signs and chanting “No contract, no coffee!” from early morning until late that afternoon. 

“We want a contract,” said Nick, a Starbucks partner on the picket line outside the store. “We still haven’t gotten any word from Starbucks corporate yet, and we want to make sure we have our voices heard and that we get our contract negotiations under way.”

Another partner of 3 ½ years said, “We are striking because we want better healthcare, wages, and working conditions. Since the start of COVID, our wages haven’t increased, our benefits haven’t improved, and the few benefits they have given us are about to be taken away. We’re tired of it and we want to bring awareness to how they’re being treated.”

Partners also noted frequent understaffing of stores, which puts an extra load on workers during busy days. “I have been on the floor by myself for half an hour before and I was not supported at all,” said one worker. “It’s not fair to people here trying to make a living.”

Over the course of the day, Starbucks partners and supporters were joined by union supporters, including the Atlanta-North Georgia Labor Council, United Campus Workers, Unite Here, and the International Painters Union (IUPAT). Customers who encountered the picket line showed solidarity by refusing to enter the store, wishing workers luck on their campaign to pressure corporate. Management closed the store down by noon, after attempting to run the store themselves, with the help of a scab.

While Ansley Mall and other stores across the country wait for their negotiations to begin, Starbucks Workers United has begun unveiling a set of non-economic proposals to present to corporate, based on input from partners across the country. The proposals aim to improve the day-to-day conditions of Starbucks partners, ranging in topic from hours and scheduling, to benefits and COVID-19 leave, to dress code and handling of sexual harassment in the workplace. 

Despite frustration with corporate, partners at Ansley Mall remain confident in their decision to unionize. “It’s important to form a union as a way to show solidarity with each other and to make sure we’re able to live, and earn decent wages, benefits, and working conditions,” said one partner. “Things are tough right now, but we’re gonna get through it. We’re making a better future for future workers.” 

Partners at Ansley Mall said they encouraged Starbucks workers at other stores to join in the fight to unionize. “Unions give you a chance to stand up for yourself and your rights,” said Nick. “Definitely unionize your workplace.”

Another worker, Amanda, agreed, saying, “You’re not alone, we’re here to support you. There are so many people here that are here to support you. It’s worth the fight.”

To directly support Atlanta Starbucks workers facing retaliation, folks can donates to the workers’ GoFundMe, and another for the Ansley Mall store specifically. Learn more about Atlanta DSA’s campaign support unionizing Starbucks workers at atldsa.org/starbucks. Starbucks workers looking to unionize can also check out https://sbworkersunited.org/

The post Ansley Mall Starbucks Strikes on National Coffee Day appeared first on Red Clay Comrade.

In the early hours of the morning on the 15th of September, the Biden Administration announced that a tentative agreement had been reached by the railroad companies and the railroad unions, delaying a potential nationwide strike. Now, the decision to accept this tentative agreement, or reject it and potentially go on strike rests with the railroad workers themselves. Tonight, we talked to Ross, a locomotive engineer and member of Railroad Workers United, to hear more about what railroad workers really think of this agreement and what may happen next. We also hear from Honda from DSA Labor to learn more about the launch of DSA’s national labor solidarity fund, and how this fund can help aid working class struggle from coast-to-coast. Connect with Railroad Workers United: https://www.railroadworkersunited.org/ DSA National Labor Solidarity Fund: https://laborsolidarity.com/

Vermont Workplace Organizer Training is coming to the Old Socialist Labor Hall in Barre, VT! Join us on October 8th and 9th for a series of four workplace organizing sessions starting at 10am each day. The best thing that any of us can do for the cause of organized labor is to build a militant, worker-driven union in our own workplace. We have seen the successes of the union building in Starbucks locations across the country and we need to keep building on that momentum in every sector.

Check out the sessions that will be offered and find out more here.

September 13th, 2022 was a day that will be remembered as pivotal in the growth of our chapter. Thanks to our aggressive endorsement campaign, recruitment efforts into our chapter, and the work of our members on the ground and on the phones, we are poised not just to more than double our number of chapter members in the Delaware General Assembly, but to hold sole possession of the second highest number of DSA members in our state legislature in the country! (Second only to New York, the bulwark of American socialism for the past 110 years, of course.) Our lone non-member endorsee facing a primary, Kerri Evelyn Harris, also won, and won big—she scored 64% of the vote in a four-way race! Overall, our members went 5-2 in their primaries, and including Harris, our endorsees went 6-2—a spectacular night for Delawarean leftism! Here is a more detailed account of the races.

SD-14 (Smyrna)-DSA member Kyra Hoffner vs. Sam Noel, Rob Sebastiano, Michael “Tater” Hill Shaner, and Kevin Musto—win

DSA member Kyra Hoffner (she/her) won with roughly 34% of the vote, besting her closest competitor Tater Hill-Shaner’s 27%. Despite concerns that fellow progressive Sam Noel would steal votes from Hoffner and cost her the election, Noel actually came in dead last, not even clocking 10%, despite raising the most money out of the crowded five-candidate logjam. In a reverse of what commonly happens in American politics to the ire of leftists everywhere, the moderate candidates actually scored 58% of the vote combined, but moderate voters were less disciplined than progressive ones and DSA’s discipline—along with that of Progressive Democrats of Delaware—in rallying behind Hoffner helped her consolidate progressive support. Hoffner leaned heavily into being the only woman against an all-male slate of opponents; she had stickers saying “Don’t be shady, vote for the lady” and touted her history as a League of Women Voters lobbyist while focusing on women’s issues such as reproductive rights on the campaign trail. Women responded—especially Moms Demand Action, who tirelessly worked on her campaign. Hoffner faces the toughest general campaign of any of the primary winners, but if she can survive (as she should—her district gave over 60% of its votes to Pres. Joe Biden in his 2020 campaign, and, per FiveThirtyEight, Delaware has one of the fewest numbers of swing voters per capita in the country), she will not only be the first DSA member in the history of the Delaware State Senate and our first Southern Delaware DSA branch member to hold public office, but she will be the first DSA member to take office in any former slave state in the 40-year national history of our organization-which would ideally deliver death blows to discouraging myths about where socialism can succeed. Still, this is probably our most competitive race in the general election and definitely one we need to show up heavily for!

RD-1 (Wilmington)-Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha vs. DSA member Wilmington City Councilwoman Shané Darby-Bey—loss

Unfortunately, despite winning the Election Day vote, Councilwoman Darby (she/her) lost by a 52-48% margin in her effort to primary incumbent Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha, who has faced heavy criticism for his centrist votes such as those to expand the city of Wilmington’s ability to gentrify residents out through eminent domain and to weaken gun control legislation despite the pandemic of gun violence that is ripping apart his district. Unfortunately, absentee ballots and early votes, combined with his strength in the majority-white neighborhoods of the Triangle, Trolley Square, and his home area of Brandywine Hills, were enough for Rep. Chukwuocha to prevail by just 90 votes. Thankfully, the vast majority of the district will still be represented at the city level either by Councilwoman Darby or City Councilwoman Linda Gray, who endorsed Councilwoman Darby, as well as by Ernest “Trippi” Congo, the City Council President who also endorsed the Councilwoman.

RD-6 (N. Wilmington)-Rep. Deb Heffernan vs. DSA member Becca Cotto—loss

Becca Cotto (she/her) ran an extraordinary campaign by all accounts-she started knocking on doors as early as November, braving the ice-cold Brandywine Hundred winter to get out and talk to the voters of the 6th District. Unfortunately, however, she came up short by a 56-44% margin. Several factors can explain the loss. Despite Rep. Heffernan’s questionable record on some issues—such as police and the environment—unlike the other incumbents our members faced off against, she does have bona fide progressive credentials on other issues, particularly education and labor, which earned her nearly unanimous union support in addition to her establishment backing, support that helped her build a staggering war chest of nearly $75,000. Another factor that cannot be ignored is race—Delaware DSA endorsees have yet to win any open seats in districts that are over 64% white, and RD-6 has a 74% white population—it may not be a homogenous bubble, but it’s certainly not diverse either. While Cotto was able to score a couple of wins in Pennyhill and in the the district’s lone majority-minority precinct of Edgemoor, Rep. Heffernan ran the rest of the table, even winning over 60% of the vote in Bellefonte, the one precinct in the district which gave openly socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders a win in his 2016 presidential run. The support of Scott Mackenzie, the President of Town Council (and under Bellefonte’s system, its de facto mayor), who while not a DSA member is also an open socialist, may have also helped Rep. Heffernan pick up a win even in a town known for its progressivism.

RD-13 (Elsmere)- DSA member DeShanna Neal vs. House Majority Whip Larry Mitchell—WIN!!!

In the biggest upset of this primary cycle by far, DeShanna Neal (she/they) knocked off the third-in-command of the Democratic House Caucus, 16-year incumbent, and former police officer Rep. Larry Mitchell by a 51-49% margin—just 24 votes! Every single canvass that DSA members participated in mattered, and the Working Families Party and Moms Demand Action were also enormously active in helping make this historic victory possible. Neal, who lives in a safely Democratic district, will almost assuredly be the first Buddhist and first non-binary person ever to hold public office in Delaware. As expected, her path to victory lay in the eastern part of the district, which is more diverse than its western section and sits next to the city of Wilmington; and while Neal lost the absentee vote, Election Day ballots made up the difference and carried the day for socialism in Delaware!

RD-18 (E. Newark)-DSA member Sophie Phillips vs. Martin Willis-win

In Delaware DSA’s biggest blowout of the night, Sophie Phillips (she/her), who in her safely Democratic district will almost assuredly become at age 26 the youngest member of the Delaware General Assembly in addition to its first-ever Jew of color and its first-ever Asian American, defeated Martin Willis by a whopping 71-29% margin. There isn’t a whole lot to analyze here: Phillips comfortably won every single precinct in the entire RD, thanks to her incredible discipline, error-free campaigning, and hard work canvassing every day during the home stretch of the campaign. She was able to coalesce the support of unions, activist groups, and even many moderates with her charisma and impeccable history of environmental activism and expertise in environmental policy—a must in a district suffering from as much pollution and congestion as the 18th.

RD-26 (Bear)-DSA member Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton vs. Kelly Williams-Maresca—win

In another comfortable win, Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (she/her) fended off right-wing nut job cum Democratic primary challenger Kelly Williams-Maresca in a 68-32% rout. Despite tens of thousands being poured in by dark money groups to attack Rep. Wilson-Anton, the Democratic primary voters of the 26th District could see right through Williams-Maresca’s paper-thin “Democratic” veneer. While Williams-Maresca posted respectable numbers and even two narrow wins in some of the smaller, whiter, more affluent precincts of the district such as Salem Woods, she lost by laughable margins in the more diverse ones-probably because comparing COVID vaccine mandates to the Holocaust and comparing January 6th favorably to Black Lives Matter protests doesn’t play well in majority-minority districts. Rep. Wilson-Anton, the first Muslim member of the Delaware General Assembly, also turned out her faith community, which heavily supported her.

RD-27 (Glasgow)-DSA member Rep. Eric Morrison vs. Michael Hertzfeld—win

Everyone’s favorite progressive firebrand, Rep. Eric Morrison (he/him), won by a nearly two-to-one margin (66-34%) against his primary opponent Michael Hertzfeld despite a determined effort by “Democratic” House “leadership” to punish him by giving him as much of Southern New Castle County as possible—this effort also included a second five-figure hate mail campaign that proved to be money flushed down the toilet. Hertzfeld’s campaign was likely doomed from the start—it was light on policy and even reluctant to identify itself as Democratic—maybe not the best strategy when running in a Democratic primary! Rep. Morrison, on the other hand, took nothing for granted, kept his high motor running full speed, and made sure to canvass and send canvassers to the new parts of his district. While Rep. Morrison—the first openly gay man to ever serve in the Delaware General Assembly—was dominant across the board, he did especially well in absentee voting, showing his strength in highly responsive constituent services and in the senior community—not necessarily a strength any openly gay man with a lot of piercings would have in a majority-white, suburban district—but this shows Rep. Morrison’s political skill and acumen—he is a great politician as well as a great leader! However, he faces a tough challenge in November from experienced political candidate John Marino, who despite his efforts to rebrand as a “moderate” Republican is a COVID-denying Donald Trump supporter. It is important that we support Rep. Morrison in his effort to retain his seat!

RD-32 (Dover)-DSA endorsee Kerri Evelyn Harris vs. Lamont Pierce, LaVaughn McCutchen, and Phil McGinnis—win

Despite fears that a crowded field could hand this race to another right-wing nut job cum Democratic primary candidate Phil McGinnis, Kerri Evelyn Harris (she/her) prevailed handily by a 40-point margin, 64% to McGinnis’s second place 24%, with neither of the other candidates sniffing double digits. There is not a ton to analyze here; Harris won every precinct except a tiny, white coastal one she lost 10-7 to McGinnis, an anomaly in this majority-minority district. Harris would be the first openly gay woman in the Delaware House of Representatives, and would be tied with Sophie Phillips to be the first multiracial state representative in Delaware should she prevail in her general election. While given the Democratic nature of her district, this should be an easy task to accomplish, unfortunately nothing is easy for a biracial, Black, LGBT, disabled woman facing the full wrath of the old Southern Delaware white establishment. Harris will face a tough battle and have a lot of powerful enemies, so it’s critical we give her our support as well!

Recommended candidates

Both of our recommended candidates won—Lydia York for Auditor of Accounts defeated incumbent Auditor Kathy McGuinness 71-29% and Brandon Toole for New Castle County Council (CD-1) defeated Frank Maule 58-42%.