Do we live in a secular age? Is capitalism a religion? In this episode, Stephen Crouch asks author and professor Eugene McCarraher about the "misenchanted" qualities of capitalist society. Dr. McCarraher is the author of the 800-page tome entitled, Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity (2019). During the episode, Dr. McCarraher discusses the shortcomings of Marxism and the Protestant work ethic, and suggests a better path forward through the anti-capitalist Romantic tradition with its "enchanted" view of the world. Dr. Eugene McCarraher is a Professor of Humanities and History at Villanova University and the author of Christian Critics: Religion and the Impasse in Modern American Social Thought. He has written for Dissent and The Nation and contributes regularly to Commonweal, The Hedgehog Review, and Raritan. His recent work, The Enchantments of Mammon: How Capitalism Became the Religion of Modernity, was supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Resources listed include magazines, publishers, podcasts and other project that should to educate you in organizing, theory, and history. Outlets Democratic Left : A Publication of Democratic Socialists of America Viewpoint Magazine : A militant research magazine that “aims to understand the struggles that define our conjuncture, critically reconstruct radical history, and reinvent Marxism for […]

This weekend, OCRA coalition partners and comrades, namely OKC DSA, For The People OK (FTP), Autonomous Brown Berets of Oklahoma (ABB), Student Socialist League OK (SSL), and Scissortail Defense Network (SDN), operated a mutual aid fair at the storefront of Nappy Roots Books in east OKC. FTP provided groceries, Central OK IWW + OK Tenants […]

Did you know that Coulee DSA has a book club? It started shortly before Covid hit, and currently meets online every Tuesday night at 7 PM. The group discusses books, articles, and essays, as well as podcasts and documentaries. Next Tuesday, 5/11, is a great time to join as the group is starting a new book, Before The Next Bomb Drops: Rising Up from Brooklyn to Palestine by Remi Kanazi.

The group doesn’t require regular attendance, so feel free to stop by or drop in and out as you have time. Reading is strongly encouraged but not required. The discussion often goes off on tangents and covers a broad array of topics, and we would love you add your voice to the discussion! Reply to this email if you are interested in joining, and we will connect you to the group.

The post DSA Book Club’s Next Read – Before The Next Bomb Drops first appeared on Coulee DSA.

It’s our second annual post-May Day labor movement extravaganza! From coast to coast, workers are organizing to win, making gains, and reckoning with disappointments and challenges. On today’s show, we’re joined live by journalist and organizer Chris Brooks and by our radio comrades Jacob and David, hosts of Valley Labor Report -- Alabama’s only union talk radio show! From workers at the heart of New York’s cultural and media worlds to mine workers on strike in Alabama, it’s all on the table for tonight’s show. 

Valley Labor Report broadcasts Saturday mornings from 9:30am-11:00am on 92.5FM/770AM WVNN. Watch from anywhere on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheValleyLaborReport and follow the show on Twitter @LaborReporters. 

If you’re ready to organize your workplace or just get more active in the labor movement, a great place to start is the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (https://workerorganizing.org/) a joint effort between DSA National and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.

Hey, CDSA members, supporters, and awesome community members! Coulee Democratic Socialists of America is revamping our communications stream.

Going forward, our newsletter will be broken up into regular blog posts. We have carried your subscription over from the newsletter to our blog here on the Coulee DSA website.

Posts will include info on our working groups, the DSA as a whole, local campaigns and projects, and more. We are aiming for an email a week or so–and we promise not to spam you with pointless posts.

If you are looking for more info, check out our website, or email us back.

The post CDSA Blog Kickoff first appeared on Coulee DSA.

Athens Area DSA will be partnering with other DSA chapters in Georgia to host a Pass the PRO Act phonebank on Saturday, May 8th from 3:00 – 5:30pm. Join us and comrades from all across the state to demand that Senators Warner, Kelly, and Sinema fight for workers and support the PRO Act! Register for the phonebank here

This May Day, Coulee DSA came out in numbers to volunteer at the community garden on the south side of the Hogan administration center in La Crosse. In a simple illustration of the power of workers uniting, many hand made the load light, and we got all the weeding, tilling, and planting done in about an hour for the entire garden plot.

Community based projects like these are a wonderful way to bring people together and use the power of labor to benefit the community as a whole. We are looking forward to the harvest this Fall!

Thank you to Our Wisconsin Revolution La Crosse Chapter, Weigent Hogan Neighborhood Association, and all the individual volunteers who showed up to lend a hand.

The post DSA planting on May Day first appeared on Coulee DSA.

Lets meet in socially-distanced and masked person-space! Saturday May 1st Athens Area DSA will be at Bishop Park with games and snacks for a family friendly gathering. Come chat, learn about what we are doing, see where you can plug in! Later we will move to a casual hang out at Little Kings (adults only) starting at 7pm. Come to either or come to both! We are excited to see and speak to your faces!

RSVP for the event here: https://fb.me/e/KR0njmt2

We believe in a fair society that works for everyone. The spread of COVID-19, and the public narrative around it, is highlighting the ways that our system doesn’t work this way – that it is broken. Even here in Ithaca, where many live comfortable, fulfilled lives, the reality is that we have the same problems as everywhere else – all of which are highlighted and made worse by the crisis at hand.

Here, as anywhere else, we have workers and poor people who cannot lose the scant economic security accessible to them. Isolation is impossible when your life depends on your wages.

We need to:

• Protect the poor from evictions or utility shutoffs and mandate a living wage in Tompkins County.

• Protect the homeless from infection and immediately work to provide equitable and comfortable housing for all.

• Cover the costs of testing and treatment for all affected, and work decisively to enact the NY Health Act.

• Require businesses to provide paid sick leave and penalize those who have used the crisis to deprive wages.

• Provide care for those who are at risk due to incarceration, and develop definite plans to implement alternatives to prisons.

The limited steps that the government has taken to address the economic and social effects of the outbreak show that real change is not impossible. Their shortcomings are the direct result of interference by the wealthiest people in the country. We won’t stand by while others suffer. We demand permanent relief from poverty and injustice.

Ithaca DSA Executive Team