It’s never been easy to be a front-line retail or customer service worker at the holidays, and with a dramatic surge in COVID cases affecting New York City, this year is even harder. For our Revolutions per Minute holiday special, we’re joined live by Eric Dirnbach of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, DSA’s national project in partnership with the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, as well as Aria, a retail worker who participated in a successful strike last year at the Good Vibrations sex shop in Massachusetts with support from EWOC.

Plus, a special correspondent, Shen, visits the picket line in Chinatown to speak with Liang, a restaurant worker at the historic dim sum restaurant Jing Fong.

We are fundraising for the WBAI end of year Tower Fund with some help from our NYC-DSA chorus, Sing in Solidarity. Give to the Tower Fund at towerfund.wbai.org and follow our chorus on Twitter @nycdsachoir.

Sign the petition to support Jing Fong workers and stop displacement in Chinatown at bit.ly/stopdisplacement.

Are you a retail or service worker looking for support organizing your worksite? You are not alone. Support and help is available. Visit https://workerorganizing.org/support/. 

2021 has been another incredibly tough year, with the pandemic and climate crisis exacerbating income inequality and dire living situations for working class people across the globe.

 

Tonight we’ll catch up with a few DSA working groups to talk about the organizing they’ve done to build working class power and solidarity this year and what’s coming up for 2022. Our guests tonight are Joel from the BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group on the Boycott Puma campaign and the power of a consumer boycott, Emma Claire from the Healthcare Working Group on universal healthcare and labor rights for home health care workers, and Josh and Robert from Eco-Socialists on the Green New Deal for Public Schools and the New York Public Power campaign.

 

To learn more or get involved with NYC-DSA's eco-socialist organizing, visit https://ecosocialists.nyc/join-us/.

 

Find NYC-DSA's Healthcare Working Group on Twitter or Facebook @NYCDSAHealth or email the organizers at healthcare@socialists.nyc.

 

Curious about the BDS movement and DSA's Palestine solidarity work? View the primer and FAQ: https://palestine.dsausa.org/palestine-and-bds-faq/.

 

Throughout this episode and all our remaining 2021 episodes, we are fundraising for WBAI's rent on the transmitter at 4 Times Square. We encourage all who are able to donate what they can, even a small amount, toward this important community institution. Visit towerfund.wbai.org to give. 

Gary Dorrien's new book American Democratic Socialism is a comprehensive look at the deep roots, many of them religious, of democratic socialism in this country. Rev. Andrew Wilkes spoke with Professor Dorrien at a live event in New York City at Judson Memorial Church, where this podcast was recorded.

*and Cypress Hills, and Ocean Hill!

Believe it or not, 2022 is right around the corner and will bring with it a new electoral cycle and a new slate of DSA-endorsed socialist candidates for office. On tonight’s show, we kick off our series of interviews with NYC-DSA’s 2022 slate as we speak LIVE with Samy Nemir Olivares, candidate for Assembly District 54 in Bushwick, Cypress Hills, and Ocean Hill. Hear from Samy on their experience as a community organizer in North Brooklyn, the radical legacy of queer and trans people of color, the next steps for socialists in Albany, and smashing gender binaries right alongside capitalism.

 

We also speak to Gabriel Hernandez of NYC-DSA’s Queer Caucus on building queer community and mentorship for socialists. Finally, we hear a brief update on the struggle for free, equitable higher education for all from the New Deal for CUNY coalition.

 

To learn more about Samy Nemir-Olivares and support his run for Assembly, visit: https://www.samyfornewyork.com/

 

To learn more about NYC-DSA’s Queer Caucus, sign up for their mailing list here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/queer-caucus-interest-form

 

For more on the December 11 action for a New Deal for CUNY, visit: https://psc-cuny.org/SatDec11

Working class struggle continues to spread across New York City and the rest of the country. Wirecutter workers at the New York Times have launched their strike, joining the 3,000 Columbia academic workers on the picket line. 14,000 Kroger workers in Houston have authorized a strike while 24,000 academic workers at the University of California have done the same. Rank-n-file reform slate Teamsters United won a sea-changing victory in leadership elections. New leadership has promised more labor militancy and committed the 1.3 million member union to organizing Amazon facilities and drivers across the country. Earlier this month the New York Taxi Workers Alliance declared victory after a hunger strike forced the city government to acquiesce to their demand to cancel millions in debt and restructure their loan. We’re joined by Jaslin Kaur and Augustine to hear about this fight and what it means for working class New Yorkers. Last week a Wisconsin court allowed Kyle Rittenhouse to walk free despite the fact that he shot, wounded, and killed protesters in Kenosha. We’ll play you sounds from the streets as protesters reacted to this injustice here in Brooklyn.

Xcel Energy is the largest provider of energy in the state of Colorado. If you live in the Metro Denver area, chances are Xcel is your electric utility. Thanks to community and activist efforts over the years, Colorado has passed measures forcing the company to increase its use of clean, renewable energy. Despite this, Xcel still sources 63% of its energy from fossil fuels and continues to oppose efforts to move faster. 

Meanwhile Xcel siphons over half a billion in profits annually to Wall Street investors, and seeks to grow that annually, despite electricity becoming cheaper thanks to renewables. 

A key opportunity to shift Xcel to clean, affordable and renewable energy is its Electric Resource Plan (ERP). An ERP is a ten year plan for how Xcel will power the state and how much they can profit from it. The ERP maps out what coal and gas plants close and by when as well as what new projects like wind and solar will come on line. 

Xcel’s Plan to Increase Our Energy Bills and Continue Fossil Fuel Profiteering

Xcel released their preferred plan in 2021 and unsurprisingly they want to keep profiting off fossil fuels at the expense of us and the planet. 

Key items include: 

• Increasing our energy bills to line the pockets of Wall Street investors
• Running the state’s largest coal plant, Comanche 3, until 2035
• Running the Cherokee CC gas plant until 2055
• Running the Arapahoe gas plant until an unknown date

Continued pollution and fueling the climate crisis literally means more death in already suffering communities.

Denver Ecosocialists’ Clean Energy Plan for the People

Instead we need a plan that will lower our energy bills, transition to clean energy and democratize the grid.

We demand the following: 

• Close all coal plants and the Arapahoe and Cherokee gas plants by 2030
• Transition to 100% renewable energy for Denver by 2030
• Help coal and natural gas plant employees’ transition to new jobs by covering their workplace training costs and guarantee them a well-paying union job
• Increase rooftop solar by lifting the net metering cap and paying us fully for the electricity we contribute to the grid from solar panels
• Democratize the grid by building rooftop solar, parking lot solar, community owned  storage, and upgrading the grid to support this distributed energy.
• Finance all new projects through public banking to save money and invest money back into our communities (not Wall Street).
• Lower our energy bills by passing on the savings renewable energy will bring, not allow Xcel to keep raising rates and pocketing the profits.

How We Win

Xcel’s Electricity Resource Plan must be approved by the Public Utility Commission (PUC), a section of our state government. The PUC exists to, 

“serve the public interest by effectively regulating utilities and facilities so that the people of Colorado receive safe, reliable, and reasonably-priced services consistent with the economic, environmental and social values of our state.”

Four governor-appointed people serve on the PUC- 

• Republican Doug Dean, Director
• Democrat Eric Blank, Commissioner
• Democrat Megan Gilman, Commissioner 
• Independent John C. Gavan, Commissioner

Their track record of regulating Xcel “consistent with the economic, environmental and social values of our state” is a mixed bag, to put it generously. However, when public attention is on, they have followed through with their responsibilities.

It’s up to each of us to raise our voices and make clear to the PUC that they need to stand up to Xcel’s lobbyists and do the right thing by passing a plan that reduces our energy bills by shifting to clean, affordable and renewable energy.

Thousands Of Us Commented on the Plan

All Colorado residents, regardless of age and citizenship, can leave a public comment on Electric Resource Plans. Every comment is read and tallied by the PUC.

Over a thousand people commented in favor of clean energy, much more than the opposition. You can read those comments by visiting the Colorado Government’s Archive of Electronic Filings.

Search for Documents with a Proceeding Number of 21A-0141E and Document Type Comments.

Pueblo Residents Demand the Comanche Coal Plant Close

On October 28, 2021 over two hundred Pueblo residents spoke out against Xcel’s plan to run the state’s largest, dirtiest coal plant, until 2040. 2030 is the absolute latest we can run coal to avoid the worst of an already worsening climate crisis.

Over Hundred Coloradans Speak Out at the Statewide Public Hearing

Hundreds again showed up on December 2, 2021 to continue demanding a swift and just transition. The meeting was scheduled to end at 6pm but ran well past 7. Person after person spoke out in favor of the above demands.

Over One Hundred Colorado Residents Attend Public Hearing on Xcel’s Electric Resource Plan Demanding a Just Climate Transition

Organizing in Response to the Final Electric Resource Plan

The Public Utility Commission will announce their final decision on Xcel’s Electric Resource Plan in the spring of 2022.

We’re organizing contingency plans for the various outcomes that could come out from this process. Whatever the PUC decides, we’ll continue to work to end the fossil fuel era, democratize the grid and win energy justice.

If you have any other questions or just want to get involved, email us at ecosocialist.committee@denverdsa.org or attend an upcoming meeting.

We have a world to win!

Today we’re talking with Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest and her district manager Justin Freeman about how they are bringing their socialist office directly to the community they represent and are building power not just to win elections, but pass legislation that meaningful changes the lives of the working class in Brooklyn like the Less is More bill, which was signed into law this year, and Public Power and ‘Good Cause Eviction’ bill which are top priorities for DSA electeds this upcoming legislative session.

 

And it’s not just the power in the halls of government that is being challenged by organizers in New York City right now. Workers are taking on one of the most powerful and influential Ivy League universities and newspapers in the country at the same time. We’ll hear from RPM’s own Chris Carr who is one of many union members of the Student Workers of Columbia currently on strike and from one of the New York Times’ Wirecutter union members who plan to strike on Black Friday.

 

Follow Phara and Justin on twitter @phara4assembly and @JustinR_Freeman

and get involved with Phara's office at bit.ly/pharaoffice 

Election day was Tuesday and DSA’s 30+ nationally-endorsed campaigns were put to voters. With a nearly 70% win rate for DSA's campaigns nationally, there's much to discuss about organizing for socialism at the ballot box and the rising tensions between the left and the existing Democratic establishment. On tonight’s show,  we'll share provisional election results and an interview with a DSA-endorsed candidate for Somerville, Massachusetts City Council, Tessa Bridge.

 

Here in NYC, Eric Adams has -- unfortunately -- swept to victory as mayor. Adams has publicly distanced himself from the left and socialism, so to extend the courtesy, let us just say that *all* cops are bastards.  How are we going to beat Adams and the bourgeois, capitalist interests he represents? We discuss that question live with our comrade Robert Cuffy, a union city worker and police abolitionist who organizes with NYC-DSA's Labor Branch and Afrosocialist Caucus.

 

We also hear a report from RPM's antifascist correspondent Amy Wilson on the rise of far-right organizing in New York City around the wedge issue of mandates for COVID-19 vaccine.

 

Keep up with the results of DSA's nationally-endorsed races as they develop, thanks to our comrades at Metro DC DSA: https://washingtonsocialist.mdcdsa.org/station-z/dsa-races-2021

 

The Comanche 3 Coal Plant is the largest single source of air pollution in Colorado. It’s a massive generating station southeast of Pueblo where you can see the smoke from miles away. To avert the worst of the climate crisis we need to shut it down as soon as possible.

A Bad Idea from the Beginning

One of the tragedies of the Comanche Coal Plant is that it was built in 2010. We were already experiencing record-breaking heat waves and other extreme weather events from climate change. It was clear then that building new coal plants was a death sentence.

Yet, Xcel Energy pushed for the project and the Public Utility Commission (PUC), responsible for regulating Xcel, gave the project the green light.

The project cost nearly a $1 billion to build. Since it came on line, not only has the electricity been dirty, but it has struggled to even work. Break downs have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to fix. It’s one of the most expensive, unreliable sources of energy in our state.

It’s criminal that Xcel built this coal plant and that the PUC allowed the project to go through.

Glaring Example of Environmental Racism

The Comanche Coal Plant sits near the heavily working class and Latino city of Pueblo. One out of every ten adults has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, more than twice the state average. As is so often the case, frontline communities endure the worst harms of running coal while Wall Street investors reap the profits.

Join the Fight to Close the Comanche Coal Plant

Originally Xcel planned on running the coal plant until 2070. After public outcry and determined organizing, that date was pushed back to 2050, then again to 2040 and now finally 2035. However, the science is clear that coal needs to wind down by 2030.

Xcel just proposed its ten year plan to the Public Utility Commission (PUC). The PUC is responsible for listening to public comments and deciding what the final plan will be.

Hundreds of people have already submitted comments telling the PUC to close all coal plants, especially Comanche 3, by 2030.

Luckily, the PUC has new commissioners from the one that approved construction of the plant in the first place. We have a good chance of convincing them to do the right thing, but we need to show an outpouring of support for closing the coal plant to make that happen.

Three ways to help Close the Comanche Coal Plant

1. Write a comment demanding that the Comanche 3 Coal Plant close.
2. Join our DSA Climate Comment & Watch Party on December 2nd
3. Email ecosocialist.committee@denverdsa.org to join us in building power for a Just Transition

You’re listening to Revolutions Per Minute live from the new WBAI studios, a socialist radio show and podcast from members of New York City Democratic Socialists of America. The Democratic Socialists of America is the largest socialist organization in the United States, with 95,000 members nationwide and NYC-DSA is its biggest chapter. We are run by our 9,000+ members and organizers who are working together to build democratic socialism in all five boroughs. A UAW worker on strike at a John Deere facility in Iowa was killed on the picket lines early this morning. We send our love and solidarity to his loved ones and his ten thousand union brothers and sisters still out there fighting for a dignified life. His sacrifice will not be forgotten. Unionization efforts and the strike wave continue to spread. Amazon workers in Staten Island announced an NLRB petition earlier this week. Thousands of academic workers unionized at the University of Pittsburgh while thousands more at Harvard today launched a three day work stoppage. Columbia academic workers walked out today are prepared to hit the picket lines next week here in New York. 45,000 healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente have authorized a strike. NYC-DSA members this past weekend stood in solidarity with 2,000 healthcare workers on strike at Catholic Mercy Hospital in Buffalo. We’ll hear from Charlie Baker on this struggle and the rally for DSA endorsed Mayoral candidate India Walton. Dozens of DSA candidates are running in races across the country from Massachusetts to New York to Florida. Jorge from Joel Brooks campaign in Jersey City joins to discuss their city council campaign in its final week. We’ll also hear a special report from Lee on the victorious struggle led by NYC-DSA Ecosocialist Working Group to prevent a fracked gas power plant from being built in Astoria.