ROC DSA Steering Committee | September 8, 2026

This August saw the highest number of immigration arrests on record at 50,925, surpassing the previous record of 50,208 set in July. More than 65,000 people are currently being held in ICE detention. In the first eighteen months of Trump’s presidency, ICE detention in Monroe County increased by 1,500 percent. Most of those detained have no prior criminal record, and we know all too well of the hardworking and caring friends and family members who are missing. 

Meanwhile, the federal government is building a detention center in our own backyard, and despite community concerns our County Legislature just approved grant funding that requires coordination with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). We need reassurance that our neighbors are being protected.

ROC DSA applauds the leadership of the City of Rochester and New York State on this issue. Rochester has considered itself a sanctuary city since May 1986 – a policy recently upheld to the embarrassment of the Trump Administration’s lawyers. At the state level, immigration reforms now ban formal 287(g) agreements, bar local jails from being used for immigration detention, and prohibit local governments from contributing to the costs of immigration detention facilities. 

Monroe County needs to plug the gaps by barring all forms of coordination, whether under 287(g) agreements or otherwise. The state policy does not bar much of the coordination we have witnessed. In Illinois, similar state-level legislation is being undercut by informal coordination. And despite the protests of County legislators that Operation Stonegarden is “not about enforcing immigration laws or facilitating deportations,” an investigation by New York Focus has found examples of sheriffs participating in immigration arrests under the program. Already, sheriffs across New York are challenging the state’s legislation, and our own sheriff, Todd Baxter, joined Republican sheriffs from eleven other counties to speak out about the proposed legislation in April. We do not trust the Sheriff’s pinky-promises about enforcement policy.

ROC DSA also demands that the County use its economic leverage against the proliferation of detention centers by divesting from companies involved in their construction. 

Recently, many of our legislators took photo ops in front of Lake Ontario, or released strongly-worded statements against the Trump regime. It’s time they back this rhetoric up with action. 

This proposal to Protect Our Neighbors may not achieve our vision of a clear path to citizenship for all, ending deportation, abolishing ICE, and dismantling detention centers. However, it is an important step toward building a bastion of resistance against the rising tide of fascism.

We encourage our community to give voice to those too vulnerable to speak out. And we encourage our legislators to remember that they represent all county residents, and have a duty to use their privileged position for our protection. 

The post ROC DSA Encourages the Monroe County Legislature to Protect Our Neighbors first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Events & Actions

Tuesday September 8 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Ecosocialism Working Group Bi-weekly Meeting (in person at 1916 McAllister St and on zoom)

Wednesday September 9 (7:00 PM – 9:00 PM) DSA SF General Meeting (in person at Kelly Cullen Community 220 Golden Gate Ave and on zoom)

Sunday September 13 (1:00 PM – 2:30 PM) What Is DSA?(in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Sunday September 13 (5:00 PM – 6:00 PM) Tenderloin Healing Circle Working Group (on zoom)

Sunday September 13 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM) Working Class Gender Liberation (Provisional) Working Group (in person at 1916 McAllister St, front room)

Monday September 14 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Tenderloin Healing Circle (in-person at Kelly Cullen Community 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Monday September 14 (6:00 PM – 8:30 PM) Homelessness Working Group (in person at 1916 McAllister St and on zoom)

Monday September 14 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM) Labor Education Committee Meeting (zoom)

Tuesday September 15 (5:30 PM – 7:00 PM) Social Housing Working Group (in person at 1916 McAllister St and on zoom)

Wednesday September 16 (7:00 PM – 8:30 PM) Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (in person at 1916 McAllister St and on zoom)

Thursday September 17 (5:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Phonebank for Prop I (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Thursday September 17 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM) Education Board Open Meeting (in person at 1916 McAllister St and on zoom)

Thursday September 17 (7:00 PM – 8:30 PM) Organizing Mindset Training Series (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Friday September 18 (5:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Movie night: The Battle of Chile Part One (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Saturday September 19 (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM) Prop B x Prop I Lit Drop (in person at Rochambeau Playground Park, 238 25th Ave)

Saturday September 19 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM) HWG Food Service [New Location!] (in person at Patricia’s Green Picnic Area, 499 1/2 Hayes St)

Sunday September 20 (3:00 PM – 5:00 PM) Canvass Workers with SF EWOC! (in person at William McKinley Monument, the Panhandle)

Monday September 21 (5:30 PM – 8:00 PM) Yes On I – Social Housing Working Group Lit Drop (in person, location TBD)

Monday September 21 (7:00 PM – 8:30 PM) SF EWOC Local Meeting (in person at 1916 McAllister St and on zoom)

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Yes on B Lit Drops!

Prop B has TWO lit drops this weekend, including a joint event with Prop I. We’ll be in:

• Cole Valley (Grattan Playground) on Saturday the 12th at 11AM
• The Castro (Eureka Valley Rec Center) on Sunday the 13th at 11AM.

We need your help to get the word out about what a public bank can do for SF before ballots drop! RSVP here

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Organizing Mindset Training: Basebuilding 101, How to Have an Effective Organizing Conversation

Every Thursday at 7PM from Sep 17 through Oct 8
DSA SF Office – 1916 McAllister St

Talking to people is central to effective organizing, but how do you embark on an organizing conversation? Organizing Mindset Training is a four-part event series that goes in depth into every aspect of the organizing conversation so that it’s a sharpened and ready-to-use tool for any campaign. After this training, participants will:

• Learn about the differences between organizing, advocacy, and direct services/mutual aid
• Understand of the role of an Organizing Committee and carrying out an organizing strategy
• Overview the Organizing Conversation and get in-depth practice for each step
• Develop the ability to have multiple successive organizing conversations with a person, with the goal of getting them more involved in your organizing

Attendance of all four sessions isn’t required, but it is encouraged! RSVP HERE

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Organizing Mindset Training: Basebuilding 101, How to Have an Effective Organizing Conversation

DSA SF movie nights are back with The Battle of Chile! We will bring to life the heroic struggles of the working people of Chile and Salvador Allende’s presidency in the lead up to the US-backed fascist coup of Sept 11, 1973. These films will give us a glimpse into a powerful class-wide grassroots movement which won the country’s highest elected office and controlled vast sectors of industry and community networks on the ground.

Join us on Fridays Sept 18, Sept 25, and Oct 2 in the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister St. Snacks and soft drinks will be provided. Bring a friend! RSVP Here

I love the Hearts of Pine. Been to my share of games. Have spent hundreds of bucks on gear. I’m on a first name basis with one of the owners. And I appreciated the statement they made last month calling for accountability after ICE murdered Johan Sebastian Guerrero Duran.

All that said, the city of Portland should not carve out an exception to our working waterfront zone in order to allow them to build a $50 million dollar soccer stadium on land protected for marine-based industries.

Why? Well, soccer stadiums can operate anywhere. Cargo ships, barges, trawlers, and tugboats cannot. Nor can the longshoremen and women, stevedores, harbor pilots, and deckhands who service them. They need deep water ports, which is what the western waterfront provides.

As background, a couple weeks ago, the Hearts of Pine announced they had put Cassidy Point, the westernmost corner of our waterfront, under contract to build an 11,000 seat soccer stadium. That sale is contingent on the city approving a carveout to our longstanding protections for marine-based freight and industrial uses, which need access to the deep water of the harbor.

The zone was first put in place in the late 1980’s after a developer transformed Central Wharf into a string of 150+ high-end condos (now called Chandler’s Wharf). The backlash to that development led to a citizen referendum in which Portlanders voted 2-1 to freeze all non-marine development on the water side of Commercial street.

That zoning has been modified carefully over the years, and only after extensive input from those working the piers. Those modifications have allowed for a certain percentage of non-marine uses, mostly on the upper floors of old or new structures, in order to provide some economic diversity. 

Overall, the amount of space in Portland that marine business can use is decreasing. But for the western half of the waterfront, where the Hearts of Pine want to build their stadium, there’s been some real growth in marine industries. 

Eimskip, a shipping company, moved into the International Marine Terminal at the beginning of the western waterfront in 2013. Around the same time, Portland Yacht Services turned 23 acres of what was fallow land into a thriving boat restoration and storage business. And between those two sites, a massive cold storage facility was built. 

This has meant hundreds of new good-paying jobs, doing exactly the work that can only be done on the waterfront. A real success story of how protecting land for its best community use, not simply its most profitable return for an investor, can help everyone.

But Cassidy Point was recently purchased by a multi-billion dollar out-of-state hedge fund. Those investors have reportedly been trying to make a quick buck by flipping it. Apparently, both the Maine Port Authority and Eimskip had been interested in buying it before the hedge fund, because they had wanted to expand commercial shipping to that area.

But my guess is the hedge fund managers know that if they could find a buyer who would seek to rezone the property out of its protected status, they could exponentially maximize their profit (some estimates say eliminating its protected status inflates the value ten times). That’s where the Hearts of Pine came in. 

When I was mayor, Portland developed a comprehensive plan where groups from all across the city came together to discuss what we wanted to see for Portland by 2030. Fully 91% of Portland residents surveyed at the time supported “continued protections for Portland’s working waterfront.” That is why two of the plan’s major goals for the waterfront are the “ … mitigation of market trends that could compromise the balance between marine industries and competing development,” and “recognize and reinforce waterborne transport of goods and people as foundational to our community.”

Even in our most recent overhaul of our building code, the waterfront protection zone, in its entirety, was kept intact.

So, what to do? Clearly we love our soccer team. And if the owners want to spend their own money building a new stadium, they certainly have that right. But, as I said above, soccer stadiums can go anywhere. They could put it out on Riverside Street (hey, if it is good enough for our homeless shelter, it should be good enough for soccer). Or maybe next to 295, just up from Cassidy Point, where there are huge swaths of land near going unused. The Hearts of Pine owners said they actually looked at 12 viable sites.

But wherever it goes, it should not go on the waterfront. Supporting the home team matters, but in this case, the home team I side with are the women and men who need the waterfront to make a living.

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This story was originally published by The Beacon, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from the Beacon, sign up for the free Beacon newsletter here.

The post Portland’s working waterfront is no place for professional soccer appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Are you interested in becoming the best organizer you can be? Do you want to expand socialism here in Milwaukee, but are unsure of where and how to start? Have you been involved but feel like the project did not go anywhere? If you answered yes to any of these questions, the Milwaukee Socialist Organizer Class is for you! 

This eight week program will focus on holistically teaching you to be an unstoppable organizer who builds socialism, changes hearts and minds, and impacts our city.  You will learn direct action organizing, as defined by Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy Manual for Activists, in which we organize actions, campaigns, and tactics to “1) win real, immediate, concrete improvement in people’s lives . . . 2) Give people a sense of their own power . . . 3) Alter the relations of power.” 

Interested individuals will register (Click here, which is due by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, October 4th, 2026), be contacted, and begin attending classes.  DSA membership is not required to participate, but is encouraged. 

This education program will be a combination of in-person events with virtual events if necessary. Each unit will be roughly a week, with a week break in the middle of the program. Each unit will consist of classroom-style instruction in the unit topic (no more than 2 hours, which will be in-person on Monday nights from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m.), field work in organizing (which will be at least 3 hours and consist of having conversations, moving people to action, and building infrastructure for a strong socialist movement involving several types of campaigns), and time for personal reflection. Each participant must commit to the entire program and, unless excused, attend every unit instruction, and field work session.  Missing more than three classes and field work sessions may result in removal from the program.  

This is the tenth time this program has been offered, and it is back by popular demand! The instructors have updated and revised the course to make you even more prepared to lead in socialism.  

Due to the nature of this program, we are only offering class in-person.

Time commitment per week: 

Time commitment per week:
Unit instruction: + 2 hours
Organizing work: + 3 hours
Miscellaneous tasks: + 1 hour
Total time per week = 6 hour

Weekly Schedule 

Class will be conducted on Monday evenings from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. and held at Central United Methodist Church (639 N 25th St, Milwaukee, WI 53233). Class will be in-person.   

Field work will be held at regular intervals over the week, with options to organize at several points during the week: 

(tentative schedule, subject to change . . .) 

Saturdays, 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.

Sundays 12:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. 

Mondays 5:30 until 8:30 p.m. 

Program Timeline: 

Sunday, October 4th, 2026 at 11:59 p.m.:

Application deadline – Apply Here!

Monday, October 5th, 2026:

Start of eight week program ( class held, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.), held at Central United Methodist Church (639 N 25th St, Milwaukee, WI 53233)

Monday, October 12th:

Class will be held from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Monday, October 19th:

Class will be held from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Monday, October 26th:

Class will be held from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Monday, November 2nd:

Class will be held from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Monday, November 9th:

Class will be held from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Monday, November 16th:

Class will be held from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Monday, November 23rd:

Class will be held from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Units

Each unit helps to answer the question: what is organizing? 

Welcome: what is organizing?

• Get to know participants and instructor
• Define scope of class and intentions 
• Determine goals and desired outcomes 

Organizing is one-on-one Conversations

• Learn the 7 point organizing conversation 
• Practice the conversation and its elements 

Organizing is building the committee and the campaign 

• The importance (or not) of the committee
• Power Mapping the campaign 
• Strategy Chart 

Organizing is holistic productivity 

• Traction versus distraction 
• Time management and its importance
• The Reverse Calendar 
• Overcoming blocks to action

Organizing is a mindset 

• Acknowledging hurdles and setbacks 
• Failure is a great option
• Develop a practice to keep you going

Organizing is raising money and managing it

• Why money is OK 
• How to bring energy and money to your campaign 
• The basics of campaign budgeting and finance 

Organizing is communications

• What does “messaging” mean? 
• The power of media 
• Writing workshop

Organizing is bringing it all together

• You’ve got momentum – now what? 
• Recap of unit themes

Reviews

Here is what previous students have to say about the Milwaukee Socialist Organizer Class: 

“[Before the class] I had no idea about the actual work of organizing.  Now I feel confident that I would be able to become a leader in a campaign setting . . .” 

“I loved the practical application of socialism . . . [and] I loved the far-reaching application of some of the class content.” 

“This is a great way to move into the world of socialism. . . thank you so much for offering this course” 

“This [class] is a great first step for anyone looking to start organizing . . .” 

“I radically grew in my comfort around being upfront and simply being able to approach a complete stranger with a potentially controversial topic.” 

“New organizers and experienced organizers can benefit from this class.” 

“Generally speaking my confidence level just interacting with people about socialism has gone through the roof.  I have been given a phenomenal overview of how to organize and I feel confident that I can find out what works best for me in the future.”  

“It was great to grow as an organizer within the confines of a welcoming community/instructor.” 

“I feel more confident organizing outside of an electoral context.”  

Meet your instructors: 

Alex Brower

Alex Brower is a labor leader, socialist organizer, and Milwaukee’s 3rd district Alderman as a DSA endorsed elected official, serving on the City of Milwaukee Common Council. Professionally, Alex has been the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans, which organizes union retirees, in addition to other organizing roles with UFCW, SEIU, WisDems, and Wisconsin Jobs Now. In his organizing work, Alex has saved jobs from privatization, helped workers win a union voice on the job, defeated a temp agency, organized against a proposed iron-ore mine, helped bring comprehensive sex education to Beloit Public Schools, and won workplace healthcare for many uninsured MPS Substitute Teachers. As an MPS substitute teacher and former Milwaukee Rec. Department instructor, Alex brings a host of experience teaching others. Alex has also been a candidate for Milwaukee City Comptroller and School Board, running both times as a socialist. 

Andy Barbour

Andy currently serves as a chapter co-chair of Milwaukee DSA. His DSA involvement began  in the spring of 2023 as a regular volunteer for the Power to the People campaign, Milwaukee DSA’s now three-year-old campaign to replace We Energies with a publicly owned utility. After sharpening his organizing skills through regular canvassing and phone banking, he became a leader in the organization and has been closely involved in many DSA campaigns and projects. He’s been a consistent organizing force throughout his entire involvement in DSA. Andy currently also serves as chair of the Power to the People Working Group, though he’s previously held half a dozen other leadership roles in the chapter. Notably, he previously acted as deputy campaign manager of Alex Brower’s successful campaign for Common Council, where he oversaw the entire field operation.

Any questions? 

Contact Alex Brower at milwaukeedsa@gmail.com 

Apply now!

Apply here, or copy and paste this URL into your web browser: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdHWjPHXDlq2lhQVDsFLGZPW26-pqCh0KY7j-KHdA930zHgTA/viewform?usp=dialog

Two new books document how U.S. media enable the Gaza genocide.

The post Complicit Coverage appeared first on Democratic Left.

HAPPY LABOR DAY: A FESTIVAL OF RESISTANCE WITH VERMONT MAY DAY STRONG

This Labor Day, join Vermont May Day Strong and your friends, neighbors, and fellow workers for a Festival of Resistance. We'll have free food, music, activities, tabling, and a few brief speeches from Vermont workers standing up against the Trump regime and the billionaire class. Whether it's healthcare workers fighting for safe staffing at UVM Medical Center, Healthy Living workers resisting anti-democratic union busting, or migrant workers organizing for their right to dignified work free from attacks by ICE and Border Patrol, Vermont's workers are standing up, pushing back, and doing so together. The Festival of Resistance is an opportunity for us to celebrate the organizing we have done, the power we continue to build, and our past and future victories.

All are welcome at this family-friendly event TODAY — Monday September 7 at 3:00pm at Battery Park in Burlington

Learn more

TAX THE RICH: MONTPELIER AND WINOOSKI CANVASSES IN SEPTEMBER: LOOKING AHEAD TO TOWN MEETING DAY 2027 BALLOT QUESTIONS

Working Vermonters are being squeezed while the richest continue to benefit from tax cuts paid for by cuts to healthcare. Medicaid and ACA subsidies are on the chopping block, putting tens of thousands at risk. This is a choice. We can let working people carry the burden, or we can demand that the wealthiest pay their fair share.

We are calling on the Vermont Legislature to pass legislation that raises taxes on the richest 5 percent, taxes wealth proceeds, and invests that revenue into affordable and accessible healthcare for all. Half measures are not enough. Policies that only target the top 1 percent or shift taxes around without raising new revenue will not meet this moment.

Sign up to help us collect signatures on our Tax the Rich ballot petitions (advisory questions for the Town Meeting Day Ballot in Montpelier and Winooski)! 

We’ll be hitting the streets in Montpelier from 10-12 on Saturday September 12 and then in Winooski on Saturday September 19, from 1-3pm launching from 53 Lafountain St.

Sign up

GMDSA-ENDORSED CANDIDATES WIN BIG IN VERMONT THIS SUMMER: HELP GET THEM OVER THE FINISH LINE NOVEMBER THIRD!!!

Congratulations to all of our endorsed candidates!

The Electoral Committee is working on organizing to support our socialists seeking office to grow DSA and give working people a true voice in Montpelier. Stay connected with GMDSA to learn about future opportunities to canvass and phonebank with us before November!

Volunteer for Alexander Bobella’s campaign here. (Franklin County State Senate). Saturday canvass/lit drops starting the 12th — Stay tuned for more details!

Volunteer for Matt Gile’s campaign here. (Winooski)

Volunteer for Adam Franz’s campaign here. (Burlington)

Volunteer for Jeffrey Peterson's campaign events here. (Burlington)

Volunteer for Tanya Vyhovsky's campaign events here. (Chittenden Central State Senate)

GREEN MOUNTAIN DSA MONTH IN REVIEW

August this year we celebrated victories at the ballot box as all of our Socialists in Office won their Democratic primaries, then celebrated another milestone together at our 3rd annual summer cookout celebrating 300 Member Party!

We marched with workers on the picket line, joined our neighbors in advocating for the release of Pastor Steven Tendo, and kept doing what socialists do every month: organizing our workplaces and communities, building solidarity, and fighting for a Vermont that works for working people.

Another month down. More organizing ahead. Solidarity forever.

WE’RE BUILDING A FAMILY-FRIENDLY GMDSA

Green Mountain Democratic Socialists of America is working towards making our organization more accessible to parents and guardians. This month we were approved to receive a chapter Growth and Development grant from DSA national to help with this effort, among other priorities. You can help us by letting us know if you would benefit from childcare being offered at our general meetings.

Please fill out our Childcare Needs Survey

GREEN MOUNTAIN DSA MEETINGS AND EVENTS

 Join Green Mountain DSA and the Vermont May Day Strong Coalition for their Labor Day Picnic: A Festival of Resistance on Monday Sept 7 at 3:00pm at Battery Park in Burlington.

 Our Steering Committee meets on the first Monday of every month at 7:30pm on Zoom, including Monday Sept 7. All members are welcome to participate in the meeting discussion, only members of the steering committee can vote.

 Talk about your job and learn about shop-floor organizing from peers at Workers' Circle (co-hosted with the Green Mountain IWW) on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, including Wednesday Sept 9 at 6:00pm at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Av in Burlington).

Saturday Sept 12 at 10:00am in Montpelier, join the Tax the Rich Working Group for the official launch of the TTR advisory question campaign in the City of Montpelier. Canvass will run TBD, with an orientation for new canvassers at the start.

 Our Labor Committee meets on the second Monday of every month at 6:00pmon Zoom, including Monday Sept 14.

 Our Electoral Committee will meet on Wednesday Sept 16. The electoral committee meets at 6:00pm on Zoom. The Electoral Committee will meet on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month until November.

Saturday Sept 19 in Winooski, join the Tax the Rich Working Group for the official launch of the TTR advisory question campaign in the City of Winooski. Canvass will run TBD, with an orientation for new canvassers at the start.

Our Tax the Rich Working Group will meet on the first and third Sundays monthly, starting Sunday Sept 19 at 6:00pm on Zoom. Join to learn about our next stage of organizing as we enter the upcoming legislative biennium and plan for upcoming canvasses across the state.

 Find out how you can help our Membership Committee improve recruitment and involvement in our chapter on Monday Sept 21. The Membership Committee meets on the 3rd Monday of every month at6:00pm on Zoom.

 GMDSA's branches will come together for our monthly general meeting on Saturday Sept 26 at 11:30 a.m. at Fletcher Free Library (235 College St in Burlington). Newcomers are encouraged to show up at 10:30am for an optional “DSA 101” orientation. Everyone is welcome to join for coffee hour with snacks and discussion at 11:00amprior to the start of the general meeting.

 Our Palestine Solidarity Committee will meet on Monday Sept 28. The Palestine solidarity committee meets on the 4th Monday of every month at 6:00pm on Zoom.

Our Communications Committee will meet on Monday Sept 28. The communications committee meets on the last Monday of every month at 7:00pmon Zoom.

Add our Google Calendar  - Check out our website  - Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Facebook, and BlueSky

IMPORTANT DATES THIS YEAR

• Labor Day: Monday September 7

• GMDSA September General Meeting: Saturday September 26 in Burlington

• GMDSA October General Meeting: Saturday October 17 in Montpelier

• General Election: Tuesday November 3

• Next GMDSA Convention: Saturday November 14 in Barre (Tentative)

• Next DSA National Convention: August 2027 (Date TBD)

by Hannah W.

The first ever Rust Belt Rising conference was held on August 15th and 16th here in Rochester. This was organized by Workers Assembly of Rochester (WAR), an independent organization of local labor activists, including DSA members, union staffers and organizers. Local labor leaders, rank and file members and members of community organizations gathered to discuss and learn about the role of the labor movement in Rochester, and how we can move it to be more militant and left.

Opening Keynote

The opening keynote was a panel containing Colin, an organizer with the Teamsters Local 118, Christina, President of the Federation of Social Workers and Max from Buffalo DSA and Field Director for the Adam Bojak Campaign. The topic was How to Build an Independent Worker Program, which I think is a relevant topic given the current political state. 

Comrade Max talked about the role labor plays in elections, citing the work he and other comrades have done for Adam Bojak for the 149th assembly. While many unions did endorse Bojak, “We want labor to be a partner, not just a stamp”. Max posed to the audience what difference does union endorsement make, especially if they’re not turning out members for electoral races. While they may provide money for mailers, having people to knock doors is the most effective way to reach voters. He also spoke about the need to move away from the Democratic Party and not waste time and resources trying to take over local Democratic committees. Starting to run your own candidates, and that a sense of “ownership” will be felt by the members. We’ve seen this with Clarie Valdez as an example of a rank and file union member and DSA member who ran for state assembly and now Congress.

Colin spoke about the union endorsement process that candidates go through and asked if that process is democratic. Do members have the ability to ask questions of the candidates? Do  members have the final vote for the endorsement? Colin noted that this gatekeeping of democracy comes from entrenched union leadership wanting to keep power, rather than allow the rank and file to make decisions. We’ve seen this play out with unions endorsing candidates like Joe Morelle. Colin also spoke on how unions think we’re organizing to support candidates but oftentimes, the politicians are the ones “organizing us.”

Christina spoke about beating apathy by having continuous conversations with membership. From engaging them in endorsements to participating in co-governance with endorsed candidates. This looks like holding town halls with electeds, starting mobilization committees, and shifting the union perspective to an organizing mindset. While not all members have the same perspective, this will lead to a more engaged membership. She also talked about the need to work with community groups to build strength and solidarity.

Overall I was impressed with the panelists’ perspectives on building out an independent program. This is a long term goal to achieve, but I think the first step is educating the rank and file. In doing so, we can hopefully have members active in electoral campaigns, and end the cycle of endorsing candidates who don’t stand with the working class.

Workshops

Throughout the conference there were 5 different blocks of workshops with 16 unique workshops. Overall the variety in the programming was impressive, from union contracts, to organizing history and current politics.

Get a Job to Organize: Salting

This was about salting a workplace. For those unfamiliar with the term, Salting is getting a job with the explicit purpose of unionizing the workplace. Doing so is not an easy task as you have to build out a list of who would want to join in this effort. The workshop went over what it takes to salt, the qualities of a good salt and what the process may look like. The main skill being communication, as salters will have numerous conversations with their co-workers.

Colin mentioned a learning on his end of making sure the timeline is communicated to the salter before taking a job. An example is Amazon as this is a long term operation that is 15 – 20 years and a salter should be willing to commit for several years. In addition, he spoke to the desire to have salts stay through the unionization effort and become shop stewards. In doing so, it can ensure the union stays militant and left-leaning.

DSA has its own Workers Organizing Workers program, which will train members on how to salt. If you are a member of DSA and interested in salting, please reach out to the chapter and we can get you connected.

Secrets of a Successful Organizer: Beating Apathy

Kari from Labor Notes gave this training on how to beat apathy. When we think about organizing, we need to think about our list of members as a bullseye (pictured below). This helps determine the level of membership involvement in a given union/organization. The training covered different reasons members wouldn’t get engaged and proposed solutions to counter that.

Once we’ve built out our list, the training went over common barriers as to why people might not engage. These four barriers were fear, hopelessness, division and confusion. The room was ask to split amongst those four barriers. In each group, we were asked to give an example of our word and then provide solutions to beating this. 

Secrets of a Successful Organizer: Assembling your Dream Team

Assembling your Dream Team is a continuation from the previous session of Beating Apathy. This workshop went over how to identify leaders within a workplace and bring them into your organizing committee. From there building out a list of your workplace and identifying your members/coworkers who are core, active, disengaged, supportive and hostile. Kari stressed the importance of listwork to identify members that could be leaders.

The workshop had us go through two scenarios. One where we were trying to organize a workplace to wear stickers. This was to get us to think of mapping out our workplace, who works there, who talks to who. From there we went over ways to identify leaders in the workplace. Lastly we went through a scenario of identifying leaders for an organizing committee at a hotel.

My work with member engagement has familiarized me with the bullseye method. While it is tedious to go through around 550 records, it is important work. Identifying where members lie helps us determine who we need to reengage with and potentially turn into active members. In doing so, we can build leadership and bring members up within the chapter.

What NOT to do if you want an active membership

The final workshop I attended was things not to do if you  want membership engaged. Colin led this workshop and was mainly posing questions to the audience. The first was about involvement and why members don’t engage or get involved. Answers ranged from cliques and gatekeeping to lack of understanding from membership. 

Second was phrases used that people have heard. Responses included “That’s how it’s done,” “That’s not how it works.” Of the responses, it was noted that sometimes these  are valid. On the other hand, we also must think about what message  that conveys  to membership. Does it allow them to engage or eventually solve the issue on their own?

The session ended with asks for all the organizers present to:

1. Invite
2. Listen
3. Delegate
4. Train
5. Support
6. Move on

The workshop for me helped change my perspective about how I answer questions members may direct at me. Instead of taking on the work myself, am I able to delegate and empower said members. In doing so this can help create a more involved membership and also build the skills members need to become leaders.

Day 1 Closing: New Union Organizing

The Day 1 closing was a panel about new union organizing. This included RUNAP, Webster & Penfield EMT (Teamsters 118?), U of R Grad Labor Union (SEIU 200) and Home Healthcare Workers (1199 SEIU). Each of the panelists were given the same set of questions to answer.

One question that stood out to me was about tactics they tried that fell flat. For the Webster & Penfield EMT, it was them not anticipating how aggressive the union busting campaign would be. While they did prepare, it was far more hostile than what they expected. The same was also said for the U of R grad union, as UofR changed tactics once Trump was re-elected in 2024. Matt from RUNAP mentioned ensuring that people stay involved and enthusiastic, but their expectations don’t go beyond what the union can actually do. This leads to needing to educate membership. Lastly, Mike from 1199 SEIU emphasized the importance of tools and speed for organizing the ~200,000 home healthcare workers in New York who are now eligible for union membership.

Through organizing, workers can create power and pressure on the boss and win. While some, like the Grad Union are still waiting to be recognized, they were able to win wage increases through organizing. With the continued organizing of unions in the Rochester area, we can build worker power and fight for what is rightfully ours.

Day 2 Closing: Upcoming Labor Fights

The final panel of the conference was on upcoming labor fights here in the Rochester area. This included 1199 SEIU, SEIU 200 and RUNAP. This covered the two largest employers in the area: University of Rochester and Rochester Regional Health. As stated during the panel, these employers set the economic health of the Rochester region. If they underpay their workers, it brings down wages across the entire community.

Part of the panel discussed bargaining units and what the main concerns of their members are. Overall, the top concern was health care and benefits. It’s no secret that companies have moved the American population over to high deductible plans to allow wealth transfer to insurance CEOs. I asked the panelists how the NY Health Act (Single payer health care) would benefit them during bargaining. The panelists were all in favor of the bill noting it would allow them to not spend the fight on health care, and bargain for other benefits such as child care. 

Overall Thoughts

First I want to recognize the organizing effort that went into this by my fellow WAR members. From reaching out to unions, to getting panels and booking the venue. I appreciate the work that was done to make this a successful event. I think for the first ever conference I enjoyed going to it and did learn from it and view it as a success. 

From what I talked with others, some of the workshops could be improved. However I think that is somewhat standard for conferences given that not every workshop will be a success. Perhaps more vetting and walkthroughs of the workshops might be helpful prior to the conference. In addition, evaluations of the workshops can also help the presenters as well. 

Outside of ROC DSA there were a handful of other DSA members that attended the event. The beginning panel had two DSA members on it calling out socialism explicitly. I think as DSA we should continue to build relationships with members of unions. I think conferences like this are a great opportunity to learn more about local organizing efforts and have direct conversations with union members.

To me, the best part was the opening panel as it spoke to the need to divert resources and power from the establishment. In doing so, we can elect people who will actually support and fight for the working class, rather than use us  for a photo op. 

This conference helped reshape the way I view myself as an organizer and the actions I take. The people I talked to were in some form of elected leadership or staffers, with some unelected rank and file members. My hope with this conference is to have more unelected rank and file members join in the coming years. I was impressed with how the conference went and I’m looking forward to the next one.

The post Rust Belt Rising first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Plus a plan for universal healthcare in Pennsylvania, a stand with nurses in Boston, and two high-profile mayoral endorsements in this month’s edition of “Chapter and Verse.”

The post Curtain Closing on 2026 Primaries appeared first on Democratic Left.

Photos from the vigil and protests following the murder of Corey Ruiz, July 22–Aug. 4, 2026.

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As someone with a space science background and a long-term interest in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), I could not avoid the recent film on that topic, Disclosure Day. The film fits within the genre of UFO flicks dating back at least to the classic The Flying Saucer (1950), the first film on the topic. The film’s release also coincides with recent testimonies of government officials claiming that the U.S. government is secretly studying and reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology and the recent study by NASA on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs).

In Disclosure Day, the character Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) goes rogue against his company, the Wardex Corporation, a government contractor that works with extraterrestrial technology and experiments on captured extraterrestrials with the goal of reverse-engineering their technology. Kellner, believing his company is on the wrong track, steals a device called the Archive, which. contains records of extraterrestrial technology dating back to the Roswell incident. Kellner is almost caught, but escapes with his girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson).

Meanwhile, in Kansas City,  news meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) has an incident where she speaks in an unknown language. Unbeknownst to her, Margaret is speaking in an extraterrestrial language. After this incident, Margaret is pursued by Wardex agents and eventually encounters Daniel. The two eventually realize that they were both abducted as children by extraterrestrials and given complementary powers. Near the end of the film, they team up with ex-Wardex agents to reveal the truth of the existence of extraterrestrials to the world. 

Disclosure Day fits in with recent films in which the extraterrestrials are portrayed in such a way to make them seem more mysterious. This includes films like Arrival (2016) and Interstellar (2014) where the extraterrestrials are portrayed as mysterious, even godlike, but ultimately benevolent and films where the extraterrestrials are portrayed as malevolent or Lovecraftian, such as the 2016 film adaptation of The Three Body Problem, a science fiction novel by the Chinese author Cixin Liu. In a post-secular world, it could be argued that godlike extraterrestrials, whether benevolent saviors of humanity or Lovecraftian monstrosities, are an example of the current appetite for the re-enchantment of the world.

One of the ways this type of re-enchantment overlaps with politics is a curious left-wing political tradition that sees advanced extraterrestrials as playing a key role in advancing human progress. The Argentinean revolutionary Juan Posadas, founder of Fourth International Posadism, wrote an essay in 1968 arguing that spacefaring extraterrestrials, being more technologically advanced than humans, would also need to be more socially advanced and therefore socialist. Posadas believed that the socialist countries should call upon extraterrestrials to help them in the fight against capitalism. 

Another example of a space religion that significantly influenced left-wing movements is Russian cosmism. Russian cosmism was founded by the Russian Orthodox mystic Nikolai Fyodorov, who was also a mentor to Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, the father of Soviet and Russian spaceflight. Fyodorov believed that science would one day resurrect the dead and that space colonization would be required to make room for everyone who was to be resurrected. 

Russian cosmism was initially suppressed in the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, it continued to influence the Soviet space program. The initial Soviet headstart in the space race with launching Sputnik 1, the first satellite, into space in 1957 and launching the first human, Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1, into space in 1961 were both hailed in the Soviet Union as the victory of socialism over capitalism, proof that space exploration was intrinsic to progress.

While Russian or Soviet cosmism did not necessarily involve extraterrestrials, it did form the background of Soviet speculation about life on other planets. This included science fiction authors, such as the Russian revolutionary and scientist Alexander Bagdonov, who wrote Red Star about a Martian civilization that had achieved socialism. It also included scientists, such as the astronomer Nikolai Kardashev, the inventor of the Kardashev scale, which classifies hypothetical civilizations by energy capacity output, and the astronomer Iosif Shklovsky, the pre-eminent SETI research scientist in the Soviet Union and co-author of the book Intelligent Life in the Universe in 1966 with the U.S. astronomer Carl Sagan.

Like their U.S. counterparts, Soviet scientists and science fiction authors interested in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence showed an openness to learning from intelligences other than their own. In the NASA report Anthropology, Archaeology, and Interstellar Communication,  extraterrestrials are referred to as the “ultimate others” in an essay by Ben Finney and Jerry Bentley. This perhaps unintentionally echoes more traditional religious movements that emphasize hospitality and love of “the other.” The late Pope Franics wrote about “the sacred ground of the other” in his apostalic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium.

An older example of such thinking in religious contexts is the tradition of Marguerite Porete (c. 1258-1310), a medieval mystic and member of the Beguines, an all-female quasi-monastic lay religious order that was part of the larger heretical Brethren of the Free Spirit. The Brethren were known for antinomianism and libertinism, but also a form of radical hospitality and egalitarianism that is described by the situationist author Raoul Vaneigem in the book Movement of the Free Spirit as a precursor to later revolutionary and socialist movements.

Porete, in her book The Mirror of Simple Souls, taught that a person needed to go through stages of increasing self-denial and realization of God’s love in order to become truly free to submit to the Holy Spirit. One stage of this was to see God as the ultimate other. In seeing God as the ultimate other, the person would then become more open to the other in general and be able to truly love others. 

The current political scene not just in the United States but around the world is defined by increasing hostility toward the other as well as hostility toward immigrants and refugees across the United States; Europe; and, recently, South Africa and Australia. The underlying issues behind these conflicts are complex and solutions are still unclear. But one thing that is clearly needed is greater openness to embracing and cooperating with the other to create a world that is less unequal and more peaceful, one in which we can solve problems such as the climate crisis and the risk of misaligned artificial intelligence. 

Perhaps an encounter with the ultimate other, whether divine or extraterrestrial and whether good or bad, would enable us to have better encounters with the “others” who live next to us and are not all that different from us in the cosmic scheme.

The post Disclosure Day and the Ultimate Other appeared first on DSA Religious Socialism.