States in the US have often been lauded as the “laboratories of democracy”. Georgia, on the other hand, has once again made a name for itself as an experiment in authoritarianism.

On March 25th, while confronting Brian Kemp for once again restricting basic democratic processes in Georgia, State Representative Park Cannon was arrested. Since it is illegal to arrest Georgia legislators by misdemeanor during session, Capitol Police charged her with trumped-up felony charges. The bill that Kemp signed into law, SB202, is indefensible; it restricts voting methods, adds complicated and inaccessible hoops, allows the state to intervene in county elections processes, and bans voters taking care of each other while waiting for hours in lines. Instead of allowing criticism, police closed ranks around Kemp and the state Republicans, deflecting the heat by throwing accusations at a Black woman trying to represent her district’s residents.

Let us be clear: racist police and judicial violence has a long and horrible history in this state. For generations, state law enforcement, business interests, and officials have fabricated charges and defended or deflected violence against unionists, Jewish, Black, Asian, and Latino people, and political opponents of a regime of white supremacist capitalism. If Georgia were not a part of the United States empire, it would be painted as an authoritarian oligarchy; instead, our ruling class is given license to consolidate power by violence in the name of “civil political debate”.

As socialists, we of Atlanta DSA recognize that Georgia’s multi-front assault on the rights of its residents is part of a larger project of capitalist domination. ICE imprisons and demonizes immigrants, law enforcement arrests Black State Representatives while tacitly approving racist mass-murder, and unionization rates, worker protections, and wages all remain at rock bottom. The exploitation of the working class has always been racialized; the most exploited workers are those forced to the bottom of a racial caste system. We see this assault on voting rights as only the most recent in a long line of rollbacks of the rights of working people.

Georgia’s ruling class is trying and has always tried to make solidarity illegal. But, as CWA-AFA President Sara Nelson once said, “solidarity is a force stronger than gravity.”

In the past year, working people have expressed tremendous power and won real victories. Unions, especially the predominantly Black Unite Here local 23, delivered a historic defeat to Republicans last November. Latino organizations like Mijente worked tirelessly to defeat the 287(g) program in Cobb and Gwinnett county, ending local law enforcement’s formal collaboration with ICE. In the past few days, national unions like IUPAT and CWA have worked alongside DSA chapters across the country to deliver over half a million phone calls to working people, asking them to flood the voicemails and mailboxes of US Senators and flipping votes to end the filibuster, pass the PRO Act, and pass HB1, the “For the People Act”. Victory is possible, but we must organize and fight together to achieve it.

We, the Steering Committee of Atlanta DSA, call on all working people in the state of Georgia to get organized. This fight did not start with SB202, and it will not end with SB202. As a class, our strength is in our numbers and our coordination. We must overcome racial, gendered, sexual, and caste divisions by fighting alongside one another.

Solidarity is a verb, and we practice it by organizing together, committing together, and moving into struggle together. We ask you to join DSA, to join a local organization, and to join a union if you can.

The Atlanta chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (Atlanta DSA) is proud to announce our endorsement of member and fellow Democratic Socialist, Rogelio Arcila for the Atlanta City Council District 4.

Rogelio, born and raised here in Atlanta, is the child of Mexican immigrants and the first Latino to run for Atlanta City Council. After witnessing many years of neglect of the city’s working people by Atlanta’s so-called public servants in favor of tax breaks for developers and ever-increasing budgets for the city police, Rogelio was driven to run for City Council seat for District 4. For too long, our city council has ignored the desires, demands, and needs of the everyday people who keep Atlanta running. Our infrastructure is crumbling, our residents are facing a housing crisis as predatory developers load costs and taxes onto residents, pushing residents out of their long-time homes and making Atlanta too expensive for working people. Even as more corporate wealth sets up shop in Atlanta and taxes rise, there are fewer and fewer resources available for the community’s real needs.

Rogelio believes that our city’s wealth should fulfill the needs of the people, not corporations and developers. This is why Atlanta DSA is enthusiastic in our support for Rogelio as a candidate in a district overlooked by its own public servants. With Rogelio in office, we will have a councilperson who will be accountable to and fight for Atlanta’s working people, not its 1%.

“I am so humbled to receive the support of a group of hardworking and dedicated people whose values align with mine,” said Rogelio. “I know that true power lies with the people, and when we decide to mobilize and act, together we can protect our rights against the encroachment of corporate interests and corruption.”

“We are thrilled to see one of our own fighting for a voice in our city’s future,” said Atlanta DSA co-chair Shafeka Hashash. “Rogelio has already accomplished so much for our chapter’s mission here in Atlanta by serving the city’s everyday people faithfully. I look forward to seeing what more he can accomplish in office.”

If you would like to join in the effort to support Rogelio’s campaign and elect him to office this coming November, you can donate and/or volunteer at voterogelio.com, or you can get involved with Atlanta DSA by joining today at atldsa.org/join.

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As the budget fight continues to heat up in Albany, workers in New York City are continuing the struggle for power and equity on the job and at school. On tonight’s episode, we’ll visit the picket line at Columbia University, where unionized graduate students are on their second week of a strike to demand fair pay and healthcare. We also hear an update from last Saturday’s NYC-DSA march to Tax the Rich and Impeach Cuomo.

We’re joined LIVE by NYC-DSA endorsed candidate for City Council District 39 (and community radio fan!), Brandon West, to hear about his work to Defund NYPD, defeat machine politics, fund excluded workers, and build working-class power. 

To learn more about Brandon West and get involved with his campaign, please visit https://westforcouncil.com/.

Starting on Wednesday, March 24th, AADSA will host conversations with ACC commissioners Mariah Parker, Carol Myers, Jesse Houle, Tim Denson, and Melissa Link on affordable housing in Athens. The conversations will be streamed live on Facebook and Twitter.

On Tuesday, February 16th, Charles Howard, University Chaplain and Vice President for Social Equity and Community at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke with Lawrence Ware, co-editor of "Ballad of an American," the first-ever graphic biography of Paul Robeson, about Robeson's relevance for today. Paul Robeson was the pre-eminent Black, left-wing figure of U.S. popular culture during the 1930s-40s. Concert singer, film actor, public personality, his "Ballad for Americans" was heard by millions of radio listeners. Idolized across large parts of Europe, his records heard widely in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, Robeson was struck down by McCarthyism. His legend and his lessons remain. The event was co-sponsored by the Afrosocialists and Socialists of Color Caucus (AFROSOC) of DSA, the DSA Fund, and the International Committee of DSA, along with the Religion and Socialism Working Group of DSA. You can order the book from Rutgers University Press and receive a 30% discount on it and all books sitewide by using the code DSA RUP at checkout.

The Atlanta Democratic Socialists of America (ATL DSA) stands in unity and solidarity with the Asian-American community in Atlanta, Georgia, and across the United States as we collectively process a horrific hate crime that targeted Asian women, killing 8 people.

Our first thoughts turn to the victims, their families and their communities. Many people, including our comrades in ATL DSA, are experiencing intense anger and pain in the wake of another racist mass shooting event. This spree shooter specifically targeted women, highlighting the particular gendered racism that Asian women face in the United States. In his own words, the shooter targeted businesses which he believed were sites of sex work. ATL DSA stands with Asian women, who face a particular gendered racism in the United States. We stand with sex workers, an unjustly criminalized group vulnerable to violence. We stand with Asian sex workers who are often victims of racialized sexual violence resulting from patriarchy and white supremacy. Race, gender, and class in America intersect in ways that render poor and unassimilated Asian Americans invisible and thus especially vulnerable to violence like the murders that were perpetrated on March 16.

Moreover, we know that this horrific event did not take place in a vacuum. Over the last year, acts of racist violence against Asian Americans have increased significantly, a direct result of the jingoistic rhetoric about China and the COVID-19 virus propagated by politicians on both sides of the aisle and furthered by corporate media outlets. During the 2020 presidential election, both Trump and Biden jockeyed to be “tougher on China,” as the ruling class egged on a new Cold War with China and continues to do so now. In any conflict between China and the U.S. or their proxies, it is the working class that suffers, abroad and at home. We must be vigilant in counteracting propagandic narratives that would lead us to believe otherwise. Yesterday’s killings are the latest expression of a long history of anti-Asian racism and discrimination that stretches back hundreds of years in the U.S.

The simple fact is yesterday’s murders did not need to happen. We must reject the anti-China and anti-Asian rhetoric that inundates American society, and we must fight to end the racialized misogyny that demonizes and oppresses sex workers. We denounce anti-Asian and Sinophobic rhetoric in all its forms, and we oppose those who wish to perpetuate conflict with China. We stand in solidarity with sex workers and oppose efforts to increase policing or expand the carceral state as a solution to this violence, as we know this would only result in further oppression and harm towards those affected.

We stand in solidarity with communities most impacted by this attack and are prepared to respond to calls for support. We are listening to our comrades, our local Asian-American community groups and their leaders, to best understand how to act in solidarity, and we will amplify any ways that the broader community can demonstrate their support as well.

Also see the DSA National Political Committee’s statement for more info.

A few days ago we held a vote open to all tuition strikers about whether to continue the strike past the next payment deadline of March 18. Similar to our vote in February, students were overwhelmingly in favor of continuing the strike, with 82% voting to continue and hundreds of students participating in the vote. The majority of those students were personally committed to continuing to withhold their tuition payments. 

With the Graduate Workers of Columbia going on strike the same week that we are announcing the continuation of our tuition strike, we are in an uniquely strong position. We’ve shown the administration that we aren’t going away until they give us a real plan for how our demands will be met. 

But now we need to continue organizing to put as much pressure on the administration as possible. Here are some ways you can help the effort:

1. Take action by calling and emailing administrators, emailing all of your past and current professors to ask them to sign our open letter in support, getting in touch with all alumni you know to ask them to sign our alumni open letter / no-donation pledge and to join our email/call campaign. You can find all of this on our action guide: https://bit.ly/tuition-action 
2.  Come to our Day of Action, Friday March 18th, 4-5 pm ET to put pressure on administration and organize our networks together! (RSVP for Zoom info here)
3. Sign up for a working group to help us organize actions, press outreach, and coalition-building.
4. Donate to our strike fund. Thanks to all the donations we’ve raised from supporters across the country, we will likely have the funds to cover late fees for everyone who requests them and who is unable to obtain a waiver. We’ve put together this script for requesting late fee waivers from Columbia offices, and if you are unable to obtain a waiver and need funds to cover late fees, you can request them here. 

You can also come to our Tuition Strike General Body Meeting this Thursday, 8 pm ET (RSVP for Zoom info here) to discuss strategy, next steps, and ways to get involved with the effort. 

Hope to see you at our Day of Action and as always feel free to reach out to us at columbia.ydsa@gmail.com to talk more!

Essential workers have been carrying a pandemic stricken New York City on their backs for a year now, and as economic insecurity worsens and the time frame  left to address the overlapping climate crisis shortens, there’s never been a moment more ripe, and necessary for militant labor organizing.  On tonight’s episode we’ll hear from NYC-DSA endorsed City Council candidate Adolfo Abreu about what essential workers in his Bronx community need and how the NYC-DSA slate plans to build long term working class power. We’ll also talk to Daniel Dominguez of DSA-Los Angeles about how DSA members and unionists across the country are organizing for the PRO- ACT, the most comprehensive labor legislation reform in generations. 

Listen to our September 2020 show about the fight to stop the NRG plant in Astoria: https://revolutionsperminute.simplecast.com/episodes/stop-the-astoria-power-plant, then submit a public comment to support the ongoing struggle: bit.ly/noNRGplant.

Learn more about and get involved with Adolfo Abreu’s campaign for city council: https://adolfo.nyc/

Sign up to get involved with DSA’s national campaign to pass the PRO Act: https://www.dsausa.org/proact/

We are calling on all supporters of the tuition strike to also support the Graduate Workers of Columbia in their upcoming strike. Provost Ira Katznelson sent out a misleading email on Monday trying to pit students against the workers. But we and thousands of other students understand that the working conditions of our teaching assistants directly impacts students’ learning conditions. If you support Columbia academic workers on strike, please add your name to this petition to show the workers and the Columbia administration that students and workers stand together.

Ira Katznelson writes that the GWC’s decision to call for a work stoppage is “regrettable” and “unnecessary,” but in fact it is a last resort that they have been pushed to by the administration’s unwillingness to meet their very reasonable and necessary demands for a living wage, protection from harassment, union protection, and full recognition of all academic student-workers.

Katznelson’s email argues that doctoral workers’ compensation is comparable to that at other institutions. This is false, as rates for hourly pay are significantly lower than at other NYC institutions like CUNY and NYU, and compensation for Ph.D. students on 9-month appointments is lower than at NYU. Katznelson and the Columbia administration obscures the reality that attending Columbia requires incurring a uniquely high cost of living. Even after housing subsidies, the vast majority of graduate workers spend over 40% of their total compensation on rent, which is neither sustainable nor paralleled at peer institutions. If it’s neither “reasonable” nor “responsible” to pay student workers living wages under the current budget, is it “reasonable” or “responsible” to continue paying seven-figure salaries to administrators and pursuing multi-billion-dollar expansion and renovation projects?

On the issue of harassment and discrimination, Katznelson writes that the union and the university are “not adversaries,” yet the university’s counterproposal on this issue would maintain Columbia’s unchecked decision-making power and would prevent any real recourse for cases of power-based harassment. 

The issue of union recognition tells a similar story. The administration refuses the GWC a union shop model, which nearly all graduate unions in private universities (as well as all other unions at Columbia) have. Moreover, the university still refuses to recognize entire groups of student-workers as part of the union. 

Katznelson’s email demonstrates how fearful the administration is of the power that GWC wields through a strike, which is so potent precisely because these students’ work is absolutely necessary to the university’s functioning. 

If you want to support the strike, here are some ways you can help out with the effort:

1. DO NOT report your striking instructors or TAs to their department, to faculty, or to administration. Deans Valentini and Rosen-Metsch have recently sent out an email encouraging students to ‘contact the relevant academic department for further information or instructions’ if their instructor is on strike. This is the administration’s disingenuous way of saying that they are relying on students to report their striking instructors in order to potentially retaliate against them by reducing their stipends and financial aid.
2. Sign this solidarity petition in support of the strike and share with all other Columbia students you know!
3. Send an email to Provost Katznelson using this script!
4. Send a letter in support of student-workers’ demands! 
5. Join the picket lines (and bring some friends)! (in-person picket sign up; virtual picket sign up)
6. If you are an academic student-worker (including undergraduate and Master’s TAs and RAs), commit to striking! 
7. Donate to the hardship fund here!  (During bargaining yesterday, admin threatened to create a website for self-reporting non-participation in the strike and to dock pay for strikers. We’re starting up a fund to help support strikers who might incur financial hardship from retaliatory measures.)

This strike will only be successful if striking academic workers have the full support of all members of the Columbia community, especially fellow-students. Any support you can show will go a long way in helping Columbia student-workers win their urgently necessary demands.