INSIGHT: Tenant Chemistry

With unorthodox advocacy and organizing tools, the Connecticut Tenants Union is paving the way for a national movement to shift the power balance of American housing. But can they build the community necessary to succeed?

From Yale Daily News TYLER JAGER 12:42 PM, OCT 31, 2022

In late August, 2021, in an eight-sided gazebo at the corner of New Haven’s Edgewood Park, 41-year-old Alex Speiser joined a new organizing drive in what he described as a “leap of faith.” It was early evening, humid, and the weather was soupy. Speiser, a high school English teacher in Darien, Connecticut, walked from his home through New Haven’s Westville neighborhood, where he was due to meet three tenant organizers. They belonged to the Central Connecticut branch of the Democratic Socialists of America, and they intended to prepare a half-dozen novices, Speiser included, for a “deep canvass.” Instead of a pitch to join a cause, the organizers wanted to knock doors, hear residents’ anger about poor housing conditions, and identify potential leaders among the tenants who could join future organizing efforts. “We tried some role-play by acting out scenarios between tenants and canvassers,” one of the organizers, Luke Melonakos-Harrison, recalled later. “I think we’ve refined our talking points since then.”

Read the Full Article on Yale Daily News

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 six 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 strategies 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 apply (click here for application, which is due Tuesday, November 8, 2022), be interviewed, and enter the program if selected.  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 is intended to be in-person), 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 two classes and field work sessions may result in removal from the program.  

Time commitment per week: 

Unit instruction: 2 hours 

Organizing work: 3 hours 

Miscellaneous tasks: 1 hour 

Total time per week: 6 hour

Weekly Schedule 

There will be two “sections” of class held each week and participants will choose and commit to attending one section during the program.  

Choose . . 

Section 1 class: Thursdays from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. (for the second and third shift crowd) 

***Class will not be held on Thanksgiving (11/24), and will be on Tuesday, November 22 instead.  

Or . . .

Section 2 class: Thursdays from 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. (for the 9-5 crowd) ***Class will not be held on Thanksgiving (11/24), and will be on Tuesday, November 22 instead.  

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: 

Tuesday, November 8th:

Application deadline – apply here

Week one: 

Thursday, November 11: 

Start of six week program (first Section 1 class held, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., first section 2 class held 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. ), location TBD, but in City of Milwaukee 

Week one field work (choose one): 

Saturday, 11/12 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. 

Sunday, 11/13 from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. 

Monday, 11/14 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. 

Week two: 

• Class on Thursday 11/17 (either Section 1 or Section 2) 
• Field work same schedule week one

Week three:

• Class on TUESDAY 11/22 (either Section 1 or Section 2) 
• Field work same schedule week one

Week four:

• Class on Thursday 12/1 (either Section 1 or Section 2) 
• Field work same schedule week one

Week five:

• Class on Thursday 12/8 (either Section 1 or Section 2) 
• Field work same schedule week one

Week six: 

• Class on Thursday 12/15 (either Section 1 or Section 2) 
• Field work same schedule week one

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 instructor: 

Alex Brower is a labor leader, socialist organizer, and the chapter co-chair of the Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America. 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. 

Any questions? 

Contact Alex Brower at 414-949-8756 or alexbrowermke@gmail.com

Apply now!

Click here to apply, or copy and paste this URL into your web browser: 

https://forms.gle/rVSsDrqDFAqjB3LL7

Elections are underway in Georgia. While Senator Warnock fights to represent Georgia in Congress and hundreds of state legislators wait for polls to close on November 8th, voters are also choosing between candidates for statewide executive offices like Governor, Attorney General, and Labor Commissioner. One race, however, demands special attention.

Alisha Thomas Searcy is the Democratic nominee for State Schools Superintendent. But you might not know it, because she’s been left off of the Democrats’ “One Georgia” slate and campaign literature. She’s even made public posts on social media complaining about the other Democratic nominees. Beyond intra-party politics, teachers’ organizations like the Georgia Association of Educators have even endorsed her Republican opponent over her. So what’s going on with Ms. Searcy?

Searcy and Charter Schools

Searcy proudly displays on her website that she is “working to create an educational system where parents feel empowered, and educators feel supported.” While this is a fine sentiment on the surface, “empowering parents” is too often a dog-whistle for pro-corporate “educational reform” like privatizing public schools, giving public funding to charters and vouchers to private schools, and replacing elected school boards with privately-owned, unaccountable companies. Digging deeper into Searcy’s experience as an “educational leader” gives weight to such concerns for supporters of public education. 

A well-resourced public school creates wide-ranging positive effects in a community. By providing quality education, meals, after-school extra-curriculars, public meeting spaces, and stronger links between residents and local governments, public schools benefit both children and adults through their programs and resources. Public schools must provide free and adequate education to every child, regardless of financial, transportation, or ability needs. Public schools are also one of the most consistent and universal employers in the country, and they exist in every county. In short, public schools are the anchor of a local community, and help to ensure everyone gets what they need.

So when Atlanta’s wealthiest, such as millionaire real estate developer Tom Cousins, advocate for tearing down public schools and replacing them with privately-managed charters which suck up public funding, there’s a reason. Such a move presents countless opportunities for big money to remake a neighborhood from the ground up. Charter schools are popular with the real estate industry as they jack up property prices. This is why charter school allies and lobbyists are funded with millions of dollars of industry money, and why many charter school management organizations share headquarters with big property management firms.

So what does all of this have to do with Searcy’s challenge for Superintendent? In her time as a state legislator, Searcy co-authored a state constitutional amendment to revive the State Charter Schools Commission, which was previously ruled unconstitutional by the Georgia Supreme Court. Aside from offering a way for charter school lobbyists to side-step locally elected school boards for approval, this Commission has the authority to deduct money from school district budgets. In short, it’s a great way for the rich and powerful to ignore a community’s representatives through insider politics.

Searcy also claims to have experience as an “educational leader”, but not in the classroom or even in a public school setting. Instead, her website states she was the administrative director of Ivy Preparatory Academy. An op-ed by Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Russell Edwards digs into some of the controversies surrounding her tenure there, including her overseeing of mid-semester teacher layoffs and the conflict of interest inherent in the school’s hiring of her. Beyond her own record, her involvement in the charter network’s administration shows her disregard for the larger communities in which a school is rooted. For instance, developer Tom Cousins helped kick off Atlanta’s charter movement through wholesale replacement of the East Lake community. As he billed the new Drew Charter school as the key to neighborhood improvement, he used public funding allocated to his development firm to replace subsidized housing with market-rate developments and evict hundreds of long-time residents. Cousins fell short of “revitalizing” East Lake – instead he uprooted many of its residents and tore down its schools.

If Searcy can’t understand how evictions and layoffs harm students and communities, how can she claim to understand what teachers and students need to succeed?

Now more than ever, with media stoking panic around falling test scores in the wake of the COVID pandemic, some candidates are looking for more ways to undermine public education. “Parents’ rights” advocacy, anti-trans legislation, and censorship of history and literature have become common in right-wing attacks on schools. For instance, incumbent Republican Superintendent Woods has used and supported anti-mask and “divisive concept” laws to limit how teachers and districts can protect students. Unfortunately, Searcy is no better; her history shows that she would actively work to upend our state school system by privatizing many communities’ last bastion of social services.

Defending Public Schooling and Public Funding

This year’s Democratic challenger for State Superintendent falls far short of what the people of Georgia need in a leader for public education. Instead of a pro-corporate candidate who favors defunding universal public schools and replacing them with unaccountable privately-managed charters, we deserve a candidate who will stand up for students and working families. Defending working families means supporting the right to collectively bargain and strike for hundreds of thousands of Georgia’s public servants, including teachers. It means fighting to restore and expand state and local funding for public schools, instead of cutting from schools to give tax breaks to real estate and entertainment industry giants. We need a candidate who will stand up to corporate takeover of our school system and start to repatriate charter schools that are already dependent on public funds back to public control.

Searcy’s inability to secure an endorsement from Georgia teachers speaks to how far-removed her campaign priorities are from the needs of students and teachers. Her championing of school privatization is so extreme, she’s even managed to alienate mainstream liberals this election season, with Stacey Abrams and other Democrats refusing to make appearances with her on the campaign trail. If Searcy’s Republican opponent sweeps the ballot box this November, she has no one but herself and her own record to blame.

Working people have a long fight ahead of us to defend and expand public education in Georgia in the months and years to come. In order to take our schools back into public hands, we’ll need to do more than just vote against Republicans: we’ll need to establish public sector bargaining rights, rebuild teachers’ unions, and unite students, teachers, and working families to confront and defeat the bipartisan charter lobby. If you’re a student, teacher, or community member, start those organizing conversations! Join your local teacher’s union, student organization, or DSA! If we fight together, we can win.

Note: information esp. about Tom Cousins and the history of Atlanta’s charter school fight came from “None of the Above” by Anna Simonson and Shani Robinson

The post Georgia Voters Face a High-Stakes Test appeared first on Red Clay Comrade.

The yearly NYC DSA convention is back, with about 100 delegates from every corner of the city gathering to discuss the path forward for our organizing community. After taking some serious losses in electoral organizing and membership enrollment, socialists in the city seek to find their place in the movement, to re-engage in the work and to bring our neighbors into our vision of a socialist future for our beloved city of new york.

In the last decade, Somerville, NJ has experienced significant growth and economic revitalization. Somerville spent the 90’s and the early 2000’s under the shadow of the Bridgewater Mall; yet another town littered with shuttered storefronts and young people eager to leave. Today’s Somerville is almost unrecognizable with its new abundant apartment towers and downtown shops. Even the New York Times called Somerville a “Walkable Suburban Alternative” so even the most obnoxious New York expats have taken note of this small New Jersey town.

Despite Somerville’s success story, the city government proposed selling Somerville’s sewage system to American Water for $8 million. The town warns of an inability to pay for upcoming maintenance costs and has sold the decision as inevitable due to town finances. This sale of water utility systems will lead to higher utility costs for Somerville residents in the long term. Far from being inevitable, the combination of generous tax giveaways to developers and financially irresponsible bond offerings by the government of Somerville have put the town in a situation that was entirely avoidable and still could be avoided if residents vote “No” this November 8th on the proposed sale of the wastewater system.

The current push to privatize the sewer system in Somerville is emblematic of the structural issues with Somerville’s urban renewal. From financing luxury apartment developments with PILOT schemes that required a $5.2 million bond sale to financing a massive parking deck to the tune of a $7.2 million bond sale; it’s clear that there is a capacity to finance the $9 million dollars needed for long-term maintenance on the sewer system, and that the issue is a lack of political will.

Somerville already spends about $3 million operating and maintaining their sewer system annually, and runs a surplus of about $150,000 on their sewer budget annually, per the town’s 2022 budget. An extra $1 million annually for 9 years (as the for-profit company New Jersey American Water proposes to spend) is reasonably in budget for the township without blowing out the deficit, and can easily be paid off with long-term revenue from the sewer system and by tapping into budget surpluses elsewhere. NJAW’s fearmongering proposal claims that household sewer bills will have to rise dramatically to pay for maintenance, but this ignores the ability of the town to use general funds and issue bonds to amortize the cost over time. Even a direct tax increase to pay for the project without debt (an unnecessary worst-case) would only require total municipal tax revenue (from all sources) to go up about 4%, a light burden for Somerville taxpayers. In comparison, NJAW plans to raise sewer rates permanently (on an operation that already runs a positive balance) in order to extract more profit from Somerville’s population.

Fortunately, there is still time to stop this unnecessary and misguided sale, which will only serve to increase the cost of sewer service for residents of Somerville. Vote NO on November 8th and stop this greedy company from getting its hooks into the wallets of Somerville’s people!

Last week, Wednesday Oct 19th, Amazon workers at the ATL6 warehouse in East Point held a press conference in response to retaliatory firings from management and poor working conditions at the facility. The firings occurred following a months-long organizing campaign, in which associates presented a petition to management signed by 300 workers demanding a $5 raise to $18/hr.

Outside the facility, workers assembled with community groups and union allies, including Atlanta DSA, Teamsters, IUPAT, 9to5, and United For Respect – which organized the event. Speakers gathered at a podium, flocked by photographers and local press, before a drawn poster reading “Your intimidation tactics won’t stop us! We’re fired up!”

Throughout the afternoon, ATL6 workers spoke on the poor conditions they faced at the warehouse, ranging from low pay and rough hours, to sanitation and safety. Workers cited multiple sanitation problems at the facility, including unusable restrooms, cockroach infestations, and inadequate accommodations for working parents and folks with disabilities.

Former ATL 6 employee, Brandon Callaway, discussed his firing following the petition drop. Callaway spoke about his difficulties working at Amazon following a kidney transplant, during which time the company did not allow him sufficient medical leave for followup treatments. The father of a 3-year-old, he also vocalized the anxieties he’s faced as a working parent pressured with the dual time constraints of daycare late fees and Amazon’s inflexible scheduling. “That’s why I came together with my coworkers to fight for better working conditions,” Callaway said. “I shouldn’t have to worry about losing my job because of my disability or having to take care of my family.”

Another worker, Cynthia Winters, blasted Amazon for its negligence towards workers’ safety on the job. Winters cited workers having passed out or died because of overheating in the warehouse, paired with a lack of adequate drinking water. “We have roaches in the ice machine, roaches in the coffee machine,” she said, rattling off a list of grievances around workplace safety.

At the same time as workers are forced to cope with unhygienic facilities, they’re still pressured to work at an inhumane pace. “People die in here trying to get this work out,” said Winters. “It’s a numbers game. Get the numbers out, get the numbers out! Push, push, push!”  Winters also criticized a recent company-wide $1/hr raise for warehouse workers, adding, “Where can we afford to live with just a $1 raise?”

The workers at ATL6 are currently filing unfair labor practices against the company through the NLRB for the retaliatory firings. In terms of next steps, workers say they’re determined to stay in the fight until their demands are met. “We should not have to leave our job in order to get something done,” said Winters. “That is why we’re coming together to let them know we’re not taking it anymore.”

To show solidarity with the ATL6 workers’ organizing campaign, folks can sign the their petition here, demanding that the facility site manager listen to Amazon associates!

Photos by Ken L.

The post ATL6 Amazon Workers Unite for Higher Wages appeared first on Red Clay Comrade.

For over a month, protests and strikes have rocked the country of Iran in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22 year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who was arrested while visiting Tehran by the Guidance Patrol for violating Iran’s mandatory hijab law. Despite fierce crackdowns from the Iranian state, these protests, led by women, students, and workers, have made clear the demands for women’s rights and autonomy, shouting chants of “Women, life, freedom” and “Death to the Dictator”. Tonight, we hear from Dr. Naghmeh Sohrabi, a professor and scholar of Iranian history and politics, about these protests and their connection to the Iranian people’s long history fighting for justice and freedom. We’re also joined live tonight by Oriana and Tara from Movement Chaplain Collective in New York City. We’ll talk to them about the importance of providing spiritual and emotional care to movements through actions, advocacy, direct care to organizers, and as mutual aid.

Atlanta DSA Statement on the November 2022 Elections

The stakes of the November 2022 elections are high, and the outcome could jeopardize the rights and livelihoods of working people across the state and country. The GOP is an anti-worker, anti-Black, anti-woman, anti-immigrant, anti-queer reactionary force which aims to dismantle abortion, voting, and other fundamental rights for working people with the goal of generating power and profits for the billionaire elite. For this reason we encourage our members, supporters and the public to vote in this year’s elections to defeat the Republican Party and their far-right agenda.

Both locally and federally, GOP electoral success this November would empower the Republican party to escalate their attacks on marginalized communities, further expand the police state, and suppress democratic elections. With the increasing hegemony of the MAGA right within the Republican party, their reactionary agenda could go as far as banning abortion nationwide, stifling labor unions with a federal right-to-work law, and rejecting the 2024 election results. With so many of our rights on the line, we must do all we can to keep Republicans out of government.

At the same time, the Democratic party serves many of the same corporate interests as the Republicans. The Democrats have done close to nothing to curb the expansion of far-right MAGA ideology, codify the right to abortion into law, get corporate money out of politics, or protect the right to organize at work. DSA remains committed to advancing a socialist political alternative to neoliberalism by challenging corporate Democrats from the left through community organizing and primary elections. While recognizing these differences, we must fight back against the white supremacist right wing, and not ignore the threat that their terror presents. Abstention from the electoral terrain in the name of purity politics won’t advance our goals: we should not cede any ground to the far-right.

To combat the GOP and their far-right agenda, we encourage everyone eligible to vote to use that power this November by confirming their voter registration status, making a plan to vote early, and voting up and down the ballot for the most left-wing candidates. Although we are not endorsing any specific candidates this cycle, Atlanta DSA is organizing around key election issues like abortion rights and mobilizing our members and supporters to vote. We call on our allies to prepare to mobilize to demand democracy in case the far right tries again to invalidate or deny the election results. In the name of free and fair elections, we’ll be ready to hit the streets and join the working-class majority in demanding that every vote be counted.

As Democratic Socialists, we recognize that voting is only one of many tactics in the fight to win our long-term goal: a free, democratic, and equitable society run by and for the multiracial working class. The crisis of democracy in the US is not just an electoral contest but a centuries-long class struggle between working people and the capitalists, landlords, and right-wing politicians who profit from our exploitation. To win a Democratic Socialist society, we must rebuild the labor movement, expand working-class consciousness, and build a mass party capable of uniting working people. Beyond this election season, Atlanta DSA will continue the struggle to organize our workplaces and reclaim abortion rights. We invite all those who agree with our aims to not only join us in voting this November, but to also get involved in our work building a socialist movement that can create a truly democratic society.

Find your polling place and make a plan to vote early at atldsa.org/vote