By: Josh

I was encouraged to try my hand at writing an article on this subject after speaking with a wonderful new friend of mine. I was initially intimidated and a bit adverse to it, given this would be my first effort at an article. Additionally, despite maybe having passion, I didn’t feel I had the knowledge or familiarity on the topic that I should, so I feared being seen in a hypocritical light.

But I’ve realized that this year (or four (or more)) has impassioned a lot of people of all types looking for ways to get involved and be a part of shaping the future of their nation. I, too, am one of those people, and have personally experienced how overwhelming and at times hopeless it can feel trying to find those ways to make a difference. So more than anything, I invite you to join in on that adventure of exploring how to play a vital and meaningful role in democracy and the direction our country takes.

Now then—where do we start? What can one person do in the grand scheme of things in a nation of this immense size and population?

The answer is: Start as small as possible. There’s a reason our system is broken into smaller and smaller units. Township/city politics are increasingly overlooked as more and more spotlight is shined upon national politics. This isn’t particularly surprising considering the continued interconnectedness of our nation (and the globe) with (semi) recent advancements like the growth of cable TV from the 60s and the internet and social media in recent times.

These technologies are designed to connect us nationwide, and it only makes sense that the majority of news and discussion you find in such places as on the national level. On top of this, online discussions are easy sources of immediate, direct, and clear feedback where something like a council meeting can feel much more opaque and require more deliberate consideration.

Meanwhile, we’ve declined in viewing local news and reading local papers. In my recent experience, it can be extremely difficult to put together ways to stay well informed locally using the internet (from local politicians being ghosts online, to horribly designed city websites, to lack of quality local news sources). A George Washington University study found that in a typical media market, the average person spends less than 10 minutes a month on local news sites. As such, people have become less informed (and vocal) of the politics of their immediate home and community and more informed (and vocal) on national issues where we have very little immediate sway.

Voter turnout in a mayoral election is often as low as one in three, and for other local elections under one in five. Remember, the United States has over a half million elected officials, only 542 of which are federal. We increasingly forget the base of our government and try to fight and enact change from the top down, which is never efficient. This has also made us more jaded in time and feel less empowered to play a role.

These things feed together to form the feeling of ennui and lack of interest and awareness regarding local politics, as well as the overall feeling of discontent and hopelessness with politics as a whole. The problem is that participation at the local level is absolutely the best bet for an average citizen to have their voice meaningfully heard. It’s at the local level one can actually make a perceptible change within their community and simultaneously stimulate others to do the same.

As our politics have become more nationalized, we as a people conversely have become more and more divided. Many have a very unrealistic expectation of how our national government should perform and consistently dig deeper into blaming the other side when it remains a standstill with mild back-and-forth deviations. Plus, the potential for anonymity in our digital age doesn’t help with that polarization in the slightest either. 

One of the greatest features of local politics is that they are a wonderful educator and builder of tolerance via direct exposure. When you participate in council meetings, local organizations, and even protests, you engage with your neighbors and community.  They’re the schoolhouses of democracy. You’re forced into a level of accountability and cooperation.

The Local government is the government closest to the people. It is where things like discourse, debate, and compromise are made and taught. It’s where you begin to get to really know and understand your community (and humanity) and where bridges and reason are formed. It’s where you can voice your views without it being just shouting into the ether. It’s where you can make connections with those of similar views and begin to build a formidable vehicle for change.

Cities, counties, and states should be the Laboratories of Democracy. To quote Justice Louis Brandeis (originator of the term): “A single courageous state may, if it’s citizens choose, serve as a laboratory, and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” This has been demonstrated in recent times by Massachusetts passing health care reform in 2006 which became a sort of framework for the Affordable Care Act, the legalization of gay marriage at the state level setting precedent for landmark Supreme Court cases, or the continuing legalization of marijuana (and other substances) by states. I believe these ideas, to an extent, can extend to counties and cities/towns as well.

The changes should begin within smaller regions of government. If they’re successful and well-received, the idea is likely to spread. If Enough counties enact an idea and demonstrate it as good, it’s likely the state may as well. If enough states follow, it is more likely to get attention as something that should be in place nationally. This is the way of progress; it is often gradual and not exciting, but that’s the groundwork needed for those sudden shifts.

Find the people in your community who’ve been involved longer and best represent your views and try to connect with them. See what other ways they might know that you can get involved. Find and join or form groups of similar views so you can better organize and voice matters to the public, and invite others to get involved more easily. Find the local politicians you agree with to support, influence, and volunteer with. If you can, ask them about the things they see from within and what they think is needed. Be an embodiment and example of the human you believe should be in politics.

If you’re upset about the country, government, or politics, make sure you’re being involved the most effective ways you can. Remember that this activism and participation at the smallest level is but the stepping stone to make a difference on a larger scale.

Prove yourself locally as an exemplary citizen with good ideas, file some paperwork, and put in the effort. Then, maybe, you can get a role in your local government, which will only net you more exposure and connections you can use to go even further if you have that passion. Or get enough active and like-minded people together to build a dedicated and passionate community, and with time that too can be a powerful vehicle for change with the ability to grow and have an influence on a larger scale.

A successful democracy requires people to be actively engaged and aware of their politics. How else can it be a government of the people? Attend your local council meetings, become familiar with the issues, voice your opinion. Bring up topics that are important to you that you don’t hear addressed. This is the path, from the bottom up, not the top down.

Be inspired, participate, inspire.

The post Your Voice is Louder on a Local Level appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

Anyone who lives here in New York City knows the sight of mostly empty luxury towers lording over our neighborhoods. These developments generate immense wealth for real estate capital while raising rents for the working class residents who actually live here. As luxury buildings proliferate, tens of thousands are forced into homelessness and millions more pay most of their meager wages to their landlords. Gentrification is a campaign waged by real estate capital and their representatives in the state that dispossesses disproportionately black and brown working class New Yorkers for profit.  

NYC-DSA endorsed candidate for City Council in District 35 Michael Hollingsworth has spent life building tenant power and fighting for the people. He joins us to discuss his history as an organizer in the struggle to build working class power in his neighborhood and why he decided to run for city council on a socialist slate. We also hear from a member from DSA’s healthcare working group on the worker led fight to keep a hospital open in East Flatbush.

By: Liz

I wasn’t sure what to expect reading a book authored by Angela Davis. I hadn’t ventured near her literature before, and all I had known about her before reading this book was that she was an influential activist. Angela Davis’ writing brings attention to details about the prison industrial complex and its history that shouldn’t be missed.

Within the first ten pages, Davis presents a hard statistic to hear, “During my own career as an anti-prison activist I have seen the populations of U. S. Prisons increase with such rapidity that many people in black, Latino, and Native American communities now have a far greater chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education.”

Incarceration is not an old practice. It didn’t exist in the U.S. before the end of slavery. During our book club discussion, it wasn’t well known that prisons are still fairly new in the timeline of the U. S. and, frankly, the world.

The adoption of prisons was to work around slave abolition. When southern slave owners were forced to give their enslaved workers freedom, they were left without labor. The slave owners needed to replace previously enslaved workers so their reign on the economy wouldn’t crash. Paying employees a livable fair wage was not as profitable as slave labor, and these plantation owners were going to find every loophole imaginable to get out of paying their formerly enslaved workers for their labor.

If only there were an end to profiting off prison labor. Today, more American prisoners are being exploited for their labor than during the first few years following the Emancipation Proclamation. Major brands such as Whole Foods, McDonald’s, Target, IBM, Texas Instruments, Boeing, Nordstrom, Intel, Wal-Mart, Victoria’s Secret, Aramark, AT&T, BP, Starbucks, Microsoft, Nike, Honda, Macy’s, and Sprint are several of many companies that benefit from prison labor. 

Why are we supporting a practice with an origin in slavery, and why have we turned a blind eye to slavery today? Slavery isn’t just a history lesson; twenty-first-century slavery has been marketed to look like a normal activity for prisoners.

After reading chapter three, titled Imprisonment and Reform, I brought up prison labor to a family friend. I was explaining the origins and how it made me feel to know that incarcerated people are being exploited for their labor. Their response was, “Well, it’s not like they’re going to do anything else while in jail; they might as well be put to work rather than sit on their butts all day.” The chapters that we read following that discussion talked about how “crime and punishment” shouldn’t be in a marriage with one another, and questioned why we overlook rehabilitation within the prison system. Why are we set on thinking punishment is the only thing to follow crime?

Early in the book, Davis points out the Mississippi Black Codes that were created to incarcerate black people for crimes like being drunk in public, running away from their jobs, or even being accused of carelessly handling money. The Mississippi Black Codes were used to put emancipated black people back on the very plantations they were freed from. However, instead of their lives being monetarily owned, they were now prisoners of the state, and their labor was being used as their punishment for their “crimes.” Davis mentions Mary Ellen Curtin’s study, which found that incarceration rates in Alabama were 99% white before emancipation. Shortly after, the population of incarcerated individuals became disproportionately black.

“During my own career as an anti-prison activist I have seen the populations of U. S. Prisons increase with such rapidity that many people in black, Latino, and Native American communities now have a far greater chance of going to prison than of getting a decent education.”

Angela Davis

Davis also brings up the racist tendencies of white people who used black-face following emancipation to get away with a crime. She makes sure to point out that those tactics have never gone away. Unfortunately, it is common for privileged people to blame black people for their crimes because our system is built on the idea that black people are “inherently criminal and, in particular, prone to larceny.” Without the Mississippi Black Codes, this idea would not be as ingrained into our society. This stigma needs to end.

Angela Davis writes in a way that informs the reader of our country’s truth and explains how devastating our treatment of prisoners has been and still is. Yet, she writes with optimism that change is possible. Optimism is not too common in political literature, especially not when the writing is about something as awful as the prison industrial complex. Davis is not a “black pill” writer. She is inspiring and has a voice that radicalizes.

I implore all who read this article to read Angela Davis’ work, fully comprehend her words, and become radicalized. The prison industrial complex is fully aware of its inhumane practices. Yet, it thrives because ordinary people are unaware of how multifarious prisons are. It’s not the fault of ordinary people; the system doesn’t want people to know what goes on behind closed doors. We must educate our neighbors and read literature from activists and individuals who are directly impacted by the prison industrial complex. And, to answer Angela Davis: yes, prisons are obsolete.

The post Book Club Report: Are Prisons Obsolete? appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

Nazis are here. Nazis have infiltrated our campus. Patriot Front is a Texas-based alt right hate group that bases its beliefs on anti-semetic white supremacy, neo-nazism and neo-fascism. In August 2017, the organization split from Vanguard America -- the neo-nazi, neo-fascist group infamous for a terrorist attack in Charolettsville, Virginia and other alt-right attatcks across the nation. The leader of Patriot Front, Thomas Ryan Rousseau, has attempted to make the group mainstream by utilizing conservative language and the worship of the American flag. Rousseau, much like Vanguard America, focuses on targeting younger demographics, especially on college campuses. It is no different at NKU. Over the last several years, Patriot Front has littered their messages all across our public campus, writing messages with chalk on the sidewalks, placing flyers, and posting stickers. The images reflect their beliefs of anti-semetism and neo-fascism. They claim that America is a land conquered by our white ancestors meant for their white descendants and no one else. The fire has been stoked recently due to the growing re-acceptance of fascism and nazism into the American way of life through modern politicians, authoritarian police, and racist policy, but the flame has never left.

Today -- on Holocaust remembrance day -- Patriot Front vandalized the boulder that centers the courtyard in front of Norse Commons and the dorms. They plastered their disgusting name and message for all students to see as they walked by. Every Jewish student, every student of color, every minority, and every student of the LGBTQ+ community has had to endure the messages of hate on their own campus, in their own home. This is not the first time that Patriot Front has attacked our campus, yet the Northern Kentucky University administration and president have consistently chosen to look the other way. They continue to ignore the harm that this hate has on their student body. Nazism was inspired by America; Nazism flourished in America; and Nazism continues to stain America. We cannot allow for this rhetoric to be spoken and promoted in a place of education. We cannot appease the Patriot Front or any act of white supremacy in any way, and most importantly, we must unite in solidarity to finally put an end to the abhorrent speech of Nazis.

The conflict in Yemen is the greatest humanitarian conflict in the world. For the next 5 days, we will be sharing information about this conflict, and attempting to explain how US imperialism has made it far worse. We hope you will join us on the Yemen Day of Action on Jan 25th for a global webinar, hosted by Code Pink, at 11AM. https://www.codepink.org/globalyemen

• 238,000 people are facing famine conditions in Yemen today due to an ongoing civil war, which has been made worse by the intervention of the US and Saudi Arabia.
• 7.4 million people need treatment for malnutrition, two million of which are children under five years old
• 17.8 million people do not have access to the necessary facilities
• 19.7 million people lack access to adequate health care
• A massive cholera epidemic has also affected the country, and large numbers of people have been internally displaced
• The world powers involved in this conflict are engaging in collective punishment of entire villages.
• Since Trump has declared the Houthis as terrorists, relief from other countries or organizations is at risk.

History of the Conflict in Yemen

• Britain was interested in Yemen as a strategic military location since the mid 1800s.
• Britain split the country with the Ottoman Empire in 1905
• South Yemen became a socialist country in 1967
• Capitalist unification of the country occurred in 1990
• The government collapsed in 2015, leading to civil conflict. 
• Western intervention has contributed greatly to the ongoing civil war.

Why is the US committed to this war?

• The ruling class is not united on this, Congress passed a war powers resolution to withdraw the US, Trump vetoed
• Nonetheless, weapons manufacturers, big businesses like AMC and Domino’s Pizza see Saudi Arabia as a profit center or market for exploitation
• Saudi Arabia and its war coalition, including the US, is treating it as a proxy war with Iran
• Yemen is a strategic location for the Saudis, and the US has sided with Saudi Arabia in many conflicts against Iran
• Saudi Arabia has bankrolled many US think tanks after the 2008 housing crash, leading these think tanks to support Saudi wars and political standing in the region

Yemen is an Example of Imperialism

• Capitalists benefit from war through weapons manufacture, and especially in nations that are rich in resources or could serve as economic thoroughfares and sites for oil pipelines
• Saudi Arabia is a reactionary monarchy that the US collaborates with to serve mutual financial and war interests, not the interests of the people of either nation
• At this stage of capitalist production, global capitalism requires total domination of potential markets. Imperialism is a manifestation of the insatiable hunger of capitalism.
• The people of Yemen have a right to self determination, but their struggle has been wrapped up in the imperialist plan for global financial domination. Yemeni culture deserves to survive without this imperialist intervention.
• The exploitation that you experience at your job is directly connected to the global war machine that is causing mass suffering in Yemen.

 What Is Imperialism?

https://www.canva.com/design/DAETFbFDCgQ/_efdjMcDLGODpPhulW_jUA/edit#1

Earlier today, Joe Biden was sworn in as the President of the United States. He comes into office as more than 400,000 people in this country have died from Covid-19, 2020 was the hottest year on record and white supremacists are desperately fighting to maintain their power in this country after social uprisings against police brutality this summer strengthened movements for racial justice and Black Liberation. Biden ran his campaign for President as a centrist democrat and has since proposed a 1.9 trillion dollar stimulus plan called the “American Rescue Plan” and announced 17 executive actions he plans to take on day one that many in the mainstream media are describing as Biden’s way of beginning to dismantle Trump’s legacy. Today with our DSA comrades we will talk about how Biden’s plans leaves out many struggling people including essential workers and why Biden must go further in the first 100 days of his administration and embrace bold policies that Democratic Socialists and grassroots movements across the country are organizing for like defunding the police and a Green New Deal in order to truly dismantle Trump’s legacy. We’ll also hear from Desiree Joy Frias who has been on the ground at the Teamster union worker strike at Hunts Point Produce Market.

Like many of you, our primary feelings right now are those of anger and urgency. We are isolated in our homes, or continuing to work in essential jobs made dangerous, as we watch COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise. Amidst this deadly pandemic we are witnessing a new stage in the emergence of the far right. White supremacists, encouraged by the President and our congressional representative, Elise Stefanik, are beginning to violently challenge our already precarious and frail democracy.

Both of the bourgeois parties have rallied together to protect big business and the political establishment. This could potentially cause a fallout between the Republican party, Trump and his white supremacist supporters, and boost the growth of the radical far-right movement. We will see increased calls for militarization and policing. Calls will be made for “unity,” signalling a rightward turn for the Democratic party as they reach across the aisle to work with conservative colleagues to restore the legitimacy of political institutions. We must be prepared to present an alternative.

High Peaks DSA is vehemently anti-fascist, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist. We believe that building a better society depends on true democracy, representation, economic justice, collaboration and care. Fascism, racism, and capitalism are the antithesis of justice and community care. Cornel West offers inspiration here. He reminds us to “never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.” Fighting for justice is uncomfortable, confrontational and messy, and it is loving. This is the instinct that we organize from.

These past couple weeks have been hard. We are tired, but we can feel energy starting to creep back in. It is tempting to wait it out, and wish against our better instincts that Joe Biden’s inauguration will bring more normalcy, but we know that no such thing will happen. As we wrote in June, after the world erupted in anger at the unjust murder of George Floyd, “the system is not broken, it is working as it was always intended to. Our system was born when colonists brought the first African slaves to work this land for their own financial gain over 300 years ago.”

The same is true of the Capitol Police’s response to the white supremacist spectacle on January 6, 2021. The system that colluded to allow them to ransack the Capitol has been 300+ years in the making and will not disappear overnight. It is imperative that we continue organizing locally, to counter white supremacy and fascism in our community, to organize ourselves as the working class in order to challenge the power structures enabling white supremacy, which cannot exist without our labor, and to build support structures that can care for each other through sustained hardship.

In the spirit of solidarity and organizing during these tumultuous times, we hope you will join us in the following:

1. Our members’ meeting tomorrow, January 20th at 7 PM. We will discuss events of the last few weeks & the local priorities moving forward.
2. Our next Public Meeting will be on Wednesday, February 3rd, and will be focused on how you can get involved in local campaigns for justice as we move into a new political era.
3. The Tempest Collective’s: “Fighting the Far Right in the Biden Era”, featuring speakers from Santa Cruz and Chicago DSA chapters, labor organizers, and more.
4. Advocating for the health and safety of the most vulnerable.  Check out this really big news from our friends at RAPP (Releasing Aging People in Prison)!

The post What’s Next? appeared first on High Peaks DSA.

The spirit of black radical traditions, at their best, can turn the world upside down and help usher in a political economy of dignity, voice, and decision-making power for working-class communities. Liberationist streams of black radical spirituality are as contemporary as Alice Walker’s call for democratic socialist womanism, as old as Reverend George Washington Woodbey’s Black Baptist socialism and beyond. This discussion between Rev. Andrew Wilkes and Rev. Sekou, artist, author, and public theologian, is part of an ongoing series on faith and socialism. In this conversation, Rev. Wilkes and Rev. Sekou talk about the ethical and religious streams within black radical traditions and the implications for our times

Whereas Marin DSA believes that safe and secure housing and shelter are basic human rights

Whereas Marin DSA is committed to housing and tenant struggles throughout Marin and has been since our local’s inception

Whereas the commodification of housing is at the root of the Bay Area’s and Marin’s housing crisis

Whereas our unhoused comrades lead the struggle for housing in Novato manifested in their work at Camp Ambition and Camp Compassion

Whereas the residents of Camp Ambition aim to take land out of the private housing market and put it under direct control of the people who live on it through the use of a community land trust

Whereas the residents of Camp Ambition have been harassed by the Novato police department, and had their tents and tires slashed by vigilantes

Let it therefore be resolved that Marin DSA stands in solidarity with our unhoused comrades, and will give all possible support to our neighbors living in Camp Ambition and Camp Compassion

Passed in our January General Assembly, Date: 2021-01-02

In this age of relentless corporate media propaganda, working class media institutions that are actually rooted in the socialist movement are crucial for the struggles ahead. Tonight Marian Jones and Sarah Leonard join us to discuss their new socialist feminist publication: Lux Magazine. We’ll hear about how Lux came about through organizing and why its socialist feminist analysis not only helps us understand the crises we’re living through, but provides an intellectual framework to build a better world.

http://lux-magazine.com/

https://ezsubscription.com/lux/subscribe

Twitter - @readlux