by Gregory Lebens-Higgins

The following remarks were made at the No Reawaken America Tour (“RAT”) Teach-In, held August 13, 2022 at Austin Park in Batavia, NY. The RAT was a christian nationalist propaganda tour featuring Michael Flynn, Eric Trump, and other reactionaries and conspiracists. After public pressure from groups like ROC DSA, the event moved from Rochester to the Cornerstone Church in Batavia, where it was met by the continued resistance of the newly-formed Genesee County DSA and allies.

These were my first public remarks as a socialist (a “coming out,” if you will)—acting upon my beliefs as part of an organized mass working-class movement. It was an empowering experience, and one that we try to recreate for others in the pages of Rochester Red Star. Although much has changed over the intervening three years, the themes expressed here continue to ring true. A recording of these remarks is available here: bit.ly/norat-wny. 

My name is Greg. I’m here as an organizer with the Genesee County DSA. Thank you for being here this afternoon. For showing that Western New York stands together in opposing the entrenchment of fascist ideology. We cannot stay silent.

This teach-in is not just about the Reawaken America Tour taking place today. It is about solidifying a movement of the people, all people. Not just white, heterosexual, so-called “Christian patriots.”

We, as socialists, believe that if people’s needs are met, if they are provided the conditions to live a dignified life, if they do not feel alienated, and voiceless, that fascism will not gain ground.

I joined DSA in the spring of 2020. At that time COVID was beginning to run rampant through society. Our government’s response was weak and late. Our healthcare system—shaped by years of profit-motivated care—was unprepared for the crisis. People were faced with the choice between not paying their bills or putting their lives at risk. Essential workers were forced onto the front lines but remained at the bottom of the class structure. And those with small businesses, forced to shutter their doors, confronted the possibility of being pressed into precarity.

We must recognize that people have legitimate concerns regarding their material conditions. There is a link between our failing healthcare system and COVID denialism. We must also acknowledge people’s feelings of isolation.

We live in a society that doesn’t seem to value life. That witnessed over a million deaths from COVID while our leaders called for a return to business as usual. Where two million people exist as exiles behind the bars of our jails and prisons. Where twelve million children live in food insecure households. And where regular shooting deaths have been metabolized.

These problems are overwhelming. It is easy to drift into nihilism and indifference. To construct elaborate fantasies about the “demonic forces” tearing apart the fabric of our society. Those speaking at the Reawaken America Tour hope to play on these fears. To exploit the hopelessness that people are feeling.

But what the Reawaken America Tour offers as a solution is the scapegoating of minorities, and an increasingly authoritarian society. These beliefs can only result in a dangerous logic of elimination.

As socialists, we offer an alternative vision, with the needs of all people at its center. I know you are all here today because you care. Because you believe that if we work together, we can change the circumstances that have led to those outcomes that I have just described.

Genesee County DSA is a relatively new organization. We first met at the beginning of April. But that meeting, with higher attendance than any of us could have anticipated, showed each of us that we are not alone in confronting these issues.

Since the Reawaken America Tour settled its sights on Batavia, we have discovered even more allies. The amplification of our opposition to fascism, our protests against this event over the preceding weeks, and today’s teach-in, all happened because we could count on one another.

THIS is what democracy looks like. With our collective voice, we shall overcome. We must do more than vote every two years. We must continue to find our strength in one another, and build networks to create real change. Change that will deny the hateful ideology of fascism room to fester.

SOLIDARITY FOREVER!

The post We Cannot Stay Silent. first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

By: Andrew Sebald

This article was originally published in the Call.

On Monday, September 22, 2025, grassroots unions and student organizations throughout Italy successfully organized a general strike in just a few days. The strike coincided with the passage of the Global Sumud Flotilla. The Flotilla constituted a group of boats with activists from all over the world, from Brazil to the United Kingdom and beyond, intending to reach Gaza with aid to break the Israeli government’s blockade. 

The bold actions of Italian grassroots unions pushed overwhelming pressure on the Italian government and other political institutions. The Italian government eventually sent two warships alongside the Flotilla. The Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGIL), the biggest confederated labor union in Italy, would join militant organizers in a general strike on October 3rd. The results were staggering – hundreds of thousands flooded the streets.

On Friday, September 26, Bread & Roses member Andrew Sebald interviewed two members of the Italian student movement. Anna is a sociology PhD student and is a member of CAU (Collettivo Autorganizzato Universitario), an organization for militant student organizers with university chapters across the country. Enrico is an undergraduate student in Naples and also a member of CAU. I was joined by two comrades from Brazil’s Party of Socialism and Liberty (PSOL): Victor Gorman, a social work student at the University of Brasilia, an ecosocialist youth organization, and Peter, currently studying abroad. Both are members of PSOL’s MES tendency. 

While this revolutionary moment may have passed, this interview attempts to capture crucial perspectives amid a climactic moment in the global fight for a free Palestine.

Can you describe how mobilization for the general strike started, and all the moments that led up to it?

Anna: So, this big mobilization is the result of the work we’ve done in our universities in the past two years. We organized mobilizations demanding academic boycotts within our university administrations, and around other forms of complicity of our government with Israel. We must fight this especially as Italians, because Italy is presently exporting the third most weapons to Israel, violating international law. We had contacts with the Freedom flotilla (the previous flotilla to attempt to sail to Gaza). We met with Rima Hassan, a Palestinian member of the European Parliament for La France Insoumise (LFI), who is onboard the flotilla. 

Enrico: Continuing off that, I just want to underline the path that we have traversed. Pro Palestine mobilizations in Italy can be divided in three phases. The first one was just after October 7th, when we all struggled to even mention genocide. Mobilizations were mainly humanitarian ones after seeing Israel’s sudden brutality and barbarism. In this phase, we were often asked to condemn Hamas. The pressure by the government and the media made it difficult to share a political analysis of what is happening in  Palestine and on our view of coloniality. Afterward, a second phase launched when we managed to obtain more space in the public discourse to share our position on Palestine. Our counterparts focused more on antisemitism and neutrality in universities, even though they aren’t. Now in our third phase, we see that people of the world are furious. The term “genocide” has been named by the United Nations and is widely acknowledged – not by the European Union yet. 

What are grassroots unions, and how will they organize for the general strike?

Enrico: I am not in USB [Unione Sindacale di base, the main promoter of the general strike of September 22]. However, I want to speak on what led up to the general strike and our strategies. All mass movements are products of objective and subjective factors. The objective factors here encompass the Italian perception of the Palestinian struggle. People are fed up. In Naples, we saw not just militants but also families out in the streets, with almost fifty percent of the mobilization constituted of high school students. There are also subjective elements. By this we mean that there was a militant organization behind this mobilisation. CGIL, the center-, and liberal left wanted us to believe this was just born out of the blue. No, this was organized. Our flyers, occupations, assemblies, etc,. did not collude with institutional powers, and produced a “rupture force”, capable of breaking with the center left. The CGIL called for a strike on the 19th to lure attention away from the 22nd, and it was a total failure. Not every protestor had a USB union card, but we know the CGIL wouldn’t have been able to organize this mobilization.

Anna: We have two types of trade unions: confederate and grassroot ones. The confederate ones, like CGIL, are bigger and linked to what we call the “false opposition” to our government. It’s driven by the center-left Democratic Party, who has not supported our struggles around the Gazan genocide. They did not protest until this June, which is a shame for them. Comparatively, we have grassroot trade unions. USB is one of the main unions mobilizing for the flotilla. Grassroot trade unions have been mobilizing workers for Palestine for two years. USB effectively contacted workers and organized them and played a pivotal role because of its link with dockworkers in Genoa. Genoan dockworkers are organized through CALP (Collettivo Autonomo dei Lavoratori Portuali). Previously, they have mobilized to block weapon shipments from the port of Genoa to Palestine and Yemen. The government punished them for that, but they were ready when the flotilla started. Some of them are on the flotilla now.

Fifty thousand people marched in the city in the past few days. One of the dockworkers went viral saying, “if we lose contact with our boats, with our comrades, even for just twenty minutes, we will block everything.” This simple slogan proved effective, which several organizations throughout Italy used to organize starting from the days before the general strike.

This all started from CALP, which is part of USB. We created national networks in all our active cities, which helped prepare the general strike. We as students worked with USB through Potere Al Popolo (Power to the People), which allowed us to coordinate actions in every step of building the general strike. So for us, if something happens in the flotilla, we will block everything, meaning that we will block universities.

What role did the student movement play in organizing for the general strike, and what was its impact?   

Anna: For a long time, the student movement was at the forefront of the pro-Palestine movement here. We were the first to break the silence in public discourse. For the first year and a half, even saying “genocide” was difficult. When we occupied a university in Spring 2024, we had an interview on national television. The network ultimately censored us because they thought we would say “genocide” on TV. The government and university administration said that we were antisemitic and attacked us. We faced repression and criminalization, but we remained steadfast. We did not retrocede because those were our words. This made these positions more mainstream. We slowly gained more space in the public discourse, growing alongside gradual approval among the rest of the population. Making it possible to speak about genocide, condemn Israel, and the Zionist complicity of our institutions sparked widespread debate and allowed more people to speak freely about Palestine and join our movement.

Enrico: Italy has a different university model versus the US. Things that work in the US may not work in Italy, and vice versa. For example, encampments can work on US campuses, but can’t work in Italy because universities don’t have the space.

So, how were university students able to lead national and international mobilizations? Not because we are young and cool, but because universities are institutions that reflect economic structures in society. Our schools propagandize around competition and militarization. Yet, there is another vital function of the university, which is its ability to put democracy in practice. It’s a center where people in power are forced into discussion. This is how we can overwrite mainstream propaganda.

This general strike was organized under the Giorgia Meloni administration. Earlier, Meloni was quoted saying, “If something that doesn’t exist is recognized on paper, the problem could appear to be solved when it isn’t.” Police also fought protestors in various areas throughout the country. Now, in the wake of this strike, Italy has decided to send a warship to protect the flotilla. So, what struggles have you faced with this administration, and what victories have you gained despite them?

Enrico: The Meloni Government has been the most right-wing government in Italy since Mussolini. Repression has always been an element here. The Italian people remember the 2008 protests against the university reform and the Years of Lead, but more importantly, our organization historically understands how to face these struggles. Repression can be directly proportional to the magnitude of a mobilization. Last year, the Meloni Government approved the DL Sicurezza, a borderline fascist law that hindered our capacity to protest. Members of CAU, Cambiare Rotta and Potere al Popolo!, discovered that five policemen had infiltrated five different student collectives for ten months. They presented themselves as enthusiastic student organizers, but some of their practices made us question whether they were actually policemen. We then discovered everything from open source research. We brought our evidence to the Parliament, but they initially negated the infiltration. We were told that this guy who infiltrated our collective in Naples was there because he liked a girl from our collective, and then we were told that he was there because he was just a student, and didn’t actually engage with the police. But when the other infiltrators were discovered, they were obligated to actually respond. Their response was general, saying it was for prevention, fearing a possible return to the Years of Lead. All of that is bullshit to distract from the fact that these men infiltrated a political party.

Yesterday, we discovered that the Ministry of Antisemitism of Israel proposed a document about the recent Italian mobilizations regarding their risk, who promoted them, their Instagram followers, their likes, etc. Our collective and some of the mobilizations we organized were included in that list. How contradictory is it that a nationalist government like the Italian one permits the intelligence of a foreign country to enter our borders?

Where is the center-left in all of this? All the components of the center left that are in Parliament, condemned the violence that happened in the last days in Milan and other demonstrations across the country, and said little on the underlying massive force that was behind these organizations. Why? Because they know that they cannot bring the same radicalism and people in the streets, and are incapable of bringing forth a force of ruptures with other political forces in Italy. 

I saw videos of drivers who were interviewed while highways were blocked and several of them were in support of the strike and Palestine. It was very moving to see that. What was able to change a majority of the population’s opinion since the start of the genocide?

Anna: We have a far-right government that is implementing policies and new laws to harshly punish political dissent. This process started with previous administrations, but has accelerated under Meloni. Some police violence also happened on the 22nd, but the fact that there were thousands of people in the streets helped limit potential police violence because there were too many of us. They couldn’t stop us. We didn’t fear water cannons or tear gas at train stations, ports, highways, etc. We just were able to outnumber the police.

Repression is a problem and our government has always been in support of Israel. Not just the Prime Minister, but also the Minister of University and Research. When we started encampments last spring, Italian university presidents, the Minister of University and Research and the Minister of the Interior, all met to see how they could repress our protests. Now, this government is shifting in a different direction. Our Prime Minister said we will recognize the State of Palestine, but with certain conditions including dismantling Hamas, freeing all the hostages, etc. I think that there are at least two Italian warships that are going to join the flotilla. It is not to prevent attacks from Israel, but to save Italian citizens on board in case of Israel attacks the flotilla again. So, the action of sending warships was not to prevent attacks, but to react to them. 

In terms of popular support, there has been a significant shift. Since last May or June, popular opinion started swaying more openly pro-Palestinian. I think what’s helped this process was, of course, the constant presence of mobilizations for Palestine, and symbols in public spaces. The Italian media is still pro-Israel, but the atrocities being committed are just too evident to hide them. People see what is happening and understand that Israel responsible. 

What does the general strike do for Gaza and the Palestinian cause, and what does it say about the future of the Italian left?

Enrico: The 22nd was a historic day. It demonstrated that Italy can organize with other European comrades. This brought forth a collective consciousness that intended to disrupt power. Protesters acknowledged that the Sumud flotilla wasn’t just a humanitarian project. If it was, the flotilla would have simply accepted the proposals of Minister Crosetto and Israel to take off to Cyprus and then allow Israel to conduct humanitarian aid into the Strip. Crosetto and Meloni conceded to us because they know that if they at least didn’t send a warship, they would have had more trouble. It is a victory for us. However, Italy will only help the Sumud flotilla in international waters if they are attacked, but they will not attack the Israeli ships. This is the bare minimum. 

Regarding the next steps, USB has already proposed a general strike again, this time without any notice. There will be another big national demonstration on the 4th of October called by local Palestine organizations, and we hope that it will be huge. We are not scared of repression, we are not scared of taking the debate line even further. The Sumud flotilla is only the start.

Anna: What Italy and the West can do for Palestine is to stop the complicity of our institutions at all levels. We need to block the war machine, and we also need to increase pressure on our governments at the local, national, and European level to cease this complicity. Every kind of mobilization that puts our governments in a difficult position contributes to the Palestinian struggle. Meloni said after the 22nd that we were protesting to attack the government. We agree with her on that. Our protest was not just against Israel but it was also against the Italian government and its complicity with Israel. Our protest is also against the complicity of the European Union. Our protest is also against the imperialistic politics of the NATO alliance. The US is using several NATO bases in the south of Italy to surveil the last flotilla missions. 

This strike is showing us how we can do so in practical terms. We can block a port to block a boat carrying weapons to Israel. We can block a railway station to put strong pressure on our institutions. The days following the general strike, people have been blocking railway stations again and are ready to block other critical infrastructures. People are ready to join us. It is our duty to keep this movement alive, and to keep mobilizing in the next days when the whole pro-Palestinian movement is ready to take the streets again. We are ready to keep mobilizing to fight Israel, our governments, and other Western institutions to dismantle their imperialistic and capitalistic policies.

Andrew Sebald, who conducted the interview, is a member of Boston DSA.

The post “People see what is happening”: Italy’s General Strike for Palestine appeared first on Working Mass.

Interview By: Francesca Maria

Translated from Italian to English. This interview was originally published in Springs of Revolution.

José Nivoi is a spokesperson for CALP (Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali – Autonomous Dockworkers Collective) in Genoa and a member of USB (Unione Sindacale di Base – Grassroot Trade Union). He’s aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza and has been instrumental in organizing port blockades against arms shipments to Israel across Italian ports.

Tell us who you are and how you ended up on the Flotilla?

I’m José Nivoi, I’m part of USB, which is the Grassroot Trade Union [Unione Sindacale di Base], and of CALP. I’m the spokesperson for CALP in Genoa, which is the Autonomous Dockworkers Collective [Collettivo Autonomo Lavoratori Portuali].

For several years, we’ve been carrying out blockades against arms trafficking directed at various war theaters, starting with Yemen, which has somewhat defined us, the Kurdistan issue, Libya, and obviously the weapons that are destined for Israel and then used against Palestine.

I ended up here [on the Flotilla] because at the national level, we’ve become a kind of linchpin in the fight against arms trafficking, which has also given rise to other mobilizations in other ports and other sectors. So, we’re very representative of this type of struggle because one of our slogans is precisely to say: we don’t want to work for war.

One of our principles is not to water ourselves down in an attempt to have the highest number of people in our demonstrations, but to have clear words, clear and shareable slogans, and so this element has meant that we, little by little, managed to develop this character that we have today: when we launch a general strike, as seen today, almost a million people, even more, all across Italy are mobilizing in various cities.

Of course, we’ve had a thousand challenges because at the beginning we were born as a militant element within the confederal union, CGIL [Italian General Confederation of Labour], precisely because it was taking a turn, let’s say, too government-aligned in a way, starting with the Job Act, the Minniti decree, which then became the security decree.

From there we split completely by breaking with the CGIL, joining the Unione Sindacale di Base which is no longer a small union because today we see what it can mobilize, but smaller, but nonetheless maintains a fighting spirit, its peculiarity is to represent what workers say and not vice versa like CGIL which today represents more what the government says or what the bosses say rather than what workers want. Just look at the thousands of agreements they’ve written to fire thousands of workers.

So we were born there, by joining USB we found our home, and therefore our very street-oriented way of doing things, breaking out from theory to move on to concrete practice, while having a union that supports you in your strike declarations, in the most bureaucratic aspects, which is necessary, unfortunately I must add, given the laws that exist in Italy, has meant that we have gradually gained authority in the Italian political world, and beyond, because today we can also say we have created the international coordination of ports, within which there’s the Piraeus, there are the Slovenians, the French of Fos-sur-Mer, which is the port of Marseille, the dockworkers of Tangier, the Swedes, Hamburg, that is, we have slowly and patiently built every single piece that today CALP represents, with a lot of determination, a lot of practice, talking to everyone from the dorkiest collective in Italy all the way to even the Pope, we have never shied away from having a discussion, because that’s the point…

I’ll give you an example, the make-up of CALP today is a politically heterogeneous make-up, within it we have everything from the anarchist to the communist— I’m a communist—to the one who comes from the stadium stands of the ultras of Genoa, Sampdoria who however has a strong anti-fascist, internationalist sentiment to those who come from the most diverse backgrounds, but who have a clear understanding of what anti-fascism is, in facts and not just in words, as it is sometimes represented by a certain institutional left.

So let’s say there’s been a whole series of factors, even random ones, that led us to be the collective we are.

How did the decision to call this strike today come about? What’s been the path to building it?

Well, the first blockades in support of Palestine we did in 2021 already. Together with the National Port Coordination, which includes Livorno, Trieste, Naples, a few Italian ports, we blocked a shipment of Italian missiles destined for the IDF, in that case it was going to the port of Ashdod, and that’s where our journey started from.

It began officially with two specific moments, one is when we received a letter from the Palestinian unions where they asked us, immediately after October 7th, to essentially mobilize in support of the Palestinian population given the attacks that Israel was carrying out in the Gaza Strip, and second, with the meeting of a Palestinian trade unionist from the WFTU in Athens, —she is from Jerusalem— where we started trying to create trade union relations, essentially, and so from there we started a whole series of blockades against Israel’s weapons, demonstrations in the port area, which is one of the most important economic centers in Italy, the port of Genoa, in an attempt to block trade going towards Israel.

So I couldn’t even tell you how many blockades and demonstrations we did, but we come from a very long wave of demonstrations and strikes, and now here is also a very personal element that right now I represent, that is, that organizer who has put himself publicly out there, today embarked on the Global [Sumud Flotilla] who wants to bring, or rather break the siege that Palestine has been experiencing for too long, that creates that real emotional connection, between Palestine and Italy. The mobilizations we have been carrying out until recently were totally in support of Palestine and we never backed down; today, the element of the organizer on board who goes into a danger zone creates, so to speak, even greater closeness to that population. I know it doesn’t sound good, but there’s also this element, which honestly should be said…

Well, in some ways, that’s the Flotilla’s strategy, to bring representatives and activists from a whole range of countries to then encourage actions in solidarity, but also in a way to put governments in front of a situation in which there’s a push from below. So, speaking a bit about the Flotilla, what is its composition, what organizations are involved? Who’s on board? Based on what you’ve seen, of course, I know you’re spread all over different boats, but from what you know, from meetings in ports, etc.

Let’s see, in my opinion, the most interesting factor that I’m noticing, and also on my ship, are the Malaysian participants, the Malaysians are really gung-ho about supporting Palestine, I think due to connections to the Muslim and Arab world. They really are, I’m seeing in first person how they express themselves, I ask for a bit of translation because I’m curious, and so the Malaysian side, in my opinion, is the most fundamental aspect of this mission, because they are here in an official role, there are quite a few of them, I can’t tell you how many, but there are really a lot of them spread across all the boats. And they’re doing a good job, for example, I have a Malaysian journalist on board who has I don’t know how many millions of followers in Malaysia, and also this Malaysian influencer called Mohamed, very funny, who is also glued to his cell phone 24/7 talking about Palestine, and every now and then I ask him if I can take a peak at his cell phone, he has something like one million people connected to the livestream every time.

As far as the international composition, I’d say that apart from the Malaysians it’s diverse, we’re talking about Australians, English, Americans, Spanish, Germans, French, there really is representation from almost the entire world, I haven’t seen representation from the Far East parts of Asia, like Chinese or Japanese, I haven’t seen any. At the Italian level- or rather, at the European level as far as trade unions officially here I’ve seen the CGT [Confédération Générale du Travail], us from USB, some members of CGIL who however didn’t come as representatives of CGIL but because they belong to collectives, for example, in Rome, so they came as card-carrying members of CGIL. I’ve seen a representative of OVS for example, and then a whole varied political world, more or less people who knew each other, like the spokesperson who knew the activist from the social center X, so these kinds of connections.

After the flotilla, what are the prospects both for the participants, in particular, participants from some of the Arab countries who not only risk arrest by Israel but potentially also arrest by their own governments once repatriated; what are the prospects for the participating organizations, for the coordinating body of the Flotilla, for CALP – in short, how do you see, the next phase after the end of this journey?

Speaking from my point of view, we are already organizing in Genoa on September 25th and 26th, so this weekend, an assembly of the international coordination where we will try to launch an international strike and more and more ports are joining; today we are around ten at the European and Mediterranean level, but they are contacting us from Australia and from other places too to join, which could be the tool for the defense of those activists who will be arrested, for example, on a boat there is this guy called Jimmy, Irish, who apparently the moment he sets foot again, with two or three kids waiting for him at home, the moment he returns to Ireland he will be arrested, and I didn’t quite understand why because my English isn’t exactly great but he was telling me that he will most likely have legal repercussions, on top of precisely those from other parts of the Arab world, so I think that the 25th and 26th could become a decisive date also for the post-Global [Sumud Flotilla] moment and on what will happen to us to, indeed I will participate online if they don’t arrest me first, so I will try to bring this element into that assembly, where that assembly will launch this international strike as a mobilization in support of Palestine, therefore the day that we are experiencing and seeing in Italy today we would like to see as one unified day at the international level, so I hope we succeed in this enormous undertaking, but I am very hopeful.

Is there participation from some US unions or is there a lack of connection with organizations here, and what we can do to help create some connections?

Certainly we have been in touch with organizations of various kinds…

Community-based rather than trade unions?

Yes exactly. The difference in this type of mobilizations is made by workers, because when they materially stop the economy, they don’t go to work, as happened in America with regards to wage increases when they decided to block the ports to get a raise, the gap caused by inflation, after not even 3 days of strike they told them okay, have it, so that’s the element…

It’s necessary to get out of the dynamic of economic disputes and to enter into a dynamic of political unionism, because the repercussions that we see today as workers due to the war are precisely due to the war, that is, the fact that governments shift a portion of GDP away from welfare, healthcare, pensions, everything that defines society today, to the military sector and therefore sucks resources, it is indirectly impoverishing you. The increase in inflation didn’t happen randomly, it increased because public spending in the military sector has increased, because there are companies that profit from wars, because governments are pushed by these companies that have lobbyists on the inside, and it’s a fucking- excuse my French, but it’s a vicious cycle, so the worker who today lives in a condition of impoverishment it’s because there is all this previous context that drives your impoverishment.

When do we begin to understand that this element in the use of the strike, that it’s useless to focus on the €100 I have to earn this month, but to look at the long term, and that therefore stopping the war today means stopping this sick system, because the impoverishment that you’re experiencing can be stopped by you refusing to work, and that’s when you can reach a turning point.

What we’re demonstrating today in Italy is exactly this, namely the fact that until three years ago I personally paid €320 on a mortgage for my house and today I pay €560 due to inflation — that is my direct impoverishment, not even indirect, directly out of my paycheck. So there’s no point in me asking for a €100 raise when inflation due to the war increased my mortgage by €300. When we start putting things together, from the highest level, the international one, that international policies have repercussions even on the individual workplace, that’s where we can truly make a change.

Today we’ve started holding some solidarity demonstrations in ports and also at consulates, embassies, and so on, in some cities in the United States, we are trying to increase the mobilizations here, which in the last few months have been on a downturn, so can leave us with a messages for the comrades who are organizing here in solidarity with the Flotilla, with Gaza, with the strikes in the Mediterranean?

What can I say, that fighting is beautiful, I have a tattoo here which I’m not going to show because it’s tacky, but fighting means being in love, it’s beautiful to fight, it’s beautiful to win battles for a people who are oppressed or even to improve one’s personal life, so do it seriously, with perseverance, with determination, but always with a smile on your face.

Awesome, thanks a lot, I’ll let you go because you are certainly busy, thank you and let’s stay in touch because here too we’re trying to do some union work which here is very very slow because of the widespread depoliticization, but we have comrades in various unions who for a few years now have been trying to shift some ground on Palestine internally, so it would be good to continue, even after the mission and this phase of mobilizations are over, to try to establish a few more contacts with the unions here in the United States which I feel are a bit absent on global issues.

Francesca Maria, who conducted the interview, sits on the National Political Committee and formerly served as co-chair of Connecticut DSA.

The post From Italian Ports to Gaza: An Interview with José Nivoi on the Global Sumud Flotilla appeared first on Working Mass.

By: Reid Jackson

SHEFFIELD, MA – Adnaan and Torleif Stumo are two brothers from a town in the westernmost corner of Massachusetts. On October 8th, 2025, they were in the epicenter of Israel’s violation of international and maritime law. Today, they are back in America. In the heart of the nation that allowed for them to be kidnapped from the open ocean, held in a foreign nation’s prison with no due process, and physically and psychologically tortured for the crime of attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the victims of Israel’s genocide on the Palestinians. 

Who are the heroes of Adnaan and Tor’s story?

Those who have been watching the Stumo brothers’ story closely have lauded them as champions of the movement for Palestinian liberation for their sacrifice. The comparison is easy to make when the brothers are put on the pedestal of other high-profile flotilla members like Greta Thunberg and Mandla Mandela, whose mistreatment by the Israeli military broke through into mainstream coverage. They would argue, however, that they are no more exceptional than the hundreds of others who supported their mission at home and abroad. 

Adnaan said, upon hearing praise for him and his brother’s mission:

“…I think it’s important to emphasize the normalcy, and that this should be a normal act… Our governments and institutions aren’t doing it, and the citizens… normal people should step up.”

Then who are the heroes in Adnaan and Tor’s story? Their answer: the workers who went on strike all over the world in support of their mission.

The brothers had a lot of praise for the efforts of the flotilla support team, and their success in helping coordinate simultaneous widespread strikes in Europe in support of their voyage. On October 3rd in France alone, the Ministry of the Interior reported almost 200,000 protestors in all sectors of public life, with trade unions claiming that the number was closer to half a million. Adnaan said:

We were four hundred and eighty six people captured and thrown in prison. But there were over two thousand people who were working on land. Forty-two boats sailing into Gaza… without that network… we would’ve probably been in prison for a very long time.

In Italy, the response to the Flotilla’s unlawful interception was even more severe, culminating in a full general strike where almost every aspect of life was disrupted because of the numbers gathered in the streets all across the country. Numbers reach up to two million participants in response to the Italian government’s complicity in Israel’s actions. The main difference between unions in Europe and America is their significant political power given the proportion of workers they have influence over, as when organizations like the Italian General Confederation of Labour call for a general strike, causes not just Italy, but the world to feel the effects of their government not listening to their demands.

These intense, large-scale disruptions motivated by the Flotilla’s public journey to travel to Gaza are one of the most promising outcomes that the Flotilla organizers were hoping for. According to an organizer who was in close contact with the Stumo brothers, a port shutdown that took place in New Jersey cost an arms manufacturer $3 million USD in just one day of work disruption.

Adnaan summarized:

We’re not heroes. We’re normal people.

History for Solidarity

This sentiment that worldwide worker power is the most important force for change is true not just for the Stumo brothers’ mission, but many campaigns for liberation in history before them. 

In 1936, the advent of the Spanish Civil War was marked by numerous massive labor and rent strikes throughout the country, months before active combat began. The organizations of the labor networks easily translated to become resistance networks after the fascist coup in July of that year. Their robust and focused leadership allowed the Spanish rebels to amass an opposition force that initially completely outnumbered the Nationalists in 1936, before the establishment swiftly moved to consolidate outside assistance from Nazi Germany and fascist Italy.

This goes to answer what many are asking about the aftermath of the situation– if the Flotilla’s mission was a success by the organizers’ and participants’ definitions. Objectively the Flotilla did not succeed in its goal to penetrate Israel’s unlawful blockade of Gaza. But there were additional levels to the organization’s goal than just delivering the aid. The Israeli colonial project would much prefer if the world forgot that they are now entering the third year of their genocide against the Palestinians since October 7th. The Flotilla forced Israel into a crisis point with the international community of states, especially in the West, in an advance never seen before in history. 

The data reflects this shift, as noted by the Pew Research Center: “39% now say Israel is going too far in its military operation against Hamas. This is up from 31% a year ago and 27% in late 2023.” This kind of a shift on what used to be a political given among the American voter base is monumental to say the least, and a trend that will continue to shift in the favor of the Flotilla’s goals as Israel becomes more and more desperate to maintain their apartheid apparatus. 

What’s the Result of the Mission for the Movement?

What was most heartwarming to see was a viral video out of Gaza itself. While Adnaan and Tor were fending off IDF warships at sea, the full focus of the world and the Israeli military was upon them. This allowed for fishermen in the occupied strip to actually go out and fish in their own waters for the first time in years; a moment of hope and a tangible effect of the Flotilla’s mission to Gaza.

This moment coming from some of the most oppressed people in the world should remind us all of what the stakes are, where these are people who are deprived of the right to fish in their very own territorial water. The brothers echo this idea themselves, that for everything that they were subjected to in the Israeli prison, they have the perspective that their time in the hands of the IDF was a brief nightmare compared to what the people of Gaza have been subjected to, and will continue to be subjected to as long as the Israeli colonial project exists.

For Adnaan and Tor, they got to go home. Shaken, and dealing with the consequences of the IDF’s abuse, but their mission to end the occupation will not be the last one. There may be more flotillas, or marches, and there will continue to be endless resistance against Israel’s genocide all over the world, until Palestine is finally free.

Reid Jackson is a conributor to Working Mass and a former member of the YDSA at the University of Rhode Island. 

The post The Stumo Brothers of Western Mass: On Mission Sailing with the Global Sumud Flotilla appeared first on Working Mass.

By rejecting Thrive!, voters are saying that they want their money to go to the things they care about: the library, infrastructure, social support systems.

Author: Shane M., former Co-Chair of the Street Corps Working Group and a member of the Mass Work Caucus Contradictions and A Movement Out Of Touch When I started Street Corps back in 2021, I had the goal of doing my part to address our organization’s lack of presence among the working class community of […]

Every year is an Election year. Every vote matters because there is no United States of America without free and fair democratic elections. This foundation remains the bedrock of our government, enshrined in The Constitution, despite the violent efforts of the current administration’s illicit actions to reduce it to a dictatorial oligarchy.

Electoral politics is the process by which citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf. It is a crucial aspect of democratic governance. By grounding our electoral work in the needs of people DSA Ventura County fights to ensure that politics serves the many, not the few.

Recently, across the county we’ve seen elections flip districts, overhaul city councils, oust mayors, and usher in reform at an unprecedented level prioritizing the core pillars of democratic socialism. The old parties may be dying, but the machine lives on. Electoral politics, indifferent to the dying of the light, continues to bring about material change for all in the form of a new, equitable future. 

Putting Electoral Politics into Action

Working Groups are committees made of DSA chapter members that form around central topics, efforts, or objectives. The mission of the DSA-VC Electoral Working Group is to build working class county, state, and Federal power through local socialist electoral efforts in order to win socialism. 

The Electoral Working Group is Ventura DSA’s vehicle for engaging in local politics with a clear socialist perspective. We understand that working people can also use the ballot box as one tool to advance justice and build class consciousness. 

Within the Electoral Working Group are responsibilities and strategies that ladder up to goals.  First, it evaluates candidates seeking public office in Ventura County, making recommendations to the chapter for possible endorsements. Every candidate is carefully assessed on their record, values, and willingness to stand with working-class communities, with the understanding that elected officials must be accountable to the movement, not the other way around. 

Second, the group reviews and analyzes ballot measures and propositions, studying their potential impacts and making recommendations for support or opposition. A central output of this work is Ventura DSA’s Voters’ Guide, which helps neighbors cut through political spin and understand how each measure affects working people, immigrants, and marginalized communities. Developing a Voter’s Guide is a massive undertaking, so we encourage any members-in-good standing who are interested in this work to join. 

Beyond, the Electoral Working Group sees elections as an opportunity to grow organizing power. Campaigns bring members into neighborhoods, onto phones, and into direct conversations with Ventura residents about the county we want to live in. Whether canvassing for a candidate, writing about a ballot measure, or creating voter guides, the group builds skills, relationships, and capacity that strengthen every part of the chapter. 

Democratic Socialism Electoral Work in Action

A landmark moment in electoral democratic socialism in action was Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont’s 2016 presidential campaign. While not an active member of DSA, Sanders (a registered independent), has described himself as a democratic socialist for decades, and championed DSA ideology in his campaign; from universal basic income, to Medicare for all and higher education reform. Sanders received DSA National endorsement, and with it hundreds of DSA members coordinating campaigning efforts across the county. This work resulted in Sen. Bernie Sanders receiving national media coverage, becoming a household name, and securing nine national Democratic party debates opposite Hilary Clinton. 

Recent years have seen the elections of DSA members including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich. Both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez — as well as the NYC-DSA — endorsed NYC Mayor elected Zohran Mamdani before the primary in June 2025.

The Future

Momentum is building around Democratic Socialism because its tenants prioritize people, welfare, and progress by means of fair, democratic elections. To date DSA achieved its highest-ever membership in September and broke 80,000 members in October. With Democratic Socialists elected to various offices throughout the country, change is more than possible – it’s happening right now. 

Join today, change tomorrow. 

How many times have you been told that real change is impractical? That America isn’t ready for something new? That we need to make compromises with an ever more ruthless fascist regime? However, the proof that we can dream bigger is here! Because Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York City chapter, has won the popular support of his city’s people once more and he is now the Mayor-Elect of the city, the largest in the United States!

With all the attention on Mamdani and his organization, the Democratic Socialists of America or DSA, people may be wondering: what is DSA? What is socialism for that matter? What can socialism do for the average American? And what can people do to build the better future that socialism promises?

DSA is the largest socialist organization in America, with over 85,000 members, organizing and fighting for a better tomorrow in scores of local chapters. But what do socialists believe? For us at DSA, we believe socialism is when working people democratically and collectively control our lives and all aspects of our society, whether it be the government, the economy, or the workplace. 

There are many ways in which such an approach under socialism can benefit the average American. Socialists are on the forefront of the struggle for affordable housing, healthcare, access to food, transit, and other necessities of life. Locally, DSA’s Silicon Valley Chapter has been a major contributor in the Measure A campaign to save Santa Clara County’s hospitals from shutdown amidst Trump’s budget cuts, Palestine solidarity work such as No Appetite for Apartheid, mutual aid work with groups like Food Not Bombs and Apoyate, and many more organizing efforts locally. 

In an increasingly inequitable America, where billionaire oligarchs control most of the wealth in the richest country in world history, we believe that all people deserve a share of this hoarded wealth. We don’t want freedom to be reserved for the wealthiest in society; we want freedom for all! That is a dream we believe can become a reality!

Speaking to you from Silicon Valley DSA, Mamdani’s victory has meant many things for us. First, his win has shown working Americans everywhere that the policies we support, from healthcare to affordable housing, are popular among voters. But more importantly, it gives us organizers a window of opportunity to help our community. That includes you. We dream of a better world and believe you can help us.

While Mamdani criticized power and the problems in society, he, more importantly, gave tangible solutions as well, along with a plan to achieve these aims. He met with New Yorkers to hear about the issues that mattered to them, working to find tangible and imaginative solutions to address these issues. We at Silicon Valley DSA are cut of the same red cloth organizing in our local community in the South Bay for years. With their victory, we seek to emulate the impact NYC-DSA and Mamdani have left on their communities to deliver for our own. Be sure to join us and keep an eye on the calendar for future organizing. Just imagine what all of us will bring to Silicon Valley in the years to come. 

Dare to dream big! A better world is possible. And when we fight, we win!

The post The Dream of Tomorrow: What Mamdani’s Win Means for Silicon Valley DSA appeared first on Silicon Valley DSA.

Metro Justice and the Rochester for Energy Democracy coalition delivered this statement to City Council leaders who have opposed rate hikes but haven’t yet acted on a City-led study at the Speak to Council session on Thur Nov 13 at City Hall at 6pm. The statement was given by Pastor Wanda Wilson of RocACTS on behalf of the Rochester for Energy Democracy campaign coalition, in advance of an Action at RG&E on Dec 6 at Noon calling for No Rate Hikes, No Shut Offs, Public Power Now. City Council members were invited to the action – if they commit to City leadership on a public utility study. 

Pastor Wanda Wilson expressed it clearly: “Today Rochester for Energy Democracy is saying to City Council: you spoke out against the rate hikes – will you also take action with the power you have to get us out of this mess? We’re inviting City Council members to an action at RG&E on Dec 6 at noon for No Rate Hikes, No Shut Offs, Public Power Now –  if they commit to City leadership on a public utility study. With RG&E’s proposal to increase our rates by over $600 a year, lacking and delayed HEAP energy assistance, and regulators still not implementing the recommendations of their own audit, we can’t afford not to Replace RG&E. The City needs to act now.”

A video of the statement will be available at Metro Justice socials, and through the Youtube Livestream of Speak to Council sessions. 

The post Rochester for Energy Democracy Welcomes City Council Opposition to Rate Hikes, Hopes it means Action on a Public Utility Study  first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

Enjoy your November National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 27-person body (including both YDSA Co-Chairs) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, hear about recent wins, support striking Starbucks workers, sign up for trainings, and more!

And to make sure you get our newsletters in your inbox, sign up here! Each one features action alerts, upcoming events, political education, and more. 

• From the National Political Committee — Take on the Moment
• Help Socialists in Competitive Runoff Elections!
• Be a Part of Our Fall Drive! Next Call Saturday 11/15 with Labor Guest
• Sign Up for Trump Admin Response Committee (TARC)
• Join DSA’s Queer Socialist Working Group
• National Political Education Committee Trainings Thursday 11/20, Thursday 12/04

From the National Political Committee — Take on the Moment

Dear Comrades,

It’s hard to believe that it has only been 9 days since proud DSA member Zohran Mamdani became New York City Mayor-Elect — we’ve been celebrating, and we hope you have been too! This is the biggest socialist electoral victory in the US in a century. Despite the millions spent to stop us, working people across New York chose a movement to bring down the cost of living, expand public services, and hold war criminals to account. 

And socialism isn’t just winning in NYC — Zohran won office alongside a slate of democratic socialists who won municipal races in Atlanta (Kelsea Bond), Detroit (Denzel McCampbell), Minneapolis (Robin Wonsley and Soren Stevenson), Boston (Ayah Al-Zubi), and across the country, and DSA chapters all over the place fought hard in races that built a stronger local base for future fights.

Join us to analyze these wins and find new ways to grow DSA by taking on the political moment at our Our Time to Win call tonight at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT!  On this call, you’ll hear organizers from some of the teams that brought you these wins (and at least one of the winners themselves!) as well as folks from the labor movement, organizers for immigrant rights and Palestine solidarity, and more. 

Tonight’s call is a perfect opportunity for new and potential DSA members to learn how we work in DSA to tie together different areas of working class organizing, both inside and outside the electoral arena. Our connections with labor and tenant unions, social justice movements, anti-war organizations, and mutual aid networks are crucial for building the working class power that can and will defeat capitalism, and we need all hands on deck! 

And have you signed up for your unique referral link for our Fall Recruitment Drive yet? Zohran’s election is inspiring people around the world, and this is a crucial political period for us to grow DSA and keep building momentum together. We just passed 85,000 members nationwide, and are aiming for 100,000 by the end of 2025! It’s a great time to ask friends, coworkers, or family members to join DSA — and as you recruit people (perhaps by inviting them to tonight’s call or to participate in one of the actions below), have them use your unique join link. If you recruit three new people to DSA using your referral link, you’ll win a prize, as well as the satisfaction of helping to grow and sustain our mass movement for socialism!

Speaking of mass movements, over 1000 Starbucks baristas in 40+ cities across the country just walked off the job and launched an open-ended Unfair Labor Practice strike. This is likely to be one of the highest-profile labor actions in recent memory, given the combined popularity of the pumpkin spice latte and the tireless coast-to-coast organizational efforts of our comrades at Starbucks Workers United. 

Starbucks organizers have some simple organizing asks for us, and because Starbucks really is everywhere, it’s likely that the vast majority of folks reading this newsletter can show up for at least one of these. So let’s make it happen! 

1. Find a picket line near you! They’re in cities across the country. Connect with your DSA chapter if you can, or just show up and make new friends once you get there!
2. Don’t buy Starbucks, and tell your friends: “No contract? No coffee!” This is a great way to practice having some organizing conversations in your network. (If they go really well, use that unique join link and ask them to join DSA!)
3. Join SBWU for a mass call on Monday 11/17 at 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT/6:30 MT/5:30pm PT! Hear from baristas on strike and find new ways to get plugged in.

These are just a few of the organizing asks we’ve got for you this week. Just because this round of elections is mostly over (we’ve still got some runoffs — see below for how you can help!) doesn’t mean the work is done. In many areas, it’s just beginning! Scroll down for more opportunities to plug into DSA work nationally. And if you’re not yet connected with your DSA chapter locally, find it here and reach out. We’ve got a world to win and it’ll take all of us. We’ll see you out there!

Solidarity,

Ashik Siddique and Megan Romer
DSA National Co-Chairs

Help Socialists in Competitive Runoff Elections!

BREAKING: Our comrades Jake Ephros and Joel Brooks of North NJ DSA are heading to a runoff for Jersey City Council!

Corporate money will be flooding into this high stakes run off in North New Jersey, and Jake and Joel are going to need YOUR help to get over the finish line. It’s time to take out the capitalist trash in Jersey City and send 2 more socialists to office. 

We’ve already raised $100,000 for DSA candidates around the country, who won over 11 races this year! Help us cap off a historic election cycle for socialists in the US with a donation to Jake and Joel TODAY.

Be a Part of Our Fall Drive! Next Call Saturday 11/15 with Labor Guest

The Growth and Development Commission has been hard at work with the Fall Drive. We now have over 5,000 new members, and the goal is to keep that growing while helping chapters engage members new and old in recruitment and development work.

We have a team of coaches working with chapters across the country for the Fall Drive. If you would like to participate in the Fall Drive with your own coach from our national team, please email the GDC at gdc@dsacommittees.org.

If you want to help us build DSA, join us for an upcoming phonebank with special guests:

• Sat 11/15 at 5pm ET with the NLC and a special guest from the labor movement
• Wed 11/19 at 7pm ET with special guest author Adam Hochschild
• Sat 11/22 at 2pm ET with special guest, author and Danish MP Pelle Dragsted
• Tue 12/02 at 7pm ET Giving Tuesday phonebank

Sign Up for Trump Admin Response Committee (TARC)

As the second Trump administration continues to wreak havoc, we know this onslaught is meant to overwhelm working class people and make us feel powerless. The Trump administration has within the first year committed mass terror campaigns against the people who live in this country, from threats against trans lives to the brutal horror of ICE raids across the country. But at the same time, we’ve seen the power of solidarity in this moment, as working class people in LA, Chicago, and cities across the country have taken a stand to defend their friends, families, and neighbors from this administration’s brutality. Multiple times this year, millions have taken to the streets to show their opposition to the Trump administration. What we are seeing across our society is something we as socialists already know: we are not powerless when we’re organized, and we’re still fighting for someone we don’t know.

It is crucial for socialists to be part of this fight to defeat fascism and win a socialist world. To that end, DSA’s Trump Admin Response Committee (TARC) is organizing with DSA members across the country to fight to defend and expand the rights of trans and migrant communities, stand up against Musk’s billionaire coup and stand with workers, elect socialist champions to office all over the country, and show how DSA is fighting against fascism and authoritarianism and for a world where we all have dignity and liberation. 

DSA can be a leader in the fight against fascism, but we need you to make it happen. Join our fight against fascism, and sign up here to get involved in TARC today!

Join DSA’s Queer Socialist Working Group

Join the DSA Queer Socialists Working Group (QSWG)! With recent anti-trans judiciary decisions, joining QSWG is more important than ever. The Supreme Court just decided that Trump can invalidate trans people’s passports, and a Federal court in Ohio just allowed people to bully trans students.

But right now, you can take action on anti-trans legislation! The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), described by sponsor Marsha Blackburn as intended to “protect children from the transgender in our society,” is back in Congress. This is especially concerning given the passage of explicitly transphobic anti-“obscenity” and digital surveillance bills in state legislatures all over the country. Our coalition partner Fight For the Future has a dialing tool and information about KOSA here.

The QSWG also has major internal changes going on. The Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy campaign commission is merging into the Queer Socialists Working Group (QSWG). We’ll also change our name, make structural reforms to comply with the Democracy Commission’s proposal, and have elections for new leadership in January. To vote or run in that election, you must join the QSWG.

National Political Education Committee Trainings Thursday 11/20, Thursday 12/04

With our big wins and fightback against the right, DSA has momentum and we are growing! The National Political Education Committee (NPEC) offers trainings to help chapters prepare for new members and build the strength of their local. Join us to learn how to start and run your own poli ed committee on Thursday 11/20 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT. Or learn how to set up a childwatch program on Thursday 12/4 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT.

And that’s not all! We want to broaden DSA’s horizons and encourage the spread of this kind of knowledge. If you have reflections and experiences with socialist political education in or out of DSA, we want to help you share them. Pitch your writing to our monthly newsletter, Red Letter.

The post Take on the Moment — Your National Political Committee Newsletter appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).