By Jesse D. and Laura W.

Back in May of this year, DSA member and elected Beaverton School Board Director Dr. Tammy Carpenter was accused by the Board of antisemitism for her social media posts condemning Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The community rose up in defense of free speech and a free Palestine, and in August the board voted unanimously that she had not violated any board policy – demonstrating that these kinds of disingenuous smears are no match for the power of a revitalized anti-war movement.

The crisis started on May 29 when the Beaverton School Board held a special session for the sole purpose of disciplining Dr. Carpenter, who was not informed before the session began. The general public had no window into this proceeding as the live stream was blank for well over an hour, until the board appeared. Board meetings are typically held in person.

The accusation happened quickly and with no explanation: School Board Chair Dr. Karen Pérez-Da Silva entertained a motion to refer charges against Dr. Carpenter to a third party investigator. Director Susan Greenberg made the motion and it was seconded by Director Justice Rajee. The motion carried with five in favor and two opposed, and the meeting was immediately adjourned. Because the Board had met for the previous hour in a closed-door session, little information was available as to why Dr. Carpenter was under investigation. What were these charges? Why was Dr. Carpenter being targeted by a majority of the board? 

When Portland DSA members learned about the investigation, we instantly understood it as not just an attack on Dr. Carpenter personally, but also as part of a broader strategy by local Zionist agitators to suppress pro-Palestinian sentiment by punishing public officials who dare to challenge the pro-Israel hegemony. We sprang into action to mobilize Dr. Carpenter’s many supporters, uniting our Washington County Branch, Labor Working Group, Electoral Working Group, Palestine Solidarity Working Group, and our network of educators.

We submitted public records requests to BSD in order to see for ourselves what complaints had been made against Dr. Carpenter. What we discovered was an astroturfed campaign led by the Jewish Federation of Portland to retaliate against Dr. Carpenter for using her personal platform to highlight the injustice and horror of the genocide in Gaza. One Instagram story – which recognized the 77th anniversary of the Nakba – was cited repeatedly in the 13 complaints submitted to the Board.

As a physician, Dr. Carpenter has been deeply affected by Israel’s targeted bombing of hospitals in Gaza. Her first social media post about the genocide was on October 17, 2023, when Israel bombed the first of many hospitals. This was the first of dozens of posts she has made on the subject since October 7, 2023, many of which also talked about the destruction of the schools and universities; a subject relevant to a school board member.

The next regular School Board meeting was scheduled for June 2, just four days after the investigation was voted on. Portland DSA members quickly planned a solidarity protest for that day. Over the course of the next 90 hours, we held planning meetings, arranged for speakers, promoted the protest on social media, talked to our coworkers and allies in the Beaverton School District, and contacted local elected officials. On the day of the Board meeting, 150 people turned out to rally and occupy the School Board headquarters, demonstrating the overwhelming local support for Dr. Carpenter and the struggle for Palestinian liberation. Attendees heard from Portland Jewish Voice for Peace organizer Julia Ford; State Representative Farrah Chaichi; and Hailey DeMarre, a DSA member, Beaverton Education Association activist and Beaverton High School teacher who had a pro-Palestinian mural in her classroom painted over. Beaverton City Councilor Nadia Hasan, the first Muslim person to serve on the Council, also spoke in solidarity during the School Board meeting public comment period. They all made it clear that the retaliation against Dr. Carpenter was just one example out of many in which the interests of Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students were utterly disrespected.

Following the rally, most supporters filed into the meeting room which quickly reached capacity – many supporters were turned away for fire safety reasons. The pro-Zionists were outnumbered 15:1. Those 20 or so counter-protesters carried signs saying “Tammy Sucks” and signs that equated solidarity with Palestine as a call for Jewish extermination. The vast majority of the room was taken up by anti-Zionist advocates and Dr. Carpenter’s supporters, holding signs saying “Stop Arming Israel” and “Free Speech on Palestine.”

The meeting was tense even before public comment began, as the audience seating was overflowing with people holding signs. At one point, a group of high schoolers were awarded honors by the district, and we overheard one student insist on staying to watch the anticipated drama of the meeting, saying, “No, Mom, I want to see how this goes!”

Following the awards, a heated public comment period began wherein both sides shared alternative perspectives on the situation the Board had caused by capitulating to the complaints engineered by the Jewish Federation of Portland. (To hear the speeches, you can watch this YouTube livestream.) Some speakers complained that their federal tax dollars are being used to fund the genocide, and their local tax dollars shouldn’t go to investigating board members with a pro-Palestine position. Although the Board chairperson interrupted several times to tell attendees to quiet their reactions, the event was entirely peaceful. The crowd dispersed with the feeling of a job well done. Following the meeting, public statements poured into the School Board expressing support for Dr. Carpenter and condemnation of the School Board’s actions.

On August 9, the results of the investigation were finalized and published: the third-party investigator determined the charges against Dr. Carpenter were unfounded. We were confident from the start that this would be the result, but Portland DSA was committed to making it clear – to the Beaverton School Board and any other power-players considering following the lead of the Zionist lobby – that the public is in opposition to both the genocide and the erosion of free speech rights.

We see these charges in the same light we have seen charges of anti-semitism made against other socialist figures who have championed Palestinian liberation, like Zohran Mamdani in NYC or Rep. Rashida Tlaib in Congress. The Zionist lobby has long relied on slander to defend military funding for Israel, but it’s clear this trick doesn’t work anymore. Opposition to the imperialist war machine and solidarity with Palestine is not a liability – it is our strength.

We encourage all sympathizers to join Portland DSA and be a part of the movement to end war and genocide and instead create a world where all people can live in peace. From Beaverton to Palestine, all children should have safe, well-resourced schools that facilitate free inquiry. This will not be the last time our public figures are attacked for championing that vision, but no matter what comes next, we’re ready to keep fighting.

The post That Trick Doesn’t Work Anymore: How DSA and Allies Defeated a Smear Campaign and Protected Free Speech on Palestine appeared first on Portland DSA .

By: Andrew S

LAWRENCE, MA– Unionists and socialists gathered together at the Heritage State Park for the 41st Annual Bread and Roses Heritage Festival on September 1 – Labor Day. And as organizers from unions and mass organizations across the Merrimack Valley push in a renewed surge of organizing amidst a backdrop of labor repression, the specters of the Bread and Roses Strike watch on.

The Strike in the Trial of a New Society

First organized in 1985, the Bread and Roses Heritage Festival celebrates one of the most important events in American labor history – the Lawrence Mill Strike of 1912, colloquially known as the Bread and Roses Strike. At that time, Lawrence was inundated with textile mills that heavily employed and exploited immigrant and women workers. At the turn of the year in January 1912, the state of Massachusetts passed legislation to reduce maximum working hours for women and children from fifty-six to fifty-four hours. After a failed attempt to desperately fire half of their workforce of women with men, mill owners summarily reduced their wages instead. As socialist leader and militant railway worker “Big Bill” Haywood would later describe, Lawrence mill owners “[were] putting their thieving fingers into the envelopes of thirty thousand and from each and every envelope extracted 30 cents from every worker.” Thousands of women workers organized a successful walkout. They went on strike for three whole months in the ruthless conditions of a Merrimack Valley winter.

Strike efforts were largely led by workers with the militant Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), or “Wobblies,” who brought in heavy hitters for strike solidarity. Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a tour de force organizing mine workers from the Midwest to the Pacific Northwest, accompanied the aforementioned “Big Bill” Haywood – a legendary labor activist who cut his teeth during the Colorado Labor Wars and emerged as an icon of labor and socialist organizing from Massachusetts to the American West. Flynn and Haywood joined IWW organizers “Smiling Joe” Ettor and Arturo Giovannitti on the road to Lawrence.

The strikers and organizers of the Bread and Roses Strike paid considerable costs. After a cop killed striker Anna LoPizzo on the picket line, Ettor and Giovannitti were arrested and later endured a two-month trial which author Justus Ebert would coin “The Trial of a New Society”, going beyond a conflict of capital and labor and placing thrusting old societal values into question. Ettor and Giovannitti were ultimately acquitted, but not without another strike on September 30 in which 15,000 workers would picket during their indictment hearing, along with worker boycotts from Sweden, France, and the Italian motherland from which so many Lawrence workers on strike had recently migrated.

History and textbooks have attempted to win a counternarrative or bury it altogether. One counterprotest organized for “God and Country” on October 12, in which counterprotestors espoused jingoistic and patriotic values in dissent of the thousands of workers who bravely struck that year. Their pathetic actions are memorialized by an even more pitiful flag mast toward the center of Heritage State Park. The Zinn Education Project also noted that ten out of twelve textbooks either have not written about the Lawrence Mill Strike of 1912 or have misrepresented its fight for workers.

However, for those who picketed and lost blood, sweat, tears, and more in those three months in 1912, the world changed. Those workers experienced an immense victory. The mills lost over $30,000 throughout the strike period, equal to almost a million dollars today when accounted for inflation. Material gains were enormous: wages of workers rose by fifteen percent, double pay for overtime was set, and a pledge for non-retaliation against striking workers was secured. Haywood declared that the Bread and Roses Strike was “a wonderful strike, the most significant strike, the greatest strike that has ever been carried on in this country or any other country,” crediting the victory most especially to the democracy the workers had organized and their success in bringing multiple nationalities together in the name of labor. 

The Bread and Roses Heritage Festival celebrates one the greatest moments in American history and the radical potential the working class holds in the country’s darkest hours.

The Festival in the Now

In 2025, over a century after the Bread and Roses Strike, workers and their supporters gather in balmy weather under partial clouds. This isn’t the first time the people have gathered in Lawrence; this is the forty-first year of the Bread and Roses Festival. Organizers set up tables representing various organizations, from teachers unions, socialist parties, Palestine groups, anarchist organizations, and local businesses. Six local musical artists performed with various events speaking on labor and other left-wing organizational efforts happening across the Merrimack Valley and Massachusetts.

While the effort of the festival was to celebrate worker militancy, the current state of government affairs hovered in the clouds above. Merrimack Valley DSA, tabling and petitioning signatures for their Safe Communities Act campaign, rallied and held organizing conversations with workers and supporters who gathered around to discuss ICE attacks and their rampant rackets in kidnapping and detaining working-class immigrants throughout the state.

Local officials and candidates attended the festival to celebrate the festival’s history.

Marcos Candido, running for the District 8 seat of Lowell City Council and endorsed by Boston DSA, reiterated the need to celebrate victorious moments in labor history like the Bread and Roses Strike, especially given the fact that the strike was primarily organized by immigrant and women workers. However, today’s struggles are always at the front of Marcos’ mind.

Reflecting on the connection between 1912’s Merrimack Valley and today, Candido said: 

Time is a flat circle in capitalist society. The only thing that really changes is the technology that carries out anti-union efforts and the cops who come at us looking like US soldiers fighting in the Iraq war. I think things have shifted a little, but people are working sixty- to seventy-hour work weeks today like they were back then. It is weird that in the year 2025, the eight-hour workday is still in demand because even though the forty-hour work week is the standard, in any city it is not enough to survive. People have to work two, three jobs and still don’t have enough to pay their bills. Unfortunately, a lot of the demands of then are the demands of now. The capitalists have the power and use their power to regress.

While the labor movement today has yet to organize a strike as historically pronounced as the Bread and Roses Strike of 1912, labor unions and mass organizations like DSA look to build the power required and beat fascism with socialism. The Bread and Roses Heritage Festival gives the working class another space, deep in the Merrimack Valley on the hollowed grounds of labor history, to take the lessons of this action and move forward.

If Candido wins his seat in Lowell, he intends to fortify his dedication to serving working-class immigrants. “The Safe Communities Act that DSA is pushing for is really important, and even if it doesn’t pass at the state-level or in Boston, making sure that something like that is passed at the local level is extremely important,” said Candido. “Just like Lawrence, Lowell is a large immigrant community. Everything that is happening at the national level is worsening. Immigrants are getting attacked more and more, as well as union leaders and workers.”

“From Lawrence to Lowell, It’s incredibly important that city councils make sure every working family is protected and gets to live a good life,” Marcos Candido said.

Andrew S is an organizer with Boston DSA and contributor to Working Mass.

Workers Over Billionaires: Boston’s Historic First Labor Day Parade

By: Maxine Bouvier

BOSTON, MA– Local labor unions and their allies gathered on Monday, September 1 for a historic celebration of workers rights: Boston’s first ever Labor Day Parade. Organized by the Greater Boston Labor Council, a statewide affiliate of labor’s largest federation working to organize across different unions in the Boston area, the event featured speakers and contingents rooted in a variety of labor struggles.

Those present included teachers, healthcare workers, postal workers, municipal employees, app drivers, actors, transportation workers, tradespeople, and more. In addition, union members were joined by ally organizations including Boston Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Massachusetts Peace Action, MassCare, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 

The event’s central slogan was “Workers Over Billionaires” and began with speeches from union organizers and political leaders to the crowd gathered on Boston Common, highlighting the power of working people and the urgent need for continued organizing. Thousands stood together, with each union represented with its own assembly. Present were teachers, healthcare workers, postal workers, municipal employees, gig workers, actors, transport workers, and tradespeople. Ally organizations like Massachusetts Peace Action, MassCare, and ACLU brought their contingents, as well. Boston DSA was represented by over fifty members wearing red shirts marching in solidarity with signs that read “Socialism Beats Fascism.”

Chrissy Lynch, president of the Massachusetts state federation of the AFL-CIO that bottomlined the parade, said to roaring cheers:

It is the working class that is the backbone of America, not the billionaire class. The rights we celebrate on Labor Day are being ripped up. Working class people are anxious about our jobs, about paying our bills, and if our neighbors are going to be ripped off our streets.

This sentiment was reflected in the signs of protestors present – many called for the inclusion and protection of undocumented immigrants currently targeted by the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive deportation program. The parade marched from Beacon Street through downtown to City Hall Plaza. Along the route, attendees chanted and sang, calling for solidarity and a continued fight for workers’ rights. People laughed, cheered, and roared chants.

“Money for jobs and education, not for war and deportation,” called members of the Boston Teachers Union. Tracy Romain, a member of the Boston Teachers Union (BTU), shared what felt most important to her about organizing with her colleagues: “[It’s about] bringing everyone together, bringing our wages up, getting what we deserve. Fighting for our rights, and for democracy.” BTU Local 66 emphasized the need to stand up for public education as funding cuts are threatened.

At City Hall Plaza, more organizers spoke about their ongoing fights for better working conditions. A representative of concession workers at Fenway Park, organizing under UNITE HERE Local 26, spoke about their current efforts and a recent two-day strike:

These machines that are replacing us don’t have a family, a neighborhood, or a Boston accent. When we strike again, we will not have an end date. We will not surrender to your low wages and increases in automation.

Many union members shared similar grievances. A speaker from Mass General Brigham’s Primary Care Physicians Union shared that MGB has refused to recognize their right to bargain. Similarly, a representative of the newly formed App Drivers Union spoke about the difficulty of fighting for recognition from corporate leadership:

Today, for the first time ever, ride share drivers are standing with their fellow workers on Labor Day, on the verge of winning the first ever app drivers union in the United States… when working for these companies can feel like living under dictatorship.

While acknowledging the realities of these shared difficulties, the Labor Day Parade and rally were uplifting in tone – a reminder of the power of the working class, what dedicated organizers and unions have already won, and the work that still needs to be done. 

Maxine Bouvier is an organizer with Boston DSA and contributor to Working Mass.

The post Labor Day 2025: From Lawrence’s Bread and Roses Festival to Boston’s Historic First Labor Day Parade appeared first on Working Mass.

By: Rob Switzer

This article was originally published in the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)’s blog.

If you’re considering joining a union or starting one in your workplace, you may ask yourself, “Are union dues expensive?” This question may have occurred to you spontaneously, or it may have been planted in your head by anti-union rhetoric, perhaps by your bosses in response to a unionization movement in your workplace. In either case, it’s a question worth exploring.

How are union dues calculated?

The union may determine dues based on a straight percentage of your paychecks. For example, if you’re a member of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), you may pay 1.5% of your overall salary in dues, capped at $90 a month. Let’s say you earn $1,000 every week for a yearly salary of $52,000: You would pay $15 from each weekly paycheck, totaling $60 a month or $720 a year.

Other unions calculate dues as a flat rate. For example, I am a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) member, and at my workplace, I pay $10.65 each week, or $42.60 every month. And yes, your boss is right: If my union membership ended tomorrow, that’s an extra $42.60 that would be going into my pocket. And a hypothetical SEIU worker would have an extra $60 every month going into their pocket.

Is it worth paying union dues?

The important question is what would you lose? What does that $60 get you? Do the benefits of your union membership offset that expense? The data shows overwhelmingly that the answer is yes. To begin with, according to a study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in 2024, unionized workers in the United States, thanks to the wages they bargained for in their contracts, make on average 17.5% more than their non-unionized counterparts.

That number alone shows that union membership is worth the cost. If you make $1,000 in a week, 17.5% of that is $175. So on average, if a non-union worker is making $1,000 in a week, their union shop counterpart makes $1,175. Over the course of a year, while you’re paying $720 every year in union dues, you can expect to pocket on average $2,100 in extra cash in exchange. That’s a $1,380 return on investment. But there is much more to the equation than a simple dollar-for-dollar comparison.

Are union dues a benefit?

Forming a union and obtaining a collective bargaining agreement almost always locks in a series of benefits, some that have monetary value and some that are invaluable, in my opinion.

For one example, you could look at the contract where I work: Cattleman’s Meat and Produce, a neighborhood meat market and grocery store. Our union, UFCW, is often criticized as being one of the weaker large unions (and sometimes for good reason), yet our contract provides for a number of guaranteed benefits that workers in many other grocery retail environments simply don’t enjoy.

My favorite among these is paid vacation. At Cattleman’s, we receive a week of paid vacation after one year, and eventually three weeks if you stick around long enough. Having worked many jobs in my life without paid vacation, I don’t know how I ever lived without it. This is one of the benefits that I would classify as “invaluable.” Having a week off here and there to travel or just recharge your batteries and still get your bills paid can be a life-changer.

Can union dues protect my job?

Another benefit is simply job security: unions protect your ability to stay employed. Almost every state in this country is an “at-will” state, meaning you can be fired at any time for any reason (as long as it’s not an illegal reason, like racial discrimination). But virtually any union contract includes a “just cause” provision, meaning you can only be fired for a good reason.

If you are fired and you decide to fight it, this could mean a lengthy and expensive battle for the employer, and sometimes they will simply take someone back rather than having to deal with a fight.

Do union dues mean lower wages?

Paying union dues means you and your co-workers earn higher wages and wage increases over time. At Cattleman’s, most employees are promised a 50-cent raise every six months. This is something we need to stay on top of to make sure it’s enforced (the boss will conveniently “forget”), but it’s a contractually agreed-upon promise that we all benefit from.

Most union contracts will contain wage increases like this, and this obviously contributes to why union workers typically make more money.

What are the benefits of paying union dues?

There are many more benefits! We receive a full day’s pay for certain holidays, whether we work or not. We have dependable schedules. We have guaranteed hours every week, ensuring that we can pay our bills even during slow seasons. We get sick days and paid “personal days.” And like every union member in the United States, we have “Weingarten rights,” meaning we can demand the presence of a union representative or steward before any disciplinary actions are taken.

I am a meat cutter at my job but I am also our shop steward, and when I am asked, “What does the union do for us?”, this is how I answer: I tell them about all of the above-described benefits. (I even wrote up a handout that explains them all!) When someone complains about the union to me and floats the idea of leaving it, I will listen and often sympathize with them. But I ultimately always make the point, “Do you like your paid vacation? How about your job security? Do you really want to give those things up to keep an extra $10 in your pocket every week?”

Is it worth it to pay union dues?

Sometimes critics of unions have a point. Many unions (such as the UFCW) are not as democratic as they should be. Sometimes it seems like they don’t pay attention or care about us. We are often largely excluded from the negotiation process, and many workers feel they are pressured into accepting bad contract offers. Sometimes union executives make extremely high salaries that seem extravagant. (The current UFCW International president makes over $300,000, and many local presidents make around a quarter-million every year as well.)

But even if the union isn’t perfect (and ours certainly is not), the answer is not to leave it. The answer is stay, reap the benefits, and become an active member and improve the union from within. And if you are wondering whether it is worth it to start or join one, the answer is yes! So, are union dues expensive? Simply put, it is much more expensive to not pay dues to a union. And at the end of the day, union dues aren’t a cost — they’re an investment. And the return is your dignity, your security, and your voice.

Rob Switzer is a UFCW butcher and shop steward in Detroit, Michigan. He is a member of Metro Detroit’s chapter of Democratic Socialists of America and co-editor of their publication “The Detroit Socialist.”

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Are Union Dues Expensive? was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

As part of a city-wide crackdown on our homeless neighbors, the City of Madison is unfairly targeting the Social Justice Center, demanding that the SJC removes its food pantry, public health vending machine, benches, and public art, in an attempt to drive away unhoused people who rely on the SJC and the organizations it houses for shelter, safety, healthcare, and support.

Madison Area Democratic Socialists of America recognizes the effort the Social Justice Center puts into addressing the housing crisis that this city ignores, and we stand with the SJC and all who rely on it.

There is no denying it: there is a crisis in Madison. Rents get higher and access to affordable housing gets more limited by the day, forcing more and more people from their homes. Public restrooms are not open early or late enough. Overcoming addiction is nearly impossible when one’s basic needs for survival are not met. Each of these problems is a rung in the ladder of capitalist oppression, which forces the working class into worse and worse conditions until they have nowhere left to go.

The city’s approach to this crisis is unjust and unhelpful. We cannot disappear the unhoused population. We must house them. We must give them safety, security, and support. They are our neighbors, community members, and constituents of the politicians who claim to represent us. Any one of us could be a layoff or medical emergency away from joining them. This crisis is a reminder to the rest of the working class that the ruling class will turn its back on anyone who isn’t making them profits.

The Beacon, Madison’s primary day shelter, is beyond capacity, so people look for shelter in other parts of the city. The city’s proposed new men’s shelter won’t be ready until next year, and will only have 250 beds – not nearly enough to meet the well-documented need.

But instead of fully funding and expanding the sorely needed homeless services and meaningfully addressing the housing crisis that makes them necessary, the city is cracking down on neighbors helping neighbors – by increasing police presence at and making punitive demands of the Social Justice Center, by threatening to close down the Dairy Drive campground with winter just around the corner, and by sweeping the encampment at the Wisconsin Veterans’ Museum.

“Solving” homelessness with incarceration is more expensive per person than harm reduction centers and housing first policies, and only perpetuates the cycle.

As community members, it is our responsibility to provide what the city will not, and the Social Justice Center aims to do exactly that. We also have to fight for a just future in which everyone has what they need. MADSA stands in solidarity with the Social Justice Center, and calls upon the Madison Common Council, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, and the Dane County Board to do right by our neighbors:

1. Stop targeting the SJC for stepping up where the city has failed.

2. Continue to fund the Dairy Drive campsite, a crucial transition program.

3. Support the Dane County Homeless Justice Initiative’s demands to fully fund homeless support services.

4. Cure the root cause of the homelessness crisis by building affordable, desirable, and dignified public housing where our neighbors can thrive, not just survive!

This is an excerpt from the Independent Organizing Network's Post-NLRB research report on the current legal labor landscape and the threats on the horizon.

The post Labor organizing after the NLRB appeared first on EWOC.

by Dan Fitch

Let’s delve into local coverage of the jail communication contract and mail scanning, Alec K style. If you need background, get lost in the sauce with a deep dive from last month. The summary: The sheriff’s office is arguing that we need to scan mail to save lives from overdoses caused by contraband coming via the mail. The evidence for this? Nonexistent.

First, let’s look at what got published in the media. Then, we have to dive into the sheriff’s two attempts to convince the citizens that mail scanning is about safety. [Spoiler: it’s mostly by saying “safety” a lot.]

A quick tl;dr summary of this whole analysis: there is very little proof that mail scanning reduces overdoses or improves safety, and quite a lot of proof that it does not. Mostly, mail scanning is a “Trojan horse” [as Smart Communications have said themselves] for getting tablets into prisoners’ hands and selling them music and movies and everything else at exorbitant prices. If the sheriff gets more surveillance power along the way, more the better. Plus, the current contract as written doesn’t even restrict usage of the data until after the contract’s term, despite the sheriff’s office claiming the county controls the data.

This contract is bad for all kinds of reasons; pick your poison. Mail scanning with zero proof of safety improvements? Check. Badly written contract that lets maximum extraction happen, up to the point that mail and messages could get used to train AI, or sent to other corporations or government entities without Dane County’s say so? Check. Corrupt corporation that has bribed carceral agencies in the past, and has filed for bankruptcy? Check.

Oh yeah, just pound that point in: this corporation applied for bankruptcy back in December 2024. Shouldn’t that be… something we want to avoid? The county procedures that picked this contract out of the two available are opaque, at best. And while I don’t understand corporate economics in our current hellscape, it doesn’t seem exactly great that we are signing up with a sketchy company trying and failing to file for Chapter 11, right?

(As far as exploitation, how much do you think it costs to stream an hour of music on the jail’s current GTL-run tablets? By my math, it’s $3.00. Would you pay for a streaming service where you had to pay $3 every time you wanted to listen to an hour of music? Although the initial planned price is only $1.80 for an hour in this new contract, there are no upper limits, and the county has zero oversight on pricing outside of calls and texts. If you’re thinking “people in jail don’t deserve to listen to music, who cares if it’s expensive”, you’re forgetting: half the people in there are innocent until proven guilty. They’re almost all poor. And your ass is showing.)

Local coverage

Cap Times reporter Sarah Eichstadt wrote an early piece in June, quite clear on the state of things. The community was upset, Smart Communications was [is] a shady company, the sheriff was pushing mail scanning with weak justifications, and the flimsy evidence around all this is directly addressed in the article. Overall, it captures the tone in the room, where both people from the public and on the committee were disturbed by some of the media coverage of Smart Communications’ very public flaws.

One thing Eichstadt’s piece doesn’t mention is how the Public Protection & Judiciary (PPJ) committee members had just received the proposed contract merely a few business days before the June 17 meeting. [Notice that the proposed contract is not OCR’d, so you can’t easily search for words in it. And why can’t our newspapers link into Legistar for folks to easily dig into meeting details?]

Three days after that first Cap Times article was published, PPJ talked about the contract a bit at a joint meeting with Health and Human Needs on June 30. Then Scott Gordon and I published one of our patented “ow, it’s too long” deep dives on July 14 in Tone Madison. A single point I want to call out from that: the Dane County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) has been saying conflicting things about contraband in the mail for years. They claim to have a big problem with drugs getting into the jail in the mail, but they don’t have records they can release. From that article:

Asked point-blank whether this is an acknowledgement that DCSO’s records are incomplete or unreliable, Schaffer responds: “I wouldn’t put it that way. We’ve been clear that we have not historically tracked the specific data you are requesting (incidents of drugs entering the jail through the mail).”

Other local coverage has been weak, at best. WKOW’s initial piece talks only to the sheriff, and only mentions “potential concerns” without detailing any, and then they reprinted DCSO’s talking points from a recent press release, but even attempted to strengthen the argument, claiming: “In 2024, there were four incidents of drugs entering the jail through mail, contributing to three in-custody drug-related deaths, according to officials.” That little word “contributing” connects the incidents of drugs in the mail with the in-custody deaths in our minds, creating causation where it wasn’t. If you read DCSO’s press release, it very carefully does not say the incidents of drugs in the mail contributed in any way. It says there were four incidents of drugs in the mail, and then “While this may seem like a relatively small number, it’s important to note that there were three in-custody deaths that same year, all involving drugs.” See how there is no causation proven, just that it’s “important to note” the two facts?

WMTV’s coverage doesn’t make that incorrect connection, and at least adds a throwaway “Opponents of the plan cite privacy concerns”… but quickly follows that with “but Sheriff Barrett says safety is his top priority.” Of course he says that. He says it a lot. But opponents are citing more than privacy concerns, we are citing that this will not stop contraband, it will slow mail access, and it will further isolate people in our jail.

The first missive

The Sheriff’s first letter hit just before the July 22 PPJ meeting, where the committee voted 4-3 to recommend for denial. (Hooray?) So this timing may have been an attempt to convince supervisors that mail scanning was a no-brainer… except for the fact that some of them were unaware of it at the July 22 meeting. Could have been just a PR fail, where it didn’t reach its intended targets. Or, possibly, the letter was intended to target the wider Dane County community, because the sheriff had guessed PPJ was not going to rubber-stamp it.

So, what’s the meat of this letter?

He opens with the fentanyl overdose crisis, which is, to be clear, a real thing and a huge public health concern.

Then he pivots: “Within the jail community…” Now, if I threw people in my basement and locked them up, it would be pretty weird if I called them my “basement community”. He goes on to say contraband comes in through “seemingly innocent letters”. “Seemingly innocent” is a fun phrase, you can put it in front of anything and make it sound spooky. Our “seemingly innocent” sheriff sure is penning a lot of letters to newspapers!

Notice throughout that we have plenty of appeals to emotion, which is fine; and plenty of appeals to reason, but still no numbers, no frequency, no evidence. But in the last line of his opener he lays out the key idea: “Implementing advanced mail scanning in the Dane County Jail is a critical step to saving lives.”

This is going to be his main argument, but the problem is, there’s just no proof. We’ll dive deeper into that below.

Inexplicably, he writes that “scanning technologies, like X-ray and chemical detection systems” can identify threats. But uh, that’s not what’s on the menu. This contract is not for X-ray or chemical detection systems. We don’t know how it compares to what DSCO is currently doing to check mail. This contract is for paying a corrupt Florida company to hire schlubs who open envelopes and scan mail on normal document scanners or cameras or whatever, to be shredded later. This whole section is very confusing, and I don’t understand what it’s doing here. Maybe it snuck in from some other argument for surveillance technology. But it’s not an accident, because [spoiler alert] it pops back up in the second op-ed.

Next, Barrett claims “…scanning mail supports rehabilitation by reducing access to substances that derail recovery.” And we are once again grinding in the teeth of the question: is there any evidence that scanned mail provably reduces access to contraband substances? I have been able to find no research which supports this claim, not even biased research paid for by carceral technology companies. There’s just people like our sheriff saying it loudly, hoping that it’s true.

I did find one paper, Utilizing Electronic Mail to Prevent Drug Trafficking in Prisons (Warshaw 2020) which argues for mail scanning on flimsy grounds. On p. 77 you can find Warshaw laying out Pennsylvania’s plan [in 2018] to prevent contraband: moving to scanned mail through a company called Smart Communications. Hmm, sounds familiar. She writes that “Since the implementation of the new system, Pennsylvania has had positive results,” and quotes a punishment bureaucrat saying it has cut down on the quantity of synthetic cannibinoids in their system.

The only problem with this narrative is that, unfortunately, “After a slight decline in the immediate aftermath of the policy change, the number of positive drug tests rebounded quickly and is now higher than it was before.” [Emphasis mine.]

Mail scanning is not a magical panacea that stops contraband, because mail is not the primary way that contraband gets into carceral institutions. Ask yourself: why is the primary way it gets in not mentioned by the sheriff, ever? Why is it only hinted at in Eichstadt’s article? Might it be because we all know that contraband enters our jail via the workers there, who have dangerous incentives to sell access to contraband?

There’s no evidence that mail scanning stops contraband. There is, however, evidence that increased contact via mail, phone calls, and visits with friends and family has many positives, including reducing recidivism, in-prison misconduct, and depression.

Finally, the sheriff claims that “Investing in mail scanning is a proactive, humane solution” and that “Lives depend on it.” If we’re talking about proactive, humane solutions that save lives, there is one major reform the sheriff should be fighting for: abolishing cash bail and keeping more people out of jail pre-trial, as Illinois has. Guess what? No crime waves happened there. None of the predicted “Purge”-style chaos. There were overall savings for the taxpayers, and less lives got wrecked by carceral punishment. [We also need to address Wisconsin’s backwards approach to crimeless revocation, compared to our neighbors, but that’s a whole other ball of wax.]

“Ensuring safer facilities and stronger communities,” if Barret is actually interested in this, should involve actively reducing our jail population, and rethinking our reliance on punishment as a path to try to cruelty our way to stronger communities. We’ve tried cruelty. We’ve tried cruelty with a neoliberal smile on top. Why would we try cruelty with maximum capitalism smeared on that smile? Let’s try some smarter options.

The second missive

After the PPJ 4-3 denial, Personnel and Finance voted 5-2 to recommend denial on August 11. After that second failure is when we get the second shot from the sheriff, this time in a longer op-ed.

Barret fires off out of the gate with “The evidence is clear: Jail mail scanning saves lives by addressing the growing threat of smuggled drugs, weapons and other illicit materials that fuel violence, overdoses and instability within our jails.” But he adds none of this “clear” evidence to the conversation, still. And wait, what is “weapons” doing in that sentence? Is this another slip, or are mail-in weapons a problem we can’t figure out how to solve?

After that, he points to the opioid crisis, with good reason. He names the sad fact that 3 people died from overdoses in his supervision in 2024. But notice that he does not provide any evidence to link those overdoses to the mail. Plus, he fails to address the fact that people died in Wisconsin prisons in 2024 from overdoses… but we’ve been scanning that mail since late 2021, when the Department of Corrections claimed it was a necessary step to stop K2 overdoses.

Okay. Now. I’m gonna need you to take a deep breath, because there are two extremely strange sentences to delve into coming up.

Chemical detection

“Mail scanning technology, which uses advanced imaging and chemical detection, can identify these threats [substances] before they reach jail residents, preventing overdoses and saving lives.”

Remember above? What is this chemical detection stuff? We are talking about mail scanning with scanners like your grandma uses to scrapbook. Smart Communications is not doing any chemical detection, they’re just… scanning. Digitizing. And then sending the results over the internet. Then shredding the original mail, eventually. Nowhere in this plan do we need any “advanced imaging and chemical detection” for substances. You can look at the steps in the contract yourself under “XIII. MAIL SCANNING – OFF PREMISE MAIL SCANNING” on page 34 of the contract [page 38 of the PDF.]

… followed by a bunch of boring surveillance and review things that happen with the [again, digital] images. I simply do not understand what the “chemical detection” argument is doing in these letters from the sheriff.

Weapons, escape plans, or gang communications

I’m just going to put the entire next two paragraphs here:

Beyond drugs, mail can conceal weapons, escape plans or gang communications that jeopardize the safety of everyone in the facility. Traditional hand-inspection methods are labor-intensive and prone to human error, allowing dangerous items to slip through.

Modern scanning systems, however, provide a non-invasive, efficient and highly accurate means of detecting contraband. They can identify hidden compartments, chemical residues or suspicious materials without compromising the privacy of legitimate correspondence. By ensuring that all mail is thoroughly screened, we reduce the risk of violence, gang activity and escapes, creating a safer environment for jail residents and staff alike.

After the first paragraph, I’m thinking, sure, scanning is a way to guarantee no weapons, but at no point so far has the claim been that weapons in the mail have been a problem. But by “identify hidden compartments, chemical residues or suspicious materials” I’m once again completely baffled. Does Barret mean “stop” instead of “identify” here?

Let me lay a scenario out.

In the dark near-future of this contract with Smart Communications, Alice gets arrested. She can’t make bail, and sits in jail. Her husband Bob wants to send her a birthday card, but somehow sneak in a hidden compartment with a key in it, like in the old movies.

It doesn’t matter what Bob tries to do, because he mails it care of Smart Communications. Whatever clever mechanism he employed goes to Florida, gets scanned in, and a random office drone gets to have a bit of a laugh at someone trying to mail a key through their foolproof system.

The original mail never goes to Dane County Jail.

A picture of it goes over the internet, and Alice can look at a crappy version of it on her tablet. Maybe she can pay money to have a crappy printout of it, too. But a small team of office workers with a scanner and a shredder is what I think this contract is for, not for some fancy centralized CSI lab with shiny equipment that can “identify… chemical residues”.

And then, after all that, he adds “without compromising the privacy of legitimate correspondence.” Huh? Jail mail has been read and checked and not-at-all-private since the beginning of when people first sent mail to gaols. Now there’s an extra layer of office workers in the loop, as well as the AI that initially scans it, plus the usual sheriff’s deputies who manually check, and whoever else from the county, state, or other jurisdiction has access to the scans. [Legal correspondence in this plan will go through a scanner that’s actually at Dane County Jail, for delivery to tablet… or to be reprinted.]

Why do I smell toast?

Back to the plot

Copaganda sometimes directly intends to confuse us, I think.

Let’s get back to the sheriff’s hard evidence for why mail scanning will save lives. I’m sure it’s in here. Oh, here we go, he’s gonna drop some knowledge bombs:

In facilities where mail scanning has been implemented, such as those in Ohio and Pennsylvania, overdoses have dropped significantly, and staff report feeling safer. These outcomes demonstrate that scanning is not just a theoretical solution but a proven strategy.

Hmm. Don’t think we should be looking to Ohio, recently sued over their mail scanning program, as an example.

And the other problem with this narrative is, uhh, remember Pennsylvania? “After a slight decline in the immediate aftermath of the policy change, the number of positive drug tests rebounded quickly and is now higher than it was before.“

Déjà vu, anyone? Prisons and jails all over the country have moved to scanned mail in recent years, and they have not gotten safer. If the evidence for safety held up, these companies trying to push the mail scanning programs would be trumpeting it from the rooftops, instead of making vague claims and bribing departments.

One last bit of phrasing to stare at here: the “staff report feeling safer.” Feeling safer. I feel like most of our problem in the punishment sphere comes down to doing counterproductive and cruel things because people “feel safer.” We arrest non-white people at racist, biased rates because it makes people “feel safer”. We fund prisons and police instead of trying to deal with root causes, because that makes people “feel safer”.

So what?

So the problem with the sheriff’s claims about safety is that these mail scanning systems are already in place in jurisdictions [including the State of Wisconsin Department of Corrections] where they have not shown a proven reduction in drug use and overdoses. It’s obvious why these mail scanning systems are spreading: they give punishment bureaucrats more surveillance powers, allowing them to claim they care about safety, while enriching some jackasses who think making money off of helpless poor people is the American Way.

It shouldn’t surprise us that the sheriff would desire more surveillance power, and attempt to ignore the most common way contraband gets into jails and prisons: through workers.

After those two evidence-free bowls of word salad from the Sheriff, If the sheriff writes a letter and an op-ed pushing for increased surveillance based on platitudes and outdated, incorrect evidence, does our local media not think that’s… interesting?

What next

Now the county board will discuss this as a full body on September 4, after two committees have voted to deny this contract.

Grandstanding politicians are going to say a lot of stuff about our county values, but they’re still likely to push this contract through with the mail scanning even though Jan Tetzlaff, the DSCO representative, said at that first June 17 meeting: “[Mail scanning] is provided free by the vendor, and if we don’t want to start it, we don’t have to start it.”

All that doesn’t even touch on a possible solution: the county self-hosting communication services, or paying all costs for an extant service entirely, so that communication in the jail is free. Some places have done this with jails, and there’s a trend around the nation in prisons.

The community doesn’t want to start mail scanning, for good reason. The sheriff really, really does want it. And we need to start being less naive about what our punishment bureaucrats argue for. Body cameras, mail scanning, automated license plate readers, and more technologies and tools only give our broken, biased carceral institutions more power to coerce poor people into unfair plea bargains… and possibly worse.

We don’t need all that. Mass incarceration is a failed experiment that continues to prove it is super harmful to our community.

We need to stop billionaires and wage theft. We need to build so much more housing and real non-coercive addiction care. We need to do all this while the climate is hurtling off a cliff, and our “trusted” institutions are failing us.

We’ve got a lot of work to do as a society, and it would be great if we could all spend less time fighting punishment bullshit like this, and more time building actual solutions. We have to build better systems in the dying husks of the old hierarchies. They have proven to be failures. How much more evidence are you going to wait for?

If we don’t do that work, we’re just going to end up in full on white nationalist fascism with a lot of people still thinking “If we only invest in more technology, surely the authoritarians will stop feeding us all into the Torment Nexus!”

If you want to help stop this particular bullshit, check out this community reference doc.

Chapter & Verse: a summary of chapter news for July and August 2025

The post Breaking 10,000 Members, Progress Against Deportation Flights, and More appeared first on Democratic Left.

by a comrade

On July 8th, chapter members of MADSA met for the monthly general meeting at the First Unitarian Society. While the agenda for every chapter meeting differs, July’s meeting carved out some time for some much needed discussion on how chapter members are feeling about our current political climate. Many members voiced their feelings about what it is like to be a socialist in Madison and how best they can start speaking to members of their community about socialism.

For many MADSA members (and socialists in general), the task of raising class consciousness is a topic that is frequently discussed. Madison has a large population of folks working in academia, tech, and the government. This particular makeup of highly educated individuals presents its own unique challenge in the arena of developing class consciousness. How do we as socialists build class power when a majority of people we speak to don’t have a full grasp on their role as a member of the working class? How do we engage in these conversations with our friends, family, and community members? How do we open the minds of others to the existence of class struggle and the need to be an active participant in the fight against the ruling class?

Some members expressed different points of view on how to tackle these unique issues that socialists are faced with. Comrade Will P, who recently attended the Socialism 2025 conference in Chicago, mentioned how there was discussion about the importance of taking action. Specifically, the idea that action dictates belief. Instead of focusing on talking to community members in order to change their mind, we can also operate in the reverse. Instead of just engaging in debate with someone, we can take them to an action and see how their minds change when they find themselves actively participating. According to Will P, they are much more likely to continue doing actions after they show up to their first one.

Halsey H, co-chair of the MADSA chapter, spoke about the importance of building class power by focusing any discussions we have as socialists on bread and butter issues. Madison is home to many liberal protest movements, and Halsey stressed the need to center class struggle and socialism as an alternative to liberalism. MADSA members (and the general public alike) have been reinvigorated by the Democratic mayoral primary win of Zohran Mamdani, a NYC-DSA member. According to Halsey, one key lesson to take from Zohran’s campaign is the centrality of his class messaging. 

In recent years, DSA electoral work has been focused on participating in Democratic primaries, which traps us in engaging constantly with liberal voters who vote Democrat. Rather than get stuck in this cycle of only trying to appeal to liberals, Zohran’s campaign went beyond to activate new voters. These were voters who had previously not voted at all, and were not aligned with the Democratic party. Firing up this base of former non-voters by focusing on class issues turned out to be a winning strategy.

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On August 12th, chapter members of MADSA met again for the next monthly general meeting. August’s meeting agenda was full of report backs from different ongoing efforts from chapter members, including the power mapping committee, the abolitionist working group, and the delegates who traveled to Chicago for the 2025 DSA National Convention. 

The power mapping committee, which was formed after the Doing Politics in Public resolution was passed by the chapter during the yearly chapter convention in March 2025, presented their work on creating different maps that highlight the political makeup of the MADSA chapter. Further, the committee expressed their future goals to challenge certain districts in Madison, with the intention of running independent socialist candidates in the future. This work will involve canvassing, speaking with neighbors, and searching for the right candidates to run or endorse. Electoral efforts within the MADSA chapter have been on hold in recent years, but anyone interested in flexing their campaign skills or working with data are welcome to join the power mapping committee and work to put socialists in office. 

The abolitionist working group presented on the current battle to block Dane County from accepting a new county jail communications contract with Smart Communications, a private business that seeks to generate profit from charging incarcerated individuals and their families for phone calls, video calls, and emails. The abolitionist working group detailed their successful efforts to organize other MADSA members, local abolition activist groups, and concerned community members to show up and express dissent on the contract. This resulted in two county board committees voting to deny the contract! 

Member of the abolitionist working group, comrade Ally B, spoke on their work to fight the contract: “This really is a testament to the ongoing steady work of not only our working group but also all abolitionist organizers who’ve shown up. We began researching this contract and working on our strategies against it last summer so when the county made the contract public only one day before it was supposed to be voted on in committee, we were ready to take action quickly.” 

The fight is not finished! The final vote on the contract by the Dane County Board of Supervisors is on September 4th. The abolitionist working group urges everyone to express their dissent via email or by attending the meeting. Further information about the contract, including an email template to send to your local county board supervisor, is included here.

Lastly, MADSA delegates to the 2025 DSA National Convention spoke briefly on their experience at the convention. These delegates, voted on by MADSA members to represent the chapter at the convention, traveled to Chicago and met with over 1,300 other socialists from around the country. They heard a keynote speech by Representative Rashida Tlaib, a member of the Metro Detroit chapter of DSA. Key issues discussed and voted on were related to fighting Zionism, labor organizing, democracy within DSA, and more. MADSA delegates all spoke briefly on their feelings about attending, what they learned, what they wished went differently, and how we should move forward as a chapter based on what passed at Convention.

These discussions at our general meetings serve as a positive way for people to vent in a safe space and engage in proactive conversations that can influence our organizing work going forward. During these tumultuous times, chapter general meetings remain a place where like minded comrades can get together and spend some time in each other’s company, knowing that we are all united in our belief that socialism is the best path forward for this country. How do we get everyone else in Madison on board? We ask for anyone reading this to consider attending the monthly chapter meetings, even if you are not a member. Feel free to discuss politics, the future, and important history with your neighbors in MADSA!

Author: Geoff B

Disclaimer

I am a licensed Mental Health Counselor and will be discussing mental health and potential mitigations for some of neoliberalism’s most insidious impacts on one’s psychological state.  Still, none of what I mention here is medical advice and, if you are struggling, please reach out to the appropriate mental health or crisis services provider.

Additionally, while aspects of neoliberalism can affect and/or exacerbate psychological issues, the reality is that any mental health difficulty is influenced by a multitude of biopsychosocial factors, so even if capitalism falls overnight and tomorrow’s brilliant dawn heralds the beginning of the socialist utopia, you should still definitely talk to your doctor before chucking your Lexapro in the trash.

The Issue

Neoliberal Capitalism is wrecking our mental health and is a major contributor to stress, depression, burnout, and nihilism.  

First, it’s important to lay out what exactly I am talking about when addressing neoliberal capitalism, the driving economic force globally since the tawdry, mid-80s affair between Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.  The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “a type of liberalism which favours a global free market without government regulation, with reduction in government spending and businesses and industry controlled and run for profit by private owners.”  On its surface, the definition is dry, boring, and seemingly innocuous.  The most harmful aspects of neoliberalism, however, are seen in what it smuggles in, just under the surface: competition decides what or who is right; government market intervention is inherently destabilizing; humans are consumers; everything should be commodified; inequality is not just fair, but a virtue, as everyone, in the end, gets what they earn.  

The financial and societal impacts of neoliberalism are clear to anyone paying attention. Extreme concentrations of wealth and power and catastrophic levels of inequality are pushing the most people into poverty, marginalization, and disenfranchisement. Just as damaging are the erosion of education systems and the weakening of trade unions.  Then, of course, there are the financial catastrophes:  From the Savings and Loan crisis in the mid-80s (all roads lead back to Ronnie) right through the 2008 Housing Correction to the ongoing post-pandemic inflation, the neoliberal system delivers a regular drumbeat of financial devastation for the common person alongside incredible opportunities for the upward redistribution of wealth.  At this point, it is probably overkill to discuss the details of the numerous neoliberalism-induced wars, famines, and episodes of pestilence during that same period.

What doesn’t get enough press, however, is the psychological toll that all of the above takes on us as individuals.  We struggle to stay financially afloat.  It becomes difficult to envision a bright future for ourselves or our children.  We are algorithmically corralled into isolation, consumerism, and disinformation – all designed to prop up the system.  If one dares point these negative outcomes out, the system responds, “You didn’t grind hard enough, it’s your own fault,” or “You’re just being a snowflake.”  But the truth is, the impact is substantial, measurable, and not grounded in personal failing.  

The so-called deaths of despair – suicide, drug and alcohol overdoses, and alcohol-related liver and coronary disease – have doubled in the US since the 1980s and tripled since the post-war 1940s.  The World Health Organization reports a 13% increase in reported mental health disorders over the past decade, indicating that domestic and global mental health trends coincide.  

Some of the most worrisome examples of the damage done by a capitalistic system supercharged by neoliberal policy are the impacts on young people and children.  For example, Jonathan Haidt, in his book The Anxious Generation, lays out a compelling argument that unregulated social media algorithms are directly responsible for the rapid increase in rates of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders in teens.  (It would be dialectically biased for me to not mention, in their defense, that the algorithms monetizing our kids have driven some very healthy returns for investors.) 

The Solution

Recognizing the impact of the Neoliberal Capitalist system can be overwhelming.  There are, however, viable methods of engaging with the system in healthy, purposeful, and self-preserving ways.  While perhaps not a panacea that guarantees bliss in an oppressive system, we can use practices and tactics found in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to reclaim some peace of mind.  

ACT, in a nutshell, is the idea that: 1) the current situation is, the feelings arising from one’s existence in the situation are, and that one can accept those realities and the associated emotions without needing to endorse them; and 2) one can make a commitment to values-driven action to drive change.  In practical terms, this can be understood in three overarching action items:  Mindful Participation, Solidarity/Mutual Aid Building, and Efforts towards Change.

Mindful Participation

Despite our misgivings, despite seeing the injustices and the ugliness of the current system, our participation in it is (nearly) unavoidable.  (I say “nearly” because while becoming a cave-dwelling hermit is still technically possible, it seems unnecessarily extreme and the WiFi sucks.)  We live, mostly through no fault or choice of our own, in a world where the rent has to be paid, shopping has to be done, and, if you want to hedge against starving in your senior years, saving for retirement in an IRA or 401k is unavoidable.  

We can, however, participate in ways that are mindful of our impact and as aligned as possible with our ethical values.  Employers can be found that are more ethically tolerable than others.  Mortgage payments, rent, and banking are unavoidable, but we do have some level of choice in who we do business with.  And, despite still being embedded in an oppressive system, ethically focused investments can have fewer negative impacts on our world than purely profit/return-driven investing.  We may not be able to step out of the system, but we can certainly be mindful of how we participate and evaluate our actions through the lens of our ethical and moral framework.  Consider it behavioral harm reduction.

There can be a sense that participation is inherently collaboration, making the acceptance part of ACT a bitter pill to swallow.  We can string together two ideas from Michel Foucault (don’t mistake respect for his philosophy as an endorsement of his alleged – ahem –  unsavory behavior in his personal life).  First, he wrote, “Power is exercised through networks, and individuals do not simply circulate in those networks; they are in a position to both submit to and exercise this power,”  and in a related quote, “Where there is power, there is resistance.”  That is to say, resistance can only exist within a system of power.  

Our aforementioned hermit may have avoided the ethical pitfalls of participating in a corrupt system, but fails to take advantage of the power for resistance that is intrinsic to the system itself. (For example, the message of this essay is much more effectively delivered using a MacBook and the internet than it would be sending it via smoke signal from an ideologically-pure cave.)

Creating Solidarity/Mutual Aid

Nearly 1200 words into this and I haven’t brought out the big guns of theory, so let’s rectify that.  Karl Marx, posits in The German Ideology, “Only in community [with others has each] individual the means of cultivating his gifts in all directions; only in the community, therefore, is personal freedom possible.”  Herein lies the first of the two aspects of commitment that we can examine: the recognition that not only are we not alone in our suffering under this system, but that we will only emerge victorious by combining forces and assisting one another.  (After all, as they say, you can’t do socialism without being social, baby!)

Like in our evaluation of mindful participation, we need to parse this through our ethical framework, as well as our individual capacity.  What counts as helping or community building is nearly endless.  If you’re outdoorsy, organize a hiking group; if you’re proud of those baking skills honed during lockdown, bring some cookies to your neighbors; if you can swing it, donate to a worthy local cause.  One of my personal commitments to community building, as a further example, is to always engage the numerous people with whom I have micro-interactions (think cashiers, Uber drivers, receptionists) in a way that shows I see them as a person, not just as a robot performing a public-facing task.  (Sometimes, they look at me like I’m a weirdo.  Sometimes they spend five minutes giving me the down-and-dirty details as to why they’re having a bad day.  So, if I am ever late to a meeting, it’s probably the latter, and certainly not my predilection for losing track of time.)

Additionally, it’s worth pointing out that community building and helping are two-way streets.  None of us are in the position to always be the helper.  Solidarity is likewise strengthened when one reaches out and asks for needed help.  

A common sight, in the early morning hours, in many Southeast Asian countries, are the columns of orange-clad Buddhist monks, winding their way through dense Bangkok neighborhoods or remote Laotian villages.  The faithful line the road, waiting their turn to fill the alms bowls, so as to generate good karma. But, according to Buddhist philosophy, you know who is really racking up the karmic merit points…the monks, by providing those villagers with an opportunity for giving and generosity.

Efforts towards Change

The final leg of the ACT stool we’re crafting is a commitment to collective action aimed at systemic change.  There can be some overlap here with our community building, but these acts are more overtly political; more intentionally designed to upset, alter, or rework the system itself.  

Constructing a new society demands focused, strategic, and coordinated effort.  Plenty of hard work is required. Something as revolutionary as a just and democratic society won’t materialize from thoughts and good vibes.  Luckily, the range of activities that qualify and move us forward is wide and deep.  

-Have you gone to a general meeting and voted on something?  You are a change agent and absolutely pushing us towards a better future.  

-Have you worked a phone bank or marched in a protest rally?  You are a legitimate paradigm-shifting Rock Star.  

-Have you logged in to a DSA meeting via Zoom, listening and learning, trying to find where you can plug in to the organization?  Well, my friend, you are a warrior for humaneness and should regard yourself as such!   

As a warrior, you should certainly become familiar with the sage advice from everyone’s favorite Prussian General, Carl von Clausewitz, “Wearing down the enemy in a conflict means using the duration of the war to bring about a gradual exhaustion of his physical and moral resistance.”  Every action that chips away at neoliberalism, no matter how small, matters.

The Wrap-Up

I am of the opinion that there is plenty in this world to inspire wonder and amazement, but concede that it sometimes feels like we are living through the worst timeline.  We have borne witness to a steady decline in fairness, equality and the political agency of the common person.  We have seen and experienced financial exploitation, social oppression, and the continued concentration of wealth and power into fewer and fewer hands.  The modern age has driven a sense of psychological brutalism and strategic isolation.  

Dogged, collective action is the singular means by which a more just and humane future society can be won.  But, the strength required to carry out this action cannot exist without individual psychological resilience.  Our ability to protest, organize, or lead is directly tied to our capacity to keep ourselves from succumbing to the immediate pressures of a brutal system.  The coping skills and survivor mindset that can be cultivated with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy tools can not only make the day-to-day more bearable but also increase our ability to stay in the fight.  

None of the actions suggested by the ACT framework are momentous.  They can be executed in small chunks, step-by-step, inch-by-inch.  Even if we’re moving an inch at a time, we’re still gaining ground, and, in good time, will arrive at a better place, personally and as a society.  I am truly optimistic about that.

The post Acceptance, Commitment, and Class Struggle: Maintaining Resilience During Late-Stage Neoliberal Capitalism appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

Events & Actions

Tuesday, September 2 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM) ICE Out of SF Courts! (In person at 100 Montgomery)

Wednesday, September 3 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Court Action Orientation (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, September 3 (6:30 PM – 9:00 PM): New Member Happy Hour at Zeitgeist! (In person at Zeitgeist, 199 Valencia)

Friday, September 5 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM) ICE Out of SF Courts! (In person at 100 Montgomery)

Saturday, September 6 (11:00 AM – 1:30 PM) Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee Fall Cohort Training Party (In person at the Radical Reading Room, 438 Haight)

Sunday, September 7 (5:00 PM – 6:45 PM): Homelessness Working Group Reads “Capitalism & Disability – Selected Writings by Marta Russell” (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, September 8 (5:00 PM – 6:30 PM): EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing Training (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

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

Monday, September 8 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board x SF EWOC Local Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Tuesday, September 9 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (Zoom and in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

Wednesday, September 10 (6:45 PM – 9:00 PM): September General Meeting (Zoom and in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

Thursday, September 11 (5:30 PM – 6:30 PM): Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

Thursday, September 11 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Immigrant Justice Office Hour  (Zoom)

Saturday, September 13 (12:45 PM – 4:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Outreach and Outreach Training (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Sunday, September 14 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM): Physical Education + Self Defense Training (In person at William McKinley Monument)

Monday, September 15 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, September 15 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates. Events with a are especially new-member-friendly!

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ICE Out of SF Courts!

Join neighbors, activists, grassroots organizations in resisting ICE abductions happening at immigration court hearings! ICE is taking anyone indiscriminately in order to meet their daily quotas. Many of those taken include people with no removal proceedings.

We’ll be meeting every Tuesday and Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM at Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery. We need all hands on deck. The 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM window is when we most need to boost turnout, but if you can’t make that please come whenever works for you. 1 or 2 hours or the entire time! 

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Court Action Orientation

Come out to the office at 1916 McAllister every Wednesday at 6:00 PM to help us make signs, learn about how we are resisting ICE, and discover how you can help. It’s a great time to meet like-minded people and ask any questions you might have before court actions!

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Say NO to AB 715! 

SAY NO TO AB 715! The California Senate Education Committee will be holding a hearing on AB 715, a very dangerous bill that aims to censor criticism of Israel from K-12 public education across the state. This bill comes straight out of the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther playbook. Scott Wiener has been pushing this bill for several months now, and it is essential for comrades and allies in the pro-Palestine movement to turn out to oppose this draconian measure.

The hearing will now take place on the week of September 8 at 1021 O St, Sacramento with exact date TBD (note that the original tentative date of September 2nd or 3rd has been postponed). We still need to be ready to mobilize in large numbers to say NO. Please be ready to mobilize! If you are able to make this hearing to voice your opposition, please reply to this RSVP.

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DSA SF Homelessness Working Group Reads: Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell

Join DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group as we read through Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell. We’ll be meeting at 1916 McAllister starting September 7th at 5:30 PM and running every other week for 4 or 5 sessions. For more info, register here: bit.ly/martacd

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EWOC: Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing

The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) is running a Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing course weekly in September (see below for schedule). Just like we did back in May, we’re getting a group to take the course together and benefit from in-person discussions and activities (at 1916 McAllister). If you’re interested, fill out the form here! The goal is to have more people learn organizing skills, both for your own projects and for organizing with EWOC. Sessions run every week from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM on:

• Monday, September 8
• Monday, September 15
• Monday, September 22
• Monday, September 29

If you have any questions, reach out to labor@dsasf.org.

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Tech Reading Group with Kickstarter Union Founder Clarissa Redwine

Come join DSA SF, TWC, BAL4P, and RDU tech workers on Wednesday, September 24th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM for our monthly tech reading group. We’ll be reading an article by Clarissa Redwine about the Kickstarter Union Campaign that started in 2016. Clarissa will also be making an appearance on Zoom to answer questions about her experience. This is a hybrid event, with in-person attendance at 1916 McAllister and remote attendance on Zoom. 

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and publishing the weekly newsletter. Members can view current CCC rotations.

Interested in helping with the newsletter or other day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running? Fill out the CCC help form.