The Danish parliamentarian argues that parts of the economy are already run on democratic lines. DSA can learn from his blueprint for building from these institutions to a more just economy.

The post Democratizing Our Economies: Nordic Socialism by Pelle Dragsted appeared first on Democratic Left.

California DSA (CA DSA) has recently voted in favor of supporting Proposition 50, a proposal to redraw California’s districts that is aimed at creating enduring structural Democrat electoral supremacy in California. We strongly dissent from this endorsement and reject its strategy, lay out a rebuttal to the argument for the endorsement of Prop 50, and, most importantly for DSA members, analyze what this debate reveals about the issues within CA DSA itself.

What Does DSA Stand To Gain from Prop 50?

In a piece laying out the argument for CA DSA’s endorsement of Prop 50, Chris K. relates Prop 50 to Republican gerrymandering efforts in Texas, which he calls a “calculated assault on democracy” and “the Right’s most powerful weapon for locking working people out of politics.” While he claims to have “no illusions about the [Democratic] party establishment and what it wants out of this,” he argues that gerrymandering can be used in California as a counterweight to Republican gerrymandering in Texas and in other red-states. However, this illustrates the defining political error of CA DSA and those within the organization that would back this proposal: mistaking the goals of the Democratic Party for the goals of DSA.

Prop 50 makes perfect sense from the Democrats’ perspective. Of course Democrats want to minimize Republican footholds and shape the American political map in ways that maximize the electoral power of their (shrinking & demoralized) base. To lend our endorsement to a measure designed in their party’s interest, not ours, is to sacrifice our independence and organizing efforts without gaining any leverage.

Indeed, if we truly have “no illusions” about what this is, then we must admit it is very likely that Governor Gavin Newsom is using this redistricting process to engineer mid-layer support for his 2028 presidential campaign. Prop 50 provides him and his allies with another mechanism for consolidating their networks of patronage, rewarding loyalists, disciplining the working class, and structuring the political field to his benefit. Indeed, the CA Dem website itself says that the redistricting is designed to gain Democrats 5 more seats in California, and those seats would be in districts that Newsom helps draw. Why align with that now unless we aim to be junior partners in the Democrat presidential campaign in 2028? But the junior partner strategy has been shown repeatedly to backfire against us, as most recently shown in the Democrat’s refusal to support a DSA-backed candidate in Minneapolis, because we consistently see the Democratic party strike against us as soon as we pose a threat.

In his piece, Chris K. states “this moment gives us a chance to both take a realpolitik move to reduce the GOP advantage from Texas gerrymandering and to agitate and push beyond the rigged two-party system,” but this point raises more unsettling questions than answers. How can we simultaneously be agitating against a rigged two-party system while supporting one of the parties rigging it? Chris also suggests that we demand more fundamental reforms in CA such as proportional representation, which gerrymandering is designed to decrease. Such contradictions between our rhetoric and our endorsements will not be lost on the working class of California, especially those who’ve been desperate for a true left-wing alternative to the business elites managing both major political parties.

But let’s also be clear on what we’re advocating for: if DSA wants to credibly demand an expanded democracy, our demand cannot be for “fair” electoral maps under capitalism, an idea which itself is based on very narrow liberal assumptions of political rights. It must be for a new kind of political system entirely — one in which workers control their workplaces, communities, and governments directly, not one in which capitalists shuffle district lines to their advantage.

How Our Experience in the Central Valley Shapes Our Position

North Central Valley DSA (NCVDSA), a small chapter which organizes in four counties throughout rural California, has experienced steady growth since 2022, which it owes to working class Californians who reject partisan divides in favor of class struggle. The palpable disdain for both Democrats and Republicans can be seen both within and beyond the electoral context, and there is a critical demand among rural Central Valley workers for an alternative to the capitalist two-party duopoly. In 2024, dozens of NCVDSA members participated in the CA DSA ARCH campaign, canvassing voters who spoke of the hardships they’ve faced for generations; astronomical rent increases, abandoned public transportation projects, extreme land subsidence, unbearable drought, unbreathable air. These attacks on Central Californians are bipartisan, conducted by politicians who switch-hit between D and R on a whim. Many NCVDSA ARCHers felt like we were fighting on two fronts: convincing our neighbors that, while not a panacea, some proposed pieces of legislation (e.g. raising the wage) are an important tool to help the working class, while at the same time convincing them that we were not sent by the Democrats, which would have instantly lost us credibility.

Being forced to support Prop 50 sets back the progress we’ve made throughout California by showing up as an alternative to the capitalist two-party system and developing a level of trust and participation among our working class peers. Rejecting an endorsement of Prop 50 does not mean ignoring the real frustrations people feel about Republican gerrymandering. On the contrary, it is an opportunity to connect those frustrations to a broader critique of capitalist politics. We can explain to workers why both Democrats and Republicans manipulate district lines, why neither party is invested in their empowerment, and why only socialist politics can deliver real democracy. The campaign to support Prop 50 loses sight of our broader political horizons and the opportunities that are truly before us to engage and agitate around a socialist agenda rather than an agenda that aligns neatly with the Democratic leadership.

California DSA’s Fundamental Political Error: Identifying the Democrat’s Goals with DSA’s Goals

CA DSA seems to be operating on the premise that the current primary contradiction in the United States is Trumpism, and the primary task before us as DSA is to stymie Trump. But we cannot absorb such a myopic view of the struggle between capital and the people: Democratic capital cannot save us from Republican capital and we cannot organize the working class through building the personal brand of Gavin Newsom. Our organizing work throughout California’s East Bay and Central Valley regions has made it clear to us that DSA must win the support of the working class regardless of party affiliation or lack thereof.

The mission of DSA as an organization is not to push the Democrats into action to defeat the Republican Party. Our class enemies are just as powerful within the Democratic network as they are within the Republican side – in fact they are often the same people – and losing sight of class contradictions is a huge political error. Our mission is instead to organize the broad working class and win political power on their behalf and with their support. It is not possible to achieve this goal by playing by the partisan rules of today’s political system.

What Would Organizing the Broad Working Class Look Like?

Last year, only 34% of California’s eligible voters voted for the Democratic presidential candidate. If we aim for a strategy that alienates the near supermajority – 66% – of eligible voters who didn’t vote Democrat, then we will forever limit our horizon to being a minor advocacy group in the Democrat orbit. It’s our responsibility as scientific socialists to assess the political terrain objectively, and be ready to make new alliances that upend the existing balance of forces. DSA chapters in California and throughout the country are learning how to organize people who oppose the Democratic Party, and supporting Prop 50 would present a significant setback to this work.

Imagine, instead of endorsing Prop 50, DSA aimed at agitating along class lines, communicating simply and clearly that both Democrats and Republicans are rigging the electoral system and disregarding the working-class. We could point to how working-class communities of color, immigrant neighborhoods, and rural towns alike are carved up by politicians at the peoples’ expense. We could argue that true representation will never be achieved through bourgeois redistricting, but through building worker-power independent of all capitalist parties. We could use this moment not to strengthen the Democrat hegemony in California, but to destabilize it, and to create openings for DSA to present an alternative.

Segments of the working class correctly view the Democrats as failing to fight back against Trump in any meaningful way, but simply fighting Trump to gain electoral ground without actually addressing the demands of the working class. We propose that DSA’s most effective strategy will be to lead with our popular socialist agenda, and explicitly reject Democratic party priorities – such as gerrymandering more seats for Democrats – that do not represent a mass working class constituency.

It’s worth emphasizing that the issues we find with Proposition 50 is not much to do with the principle of using tactics to undermine one’s class enemy. In fact, we recognize that antidemocratic measures are sometimes necessary, especially in revolutionary scenarios! But antidemocratic measures should be targeted squarely at the capital class, not against a broad political/social brand that many of the working class aligns with by normative default. Put simply: if people see DSA associate with a Democrat-coded move to disenfranchise them, they’re likely to write us off as yet another Democrat NGO, even if they would agree with the actual policies we have led with in the past, such as the ever-popular Medicare-for-all. Polarizing your potential base against your policy platform because you can’t see beyond the current identitarian alignment of party politics is a grave political error, and one that we should have learned to stop making long ago.

What this means for California DSA broadly

California DSA’s arguments for the Prop 50 endorsement repeat a common pattern that highlights the dysfunction within the body. It’s hard to find anything but an uncritical acceptance of myopic Democratic partisanship. In the rebuttal to the authors’ earlier piece in California Red, CA DSA leader Fred G. asserts that a position against DSA endorsement of Prop 50 is equivalent to aligning with right-wing billionaires, and that the Republican party is fascist without qualifiers, with all the implications that term carries. This binary style of thinking heightens the polarization of the political choice at hand and makes it seem like there are only two options – either support Democrats or support Republicans – and this rigidity leads to self-marginalization in the long term. The Republican program is highly anti-social and destructive, but if we can’t stand shoulder-to-shoulder with workers who have voted Republican in the past, we are bound to lose. 

In addition to that section of the working class, there are many who have voted Democratic in the past but have ceased doing so because the Democratic party leadership is increasingly out of step with their own progressive values. At the national level, most Democrats who refused to vote Kamala Harris did so out of a justified anger at the Biden/Harris administration’s support for the Israeli genocide of Palestinians. Aligning ourselves with the Newsom administration means aligning ourselves against the most progressive Democrat voters who have historically constituted much of DSA’s base and have increasingly begun to stray from the party.

The only way to break through the current partisan alignment is to break off the working class element from both parties, and that strategy cannot be taken when we ally with one party against the other.

As DSA SF’s Hazel W recounts in her Reflections on California DSA, CA DSA was born out of a cross-chapter effort during the Prop 15 campaign (taxing commercial real estate to fund public education), with hopes that it would evolve into a lasting infrastructure for coordination, chapter growth, and statewide strategy. California DSA was meant to be broadly representative, but rather than serving as the connective tissue among a statewide web of chapters, it is increasingly disconnected from them. CA DSA’s stated goal of uniting & strengthening California chapters has remained unfulfilled, and Prop 50 represents a further step back. 

With only two chapters – East Bay DSA and DSA-LA – represented on its 2025-2026 State Committee, California DSA is far from representative of California, and is in fact a shell of a body increasingly reflexive to DSA-LA’s politics: according to the records the authors have seen of the ‘24-25 state council, DSA-LA’s delegation constituted close to a majority of the body – 30 DSA-LA delegates vs. 37 non-LA delegates. CA DSA uses a misleading framing of its statewide endorsements, political messaging, and campaigns as broadly representative of California chapters’ politics with little substantive input from inland, rural, or lower-density regions. With less than a week to go until election day, only six California DSA chapters/OCs have taken up the Prop 50 campaign, representing only a quarter of the DSA chapters and OCs in California.

As a general warning sign of the health of the formation, it is unknown to the authors whether California DSA is quorate according to its bylaws, which outline the quorum conditions as: “One or more delegates representing 50% plus one (1) of the local affiliates shall constitute a quorum, provided there be a minimum of one-third (1/3) of the registered delegates present at the meeting.”

Since we know that several California chapters do not participate at all in CA DSA, it is an open question to us whether these CA DSA quorum conditions are being met during deliberation sessions. In order to know the answer, we’d need access to attendance records, but attendance is not recorded (or at least is not made public). As a general rule, delegates change over annually and chapters aren’t required to send delegations, so it is very possible that CA DSA has gone out of quorum in the past. This is not a technical quibble; it is a sign that there is a trend among California chapters to withdraw energy and consent from a state formation that can’t justify its existence.

Hazel W raised alarm bells of dysfunction earlier this year, and the disconnection between the State Committee and individual CA chapters has only deepened, further eroding the legitimacy of the body. The ambition in the founding vision to facilitate skill-shares, seed new chapters, or liaise with YDSA never took root in a meaningful way, and has instead given way to CA DSA leaders deriding the growth of rural California chapters and its cochair attacking comrades as “fascist collaborators” for expressing concerns about Prop 50. None of this helps us with the formation’s stated goals of “unit[ing] and in unity strength[ing] the power and influence of its affiliated locals”.

CA DSA has become an endorsement shop that focuses on high-visibility, low-leverage endorsements, and fails in its attempt to portray itself as representative of a broad consensus among California chapters. If CA DSA can issue endorsements on legislative propositions across the state but overwhelmingly reflects the political views of only a small percentage of the state’s chapters, then what value is the formation really adding to our project?

We call on chapters throughout California to reckon with whether California DSA is representative of their politics. If the State Council cannot be made functional, transparent, and responsive, chapters have a responsibility to intervene, including by pulling delegations. The state body must prove it has the support of California chapters in the form of quorum by publishing its delegation attendance records, and it must cease hollow top-down campaigns in favor of amplifying the work that chapters are already doing.

If California DSA cannot reform, it risks becoming a redundant progressive NGO that insists it speaks for California chapters, while it undermines the work those chapters are doing. We must knit together the work that has actual support at the chapter level, not impose political priorities on chapters with an email list. California DSA must reset, or we’ll continue to waste time and energy on lending symbolic consent for the Democratic party’s priorities.

Image: LA County Sample Ballot for Prop 50 in the 2025 Special Election. (Public domain)

We are excited to announce our endorsement of Ayah Al-Zubi of Boston DSA, running for Cambridge City Council! Despite a narrow loss in her council race in 2023, Ayah has remained a tireless organizer for justice in the Cambridge community. When the city announced the closure of a 58-bed homeless shelter, she worked directly with the impacted residents and empowered them to advocate for their needs at several crucial council meetings.

Ayah is a young Muslim woman and renter with a lived experience that uniquely positions her to understand the struggles of immigrants in Cambridge, young people, renters, and more. She does not accept real estate or corporate money because she believes in people over profit.

Ayah is running on an ambitious platform to support the working class in a variety of areas like housing, transportation, climate, education and childcare, and racial and economic justice.

Ayah’s campaign centers mechanisms such as the Affordable Housing Trust, investing in the Community Land Trust, and retaining the 20% inclusionary zoning requirement to build permanently affordable housing. For transportation, Ayah has a focus on making the #1 bus free, as well as improving access to services for elderly in Cambridge. Finally, Ayah’s campaign is dedicated to making food more accessible especially in light of Daily Table closing to create Cambridge’s first city-run grocery store. Everyone deserves to live in this city with dignity and Ayah will work hard to bring this vision to life.

Support Ayah with a donation!

Who are our other candidates?

DSA’s Nationally-endorsed socialist candidates are running for local office in Washington, Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Massachusetts!

Our candidates are incredible fighters for the working class, championing rent stabilization and higher minimum wages, while also protesting ICE’s human rights violations.

This year, we launched a rotating fundraising slate and held phonebanks to foster cross-chapter solidarity. And we’ve raised over $100,000!

Donate to the Slate!

In the coming days, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will end for more than 100,000 Monroe County residents who rely on the program to feed themselves and their families. While local charities are stepping up in an attempt to fill the gaps, it will not be enough to keep many in our community from sinking further into poverty. The result will be more crimes of desperation like theft, more negative health outcomes, and more strain on shelters and other existing resources.

Donald Trump and his agenda of austerity are to blame. This is social violence and financial warfare—the richest elements of society are seeking to destroy any infrastructure that permits average families access to the means for a dignified life. Meanwhile, government resources remain available for weapons and military strikes abroad, alongside the brutal displacement of our immigrant neighbors at home.

Socialism means that caring for people comes FIRST. We cannot tolerate a society that privileges destruction over providing for life; that is willing to sacrifice millions on the altar of profit. Though the circumstances of our immediate situation have been created by Trump, they are the inevitable result of our capitalist system. 

In spite of these attacks, we must find the energy to come forward and fight. We call on our members and the broader community to find ways to care for one another in these trying times, and to bring ourselves closer as an organized class. Together, the working masses will defeat those who aim to further enrich themselves at our expense.

In solidarity,
ROC DSA

RESOURCES:

The post Chapter Statement: ROC DSA Stands with SNAP Recipients Against Financial Warfare by the Capitalist Class first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

A reflection on Lotta Comunista's organizing and an interview with an activist.

The post Experience of the Italian Internationalists appeared first on Democratic Left.

Building a union means including everybody. Here are tried and trusted tips for reaching out across language and other cultural barriers.

The post Immigrant workers belong in unions appeared first on EWOC.

Like many concerned workers, community advocates, and neighbors, Buffalo DSA Steering Committee is disgusted by the impending delay of SNAP benefits on Nov. 1. 42 million Americans, including an estimated 200,000 Western New Yorkers, will face unprecedented food insecurity.

This is a public health and safety crisis, and an attack on the working class. Wages have stagnated, and workers face unmitigated exploitation and wage theft, yet the cost of living continues to rise unchecked. Capitalists continue to hoard resources, leaving only scraps for poor and working people. The ruling class then spews baseless propaganda that we should blame each other–immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, or other marginalized workers, in particular–thus engulfing our class in an unending culture war.

We are strongest when we stand together against the true enemy–the capitalist class. We must organize and act, together, as a united working class.

What does this mean? We must implement both short- and long-term approaches to this impending, immoral hunger crisis. In the immediate term, the Buffalo DSA Steering Committee commits to both monetary and material contributions to organizations doing critical work on the ground in Western New York. We will also share resource guides with both chapter members in need and the greater community. Finally, we encourage members who are physically and financially able to contribute to mutual aid initiatives that uplift their local neighborhoods. Beyond this, we must harness the energy we have to aid our neighbors in the short term, by committing to long-term struggle against all who continue to oppress us. Community care and nonprofit support are not enough to defeat the depths of this crisis–only a democratic socialist state with a destigmatized social safety net can tackle issues of this magnitude. When we organize toward this aim in our apartment buildings, at work, and beyond, we outnumber the ruling class and their sinister lobbies. We must use mass, collective power to demand our taxes go toward essential services and food for all, instead of war crimes and authoritarian states abroad. Ultimately, the power we harness through organizing for our demands will help us build a truly democratic political apparatus independent of both capitalist parties, leading us to the effective government we deserve.

This multi-front fight does not happen in solitude, nor does it happen overnight. If SNAP benefits are restored at this moment, we still know the Trump administration will find new games to play with our lives again. We must create organizing networks and durable infrastructures of support as the working class. As a democratic socialist member organization, DSA provides this political home for any and all who wish to learn the essential skills we need in the uncertain times ahead.

–

If you need help in the coming days and weeks, see the following pages for a non-exhaustive list of resources.

Buffalo Community Fridges
A local network of community fridges available to take what you need, and leave what you can. Most food items are accepted here, with the exceptions of raw meat, alcohol, and catering trays. All home cooking should be labeled with ingredients and dietary notes, and packaged separately. Note that the 257 East Ferry fridge has recently closed, but all other fridges remain open.

• Locations:
• Buffalo Love Fridge (45 Jewett Ave)
• Big Herk (167 Herkimer Street)
• Merriweather Library (1324 Jefferson Ave, limited to operating hours)
• Delevan Grider Fridge (877 E. Delevan Ave, limited to operating hours)
• Groundwork Market Garden Fridge (1698 Genesee St.)
• Gloria J. Parks Fridge (3242 Main St.; near UB South)
• Resource Council of WNY (347 E. Ferry)
• ACME Fridge (1848 Clinton St)
• NY4BDMA Fridge (637 Walden Ave)

WSCS Provisions 139 Pantry | 44 Breckenridge, 14213 (entrance faces Niagara St.)
Near West Side/Grant-Lafayette/Black Rock areas. Open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. This pantry is not able to accept fridge or frozen foods from non-commercial sources.

Milligan’s Food Pantry | 4th floor, Campbell Student Union (Buff State) Resource for Buff State students in need of food. Open Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Student ID required.

Town Square Food Pantry | 2710 N. Forest Rd (Amherst/Getzville/Williamsville) Pantry near UB North, in the close vicinity of student housing.

Seneca Babcock Food Pantry | 1168 Seneca St. | 716-822-5094
Near South Buffalo/Babcock/Larkin areas.

Buffalo Urban League Pantry | 86 Pine St. | 716-854-7625
Inside the Clemmon H Hodges Community Center. Near Perry/Old First Ward/Downtown areas.

Buffalo River Food Pantry | 62 Republic St. | 716-856-8613
Inside Old First Ward Community Center. Near Old First Ward/Perry/Downtown areas.

Belle Center Food Pantry | 104 Maryland St. | 716-845-0485
Near Lower West Side/Hispanic Heritage District/Allentown areas.

FeedMoreWNY
A county-wide food nonprofit that offers pantry options, including a mobile food pantry, or meal delivery for those with mobility limitations.

Emergent needs? Contact Erie County DSS at 716-858-7239, or dial 2-1-1. Tell the operators you are looking for a pantry, meal delivery, or groceries today; you will then be referred accordingly.

by Lara

Observing Nature is an intermittent love letter to nature and to you (who is also part of nature), with the purpose of highlighting current seasonal phenomena and what we might glean from observing and reflecting on the natural wonders of the world. Though much of this may already be evident to you, sometimes, it’s helpful to be reminded of these things from an outside observer.

The breathtaking exhibition of fall foliage is a source of much celebration this season, but often overlooked beneath the bright, dwindling, crunchy canopy, is the vibrant explosion of fall flowers. Countless shades of yellow, orange, white, blue, and purple flowers—close to home, to the ground, to the Earth—are growing towards the sun and sky that their colors can be so reminiscent of. More than just a stunning sight (and sometimes smell), these flowers are a critical source of shelter and late-season sustenance during migration or before dormancy for many beings.

While birds and invertebrates may rejoice at the sight of such flowers, humans can easily overlook them. Post-industrial revolution systems have disconnected and distanced us from that which we need to survive, including nature. It’s so easy to get wrapped up in our own worlds and lose sight of the one around us. Henry David Thoreau described this phenomenon thusly, “I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.” Alarming as it may be, it’s understandable—we have many calls on our attention and much to be concerned about.

I will not provide a list of every worrisome thing in this world, but there are a few things I will mention (and grossly oversimplify) because though they’ve been reported on by other outlets, it is essential that they are recorded, disseminated, and addressed as widely as possible. Israel is committing genocide, killing Palestinian civilians seeking famine relief, and creating vile business plans to profit from this unspeakable evil. The United States is disappearing people and putting them into concentration camps; separating families and deporting children without the access to the medical treatments they need to survive. We are careening swiftly towards further climate catastrophe.

I’m not asking you to overlook the evil in the world—in fact, I absolutely implore you not to—but I am begging you not to drown. Just as capitalism attempts to disconnect us from nature and each other, compartmentalizing us into nothing more than workers to keep the wheels of corporate profit turning, they deny us what it means to be human and what it means to be whole. With all that is going on, it can feel wrong to be joyful, but you’re allowed to feel joy, even though there are terrible things happening in this world. Nor must you force yourself to be falsely cheerful, even if you’re someone who carries an expectation from others of being sunny. You need not let the powers that are in place take your mind as well as your body, your labor, and your time. Don’t exhaust yourself trying to fight your own feelings; you can let them pass through you, and spend your energy more fruitfully. Allowing yourself to embrace the whole range of human emotion makes it easier to bop darkness on its head.

Evil is not all encompassing; good continues to abound (though it may not be as splashy or obvious). Just as we should not ignore the evil, we should also not ignore the good. Despair suffocates progress, which in turn can breed more despair. Should you find yourself in those dark waters of despair, strap on a snorkel and look for who—or what—you love. Lifeboats come in more than just the shape of friends or communities; capitalism can sever us from what is essential for our soul—our greatest passions— if they are not profitable for the machine but those passions can save us—you may just have to find them again first. The sight of a sunset once broke through more than just the sky, it pierced the dense clouds in my soul, causing me to realize that as long as I have nature, and my love for it, I’ll be alright. My love for nature is more than a lifeboat, it is the constant current running through the water. Love is the waters all around us; for what is despair, if not fear of losing what you love and feeling impotent to stop it? What is the current running through your waters? What’s your nature? How will you get through?

If you’re exhausted, you’re not alone. The harrowing gales of cruelty, selfishness, dishonesty, and hypocrisy have been unyielding enough to winnow out even the staunchest of stalks. Be gentle on yourself as the soft autumn rains are on the earth and know that it’s okay to take a break from the news or society. In autumn, our deciduous trees are resorbing nutrients from their leaves, drawing them down to their roots. As we navigate a new season, shed that which no longer serves you. Gather your energy to stand tall for the short days and rough weather ahead; and amid the chaotic barrage on your senses and psyche, take a minute to notice what is going right, not just everything that is going wrong. While there are those who would destroy all around you if it meant enriching their wallets while impoverishing their souls, you’ve (hopefully) found a caring community in DSA who are dedicated to protecting nature and each other. 

Fall flowers may look small and delicate, and yet they return. They’ve overcome so much to exist, from lack or overabundance of sun, water, and nutrients to pesticides and predation. So too, have we. In the face of many and such massive pervasive problems, we may underestimate our personal and collective ability to be impactful. Everyday actions have the power to change and save lives; extraordinary actions even more so. This past month, people dropped what they were doing and came together to protect some of our neighbors from being taken by ICE.

The colors of the fall flowers can be announcements—invitations to pollinators and seed dispersers—while some butterflies, such as our monarchs, have vivid coloration to warn predators of their toxicity (which they are able to acquire as caterpillars through cardenolides in their host plants. However, if the cardenolide concentration is too high or if the latex is too strong, caterpillars are fatally poisoned or their mandibles get stuck shut, respectively. Isn’t it strange and terrible that sometimes that which we need to survive can also be the death of us?). We passively and actively send out signals too—of safety, acceptance, and inclusivity—else warnings that we won’t be complicit—through the flags we fly, the badges we wear, the smiles or glares we give. Some may make their feelings known as loudly as the defiant dandelion, while others may be more like the dwarf mallow—there and supportive but more subtly so than the screamingly bright dandelion. 

Some plants may be reluctant to flower at all, with all the unconscionable weather there has been. It may not be safe for them to speak, and while it’s not okay that we live in a society where that is true, it’s okay to flower strategically to keep people (including yourself) safe. Leaf litter on the ground is not super noticeable but supports a huge amount of overwintering life, as do the stems of plants after flowering. You can help others and depending on what you are doing, it may be most helpful to do so quietly. Other times, it’s important to be as outspoken as the monarch. However you choose to act in these times of intense polarization and censorship, it’s understandable to be anxious. I’m afraid of the repercussions I might face for the things I say and do to stand up against the evils before us, but that fear is raindrop compared to the oceanic fear of doing nothing. There are many fates far worse than death, including one’s conscience pre-deceasing their body, compromising their morals through inaction against atrocities. Don’t live your life in such a way that you can’t live with yourself.

Every plant has its place in the community. Sugar beet farmers aren’t blue at the sight of chicory, an excellent agricultural associate of sugar beets, reducing the soil roundworms that predate upon them.  Though reviled by roundworms, chicory is a valuable food source for many other invertebrates, such as lizard beetles, slugs, buckeye butterflies, and a variety of bees. Chicory root may also be a prebiotic for humans, promoting the growth of helpful bacteria in the colon and hindering harmful bacteria, a source of inulin (which decreases the caloric load of food while increasing their bulk), and a possible potential treatment for heart irregularities. For some plants, roots can also be an important means of vegetative spread: despite being unable to produce seed in the subarctic, yellow toadflax populations went from being scarce to frequent there in 30 years. In autumn, yellow toadflax stems dieback to the root—though small shoots remain observable throughout winter. We are inundated with bad news, but good things are happening all the time that we may not be able to see or feel. Life can persist in the harshest conditions and that life can even be good.

There is much we can learn from goldenrod. This plant is oft unfairly maligned by allergy sufferers—for its contemporary, ragweed, is often the culprit—goldenrod’s heavy, sticky pollen is not often airborne. (Bad news: the allergy season is getting longer. Good news: you can help track it and better our understanding of the biological impacts of climate change in the process!) Unlike goldenrod pollen, goldenrod seedheads are primarily wind-dispersed. Referring to goldenrod seedheads, Thoreau described, “richly and exuberantly downy… so fine that when we jar the plant and set free a thousand… No wonder they spread all over the fields and far into the woods.” As society reveals itself while making increasingly heavy-handed attempts to subdue the oppressed, perhaps it will release the disillusioned from their prisons of comfort by the thousands. When fields are overgrazed, goldenrods often become more abundant. The current administration may intend to sow the seeds of division, only to reap an enormously unified working class. The family name of goldenrods, Solidago, is derived from Latin meaning “to make whole.” 

We must stand with those who are also opposed to bigotry and fascism, though we may disagree on other essentials, and form a dense thorny thicket to protect our most vulnerable and our rights. It may be uncomfortable and feel wrong, but we don’t need to hold hands and make blood vows or sacrifice our beliefs in the process. We can argue about which direction we want the ship to turn in after we’ve collectively steered it out of the whirlpool and patched the gaping holes where water is gushing in. Even invasive plants that disrupt pre-existing communities, that compete against the way we think things are supposed to be, have something to offer. Autumn olive displaces native plant species in the Northeast by altering the nitrogen balance of the soil, outshading others, and promoting the spread of other invasives (particularly buckthorn). However, this plant also provides ample nectar for bees, butterflies, wasps, and flies, and its seeds are eaten by humans and several species of birds. It is also planted in some states as a crash barrier along highways, due to its reflective silvery foliage. 

While we benefit from a diverse community of plants and people, arguments based on how individuals or the community benefit (like the one I just made) overlook something even more important: the intrinsic value that individual beings possess; whether they are human or not, regardless of what perceived purpose they serve. You are not separate from all things; you are a part of all the wonders that this season brings. Misty mornings, golden afternoons, bounding dogs, burrowing toads, orange moons, shimmering choirs of crickets and cicadas giving way to the calls of migrating birds and the bare-branched creaks of trees moving the way of the wind. The days may be short and the nights long, but they are filled with more than just darkness. The fogs and frosts have returned, but there is brightness all around and within you. Let not the fall frosts cool your passion or harden your heart. 

I don’t know how long autumn and the winter it gives way to will last or what it may bring, but I do know that together we can fill barren fields with color and life and that good is not gone from this world. The temptation to think that everything that is happening and will happen is terrible is a powerful but inaccurate assumption. We can change more than just our mindsets though. Like chicory, we can nourish and energize each other for the long journey ahead and (metaphorically) help with irregularities of the heart. Like yellow toadflax, we can grow and withstand harsh conditions by reaching our roots, garnering strength and support, and taking breaks when we need to. Like goldenrod, we can present a unified front against the forces of fascism and capitalism. Anyone who has tried to make a monoculture lawn knows the power, tenacity, and pervasiveness of these three (and other) so-called weeds. Despite the cataclysms and catastrophes, I hope we can see the beauty and wonder that continues to flourish, no matter the odds and awfulness. 

Reference:

“The Book of Field and Roadside Open-Country Weeds, Trees, and Wildflowers of Eastern North America” by John Eastman, illustrated by Amelia Hansen

The post Observing Nature: Fallowers first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

By Lexi J

(DSA members march for Medicare for All outside the capitol at the Cesar Chavez Day March)

Health care is a human right. Gallup polls show that Americans support comprehensive reform to the US health care system, yet little has changed in recent years to adequately address the significant flaws that create confusion, unnecessary costs, and inadequate care. Bernie Sanders brought the idea of Medicare for All to the national stage during his presidential campaigns: a single-payer health care system that would deliver consistent care to all Americans. As we look at our national politics today, achieving this goal feels like a distant dream.

As we navigate a second Trump presidency, many leftists have encouraged folks to turn towards their local politics, working to enact change in our communities. As the capital of California, Sacramento offers the opportunity to engage with both city and statewide movements. National Nurses United—the country’s largest union of registered nurses—has been working for years to push forward the movement for universal health care. They have worked on a variety of campaigns to champion this cause, including the national Medicare for All campaign. But did you know there has also been action towards establishing CalCare, a push to guarantee universal health care for all Californians?

In February 2024, California Assemblymember Ash Kalra introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 2200, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act. National Nurses United states that AB 2200 “would enact a comprehensive framework of governance, benefits, program standards, and health care cost controls for a single-payer health care coverage system in California.”.

Studies show that a single-payer system would reduce overall health care costs, as spending tied to upholding the administrative complexity of our current system would be drastically decreased when you consider that health insurance administrative costs are often tied to finding reasons to reject care to maximize profits. This bill envisions a California where everyone is guaranteed comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and mental health care regardless of income or employment status.

While universal health care in the US may feel distant, the infrastructure that is needed to create these systems has already been thought through. As we continue to feel abandoned by centrist Democrats with empty promises, motivated by donor dollars rather than their constituents, now is the time to envision the society we want to live in. We know that health care reform is an issue that people are passionate about; one that expands beyond political divides. A compassionate government program like universal health care is possible as long as we keep the conversation going. Check out National Nurses United to learn more about both CalCare and Medicare for All legislation, join Sacramento DSA and our Healthcare Committee, call on your elected officials to keep pushing for reform in our health care system, and never stop believing in a society that collectively cares for its people.

DSA is proud to endorse Danny Nowell, running for Carrboro Town Council.

Danny is an incumbent seeking re-election to continue leading the region by example. During his first term, council convened a Community Safety Task Force, began revising their Land Use Ordinance, and brought a suit against Duke Energy for its role in climate deception.

Danny is hoping to continue increasing housing supply, improving connectivity, and re-imagining public safety.

Danny is a member of the NC Triangle Democratic Socialists of America.

Who are our other candidates?

DSA’s Nationally-endorsed socialist candidates are running for local office in Washington, Minnesota, Colorado, Michigan, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Massachusetts!

Our candidates are incredible fighters for the working class, championing rent stabilization and higher minimum wages, while also protesting ICE’s human rights violations.

This year, we launched a rotating fundraising slate and held phonebanks to foster cross-chapter solidarity. And we’ve raised over $100,000!

Donate to the Slate!