This episode of Revolutions Per Minute explores the life and legacy of Pablo Yoruba Guzman, who co-founded the New York chapter of the Young Lords, and later became a prominent television reporter on local news channels in the city. We are joined by Mickey Melendez, a fellow Young Lord, to discuss the group's occupations of the First People’s Church in Harlem and Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. We will also hear from New York City Council Member Charles Baron, the organizer Denise Oliver-Velez and CUNY scholar Johanna Fernandez on the legacy of the group. 

On Monday January 22, 2024, one of our comrades was walking on E Market St, with a Palestinian flag and on their way to City Council, when a police officer approached them and ordered them to walk on the sidewalk. They walked off and the police offer threw them to the ground. They were arrested and taken in a cage to the Summit County jail. They were released on the 23rd with charges of obstructing official business and resisting arrest.

This incident is a blatant and outrageous example of police brutality, of political repression, and a prime example of the profound sense of arrogance and hostility with which APD treats the Akron community. This incident and others like it are the direct result of the police being allowed to act with impunity.

Akron DSA

By Eli Gerzon and Henry De Groot

MALDEN — More than 300 union members and community activists picketed outside the constituent offices of Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) on Wednesday evening, calling on her to endorse a ceasefire of the ongoing Israeli invasion of Gaza. Clark is the second most powerful Democrat in the House and has built her career as a progressive who opposes gun violence and supports unions, women, children, and democracy.

“Katherine Clark has the power to put an end to the bloodshed. What has she done? Nothing!”

Yousif Abdallah, North Shore Labor Council – AFL-CIO

A union delegation met with Clark’s staff inside while picketers chanted “Ceasefire Now!” on the sidewalk. A delegation from Jewish Voice for Peace had previously met with Clark to discuss the ceasefire and told Working Mass she responded: “If I thought calling for a ceasefire would save lives, I would have already done it.”

Later in the evening, a second picket was formed in Belmont outside the Unitarian Universalist church, where Clark was speaking at an event on the state of democracy along with Massachusetts Senate President Pro Tempore Will Brownsberger (D-Belmont). Three activists interrupted her speech to call for a ceasefire before being escorted out by security.

A Ceasefire Would Save Lives: The Ongoing Genocide in Gaza

Despite what Clark says, a ceasefire is necessary to stop the horrific mass killings of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli military and the Israeli blockade of necessary food, fuel, and medical supplies.

In over 100 days of fighting since October 7, more than 32,000 have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank, including more than 11,000 children. On October 7, Hamas forces killed approximately 695 Israeli civilians and 373 Israeli soldiers

The BBC reports that almost 2 million Gazas — 85 percent of the population — have been forced from their homes. All schools in Gaza remain closed, and infectious diseases are spreading rapidly among refugees. Israel is using water and food as a weapon against Palestinians: “Gazans now make up 80 per cent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide.” Israeli Defense Forces have intentionally targeted hospitals; UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that only 16 of 32 hospitals “are even partially functioning.”

South Africa has sued Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, calling on the court to immediately grant emergency measures to stop the war in Gaza; South Africa has accused Israel of conducting a genocide and maintaining an apartheid regime.

Clark represents the 5th Congressional District, which includes suburbs north and west of Boston, including Malden, Melrose, Revere, Framingham, and parts of Cambridge. She has served as the Democrats’ House Minority Whip since last year, making her the second-ranking House Democrat after Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) was Clark’s top donor in the 2023-24 cycle.

From the all-Democratic Massachusetts federal delegation, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, as well as Reps. Stephen Lynch, Jim McGovern, and Ayanna Pressley have all endorsed the call for a ceasefire. In addition to Rep. Clark, Sen. Ed Markey, as well as Reps. Bill Keating, Richard Neal, Seth Moulton, Jake Auchincloss, and Lori Trahan have failed to call for a ceasefire. Markey and Warren voted in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s Senate Resolution 504 which would have conditioned U.S. aid to Israel on an investigation into human rights abuses.

Labor Moves in Support of a Ceasefire

The double demonstrations were the state’s first labor actions in support of the Palestinian people and a ceasefire since the escalation of the fighting after October 7. The rally was largely organized through Massachusetts Labor for a Free Palestine, an informal group of union organizers that has come together since October 7.

The event was endorsed by several major labor unions including the Massachusetts Teachers Association, SEIU Local 509, the Harvard Graduate Student Union-UAW, and UAW Region 9A, as well as the North Shore Labor Council – AFL-CIO, the Western Mass Area Labor Federation – AFL-CIO, Pride At Work-Eastern Mass, Jewish Voice for Peace – Boston, One Fair Wage, and the Boston Democratic Socialists of America.

Several speakers expressed that if Clark failed to endorse the ceasefire demand, the progressive movement would put forward a challenger in the next Democratic primary, calling on the crowd to chant “Vote Her Out!” Clark has not faced a primary challenge since 2014.

The rally comes days after SEIU, the nation’s second largest labor union, endorsed a ceasefire. SEIU is the largest U.S. union to support the ceasefire movement yet; the UAW, the nation’s sixth largest union, endorsed a ceasefire in December.

The growing support in the U.S. labor movement for a ceasefire is a marked reversal in labor’s orientation since fighting escalated more than three months ago. The days following the October 7 attack were marked by labor unions expressing support for Israel, and union activists who expressed solidarity with Palestine faced harassment, intimidation, and doxxing.

Labor calls for a ceasefire were initially confined to an online petition backed by UFCW Local 3000 and United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE). Activists organizing in locals around the country have gradually won local union support for the ceasefire demand.

Eli Gerzon is an editor of Working Mass, a member of Boston DSA, and an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace.

Henry De Groot is an editor of Working Mass, a member of Boston DSA, and the author of the book “Student Radicals and the Rise of Russian Marxism.”

Featured image credit: Yousif Abdallah of the North Shore Labor Council – AFL-CIO addresses the picket on January 24, 2024. Photo by Clare Kelley/Working Mass

Additional photography contributed by Pine McCabe.

How would an ecosocialist Green New Deal change work and labor, and what is the role of unions, bargaining for the common good, and rank-and-file organizing to help us win GND struggles in the near and long term? DSA’s GND Campaign Commission and National Labor Commission hear from organizers from across the country about their work and how it fits into the theory and practice of a just transition and socialist horizon.

Panelists:

• Vanity Amano – Vanity is a public school teacher and a member of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA).
• Sydney Ghazarian – Sydney is a former GNDCC organizer who works for Labor Network for Sustainability. She is a member of DSA LA.
• Gustavo Gordillo – Gustavo started and led the campaign to win the Build Public Renewables Act in New York. He’s a union electrical worker and member of NYC DSA.
• Marcelina Pedraza – Marcelina has been a union electrician for 25 years and is currently a member of UAW Local 551 at Ford Chicago Assembly Plant. She is also a member of UAWD, a rank-and-file caucus of UAW members. She is a community organizer passionate about environmental and workers’ justice, and as Board President of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, is fighting for a cleaner neighborhood.

Files:

• Audio (.m4a)
• Transcript (.vtt)

Upcoming Events

Wednesday, 1/24 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): HWG Reading Group: Mean Streets (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, 1/26 (12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, 1/27 (11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group (HWG) Office Hours (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, 1/27 (1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.): HWG Sock Distro (Meet in person at 1916 McAllister)

Sunday, 1/28 (11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.): January Office Cleaning/Organizing (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Thursday, 2/1 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): Ecosocialist Monthly Meeting (Zoom)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events/ for more events.

Events & Actions

Homelessness Working Group Sock Distro Mutual Aid on 1/27

Come join the Homelessness Working Group this Saturday, January 27th for our sock distro mutual aid project! We’ll be meeting at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister St. at 1:00 p.m. before heading out to different neighborhoods to pass out socks, sandwiches, and hygiene products. Feel free to show up an hour early if you’re able to help prep sandwiches!

Join the Tenant Organizing Working Group for SHOP Training!

Come join the DSA Tenant Organizing Working Group for the final session of a three-part training to develop successful socialist tenant organizers.

Part 3 of the Socialist Housing Organizing Program (SHOP) covers the basics  of an organizing conversation to recruit your neighbors to the tenant union.

You can attend upcoming training on Tuesday, February 6th at 6:30 p.m. at 1916 McAllister.

All trainings to take place at the DSA SF office at 1916 McAllister. Zoom is available upon request. Register today!

Show Your Smolidarity at the February Chapter Meeting

The Priority Mutual Aid Working Group will be providing childwatch at the chapter meeting next month on February 14th!

Parents and caregivers can fill out this form before the meeting to help ensure we have enough volunteers and supplies on hand. We hope to see you and your kiddos there!

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 newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.

To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.

Questions? Feedback? Something to add?

We welcome your feedback. If you have comments or suggestions, send a message to the #newsletter channel on Slack.

For information on how to add content, check out the Newsletter Q&A thread on the forum.

The California Faculty Association, a union covering the 23 campuses of the California State University system, is pushing back against the non-response of CSU administration at the bargaining table. Negotiations began this summer. As of California Red copy deadline, picket lines are expected to go up at all campuses first thing on Monday morning, January 22. 

CFA’s demands include:

• A 12% pay increase for all faculty

• A full semester of paid parental leave

• pay equity for lowest-paid faculty

• safe and accessible lactation spaces 

• safe and accessible gender-inclusive restrooms and changing rooms, and 

• the limiting of police power on campuses.

First, a one-day strike with DSA support
The CSU’s response of a 5% pay raise and persistent rejection of other demands precipitated a one-day strike across four campuses in December, including San Francisco, Pomona, LA, and San Diego. DSA and YDSA support for these labor actions was strong and well appreciated. Bottom line, this spirit has been shown through tabling, phone-banking, and union building, and fight-back efforts with picket-line participation and presence at CSU Board meetings. Our message: we are in; faculty and students are not alone!

At San Francisco State, YDSA member Cami Dominguez reports that she sees the big picture of this contract struggle as an example for other faculty and unions, and DSA’s solidarity with the wider struggles of class action. Cami was part of a scab patrol that confronted a faculty member conducting a class during picketing. She and other strikers spoke to both the faculty member and students present about the problem of crossing a picket line. Cami also remarked that participating in the strike “changed the dynamic we had with faculty”, seeing this as a “united effort” to maintain a positive learning environment.

DSA aligns itself with rank-and-file causes and action, such as this strike, and sees its involvement as integral to a class struggle on campus and building solidarity among students, faculty, and socialists. “We are not going to be quiet about being socialists,” commented Ellie Gomez, with whom I spoke in the SF DSA office. 

Full week of strikes coming
More labor actions are in the works. There will be a full week of CFA strikes across the entire system January 22-26. Because the SFSU campus does not begin classes until January 29, it will do informational picketing and leafleting for those faculty there during strike week, support picketing at East Bay and San Jose campuses, and promote pro-labor syllabi for faculty during the first week of classes. This may be the largest higher-education faculty strike in US history. 

Teamster Local 2010 members who work for the university were planning to strike alongside the faculty for their own demands, but settled on January 19. Although its contract does not allow sympathy strikes, the local is encouraging its members to honor the faculty picket lines.

Picket lines on all campuses will go up Monday at 8 a.m.  If you’d like to join in, go to the CFA web page to sign up.  The CFA Executive Board welcomes the ongoing contribution by DSA and YDSA as a vital element towards its success in fighting for its members.

An orientation to labor opens a unique opportunity for solidarity

For years, EBDSA has worked to reforge the link between union militants and the socialist movement. This places a strategic wager that rebuilding unions into fighting, democratic vehicles for working-class struggle and organization is not just desirable in and of itself (although it is), but that it’s also a necessary condition for a vibrant, strong socialist political current to survive and thrive in this country. 

In EBDSA this work has taken the form of a chapter jobs program, a local EWOC formation (the East Bay Workplace Organizing Committee or EBWOC), impressive labor solidarity work on the picket lines, and robust political education around the centrality of workplace struggle to winning material gains for the working class. This multifaceted approach means that EBDSA members have built relationships with union members and workplace militants in a variety of workplaces, brought some of them into DSA, or gone into union workplaces themselves. 

When it became clear in October that Israel was engaging in a genocidal military campaign against Palestinians, EBDSA Labor Committee members sprang into action and began meeting to pull together unions around concrete demands on the US state in a public rally, and created a template resolution for union members to adapt and try to pass through their unions. 

Within a few weeks, the effort had spread beyond EBDSA and began calling itself Bay Area Labor for Palestine (with the blessing of the pre-existing national Labor for Palestine formation). Members of more than a dozen local unions were soon attending Bay Area Labor for Palestine’s weekly meetings and comparing notes on how to pass resolutions through their unions, counter bad faith smears on their unions from pro-Israel groups, and prepare for a December rally. 

Bay Area Labor for Palestine successfully coordinated rally plans with local Palestinian- and Arab-led organizations, which meant that the rally formally brought together the local Palestinian liberation movement and representatives of the local labor movement. A boisterous spirit of unity and solidarity permeated the rally and march, with two thousand participants.

What’s next?

Some socialists worry about an overemphasis on workplace organizing, pointing out the importance of politics and principles to build beyond just “trade union consciousness”. The involvement of workers from newly formed unions who we’ve supported through EBWOC (like the Trader Joe’s Union local 4 in Rockridge and the Berkeley Ecology Center) and existing unions where EBDSA has members or relationships (like OEA and SEIU 1021) in Bay Area Labor for Palestine show that we’re not just cultivating a workplace only focus, but a broad politics of solidarity beyond the workplace. Union members where we didn’t have pre-existing relationships are also involved, indicating that this spirit of solidarity attracts like-minded workplace militants who see the connection between workplace struggle against the boss and global struggles against militarism and imperialism.

Bay Area Labor for Palestine is not just an EBDSA project. It’s a grassroots grouping of union members seeking to support and develop workplace organizers who can advance the cause of Palestinian solidarity in our unions. In some union locals, that means passing a ceasefire resolution. In others, where that’s already been accomplished, it can mean trying to divest pension funds from Israeli companies, or pressuring the AFL-CIO to back a ceasefire. 

Our experience in the East Bay shows that a multi-faceted approach to labor organizing can pay unexpected dividends in other areas of our work, like international solidarity. As DSA chapters continue to deepen our labor work across California, our ability to move in concert with unions and union members will hopefully increase the leverage, power, and will of the labor movement to challenge US imperialism at home and abroad. 

“Climate Criminals put Profits over Humanity.” So reads the title of the Indigenous Environmental Network statement on the 2023 Conference of the Parties in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. COP 28, the twenty-eighth United Nations summit on climate, ended late last year, repeating the decades-long failure to plan a disciplined international  fossil fuel drawdown. Although long-held scientific consensus calls for that drawdown, the heads of powerful states and their minions who dominated the Conference appear to be more willing to preside over the end of the world than the end of carbon-dependent capitalism.

Just more “blah, blah, blah”
The early years of the COP held some promise as these international gatherings seemed to address both the seriousness of the crisis and the need for global cooperation. This year, the empty and self-congratulatory concluding statements from COP 28 President Sultan al-Jabar of the United Arab Emirates, echoed by other heads of petrostates, came as no surprise to climate activists protesting outside the UN meetings. With an ever-increasing number of fossil fuel lobbyists—over 2,400 in Dubai—it’s no wonder that industry interests trumped the need for drawdown commitments with teeth. Absent credible fossil fuel phase out plans, COP28 doesn’t amount to much more than Greta Thunberg’s characterization of past COPs: just more “blah, blah, blah.” 

Also missing from commitments needed in Dubai was a plan–with a budget– to take care of workers affected by fossil fuel phaseout. The UN’s own International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) demanded  “. . . adoption of a Just Transition Work Programme that ensures labour issues are central to climate policy.” It didn’t happen. Likewise, loss and damage compensation for most-harmed countries remains uncommitted.  If the phrase “Just Transition” has any meaning, it requires a “polluters pay” framework for the wealthy nations and corporations who have most benefited from fossil fuels to provide the financial resources that most-affected workers, communities, and countries will need on the path to climate mitigation and adaptation.

Closer to home: CARB
Having never attended a COP, I still find the dynamics in Dubai unpleasantly familiar from my observation of California’s major climate planning process, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Scoping Plan. Though hosting fewer than the 475 carbon capture lobbyists attending COP 28, the state CARB hearings in 2022 reflected the outsized influence of the Carbon Capture and Storage Coalition on the planning board. With the fossil-fueled fantasy of carbon removal technology—as yet unproven—California’s oil and gas industries shoved the “real zero” demands of CARB’s own Environmental Justice Advisory Committee (EJAC) off the agenda to be replaced by a vague promise of “net zero,” requiring no production or extraction reductions. Like the Climate Justice Alliance and other frontline climate activists at COP 28, EJAC was marginalized and rejected. 

Though the International Trade Union Confederation at COP 28 had way more standing than our rag-tag committee with a petition from 135 unionists at the CARB hearings, we were both dismissed. Neither the ITUC demand for a labor-focused climate plan at COP 28, nor our demand for inclusion of the CA Climate Jobs Plan in CARB’s blueprint made a dent in the industry-dominated agreements in Dubai or Sacramento. The only “union” mentioned in CARB’s draft plan was the “European Union.” 

In addition to the parallels between Dubai and Sacramento—capitalist capture on the inside and urgent protest on the outside—there was a new development at COP28. Remaining the elephant in the climate movement room for far too long, war became a central theme in the protests at this COP.  International outrage and organizing responding to the Israeli attacks on Gaza brought the issue of war and militarism to the well-fortified gates of power, making the exclusion of this crucial global issue more visible.

Lessons and strategies
What lessons can ecosocialists extract from global climate planning at COP28 and the similar dynamics in Sacramento?  What strategies emerge now that climate denial is no longer a viable fossil fuel defense and our opposition now lobbies for eco-modern mirages to prolong their profits?  How can CA DSA respond?

Capitalist control of the process, with big oil calling the shots, is enough to turn Pollyanna into a doomer. But in DSA, we have a vision and an organization to build power for a future beyond capitalism and its carbon dependence. We can lend muscle to the labor, anti-war, and frontline groups currently barred from power and relegated to protest. Our national DSA Green New Deal Commission gives us guidance to create Building for Power campaigns:  labor and community coalitions to win union jobs for climate mitigation. 

Recent collaboration between our GND Commission and our International Committee brought us a webinar linking current anti-militarism activism and climate movements. Targeting local war profiteers, as suggested in that presentation, certainly has possibilities here in a state where the military/tech/higher education complex swells the economy.  

Less developed within DSA is the potential to build working class power in coalition with climate-vulnerable communities. But environmental racism does have formidable foes in our state, and we can learn from them. We’ll have a chance this year in a statewide referendum fight to defend drilling restrictions passed by the state legislature in 2022. The Western States Petroleum Association and their astroturf creations have put a measure on the November state ballot to roll back the legislation. Voices in Solidarity Against Oil in Neighborhoods (VISION), a climate justice coalition, and their frontline allies, will work to defeat the measure. 

We know a better world is possible. Get in touch with our CA Ecosocialist Working Group to join us in struggle to create it. 

The DSA International Committee’s Mexico Working Group has been collaborating with the Mexico Solidarity Project on a speaking tour for Mexican journalist José Luis Granados Ceja. In preparation for the Bay Area tour event, East Bay DSA has put together a three-part presentation series on Mexican solidarity. Andrew Morales, co-chair of the East Bay DSA Anti-Imperialist Committee, explained the reasons for this Mexico solidarity work in an exclusive interview with California Red. 

On an international level, Andrew cited right-wing United States politicians’ threats to invade Mexico by forcibly sending in US troops across the border and the lack of pushback by the Democratic Party. He also mentioned Mexican President Obrador (also known as AMLO) and his successes within the country and the challenge he and his party, Morena, presents to the long history of US imperialism directed against Mexico. Andrew stated that the Morena Party’s prioritization of Mexico’s domestic needs has conflicted with US financial interests and elicited these open calls for US intervention.

The first event in the three-part EBDSA Mexican Solidarity series has already taken place. EBDSA’s Anti-Imperialism Committee hosted a talk in December with author Rob McKenzie about his book El Golpe: US Labor, the CIA, and the Coup at Ford in Mexico. El Golpe addresses the US history of infiltrating and weaponizing labor movements throughout Central and South America to serve US financial interests and Cold War policy. The book culminates in a report of the violent suppression of workers on strike at a Mexican Ford factory and shows how US intelligence facilitated this attack. 

In his talk, McKenzie tied these events to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the ways in which NAFTA served US capital interests, and the long-lasting negative impact NAFTA has had on both Mexican and US labor (particularly in the field of automobile production). The author was able to get the president of his local UAW chapter to join for this event and speak on the recent UAW “Standup” strikes, linking those strikes back to Mexican labor and the need for UAW solidarity with the Mexican working class. You can find a recording of the event here.

The second event is happening January 23 at 6:30pm PST. This will be a hybrid night school on Oswaldo Zavala’s book Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture. In the discussion we will learn about the political and economic factors underlying Mexico’s historical War on Drugs, its connections to US imperialism, how it relates to immigration and border issues, and how it has recently been weaponized by right-wing forces in the United States to justify invasion. You can RSVP for the event here.

These events are meant to build up interest for the third and final installment of the series. On February 4, 2024, from 2 to 4 pm, as part of the larger nationwide tour, Mexican journalist (and Mexico Solidarity Project’s own) José Luis Granados Ceja will speak at Cesar Chavez Library, 3301 E. 12th St, Oakland, CA, 94601. He will address a wide range of topics, including immigration, the US/Mexico border, labor, US/Mexican trade, Mexico’s national sovereignty, and recent leftward political developments and successes in Mexico. This is an in-person event.  You can find a description here. 

Mexico Solidarity Project is also currently working with DSA San Francisco to set up a possible San Francisco stop for the tour to occur on February 5, 2024. Details for that event will be finalized soon. Following these stops, Jose Luis will continue on his tour with additional stops in San Diego and Los Angeles.