It’s never been easy to be a front-line retail or customer service worker at the holidays, and with a dramatic surge in COVID cases affecting New York City, this year is even harder. For our Revolutions per Minute holiday special, we’re joined live by Eric Dirnbach of the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, DSA’s national project in partnership with the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, as well as Aria, a retail worker who participated in a successful strike last year at the Good Vibrations sex shop in Massachusetts with support from EWOC.

Plus, a special correspondent, Shen, visits the picket line in Chinatown to speak with Liang, a restaurant worker at the historic dim sum restaurant Jing Fong.

We are fundraising for the WBAI end of year Tower Fund with some help from our NYC-DSA chorus, Sing in Solidarity. Give to the Tower Fund at towerfund.wbai.org and follow our chorus on Twitter @nycdsachoir.

Sign the petition to support Jing Fong workers and stop displacement in Chinatown at bit.ly/stopdisplacement.

Are you a retail or service worker looking for support organizing your worksite? You are not alone. Support and help is available. Visit https://workerorganizing.org/support/. 

2021 has been another incredibly tough year, with the pandemic and climate crisis exacerbating income inequality and dire living situations for working class people across the globe.

 

Tonight we’ll catch up with a few DSA working groups to talk about the organizing they’ve done to build working class power and solidarity this year and what’s coming up for 2022. Our guests tonight are Joel from the BDS and Palestine Solidarity Working Group on the Boycott Puma campaign and the power of a consumer boycott, Emma Claire from the Healthcare Working Group on universal healthcare and labor rights for home health care workers, and Josh and Robert from Eco-Socialists on the Green New Deal for Public Schools and the New York Public Power campaign.

 

To learn more or get involved with NYC-DSA's eco-socialist organizing, visit https://ecosocialists.nyc/join-us/.

 

Find NYC-DSA's Healthcare Working Group on Twitter or Facebook @NYCDSAHealth or email the organizers at healthcare@socialists.nyc.

 

Curious about the BDS movement and DSA's Palestine solidarity work? View the primer and FAQ: https://palestine.dsausa.org/palestine-and-bds-faq/.

 

Throughout this episode and all our remaining 2021 episodes, we are fundraising for WBAI's rent on the transmitter at 4 Times Square. We encourage all who are able to donate what they can, even a small amount, toward this important community institution. Visit towerfund.wbai.org to give. 

Gary Dorrien's new book American Democratic Socialism is a comprehensive look at the deep roots, many of them religious, of democratic socialism in this country. Rev. Andrew Wilkes spoke with Professor Dorrien at a live event in New York City at Judson Memorial Church, where this podcast was recorded.

We are appalled to learn the details of Mi Familia Vota CEO Hector Sanchez Barba’s decision to fire two members of the Nevada staff. Interim, out-of-state superiors yelled at the Nevada staff and told them they had ten minutes to leave the facility, which included threats to call the police on an undocumented person. In a show of solidarity with their peers, the rest of the organizing staff submitted notice that they would end their employment with Mi Familia Vota at the end of the month. Their superiors denied them the opportunity to work through the holidays, and demanded their resignation immediately.

Sanchez Barba’s organization claims to be “advocating for workers’ rights” and “empowering the immigrant community.” However, these abhorrent actions show that he is another fake progressive leader who is more concerned with maintaining the status quo than with standing in solidarity with marginalized people.

We have removed Mi Familia Vota as a partner from our upcoming Holiday Solidarity event, which serves our community by providing meals to families in need. We refuse to work with an organization that treats its workers in this way, or threatens our undocumented community members. The volunteers and community members who have previously engaged with Mi Familia Vota are welcome to still participate in Holiday Solidarity, in a show of solidarity with the community.

We stand with workers, and especially with the undocumented members of our community who are repeatedly victimized by those in positions of power. Las Vegas DSA will amplify any demands or calls for repair from the workers affected while we consider our own future relationship with Mi Familia Vota.

Signed:

Aimee H.
Alvin C.
Anthony L.
Jackie S.
Lorenzita S.
Mike Y.
Minnie W.
Paul John C.
Shaun N.
Tiffany S.

 

*and Cypress Hills, and Ocean Hill!

Believe it or not, 2022 is right around the corner and will bring with it a new electoral cycle and a new slate of DSA-endorsed socialist candidates for office. On tonight’s show, we kick off our series of interviews with NYC-DSA’s 2022 slate as we speak LIVE with Samy Nemir Olivares, candidate for Assembly District 54 in Bushwick, Cypress Hills, and Ocean Hill. Hear from Samy on their experience as a community organizer in North Brooklyn, the radical legacy of queer and trans people of color, the next steps for socialists in Albany, and smashing gender binaries right alongside capitalism.

 

We also speak to Gabriel Hernandez of NYC-DSA’s Queer Caucus on building queer community and mentorship for socialists. Finally, we hear a brief update on the struggle for free, equitable higher education for all from the New Deal for CUNY coalition.

 

To learn more about Samy Nemir-Olivares and support his run for Assembly, visit: https://www.samyfornewyork.com/

 

To learn more about NYC-DSA’s Queer Caucus, sign up for their mailing list here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/queer-caucus-interest-form

 

For more on the December 11 action for a New Deal for CUNY, visit: https://psc-cuny.org/SatDec11

Working class struggle continues to spread across New York City and the rest of the country. Wirecutter workers at the New York Times have launched their strike, joining the 3,000 Columbia academic workers on the picket line. 14,000 Kroger workers in Houston have authorized a strike while 24,000 academic workers at the University of California have done the same. Rank-n-file reform slate Teamsters United won a sea-changing victory in leadership elections. New leadership has promised more labor militancy and committed the 1.3 million member union to organizing Amazon facilities and drivers across the country. Earlier this month the New York Taxi Workers Alliance declared victory after a hunger strike forced the city government to acquiesce to their demand to cancel millions in debt and restructure their loan. We’re joined by Jaslin Kaur and Augustine to hear about this fight and what it means for working class New Yorkers. Last week a Wisconsin court allowed Kyle Rittenhouse to walk free despite the fact that he shot, wounded, and killed protesters in Kenosha. We’ll play you sounds from the streets as protesters reacted to this injustice here in Brooklyn.

Xcel Energy is the largest provider of energy in the state of Colorado. If you live in the Metro Denver area, chances are Xcel is your electric utility. Thanks to community and activist efforts over the years, Colorado has passed measures forcing the company to increase its use of clean, renewable energy. Despite this, Xcel still sources 63% of its energy from fossil fuels and continues to oppose efforts to move faster. 

Meanwhile Xcel siphons over half a billion in profits annually to Wall Street investors, and seeks to grow that annually, despite electricity becoming cheaper thanks to renewables. 

A key opportunity to shift Xcel to clean, affordable and renewable energy is its Electric Resource Plan (ERP). An ERP is a ten year plan for how Xcel will power the state and how much they can profit from it. The ERP maps out what coal and gas plants close and by when as well as what new projects like wind and solar will come on line. 

Xcel’s Plan to Increase Our Energy Bills and Continue Fossil Fuel Profiteering

Xcel released their preferred plan in 2021 and unsurprisingly they want to keep profiting off fossil fuels at the expense of us and the planet. 

Key items include: 

• Increasing our energy bills to line the pockets of Wall Street investors
• Running the state’s largest coal plant, Comanche 3, until 2035
• Running the Cherokee CC gas plant until 2055
• Running the Arapahoe gas plant until an unknown date

Continued pollution and fueling the climate crisis literally means more death in already suffering communities.

Denver Ecosocialists’ Clean Energy Plan for the People

Instead we need a plan that will lower our energy bills, transition to clean energy and democratize the grid.

We demand the following: 

• Close all coal plants and the Arapahoe and Cherokee gas plants by 2030
• Transition to 100% renewable energy for Denver by 2030
• Help coal and natural gas plant employees’ transition to new jobs by covering their workplace training costs and guarantee them a well-paying union job
• Increase rooftop solar by lifting the net metering cap and paying us fully for the electricity we contribute to the grid from solar panels
• Democratize the grid by building rooftop solar, parking lot solar, community owned  storage, and upgrading the grid to support this distributed energy.
• Finance all new projects through public banking to save money and invest money back into our communities (not Wall Street).
• Lower our energy bills by passing on the savings renewable energy will bring, not allow Xcel to keep raising rates and pocketing the profits.

How We Win

Xcel’s Electricity Resource Plan must be approved by the Public Utility Commission (PUC), a section of our state government. The PUC exists to, 

“serve the public interest by effectively regulating utilities and facilities so that the people of Colorado receive safe, reliable, and reasonably-priced services consistent with the economic, environmental and social values of our state.”

Four governor-appointed people serve on the PUC- 

• Republican Doug Dean, Director
• Democrat Eric Blank, Commissioner
• Democrat Megan Gilman, Commissioner 
• Independent John C. Gavan, Commissioner

Their track record of regulating Xcel “consistent with the economic, environmental and social values of our state” is a mixed bag, to put it generously. However, when public attention is on, they have followed through with their responsibilities.

It’s up to each of us to raise our voices and make clear to the PUC that they need to stand up to Xcel’s lobbyists and do the right thing by passing a plan that reduces our energy bills by shifting to clean, affordable and renewable energy.

Thousands Of Us Commented on the Plan

All Colorado residents, regardless of age and citizenship, can leave a public comment on Electric Resource Plans. Every comment is read and tallied by the PUC.

Over a thousand people commented in favor of clean energy, much more than the opposition. You can read those comments by visiting the Colorado Government’s Archive of Electronic Filings.

Search for Documents with a Proceeding Number of 21A-0141E and Document Type Comments.

Pueblo Residents Demand the Comanche Coal Plant Close

On October 28, 2021 over two hundred Pueblo residents spoke out against Xcel’s plan to run the state’s largest, dirtiest coal plant, until 2040. 2030 is the absolute latest we can run coal to avoid the worst of an already worsening climate crisis.

Over Hundred Coloradans Speak Out at the Statewide Public Hearing

Hundreds again showed up on December 2, 2021 to continue demanding a swift and just transition. The meeting was scheduled to end at 6pm but ran well past 7. Person after person spoke out in favor of the above demands.

Over One Hundred Colorado Residents Attend Public Hearing on Xcel’s Electric Resource Plan Demanding a Just Climate Transition

Organizing in Response to the Final Electric Resource Plan

The Public Utility Commission will announce their final decision on Xcel’s Electric Resource Plan in the spring of 2022.

We’re organizing contingency plans for the various outcomes that could come out from this process. Whatever the PUC decides, we’ll continue to work to end the fossil fuel era, democratize the grid and win energy justice.

If you have any other questions or just want to get involved, email us at ecosocialist.committee@denverdsa.org or attend an upcoming meeting.

We have a world to win!

Local officials approved the development of a network of tunnels for one of the most nonsensical means of transportation ever conceived – Teslas in Tunnels. As per the Verge report, “dubbed the “Vegas Loop,” the system will allow passengers to hitch rides in Teslas to and from places like the hotel casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, the city’s new football stadium, the Las Vegas Convention Center, and McCarran International Airport.” As usual, the Loop is a pet project of a union-busting New Gilded Age autocrat: Elon Musk.

The idea is not difficult to understand. Instead of restricting cars to the surface, the rich will build more roads underground but reserved for companies whose profits go back to Elon Musk and his shareholders. The Boring Company – probably the most apt name for a corporation specializing in inefficient and unhelpful transportation “innovations” ever coined – says “roads must go 3D,” after all.

Breathtaking stuff.

Supposedly, this network is “citywide.” Even a cursory glance at the proposed map shows the truth. The tunnels are not citywide. The tunnels will link the Strip to the Convention Center and Downtown. Beyond that, the tunnels will cross west all the way to the incredibly-distant landmark of Arville Street and as far east as the remote Thomas and Mack Center.

The Boring Company has done every possible thing to avoid interacting with locals. The “citywide” network avoids most of the city where the people live and reside. Even though we – the clerks, the casino workers, the cooks and the waiters – built this city, the vast majority of us do not receive the benefits of development.

The Vegas Loop is designed around the consumption needs of the wealthy and the tourists. Both groups, both whiter than Las Vegas’s local communities, can reach their next consumption feasts by hailing fancy, shiny Teslas underground. The novelty even comes with a feel-good bonus. For the small price of lining Musk’s pockets with yet even more money, they can use electric vehicles – how progressive! How advanced! Ignore the cost of current electric vehicle development on the environment vis a vis lithium extraction, of course.

Teslas in Tunnels do nothing more than facilitate the flow of capital. In the short term, that is largely the river of gold from one casino to another in Las Vegas. In the long term, as more and more consumers enjoy the comforts of Teslas, the tunnels lead back to more and more purchases of Teslas. Capital flows from tourists to Boring and from Boring to Tesla, all of which proceeds to Elon Musk. The people see none of the money and none of the benefits.

Las Vegas development tends to follow this capital-centric trend. Billionaires view Vegas as a neon playground for their egoistic fantasies, designed not around beneficial public policy but rather whatever unhinged whims possess them. Conveniently, these fancies allow them to collect more and more capital, funding more and more of their ego trips in the desert.

Their harebrained impulses face little resistance. Usually, policymakers and decisionmakers meekly obey the billionaires’ decrees with stamps of approval on each and every ego trip development scheme. In this Wild West of a new Gilded Age, anything goes as long as you have the money to back it up. That includes Teslas in Tunnels from the Boring Company, a plan straight out of a cyberpunk dystopian novel.

If the needs of the people were served, these 29 miles of tunnels connecting 51 stations would be the advent of a new subway system across Las Vegas. The tunnels would expand west to Summerlin, throughout North Vegas, and link Eastside with the rest of the city. A subway would not only be a more efficient transportation system than cars in tunnels; it would also combat the exact issues that the Boring Company point to as their excuses for further capital accumulation, like decreasing road congestion. A subway would just solve those issues more effectively.

Teslas in Tunnels is one of the most vapid projects for transportation ever devised to date. The best we can do with the entire scheme is let Elon Musk build his tunnels and then promptly take them over to build our subway. Policymakers should take note.

Today we’re talking with Assemblymember Phara Souffrant Forrest and her district manager Justin Freeman about how they are bringing their socialist office directly to the community they represent and are building power not just to win elections, but pass legislation that meaningful changes the lives of the working class in Brooklyn like the Less is More bill, which was signed into law this year, and Public Power and ‘Good Cause Eviction’ bill which are top priorities for DSA electeds this upcoming legislative session.

 

And it’s not just the power in the halls of government that is being challenged by organizers in New York City right now. Workers are taking on one of the most powerful and influential Ivy League universities and newspapers in the country at the same time. We’ll hear from RPM’s own Chris Carr who is one of many union members of the Student Workers of Columbia currently on strike and from one of the New York Times’ Wirecutter union members who plan to strike on Black Friday.

 

Follow Phara and Justin on twitter @phara4assembly and @JustinR_Freeman

and get involved with Phara's office at bit.ly/pharaoffice 

We believe in a democratic organization where members are accountable to each other and it is time that we hold Representative Jamaal Bowman accountable. His actions and statements run counter to our values and our recently adopted national platform. Within the last few months, Bowman has voted in favor of $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel and $1 billion in funding for Israel’s Iron Dome, as well as toured Israel, posting pictures of himself with the leader of an apartheid regime.

These are not inconsequential actions that can be written off as a difference of opinion. As our national political platform states, “as socialists living in the heart of the American empire, we must oppose imperialism and work to address, cease, and heal the harm caused by our ruling class.” In May, DSA also released a statement claiming that it stood “in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle against apartheid, colonialism, and military occupation, and for equality, justice, and self-determination.” However, with his actions, Bowman sides with the ruling class in upholding imperialism.

Bowman’s actions are not abstract. By directly supporting Israeli aparetheid and endorsing Zionism, Bowman condones the continued Israeli settlement of Palestinian land, as well as the forced displacement, genocide, and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. This is happening in real time —as we see in Sheikh Jarrah and in the open-air prison of the Gaza Strip, for example. This stands in direct opposition to the portion of the national platform that calls for solidarity with Palestinians and “for equality, human rights, and self-determination, including the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”

Here in Las Vegas, our chapter has developed a close relationship with Palestinian rights organizations and we count them among our strongest allies locally. To continue to ignore these actions by a national representative of our organization, the face of one of our largest campaigns, compromises our coalition and forces us to betray comrades with whom we have shared struggles.

Las Vegas DSA calls on the National Political Committee to demonstrate a commitment to our organization’s values by standing in solidarity with Palestinians and expelling Representative Jamaal Bowman from DSA.