|
The following article is reposted from Chartist https://www.chartist.org.uk/
Original Sin and the Road to Redemption By Paul Garver on 02/07/2025 Paul Garver on the Democratic Party cover-up and denial of Biden’s incapacity and the rise of the left in the shape of Zohran Mamdani Original Sin* is a depressing book to read and review. Tapper and Thompson narrate in excruciating detail how Democratic Party operatives collaborated to cover up and deny the increasing cognitive decline of President Biden in the final years of his presidency. Their misguided actions denied the base of the Democratic Party any opportunity to select a more viable candidate in open Democratic primaries. Thereby, they helped facilitate the election of a sociopathic demagogue, together with the dangerous schemes of his followers to establish a White Nationalist neo-fascist regime over the USA. The authors conducted some 200 interviews of Democratic Party insiders and strategists. Many of them admit that they were aware of Biden’s incapacities, but for one reason or another, did not speak out publicly until it was too late to unwind the damage caused by their silence. Their motives are many, including personal loyalty to Joe Biden and his family, coupled with the belief that only even a diminished Biden could defeat Trump in the 2024 election. It is hard to prove a counterfactual. It is quite possible that Trump would have steamrolled over even a more viable Democratic opponent than Kamala Harris. Harris was badly advised by the Democratic Party insiders, who focused on winning over a handful of Republican defectors rather than shaping a message to the traditional base constituencies of the Democratic Party - working class, young voters, people of colour, etc. About 10 million of these did not vote at all. A smaller but noticeable number in Michigan defected over Biden’s and Harris’s kowtowing to Netanyahu’s genocidal war in Gaza. Media pundits have been playing the blame game since the election. However, many Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, and some Democratic state governors, persist in the hope for a normal electoral correction in the midterm elections of 2026. I call this the “lying flat” or the “head-in-the-sand” strategy. Why would the electorate reward the Democratic Party for its cowardice and calculated inaction in the face of the grave threat to the fundamentals of the American constitutional order? Polling indicates that a large majority of normally Democratic constituencies are frustrated with the feeble response of the Democratic Party to creeping fascism. I am writing this on the day after the heartening Democratic primary victory of democratic socialist candidate Zohran Mamdani running for mayor of New York City. A Muslim immigrant and only a U.S. citizen for a few years, Mamdani campaigned around bread-and-butter issues like transit and housing, with the support of New York City DSA, the Working Families Party and nationally known democratic socialists Bernie Sanders and AOC. We had hoped that Mamdani might squeeze through by picking up votes in a ranked-choice voting system through his alliances with other progressive candidates like Brad Lander. In fact, Mamdani got over 43% of the total first-round votes, while Lander got another 11% [boosted by his arrest by ICE agents for daring to ask them to show a judicial warrant]. Discredited former NY governor Andrew Cuomo, backed by major corporate donors, Bill Clinton and most Democratic officeholders in New York City, got only 36% of the vote on the first round, and not enough second choices to overcome Mamdani’s large lead. Cuomo may run as an Independent in November. He would join disgraced incumbent mayor Eric Adams, who had to be pardoned by President Trump for his flagrant corruption in return for a highly unpopular collaboration with Trump’s ICE raids, as well as a feeble Republican candidate, to contest Mamdani in November. Panicking large donors, billionaire businessmen, and Democratic Party insiders are already lining up to support either Cuomo or Adams, running as independents. Mamdani frightens them because he is a Muslim, a democratic socialist, and a charismatic campaigner with simple populist social democratic messages that appeal to the majority of New Yorkers - rent control, free transit, etc., while threatening to slightly raise taxes on the ultra-rich. Those same interests futilely spent some $25 million in negative advertising against Mamdani in the primary. He was libelled as anti-Semitic and communistic, as well as being called inexperienced and impractical. These negative ads against Mamdani were not very successful, since Zohran had consistently been upfront with his views on immigration, free transit, higher taxes on the rich, and support for Gazans and Palestinians, and his opposition to ICE raids. We expect that Mamdani’s opponents will receive much more extensive funding to run scurrilous attacks on him between now and the November election. Mamdani will counter mainly by further amping up his extensive campaigning network that carried him to his primary victory. Some 40,000 volunteer canvassers had come not only from the organized Left (DSA, Working Families Party, etc.), but also from dozens of progressive organisations, community and neighbourhood associations representing the full spectrum of NYC. In the fall, Mamdani will rely even more heavily on volunteer canvassers and small donors as well as on his own creative social media and personal appearances. Hopefully, they will be reinforced by labour union activists, even though most union leaders endorsed Cuomo in the primary. As a member of DSA’s International Committee, I have been scanning the congratulations to DSA flooding in from international socialist organisations on Mamdani’s victory. I have also noticed that Mamdani is being hailed in social media by a wide spectrum of progressive organisations in the USA. So far, I have seen only a trickle of congratulations from Democratic Party officeholders outside NYC. Could it be that many Democrats in office still fear retaliation by the Democratic National Committee in their own districts in 2026 and beyond if they support Mamdani? I would like to believe, hope against hope, that the Democratic Party will not double down on the original sin so well highlighted by Tepper and Thompson. Their revised version of original sin will be to try to stop Mamdani at all costs. For many Democratic operatives, the victory of the Left in the Democratic Party, now represented by Sanders, the Squad, and Mamdani, would be a catastrophic blow, at least as obnoxious as MAGA and Project 2025. Will we be able to overcome these reactionary Democratic diehards at the same time we creatively battle the creeping Fascist takeover that will close most space for political resistance? The odds remain long, but not insurmountable. Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will! Comment
0 Comments
To: NPC
From: North Star Caucus for Socialism and Democracy Steering Committee Dear Comrades: In view of the current political crisis, we have some observations about the current position of DSA at the national level that we would like to share with you. We ask that you take them into serious consideration: Given the capture of our government and institutions by dangerous right-wing forces, we believe there is a need for the broadest possible movement -- not only to defeat the MAGA forces in the immediate moment but also to reverse the tide of reactionary rollback of all the reforms and social protection begun in the New Deal. For this to succeed, an organized radical force within the movement is needed, one that grasps the deep historical roots of this rollback and offers a more comprehensive vision of the necessary social transformation. This movement is developing, but we believe it needs a radical analysis and vision to succeed. It must, in effect, do what the Democratic Party has failed to do, indeed even prevented: inspire in the larger population a belief that change is possible, and a better life can be had. This is essential to ensure that the Right is actually defeated, not momentarily held at bay by an electoral win by the Democrats that allows the reactionary forces to spring back unharmed in the next electoral cycle. It appears that DSA has been reluctant to identify with the necessity of becoming that radical force within the current mass movement to resist MAGA. There is no other socialist organization on a national level that can play this role. Therefore we urge you to consider how DSA can become fully engaged with the current mass movement. To begin, as we urged on our letter of June 1, 2025, please endorse the “No Kings” demonstrations planned to take place throughout the country on June 14. Barbara Joye and Bill Barclay, Co-Chairs, North Star Caucus for Socialism and Democracy DSA’s North Star Caucus for Democracy and Socialism has resolved to endorse the June 14th, 2025 No Kings Day of Action, and we urge national DSA as a whole to endorse it as well.
The Trump administration continues to execute the Project 2025 playbook, both domestically and globally. However, both domestically and globally the largest anti-fascist mobilization is also emerging. We believe it is crucial that DSA join this growing mass resistance and do everything possible to help build the broadest and strongest resistance movement possible. The stakes are extremely high. Uncounted lives are literally in the balance. The courts and Congress alone are incapable of halting this rapidly unfolding disaster that endangers the freedoms and lives of more and more people -- and even the future of life on our planet -- daily . Only a broad-based mass resistance movement can stop it. DSA cannot afford to absent itself from this struggle. Working people will remember who stood with them in this fight and who did not. Please: (1) Endorse the June 14th, 2025 No Kings Day of Action; (2) Publicize this endorsement both to DSA chapters and to the larger public as soon as possible. Bill Barclay and Barbara Joye, Co-Chairs, North Star Caucus for Democracy and Socialism Trump’s Authoritarian Power Grab in Los Angeles Is an Attack on Democracy—and on ImmigrantsBy Carlos Alcala, California Democratic Council. Media Director Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles—over the objections of California Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass—isn’t just a dangerous abuse of power. It’s an authoritarian stunt aimed at silencing protest, undermining democratic governance, and scapegoating immigrants while cutting off every legal avenue they’re supposed to use. Let’s not mince words. The people of California overwhelmingly elected Newsom and Bass to lead their communities, manage public safety, and reflect their values. These leaders made it clear: they did not want or need military troops flooding their streets. But Trump—true to form—ignored that democratic mandate. In doing so, he revealed exactly what kind of governance he supports: one where force overrides consent, and the will of voters is trampled by federal intimidation. This move fits into a broader, deeply cynical strategy. Trump has spent years dismantling legal pathways to immigration—shutting down asylum processes, gutting refugee programs, and imposing cruel and arbitrary barriers to lawful entry. Then, when people flee violence and poverty and arrive at the border seeking help, he turns around and blames them for not “doing it legally.” It’s a rigged system by design: close the door, then punish people for knocking. Now, he’s bringing that same hypocrisy to the streets of Los Angeles, conflating protest, immigration, and public disorder to justify militarized crackdowns. It’s not about security. It’s about optics, fear, and division. What Trump is really doing is targeting communities who dare to stand up—for immigrant rights, racial justice, and democracy itself. The people in the streets are demanding an end to police violence, an end to xenophobia, and a government that actually listens to them. Trump’s answer? Send in troops. Silence dissent. Pretend it’s about “law and order.” Let’s be clear: true law and order comes from justice, not occupation. It comes from investing in communities, not militarizing them. And it absolutely comes from respecting the democratic will of the people—not overriding it with tanks and troops. This is not just a local issue. It’s a national crisis of democracy. If a president can ignore elected leaders and flood cities with soldiers, where does it end? What happens the next time a protest erupts in a city that doesn’t share his politics—or his prejudices? The answer lies in collective resistance. Progressives, immigrants, organizers, and everyday citizens must speak with one voice: we will not allow fear to replace freedom. And we will not allow a twice-impeached former president to rewrite the rules of democracy to serve his authoritarian ambitions. This is our fight—not just for Los Angeles, but for every city, every immigrant, and every person who believes in democracy over dictatorship. California Democratic Council. Representing 420 Democratic Clubs in the California Democratic Party. Carlos Alcala is Chair of the Chicano Caucus. HERE’S THREE THINGS YOU CAN DO ABOUT ICE RAIDS IN LOS ANGELES RIGHT NOW This weekend’s shocking and violent raids in Los Angeles are meant to be a show of force from the Trump regime. This is about instilling fear and terrorizing Angelenos. But we can fight back. Given the latest news about National Guard Deployment, we expect raids to continue and encourage community members to be safe and thoughtful. The Trump regime’s raids have terrorized our community this weekend. Students and parents targeted at schools. Lawyers illegally denied access to speak to those detained. Protestors and observers brutalized. The LAPD has abetted the raids in the name of “preserving public safety”, in violation of the spirit if not the letter of LA’s Sanctuary City Ordinance. Angelenos protecting our communities are not a threat to public safety, militarized agents kidnapping our neighbors is. DSA-LA opposed the appointment of Jim McDonnell as police chief precisely because of his history of collusion with ICE.
If you see federal agents in your neighborhood, call the LA Rapid Response Network. Community groups rely on these calls to deploy trained volunteers to document and monitor immigration actions.
Do you know of any other actions? Share them by replying to this e-mail! We will continue to broadcast other events at which DSA members will have an organized presence.
Now is the time to reconnect with friends and family, fellow DSA members, union siblings, and members of other community organizations resisting ICE like the Community Self-Defense Coalition. Online tools can help spread the word, but we can only fight fascism through real community. Don’t just scroll - talk to someone! If you aren’t a member of an organization, now is the time to join one. Los Angeles DSA "Most of the time it makes sense to skip past Donald Trump’s rantings on social media to examine the underlying material dynamics that shape US politics: The crisis of the neoliberal economic model. The erosion of US global hegemony. The 60-year right-wing backlash against the gains of the 1960s. The persistence of economic inequality, racial injustice, and patriarchy. The impact on the US working class of deindustrialization, COVID, and post-COVID inflation. The anti-democratic features built into the US electoral system.
The Left’s assessment of the moment and our strategies for transformative change need to be grounded in these realities. But a periodic check on Trump’s messages on Truth Social is also warranted. It tells us a lot about the way this aspiring dictator thinks and what appeals to a MAGA base consisting of 70% of Republican voters and 35% of the electorate overall. Left assessments and strategies will be mechanical and one-sided if this dimension of class struggle—what Marx calls “the ideological forms in which men (sic) become conscious of conflict and fight it out”— is neglected." Read the full article here. Bill Barclay
On September 2, 1987, a full-page ad appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globedenouncing the failure of U.S. political leaders to stand up against the countries – Japan and Saudi Arabia were named – that were “ripping us off.” The answer: tariffs. The ad was signed by Donald J Trump. Today Trump’s tariff tantrum’s target is, of course, China. And the ostensible reason for China tariffs is to bring manufacturing – and maybe coal mining – back to the United States. Today he has – or at least has assumed in the face of a flaccid Congress – the power to throw various tariffs against the wall, 50% one day, 100% another, then retreat the next day. The back-and-forth pattern has created what financial markets are calling the TACO trade (“Trump Always Chickens Out,” an epithet that enrages Trump). In 2000 U.S. manufacturing represented 25% of the global total; China was only 6%. Today the United States, with 4.2% of global population, accounts for 16% of global manufacturing by value and China, with 17% of global population, produces almost 32%. More significantly, in 2000 China’s leading manufactured export was textiles; today textiles are not even in the top 10. (For a deeper analysis of China’s rapid rise in the global political economy, see Bill Barclay, “Dangerous Inflection Point: Is China's Growth Model Exhausted?.” Is this a reason for concern? And, if so, what should/could be done about it? We can begin by looking in greater detail both at manufacturing itself and at the components of the U.S. manufacturing trade deficit with China. The United States is not the only country where manufacturing has been declining. The manufacturing share of GDP and employment has dropped in both Germany and Japan (although it remains above that of the Unites States), and the global GDP share of manufacturing at about 20%. . Manufacturing jobs are at stake in Trump’s trade war with China – in both countries, While the US employs only 12.7 million workers in manufacturing to the more than 100 million in China, productivity in US manufacturing is more than 6 times that of China. This productivity disparity is primarily driven by the large labor-intensive manufacturing sector in China – textiles, furniture, footwear, etc. Although Commerce Secretary Lutnick claimed that Trump’s tariffs would result in US workers producing shoes, t-shirts and more, this is extremely unlikely: average textile worker wages in the US, as low as they may be, are 3 – 4 times those in China, and more than 30 times that of a Bangladesh textile worker, the second largest textile exporter. The US textile trade deficit with China was about $100 billion in 2023. No, nothing Trump can do will bring large scale textile manufacturing back to the U.S. – nor should we want it to. So, let’s look at some examples of more advanced manufacturing – like the ubiquitous cell phone. In 2024 the US trade deficit with China in goods was $295 billion – and almost 15% of that was Apple with 90% of its products assembled in China. Trump has recently raised the possibility of a 25% tariff on China-assembled iPhones. We’ve seen this movie before – in 2017, during his first term, he Trumpeted that Foxconn, the iPhone Apple iPhone assembler in China, would build a $10 billion plant in Wisconsin. The only result was a short-lived mask pandemic-era production facility, now mostly unused and never built. Could we make - or more accurately, assemble - iProducts in the US? Probably, if we were willing to pay 2 – 4 times their current price. And even then, the parts, largely manufactured in Germany, South Korea and elsewhere would be subject to Trumps tariffs. But manufacturing is important for commercial innovation, technological progress and long-term environmental sustainability. There are other types of leading-edge manufacturing that contribute to these goals and in which the US could actually be competitive – with the right industrial policies. For example, remaking our transport system – cars, trucks and trains – into a driver of the energy transition. But that would require acknowledging the reality of climate change. Today China produces 70% of all EVs and over 60% of Li-ion batteries essential to EVs. We have a long way to go. And the question, especially for advanced manufacturing, is how the facility will be operated? Trump sees large numbers of men (“manly jobs”) working on the factory floor. But high-tech manufacturing demands high-tech skill capabilities – including robots. The United States ranks only seventh in robot manufacturing density, behind Japan, China, and Germany. One last point: it is often argued that manufacturing provides high wage jobs, but that confuses correlation and causation. There is nothing inherent in manufacturing jobs that dictate high pay: today a Danish worker at MacDonald’s is paid more than a Kia auto assembly line worked in Alabama. The difference? The Danish worker is in a union. The possibility for a manufacturing renaissance in the US is real – but very unlikely to be realized by Trump’s approach to tariffs. In fact, his rejection of climate change and unwillingness to understand the thrust of high-tech manufacturing will likely cost the US manufacturing industry, especially the auto production and parts sector going forward. Oh, I forgot – we’ll be the crypto capital of the world – crypto plus coal –a vision for the future. Think I’ll make some TACOs for dinner. Bill Barclay is a political economist and lives in Ventura, CA. He was a founding member of DSA and the Chicago Political Economy Group (cpegonline.org) and is on the steering committee of the North Star Caucus of DSA. At its May 25, 2025 meeting, the NS SC took the following actions.
(1) NS endorses the June 14th No Kings Day of Action; and (2) NS will urge that the NPC also endorse the No Kings Day of Action (3) NS will urge other caucuses to also endorse the No Kings Day of Action. The No Kings Day of Action is a mobilization against the Musk/Trump political and economic attack on all of us. Please join – or help organize – one of the many events near you. More information on June 14th No Kings Day can be found here: https://indivisible.org/statements/indivisible-and-partners-announce-no-kings-nationwide-day-defiance-flag-day-during; Here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/50501movement/posts/1036778238059505/; Here: https://www.nokings.org/partners; and Here: https://www.mobilize.us/aft/event/792871/ Bill Barclay and Barbara Joye, NS SC co-chairs open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/what-should-we-do-now-live-with-rev?What Should We Do Now? with Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II
ROBERT REICH AND WILLIAM J. BARBER, II HTTPS://ROBERTREICH.SUBSTACK.COM/P/WHAT-SHOULD-WE-DO-NOW-LIVE-WITH-REV?
https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/what-i-told-the-ed-school-graduates?
Yesterday, Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, notified Harvard University that “effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification is revoked.”
Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students. Existing foreign students must transfer to another university or lose their legal status. This could affect more than a quarter of Harvard’s student body. Noem said she did this because of the university’s “failure to comply with simple reporting requirements.” Rubbish. There was nothing simple about the trove of information Noem demanded from Harvard — including the coursework of every international student and information on any student visa holder who had been involved in “illegal” activity — information beyond what Harvard is legally allowed to share with the government. We are in deep authoritarian fascist territory, friends. Trump is escalating his war against American higher education and against the rest of the world. We will be the worse for this. To Trump, the only useful non-Americans are those who invest in his crypto schemes and global resorts, or gift him jumbo “palace in the sky” aircraft. Yet global brains have been crucial sources of our scientific and economic advances. Since the end of World War II in particular, we have benefitted enormously from talented students and faculty drawn here from all over the planet to learn, study, research, and innovate. Once again, it will be up to the federal courts to stop this idiocy. The rest of us must speak out loudly and clearly against what is being done. Here’s what I told the graduates from U. Cal. Berkeley’s School of Education at their commencement ceremony earlier this week (before I learned of the Trump regime’s latest move): Throughout history, tyrants have understood that their major enemy is an educated citizenry. Slaveholders prohibited the enslaved from learning to read. Nazis burned books. Putin and Xi censor the media. Ignorance is the handmaiden of tyranny. America’s founders knew this. They saw how easily emperors and kings could mislead uneducated publics. The survival of the new nation required a public wise enough to keep power within bounds. People imbued, in the language of the time, with civic virtue. Jefferson assured Americans that if they could “enlighten the people generally … tyranny and the oppressions of mind and body will vanish, like evil spirits at the dawn of day.” So America became the cradle of free, universal, public education. I don’t have any easy answers to the many challenges we’re experiencing today in classrooms across the land, but we must never give up on these three basic educational ideals: free, universal, and public. If we stop thinking about education solely as a private investment on the way to a good-paying job and see it as a public good, we’d give every child an understanding of the Constitution, the meaning and importance of the rule of law, and why no one should be above it. This is, after all, what we demand of people who want to become naturalized citizens: They have to pass a civics test covering the organization of the U.S. government and the Constitution. Civic education should instill in young people a passion for truth — enabling them to think critically, be skeptical (but not cynical) about what they hear and read, find reliable sources of information, apply basic logic and analysis, and know enough about history and the physical world to differentiate fact from fiction. Such an education would also urge young people to communicate with others. With people of different races, classes, creeds, nationalities. Teach them how to listen, to open their minds to the possibility their own views and preconceptions may be wrong, to discover why people with opposing views believe what they do. Yet the current president of the United States does not appear to have learned any of this. On the campaign trail, he vowed to “liberate our children from the Marxist lunatics and perverts who have infested our educational system.” He has canceled federal exams that measure student progress and ordered his wrestling executive-turned-Education Secretary to shut most of her department. He is attacking the freedom of speech of university students and professors, trying to deport international students and faculty solely because of what they say or write, and threatening to halt federal funds to universities that practice DEI. He has gutted the funding of the National Institutes of Health, which provides a large portion of biomedical research, and the National Science Foundation, responsible for much of America’s engineering and computer research. Along with certain governors, he is attacking the teaching in our schools of America’s shameful histories of slavery and Native American genocide. He has cut funding for libraries around the country — which will jeopardize literacy development and reading programs, and reliable internet access for those without it at home. I keep hearing that all this amounts to an “attack on the liberal state” or “the culmination of our culture wars.” No. What’s really occurring is an attack on the American mind. You who are soon to graduate from this wonderful school of education have chosen instead to enhance the American mind, to broaden it, to enlighten our young people, to expose them to a world of possibility. May you educate like democracy depends on it. The Brennan Center May 2, 2025.
The first hundred days of Donald Trump’s presidency have been marked by power grabs, aggressive if chaotic attempts to upend the Constitution’s checks and balances. Now another strategy has begun to more clearly come into view: an unprecedented drive to undermine elections, just in time for the 2026 midterms. Also emerging: a fierce response, a defense of voting rights that won an important early victory. How this fight unfolds will shape whether we have free and fair elections in 2026 and beyond. On March 25, Trump signed an executive order purporting to take personal control over federal elections. Henceforth, he declared, American citizens would have to produce a passport or other citizenship document to register using the federal voter registration form. But roughly half of Americans don’t have passports. The “order” was stuffed with other misguided notions. For example, it instructed an independent agency to strip federal certification from previously certified voting machines, and it even ordered states to give Elon Musk’s DOGE team access to the voter rolls to search for “fraud.” (Hmm, what could possibly go wrong with that?!) The Brennan Center went to federal court. Representing the League of Women Voters, together with allies, our attorneys argued that this was illegal and unconstitutional. Last week, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly agreed. In a powerful 120-page opinion, she wrote, “Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States — not the President — with the authority to regulate federal elections.” She issued a preliminary injunction blocking the key part of the executive order. (Other elements are still being litigated.) The judge focused on the Constitution’s Elections Clause, which gives states the duty to set rules for the “times, places, and manner” of elections — and gives Congress the power to make national voting laws. That provision is the basis for the Freedom to Vote Act, the sweeping pro-democracy legislation that came within two votes of passing three years ago. It does not give a president any personal authority over elections, and certainly not the writ to act like a king. The executive order came as part of a wide-ranging effort to undermine the vote. As my colleagues Sean Morales-Doyle and Lauren Miller Karalunas note, much of this strategy is set out in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy blueprint — and it’s right on schedule. Next on the agenda is using the Justice Department to chill future efforts to safeguard elections. The Guardian reported Monday that Justice Department leaders “have removed all of the senior civil servants working as managers in the department’s voting section and directed attorneys to dismiss all active cases, part of a broader attack on the department’s civil rights division.” The department itself was founded in large measure to protect the voting rights of Black formerly enslaved people after the Civil War, and the Civil Rights Division is considered a crown jewel. Now the cop has been pulled off the beat. Already, the administration had purged the cybersecurity experts at the Department of Homeland Security who worked to protect voting systems. Trump even directed the Justice Department to investigate Chris Krebs, the esteemed expert he appointed to lead the cybersecurity office during his first term. Krebs’s infraction? He had affirmed the integrity of the 2020 election. Krebs spoke out to raucous applause at a packed technology conference in San Francisco, his first public comment since being targeted. “Cybersecurity is national security,” he declared, adding, “To see what’s happening to the cybersecurity community inside the federal government, we should be outraged. Absolutely outraged.” These efforts are reflected in the SAVE Act, which if enacted would be the worst voting law ever passed by Congress. It would require citizens to produce a passport or birth certificate to register or even to re-register — and as the Brennan Center’s research shows, 21 million Americans don’t have ready access to those documents. The SAVE Act passed the House on a nearly party-line vote. Now it is before the Senate. Encouragingly, senators have vowed to block the measure, and if they stand firm, they have the votes to do so. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) called it a “bad faith bill cynically intended to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters.” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) reiterated her opposition on Fox News, saying, “It makes it harder to have women vote, it makes it harder if you don’t have a passport.” If the SAVE Act is defeated — if, in fact, it never comes to a vote — let’s not just move on. This would be a signal victory. History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. The fight to vote has been a defining struggle throughout American history. Always, people have had to press to get or keep access to our democracy, and just as consistently, some have tried to shrink the circle. We at the Brennan Center will take a moment next week to celebrate our work and the organization’s 30th anniversary. Our annual Brennan Legacy Awards dinner will honor Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland. And we will honor and hear from the Broadway musical Suffs, which tells the story of how women won the right to vote in the United States. Presenting our awards will be Celina Stewart, CEO of the League of Women Voters, our client in the recent lawsuit. For most of the play, we see the contest between insider strategies and street protests, backstage strategists and charismatic public figures such as Inez Milholland. The racism that tried to keep Ida B. Wells from marching with her fellow suffragists down Pennsylvania Avenue and the powerful political leaders who tried to stop the expansion of the franchise. The musical ends on a contemporary note. Today’s activists join with the suffragists, recognizing the need to fight for equality even when “you won’t live to see the future that you fight for/Maybe no one gets to reach that perfect day.” That song’s title is a good reminder of what we must continue to do at this moment of challenge: “Keep Marching.” Michael Waldman April 29, 2025 Brennan Center for Justice Posted by Duane Campbell Defeat Fascism/Fight for Democracy List of opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?usp=sharing  From the National Political Committee — May Day Solidarity May Day is a uniquely international holiday, where workers of the world unite to celebrate our history and demands for our future — and it’s a holiday with deep American roots. A May Day 1886 protest demanding 8-hour work days (something we so often take for granted) led to the Chicago police brutalizing a crowd of protestors in Haymarket Square, and a series of violent events which led to the unjust state executions of 7 “Apostles of Labor.” Socialists must remember these roots. This fight has never been easy, but we stand on the shoulders of giants, arm in arm with our comrades across our own organization — over 70,000 strong — and our siblings in the labor movement, the renters’ rights movement, the Palestinian liberation movement, the migrants’ rights movement, and so many more. Because of this solidarity, we have incredible opportunities to organize and exert our collective strength, working locally and nationally in unison with mass movements around the world, to pick big fights against the boss class, and to win. We are stronger every day, even as the forces of capital work to slow us down, because we continue to build this solidarity. We’ve witnessed the strength of this solidarity in the last few weeks, as hundreds of thousands of people have come out to the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour to see democratic socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speak out against the system that oppresses us, even in deep red parts of the country like Idaho and Bakersfield, California. The rallies feature labor organizers representing people who form the backbone of our economy, from rideshare workers to farmworkers, and socialist electeds building the bench downballot, like DSA city councilmember Eunisses Hernandez in Los Angeles. The message is clear: a better world is possible, and we need class solidarity to win it. DSA members are showing up in force at local stops of this tour to canvass attendees and show how we are ready to give people the chance to be protagonists of their own history and build the working class power we need at scale to take on the oligarchy. DSA chapters all across the country are planning May Day events, and we have officially joined the May Day Strong movement, organized with the Chicago Teachers Union and Bargaining for the Common Good. We’re encouraging DSA members everywhere to plug in — check out our May Day toolkit for ways to get involved. You can find your nearest chapter and their contact info here, and check the May Day Strong Map to find an event near you! This year, mobilizing on May Day is even more urgent:
Over 30,000 attended the Folsom, California, Fighting Oligarchy Tour event on April 15. The video below is a very close repeat of the speech by Bernie Sanders on the tour given in over 15 cities and locations. He clearly states the goals of the tour, to which we should pay attention. Trump and his MAGA movement are conspiring with oligarchs to turn the U.S. into a rightwing authoritarian state. The labor movement can play a key role in fighting back.
Bill Fletcher Jr. In These Times. One of the principal difficulties facing the Democratic Party establishment and most leaders of organized labor is a failure to accept a fundamental reality: there is no normality. The failure to grasp this state of affairs has led to strategic paralysis and a tendency to believe that by being the “adults in the room,” the Democrats — or the trade union leadership — can embarrass the Republicans and force them to engage in good faith behavior. That is not the case. The rise of President Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement has represented the morphing of a broad, rightwing populist movement into a fascist movement that seeks to destroy constitutional democracy. The current purging of the federal government, through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), aims at both opening the doors to a kleptocracy as well as ensuring loyalty to the MAGA vision and its retrograde goals. Yet while MAGA can be defined as fascist (or postfascist), what we do not yet see is full fascism in power. Rather what we are now witnessing appears to be something along the lines of Viktor Orbán’s regime in Hungary and, ultimately, a Putinesque regime, i.e., increased rightwing authoritarianism. Still, the aim of the Trump regime remains to destabilize all real and potential opposition. MAGA, as a movement, has converged with the objectives of that segment of the capitalist class often referenced as “oligarchs.” Particularly situated in high tech, this group of capitalists has become very influential through their control over critical online and communications systems. Initially aligned, for the most part, with Democrats, the oligarchs appear to have decided that they are nothing short of superior beings that must seize the reins of government in order to operate it much like a business, and for their own ends. This includes expanding their wealth, but also for those, such as Musk, who have a quasi-science fiction vision of a future where the elite abandon Earth and settle Mars or some artificial satellite, there is the need for direct governmental involvement in such projects. Along with the oligarchs are those in the business class who simply wish to ravage the federal kitty, leading to the emergence of kleptocracy. Read more. https://inthesetimes.com/article/unions-labor-trump-oligarchy-fascism? Today may mark a turning point in the resistance to Donald Trump's hostile takeover of the US government. So we are reposting a link to resources for that effort. docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.es6myhajhn20
A much needed guide to Resistance.
By Kurt Stand. March 25,2025. Z Network. “The Democratic Party’s failure to address the cost of living crisis, its refusal to maintain the expanded pandemic safety net, and its continued funding of a genocide fueled much of the despair that paved the way to Trump’s restoration. In order to survive his presidency, and defeat his movement, we must defeat this very despair. Otherwise, it will continue to be used by Trump, who has shown himself adept at exploiting genuine pain and alienation, only to carry out the billionaire class’ arsonist agenda. “In an earlier era of rising fascism, FDR said, ‘Democracy has disappeared in several other great nations — not because the people of those nations disliked democracy, but because they had grown tired of unemployment and insecurity, of seeing their children hungry while they sat helpless in the face of government confusion, government weakness.’ The task before us is to end this false choice — to build the institutions that protect the most vulnerable among us while putting forward an agenda that improves working peoples’ lives.” The Crisis of Division Donald Trump’s reelection as president reflects the deep crisis of U.S. (and global) capitalism – a crisis powerful corporate sectors are seeking to resolve by placing new restrictions on democratic rights and removing existing restrictions placed on capital. Although marked by chaos and confusion, the measures taken by Trump and – perhaps more relevantly – by Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, reflects that orientation: destroying government regulatory agencies, attacking work-place protections and worker rights, eliminating any hint of civil rights and racial or gender justice by destruction of DEI programs. The attacks on immigrants and Palestinian rights activists, cruel in their implementation are designed to inhibit the ability of people who defend the rights in their communities, schools or workplaces, to inhibit global solidarity and opposition to war. As such, they serve as an opening wedge to a more generalized assault on civil liberties and democratic rights. The narrow nationalism promoted by Trump similarly seeks to limit restrictions on US trade and military policy inherent in multinational bodies – even those the U.S. dominates. This attempt to overcome the relative decline of the U.S. in the world economy is behind a seeming “go-it-alone” assertion of unbridled power. The “free hand,” pursuing foreign policy has its analogy in asserting a “free hand” domestically. Hence his rejection of police accountability, his threat to use the military for domestic repression, threats against political opponents. More to the point, his rejection of any concept of international law reflects his rejection of the rule of law domestically. Constitutional law is fundamental to the functioning of political democracy – and the law has provided a framework within which working people have defended their rights, the terrain through which popular movements for social justice have sought to expand those rights. Thus what we see is an ever clearer assertion of the power of capital, of US militarism, of the wealthy elite, to eliminate any impediments to expansion. It is a sign of weakness, not strength, but is all the more dangerous for that. Trump’s victory rested on a different appeal. His and Vance’s campaign was marked by vicious attacks on immigrants, on the transgender community, on “childless cat ladies”, on the “enemy within.” Yet he also campaigned as a leader who would bring back jobs, end inflation, create economic growth, bring peace to the world by displays of power. The slogan “Make America Great Again,” was designed to promote an image of safety and stability. Holding this together was Trump’s projection of himself as someone invincible, an appeal to the irrational that was stoked by the violence of his rhetoric. Kamla Harris’ campaign was unable to sufficiently counter this because corporate power in the Democratic Party did not want to challenge the corporate power at the heart of our country’s political and economic failings. Critically, she challenged Trump as an individual, without addressing the underlying fears that generated his support. Read more. Leading to strategy. https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fascism-and-resistance-all-of-us-or-none/  Duane Campbell and Cesar Chavez, 1972 Celebrating Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta -Defend Immigrants Rights
March 31 ,2025 is Cesar Chavez’s birthday and Cesar Chavez Day – a state holiday in California, one of eight states to recognize the date, and one of the few holidays in the nation dedicated to a labor leader. Hundreds marched in Sacramento and dozens of other cities held commemorative marches on Saturday with an emphasis on protecting the immigrants among us. Thousands are mobilized today in the California Central Valley for the difficult and current battles to protect the immigrant families. The California and the U.S. economy are dependent upon the labor of migrants. Celebrating Chavez became a national commemorative holiday in 2014 based upon the decision of Barack Obama. ( that means you don’t get the day off ) In the planning document for NS we say, DSA and the broader Left must join forces to confront the international rise of authoritarianism and the electoral victory of the Trump/MAGA forces. Together we will work to build a center-left coalition in defense of democracy. DSA must jettison a growing tendency towards a “go it alone” approach that devalues coalition work and glosses over the importance – indeed, the necessity – of a center-left coalition to defend democracy from neo-fascism. Given the above, North Star understands its role in DSA as:
Certainly the broad coalition we need to build to oppose fascism must include the immigrants among us. DSA conventions in 2021 and 2023 passed resolutions on immigrants rights, but little was achieved until now. DSA’s new International Migrants Rights working group has a good updated analysis of this work. They say, https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/dsa-defend-migrants-rights With the start of Donald Trump’s second term, we face once again widespread dehumanization of migrants, mainstream calls for mass deportations, and rising racism and nativism. In just the first week of his administration, Trump has issued executive orders declaring a national emergency and sending over a thousand troops to the US-Mexico border, reinstituting the “remain in Mexico” policy blocking legal asylum claims, and seeking to end birthright citizenship. Under his direction, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has started to conduct raids across the country. Though fear and worry are spreading, it is important to remember that this is not the first time we have faced this threat. DSA’s newly formed International Migrant Rights Working Group (IMRWG) builds on a legacy of socialists supporting international and anticapitalist migrant struggles and fighting against organized border imperialism and mass deportation To consider the needed participation of popular working class organizations and unity see here. https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/fascism-and-resistance-all-of-us-or-none/? The UFW was founded in the early 1960’s of the United Farm Workers (UFW) by Cesar Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Philip Vera Cruz and others. The UFW joined the AFL-CIO. NAFTA, The North American Free Trade Agreement passed by the U.S. Congress in 1994, has produced massive migrations of exploited workers, refugees, displaced farmers, and agricultural workers, as a result of an unjust global political and economic system ( neo liberalism) that works for the benefit of transnational corporations and at the expense of working people. Most of the jobs created in Mexico come without benefits and without a written contract. Much of the current wave of migration to the United States from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean can be traced to NAFTA , and the 2017 updated CAFTA, and other unjust “free trade” agreements that enabled subsidized U.S. agribusiness to flood these societies with cheap produce, destroying the livelihoods of millions of small farmers and other rural workers. NAFTA created a loss of over 680,000 jobs in the U.S. and over a million jobs in Mexico. People who lost their jobs moved to the cities or to the U.S. producing immigration. NAFTA was a trade agreement for the corporations. U.S. owned transnational corporations, including Ford, Chrysler, Apple, and more eliminated jobs in the U.S. and moved these jobs to other nations where labor was cheaper. Economic change forced by NAFTA made a small group of people in Mexico much richer, and a group of people in the U.S. much richer, but it made the vast majorities in both countries poorer. A goal of trade agreements is to make it profitable for U.S. corporations to relocate their manufacturing to Mexico and other developing countries. This has the effect of putting U.S. manufacturing workers in direct competition with low-paid workers in the developing world. This eliminate manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and it pressures U.S. workers and unions to accept concessionary bargaining to keep jobs here. For more on the role of immigration see https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/steps-toward-a-labor-informed-position-on-immigration and here: https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/dsa-defend-migrants-rights The UFW was the first successful union of farm workers in U.S. history. There had been more than ten prior attempts to build a farm workers’ union. Each of the prior attempts was destroyed by racism and corporate power. Chávez and Huerta chose to build a union that incorporated the strategies of social movements and community organizing and allied itself with churches, students, and organized labor. The successful creation of the UFW changed the nature of labor organizing in the Southwest and contributed significantly to the birth of Latino politics in the U.S. The UFW showed unions that immigrants can and must be organized. Both Chavez and ( former DSA Honorary) Chair Dolores Huerta have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and have been recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor and in the California Hall of Fame for their work. Dolores Huerta remains active as a staunch advocate for women’s rights and reproductive freedom. She was an honorary DSA chair, a founding board member of the Feminist Majority Foundation and a member of the board of Ms. Magazine. She is active in Democratic Party conventions and campaigns and frequently speaks at universities and organizational forums and union halls on issues of social justice and public policy. Huerta continues to develop community leaders and to advocate for the working poor, immigrants, women and youth as president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation. César Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Philip Vera Cruz, and others deliberately created a multiracial union. Mexican, Mexican-American, Filipino, African-American, Dominican, Puerto Rican and Arab workers, among others, have been part of the UFW. This cross-racial organizing was necessary in order to combat the prior divisions and exploitations of workers based upon race and language. Dividing the workers on racial and language lines, as well as immigration status, always left the corporations the winners. In the 60's, Chávez and Huerta became the pre-eminent civil rights leaders for Mexican and Chicano workers, helping with local union struggles throughout the nation. They worked tirelessly to make people aware of the struggles of farm workers for better pay and safer working conditions. It is a testament to their skills and courage that the UFW even survived. They were opposed by major interests in corporate agriculture, including the Bruce Church and Gallo Corporations as well as the leadership of the Republican Party, then led by Ronald Reagan. Workers were fired, beaten, threatened and even killed in pursuit of union benefits . Non-union farm workers today continue to live on sub-poverty wages while producing abundant crops in the richest valley, in the richest state, in the richest nation in the world. In response to corporate power, Chavez developed new strategies such as the boycott, based upon his personal commitment to non-violence in the tradition of Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. César Chavez died in his sleep on April 23, 1993 near Yuma, Arizona. Today Mexican, Mexican-American and Latino union leadership is common in our major cities and in several industries and Latino union leaders increasingly play an important role in local, state, and national elections. For example, the mobilization of Latino families and voters was critical to the re-election of Barack Obama. The UFW was a school for organizing. Hundreds of activists in labor and community organizations owe their skills to UFW training and experience. Along with improved working conditions, salaries, and benefits for the unionized workers, training this cadre of organizers remains a major legacy of the UFW. The UFW is also known for helping to create the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975, under then-Governor Jerry Brown, which gives farm workers collective bargaining rights. The law was made necessary by a 1972 Teamsters Union raid on UFW contracts. Sadly, the victory was only partial. While farm workers are often able to win elections under the ALRB, they seldom can win a contract. Growers stall and delay until the workers leave the area. Today, only about 5,000 farm workers enjoy benefits on the job. Wages and benefits in non union farm labor have again been reduced to the pre-union levels. Thousands of new immigrants harvest the crops, often indigenous Zapotec and Mixtec people from the south of Mexico, and only a small percent are in unions. The new generations of immigrants and migrant labor hardly know Chavez’s name nor the UFW’s contributions. Yet, in other regions immigrants are being organized into unions such as Justice for Janitors and Unite/Here by activists who learned their organizing skills working with the UFW. And, Latino political leaders often made their first commitments on a UFW picket line. Chavez taught us that all organizations have problems, that all organizations are imperfect. Many curriculum packages for schools stress his emphasis on service to others. The union experienced both external and internal conflicts. But building popular organizations, while messy, builds people's power and democracy. In creating the UFW, Chavez and Huerta organized thousands into a union and inspired millions. The organizing side of the UFW legacy changed the Southwest and organized labor. The movement led by Chavez and Huerta reduced the oppression of farm workers. Many people, descendents of earlier generations of farm workers, learned to take a stand for justice. They learned to not accept poor jobs, poor pay, or unsafe working conditions as natural or inevitable. Rather, these are social creations which can be changed through organizing for economic and political power. Today, thousands of new immigrants harvest the crops, often indigenous Zapotec and Mixtec people from the south of Mexico, and only a small percent are in unions. The new generations of immigrants and migrant labor hardly know Chavez’s name nor the UFW’s contributions. Yet, in other regions immigrants are being organized into unions such as Justice for Janitors and Unite/Here by activists who learned their organizing skills working with the UFW. And, Latino political leaders often made their first commitments on a UFW picket line. The generation that created the UFW is passing. A new generation of political activists, mostly within the Democratic Party, has emerged since the Chavez generation. Organizing the May Day 2006 massive immigrant rights demonstrations was significantly assisted by persons trained within the UFW. A new, significant Latino union and political base has been created in the nation. Chavez's and Huerta’s legacy is significant for popular struggles, Chicano/Mexicano self-determination and immigrant workers’ unions. The UFW taught us how to organize for power and for justice. Chavez is present in all of our work. You can find out more about this remarkable leader at www.ufw.org; http://www.chavezfoundation.org/; http://www.farmworkermovement.org/ Duane Campbell is professor emeritus of bilingual/multicultural education at California State University-Sacramento; author of Choosing Democracy: A Practical Guide to Multicultural Education, 4th Edition, (Allyn and Bacon,2010); and former chair of Sacramento DSA. He currently serves on the steering committee of the North Star Caucus., Faculty Unions Sue Trump Administration Over Free Speech. 3/25.
NEW YORK– The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the AFT today sued the Trump administration on behalf of their members for unlawfully cutting off $400 million in federal funding for crucial public health research to force Columbia University to surrender its academic independence. While the Trump administration has been slashing funding since its first days in office, this move represents a stunning new tactic: using cuts as a cudgel to coerce a private institution to adopt restrictive speech codes and allow government control over teaching and learning. The plaintiffs, who represent members of Columbia University faculty in both the humanities and sciences, allege that this coercive tactic not only undermines academic independence, but stops vital scientific research that contributes to the health and prosperity of all Americans. The terminated grants supported research on urgent issues, including Alzheimer’s disease prevention, fetal health in pregnant women, and cancer research. The Trump administration’s unprecedented demands, and threats of similar actions against 60 universities, have created instability and a deep chilling effect on college campuses across the country. Although the administration claims to be acting to combat antisemitism under its authority to prevent discrimination, it has completely disregarded the requirements of Title VI, the statute that provides it with that authority–requirements that exist to prevent the government from exercising too much unfettered control over funding recipients. According to the complaint, the cancellation of federal funds also violates the First Amendment, the separation of powers, and other constitutional provisions. “The Trump administration’s threats and coercion at Columbia are part of a clear authoritarian playbook meant to crush academic freedom and critical research in American higher education. Faculty, students, and the American public will not stand for it. The repercussions extend far beyond the walls of the academy. Our constitutional rights, and the opportunity for our children and grandchildren to live in a democracy are on the line,” said Todd Wolfson, president of the AAUP. “President Trump has taken a hatchet to American ingenuity, imagination and invention at Columbia to attack academic freedom and force compliance with his political views,” saidAFT President Randi Weingarten. “Let’s be clear: the administration should tackle legitimate issues of discrimination. But this modern-day McCarthyism is not just an illegal attack on our nation’s deeply held free speech and due process rights, it creates a chilling effect that hinders the pursuit of knowledge—the core purpose of our colleges and universities. Today, we reject this bullying and resolve to challenge the administration’s edicts until they are rescinded.” “We’re seeing university leadership across the country failing to take any action to counter the Trump administration’s unlawful assault on academic freedom,” said Reinhold Martin, president of Columbia-AAUP and professor of architecture. “As faculty, we don’t have the luxury of inaction. The integrity of civic discourse and the freedoms that form the basis of a democratic society are under attack. We have to stand up.” The complaint alleges that the Trump administration’s broad punitive tactics are indicative of an attempt to consolidate power over higher education broadly. According to the complaint, the administration is simultaneously threatening other universities with similar punishment in order to chill dissent on specific topics and speech with which the administration disagrees. Trump administration officials have spoken publicly about their plans to “bankrupt these universities” if they don’t “play ball.” Universities have historically been engines of innovation in critical fields like technology, national security, and medical treatments. Cuts to that research will ultimately harm the health, prosperity and security of all Americans. “Columbia is the testing ground for the Trump administration’s tactic to force universities to yield to its control,” said Orion Danjuma, counsel at Protect Democracy. “We are bringing this lawsuit to protect higher education from unlawful government censorship and political repression.” The lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York and names as defendants the government agencies that cut Columbia’s funding on March 7 and signed the March 13 letter to Columbia laying out the government's demands required to restore the funding, including the Department of Justice, Department of Education, Health and Human Services and General Services Administration. The plaintiffs are represented by Protect Democracy and Altshuler Berzon LLP. The full complaint can be read here. ### About the American Association of University Professors North Star Steering Committee Endorses April 5th National Day of Action Update: According to Ashik, the NPC SC just voted to approve sponsoring the April 5th demonstrations. Details forthcoming. Great work!” Although there were fewer responses to the recent survey of NS members than the SC had hoped for, the results are clear:
In response to these results, the North Star Steering Committee, at their March meeting, discussed the importance of working with an existing coalition, currently led by Indivisibles, but with widespread national support. The Steering Committee took the following actions/. .:
The April 5th National Day of Action is a mobilization against the Musk/Trump political and economic attack on all of us. Please join – or help organize – one of the many events near you. More information on April 5th can be found here: https://handsoff2025.com/?SQF_SOURCE=indivisible and Here: https://act.womensmarch.com/survey/April5Pledge_Typeofaction/ and Here: https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/?tag_ids=26053 (and other places) Bill Barclay and Barbara Joye, for the NS SC Defeat Fascism/Fight for Democracy List of opportunities: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cRIJsSJwtF72ckJ8QLQu5cDCGnoeh5OIIjwqRkDKdBg/edit?usp=sharing  Defend Migrants’ Rights -DSA David Cisneros. With the start of Donald Trump’s second term, we face once again widespread dehumanization of migrants, mainstream calls for mass deportations, and rising racism and nativism. In just the first week of his administration, Trump has issued executive orders declaring a national emergency and sending over a thousand troops to the US-Mexico border, reinstituting the “remain in Mexico” policy blocking legal asylum claims, and seeking to end birthright citizenship. Under his direction, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has started to conduct raids across the country. Though fear and worry are spreading, it is important to remember that this is not the first time we have faced this threat. DSA’s newly formed International Migrant Rights Working Group (IMRWG) builds on a legacy of socialists supporting international and anticapitalist migrant struggles and fighting against organized border imperialism and mass deportation. Eighty-five years ago Guatemalan-American labor organizer and socialist Luisa Moreno delivered her now-famous “Caravans of Sorrow” speech to the Fourth Annual Conference of the American Committee for Protection of the Foreign Born in Washington, D.C. In her speech, she decried the government-sponsored “repatriation” campaigns of the early and mid 1930s, which had led to up to one million Mexican immigrant and Mexican-American citizens being forcibly or “voluntarily” (at the end of much coercion and racism) deported to Mexico. At the time, local and federal officials, and even some labor leaders, such as the American Federation of Labor, called for this mass removal, claiming that Mexicans were stealing jobs from citizens and creating social problems. Moreno challenged these claims, showing that the U.S. economy, especially in the Southwest, had been built on the backs of migrants. She pointed to the real villains, the agribusiness companies exploiting migrants to get rich. Moreno stated: “What would the Imperial Valley, the Rio Grande Valley, and other rich irrigated valleys in the Southwest be without the arduous, self-sacrificing labor of these noncitizen Americans? . . . Has anyone counted the miles of railroads built by these same noncitizens? One can hardly imagine how many bales of cotton have passed through the nimble fingers of Mexican men, women, and children. And what conditions have they had to endure to pick that cotton? . . . These people are not aliens. They have contributed their endurance, sacrifices, youth, and labor to the Southwest. Indirectly, they have paid more taxes than all the stockholders of California’s industrialized agriculture, the sugar beet companies and the large cotton interests that operate or have operated with the labor of Mexican workers. Surely the sugar beet growers have not been asked if they want to dispense with the skilled labor cultivating and harvesting their crops season after season. It is only the large interests, their stooges, and some badly misinformed people who claim that Mexicans are no longer wanted.” Moreno fought against mass removals and migrant exploitation on multiple fronts. She was an organizer for the United Cannery, Agricultural, Packing, and Allied Workers of America, a union chartered by the Congress of Industrial Organizations that organized many Mexican, Asian, and black women in canning and food processing. Moreno also co-founded (with several other Latina communists) the Congress of Spanish Speaking Peoples (El Congreso de Pueblos de Habla Español), one of the first leftist Latinx and immigrant rights organizations, as part of a broader popular front against racial and capitalist fascism in the US. As we face the most recent rise of nativist campaigns for mass removal, DSA’s IMRWG, newly reformed in 2024, is drawing from this and more recent struggles for socialist internationalism and migrant justice. Over the last year, the IMRWG has been bringing together seasoned organizers from previous immigrant rights campaigns across DSA with new organizers and chapters. We’ve been reaching out to national immigrant justice organizations to create an anti-imperialist and abolitionist movement against borders and for freedom for immigrants. The IMRWG was reformed in the summer of 2024 as the Biden administration reinstituted Trump’s asylum bans and as congressional Democrats pushed for a draconian border bill, which was eventually scuttled by Republicans at the command of Trump. Members of the International Committee, the Abolition Working Group, and the former DSA Immigrant Rights Working Group wrote a “Statement on Migration and International Solidarity Between Working People” that was approved by NPC in August. In the fall, the group organized a “Solidarity Across Borders” webinar series that featured four interconnected discussions on border and migration issues. Session 1, “Understanding Border Imperialism,” featured activist and scholar Aviva Chomsky speaking about how U.S. imperialism and neoliberal capitalism fuels migration. In the second session, Marcela Hernandez from the organization Detention Watch Network connected migration to abolition, speaking about the importance of “Resisting Mass Incarceration and Migrant Detention.” Session 3, titled “Resisting the International Reach of the ICE/CBP Agenda,” brought Margerita Nuñez from the Colective de Monitoreo in Mexico to speak about how the U.S. immigration enforcement regime is extended throughout Mexico and Central America. In the fourth and final session, Valeria Ramirez, David Abud, and Brandon Mancilla, members of DSA’s National Labor Commission, spoke about the need to resist exploitation and build organized labor power among migrant communities. In addition to these political education efforts, the IMRWG also coordinated with YDSA and the Cornell grad union in a successful campaign to fight the expulsion from Cornell of DSA-member and migrant Momodou Taal. Since the 2024 election, the IMRWG has worked with local chapters and the NPC to build a coordinated and sustainable organizing response to Trump’s nativist agenda. Over 150 people joined a post-election strategy call, Defending Migrant Rights in 2025, to strategize about how to fight at the local level against expansion of deportation and detention and for worker’s rights for migrants. At this meeting, the working group launched its organizing support program for chapters, where experienced immigrant rights organizers can coach chapters interested in doing local migrant rights work. This month, in another mass call on January 12, the working group launched the Defend Migrant Rights Toolkit, another pillar in our efforts to build migrant justice organizing across DSA. In addition to offering tools for power mapping and advice on building coalitions with local migrant rights organizations, the toolkit shares concrete examples and strategies for chapter campaigns and actions such as know-your-rights trainings, ICE watch, and building sanctuary networks. Along with this toolkit, the IMRWG will be launching a coaching program to support a cohort of DSA chapters committed to building local migrant rights organizing projects. One of our central principles is the importance of working in respectful and productive coalition with the wide variety of organizations in the migrant rights ecosystem, many of whom have decades of experience in local and regional efforts to improve conditions for migrants and building bridges of solidarity between communities across race, language and nationality. We are also committed to organizing against all forms of carceral control, seeing migrant detention as central to broader systems of mass incarceration. The IMRWG draws on a legacy and present of socialist, internationalist, and coalitional migrant organizing. As Moreno’s organizing history attests, we aim to work intentionally and carefully with multiple organizations, from labor unions to national and international migrant justice organizations. The “large interests” and their stooges are emboldened by Trump’s victory, and they see the chance to exploit and expel migrants even more vehemently. To help IMRWG defend migrant rights in 2025, sign our individual interest form to get involved with the working group. Chapters should fill out the chapter interest form to schedule a visit from a working group member to a chapter meeting, request a coaching session from an experienced migrant rights organizer, and check out the toolkit for more resources. Finally, on Tuesday, February 25, join the IMRWG for “Immigration 101: No Human Is Illegal” to learn more about how the immigration system works and how we got to where we are today. DAVID CISNEROS IS A MEMBER OF CHAMPAIGN-URBANA DSA, AND A MEMBER OF THE DSA INTERNATIONAL MIGRANT RIGHTS WORKING GROUP, THE ABOLITION WORKING GROUP, AND THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE. Reposted from Democratic Left. Together, we must fight for our long-held values and work with people around the world who share them Bernie Sanders Fri 28 Feb 2025 For 250 years, the United States has held itself up as a symbol of democracy – an example of freedom and self-governance to which the rest of the world could aspire. People have long looked to our declaration of independence and constitution as blueprints for how to guarantee those human rights and freedoms. Tragically, all of that is changing. As Donald Trump moves this country towards authoritarianism, he is aligning himself with dictators and despots who share his disdain for democracy and the rule of law. This week, in a radical departure from longstanding US policy, the Trump administration voted against a United Nations resolution which clearly stated that Russia began the horrific war with Ukraine. That resolution also called on Russia to withdraw its forces from occupied Ukraine, in line with international law. The resolution was brought forward by our closest allies, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and dozens more democratic nations. And 93 countries voted “yes”. Rather than side with our longstanding allies to preserve democracy and uphold international law, the president voted with authoritarian countries such as Russia, North Korea, Iran and Belarus to oppose the resolution. Many of the other opponents of that resolution are undemocratic nations propped up by Russian military aid. Let’s be clear: this was not just another UN vote. This was the president of the United States turning his back on 250 years of our history and openly aligning himself with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. This was the president of the United States undermining the independence of Ukraine. And let us not forget who Putin is. He is the man who crushed Russia’s movement towards democracy after the end of the cold war. He steals elections, murders political dissidents and crushes freedom of the press. He has maintained control in Russia by offering the oligarchs there a simple deal: if you give me absolute power, I will let you steal as much as you want from the Russian people. He sparked the bloodiest war in Europe since the second world war. It has been three years since Russia’s brutal, unprovoked, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. More than 1 million people have been killed or injured because of Putin’s aggression. Every single day, Russia rains down hundreds of missiles and drones on Ukrainian cities. Putin’s forces have massacred civilians and kidnapped thousands of Ukrainian children, bringing them back to Russian “re-education” camps. These atrocities led the international criminal court to issue an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023 as a war criminal. Not only is Trump aligning himself with Putin’s Russia, he is prepared to extort Ukraine for its natural resources. While a proud nation desperately fights for its life, Trump is focused on helping his billionaire friends make a fortune excavating rare earths and other minerals. But Trump’s turn toward authoritarianism and rejection of international law goes well beyond Ukraine. The president sees the world’s dictators as his friends, our democratic allies as his enemies and the use of military force as the way to achieve his goals. Disgracefully, he wants to push 2.2 million Palestinians out of their homeland in order to build a billionaire’s playground in Gaza. He talks openly about annexing Greenland from Denmark. He says the United States should take back the Panama canal. And he ruptures our friendship with our Canadian neighbors by telling them they should become the 51st state in the union. Alongside his fellow oligarchs in Russia, Saudi Arabia and around the globe, Trump wants a world ruled by authoritarians in which might makes right, and where democracy and moral values cease to exist. Just over a century ago, a handful of monarchs, emperors and tsars ruled most of the world. Sitting in extreme opulence, they claimed that absolute power was their “divine right”. But ordinary people disagreed. Slowly and painfully, in countries throughout the world, they clawed their way toward democracy and rejected colonialism. At our best, the US has played a key role in the movement toward freedom. From Gettysburg to Normandy, millions of Americans have fought – and many have died – to defend democracy, often alongside brave men and women from other nations. This is a turning point – a moment of enormous consequence in world history. Do we go forward toward a more democratic, just and humane world? Or do we retreat back into oligarchy, authoritarianism, colonialism and the rejection of international law? As Americans, we cannot stay quiet as Trump abandons centuries of our commitment to democracy. Together, we must fight for our long-held values and work with people around the world who share them. Ukraine Solidarity Under the Trump Administration
by Ukraine Solidarity Network (US) | Feb 22, 2025 | 0 comments On the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States under the Trump administration is now pushing negotiations for a “peace” settlement. The Ukraine Solidarity Network-U.S. (USN) opposes any attempt to impose a settlement that is not acceptable to the Ukrainian people. Anyone with an ounce of compassion wants this war to end as soon as possible, but it is morally unacceptable for outsiders to demand that Ukraine surrender. USN continues to support the right of the Ukrainian people to self-determination and to decide for themselves what are acceptable terms for a peace deal. USN will continue to build moral, political, and material support for the people of Ukraine in their resistance to Russia’s invasion, to its occupation of Ukrainian lands, and to its repressive rule over people in the Russian-occupied territories. USN will continue to support Ukraine’s war of resistance, its right to determine the means and objectives of its own struggle, and its right to obtain the weapons it needs from any available source. USN opposes the changes for the worse in US policy on Ukraine under the new Trump administration. The Biden administration at least condemned Russia’s illegal war of aggression and supported Ukraine’s self-defense, even if that military aid came with many strings attached and was often too little and too late to defeat the Russian army on Ukrainian land. More; https://www.ukrainesolidaritynetwork.us/ukraine-solidarity-under-the-trump-administration/ |
Principles North Star caucus members
antiracismdsa (blog of Duane Campbell) Hatuey's Ashes (blog of José G. Pérez) Authory and Substack of Max Sawicky Left Periodicals Democratic Left Socialist Forum Washington Socialist Jacobin In These Times Dissent Current Affairs Portside Convergence The Nation The American Prospect Jewish Currents Mother Jones The Intercept New Politics Monthly Review n+1 +972 The Baffler Counterpunch Black Agenda Report Dollars and Sense Comrades Organizing Upgrade Justice Democrats Working Families Party Poor People's Campaign Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism Progressive Democrats of America Our Revolution Democracy for America MoveOn Black Lives Matter Movement for Black Lives The Women's March Jewish Voice for Peace J Street National Abortion Rights Action League ACT UP National Organization for Women Sunrise People's Action National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Dream Defenders |
RSS Feed