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Revolutions Per Minute - Radio from the New York City Democratic Socialists of America
Election day was Tuesday and DSA's 30+ nationally-endorsed campaigns were put to voters. With a nearly 70% win rate for DSA's campaigns nationally, there's much to discuss about organizing for socialism at the ballot box and the rising tensions between the left and the existing Democratic establishment. On tonight's show, we'll share provisional election results and an interview with a DSA-endorsed candidate for Somerville, Massachusetts City Council, Tessa Bridge. Here in NYC, Eric Adams has -- unfortunately -- swept to victory as mayor. Adams has publicly distanced himself from the left and socialism, so to extend the courtesy, let us just say that *all* cops are bastards. How are we going to beat Adams and the bourgeois, capitalist interests he represents? We discuss that question live with our comrade Robert Cuffy, a union city worker and police abolitionist who organizes with NYC-DSA's Labor Branch and Afrosocialist Caucus. We also hear a report from RPM's antifascist correspondent Amy Wilson on the rise of far-right organizing in New York City around the wedge issue of mandates for COVID-19 vaccine. Keep up with the results of DSA's nationally-endorsed races as they develop, thanks to our comrades at Metro DC DSA: https://washingtonsocialist.mdcdsa.org/station-z/dsa-races-2021
Ashik Siddique is an organizer with Metro DC DSA and a steering committee member of DSA’s National Ecosocialist Working Group. He talks about campaigns for public power, the intersection between climate change, capitalism, and racism, and what it means to have an ecosocialist Green New Deal.0:00 - Ashik's background in climate organizing and DSA6:00 - Climate change, capitalism, and racism12:30 - Local campaigns for public power23:00 - DSA national ecosocialist working group31:00 - How to start a local ecosocialist campaignhttps://twitter.com/ahsheek?https://mdcdsa.org/https://ecosocialists.dsausa.org/https://www.janeese4dc.com/
Landlords. Nobody likes 'em. We've recently had a run of episodes talking to folks organizing workers in their workplace. This week we're talking to an organizer that aims to build power among tenants in their homes. Allison Hrabar, an Metro DC DSA organizer with Stomp Out Slumlords, talks about efforts to empower tenants facing eviction, organize them together in their buildings, and connect these efforts into a city-wide tenants' union in Washington, DC.You can learn more about Stomp Out Slumlords at: https://www.stompoutslumlords.org/You can learn more about Metro DC DSA at: https://mdcdsa.org/And follow Allison at: https://twitter.com/allisongeroiIf you can spare a dollar, consider throwing it our way at: https://www.patreon.com/futureleft
UNLOCKED FROM THE PATREON BIRD FEED: Maryland Delegate Vaughn Stewart was once a normal "very online" progressive poster like the rest of us. But after a health scare, he decided to move from ideas into action, running for — and, with the help of the Metro DC DSA, winning! — a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates. Current Affairs host Pete Davis sits down with him to talk about running for office with DSA's endorsement, finding policy ideas through twitter, how corporate lobbyists woo delegates, and pushing innovative housing policy. Read the Governing magazine article on Vaughn's affordable housing push here. Read Ryan Cooper and Peter Gowan's social housing report from the People's Policy Project here. Read about Phillip Burton here. To listen to interviews when they first come out — and gain access to our patrons' "Bird Feed" — consider becoming a monthly patron at our Patreon page. Call into Current Affairs anytime at (504) 867-8851.
We speak to Margaret McLaughlin from the Metro DC DSA about activism, fighting for change and the importance of not being civil. If you want more info & links on this story, go to thebeanspodcast.com and look it up on our blog! You can also find us on Twitter: @thebeanspod and email us stories you'd like to see covered at beanspodcast@gmail.com Our show is hosted by Valerie Mullen (@v_glenmullen), Sam Gonçalves (@SidlingBears) and Erin Farley (@aliasmacalias). Music for this episode was created by Alex Auldsmith, whose work you can find on alexauldsmith.bandcamp.com/ and themicroband.bandcamp.com/
Do you hate the US Gastapo AKA ICE?! WELL SO DO WE. Shit gits rly real and rly INFORMATIVE and rly motivating with these incredible guests: Margaret McLaughlin of Metro DC DSA, Kristian Hernandez of North Texas DSA, and Olivia (joining us again!) from Portland, Oregon DSA. Calling out ICE as a terrorist organization: check Calling out liberals on their bullshit: check Outlining ideas and tools you can use in your area: YOU BETCHA Still managing to uplift one another and the work we do bc that's what we do on SotB: yaaaaaaas Resources: CIMA! https://www.facebook.com/CIMA-Compa%C3%B1eros-Inmigrantes-de-las-Monta%C3%B1as-en-Accion-129368210479514/ GoFundMe for the ICE occupation relief fund: https://www.gofundme.com/occupyicepdx North Texas Dream Team: http://www.northtexasdreamteam.org/donate/ They're also currently fundraising for an undocumented father who needs life-saving meds: http://immi.gr/josefund Workers Defense Project: http://www.workersdefense.org/donate/ Grassroots Leadership: http://grassrootsleadership.org/make-donation Music as always by Brandon Payton-Carrillo!
Subscribe at Patreon.com/miniondeathcult for a weekly bonus episode. All proceeds from this month's Patreon support will go toward helping immigrants with legal help at Immigrant Defenders Law Center, or you can donate directly to them at their link. This week we continue covering the horror at the border, but with the benefit of a relatively good bit of news: the Metro DC DSA action that saw protestors confronting DHS Director Kirstjen Nielson while she dined at a DC restaurant. Plus, we recount our experiences at a local city hall meeting concerning the California Sanctuary State law, and the real-life minions we encountered. And finally, we stumble onto what may be the most important story of our generation: the identity of Qanon
If you want to support the show and receive access to tons of bonus content, subscribe on our Patreon page for as little as $5 a month. Also, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show on iTunes. We can't do this show without your support!!! On this episode, Roqayah and Kumars interviewed DC-based DSA organizers and accessibility advocates Conor Arpwel and Matthew Sampson. Conor is autistic and is a writer and law student doing internal accessibility advocacy for Metro DC DSA, and is a member of the steering committee for DSA’s Disability Working Group. Matthew is a deaf graduate student at the Urban and Regional Planning program at Georgetown University and also the founder of a group called Deaf Urbanists, which aims to educate the Deaf community about modern urban planning, and encourage the community to be involved with the city’s planning and growth. He is active in local government in DC, and is involved with the Transportation and Public Infrastructure committee for his neighborhood. Matthew was also joined by Claire who assisted with interpreting the conversation. We learn how Conor and Matthew found themselves organizing with DSA, and what accessibility means to them in the context of left organizing spaces. We discuss the challenges associated with surviving in a world that is hostile to disabled people, as well as serious impediments toward reaching universal accessibility under capitalism, even in the most well-meaning of leftist spaces. Conor and Matthew explain that accessibility isn't a thing that can be given all at once, but instead a gradual process of doing better, with the responsibility being collectivized to the greatest extent possible. We explore how some of the ways the framing of socialist organizing as a project of appealing to "normal people" often implicitly, sometimes deliberately, marginalizes the concerns of disabled people and and other minority groups on the left. We also talk about an essay Conor wrote about passing in the context of disability, and an essay by Sara Nović about the desire of many deaf people to resist assimilation into mainstream culture. Finally, Matthew talks about how the lives of deaf people in Russia were radically transformed by the 1917 revolution, with deaf people living and working together, controlling their own communities, factories, culture and destiny in a way that is hard to imagine under modern capitalism. Follow Matthew on Twitter at @riotpedestrian and follow Conor on Twitter at @Arpwel. A transcript for this episode will be provided upon request. Please send an email to deleteuracct @ gmail to get a copy sent to you when it is completed.