It is not the product of a mvmt of the working class. The demands are reformist and middle class, they include asking Trump to investigate police violence & retrials for only POC convicts (why not for all?).
/1
There is no call for wealth redistribution, nationalization, taxes on the rich, no appeal to industrial workers or workers in other countries, etc. I.e. nothing that touches the property of the capitalist class. Racialist, parochial and middle class. #SeattleAutonomousZone
(above was /2)
However well-meaning the organizers may be, opposing state violence and racism ultimately means abolishing the entire capitalist system and developing a racially unified mvmt of the working class internationally. I.e. #socialism. Read the @WSWS_Updates
/3
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🧵Last week ICE carried out a police state raid in Dearborn, MI arresting my Palestinian client & refusing to let me speak w/ them for 5 days.
This was a high level decision to intimidate & block opposition to US support for Israeli war crimes.
Here's what happened, pls share:
ICE agents staked out home for many hrs, intimidating neighborhood. When the individual left home, ICE followed & carried out high-visibility arrest w > half dozen vehicles & many agents. Such ops are not conducted on whim of local officers, but are directed from DHS HQ in DC. 2/
When I was informed of the arrest, I began attempting to reach my client. Agents at the detention center acknowledged the individual was there, but refused to let me speak to them. I called dozens of times--literally--and was not put through. It took me ~5 days to get through. 3/
Since 2015, DSA promoted itself as largest socialist org in US. Now:
📍Membership collapsing
📍>$1 million budget deficit
📍Chapters "dissolving entirely" & members "burned out"
📍Convo voted to remain Dem faction
Here's what all socialists must know:
The membership totals are collapsing:
▪️Last yr DSA ran campaign for 100k. Now they say they have only 22k who pay monthly dues
▪️Report to convo says “we will spend over $1.6 million more than we will raise, which puts us on track to deplete most of our current savings.”
2/
Branches are folding up.
One candidate for NPC wrote, “We are seeing the numbers of dues paying members decrease & we are seeing some local DSA chapters struggle to remain active or dissolve entirely. If we don’t work to reverse this trend, we could lose the organization.”
3/
DSA efforts to block interest in socialism & prop-up Dems continue. Leaders of DSA met w/ Dem officials & here's a 🧵on what they said:
"We’re not going to have a third party of the left. We’re not going to have a socialist party in the United States.” 1/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…
The interview, published in Socialist Forum, featured DSA member Daraka Larimore-Hall, who is currently Vice Chair of the CA Democratic Party (2nd from left). The above quote is from him. Also featured David Duhalde, Kristian Hernandez & Richard Flacks. It was a Dem love fest. 2/
Larimore-Hall is a hysterical anti-communist:
"We have to rescue that full throated, leftist anti-communism that just floated away in the 1960s...Young people need to understand how much of a mistake the vanguard Leninist view..." 3/
Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony was performed in that city on Aug. 9, 1942, the date by which Hitler had proclaimed the city's downfall.
That day, the Red Army launched a diversionary attack to stop German artillery so the performance could be heard. 1/ wsws.org/en/articles/20…
"That evening, as the orchestral players tuned up and the audience filed into the auditorium, the Red Army pounded the enemy w/ 3,000 high-caliber shells to draw fire away form the concert hall. "We played our instrument in the symphony too, you know," said one general. 2/
Trombonist Parfionov said of the crowd gathered to hear the performance:
"We were stunned by the number of people, that there could be so many people starving for food but also starving for music. Some had come in suits, some from the front. Most were thin and dystrophic." 3/
🧵8 of the 9 people who "liked" this tweet (not many!) are Dems/UAW officials. No wonder they "can't imagine voting for Lehman," since he represents the rank-&-file!
They're nervous about the support Will is winning from all over the US running as a socialist for UAW president!
1/8: Ash Tomaszewski is/was a law clerk for a Democratic United States Senator and sits on the bargaining committee of the Harvard UAW.
2/8: Lisa Xu is/was a UAW official who was paid $55k by the UAW in 2019 according to federal filings.
3/8: Zachary Valdez is former president of UAW Local 2110
4/8: Koby Ljunggren is current president of UAW Local 5118
5/8: Tyler Bell is on the bargaining committee of Local 5810
6/8: Joshua Saunders is a UAW committeeman who was paid $131,917 in dues money from 2014-19.
As the Dems establish they are unified for escalating the war against Russia, & as Trump-backed fascists threaten to take congress, it's a good time to remember that Trump likely won in 2016 in part bc of the devastating impact of the wars in Iraq/Afgh.