Blog
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Challenges for TCDSA and Endorsees
Written by Josh K More Wins, More Problems When I began attending Twin Cities DSA electoral committee meetings in 2018, we met in a vacant commercial space with unfinished floors, unadorned with furniture except folding tables and chairs. Ginger Jentzen had lost to Steve Fletcher a few months earlier; there were no elected officials with…
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23,000 UMN Workers Collective Bargaining Rights Hinge On PELRA Reform
A version of this article was originally published in the Nokomis Messenger. As an undergraduate student on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in 2011 I, like many Wisconsin emigres, experienced significant upheaval around Wisconsin Act 10. Under the guise of a “Budget Repair Bill”, Act 10 is primarily known for removing collective bargaining rights of…
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For Social Movements – Here’s How To Win
In mid-February, prospects didn’t look good for the St. Paul City Council to pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Council President, Mitra Jalali, had blocked introduction of such a resolution, explaining that she didn’t believe “foreign affairs” had a place in the deliberations of the City Council, despite the fact she…
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Uncommitted Makes Waves
On March 5th, “Super Tuesday”, Minnesotans showed up in the tens of thousands to Vote Uncommitted in the presidential primary elections. Through phone-banking, text-banking, flyering, and relational organizing, members of our local Twin Cities chapter and DSA national joined in the effort, which garnered 19% of the vote in the Democratic Party primary, nearly 46,000…
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Argentina Ignites the Fire of Rebellion Against the Far Right
Argentina anticipates the near future in the US? The working class in Argentina just dealt a powerful blow to the Far Right. After a one-day national strike that brought 1.5 million people into the streets across the country and a week of protests bringing together wide sectors of the working class and social movements, a…
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Lessons from Cop City
You have likely heard of Cop City and the corresponding “Stop Cop City” movement in Atlanta, Georgia. However, you may have wondered what exactly are the details of this project and the campaign to stop it? How is the ruling class forcing this project into reality? What can we learn from the fight against Cop…
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Why Liberal/Progressive Politicians Don’t Deliver
When St. Paul elected their first all female and nearly all women of color City Council last year, there were high hopes this would deliver progressive change at the City Council level. On Wednesday, February 21 those hopes took a heavy blow. Council President Mitra Jalali, widely known as a progressive, refused to bring forth…
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The Problem With PACs and Non-Profits
In a discussion with a former Executive Director of Take Action MN, he explained some of the problems they run into as a liberal non-profit. Take Action will submit a funding request to a foundation or rich person outlining what the project is and what the budget is. Quite often the entity will respond by…
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What Meaning Will We Give the New State Flag?
Flags, like any symbol, do not really have meaning crafted into them by default. They are imbued with meaning from the actions and narratives that are made to associate with them. Sure the current Minnesota flag has pretty un-abstract designs of colonialism imprinted directly on it but its significance and meaning comes from it flying…
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Toward a Twin Cities DSA Ready to Govern
2024 is going to be another pivotal election year. During a federal presidential election, the discourse on electoralism at all levels will be in full swing across the wider left and across our own organization. With this discourse we must ask ourselves, what does it mean for Twin Cities DSA to take electoral power? Is…
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We Are Essential Workers
Over the past year, one of the largest organizing campaigns in the country has been the effort to organize Delta Airlines. Members of Twin Cities DSA will be familiar with this campaign, as many have joined rallies in solidarity with these workers as they seek to organize over 45,000 workers at the only U.S.-based mainline…
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Reading an Old Anti-War Book for Our New Anti-War Moment
Much has been made of how our current political moment feels like the Iraq War era. When leftists mention this, they usually are referring to the vibe of centrist and neoliberal media discourse, which since October 2023 has veered sharply between an apoplectic, war-mongering “anti-terrorism” tone when reporting Hamas’s offenses and a confused, “still looking…
2023 Elections Aisha Chughtai Anti-imperialism Association of Flight Attendants Book review Ceasefire in Gaza Delta Delta Air Lines Democratic Party/DFL East Phillips Neighborhood Institute/EPNI East Phillips Urban Farm Electoral Committee Endorsements Environmental racism General Strike Three International Association of Machinists International Brotherhood of Teamsters Jason Chavez Labor MFT/ESP MFT59 Minneapolis Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA) MN Governor Tim Walz Mutual aid Nelsie Yang Omar Fateh Political education Rent control Rent Stabilization Ordinance Robin Wonsley Roof Depot Soren Stevenson St. Paul Starbucks Starbucks Workers United TCDSA Teamsters UFCW 663 Ukraine invasion 2022 UMN Union Organizing United Auto Workers (UAW) Unite HERE Local 17 YDSA