Blog
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We Can All Be Housed
Originally published online with the Sahan Journal, December 7, 2023 By restoring rent stabilization and putting the right to housing above the right to profit, we can transform our cities. If you live in Saint Paul like me, you may be familiar with the powerful rent stabilization law we passed in November 2021. Minneapolis and…
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Update from Brainerd Lakes Area DSA on UFCW Strike in Crow Wing County
The following short piece is taken with permission from the email newsletter of BLA/DSA: Brainerd Area Grocery Updates This past weekend, workers at the five unionized grocery stores in Crow Wing County went on a three-day ULP strike in order to push for a fair contract. It was an incredible showcase of labor militancy, with…
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A Turning Point for Workers
In 1934, Minneapolis truckers and warehouse workers went on strike. They took the boss class to the mat and pinned them, scoring a massive victory for workers in a city that, up until then, had been known as a bastion for anti-union employers. In Toledo, Ohio workers at the Auto-Lite factory won a strike after…
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Elite Capture and Corporate Antiracism
(Inspired by “Elite Capture in the Real World of Class Struggle” by Kip H, TCDSA Blog 10/20/23) Kip’s well-written blog post answered a question I’ve had for four years: What is wrong with corporate antiracism? As often happens with someone who has ADHD, the answer was in plain sight. Cooptation (now called elite capture.) And…
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Camp Nenookaasi Ikwe Healing Camp: A Local Site of Resistance
Palestine has been in the news lately, and this has had me thinking a lot about the connection between Indigenous peoples around the world and the local violence that happens when encampments get swept by the city of Minneapolis and the Israeli trained MPD. For those passionate about anti-colonial struggle we have the opportunity to…
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Revolutionary Optimism: Building Hope through Art
I know I’m not the only one who finds things hopeless sometimes. Most of the people I know are much worse off economically than we were three years ago, even if the stock market just keeps soaring. Unionization is skyrocketing but getting a job that pays decently seems harder than ever. Mass extinction and natural…
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Elite Capture in the Real World of Class Struggle
On October 6 Stellantis began asking its white collar workers to volunteer to cross UAW picket lines to work in distribution centers shipping parts to dealerships, with the call coming from the automaker’s top executives as well as its diversity and inclusion groups. Stellantis is relying heavily on its business resource groups (BRGs) to spearhead…
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Staying Focused
The 2023 convention was comradely and productive. I left feeling immensely moved and motivated – especially by the speeches given by the UAW and baggage handler workers. And just like a good meal, a good convention provokes thought. I’ve been mulling over the debate on some of our top ticket resolutions, True North 2.0 and…
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Class Struggle Making A Great Leap Forward
The UAW strike entered its second week. Strikes, like wars, once they start nobody knows how they will end. So far president Biden is against the ropes, after being called to walk the picket line with UAW, which he is now doing. The strike has a national impact. The companies blame the transition to electric…
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Is The 99% The Same As The Working Class
Within the 99% are millions that are part of the professional managerial class. Think upper, mid level and even lower level managers that identify heavily with the boss and whose income often depends on extracting more out of workers, keeping a union out or defending the boss’ interests in other ways. Also in the 99%,…
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Ruling Class Counter Attack
I had an interesting conversation with a person who is very immersed in Minneapolis politics the other day. I’ll boil his pitch down to its bare essentials: He attacked TCDSA for our support of Soren Sorenson in his campaign to unseat Andrea Jenkins. He accused TCDSA, and me personally, of abandoning the fight for race…
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Brake Light Clinics 2023: A Recap & Analysis On TCDSA Mutual Aid
Recap: This July, myself and a group of comrades from the chapter’s Street Corps Working Group organized and carried out two Brake Light Clinics. These were hosted outside of the Minnesota Nurses Association and Minneapolis Federation of Teachers union offices who were generous enough to let us use their spaces. Brake Light Clinics are a…
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