Blog
The TCDSA blog allows chapter members to submit articles, reports, and opinion pieces on a wide range of topics.
Views and positions in these articles do not necessarily reflect Twin Cities DSA as a whole, only the individual views of authors.
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Reparations, Landback, and Reconciliation – A Path Forward
A letter to the Editors of Little Red Letter: As we think about how to bring justice, liberation and decolonialization to our state and nation there are several things that are foremost in my mind. This is a nation of people, citizens and immigrants who, for the health of our souls, the consistency of our
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Anti-imperialism after the invasion of Ukraine
A revision of and recommitment to international solidarity is overdue for US socialists. The specter of a ‘new Cold War’ demands nothing less. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has revealed broader weaknesses in the US left’s capacity for organizing around global issues. Currently, much of the US left is embroiled in debates over the war’s
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Historic Educators’ Strikes in the Twin Cities, 2022 and 1970
The big story In a deliberately coordinated effort, MFT59 and MFT59-ESP, representing teachers and other professionals in the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) respectively, and SPFE (SPFT 28) representing both sections in Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS), filed “intent to strike” paperwork on Wednesday, February 23. As I wrote in the original piece for March 7,
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The People Took Some Power
In 2020, Housing Equity Now St. Paul (HENS) launched what would become the Keep St. Paul Home (KSPH) campaign for residential rent control, placing a 3% annual rent increase limit on all residential rents in the city of St. Paul regardless of change of occupancy. The average rent increase in Minnesota is 3% per year,
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TCDSA’s Response to Amir Locke’s Murder by the MPD
Next Step: Chapter Response Meeting on February 13th, 1pm over Zoom. Register here. All of us in DSA are devastated by the killing of Amir Locke – yet another murder at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department. While shocking, Amir’s death is the sadly predictable result of the continued existence of a violent and
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What has the Electoral Committee been up to? A lot, and you should get involved!
The Electoral Committee oversees the chapter endorsement process and campaigns for endorsed candidates. It is currently working with the Steering Committee to develop the structure of elected official engagement and accountability. Everyone is welcome to our regular monthly meetings the first Sunday of every month at 2PM. This process only happens because members make it
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The Unionization of Everything and Other Seismic Shifts
It’s 1:30 pm on the last Sunday in January and I am watching and listening to a Zoom presentation coming from East Side Freedom Library (ESFL). You can watch the recording of the presentation, which was also live-streamed on ESFL’s Facebook page, at this link: East Side Freedom Library panel discussion with UFCW and Half
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Relating to the DFL
How and when to relate to the Democratic Party? It’s a vexing question, one that members of DSA spend a lot of time thinking about. In 1896 the People’s Party, a populist formation, joined the Democratic Party and was quickly subsumed. In the 1930’s the labor union bureaucracy kept workers in the Democratic Party, in
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2022 First-Round Endorsements
TCDSA is proud to announce endorsement of four candidates to bring the values of Democratic Socialism to the MN State Legislature: 🌹 Omar Fateh – Senate District 62 🌹 Zaynab Mohamed – Senate District 63 🌹 Sheigh Freeberg – Senate District 65 🌹 Fabian Bean – House District 63A Our endorsements are not just words.
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Jacobins and Marxists : A Shared History
Political Education Snippet #9 How it started It started with wondering about two questions. 1. Why are the Jacobins called that? 2. Why is a Marxist 21st Century magazine about modern socialism called Jacobin? The first question is easily answered. (Thanks to Wikipedia.) Jacobin (political) Not to be confused with Jacobitism or the Jacobean era.
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Democratic Socialists in the DFL – The Story So Far
A little over a year ago, I heard of an effort to launch a Democratic Socialists Caucus in the DFL. I have called myself a democratic socialist since about the mid-1980s. I made the transition from anarchist (because of Ursula K. LeGuin, Emma Goldman, and my small but intellectually broad social circle in Atlanta) through
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A Strike in Every School
What would a strike at every school in every neighborhood mean for workers in Minneapolis? The last time the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) went on strike was over 50 years ago, amidst a national trend of unions avoiding striking for the last 40 years. Teachers have been more willing to break that trend due
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 Minneapolis Police Department 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 Union Organizing United Auto Workers (UAW) Unite HERE Local 17 YDSA