On October 31st, the Mental Health Working Group presented a teach-in on an interesting death-themed topic. Presented by acting facilitator Jordan, the teach-in centered on a theory of social and evolutionary psychology called Terror Management Theory, or TMT. TMT is based on the idea that human animals are uniquely knowledgeable about their own inevitable death,… Read more »
Demonstration raises questions over tactics & organization
The events of the past few months have thrown the ruling class into a panic. A massive uprising that surpasses those of the 60s. Increased awareness of the racism and brutality of the police towards the poor, minorities and political dissidents have undercut the liberal establishment of major cities. At same time, large parts of… Read more »
A socialist alternative to the closure of Bethesda, St. Joseph & clinics
Before COVID turned our world upside down, M Health Fairview was ready to close down Bethesda and St Joseph’s hospitals. Once Covid hit, Bethesda was converted to a Covid only hospital, and now that we have a handle on Covid hospitalizations, they have decided to go back to their original plan of closing down Bethesda… Read more »
Social Movements and the Democratic Party
The Great Depression birthed two patterns that the Democratic Party continues to plague us with: the lesser evilism cycle which Katha Pollitt once decried as “that ever downward spiral” which would one day find “liberals in hell organizing votes for Asmodeus because Beelzebub would be worse,” and its conjoined twin, the dynamic that makes the… Read more »
DSA 100K Update
Back in October, DSA chapters across the country launched the DSA 100K Drive — the first membership drive of its kind in DSA history. As of this weekend, over TEN THOUSAND members have joined via chapter and member-specific recruitment links and our organization overall is now over 80,000 members nationally. Here in the Twin Cities,… Read more »
So Why Am I So Depressed?
When I heard that Biden had been declared the president this morning, I felt a cold wave of depression come over me. Not a fetal-position-on-the-bed-all-day type of depression, but being overcome with real sadness. Yes, Trump will be gone (at least from the presidency), but that has not been the only goal of the broad… Read more »
Don’t Mourn, Organize: Labor Branch Overview
For more labor branch updates and to receive our weekly newsletter, email the Labor Branch co-chairs at [email protected] With concerns over COVID safety, economic instability and a massive social upheaval over systemic racism and police violence it’s no surprise that Twin Cities workers are seeking a voice and power through union organizing. In the service industry, hard hit… Read more »
Start Now. Move Quickly.
On September 23rd, a Kentucky grand jury failed to indict three police officers in the murder of Breonna Taylor. Following this decision, people around the world took their protests to the streets, where many of them were met with state repression and violence. Some were arrested and suffered more significant consequences for expressing their sorrow… Read more »
David Graeber, 1961-2020
How, exactly, do you memorialize someone who would be deeply uncomfortable about being memorialized? Should you? Can you? How do we use the past tense with someone who was so irrepressibly hopeful for the future, despite all his sharp frustrations with the present? I’ve never met David Graeber, or interacted with him. Many people have,… Read more »
COVID-19 Choices for K12 Across the Metro Area and How Education Workers are Organizing in Response
What’s it like being a district superintendent or school board member, a charter school principal or private school administrator, or the parent or guardian of a student in these fraught times? The schooling options under consideration are in-person or distant. Or this halfway in between thing called “hybrid.” It feels like the expression “moving target”… Read more »