An Email from Kshama Sawant's Workers Strike Back
Dear David,
It’s been barely a month since Trump took office, and he has already carried out a blitz of attacks on working people. With Elon Musk — the owner of Tesla and the richest person in the world, with a wealth nearing half a trillion dollars — Trump and his administration are focused on carrying out dramatic cuts to government programs and agencies. Trump has announced mass layoffs aimed at the more than two million federal workers, many of them union members. Trump and Musk’s goal isn’t to cut “waste” or “fraud,” as they have tried to claim, but to gut even the meager protections that workers have had, including sweeping cuts at agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, as well as cuts at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. And while thousands of federal employees have been laid off, Musk’s companies SpaceX and Tesla rake in $8 million a day from government contracts.
Trump and the Republican Party do not represent the interests of working people. Trump is close not only to Musk but also to other of the richest billionaires in the world, such as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Meta’s Zuckerberg, all of whom are anti-union and deeply hostile to working people. Musk has boasted about retaliating against Tesla employees who have had the courage to demand their rights. Bezos and Amazon have carried out brutal and shameful union busting for years. And just days ago, Zuckerberg laid off 5 percent of Meta tech workers. While the bosses claimed performance-related reasons, the workers have publicly stated that they were laid off after taking parental or medical leave, and have described Meta as the 'cruelest tech company out there.'
The Democratic Party is not going to fight Trump. It represents the same big-business interests as Trump and has fought viciously to stop workers from winning things like Medicare for All and a $15/hour minimum wage, all while sending tens of billions of dollars to fund the genocide in Gaza and escalate wars around the world.
We also can’t be fooled by the latest public gimmicks of Bernie Sanders, the leaders of the Democrat-aligned NGOs, or business unionist labor leaders who look to funnel our movements back into the graveyard of the Democratic Party. We need to begin laying the basis for a new, antiwar, mass working-class party.
Workers need to build a fighting movement independent of the Democrats and Republicans to bring down Trump, the billionaires, and both their parties. We need mass protests, civil disobedience, and strikes to win Medicare for All, to tax Amazon and big business to fund quality affordable housing, and to end all military funding to the Israeli state and the genocidal occupation.
At the all-day Conference and Convention this weekend, we’ll be discussing the launch of a Fight the Rich campaign to revive and escalate the fight for Medicare for All, free mass transit, unionizing Amazon, taxing Amazon and big business to fund social housing, ending the genocide in Gaza, and bringing down Trump and both parties of the billionaires. The Saturday Conference will also be livestreamed on our On Strike YouTube channel, along with other channels including Due Dissidence, Revolutionary Blackout Network, and Status Coup.
Bernie, AOC, and the Squad have long abandoned Medicare for All. We need to build the fight for public-healthcare ballot initiatives at the state and local levels. We should explore launching ballot initiatives for public healthcare systems, substantially funded by major taxes on big business and the rich, at the city, county or state levels. Winning such a system could act as a battering ram to advance the all-out class war required to win Medicare for All nationally. We should politically target healthcare CEOs, insurance corporations, and other for-profit healthcare institutions by carrying out protest actions and mass, peaceful civil disobedience to escalate the fight for Medicare for All.
To build a successful fight for Medicare for All or anything else that workers need, we need to build a powerful, organized, working-class movement. As Malcolm X said, “we’re not outnumbered, we’re out-organized.” We need to change that.
My old age related health problems have got in the way of my ambition to get involved with this fledgling organization.
Link: https://mailchi.mp/workersstrikeback/conference-convention-this-weekend?...
Comments
Let me clue you in on something.
"...Democrat-aligned NGOs,...." That is grammatically incorrect. It's being used as an adjective, not a noun. It is also a linguistical red political flag indicating a right wing slant/bias. Dumbya Bush's handler Karl Rove was infamous for it. Accidental? Perhaps. I agree with most of the sentiment of the letter. Unfortunately, the "rulers" of my state would consider it communistic treason. That's how dumb and corrupt they are. I'm going to Rec'd it cos of its message.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
What does right-wing mean anymore?
Does it mean the supposed right-wingers don't support those brave Ukrainians in their fight for the greater glory of BlackRock? 'Cause I've seen it used that way.
"The Democratic Party has been focused too much on pleasing people who matter too little in this society." -- Chris Cuomo
@orlbucfan Karl Rove? Democrat
Karl Rove? Democrat campaigning is PURE negative campaigning. We have arrived right where we are because they put shame to Rove's mentor. Willie Horton was nothing compared to what they have done since.
The only real question is whether they consider this to be failure or success.
The Democrat party is the new home for the Bush familia, so trying to keep your left from your right is going to take a cosmic compass.
Hi obf
From my knowledge of Kshama Sawant, who I first learned of 10 years ago from family living in Seattle, I doubt she would have chosen the words you questioned for any improper political reasons or signals.
I’m glad you are commenting here more, your knowledge and perspective is interesting. How have you applied your knowledge of psycholinguistics? Clearly, it has informed the way you understand its use in politics and propaganda. Were you involved in the field of education? Sorry if I’m being too curious, but I am interested in learning more about the relationship between thought and linguistics.
@janis b Thanks jb. There's
Thanks jb.
There's more to being an English major than people think. I actually spent most of my working career in small item retail, administrative, and office management. I was also a professional proofreader for a few years. That's a skill sorely lacking nowadays. I really admire Sawant, and am glad her constituents reward her with their votes. We sure could use more like her in the Sinking Sandbar State.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Like the tune of the wish list
.
maybe if they just dig their shovels
into one issue, like healthcare for all,
they could get more traction? Getting
stuck in the mud of numerous issues
may make a bigger tent, but realistically
there are too many battles to fight at once.
question everything
Good subject for consideration
My own thought is when you ain't got nothin, you ain't got nothin' to lose. So aim as high as your gut tells you. When and if you get anywhere, that is when you start to cut down your asks in exchange for winning something.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
A more practical approach
.
in my mind is to limit your gains and losses
stick with an obvious yes without trying to
shake out all of the rest at the same time
even a small victory is better than a total loss
question everything
Wingnuts have been deleting the ic from the Dem Party name
Orlbucfan, for decades. I always assumed they thought it was a clever way to insult the Other Side.
Let me assure you that Sawant is a real socialist. I worked with her on a union contract campaign when she was on the Seattle City Council. She appeared at one of our rallies and she got a Council resolution passed calling for the divestiture of the employer's stock. We eventually got a satisfactory contract.
The Seattle moneyed interests absolutely hate her.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
@fire with fire It’s psycholinguistical
It’s psycholinguistical manipulation. It’s been going on ever since humans could write, and communicate that way. It’s also constantly repeated, and it’s boring. But, it works. Sad.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Oh my
.
that is a big word
broken down ..
psycho = mental
lingo = language
istical = where you are
else wise over there
interesting
question everything
Psycho means thinking, thought; linguistical means
written and/or spoken language. A negative example of psycholinguistics is propaganda. I got a MA in the field decades ago. It really is fascinating stuff.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
shikes, I thought I was going off the deep end
by studying learning and memory post grad
nothing compared to this
a real trip down the psyche trail
thanks!
question everything