October 2 reproductive rights actions: reports from the field

The R&B singer, R. Kelly was convicted September 27 of federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges for a decades-long scheme to recruit women and underage girls for sex. Once one of the biggest names in popular music, he could face decades in prison.

It is a victory for Black girls and women. Historically, they have not been listened to in rape and sexual violence cases. Rape culture is prevalent in society, including the African American community.

Because of systemic racism, many in the...

As police chief of gritty Richmond, California, Chris Magnus embraced Black Lives Matter, all but eliminated fatal shootings by police, and cut the homicide rte in half

In my nearly fifty years of picketing and protesting for one cause or another, I’ve learned that brushes with police officers, much less their bosses, may not end well. So my first encounter, three years ago, with one of America’s most successful police chiefs was a novel experience. Then fifty-one-year-old Chris Magnus, a fair-haired...

Since the George Floyd uprising, discussion of how to shift public resources away from police budgets and toward human needs has been on the lips of millions. Few of those millions, however, are aware of what’s happened in Richmond, California.

Over the past year, the city has quietly implemented one of the most important police budget reallocations in the country. Richmond is leading the way on shifting public resources away from more and more policing and toward social programs that can achieve...

Listen to the workshop of activists and organizers from across the country strategizing, sharing experiences, evaluating tactics, and making connections with others passionate about increasing the power of tenants and making decent housing a right. Transcript forthcoming!

Learn more about the participating organizations:

KC Tenants :

KC Tenants fights for safe, accessible and affordable housing for all. It is led by a multigenerational, multi-racial, poor and working-class group of tenants. They believe...

Even while scrambling to hold their caucus together for votes on infrastructure bills, the Democratic Congressional leadership displayed a distinctive approach to party “unity” when it comes to subsidizing Israel’s war machine.

After Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on September 23 made a courageous and principled one-minute statement opposing a $1 billion supplemental appropriation for Israel’s “Iron Dome” system, she was immediately and viciously denounced by her so-called colleagues in almost unprecedented...

Joining us from Seattle are Jade and Megan, two members of Seattle DSA. Jade is also a member of the national Afrosocialist Socialist of Color Caucus (AfroSoc Caucus) and is also a co-chair of Seattle DSA’s Anti-Racist Co-Conspirators Caucus (ARC). Megan is co-chair of SDSA Council district 3, co-chair of the Seattle AfroSoc caucus. We talk about reparations, class reductionism, restorative justice, and the necessity of open and frank conversation.

Occupy Wall Street, a national mass movement against economic inequality and the influence of corporate money in politics, began in New York City and then spread across the country until it involved tens of thousands in dozens of other cities and towns. Occupy’s slogan“We are the 99%”— referring to the mass of ordinary working people as opposed to the top 1% with their trillions — captivated the public imagination.

The Occupy activists in the United States and then in...

The Power of Adrienne Rich: A Biography
By Hilary Holladay
Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2020, 480 pages, $32.50 hardback.

ADRIENNE RICH WAS many things to many people. She was one of the United States’ leading poets, the recipient of countless honors, beginning while she was still in college and continuing until her death in 2012. In her forties, Rich became a lesbian feminist icon, idolized by crowds who flocked to her readings and talks, renowned for her book on motherhood Of Woman Born...

The national convention of Solidarity was held August 20-22, 2021 convened online due to the continuing and resurgent coronavirus pandemic. Discussions included the intersection of deepening crises: the pandemic in the USA and internationally, the intensifying rightwing voter-suppression drive and assault on basic rights, and the climate catastrophe.

The convention was preceded by a series of pre-convention sessions conducted over Zoom. In view of this successful experience, the incoming National...

We Demand the federal authorities take responsibility for the search for and liberation of Vicente Iván Suástegui Muñoz

On August 5 of this year, Vicente Iván Suástegui Muñoz was forcefully disappeared at the hands of an armed group of commandos that kidnapped him in the Renacimiento Neighborhood of the municipality of Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico.

Vicente Suástegui is a member of the Council of Ejido Collective Farms and Communities Against the La Parota Dam (CECOP). Since 2003, the CECOP has...