Category: Federation
-
Martin Sostre: Prison Revolutionary
By Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin Even in this generation, many young activists know of George Jackson, aka “Comrade George,” Black Panther leader, revolutionary prison writer and organizer who was assassinated in August, 1971, in the California penitentiary, San Quentin. Yet, in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, Martin Sostre (1923-2015) was every bit as well known…
-
An Alarming Cautionary Tale of Fascism: Sons of Denmark
By Kristen Huizar Denmark in recent years like many other European countries has had a growing diasporic population as a result of ongoing conflict and war in the Middle East. Unfortunately, there have been deadly clashes that has drawn a heated division. In 2015, a deadly shooting occurred as a result of ongoing tension from…
-
How to Win: Blockades in Canada Point To Climate Solution
Update: Since the publication of this article the RCMP federal Canadian police have offered to withdraw from Wet’suwet’en territory as a condition to negotiate the end of the railroad blockades. This is not a victory but a significant step showing that the blockades have forced the Canadian state to back down. Direct Action Gets the…
-
Strike While the Iron is Hot: Interview on the Growing Wildcat Strike at UC Santa Cruz
By It’s Going Down Since the wildcat strike at the University of California in Santa Cruz kicked off last Monday, thousands of students have blocked streets and shut down the campus, while riot police from across the State have been mobilized and made over a dozen arrests. Predictably, police violence has broken out on the…
-
Canvassing Is Not Organizing
A common refrain in some quarters of the left states that elections help build capacity, but Organizing Work contributor Ray Valentine argues that the skills built in canvassing for an electoral candidate do not translate to organizing workplaces or tenants. By Ray Valentine If, like me, you have decided to spend a lot of time…
-
Santa Cruz Grad Students Prepare to Launch Full Strike Next Week
Following up on our previous coverage of the wildcat strike and work stoppage launched by UC Santa Cruz grad student workers, participant Cameron A. writes on the workers next move: launching a full strike this coming Monday, February 10. See below for how you can follow and support. By Cameron A. Graduate Student workers at…
-
Review: Don’t Throw Lucy Parsons’ Anarchism Under the Liberal Bus
Lucy Parsons remains an under recognized yet powerful figure of American radicalism. New scholarship into her life and background is welcome but as this review suggests the recently published Goddess of Anarchy by Jacqueline Jones has a number of critical flaws. Jacqueline Jones. Goddess of Anarchy: The Life and Times of Lucy Parsons, American Radical.…
-
Tenant Organizing When Rising Rent Isn’t the (Main) Issue
Tenant organizing is once again on the map with much of the attention focused on soaring rents and gentrification in major metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles and the Bay Area. But as Bay Area based Tenant and Neighborhood Councils (TANC) organizer Julian Francis Park writes, tenant organizing has also been taking hold in smaller…
-
Our Best of 2019: Readings for Popular Power
In a world where everything seems to change in the blink of an eye and all that is solid melts into air almost as quickly, reflection can be a radical act. With this in mind we reviewed our blog content for 2019 to select twelve key statements and articles providing lessons and examples that we…
-
Should Anti-Capitalists Contest Elections?
The question of the left and electoralism looms large in South Africa. The “tripartite alliance” emerged in the transition from apartheid to multi-racial democracy in the 1990’s as a political alliance between the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa’s largest trade union federation, COSATU, and the South African Communist Party (SACP). In power the ruling…