Statement on Ukraine

 Statement of DSA North Star Steering Committee on Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an unprovoked act of aggression, the deed of an authoritarian regime and revanchist imperial power seeking to subjugate by force a weaker neighbor. It is the waging of war that can only result in needless death and devastation on a massive scale.

 

The justifications offered by the Russian despot Vladimir Putin for this flagrant violation of international law – such as the offensive claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a Jew whose grandfather was wounded twice while fighting in the Red Army against the Nazis and whose three great uncles were murdered in the Shoah, is a “neo-Nazi” – are nothing more than fantastical propaganda.

 

In this moment of their trial, we stand in solidarity with the people of Ukraine . We join with them in saying: this attack on the independent and sovereign nation of Ukraine must end, and Russian armed forces must immediately withdraw from all Ukrainian territory. Our internationalist duty as democratic socialists and anti-imperialists requires that we make this call our first and primary demand. If Russian peace and democracy activists can risk their freedom and safety by protesting the invasion on the streets of St. Petersburg, Moscow and other Russian cities, there is no excuse for those us in relative safety from doing our best to ensure that this war of aggression does not prevail.

 

Diplomatic negotiations and meaningful progress toward a lasting peace cannot take place at the point of a gun, so powerful pressure must be brought to bear against the Russian regime to end its invasion. To this end, we support the levying of stringent diplomatic and economic sanctions that target the Russian state and the Russian oligarchic elite who are responsible for this war of aggression. We endorse the statements of the four DSA members of the House of Representatives and of Senator Bernie Sanders in favor of such sanctions, as well as their calls for the U.S. and NATO to accept refugees from the fighting in Ukraine. We would oppose military intervention by the U.S. or other NATO nations inside Ukraine, were such a step to be seriously contemplated, as a dangerous escalation which could lead to world war. 

 

It is precisely because we oppose outside military intervention that we have an obligation to advocate for other means to compel a Russian withdrawal from Ukraine, and sanctions are the only other means that could conceivably produce such a result. In our view, to oppose sanctions is to surrender to the Russian invasion, a betrayal of the Ukrainian people and working class.

 

In this moment of international crisis, we are moved by the courageous Ukrainians defending their homeland against much stronger Russian armed forces and by the courageous Russians demonstrating against the war of aggression undertaken by the dictatorial regime which rules their nation. Their example motivates us to act on their behalf.

Some Things Must Change. “The fundamental question at the bottom of all politics”

Some Things Must Change.

“The fundamental question at the bottom of all politics”: a conversation with David Sirota

By Anand Giridharadas Feb.21.2022.

Anand Giridharadas is the author of Winners Take All: the Elite Charade of Changing the World. 2018,

Today I have for you a thought-provoking interview with David Sirota. David is a man of diverse talents and projects. He has been a muckraking journalist, a speechwriter for Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive pugilist on TV and Twitter, a very successful dabbler in film (as with “Don’t Look Up,” the recent blockbuster he co-wrote with Adam McKay), and the creator of a newsletter called The Daily Poster, which quickly established itself in official Washington as a fount of scoops at the nexus of money and power, illustrating the nitty-gritty reasons why so many political dreams die.

David had a lot to say about this political moment of crisis and stasis, and some practical advice for President Biden. But before we get to that, I want to make sure you’re covered on all fronts. 

ANAND: In Washington, your newsletter, The Daily Poster, has become a real fixture. And something perhaps unexpected that happened, given the very different politics that you have as a progressive and Joe Biden has had historically, is that a lot of the case you’re making isn’t against Joe Biden’s agenda. It’s in favor of that agenda, but pushing back against the dilution of that agenda and the lack of will to fight to rescue that agenda.

DAVID: I think that there’s a difference between the stated goals of the Biden administration and what they’re willing to fight for. It reminds me of the old saying from Paul Wellstone: “If we don’t fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don’t really stand for them.”

I certainly think what the Biden administration has put forward rhetorically is — I wouldn’t call it idealism, I wouldn’t call it unrealistic, but it is certainly a relatively robust set of proposals.

The problem is, in my view, it hasn’t been really willing to muster much of a fight at all for those priorities. The White House has an enormous amount of power that it doesn’t appear to be using at all, except maybe to try to pressure the progressive caucus, for instance, to fall in line and vote for whatever piece of paper they can wave around as a “deal.”

I do think Joe Biden fetishizes the idea of getting a deal, no matter what is in the deal. The danger of that is that, whereas people in Washington fetishize deals, the average American is much more interested in what is actually in the deal, whether the actual details of the deal do something to improve their lives.

The role I try to play is following the corruption, the trail of money that tends to explain the gap between rhetoric and the reality. It explains the gap between telling the public you want something and then not actually fighting to do those things, because fighting to actually do those things would require you to have a confrontation with the donor class and with donor-sponsored members of your own party.

And this is where the Biden administration is mirroring the Obama administration: the absolute aversion to having any kind of conflict between the president and the conservative, corporate side of the Democratic Party. Just an absolute refusal to have that fight, which I would argue is absolutely the most necessary thing to have an appetite to do in order to actually get things passed.

Look, I don’t want to idealize FDR too much, but FDR had that battle with the right wing of his party. He ran primaries against members of his own party who weren’t supporting the New Deal. LBJ had those battles with the right wing of his party regarding the passage of Medicare.

History bears out that if you’re not willing to have a battle with the right wing of your party as a Democrat, then you’re not necessarily going to secure transformative legislation. You can go out and say you’re for transformative legislation, but you’re not really going to end up actually delivering because, as the old adage goes, power concedes nothing without a demand.

ANAND: If you are a geriatric millennial like me, you have never actually seen a president do the thing you’re describing. So I understand those FDR and LBJ references, but can you describe what the kind of fight you would want to see from Joe Biden would look like? Given the stalling of his agenda, what might a revival of it look like?

DAVID: Before I get into what Biden could do — not to idealize this, I’m not saying this exactly is what you want to do — but Donald Trump showed what having a battle with his party could be as a president. I mean, he constantly went after members of the Republican Party when he perceived them as getting out of line. Now, I don’t agree with his tactics. I obviously don’t agree with his ideology and the policies he was pushing, but that’s a very recent example of a Republican president willing to essentially go to war with members of his own party. Sometimes it was successful for him; other times it wasn’t.

So what does it look like for Joe Biden? Let’s take the Build Back Better Act. You can go to various states and various districts where you have recalcitrant corporate Democrats threatening to take down the bill. You can go, and you can campaign there for that agenda, and, either in an explicit way or at least a muted way, say that you expect and you demand the votes of those members of Congress whose districts or states that you’re in. And you can ask the public, the Democrats who turn out at your rallies, to contact their House members and Senators and tell them that they need their Democratic legislators’ support of that agenda. You can activate your social media network, your email list and the like, to do the same.

Sanders : Our Democracy is Under Attack

Bernie Sanders.

 

Democracy   1-6/2022

One year ago today, a violent mob stormed the United States Capitol with the hope of overturning the results of the presidential election. The images Americans saw that day made visibly clear what many of us have realized for a long time:

Our democracy is under severe attack.

But the truth is that the attack on our democracy goes far deeper than the violence of January 6, 2021. 

Our democracy is under attack from Republicans in Congress and in state legislatures across the country who are doing everything in their power to suppress the vote and make it harder for people of color and young people to vote. These political cowards are also engaging in extreme gerrymandering and are drawing the lines of their districts so they pick their voters instead of voters picking their representatives. They are intent on establishing permanent majorities.

Our democracy is under attack when many Republicans, at all levels of government, promote the Big Lie that the presidential election was stolen and increasingly call into question the results of any election they lose.

Our democracy is under attack when election officials are being harassed and threatened and when efforts are being made to allow partisan legislatures to determine election winners and losers.

But let’s be clear. It is not just the subversion of democratic norms and voting rights that is undermining our democracy.

Our democracy is also under attack because all across this country people increasingly believe democracy itself, and our government, does not work for them. 

For the vast majority of Americans there is a huge disconnect between the reality of their lives and what goes on in Washington, D.C. The people see the politicians talking, talking and talking, they watch the 30 second TV ads and they hear the promises that are made — but never kept. They remember what Lincoln said about "government of the people, by the people and for the people," and they know how far removed we are from that today.

They see the very rich become much richer while politicians and the corporate media ignore the collapse of the middle class and the painful realities facing working families — low wages, dead end jobs, debt, homelessness, lack of health care or educational opportunity, declining life expectancy, substance abuse, impoverished retirement.

Democrat or Republican. Who cares? Nothing changes or, if it does, it's usually for the worse.

Millions of Americans are unable to make it on starvation wages and many of them struggle to put food on the table, but Congress is unable to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.

Over 80 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured, with millions going into bankruptcy because of unpaid medical bills, but Congress is unable to do what every other major country does — guarantee health care as a human right.

One out of four Americans are unable to afford the prescription drugs they need but Congress is unable to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry which charges us, by far, the highest prices in the world.

Almost 43 million Americans are struggling with student debt but Congress, busy giving tax breaks to the rich and well-connected, is unable to forgive that burden which is crushing the dreams of so many.

In homes across this country seniors are being forced to live out their later years without teeth in their mouths or the ability to see or hear properly, but Congress is unable to expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision. 

And, while climate change ravages our country and the world, Congress is unable to confront the fossil fuel industry, cut carbon emissions and leave future generations a planet that will be healthy and habitable. 

So it is no great surprise that people look at the process that produces these outcomes and say, “Nope. Not for me. I don’t know what these guys are doing but it's not relevant to my life.” 

So yes, Congress must hold responsible those who engaged in insurrection at the Capitol and make sure there is never again any doubt about the peaceful transition of power in this country.

Yes, Congress must take action immediately to end voter suppression and make it easier for people in every state in this country to participate in the political process.

But, if we are really going to save democracy and make it relevant to people's lives, Congress must boldly address the long-neglected crises facing the working people of this country. In other words, dare I say, Congress must represent the needs of ordinary Americans and not just wealthy campaign contributors.

The choice before us is whether we move into oligarchy, where our economic and political life is dominated by a handful of billionaires, or whether we create a vibrant democracy where the voices of the people are heard, and where their needs are addressed. 

As we enter the new year I look forward to working with you to create a country in which our children and parents are not living in poverty, in which young people can afford to go to college and in which working families have the health care and prescription drugs they need. I will fight for policies which will save the planet for future generations. Will we succeed? I can’t guarantee you that.

But I can tell you there is no chance unless we are in this together.

Not me. Us.

The struggle to create a nation and world of economic and social justice and environmental sanity is not an easy one. The struggle to try and create a more peaceful world will be extremely difficult. But this I know: despair is not an option if we care about our kids and grandchildren. Giving up is not an option if we want to prevent irreparable harm to our planet.

We must stand up and fight back. We must continue our commitment to a political revolution which engages millions of Americans from all walks of life in the struggle for real change. 

This country belongs to all of us, not just the billionaire class. And that is what our work is about.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

 

  

Hearings on U.S. Oligarchy

Warren to Testify at Sanders-Led Hearing on Threat of US Oligarchy  Jessica Corbett  February 15, 2022 Common Dreams The Senate Budget Committee will examine Wall Street greed through the case study of Warrior Met Coal in Alabama, where workers have been on strike for nearly a year. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on February 23, 2021 in Washington, D.C., Greg Nash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images   US Senate Budget Committee Chair Bernie Sanders revealed Tuesday that Sen. Elizabeth Warren will testify this week at the panel's hearing on "Wall Street greed and growing oligarchy in America." The Massachusetts Democrat, a former bankruptcy law professor, joins four other previously announcedwitnesses: Cecil Roberts, international president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA); Braxton Wright, a Warrior Met Coal employee and member of UMWA Local 2368; economist Nomi Prins; and University of Connecticut law professor James Kwak. The Thursday morning hearing organized by Sanders (I-Vt.)—titled "Warrior Met and Wall Street Greed: What Corporate Raiders are Doing to Workers and Consumers"—will use the fossil fuel company and its striking workers as a case study. Warrior Met Coal employees affiliated with UMWA have been on strike in Alabama for 11 months, fighting for better benefits, pay, and working conditions. Sanders and Warren joined with Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) for November letters to the private equity firms that they said "made off like bandits" after taking over Warrior Met, at the expense of workers. The trio also sent a letter to BlackRock—the world's largest asset manager–last month, calling on the firm to publicly pressure Warrior Met to "negotiate in good faith and agree to a reasonable contract that treats workers with dignity and respect."

Assault on Our Democracy : What Is To Be Undone ?

  

 

 Assault on Our Democracy : What Is To Be Undone ?

 

Our political system, democracy, is under assault. What are we going to do about it?

Spring 2022 Seminar. 

 

 

What can we do now, this week, to defend our democratic institutions?

Here are some organizations.  Select one of your interest.

Contact them. Get involved. 

 

Voter Registration 

 

Whenweallvote.org

 

 

Read. Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America.

            Ian Haney López. 

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daHZbDbT12w&t=21s  

              And, go to work.

            

Grass roots organizing and engagement 

 

Poor People’s Campaign 

 

https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org

Suggestions from a seminar participant.

Another recommendation from a class participant.  Democratic Party oriented.   Here is the website for "Activate America" :   https://www.activateamerica.vote/   Swingleft.org I found working with Swing Left to be highly effective. They have localized chapters that support each other.