SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
democratic socialists of america
To Fight Trump 2.0, Everyone 'Needs to Become an Organizer'
"Just last week we had to cap a phonebank for the first time ever because of how many people RSVPed," said a spokesperson for the Working Families Party, which has seen a bump in the number of people interested in their work.
Feb 24, 2025
Grassroots protests organized nationwide. Federal workers finding community online and mobilizing through a new entity called the Federal Unionists Network. A bump in the number of people joining the Democratic Socialists of America and other groups. Rallies in front of federal agency buildings.
It might not look the same as "the resistance" of 2017, but these are just some of the examples of how communities are coming together to fight the second Trump administration's attacks.
Speaking on a podcast episode with Greg Sargent of The New Republic that aired Monday, Leah Greenberg—the co-founder of the grassroots progressive network Indivisible—said that "every month since November, we've broken the record for new Indivisible groups formed" and "we've had massive surges of people showing up locally all over the country."
While shock was the "dominant emotion in 2016," which translated into big mobilizing moments such as the 2017 Women's March, this time around "people weren't shocked anymore...[and] a lot of people understood instinctively that the way out of this was going to be the deeper forms of organizing," said Greenberg.
Ashik Siddique, a co-chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, echoed this sentiment. DSA is "really trying to find tangible, sustained ways to plug people in and not just be totally reactive," he told Common Dreams. Overall DSA membership has swelled 10% since November 2024, Siddique said, and the group has seen success channeling energies around targeted issues like protecting trans rights.
The Working Families Party, a progressive political party, has also seen a "significant bump" in the people interested in their work since the election, according to Ravi Mangla, WFP's national press secretary.
"Just last week we had to cap a phonebank for the first time ever because of how many people RSVPed," Mangla told Common Dreams.
But the focus on durable organizing does not mean that there hasn't been energy around galvanizing mass mobilization. On February 5, nationwide demonstrations that were a part of "Movement 50501,"—a decentralized rapid response to the "anti-democratic, destructive, and, in many cases, illegal actions" being undertaken by the Trump administration—took place in locations such as Philadelphia; Lansing, Michigan; Columbus, Ohio; Austin, Texas; Jefferson, Missouri, and elsewhere.
Other protests have take place in the streets of Los Angeles to protest the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, at Tesla stores, and in front of federal agency buildings that have been targeted by the Trump administration and Elon Musk's advisory body the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
On February 10, hundreds of protestors gathered outside the office of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency dedicated to protecting consumers from unfair financial practices, following a directive from the Trump administration that all agency staff stay home. Indivisible, WFP, and a third progressive group, MoveOn, also organized a rally that drew over 1,000 people in front of the Treasury Department building in early February in response to DOGE efforts to infiltrate the agency.
Lawmakers in Republican districts have also been feeling some heat. At a recent town hall in Roswell, Georgia, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) was booed and catcalled while he answered sharp questions about the Trump administration's actions. In one of the tensest exchanges, a speaker pressed McCormick on personnel cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Trump administration's attacks on the federal workforce have made federal employee unions an important source of resistance to the White House and moves made by DOGE. A number of the administration's measures have been challenged in court by federal employee unions, and unions more generally.
Federal workers, many of whom have relied on the Reddit page for federal employees r/fednews to find solidarity and share information, also sounded the alarm at over 30 "Save Our Services" rallies around the country last week, including in New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Denver, Boston, Boise, Chattanooga, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., according to the publication Labor Notes. The protests were organized by the Federal Unionists Network(FUN), an informal association of unionists who are working to strengthen existing federal unions and build solidarity across the federal sector of the labor movement.
"Everybody right now and for the weeks or months or whatever it takes needs to become an organizer," Chris Dols, the president of IFTPE Local 98 at the Army Corps of Engineers and a leader in the Federal Unionists Network, toldLabor Notes.
"If you're a federal employee and you don't know what your union is, get involved with FUN, we'll help you figure it out," Dols said. "If you don't have a union, we'll help you learn how to organize one."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Biiiiiig Fundraising Numbers' for Socialist NYC Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani in First 80 Days
"We knew there was a hunger for a different kind of politics but this is beyond even our highest expectations," said Mamdani.
Jan 14, 2025
Zohran Mamdani, the Queens state assemblymember and democratic socialist who is running for New York City mayor, announced the results of his latest fundraising haul Tuesday, reporting that he brought in more money than any other campaign has so far and from the largest pool of unique donors.
Mamdani (D-36) netted $642,339 from 6,502 unique donors in the 80 days since his bid launched, according to a statement released Tuesday.
"Biiiiiig fundraising numbers for Zohran Mamdani in his first 80 days," wrote New York City journalist Christopher Robbins, who also reported on Mamdani's fundraising totals.
Those running for mayor—a crowded field that includes a number of progressive candidates—face a January 15 fundraising deadline for the filing period from October 8, 2024 through January 11.
Of Mamdani's total haul, the campaign estimates that at least $300,000 will be matched by the city's 8-to-1 public financing program, meaning an additional $2.4 million to the campaign next month, for a total of more than $3 million, according to the statement.
"We knew there was a hunger for a different kind of politics but this is beyond even our highest expectations," said Mamdani in the statement. "Our thousands of donors have launched us and our vision for a more affordable city into the top tier of this race."
Other Democrats running to be elected mayor include current City Comptroller Brad Lander, former City Comptroller Scott Stringer, state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-13)—all of whom are to the left of current Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for re-election while facing five federal charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal foreign campaign donations. Adams has pleaded not guilty.Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also hinted that he will enter the race.
The candidates will face off in June primary in a ranked choice voting election.
Mamdani, who was elected to the New York State Assembly in 2021, has distinguished himself as a vocal figure on the left. The Ugandan-born, Manhattan-raised Mamdani was active in a successful effort to win New York City taxi drivers hundreds of millions in debt relief, including by participating in a hunger strike. He also helped spearhead the city's first free bus pilot.
Mamdani's campaign is focused on the city's affordability crisis. He has pledged to freeze rents for tenants who live in rent stabilized apartments; make city buses free; implement free childcare for children between the ages of 6 weeks and 5 years; and create a network of city-owned grocery stores focused on keeping prices low.
Speaking on WNYC last week, Mamdani said that one of the ways he intends to pay for these programs is by raising the corporate tax rate and increasing income taxes on people who make more than $5 million a year.
Mamdani was not considered a serious candidate when it was first reported that he was running, wroteCity & State publisher Tom Allon in an opinion piece last week, but he's since distinguished himself as a consistent and clear communicator and "captured the left's imagination with a number of simple ideas that he's clearly articulated."
Recent polling indicates that Mamdani's bid is still a long shot, though he's currently neck and neck with the incumbent mayor. Politico, citing numbers from a survey commissioned by the 501(c)4 Progressives for Democracy in America that was conducted December 16-22, reported that Cuomo led with 32% when likely Democratic voters were asked to pick a favorite candidate. Stringer came in second at 10%; Lander came in third with 8%; Ramos was at 7%; and Adams and Mamdani both earned 6%. Two other candidates, Michael Blake and state sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-20), earned 2% and 1%, respectively.
Keep ReadingShow Less
NYC Workers March for Gaza: 'Stop the Bombs! Cease-Fire Now!'
"We demand our N.Y. senators call for an immediate and lasting cease-fire, vote NO on the $14 billion aid bill, and refuse far-right AIPAC contributions! And we will continue to march, protest, disrupt, and fight until we end this genocide."
Dec 21, 2023
Unions, Jewish groups, and other organizations led a march in New York City Thursday night to demand a cease-fire in the U.S.-backed Israeli war on Gaza and pressure their members of Congress to stop taking campaign cash from pro-Israel lobbyists.
Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 9A; American Postal Workers Union (APWU); United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE) Eastern Region; New York City's arm of Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA); Adalah Justice Project, American Muslims for Palestine N.Y./N.J.; Jewish Voice for Peace-N.Y.; New York Communities for Change; the New York Working Families Party; and more took to the streets to call for "peace and justice for Palestine."
They carried signs stressing U.S. worker demands for a cease-fire in the conflict that has killed more than 20,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 8,000 children. The signs also highlighted how much money Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries—all New York Democrats—have taken from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
AIPAC is reportedly planning to spend at least $100 million in 2024 Democratic primaries, aiming to unseat cease-fire supporters, particularly "Squad" members—Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
"For two months, the whole world has watched as the Israeli military launched its assault on Gaza," said organizers of Thursday's march, who rallied behind a clear message: "Stop the Bombs! Cease-fire now!"
"Disease, hunger, and thirst are spreading rapidly," they continued. "Two million Palestinians have been displaced and thousands imprisoned by the Israeli state."
The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion in annual military aid and U.S. President Joe Biden has asked Congress for another $14.3 billion for the war effort. As the march organizers put it: "This horror has unfolded with the full support of the U.S. government. Our out-of-touch representatives, instead of siding with their constituents are siding with AIPAC, a racist right-wing lobby group."
"But we will not let them ignore this growing working-class movement. Hundreds of thousands of regular people have taken to the streets, jammed the phone lines and inboxes of their representatives, stopped traffic, staged sit-ins, and more, to demand peace and justice," they added. "We demand our N.Y. senators call for an immediate and lasting cease-fire, vote NO on the $14 billion aid bill, and refuse far-right AIPAC contributions! And we will continue to march, protest, disrupt, and fight until we end this genocide."
The NYC march came a week after leaders of unions such as the UAW, APWU, and UE held a press conference with Democrats including Bush, Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, and Tlaib at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to demand a cease-fire.
Noting UAW president Shawn Fain's participation, John Nichols wrote for The Nation:
For Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress and an outspoken advocate for a cease-fire, it was an especially poignant moment. She noted, "I'm a proud daughter of a UAW worker, and I know my Yaba [father], if he was here, he would be so proud. The UAW taught him he deserved human dignity, even though he only had a fourth-grade education, even though he was Palestinian, even though he was Muslim. On that assembly line, he was equal to every single human being on that line. Who did that for him? The United Auto Workers did that for him."
Fain, for his part, delivered a clear call for a change in U.S. policy.
"The only path forward to peace and social justice is a cease-fire," said the UAW leader.
Thursday's demonstration coincided with intense debates over a cease-fire resolution at the United Nations Security Council in New York City. The United States, one of five nations with veto power, has delayed multiple expected votes on the measure this week.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular