January 7, 2022

January 6 reflections: A Canadian scholar wonders — if the US descends into civil conflict/war, what should Canada do? “What seems to have pushed the United States to the brink of losing its democracy today is a multiplication effect between its underlying flaws and recent shifts in the society’s ‘material’ characteristics.” Passed along by our local (PG) comrade Carolyn B. And the Canadian scholar touts this young colleague, who in The Guardian observes, “The [US’s] problem is not who is in power, but the structures of power. … At this supreme moment of crisis, the left has divided into warring factions completely incapable of confronting the seriousness of the moment,” which includes the near-takeover of police forces by the white-supremacist right. 

From DCist: “The workers of Politics and Prose have successfully unionized, becoming the first bookstore in D.C. to do so. … ‘We are proud to join the growing movement of booksellers and baristas across the country who have unionized their workplaces,’ wrote the Politics and Prose organizing committee in a statement. ‘Forming our union has not only served as an affirmation of our shared values within the Politics and Prose community, it will also strengthen our workplace and ensure the long-term success of our beloved community hub.’”

Seventh State examines the political insiders that are supporting MDC DSA endorsed candidate Max Socol for Maryland State Senate, concluding that “[Socol’s] early strength indicates that [incumbent Sen. Jeff’ Waldstreicher hasn’t nailed down his base even after sixteen years in the General Assembly.”

Dying to Serve? A Restaurant Worker’s Plea for Organizing

From Organizing Upgrade, a rundown on national DSA’s Restaurant Organizing Project, strongly relevant to MDC DSA’s campaign to get parity for tipped workers despite the DC Council’s illegal betrayal.

Poet’s Corner: a 1940 classic from Bertolt Brecht, “To Those Born Later” — The man who laughs/ Has simply not yet heard/ The terrible news. Tipped our way on Facebook from a formerly PG comrade, Bob Buzzanco.

From our local comrade Dave R, via Portside, 3 Retired Generals: The Military Must Prepare Now for a 2024 Insurrection

From David Schwartzman, also a local comrade: an ecosocialist critique of degrowth in the context of a Green New Deal, plus a contribution to ongoing discussion of energy commodification and decommodification — specifically thermodynamics. “Illuminating how the science of thermodynamics was born and how energy manifests itself in the context of capitalist economy … should not make this science in itself a necessary ideological servant of this economy.”

By Steven Greenhouse in The Guardian: “Workers Across the US Are Rising Up. Can They Turn Their Anger into a Movement?”

“Will this surge of worker action and anger [in the US] be a mere flash in the pan or will it be part of a longer-lasting phenomenon? At least for now, America’s labor leaders seem to be doing very little to tap all this energy and hope and to build it into something bigger and longer lasting.” It’s via Portside.