Los Angeles, CA – On June 30, the Boyle Heights community turned out in mass at a Boyle Heights Neighborhood Council’s (BHNC) special meeting to protest and demand the neighborhood council vote no on a big market rate housing development project by Tiao LLC. Proposed in the heart of Boyle Heights on the Cesar Chavez Avenue and Chicago Street block, the six-story 50-unit housing complex would evict and displace many local tenants and businesses, one of whom is a family of four generations who have been living there for 30 years.

The special meeting was called after many residents and supporters came out to the BHNC meeting for public comment on June 28 to speak out against Tiao Corporation and their plans to destroy the neighborhood. Viva Padilla, the owner of the bookstore Re/Arte Centro Literario, is among those affected by the development and spoke against it.

“This development is clearly not for our people,” Padilla said, “I fear that the economic fabric, historical importance, and cultural heritage of Cesar Chavez Ave will be erased because of this.”

Will Tiao, CEO of Tiao LLC, was not present at this meeting. A representative of Tiao LLC went to the special meeting and was given time to present and then dozens of community speakers spoke in opposition of the development. He did not give a good argument or case for it and did not acknowledge community concerns on the negative impact the development would have. The BHNC Board then gave brief comments and then a unanimous vote to draft an official letter of opposition was passed. The project must then go to the LA city planning department and city council for approval, but the community has plans to continue their opposition to stop this gentrification project.

Tiao LLC purchased the historic block in 2020 for $2.1 million and applied to LA City for permits in 2022. The company began to harass the tenants by misinforming them that they needed to close their businesses by May, threatening their livelihoods by instilling fear in tenants. All major development projects must first be reviewed and vetted by the local Neighborhood Councils established by the LA City to promote community participation. In 2022, the BHNC Planning and Land Use Committee (PLUC) was chaired by David Silvas, a Beverly Hills real estate agent, but he neglected to place the project on the agenda. People suspect he met with the developer and intentionally failed to agendize this big project knowing there would be opposition. David Silvas finally left the BHNC board without giving proper notice.

The new PLUC Chair Shmuel Gonzales tried in early 2023 to review the project but it was never taken up to the general board agenda of the BHNC. It wasn't until outcry from the community that the project was placed on the June 30 agenda and the community turned out in force to oppose it.

The Tiao LLC development project would damage the historic character of this vibrant Chicano neighborhood. Boyle Heights has a long history of social activism where the community has fought against freeways, corporate polluters, police abuse and government neglect. The original Community Service Organization (CSO) was formed there, and many Jewish and Chicano radicals joined and organized with the CPUSA in the neighborhood throughout the 1930s and 40s.

Since 2016, Boyle Heights has faced gentrification with developers buying large apartment buildings, raising rents and evicting poor and working class Chicanos and new Mexican immigrants. With the influx of wealthy professionals moving in, landlords have increased the rent for working class tenants as art galleries, breweries and coffee shops began appearing throughout Boyle Heights and neighboring cities.

There has also been an increase in violent LAPD killings of young Chicano men. A block away from Chavez Avenue and Chicago Street is the site where LAPD killer cop Eden Medina shot and killed 14-year-old Jesse Romero, sparking outrage and large protests against police terror and demands for justice. As gentrification intensifies in Los Angeles, so does state-sanctioned violence.

A petition to “Save the Block! Stop Tiao Corporation'' is currently circulating to raise awareness in the community and eventually turned into the proper channels. Sign and share: https://tinyurl.com/msr9evjd

Carlos Montes is a member of Centro CSO: Community Service Organization.

#LosAngelesCA #HousingStruggles #gentrification #BoyleHeights #LA

With three rent control supporters away, the conservative and moderate council members took the highly unusual step of politicizing a procedural vote to kill the rent control policy this year by not allowing it to advance to committee for discussion. The vote was 6-4, which shows clearly that if the three Muslim councilmembers who weren't at the meeting because of Eid had been present, it would have passed 7-6.

City council meetings are normally on Thursdays, but this meeting had been moved to Wednesday based on a guess at the beginning of the year about what date Eid would fall on. The exact dates of Eid can vary based on the lunar calendar which aren't always clear until closer to the date. So, when it became clear that Eid would fall on the day of the city council meeting, the council leadership could have moved the meeting back to its normally-scheduled date or moved it to a different date. But council leadership did not do this. They left the meeting on Eid, even though this meant the three Muslim councilmembers would miss the meeting.

In this case, with all three Muslim councilmembers supporting rent control and with this procedural vote necessary to advance rent control this year, the decision to not move the meeting date and then to vote to kill rent control on this procedural vote has every appearance of an intentional weaponization of Islamophobia to kill rent control in the interest of big developers and landlords. This is in a context where Minneapolis voters already passed a referendum directing the city council to develop a rent control policy, and where the majority on the council had voted to draft such a policy just last month.

While this vote almost surely ends the possibility of rent control in Minneapolis for this year, organizations fighting for it and councilmembers who support it will continue the struggle to pass rent control as soon as possible, given the struggles so many working-class people face to keep up with rent payments.

#MinneapolisMN #HousingStruggles #Rent

Minneapolis, MN – At the May 25 Minneapolis City Council meeting, a 7-5 majority voted to start the process of writing a rent stabilization ordinance to be put on the ballot for voters to decide on in the November 2023 city elections.

The motion was proposed by Ward 10 Councilmember Aisha Chughtai and Ward 6 Councilmember Jamal Osman who represent the parts of the city with the highest concentrations of renters. It directs the City Attorney’s office to write the ordinance language for the Council to then debate, amend, and vote on.

Mayor Frey, who opposes rent stabilization, tried to veto the motion but was rebuked by the City Attorney’s office, who said the mayor doesn’t have the authority to stop the Council from directing the City Attorney to draft an ordinance.

The motion directs the City Attorney to draft a rent stabilization policy with the following guidelines:

• Fixed rent increases at three percent annually, with no adjustment for Consumer Price Index
• Vacancy control and no “rent banking”
• No exempted types of housing and no exemption for new construction
• Exception process for investment/substantial capital improvements and for deferred maintenance and habitability
• Requirements for City certification, the creation of an oversight body charged with program compliance and enforcement, and an appeals process
• If approved by voters, the policy to become legally effective six months after certification of results by the Minneapolis Canvassing Board

Regarding the rent stabilization motion she co-authored, Councilmember Chughtai said, “Housing is a human right. Like the 80% of Ward 10 residents who are renters, I believe a critical part of building public safety is recognizing housing as a human right. For years, rents have been rising much faster than residents’ incomes. Too many of our neighbors spend most of their paycheck on making rent. And too many of our neighbors have been pushed out of the neighborhoods we love because they cannot afford basic necessities like housing, food, clothing, and transportation.”

Chughtai continued, “As this crisis continues to go unaddressed, we’ve seen the rate of food insecurity and homelessness grow in our city. This displacement is continuing in Ward 10 right now, and I’m committed to acting with urgency to keep residents in their homes and the communities they love. Some of the most powerful forces in our City claim the sky will fall if Minneapolis adopts rent stabilization, especially large developers and big landlords that have made massive profits off renters. They want to keep raking in big profits, no matter how much our community is harmed. I want to protect the vast majority of my constituents.”

Minnesota state law says that cities can only implement rent control if approved by the voters. In the November 2021 election, Minneapolis voters passed a ballot measure authorizing the City Council to create a rent control policy which would then be brought back to voters in a later election. Since the 2021 vote, Mayor Frey has repeatedly tried to stop the City Council from passing a rent control policy.

Given Mayor Frey’s opposition to rent stabilization and his influence over several City Council members, many observers were surprised that this motion to write a strong rent control policy passed. While the policy still faces a near-certain mayoral veto if and when the City Council passes a finalized ordinance, this vote re-energized the movement for rent control and showed that despite the mayor’s efforts to stop it, a majority on the City Council could be won over to vote in favor of some version of rent stabilization.

After the CIty Attorney drafts the ordinance language, the next step for rent stabilization is that it will come back to the City Council and be referred to the Business, Inspections, Housing and Zoning (BIHZ) Committee for debate, amendments, and a public hearing.

#MinneapolisMN #HousingStruggles #rentControl

Saint Paul, MN – The 2023 Minnesota legislative session ended on May 22, and it’s one for the history books. A wide array of progressive measures that working class and oppressed peoples’ movements in Minnesota have demanded for years and even decades became law, as the Republicans howled from the sidelines but didn’t have the votes to stop it.

The stage was set for this when the Democrats bucked predictions of Republican gains in the November 2022 election, with Democratic Governor Tim Walz handily winning re-election, and the Democrats winning a slim majority in both the state House and Senate. This Democratic “trifecta” brought to an end to around a decade of divided government in Minnesota that bottled up any progressive policies and led to gridlock where little legislation of consequence passed. Add to the mix a $17 billion budget surplus, a new group of oppressed nationality legislators with histories in mass movements, the virtual disappearance of rural moderate Democrats due to political polarization, and pent up frustration with the extreme right wing turn of the federal courts and the Republican Party, and you have the ingredients for the most progressive legislative session in a generation.

This led to a legislative session unlike any in recent times.

The breadth of progressive policies that the state legislature passed this year surprised many observers. The last time the DFL had a trifecta of control over the governor’s office along with the state House and Senate a decade ago, they passed a small number of important progressive measures but overall chose caution and just maintained the status quo on most issues. This has matched the experience of Democrats in power at the federal level for our entire lifetimes; when they have won elections, the Democrats have not only failed to advance bold, new progressive policies — they've failed to even maintain the status quo of the gains won in the 1930s New Deal era and the 1960s freedom movement era as the Republicans have relentlessly attacked those gains.

The recent experience of a Democratic trifecta at the national level from 2020-2022 repeated this experience, with President Biden and the Democratic-controlled Congress failing to pass transformational legislation to advance people’s rights and even failed to defend abortion rights while Republicans in the courts and in state governments continued to methodically strip away the gains of previous struggles and have gone on the attack to further erode the basic democratic rights of working class and oppressed peoples.

The fact that the Democrats only had a one-vote majority in the Minnesota Senate led many people to expect something similar to what we saw at the federal level over the previous two years, where two of the Democrats’ most conservative U.S. Senators – Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema – blocked serious progressive legislation, negating the Democratic majority.

But that didn’t happen this year in Minnesota. The Democrats came out swinging from the start of the legislative session, passing progressive legislation on a range of issues quickly and not letting up until the session ended in May.

That said, there are some notable things the legislature didn't do, and things that Governor Walz vetoed after threats of blackmail by major corporations, which clearly demonstrate the limits of what's possible in this system even with total Democratic control.

What was passed?

Abortion rights

Given that the Democrats largely won the elections in Minnesota because of outrage about the overturning of Roe v. Wade nationally, they put a high priority on a range of bills to strengthen abortion rights in Minnesota. In the face of attacks on abortion rights in many Republican-controlled states, Minnesota went in the opposite direction and significantly expanded abortion rights.

While a state court ruling had previously protected abortion rights in Minnesota, the overturning of Roe v. Wade nationally made it clear that a court ruling is not strong enough protection for this basic right. So the legislature passed a law to put abortion rights into the Minnesota legal code as a “fundamental right”, making it harder for right wing judges to easily overturn it. They also overturned basically all the restrictions that had been placed on abortion over the years as part of the long-term Republican strategy to chip away at abortion rights bit-by-bit with things like waiting periods, extra unnecessary paperwork, etc.

They passed a law protecting people who come to Minnesota for an abortion from other states that might try to legally prosecute them because they’ve outlawed abortion. And finally, they cut all state funding to “crisis pregnancy centers,” which are misleading anti-abortion “fake clinics” littering the state. Many are religious institutions that try to talk vulnerable people out of seeking abortion as one of their health care options. Previously these centers received millions of dollars of state funding, but no more. The struggle to increase access to abortion continues, as even though it remains legal there are very few clinics that offer abortion services in the state.

Voting rights expansion

In the face of attacks on voting rights on the federal level with the effective end of the Voting Rights Act and attacks on voting rights in Republican-controlled states, this year’s Minnesota legislature passed several expansions of voting rights. One important one is restoring the vote to people convicted of felonies who are on felony probation or parole. This voting restriction has disproportionately impacted Black Minnesotans. This change restores the right to vote for around 50,000 Minnesotans. They also passed a law that will now automatically register eligible voters to vote, which is a significant expansion of voting access, and will automatically pre-register eligible 16 and 17-year-olds to vote. There will also now be a permanent absentee voter list, so people who want to vote by mail can automatically get a ballot sent to their home before each election.

Protecting trans and queer rights

In the face of attacks on transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary people in Republican-controlled states, the Minnesota legislature passed a series of bills to protect trans people. One bill protects people traveling to Minnesota for gender-affirming care from legal attacks in other states, including prohibiting the governor from extraditing someone for receiving gender-affirming care in Minnesota. Another bill bans “conversion therapy” statewide, which is a discredited practice of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity to make them straight.

Drivers license for all and insurance for immigrants

The immigrant rights movement in Minnesota has fought to win back drivers license access for all regardless of immigration status since that right was taken away from undocumented residents in the anti-immigrant fervor after 9/11. After 20 years of struggle, this year the legislature quickly moved to pass the drivers license for all bill, and passed a clean version of the bill without special markings on the license that would expose people as being immigrants, like some previous versions of the bill would have done.

Another important measure passed that benefits immigrant communities is that now Minnesota’s immigrant residents will be eligible to enroll in MinnesotaCare, the state’s publicly-subsidized insurance program.

Police accountability

One of the biggest missing elements in the legislature’s otherwise progressive efforts has been around reigning in racist police violence with policies to increase police accountability. In the aftermath of the police murdering George Floyd, several organizations fighting for police accountability and families impacted by police violence proposed a series of new laws; they were almost entirely ignored. This year, one significant piece of legislation passed that addresses police brutality – new limits statewide on no-knock search warrants, like the kind that led to the Minneapolis police killing Amir Locke in January 2022. There are loopholes in the bill though that still allow no-knock warrants in some situations. But overall, the legislature failed to make significant strides toward reigning in racist police violence.

Health care

The legislature expanded MinnesotaCare to create a public option, an important step in the direction of health care for all.

The legislature also passed a statewide paid family and medical leave plan, expanding paid work leave to large numbers of workers who don’t currently have such benefits at their jobs. Eleven other states have similar programs. Additionally, the legislature passed a statewide sick leave program. Workers who don’t currently get sick leave at their jobs will now get an hour of sick leave per 30 hours of work.

Transportation

After decades of underfunding of transportation infrastructure, legislators passed a nearly $9 billion transportation bill, including new taxes and fees that will raise significant amounts of dedicated funding for transportation infrastructure as well as funding for public transit and funding for the ever-elusive passenger train line from the Twin Cities to Duluth, which now seems like it will become a reality. The legislature decriminalized fare evasion for all Twin Cities transit agencies, an important move in both curtailing racist enforcement of such laws as well as potentially a step toward free public transportation.

Housing

The state legislature passed $1 billion in spending on housing, and created the first-ever tax dedicated to affordable housing. While more should have been allocated to public housing, there is $10 million to retrofit public high-rise housing with sprinklers; a few years ago, several people died in a fire in a Minneapolis public housing fire. A new state program was also created that’s similar to the federal Section 8 program that could help 5,000 low-income renters.

Public education

For higher education, the North Star Promise Program creates a free college education for students with a family income under $80,000, and increased funding for Minnesota’s tribal colleges.

The K-12 public education budget is $23.2 billion. This is a significant increase over previous years, coming after decades of underfunding of public education. Importantly, future funding will be tied to inflation increases to not fall behind inflation. The bill includes a permanent expansion of pre-kindergarten education to 12,360 seats statewide, funds to increase the size and diversity of the teaching workforce, nearly doubling funding for American Indian education, $65.9 million to pay paraprofessionals and special education instructors for their work time outside of the classroom in addition to their classroom time, funding for a new mandate that schools have menstrual products available, funding for creating new gender-neutral bathrooms, and much more.

The legislature also passed free school lunch statewide, starting next school year. This continues something that was implemented on a temporary basis at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but was set to end.

Child care assistance

The legislature passed a large increase in funding for the Child Care Assistance Program.

Climate change

A new law set a statewide goal to have a carbon-free electric grid in Minnesota by 2040. While slower than climate activists want, it moves in the right direction in comparison to the reversals in Republican-controlled states. Hundreds of millions will also now be available for climate projects and rebates for electric vehicles, buses, bikes, air-source heat pumps, and more.

Roof Depot

Late in the session, legislators intervened in the struggle in the East Phillips neighborhood in Minneapolis over the future of the Roof Depot site. A years-long struggle came to a head this year as the largely indigenous and immigrant working-class neighborhood fought to stop the city of Minneapolis’s plan to demolish the Roof Depot site, releasing arsenic into the air from the polluted site, and then putting a public works site there that would bring more diesel traffic to the heavily polluted neighborhood. Instead the community wanted to create an urban farm on the site, but Minneapolis Mayor Frey and the majority of the city council pushed ahead with their own plan.

As the demolition of the site was looming, the state legislature budgeted money for the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute to purchase the site and brokered a deal that Mayor Frey agreed to accept for the community to take control of the site. This sealed a huge victory for the indigenous people and environmentalists who resisted the city’s plan for eight years.

New state flag

The legislature passed a measure that will likely result in a new Minnesota state flag to replace the current flag which is both aesthetically confusing as well as racist in portraying a Native American exiting the scene as a white farmer works the land. A commission will propose a new state flag design for the legislature to consider next year.

CROWN Act

The CROWN Act was passed this session, which changes the MN Human Rights Act to protect against discrimination in employment, housing and education based on hairstyle, something that has been particularly used against Black people.

Unprecedented budget increase and new revenue

The biggest financial thing that happens in a legislative session is passing the state’s budget for the next two years. The budget they passed this year smashed the previous record, with a 40% increase in spending. This means a significant increase in spending on social programs that benefit working people, which have been starved of funds in recent decades as neo-liberal cuts to social programs have been the norm under both Republican and Democrat administrations. There was also a large increase to local government aid, and a massive $2.6 billion bonding package of infrastructure projects. This is the largest bonding bill ever passed in Minnesota; no bonding bill for infrastructure was passed at all in the previous two years due to divided government gridlock. The legislature passed $100 million in funding for high-speed internet infrastructure, which will help in many parts of the state with inadequate internet access.

Marijuana legalization

One of the measures that got the most media attention was the legalization of recreational marijuana in Minnesota, which now becomes the 23rd state to do so. Decriminalization of simple possession and home growing of marijuana will go into effect in August. The bill also calls for expunging some low-level marijuana offenses from people’s criminal records; Black people in Minnesota have been arrested for marijuana possession at a much higher rate than white people.

Capitalists set limits

The fast pace and wide array of bills the legislature passed seemed to even catch many in the capitalist class off guard. But by the end of the legislative session, they regained their footing and stopped some important bills in their tracks. Under threats from large corporations, Governor Walz intervened to squash two bills that working class people and unions fought hard for. One was a bill supported by the nurses’ union, the Keep Nurses at the Bedside Act, which would have taken important measures to address the crisis of understaffing and overworking of nurses. This was set to pass until the Mayo Clinic, a hugely powerful corporation in Minnesota, sent a public letter to legislators and the governor threatening to move billions of dollars of future investments to other states if Minnesota passed this law. First the legislature tried to do a carveout for Mayo to exclude them from the bill, but then other hospital corporations got mad, and the whole bill fell apart.

Second was a bill that passed both the House and Senate and only needed the governor’s signature to pass. This bill would have created basic worker protections and a minimum wage for Uber and Lyft rideshare drivers, who are classified as “independent contractors,” and so most existing labor law, as inadequate as it is, doesn’t apply to them. The bill was pushed by the Minnesota Uber & Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA), representing the largely East African workers who are rideshare drivers.

After passing both houses of the legislature, Uber, learning from what Mayo Clinic did to tank the nursing bill, sent a threatening letter to the governor saying that if he signed it, Uber would end all operations in greater Minnesota and would only continue certain specialized services in the Twin Cities. The governor balked and issued the first veto of his time in office, leaving thousands of oppressed nationality workers still without a basic minimum wage or workers’ protections.

The killing of these two bills in particular show where the true power lies in a capitalist country. Even in a best case scenario of complete Democratic control in a state under the most ideal economic conditions of a massive budget surplus, the capitalist class can still override the will of the people and of the legislature and essentially veto bills they don’t like by issuing threats. This shows the need to not only fight to win what can be won under the current system, but to fight for a new system – socialism – where working class and oppressed people have the reins of power and can’t be bullied by large corporations into denying workers basic rights.

Angered but unbowed by the governor caving to capitalist threats, both the nurses’ union and MULDA have pledged to continue their struggle to pass these bills next year.

Increased polarization – two legal systems in one country

The results of this year’s legislative session in Minnesota paint a sharp contrast to the avalanche of reactionary laws passing in Republican-controlled states. This is a reflection of the growing political polarization in the U.S., and the consolidation of two very different legal systems in this country, with some states preserving and expanding democratic rights, and other states sharply attacking and curtailing them.

This situation of political polarization makes it possible to win some important advances for democratic rights in Democratic-controlled states if mass movements are well organized and prepared to place clear demands on the Democrats in power.

It also shows the need to strongly support movements and communities in Republican-controlled states that are under attack and fighting back and resisting the wave of reaction in their states. Winning more democratic rights in the states where it’s possible helps those fighting in other states through raising the bar of what’s possible, as well as offering sanctuary to people and communities in those states who come under increasing attack with the wave of reactionary laws.

#SaintPaulMN #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #Labor #WomensMovement #Healthcare #HousingStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice

Jacksonville, FL – As the people of Jacksonville face rapidly increasing rent hikes and evictions, local organizers and residents rallied outside of City Hall on August 9. Before entering the city council meeting, they rallied and chanted, “Peoples Budget now!” “Make housing affordable,” and “Rent stabilization now!”

After listening to speakers outside of city hall, many people spoke at the city council meeting, demanding a People’s Budget. The proposal from the Jacksonville Community Action Committee will reallocate funds from the inflated Jacksonville Sheriff's Office (JSO) budget back into the community.

The People's Budget proposal focuses on Jacksonville’s city budget and reallocating funds because, under Mayor Curry, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office currently holds nearly 40% of the $1.4 billion budget.

Sara Mahmoud of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization stood at the podium and said, “JSO has consistently proven that they have no intention to protect our community but would rather brutalize and kill our residents. On top of that, as we witnessed over 1200 eviction filings in July, it is JSO who will enforce those evictions. Instead of funding measures that will help our residents in the middle of a pandemic and crisis, they’re choosing to fund police who will penalize the working class for simply being poor. This is why we’re demanding a Peoples Budget from city council, that includes proposals for a Tenants Bill of Rights and an Office of Tenant Advocacy to enforce the bill of rights.”

Shayne Tremblay, a local IBEW union member said, “I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: We the workers, are what make Jacksonville the city it is. We are the ones building the homes, delivering the packages, teaching our children, making the coffee, and keeping the city clean, but we are being priced out of living in our own city, and our city officials are letting it happen.”

Christina Kittle, an organizer with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, stated that Jacksonville should enact a housing state of emergency, like Orange County, which was able to get rent stabilization on the election ballot.

Kittle explained, “There have been 20,825 evictions in Jacksonville from March 2022 to the end of July 2022. It’s clear we have a housing crisis, yet more and more funding goes to the police. It is unfair when organizations have to provide numbers and data and months of research just to be considered for funding, but a department that underperforms consistently gets millions each year. No questions asked.”

Protesters demanded that the city council focus on two initiatives that could help combat the housing crisis in Jacksonville: First, a housing state of emergency that will put in place an eviction moratorium. Second, an Office of Tenant Advocacy that will uphold a Tenant Bill of Rights to hold landholders accountable for negligence in maintenance, management or unjust rent hikes. This could be created by taking the $37million proposed for police and reallocating it.

The People’s Budget proposes legislation that will provide for resources lacking in Jacksonville. This includes funding the Division of Mental Health Services to improve access to quality mental health services, funding for the construction and maintenance of new homeless shelters to reduce overcrowding in existing shelters, increasing wage raises for case managers and recruiting more shelter employees. Other legislation includes supporting Black businesses, crime reduction, and public infrastructure efforts.

Protesters vowed to keep the pressure on the city council until their demands for a People’s Budget are met. You can read JCAC’s proposal for a People’s Budget at https://jaxtakesaction.org/peoples-budget-now.

#JacksonvilleFL #HousingStruggles #PeoplesBudget

Rent in Tampa has been rising rapidly, with rents being 38% higher than January 2021. Since March 15, there have been 31,357 evictions filed in Tampa as many can’t keep up with the rising rent rates. The city council voted six to one on July 28 to declare a housing state of emergency, and the vote against rent control being on the ballot came as a slap in the face to Tampa residents.

Joseph Nohava, member of Tampa Bay Community Action Committee (TBCAC), stated in a speech at the event, “What’s most appalling is the betrayal of those on the city council who can acknowledge that there’s a housing emergency, but refuse to take action.”

Despite rain, the protesters continued to demand that rent control be put on the ballot in the November election and that more money be given to housing assistance rather than the police budget. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor proposed on August 4 the new city budget. It included $5.5 million to housing, but 40% of the general fund will be given to the Tampa Police Department. TBCAC is demanding, in its current People’s Budget Campaign, that $40 million be given to housing resources rather than the police.

TBCAC and other community organizations will also be present at future city council meetings to demand rent control be added to the November election ballot. There are public budget hearings on September 6 and 22.

#TampaFL #HousingStruggles #housingCrisis #rentControl

While it is true that the biggest rent increases are for new tenants, and most tenants don’t face such large increases, the burden of rising rents is the single biggest factor in the 40-year high inflation rate cutting working people’s purchasing power. Almost one-fifth of inflation comes from rent increases, more than the more widely mentioned gasoline or cars.

Working-class and oppressed nationality/national minority (African American, Chicano, Latino, Native American, Arab American and Asian American) households are hardest hit by rising rents. We are more likely to rent and tend to pay a greater part of our income on rent than others.

An important reason for rising rents is soaring home prices. As homes become less affordable, landlords can more easily raise their rents, knowing that their tenants have less of an option of buying. With home prices up almost 20% over the last year, it is no wonder that rents are rising too.

Another factor in the rise in rents is the growth of corporate landlords. This is a hot new investment for Wall Street. One such firm, Blackstone, made $6 billion in profits over the last year, a sixfold increase. About half of these profits came from real estate.

Not only are these corporate landlords raking in massive profits, but they are also more likely to evict tenants behind on their rent. Evictions did fall from the 3.7 million per year before the pandemic because of the moratorium on evictions by the federal government. This has now expired, and even those states that extended their own eviction bans are ending. A few cities have introduced their own eviction ban, but landlords are pulling strings at the statewide level to stop these local eviction bans.

In many states, including New York, landlords can evict at will, without having to show any cause. New York renters owe the most in back rent of any state, and with their eviction moratorium having ended in January of 2022, more tenants are at risk of eviction than any state.

A needed change is rent control, which caps rent increases. Berkeley, California which had a strong form of rent control that limited rent increases to the rate of inflation plus any documented repair costs. But this law, along with a handful of other smaller cities, was overturned at the state level by landlord-backed politicians.

Despite the difficulties, tenants and their supporters are fighting evictions and rent increases across the country. These struggles will only grow as tenant are squeezed by rising rents and wages that are not keeping up with inflation.

#SanJoséCA #HousingStruggles #renters #inflation

Over 20 people spoke in the public comment period, many of whom also spoke at the February 24 city council meeting. Tampa residents voiced their frustration at the lack of action in the past three months while the rent crisis hurts senior citizens and disabled people. Residents of Madison Heights Apartments in particular spoke of rent increases in the middle of their leases and three-day eviction notices. The message was clear: What was the city council going to do about it?

“This housing crisis has devastated people’s lives. It’s good to see people using that anger to push for real, concrete demands,” said Simon Rowe, member of Tampa Bay Community Action Committee.

The Tampa city council filed a motion to investigate establishing a Tenant Advocacy Office in Tampa mirroring the one recently created in Miami. Councilmember Lynn Hurtak proposed an amendment to investigate the creation of a landlord registry, which would make it easier to document landlord interactions for complaints. The motion and its amendment passed unanimously. The city council will meet June 16 to discuss implementing the Tenant Advocacy Office and the landlord registry. The Tampa community will attend once again to make sure the city council follows through with meeting the community’s demands.

#TampaFL #HousingStruggles #TampaBayCommunityActionCommittee

Tallahassee, FL – On April 30, Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) hosted a panel discussing Tallahassee’s current city budget and the need for a People’s Budget. The panel was put on at The Bark, a local vegan restaurant in the All Saints neighborhood, and was co-sponsored by the Tallahassee chapters of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

“It’s super important that we let the city know that we’re not just going to be silent in the face of rising rent and inflation and unemployment. In general, it’s really important for people to know that they can make a difference,” said Regina Joseph, president of TCAC and district organizer for FRSO.

The panelists highlighted how the current city budget does not allocate enough resources to take care of the everyday needs of Tallahassee residents, but instead funnels more and more money to the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) with each passing year. For the 2022 fiscal year, TPD received just over $64 million, which equates to roughly 37% of the city’s general fund. TCAC demands that the city reallocate the funding for community support and stop using other city and county funding for TPD.

With the high correlation between poverty and increased crime rates, if the city really wanted to address crime, they would redirect money away from TPD and put it towards solutions proven to reduce both poverty and crime, such as reliable access to affordable housing and public healthcare options. Instead, that money is used to further militarize a police force with things like night vision goggles, urban assault vehicles and a new helicopter.

“The city commission would rather let developers build more student housing and more studio apartments instead of actually allocating money towards housing that working people can afford,” said Isabela Casanova, one of the panelists and a member of SDS.

Casanova added, “The truth of the matter is that people need a place to sleep, and people need a place to call home – to not put affordable housing on their agenda or even on the radar is pretty sad. Working-class people need a cap on rent and to be actually able to afford the houses they are living in.”

Tallahassee’s desperate need for a People’s Budget further reinforces the demand from Tallahassee activists for a Civilian Police Accountability Council, which would put the power of police and their spending in the hands of the city’s residents. If each year TPD is rewarded for their inability to keep Tallahassee residents safe with a larger budget, there will never be an incentive for them to change, so it’s time to take that decision away from the city and give it to the people most affected.

Jordan Scott, the organizing chair for Graduates Assistants United, a union for grad students on FSU’s campus, stated, “The people’s budget gives the ability to seize those resources – that we pay anyway, through taxes- and give it back to things we need, like public transportation. We know that working-class people are the people that make this city.”

#TallahasseeFL #PoorPeoplesMovements #InJusticeSystem #HousingStruggles #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #PeoplesBudget #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

Tampa, FL – Tampa residents gathered outside of city hall to celebrate International Workers Day. Cries could be heard from all in attendance to demand safe and affordable housing for all. The ongoing rent crisis in Tampa has hit working class people hard, as many people are being pushed out of their homes with rent prices skyrocketing. Rent prices have risen extremely quickly, reaching over 38% higher prices than last January.

May Day, a historic day of workers struggle, began in in 1886 with a fight for the eight-hour work day.

Bill Aiman, of Tampa Bay Freedom Road Socialist Organization, stated “Workers in this country are constantly under attack by the ruling class. Anything that we win they will attempt to take away from us. The lack of affordable housing is just another aspect of these attacks. We need a fighting workers movement to push back against these attacks. In the spirit of 1886 we need a militant workers movement because that is what's going to win our liberation.”

The average Tampa resident needs three minimum wage jobs in order to pay their rent. Despite these horrific conditions for renters, the city council and Mayor Jane Castor refuse to put into effect any form of rent control or declare a housing state of emergency. It is clear that these city officials do not have working class people's interests in mind. Despite this, the people of Tampa refuse to sit by and watch quietly as these attacks on working-class people continue.

Jerrica Hoey attended the protest and said, “I come out to May Day events every year. I think it's super important to show solidarity with workers and fight against the rent increases that have been occurring this year. People are suffering, losing their homes, I have had two friends in the last week move out of state because they cannot afford to live here anymore. We have to fight back.”

As the fight for rent control continues it is important we stay militant, fighting back against these attacks on workers’ rights to accessible housing. The working-class people of Tampa will continue to fight for affordable and safe housing until the fight for housing for all is won.

The rally was organized by Tampa Bay Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) in conjunction with Tampa Bay SDS, Tampa Tenants Union, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Peoples Council of Tampa, and Tampa Bay Community Action Committee.

#TampaFL #Labor #HousingStruggles #tenantsRights #rentControl

Tampa is among the cities facing the worst of the national housing crisis. Tampa ranks ninth worst in the world for decrease in housing affordability. Renters in the city spend 42% of their income on housing, a 6% increase from 2017 during a time of rising inflation and stagnant wages. In 2022, affordable housing listings decreased by 46% while housing prices increased by 26%. More people in Tampa are at risk of losing their housing.

As the housing crisis worsens, community groups have united to demand housing for all. People’s Council Tampa, a coalition of Tampa activists and concerned residents, was launched on January 5 to stop rent increases and evictions. People’s Council Tampa and many community groups demanded that the Tampa city council pass a Tenants Bill of Rights. Later, they demanded the city also declare a “housing state of emergency”, which would help pave the way for a rent control ordinance.

The Tampa city council had its first reading of a Tenants Bill of Rights on January 13, with a majority of council members in support (6-1). The bill contained anti-discrimination measures and required giving tenants a list of resources. At the second reading on February 3, many council members flipped their vote to be against the bill of rights (4-2) after emails from local landlords and lawyers. The backlash against the council’s rejection of the Tenants Bill of Rights was strong enough for the city council to flip again, and they voted in favor unanimously on February 17.

Seeing the efficacy of public support, People’s Council Tampa and a dozen other groups agreed to mobilize to the next city council meeting on February 24 and demand Tampa declare a “housing state of emergency.” Over 100 people attended, with 50 speaking on the need for rent control to stop the housing crisis. While the city council did accept there was a “crisis” at that meeting, members rejected the idea of a rent control ordinance.

Although the fight to pass a rent control ordinance was not over, more issues with the city council emerged. Councilman John Dingfelder resigned in March as part of a public records lawsuit. Weeks later, Council Chair Orlando Gudes faced a hostile work environment lawsuit and immediate pressure from Mayor Jane Castor to resign. Gudes stepped down as council chair in response but is still a council member – for now. Mayor Castor’s administration is in charge of prosecution in both lawsuits. In Gudes’ case, the Castor administration was aware of the allegations in 2020 but did not pursue legal action until the end of 2021. Castor’s administration also revealed the accuser’s identifying information in a statement about the case. Both lawsuits have increased hostility between the mayor and city council.

Another part of this division is Mayor Castor’s public and firm rejection of rent control, a contrast to city council’s more receptive stance. The Coincidentally, Castor receives a large part of her PAC funds from landlords and developers. While Tampa city council at first voted against the Tenants Bill of Rights after landlords objected, they did pass the bill weeks later.

Despite Mayor Castor’s anti-rent control stance and city council controversy, a rent control ordinance is still possible. To replace Dingfelder, city council chose Amanda Lynn Hurtak, who has stated that her main concern is addressing the housing crisis. City councilmembers like Gudes have voiced support for rent control in the past. If five members of the city council vote in favor of rent control, the ordinance would automatically pass with the mayor unable to veto it.

The Tampa community is responsible for the Tenants Bill of Rights and an ordinance requiring six months’ notice for rent increases, although these are concessions from city council instead of the main demand of rent control. These concessions are not a sign to give up on solving the housing crisis, but encouragement to work even harder. Tampa city council can pass a rent control ordinance with enough community support.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s May Day Rally for Housing is part of this struggle to get housing for all. As midterm elections approach, protesting for an end to the housing crisis with rent control is necessary to build massive public support. If a large part of the Tampa community demands rent control and nothing less, the Tampa city council would have no choice but to act.

#TampaFL #EconomicCrisis #HousingStruggles #tenantsRights

Tampa, FL – On Thursday, February 24, over 100 people mobilized to attend a Tampa city council meeting on rent stabilization. Over 50 community members spoke in support of the council declaring a housing state of emergency, which is legally required to pass a rent control ordinance in the state of Florida.

Despite the meeting turnout, the city council did not declare a housing state of emergency or pass a rent control ordinance. Council members claimed rent control would harm working people in Tampa despite the overwhelming testimony disproving this idea. The city of Tampa fears the cost of litigation from a rent control ordinance but ignored public testimony on how the housing crisis is harming communities economically.

In a concession to the community, the city council later passed an ordinance requiring landlords to provide six months' notice before raising rent. Another reason city council members argued against rent control was that the ordinance would only help a small number of Tampa renters. As an alternative, Tampa City Council is providing an additional $1 million in funding to a housing aid program, which is estimated to help 50 to 75 people.

Tampa's rent has increased by 30% during the pandemic, the largest increase in the country. Community members spoke of their experiences of rent increasing by hundreds of dollars and how many will become homeless. Many communities struggling during this crisis cannot rely on a housing program that many are ineligible for or wait months for a housing study to suggest non-rent control solutions.

A 65-year-old retiree and East Tampa native said, “I’m interested in seeing justice in general, for all people. Having affordable housing is a major step to seeing that happen and I’m willing to fight for it.” The people of Tampa will not wait to end the housing crisis. Organizers will continue to demand affordable housing for all.

#TampaFL #HousingStruggles #rentControl

Hartford, CT – On November 20, a dozen protesters rallied in front of the Hartford Supreme Court building to protest the mass evictions happening across Connecticut. The protest centered around Governor Ned Lamont’s inability to protect renters from evictions during the ongoing pandemic. There is a new bill requiring landlords to provide tenants with 30 days’ removal notice, being disguised as a continuation of the stay on evictions. Other issues included cancelling rent payments and investing in the community instead of police. “Cancel the rents, evictions must end,” chanted the protesters.

“The main message was clear: to deny people access to something as fundamental as shelter at any time, let alone during a massive pandemic is unacceptable and shameful,” said Benjamin Segal-Morris, a senior member of UCONN UNCHAIN, “to demand anything less than the bare minimum of ‘no evictions during the pandemic’ shows an intense lack of humanity of those involved.”

Over the course of the afternoon, activists’ calls were affirmed by the Hartford community honking from their cars or stopping to sit in with protesters. This culminated with a call for state legislators to put a stop on eviction hearings until the pandemic is over, and to end police involvement in tenant removals.

The protest was organized by UCONN UNCHAIN, Connecticut DSA, and community members.

#HartfordCT #HousingStruggles #Evictions

Tampa, FL – On September 5, about 25 protesters from Tampa Bay Community Action Committee (TBCAC), community members and other activists rallied to demand an extension to the eviction moratorium that was abruptly ended by the United States Supreme Court. In Tampa alone, 5000 units are due to be evicted in the near future. The protesters also demanded the cancelation of late rent payments over the course of the pandemic and for the city to invest in the community, not the police.

In addition to the looming evictions, many studies have shown that Tampa is the city with the fastest growing rent costs in the country. With such a huge housing crisis, the city of Tampa has neglected to offer tenants any sort of relief, including the tens of millions of dollars that the federal government granted to Tampa for this very issue.

“It was great to see so many people come out determined not to let the landlords and the city use this crisis as an opportunity to evict so many folks, who are mostly from the working class and communities of color,” said Joe Nohava, an activist with Tampa Bay Community Action Committee.

In the midst of this crisis, the city has instead voted to spend $100 million dollars on a new Tampa police headquarters and a “City Center” of offices in East Tampa, a historically African American area of Tampa.

“It is no coincidence that many of the evictions as well as the new police headquarters will be in East Tampa,” said another member of TBCAC, David Jones. “This is a clear example of the city and real estate developers to gentrify this side of town.”

The protesters ended the event with a call to action for more rallies against the city’s lack of housing relief and an end to the planning of the new police headquarters.

#TampaFL #HousingStruggles #TampaBayCommunityActionCommittee

With the expiration of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium, millions of families are facing homelessness. The economic crisis, coupled with the pandemic and rising rents, has hit working and poor people hard. It was no secret that that this moratorium deadline was coming. President Biden’s statements that nothing can be done are nothing sort of absurd. There is no excuse for putting millions of people in the streets. Freedom Road Socialist Organization adds our voice to those demanding immediate action from Congress and the White House.

The eviction ban was put in place in September 2020, as a public health measure that would keep people in their homes and apartments, instead of in shelters were COVID-19 could run rampant. Now, at a moment where the Delta variant of COVID-19 is striking many, government’s plan is to let the landlords evict people, sending them to the streets or shelters. There is nothing right or OK about this.

Every indication is that renters in the Black Belt South will be hit the hardest, due to income inequality and laws that favor landlords. Oppressed nationalities – African Americans, Asian Americans, Chicanos and Latinos, and Native Americans – will be hit much harder by the wave of evictions, as they are much more likely to be renters than are white Americans.

Capitalism is a failed system that show at each and every juncture its inability to meet people’s needs. 600,000 are dead from COVID and there are more every day. Reactionary politicians fronting for big business and a for-profit health care system are the blame. In this country housing is a big business. Low-income housing yields few profits so little of it is built. Government caters to landlords. It is all about making money for those who already have it. As a point of fact, the ownership of rental housing is becoming increasingly concentrated in the hands of large corporations and investment firms. For those out of job and unable to pay rent, landlords and government have a solution – evictions. They are calling calling out the sheriffs for those who will not leave the place they call home, and then dumping their belongings on the street.

The time is now to raise our voices. Biden and Congress have the power to stop this attack on renters. Those who fail to act need to be judged accordingly. We demand a halt to evictions. Now.

Housing is right. Putting a roof over people’s heads should not be a means for big landlords with lots of property to make piles of money. But that is exactly what is. Capitalism – a system that is based on making the highest rate of profit – will never be able to meet people’s housing needs. The big landlords are not even trying. We need socialism to do that. Working people with political power can remake the economy and society, and we can make housing a right that all of us enjoy.

#UnitedStates #HousingStruggles #evictionMoratorium

Last Tuesday, May 4, the police were called to an encampment and immediately went after Carl Moore, a local activist, who is also indigenous. Moore was choked and slammed into a car by Clinton Fox, the same officer who murdered Patrick Harmon in the summer of 2017.

When Fox was asked by activists how he slept after killing Harmon, a homeless Black man, he boasted “Like a baby.” In that same month, Salt Lake City PD rolled out Operation Rio Grande, a $67 million plan to purge downtown Salt Lake City of its homeless residents. Over 1000 people were arrested.

In January of 2020, the people of SLC fought back with Operation Take Shelter, in which dozens of people occupied Washington Square Park near the City and County Building, and ten were charged with rioting. The occupation was organized by the Take Shelter Coalition, which included members of Utah Against Police Brutality and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

The attacks on the poor have resulted in mass displacement. As many are being forced out of from place to place, the monthly rent for a one-bedroom in the city is spiking into the $1000s. As the United States descends into socioeconomic crisis, the national Center for Disease Control Eviction Moratorium was struck down in federal court a month before it was to end.

In the past few weeks, SLC residents have continued to rally demanding an end to the ‘abatements’ and pushing for shelter for all and sanitation services homeless people.

#SaltLakeCityUT #HousingStruggles #homelessness

En los Estados Unidos, las capitalistas monopólicos y sus políticos han tratado de reemplazar el día de los trabajadores internacional con algo que se llamó “Labor Day” en el mes de Septiembre. Era un a intervención a robar el impulso revolucionario del Primero de Mayo con algo más flojo, más débil del sentimiento original. Pero, en 2006, con las marchas masivas de tantos inmigrantes a celebrar el Primero de Mayo, otra vez inicio el día como su legado alrededor del mundo.

Trabajadores alrededor del mundo han continuado luchando en la cara de una pandemia mundial. La clase élite ha hecho bien claro que valoran sus ganancias más que las vidas de la clase obrera. Específicamente, cuando veamos en las comunidades de los Afro-Americanos, los Latinos y Chicanos, y la gente Indigena quien sufrir los peores efectos de la pandemia. Los Americanos Asiáticos han recibido una ola de violencia racista, como los dos administraciones han levantado las tensiones con la República del Pueblo China. La situación en los Estados Unidos demarca una contrasto bien claro en vez de los otros países socialistas como Cuba donde han ayudado mucho su población durante tiempos duros en la pandemia.

Algunos cheques estímulos durante los 12 meses en pasado no son suficientes para cobrar todas los problemas de finanzas por las familias luchando en los E.E.U.U. Los educadores sigan luchando con sus administradores y los políticos con la salud y seguridad en nuestras escuelas. Los estudiantes en las universidades están luchando contra las administraciones que los han maltratado injustamente. Hay tantas personas deberían haber sido los primeros en recibir la vacuna pero tienen esperar porque el capitalismo es un sistema fracasado y no nos sirve nuestras interesas.

El Primero de Mayo es la hora de planear las batallas que vienen como hacemos el análisis y reflejamos lo que está pasando ahora. Debemos ganar justicia por el George Floyd con cualquier métodos necesarios y para todas las víctimas de los crímenes de la policía. Debemos luchar para parar el maltratamiento de todos los migrantes y refugiados que lleguen a la frontera, y tenemos que cerrar todos los centros de detención donde ocurren tantos abusos. Debemos apoyar los sectores de la clase obrera que están organizándose por condiciones mejores, especialmente los trabajadores de Amazon en Alabama confrontando una represión masiva de los patrones y el estado en su lucha por la elección por su sindicato. Por cada y todas las causas, debemos redoblar nuestros esfuerzos a organizarnos y seguir luchando por una agenda popular que se pone los necesidades de los muchos primero.

El capitalismo está muriendo y luchando contra sus últimas piernas y sus debilidad se muestra más y más con el tiempo. Los atentados de la clase élite se ponen más desesperados como con cada abertura en sus sistema viene más resistencia a sus modos viejos y brutales. En cada parte del mundo podemos ver la evidencia que tantos trabajadores siguen batallando en muchos frentes. Después el asesino de George Floyd hemos visto una gran rebelión de millones en movimiento llevando el país al punto de cambio. La historia está en el lado de la clase obrera y los oprimidos de todo el mundo. Cuando el poder económico y político está en las manos de la clase obrera podemos empezar a proveer por el pueblo. Aprovechar el tiempo – vamos a revitalizar nuestros esfuerzos a ganar un mundo mejor para todos y todas por derrotando el sistema que no nos deja hacerlo.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #PoorPeoplesMovements #StudentMovement #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #WomensMovement #ElPrimeroDeMayo #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #HousingStruggles #Antiracism #Socialism #OrganizaciónSocialistaDelCaminoDeLibertadOSCL #socialismo

International Workers Day is celebrated on May 1. Around the world, workers have accomplished many great things over the past year that we can be proud of. The ruling class, made up of monopoly capitalists, have tried their best to keep profits high at the expense of the people during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we’ve seen time and time again that the people can rise above the obstacles created by the 1% and bring about real change. On May Day 2021, it is important to reflect on the past year. We must also renew our efforts to end the rule of the monopoly capitalists and replace their broken, failed system with a system that benefits not the few but the majority of people – socialism.

May Day began as a celebration of the working class and its heroic struggle after Haymarket in Chicago in 1886. Workers at Haymarket fought against terrible working conditions and for an eight-hour workday. The greedy bosses and their servants, the police, tried to brutally repress the workers and their movement. The police attacked, injured and killed striking workers, most of them immigrants, leading up to the Haymarket massacre. Then the state of Illinois held a trial and hung four labor leaders, the Haymarket Martyrs. Still, the spirit of that first May Day lives on and is celebrated by workers around the world each year.

In the United States, the monopoly capitalists and their politicians tried to replace the globally celebrated International Workers Day with ‘Labor Day’ in September. It wasn’t until the massive marches for immigrant rights of 2006 that the celebration of May Day became once again widespread in the U.S.

Workers around the world continue to struggle in the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The ruling class has made it clear over the past year that they value making profits much more than they value the lives of the working class. This is especially true as we see African American, Latino/Chicano, and Native American communities continuing to suffer the worst effects of the pandemic, even as many people begin to have access to vaccinations. Asian Americans are being hit by a wave of racist violence, as both the Trump and Biden administrations have ramped up tensions with China The situation in the U.S. lies in stark contrast to the measures being taken in other countries like Cuba, where the socialist government is actively helping their people against the pandemic.

A few stimulus checks over the past 12 months is nowhere near enough financial help for families struggling in the U.S. Teachers continue to struggle with administrators and politicians over safety in our schools. College students are fighting back against administrations that have treated many young adults unfairly. Many people who should have been among the first to receive vaccinations are having to wait because capitalism is a failed system that doesn’t serve our best interests.

May Day is a time to plan for the battles to come as we analyze and reflect on the current situation. Justice must be won by any means necessary for George Floyd and all victims of police crimes. We must fight for an end to the cruel treatment of immigrants and refugees at the U.S. border, and we need to shut down all the detention centers where terrible abuses are taking place. We must support sectors of the working class that are organizing for better conditions, including the workers at Amazon in Alabama currently seeing massive repression from the boss and from the state throughout their union election. For each and every cause, we must double down on our organizing efforts and continue fighting for a people’s agenda that puts the needs of the many first.

Capitalism is on its last legs, and the weakness of that system shows more and more as time goes on. The attempts of the ruling class become more desperate as each crack in their system brings forth increased resistance to their outdated and rotten way of doing things. This is evident all over the world, as workers continue their fight along many fronts. Over this past year, after the murder of George Floyd, we have witnessed a great rebellion that has drawn millions into motion. This country is at a turning point. History is on the side of the working class and oppressed people all over the world. Only once economic and political power is in the hands of the working class can the people’s needs truly begin to be met. Seize the time – let us renew our efforts to win a better world for all and smash the system that’s holding us back.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #CapitalismAndEconomy #PoorPeoplesMovements #StudentMovement #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #HousingStruggles #internationalWorkersDay #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #Socialism #MayDay2021

After a discussion of the city’s efforts to invest in Southside, the newly-elected Democratic Socialists of America-backed commissioner Jack Porter asked for clarification as to why the Southside of Tallahassee has been so long neglected by the city of Tallahassee. “What is the assessment of why the desired impact on the Southside has not been achieved in these 20 years with plans? Is it that there was something wrong with the plan? Did we not invest the way we needed to? Or the follow up or the implementation?” Porter added, “I agree with Commissioner Matlow, we’ve got to identify where the breakdown was if we’re going to move forward, which we all agree we need to.”

When City Manager Reese Goad began to offer Porter an answer, Commissioner Dianne Williams Cox, one of two Black people on the Commission cut Goad off saying, “City Manager, I don’t want you to get in trouble, because you got to tell the truth. And the truth is not a nice answer like I know you want to give.”

Commissioner Williams Cox then proceeded to offer a lengthy explanation of how the city has neglected Southside. Although she declared, “In order to fix this, we’ve got to expose it,” and that some people may not find her answer to be “politically correct,” the closest Williams Cox came to naming the actual cause of neglect was, “Because the people who live in, the demographic in that area may not have been looked upon as favorably as others.” Rather than naming and exposing city-level institutional white supremacy, Commissioner Williams Cox seemed almost more interested in jockeying for a position as leader of the city’s efforts to invest in Southside.

It took until the public comment portion of the retreat for someone to ‘expose’ anti-Black discrimination as the reason for the city’s neglect of Southside. Whitfield Leland was first up to bat during the public comment period, and knocked the ball out of the park. Responding directly to Commissioner Porter’s initial question, Leland offered a much shorter and more accurate explanation. “The reason why it didn’t happen with this action plan is because we were Black.”

Leland went on to address affordable housing, which is a major crisis in Tallahassee, and one that many civilians offered public comments about, telling the commissioners they, “need to start seeing housing as a public health issue and a public safety issue,” and that they “should be addressing the root of poverty.” “What is the cause of poverty?” Leland asked. “Lack of access to healthcare, employment, the absence of social services, race discrimination, poor infrastructure, and government corruption,” adding, “We have to prioritize the basic needs and infrastructure people need to survive and strive more than prioritizing convention centers and parking lots.”

#TallahasseeFL #HousingStruggles #TallahasseeCommunityActionCommitteeTCAC

Trump aprendió mucho en 2000 cuando la Corte Suprema usó chads (los papelitos que se producen cuando la perforadora en la máquina de votación marca las selecciones en las boletas) colgantes para declarar a Bush presidente. Así como Bush, Trump no bastará para nada, eliminando votantes negros desde las listas de elegibilidad, forzando que votantes hacen fila por horas en las estaciones de votación, retrasando el correo estadounidense y rechazando de contar boletas de correo.

Juntos, ¡la gente debe desencadenar un aluvión de lucha! Si el voto no funciona, entonces es hora de tomar las calles – necesitamos mítines y marchas de la gente de la clase trabajadora y oprimida, con nuestros aliados, avanzar las reivindicaciones democráticas y desafiar al sistema.

Hace cuatro años, manifestándose en contra de la inauguración de Trump en Washington DC, el secretario político de Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Steff Yorek declaró, “Nuestro objetivo es hacer que el país sea ingobernable para Trump y los Republicanos.” El próximo día, la Marcha de las Mujeres fue la manifestación masiva más grande en la historia estadounidense. Trump lanzaba ataque tras ataque, y la gente los resistía con números crecientes.

Hemos hecho todo en nuestro poder para echar leña al fuego de esta resistencia, desde manifestaciones en el aeropuerto, dándole una paliza a la Prohibición de Musulmanes de Trump, a mítines en oficinas de ICE denunciando a la detención de niños encerrados en jaulas, a promover y dirigir el número creciente de huelgas por trabajadores, a oponerse a los ataques de Trump hacia la gente LGBTQ+. Después de la ira justa en contra del asesinato espantoso de George Floyd por la policía de Minneapolis, es seguro decir que hay más gente poniéndose de pie y resistiendo que en cualquier momento desde el principio de los 70. Díganlo con nosotros, “¡Lucha! ¡Resiste!”

¿Y ahora qué? Estamos organizando a la gente para mantener las calles. Si Trump niega de salir, tendremos que seguir en modo de exigir que los gobiernos locales, condados, y estatales rechacen reconocerlo y actúen en su contra. Literalmente hacer que el país sea ingobernable.

¡Hemos trabajado para encontrar los ataques de Trump con unidad, poder de la gente y solidaridad! Cuando la gente fuerza a Trump a conceder, ¡será un día dichoso! Entonces avanzamos a la próxima etapa de lucha.

A pesar de cómo Trump sale del puesto, nuestro próximo blanco es un presidente que también baila al ritmo de los banqueros de Wall Street. Con la crisis económica y sanitaria en desarrollo, no podemos regresar a las formas viejas de hacer las cosas. Con Biden en el cargo, nada no va a cambiar aunque exigimos que lo cambie y lo respaldamos con poder de la gente, incluyendo los esfuerzos organizados de la clase trabajadora. Biden no va a salvarnos. Tenemos que iniciar los cambios que deseamos a través de nuestros movimientos y con la dirección que actúa conscientemente e independientemente de ambos partidos de Wall Street.

El historial de Biden es claro; empujó a los pobres de la asistencia social, encerró a los hombres negros y a otros en cantidades sin precidentes, y entró en guerra con entusiasmo en contra de países y gentes que Wall Street consideraba demasiados independientes o demasiados fuertes. Para dar el cambio, debemos avanzar una agenda de la gente como la de la Marcha en la Convención Nacional Democrática en Milwaukee, en agosto de 2020.

De las muchas reformas que la gente quiere, como los derechos de los inmigrantes y la reversión del cambio climático, tres destacan. Inmediatamente necesitamos atención médica para todos para luchar contra la pandemia COVID-19. Necesitamos extendido y ampliado subsidio por desempleo (¡Traiga de vuelta los $600 ahora!) para pagar el alquiler y los recibos. Lo más importante es que debemos poner fin a los asesinatos policiales y el terror policial con el control comunitario de la policía.

El hecho es que tenemos que quitarnos de encima a Trump. Su tipo de brutalidad y reacción no solamente es una amenaza concreta a las vidas de personas actuales; la pérdida constante de terreno es un impedimento para hacer progreso en varios asuntos, con el potencial de desmoralizar el flujo de lucha. Sin embargo, no estamos confundidos sobre la naturaleza de Biden o el hecho de que las reformas no son suficientes. La gente trabajadora y oprimida no pueden cumplir nuestros sueños y aspiraciones dentro del sistema que existe hoy – necesitamos algo diferente y mejor.

Si ustedes leen ¡Lucha y Resiste! como noticiario, saben que estamos construyendo movimientos, tratando de ganar peticiones urgentes, todo el tiempo pidiendo a los organizadores y activistas desarrollar la lucha por la revolución al registrarse con la Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Conviertan su ira justa en activismo valioso para la revolución, el socialismo, y la liberación. Únanse con la FRSO.

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