Stay ConnectedWeekly radio show from the Democratic Socialists of America in NYC, recorded live at WBAI 99.5 in Brooklyn NY, Tuesday @ 7pm EST. Listen and call-in!
Our vision for a democratic socialist future, from the minds and hearts of organizers fighting every day in NYC. Hear the latest news, analysis, and organizing experience from our members and partners and learn how to be part of a revolutionary political moment. Join the movement at socialists.nyc!
Copyright: © NYC Democratic Socialists of America
"Because of my access to birth control and abortion, I was able to have my first child last year when my husband and I were financially stable enough, emotionally ready and could be the best parents we could be for him. Family planning is a human right for all birthing bodies and after experiencing childbirth I am an even stronger advocate for everyone’s right to an abortion, on demand for any reason they decide to," writes tonight's host Desiree Joy Frias.
For too long, anti-abortion forces have claimed the label of “pro-life” while passing laws and encouraging actions that cause direct harm to people’s lives and bodies. As the right-wing assault on abortion access in the United States continues to escalate, organizers in New York City are fighting back and standing up for politics that center bodily autonomy, human rights, and reproductive freedom. Hear from New York City for Abortion Rights on the local struggle to protect abortion clinics and ensure access to abortion by any means necessary.
Plus, we visit the New York Taxi Workers Alliance sit-in at City Hall to discuss another life-or-death issue: medallion debt forgiveness. Taxi workers are demanding that New York City provide adequate debt relief for drivers as soon as possible.
Follow NYC4AR on their website abortionrights.nyc or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/nycforabortionrights/. Visit https://linktr.ee/nycforabortion to sign the petition to stop clinic harassment in Cobble Hill or donate to an abortion fund in Texas. The next Cobble Hill counter-protest will be held on October 9.
The NYC-DSA Debt & Finance Working Group is calling on DSA members and allies to show up in solidarity with New York taxi workers this Friday, September 24. Learn more and RSVP at bit.ly/DSAforNYTWA.
The world is on fire and the organizations of the international working class are the only force capable of putting it out. Union organizer and campaign worker Marvin Gonzalez, a member of National DSA’s International Committee, joins us to discuss his recent trip to the conference of the International in Venezuela. After that we hear from Zenab Ahmed on Afghanistan. Later in the show, we will speak to Halema Wali, a community organizer and the co-founder of the Afghans for a Better Tomorrow. We also speak to DSA International Committee member Sepehr Makaremi as well as Don Rhodes from the NYC-DSA Anti-War working group. The trio will discuss how the socialist movement has been at the forefront of organizing efforts to assist Afghan Refugees and how we can all work to challenge the power of American capitalist imperialism.
It’s a Revolutions per Minute social and fundraising extravaganza! Tonight we’re taking a break from our usual format to share a peek behind the scenes of the Revolutions per Minute collective: who we are, why we organize community radio for NYC-DSA, and why we support WBAI 99.5FM. Hear from our RPM hosts, producers, and behind the scenes comrades during this relaxed, casual show that emphasizes the importance of movement-based community media.
Please consider giving to WBAI in the name of Revolutions per Minute. Monthly donations of any amount are appreciated, and giving $25 in a calendar year makes you a voting member of the station! To donate, visit give2wbai.org. We have more cool rewards coming, so keep listening and check back!
To pitch a story for coverage on Revolutions per Minute, visit bit.ly/pitch2RPM.
If you’re a member of NYC-DSA looking to learn more or get involved with making RPM, please visit bit.ly/RPMJoinForm.
This episode was recorded remotely during a night of heavy rain and catastrophic flooding in New York City. We urge you to join NYC-DSA's Ecosocialist Working Group or another local formation and get involved with the struggle to protect workers and tenants against climate catastrophe.
This summer the IPCC released another devastating report on the climate crisis driven by fossil fuel capital, as like most of the country, we saw the impacts of climate change right here in NYC with heat waves and record rain. Tonight we’ll talk with Ecosocialist comrades Brittany Allen and Gustavo Gordillo about how DSA is taking the climate fight to one of the most essential yet resource deprived institutions across the country - our schools- with the Green New Deal for Public Schools campaign.
To join the national campaign for a Green New Deal for Public Schools: https://greennewschools.com/join
To join NYC-DSA Ecoscialists: https://ecosocialists.nyc/join-us/
Follow NYC-DSA EcoSocialist Working Group on Twitter: @NYCDSA_Ecosoc
Follow NYC-DSA EcoSocialist Working Group on Twitter: @NYCDSA_Ecosoc
Even with Cuomo out of office, our state still faces a housing crisis. This week, The Supreme Court has issued a temporary injunction against the "Emergency Eviction and Foreclosure Prevention Act," also known as the New York State's Eviction moratorium. This immediately suspends the eviction protections for tenants included in that law. Up to 40 million Americans could face eviction due to the ending of the eviction moratorium. For some, it's fifteen months worth of back rent- and in more expensive cities like NYC or Portland where rents have skyrocketed after the 2008 mortgage crisis, that can mean up to $31,500 - due immediately.
As the Delta variant surges with 619,000 deaths in the last 30 days and hospitals filled to breaking point from Florida to Texas (including 90,000 hospitalized children in the last week alone), the pandemic is certainly not over. And with only 71% of adults vaccinated and children under 12 ineligible for a vaccine, it won’t be ending any time soon either.
Tonight, we hear from State Senator and NYC-DSA member Jabari Brisport about the plans from the DSA Socialists in Office in New York State's legislature to fight for housing as a human right - and the right for all of us to stay at home during COVID 19.
Here are resources via the Met Council on Housing on what to do if you are facing eviction:
DO NOT SELF-EVICT! DO NOT MOVE OUT! It is extremely important to remember that evictions proceedings are long and there are other anti-eviction laws in place.
How can you protect yourself now?
1) Apply for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP): If you apply for this program, your landlord cannot move forward with your eviction. This is the strongest protection we have to keep people in their homes.
2) Sign up for the federal CDC moratorium: The federal government has extended its moratorium to October 1st. It is not as strong as the NY State Eviction Moratorium but if you sign the CDC declaration of hardship, it will provide you with a defense in court if your landlord tries to evict you
3) Join your building’s tenant union, or reach out to CASA, Crown Heights Tenant Union or Met Council on Housing for housing help, resources to start your own tenant union or you can also call 311 for available city resources.
We here at RPM stand in solidarity with tenants across the country.
Senator Julia Salazar of NY-18 was elected in 2018 after winning an insurgent, grassroots campaign powered by NYC-DSA as well as many movement allies. Three years later, she’s serving her second term in Albany as the chair of the Women’s Issues Committee and the chair of the Crime Victims, Crime, and Corrections Committee.
On tonight’s show, we speak with Senator Salazar as well as her Organizing Director and fellow NYC-DSA member, Ramon Pebenito. Dismantling the carceral system requires all of us to exercise our power to slow, stop, or mitigate the harms of police and prisons, or to throw “sand in the gears” of the machine of bureaucratic state violence wherever we are. In this episode, we hear from Senator Salazar on her surprise visits to NY State correctional facilities and from Ramon on over-policing in New York’s district 18.
You can find Senator Salazar on Twitter @SalazarSenate or visit her official website:
We may be across a “state” line from each other, but organizers in New York and New Jersey know what unites us is much more than what divides us. On tonight’s show, we’re joined live by our comrades from North New Jersey DSA to discuss their chapter’s organizing to abolish ICE and close immigrant detention facilities, conduct mutual aid and harm reduction work with their communities, and elect socialist and union leader Joel Brooks to City Council in Jersey City.
To learn more about Joel Brooks’ campaign for City Council, visit https://www.joelbrooksforjerseycity.com/ or follow @VoteJoelBrooks.
You can reach out the North New Jersey Mutual Aid Working Group at: nnjmutualaidwg@gmail.com or contribute to their fundraiser for the Ramapough Lunaape Turtle Clan’s Munsee Three Sisters Medicine Farm in Newton, NJ: https://www.gofundme.com/f/RLsolidarity
Click here to learn more about the North New Jersey Immigrant Justice Working Group: https://linktr.ee/ImmigrationNNJ
To learn more about North New Jersey DSA, visit https://north.dsanj.org/ or follow @NorthNJDSA.
“I'm gonna tell all you fascists, you may be surprised/ People all over this world are getting organized”
Legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie wrote those words in 1944 and here in 2021 they ring truer than ever. The far-right is on the rise globally and socialists, communists, feminists, anarchists, and unionists are joining forces to fight back. Join Revolutions per Minute host Amy Wilson for an hour of antifascist story and song, featuring recordings from the DSA National Antifascist Working Group introductory call on July 11. We’ll hear from DSA members from Long Island, Chicago, Kansas City, Houston, and Portland on what they’ve done to build antifascist response in their community and the lessons they’ve learned. We also hear classic antifascist folk songs recorded specially for Revolutions per Minute.
To learn more about the DSA National Antifascist Working Group, please visit https://www.dsausa.org/working-groups/anti-fascist-working-group/ or follow @DSAAntifascist on Twitter.
Special credits for this episode go to Rob G for audio production, SAREEN for audio composition, and Dan Wyman of Sing in Solidarity, NYC-DSA’s music working group, for musical performance. We send our thanks as well to comrades who participated in this episode who would prefer to stay anonymous, and all those organizing to oppose the rise of fascism where they are.
On June 22, the name India Walton skyrocketed into the mainstream after the DSA-endorsed candidate won the democratic primary for the Mayor of Buffalo. Walton was endorsed by Buffalo DSA and National DSA, as well as the DSA slate in Albany. When elected in November she will be the first socialist Mayor of a large city since 1960, but she joins a number of socialist, like Pennsylvania Representative Summer Lee, who are winning elections in the rust belt. Today we'll be joined by Steven Jackson from Buffalo DSA to talk about India Walton’s incredible victory and the rise of socialism in the rust belt.
Follow Buffalo DSA on Twitter at @BuffaloDSA and on Instagram and Facebook
Visit www.IndiaWalton.com to support India's campaign
Join the Gas Bill Strike against National Grid's North Brooklyn Pipeline at www.nonbkpipeline.org/strike
In the words of civil rights giant Ella Baker, “Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother's son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.”
As the summer of 2021 continues to heat up, reactionaries and conservatives are escalating their assault on our struggle for multi-racial working-class liberation -- but socialists are continuing to fight back and rack up gains. On tonight’s show, we’ll speak to members of Suffolk County DSA about the recent election of DSA member Colin Palmer to the Riverhead Central District school board and how school boards are a crucial front for community control and democracy. We’ll also hear from the DSA’s new National Antifascist Working Group which is working to connect anti-fascists and anti-racists across the country.
RSVP for the AFWG introduction call on July 11 here: https://dsausa.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uOOnljlAR0mn7UzUHlv83Q. Follow the working group on Twitter at @DSAAntifascist or subscribe to their mailing list: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/national-dsa-antifascist-working-group-mailing-list-registration
Follow along with Suffolk DSA’s efforts to organize for socialism in the suburbs on Twitter @SuffolkDSA or at suffolkdsa.org. Follow Colin Palmer, Riverhead Central School District board Trustee and the first democratic socialist elected in Suffolk County, at @CJTPalmerEsq.
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