Organize!
Whether we are engaging in acts of resistance or creating new, alternative institutions, we need to create sustainable, democratic organizations that empower their members while also protecting against disruption. This section provides articles about effective organizing, creating democratic decision-making structures, building coalitions with other groups, and more. Visit the Resources Page for tools to assist your organizing efforts.
Can labor sustain its forward momentum under Trump? The first big test came last Monday, when Whole Foods workers in Philadelphia voted on whether to unionize with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Many in the labor movement were expecting a loss, since MAGA is now in office and since management — headed by Trump’s new billionaire buddy Jeff Bezos — went scorched earth against the nascent union effort. But a multiracial crew of young, self-organized, left-leaning workers proved the skeptics wrong, as so often has been the case since 2021.
50,000 Jobs, Social Programs, And Medical Centers
February 4, 2025
Tallis Boerne Marcus, People's Dispatch.
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Claudia Sheinbaum, Detention Centers, Donald Trump, Human Rights, mass deportations, Mexico, Migrant Rights, Tariffs, US-Mexico border
As the Trump administration intensifies its threats of mass deportations, Latin American nations are bracing for the impact. Mexico’s response, led by President Claudia Sheinbaum, has largely flown under the radar, despite its measured and humanitarian-focused approach. While the Mexican government has made it clear that there’s no need to panic just yet, Sheinbaum’s administration is well-prepared to face the challenges ahead.
In the week from January 20-26, there were 4,094 people deported to Mexico, the vast majority Mexican. However, Sheinbaum made it clear this number alone isn’t out-of-the-ordinary. “[These deportations happened] With the arrival of President Trump, but if we take it week by week, this is a number that we’ve had on other occasions in our country.”
Toolkit For The Movement: Guides For Community Defense
January 30, 2025
Center for Constitutional Rights, Popular Resistance.
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Community organizing, Donald Trump, Human Rights, Legal System
Recent years have seen our community and movement partners on the frontlines wracked by COVID-19, ongoing systemic anti-Black racism, accelerating climate disasters, and growing authoritarian repression, which have all disproportionately harmed those we work alongside: those who survive at the margins and those whose existence and resistance threatens the intolerable status quo.
Toolkit for the Movement is a collection of resources to support and protect our communities. This includes information on what to do if an agent knocks at your door, FOIA basics for activists, and more.
Sahel States Exit ECOWAS, Launch Regional Passport And Joint Military
January 30, 2025
Nicholas Mwangi, People's Dispatch.
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Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Burkina Faso, Decolonization, ECOWAS, Ibrahim Traore, Mali, Niger, Pan Africanism, Regionalism, Sovereignty
Just a year ago, on January 28, 2024, the military leaders of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger publicly declared their intent to withdraw from the regional economic bloc. This announcement was a historic point in the Sahel’s political shift, as the three countries continue to push for sovereignty, regional security, and economic autonomy. The withdrawal took effect on January 29, 2025, as confirmed by ECOWAS.
On Tuesday, January 28, 2025, the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, came alive with celebration as the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) marked the first anniversary of their historic decision to leave the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
A Teacher’s Approach On How To Fight Back Against ICE
January 27, 2025
Emma Lee, Left Voice.
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Donald Trump, Education, ICE, ICE Raids, Immigration, Resistance, Schools, Teachers
The Trump administration’s racist, anti-immigrant offensive is targeting sanctuary cities and the few remaining spaces where undocumented immigrants can feel safe — even where they go to learn and receive healthcare. As a teacher in New York City, this is a direct attack on my students, their families, and my coworkers.
A new directive from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has authorized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to raid schools, hospitals, and religious institutions like churches and mosques — locations previously designated as “sensitive areas” under a 2011 policy.
SF Native Touts Worker-To-Worker Organizing As Key To Labor Revival
January 27, 2025
Steve Early, Beyond Chron.
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Books, Democracy, Labor Movement, Worker Rights and Jobs
How many graduates of Buena Vista Elementary and Lowell High School have become labor book authors? Probably not many–other than Eric Blanc, whose mother taught in the San Francisco school system (and served as union president) and whose father was long active in the central labor council. Blanc became a teacher himself and drew on that experience when writing his first book, Red State Revolt: The Teachers Strike Wave and Working-Class Politics. Now an assistant professor at Rutgers University, Blanc has just published a more wide-ranging study. It grapples with a perennial question facing the labor left—namely, what kind of break with business as usual, within established unions, would help more private sector workers win union recognition, first contracts, and strikes?
Dispatch: Through The Fire
January 26, 2025
Carlos Sirah, Black Agenda Report.
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Black America, California, climate crisis, Extreme weather, Fires, Mutual Aid
Unprecedented January wildfires devastate Los Angeles, as communities face both natural disaster and militarized state response. The Eaton Fire displaces numerous families in the Pasadena-Altadena area, including multigenerational Black households who have built lives in these neighborhoods for decades. Among them, the Edwards family stands displaced from their home of 32 years.
For those seeking to support impacted community members, the Edwards family’s GoFundMe, provides direct aid to one of many displaced households fighting to survive. A broader directory of displaced Black families seeking support can be found here.
1968 And 2025: What Prospect For Resistance Inside US Military?
January 25, 2025
Johnnie Lewis, Workers' World.
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Gaza, Genocide, GI Resistance, Veterans, Vietnam War
A recent article in the British Guardian newspaper recounted the experiences of veterans of the U.S. military and their thoughts and feelings in opposition to the U.S.-aided and -abetted genocide on Palestinian Gaza perpetrated by Zionist Israel. This opposition is to be applauded.
The U.S. military is now “all-volunteer.” So, this opposition will allow youth contemplating joining the military a different, sobering perspective. No doubt many young people already have this perspective because all branches of the military are failing to meet their recruiting quotas.
My experience in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1969 was quite different from that of these veterans.
To Confront Oligarchy, Build Power At The Community Level
January 25, 2025
Patrick Mazza, Resilience.
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Bioregions, Community organizing, Corporatocracy, oligarchy
A consistent theme through my life has been to understand our world, to assemble a comprehensive picture the best I can, respecting the world’s boggling complexity and the limits of any one mind to grasp it all. What has long been clear to me is that our world is on a systematically wrong way path. Three trends are in the foreground – the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, ecological overshoot and increasing economic disparity. Together they shape what many have called the polycrisis.
From the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis with its nuclear war close call, which happened around my 10th birthday, the insanity of piling up weapons of mass destruction has recurrently come to the foreground.
Make Sure Union Meetings Don’t Resemble The Work Meetings You Hate
January 24, 2025
Cynthia Roy, Labor Notes.
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Labor Movement, Meetings, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs
Too often at school, we educators feel unappreciated and disrespected. In committee and faculty meetings, we share our knowledge and insights only to be ignored.
If we don’t stop to reflect and think critically about these experiences, we may end up adopting the same hierarchical and oppressive practices as the administration, and our union meetings start to resemble the work meetings that we hate.
But your union is yours to shape. You can make your local union meetings a space where members are heard and can make a difference.
Thousands Of Resident Physicians In Philadelphia Voted To Unionize
January 22, 2025
Aubrey Whelan, Portside.
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Doctors, Health Care, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs
Eight in 10 doctors-in-training in Philadelphia are now represented by unions, following a wave of labor organizing across major health systems in the region.
Doctors at three Philadelphia health systems and Delaware's largest health provider voted to join the Committee of Interns and Residents, a division of the Service Employees International Union.
The move follows a national trend of physicians unionizing around the country, as doctors increasingly look for solutions to burnout in a field now dominated by large health system employers.
Community Group Provides Education On How To Respond To ICE Raids
January 21, 2025
Alan Mitchell, Fight Back! News.
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Education, ICE, Immigrant Rights, Immigration, Minnesota
Grand Rapids, Michigan – On Saturday, January 18, community members took refuge from the freezing weather outside to attend a discussion and group training on how to take action against the threat of heightened ICE activity. The event took place in the crowded social hall in Fountain Street Church, with nearly 100 participants.
The organization putting on the event, Grand Rapids Rapid Response to ICE, provided the audience with plenty of context as to the urgency of the action. Kent County is home to a total of three ICE offices and it has been active in the area since the George W. Bush administration.
Latin American Ministers Meet To Unify Their Stance On Trump’s Policies
January 20, 2025
TeleSur, Resumen English.
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Caribbean, Donald Trump, Immigration, Latin America, Mexico
On Thursday, ministers, deputy ministers, and heads of delegations from 10 Latin American and Caribbean countries met in Mexico City to develop a joint strategy in response to the threats of mass deportations by Donald Trump.
The “Meeting on Human Mobility in the Northern Route of the Continent: Towards an Orderly, Safe, Regular, Responsible, and Humane Management” was attended by representatives from Belize, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, and Venezuela.
“In light of the challenges we face in migration matters, we gathered in Mexico City to discuss and coordinate actions aimed at protecting the human rights of migrants, preventing abuse and mistreatment, managing migration from a humanitarian perspective in an orderly, safe, and regular manner, as well as integrating migrant populations,” stated the Mexican foreign affairs ministry.
Patients Are Dying Because Of Profit-Driven Political Decisions
January 18, 2025
The Canary.
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Health Care, NHS, Privatization, Profiteers, United Kingdom (UK)
In 2025, campaign group EveryDoctor is stepping up its work to save the NHS from privatisation, and build a functioning, flourishing healthcare system for patients and staff alike.
However, there’s work to do. The group wants to grow its following from thousands, to a vibrant patient and staff community of millions. It feels it will take nothing short of this to turn things around because:
millions of people are currently being profoundly failed by politicians
In short, the group aims to transform its campaign community into something more: a movement.
Its ambitious goal comes amidst another spate of alarming news stories over the appalling state of things in the NHS.
Mutual Aid Networks Are Mobilizing Amid Los Angeles Fires
January 18, 2025
Schuyler Mitchell, Truthout.
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Extreme weather, Housing Crisis, Los Angeles, Mutual Aid, Wildfires
I’ve always said that Los Angeles is a mirror: Whatever you’re seeking, you’ll find it reflected back to you. Sure, the city has its ugly parts — celebrity worship and diet fads and smog that blots out the sky — but Los Angeles’ true core is multitudinous. Home to about 13 million people, the sprawling metropolis brims with countless communities and enclaves, neighborhoods and histories. If the ugly is all you see, then you’re not looking hard enough.
Since the Palisades and Eaton fires roared to life last week, Los Angeles residents have shown how much strength and solidarity lies in their communities.