Harris/Waltz, tenant unions, Bangladesh, UBI
Red Round-up #1
Welcome to the first Red Round-up, a collection of links and reflections on the “Red” (Anarchy) sphere of this newsletter, which covers work, conflict, organization, and decision-making.
Let’s dive in.
Protest, poverty, politics, and work vs. play
The biggest news in the US has been Kamala Harris launching brat summer, so I wanted to start with a piece about Bangladesh, whose female head of state is now serving her fifth term. The pieces that follow help to show that no government, no matter who’s in charge, will save us or solve our problems. (At the same time, man is it nice to feel hopeful about my country again!)
Why are there protests in Bangladesh? 10 things you need to know (
)What started as a student-led protest over a government jobs quota system in June (more on that below) has quickly grown into a mass movement against Bangladesh’s long-standing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and what many view as her increasingly autocratic government.
What can America learn from Kenya about fighting poverty? (
)Studies show unconditional cash transfers can more than double incomes; increase school enrollment and entrepreneurship; decrease skipped meals, illness, and depression; and cut domestic violence by one third.
You’d still work if you didn’t have to (
)The thought exercise of imagining what we would do if we didn’t have to do anything, is a good one. Not because we might one day have that, though I expect we will get close, but because we already have sufficient agency to achieve it.
It’s not that we don’t want to work, it’s that we want to play.
How the “working class Republican” scam works (
))Again, as in the case of anti-immigration, what we see is that in place of substantive policies that would make workers stronger, Republicans offer a lot of hand-waving about who workers should be mad at, without the substantive policies.
The idea that Vance is merely an opportunist posturing at populism is, frankly, a more comforting thought than the alternative: he is not just a true believer, he comes to his positions with the zeal of a convert.
Harris/Waltz 2024 and electoral politics
Harris did the right thing: she picked Waltz and rejected Shapiro (
))If Harris makes history and wins in November, against Trump and against the odds, she should take a page out of Walz’s playbook in Minnesota from the moment she enters the Oval Office.
“You don't win elections to bank political capital,” the governor tweeted in June 2023 after wrapping up an insanely productive legislative session, “you win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.”
TL;DR version: they chose the guy who best amplifies the story they are telling nationwide over the guy who would help at the margins in a likely tipping point state.
A guide to the coming attacks on Kamala Harris (
)They will be featured in millions of dollars of campaign advertisements, incorporated into Trump's stump speech, and discussed frequently on Fox News. Here is a brief guide to some of the attacks that will be used to define Harris in the weeks ahead.
Fear, Loathing, and Desperation (
)There is a real possibility of extremist violence before, during, and after the election.
I understand why many people view the current moment as a time for renewed hope and optimism, and that these observations could be perceived as provocative or alarmist or pessimistic or cynical. Maybe. But, maybe we need more than hope and optimism to fight fascist authoritarianism.
The economics of lesser evilism (Left Voice)
Trump and Harris want to secure profit making, each in their own way. But there is no lesser evil on a burning planet. We need to end the system they both want to protect. No capitalist party, running on the money of the rich, can do that.
Why stop at removing Biden? (CrimethInc)
If they are prepared to throw out their duly appointed candidate, why stop there? Why not throw out the party machine and party politics itself for good measure? Admitting that they have been living in a fool’s paradise until now should call into question the entire political system that made this fiasco possible.
Democratic politics is part of what got us here. If democracy is so fragile that it could be abolished as the consequence of a single election, then it was already bankrupt—it was never a means by which to secure and defend the self-determination that everyone deserves. We need something more ambitious, something capable of facing down fascism as well as forcing out anyone else who tries to hold power. We need a set of values, organizing principles, and strategies that can keep us oriented through the nightmare that is undoubtedly ahead.
Things we can do together (especially tenant unions)
)If I can leave you with one thing it’s the knowledge that there are countless people out there working for democracy, for justice, for the transformation of society away from fascism and oppression and towards real freedom. There are people waiting to welcome you into that work, and into groups that very likely exist all around you but of which you aren’t yet aware.
Tenants’ unions across the US now have a national federation (Jacobin)
Five tenants’ unions from across the US have announced the launch of a new national organization to take on the power of multistate real-estate capital. The Tenant Union Federation is the first major national effort at tenant organizing in 40 years.
With shared software, landlords are teaming up to raise rents (Jacobin)
San Francisco has banned RealPage, a software company that computer-generates recommended rents for landlord clients in what some are calling a price-fixing scheme. It’s a step toward curbing rent-raising collusion between landlords.
The revolution starts by building with poor folks in your own backyard (
)The most powerful, sustainable impact any of us can have on this world is when we act local and think global. I.e. build with the most marginalized in your local ecosystem while raising collective political consciousness to connect threads between the struggles different communities face.
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