As The Movement Grows, The Silence Becomes Deafening
As PSL-ABQ and others collaborate, the DNC and DSA fall into irrelevance for millions.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation rallies outside of Starbucks in Albuquerque, NM as the company attempts to squash labor organizing within its stores.
Recently, I attended my second rally hosted by the Albuquerque branch of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL-ABQ) and the Southwest Coalition for Palestine (SWCP), joining them and marching from University of New Mexico bookstore to the nearby Starbucks on Central Ave. in support of local unions currently being oppressed by the conglomerate. A few weeks before, I joined them Downtown to march on Senator Martin Heinrich's office in protest of his silence on the genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank as well as his commitment to maintaining the fallacy of Blue MAGA in the face of rising resistance from Progressives within his own party.
Between the two events, there was no shortage of examples of the organizational strength that PSL-ABQ is developing as they continue their campaign against imperialism in the Middle East. Specifically, I was impressed by their management and communication between teams, the entire event last Wednesday serving as an inspiring example of outsider organizing in the face of extreme disregard from the local media and government as well as other ostensibly Progressive organizations.
For all my time at these two protests, I kept arriving at the same question: where is the DSA? How is the supposedly largest socialist organization in the United States failing in their obligations to lend support when causes align or are of existential importance? To be honest: as a (former) dues-paying member of the national DSA for years, I have been supremely disappointed with the tepid response they have thus far shown toward the crisis of imperialism arising from the long-overdue emancipation of the Palestinian people. While issuing condemnations, there has been little visible effort from the organization to actively engage with what is obviously a generationally defining moment of the youth and Leftists, the DSA exposing itself once more for the milquetoast fence-sitters they have been accused of being.
PSL-ABQ members organize and discuss before beginning the march to UNM Bookstore.
As a result of the engagement of the PSL's Albuquerque-branch, it is difficult to ignore the very real organizational deficiencies that are evident within the DSA both locally and nationally. It is my belief that Leftists must collaborate when causes and tactics align; while PSL-ABQ and Starbucks Workers United see the alignment in the issues both face here in Albuquerque, the DSA has completely missed the opportunity at true collaborative change. Meanwhile, the membership of the PSL (from guardians to call leaders to speakers) has shown a level of organizing and engagement that puts others to shame, actively collaborating with the likes of SWCP, Starbucks United, University of New Mexico's Students for Socialism, Red Ant Collective, New Mexico Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Jewish Voice For Peace Albuquerque, ANSWER Coalition Albuquerque, New Mexico Jews for a Free Palestine, etc. (seriously, the list goes on and on)
To me, this tells me two key things about the state of political organizing in Albuquerque. First, the mood has shifted Left and, as has been a problem for awhile, the DSA has failed completely to engage with organizations and issues on the ground due to an inability to mesh apologist tendencies and Liberal politics to the demands of the day's cause. Second, the Left-wing of the Democratic establishment here is likewise dying, mirroring the decline of the DNC nationally as voters lose patience with rightward-ratcheting Liberals who have sold them and their children both a bad bill of sale and an unpayable debt.
Marchers traveled down Central Ave to protest Starbucks and in solidarity with Starbucks Workers United members who have been repeatedly disenfranchised by the organization.
The truth is that Leftist organizing is growing at an exponential rate as millions are pressed on their loyalty to traditions and institutions which focus exclusively on the extraction of all energy, time, and passion from their adherents; a degraded dynasty built on centuries of classist propaganda and racist scapegoating coming face-to-face with survivors of its oppression who will no longer allow their power to be waylaid by Liberals who only deviate from their rivals in the color of hat they wear when acting out their justice theater on the Capital steps. While the DNC, DSA, GOP, etc. rest on ill-gotten laurels, it is the worker that is in the streets building support and raising awareness of the socialist cause.
PSA-ABQ will be hosting a protest alongside the rest of the world on Land Day, Saturday, March 30th, at UNM Bookstore.
See you there!
Photo: Daniel Woods
