Opinion

February 27, 2024

Lesser-Evilism Has Led Us Here…

In 2020 I voted for Joe Biden because I believed it was imperative that Donald Trump no longer continue to hold Presidential power in the United States. I believed his blatant goal to establish a dictatorship was a serious threat to this supposed “land of the free.”

After the election I shared a picture of an “I voted” sticker and was proud to be part of getting rid of Trump, yet I was still skeptical of what was to come with Joe Biden. I just knew Trump had to be stopped. Most recently, I re-shared this post on February 22 of 2024 and captioned it: “What a joke!”

August 31, 2022

by Richard Velázquez Perales

The Stakes of Cultural Assimilation

A few years ago, my mother and I spent some time looking through old photographs of our family. We observed how our community evolved over time. One thing that stood out to both of us was the fact that in the 1980’s and 90’s, most Mexican men from our community sported longer hair. If we look at some of the earliest photos in our possession—dating to the 1950s—our male family members did not have this hair style. My father was of this immigrant cohort. With curiosity, we asked him why he chose to wear long hair during this period. Most of the pictures in question documented his experiences in different parts of the United States as a migrant agricultural laborer, which was his first source of employment. His response communicated what should have been obvious to us: there were no Spanish-speaking stylists in the places he worked. They only had access to English-speaking stylists but feared discrimination or were just too ashamed to go into a space that seemed so foreign and unwelcoming to them. They preferred to just let their hair grow out during their stints in the US. We must recall that this was only a couple decades removed from de jure segregation was formally abolished in the country.

August 12, 2021

by Zack Frailey Escobar

Agitating for the “General Strike”: a shortcut to nowhere

If you’re plugged in to progressive social media pages, you might have heard the buzz around the date October 15. Apparently, there is going to be a general strike! According to the strike organizers’ website (https://octoberstrike.com/), workers will be refusing to show up indefinitely as they demand a 25% corporate tax rate, free healthcare, 12 weeks paid paternity and maternity leave, a $20 minimum wage, a 4 day work week, and “stricter environmental regulations on corporations”.
In spite of these lofty goals, the “organization” of this would-be strike does not inspire a great deal of confidence. So far, it consists of little more than the website referenced above and a change.org petition. Other than a simple call to action and the list of demands, the website contains some basic information on the right to strike and links to various associated social media pages which post essentially the same information. The activists or organizations

June 1, 2021

by Edgar Franks

Our people can’t wait

Some people think that electing Democrats, especially elite figures from rich and powerful families with direct ties to the status quo of capitalism and imperialism, are going to push through the changes that we need. Given the scale of class inequality, the profound and radical changes needed, and the recent struggles nationally and internationally, is it possible to continue to place our hopes in the current two-party system or do we need to beyond for the vehicle(s) that we need to carry out the kinds of changes needed that much of the working class have been or are already fighting for?

April 13, 2021

by Zack Frailey Escobar

Bolivia: The golpistas must be punished

The return to power of the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party after the 2019 coup, has been followed by a swift effort to hold the golpistas accountable. In response, the US media has taken up the State Department’s line, shedding crocodile tears over alleged civil rights abuses. Ironically, these same voices utterly failed to condemn a right-wing coup which led to a year-long period of political violence that left at least 30 dead and thousands more injured or arrested. These disingenuous commentators are now wringing their hands over the arrest and prosecution of the guilty parties. Those of us concerned with genuine democracy in Latin America should ignore them, looking at similar machinations that previously occurred in Brazil.

January 29, 2021

by Héctor Rivera

The failures of the DSA are going to get us killed

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Trump supporters breach the Capitol on January 6. I was visiting my mom and we were getting ready for dinner when I received frantic texts from comrades from Mexico City. “What is going in the US? I just saw the videos from the Capitol”. I assumed it was some Proud Boys getting violent as usual but when I turned on the TV and watched thousands of Trump supporters outside the Capitol and an armed stand-off inside, I knew this was different.
As we commented on the chaos over dinner, my grandmother, who is blind, began to tense up, she was getting worried, we were talking about civil war, Donald Trump and running away to Mexico. I tried to reassure them that things would be OK, and that this would be resolved appropriately, but deep down, I wasn’t—I’m not—so sure.

November 3, 2020

by Ivan Waldo

NYPD’s Disparate Response to Protests

Earlier this month, there were protests in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn that violated COVID-19 restrictions, set fires in the streets and saw a mob attack a journalist, all while the NYPD was on the scene. The incidents were in response to restrictions imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on specific communities experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 infections. A couple of weeks prior, a human rights organization’s report exposed the violent oppressive response the NYPD executed against protesters during a planned protest in the Bronx in June, organized in response to the continuing legacies of systemic racism and police brutality.