quirknky.bsky.social
@Quirknky
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she/her. Socialist, passion for theory and organizing strategy. Very cool member of @DSACincy. The human incarnation of a barn owl. @GroundworkDSA šŖ“
The House of We
Joined December 2011
We're in a bizarre situation where it is a clearly terrible idea to have family holidays, but it's absurd to tell people this is off limits when they are still being expected to go to their jobs every single day and their governments are doing nothing to keep them safe.
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This space was home to a group of chess players in Cincinnati. Black working class people gathered here every day to play. The library removed the tables, replacing them with display cases. Said it was temporary. The cases stayed and the group evaporated after losing the space.
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Tragically our DSA chapter no longer exists, as we voted to divide it into five ethnically segregated entities so as to better fight racism.
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Getting someone who's expressed transphobic views to support a platform that would enormously benefit trans people, and to potentially understand themselves as *on the same side* as trans people, all while the candidate didn't compromise an inch on the platform, is in fact good!.
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You should individually advise people based on what's safe imo, but socialist messaging needs to focus on the need for a paid, full nation lockdown, and that nothing else can stop this wave.
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The absolute last thing we need is for the most visible trans woman in national politics now to not fight back against very public transphobia. Unfathomably bad compliance in advance.
Iām not here to fight about bathrooms. Iām here to fight for Delawareans and to bring down costs facing families.
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Public spaces are increasingly run by private sector interests that think about them in a commodified manner. Communities like this are erased in the attempt to quantify foot traffic, circulated materials, business interests, and revenue.
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People seem to be interpreting this post as me saying 'family gatherings are safe'. They are not and are a terrible idea, but so is going to work, so why are we doing that.
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For all the (fair) shit AOC gets, she really is one of the most visible members of Congress who is refusing to act like any of this is normal or that Trump is someone to work with.
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Socialists should be more focused on producing public educators with Oliverās skill and delivery as opposed to getting upset heās not left enough tbh, especially when his stuff is helping our side a whole lot more than itās hurting us.
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@sidragalvin Masks and social distancing are not actually sufficient when you are sharing the same closed door spaces with people for 8 hours at a time. These are measures meant to limit spread of particles so individuals have the time to get out of close proximity, they're not magic.
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DSA has never had to deal with a Democratic Party that actually tries to respond to the concerns of its base in some coherent fashion.
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Refusing conscription and serving jail time for it as an act of protest is probably more heroic than 99% of people on here will ever be.
Refusing to serve in a genocidal army but still occupying land ā¦ Nothing heroic about this. How about he packs his shit and goes back to his original country?.
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I think leftists often believe electoral work is uniquely open to co-optation compared to something like, say, mutual aid, which suggests to me they havenāt seen firsthand how quickly that stuff can get turned into a local nonprofit that doesnāt organize people at all.
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Not trying to condemn anywhere but I do think the left should do some reflection on the fact Bernie made the wrong decision in Congress while AOC (who has been frequently decried as a liberal sellout) made the right one.
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I was back in this space today, and seeing @OldChiChi (who was deeply invested in this back in 2017-2018) pop in my mentions reminded me of it.
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I think any analysis of NY-16 that doesnāt begin with āAIPAC spent $15 million to take down a pro-Palestine candidateā is unhelpful.
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@leoNThotsky2 Apparently to suggest that our measures are insufficient and we need to do more *actually* means I'm saying they don't matter and we should just do whatever we want.
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@OldChiChi If you want to prevent the same hollowing out of libraries in the Cincinnati area, we need workers to have power over space to fight for the interests of themselves and their communities. Join me in support of the Clermont County Public Library union January 27th at 6 PM.
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The amazing thing about DSA is it is an organization largely run in the spare time of working class people, many of them experiencing as individuals the larger social crises they are trying to address.
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When asking "why have leftists been so weak for 50 years", the most important answer is "because the people they would have learned from were all purged or killed.".
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Look, I think thereās plenty of room for left critique of AOC, but perhaps constantly mocking the attempts of a DSA endorsed congresswoman who is actually pushing to get Roe codified is simply a bad idea.
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We don't win by only recruiting people who are already right. We organize people by demonstrating their interests are tied to the rest of the marginalized and exploited working class. This can work because it's an accurate reflection of reality!.
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We often presume working class people aren't yet socialists because they aren't *aware* of the exploitation and injustice they experience, when I think it's more often that most working class people don't think they can *do* anything about it.
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Warren won't be VP because she'll graciously concede the role to one randomly chosen trans youth.
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An important step in the growth of any DSA chapter is the realization that the group of people who speak very loudly and self-righteously should be ignored, and that sooner or later their attempts at manipulating people have to be challenged.
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Completely unacceptable. Labour is abandoning trans youth as one of their first acts in power.
šØ BREAKING: Labour confirms that it will implement the Cass Review, and ban puberty blockers permanently. Labour confirmed their plans in an email presented to today's hearing on whether to allow the temporary ban. Thanks to journalist @JessOThomson for reporting this.
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Nagle going on Fox News to complain about the DSA convention has nothing to do with what actually happened there, so we're clear-she's a grifter who doesn't give a shit, which is why she's a 'leftist' willing to attack the largest socialist org in the US for reactionary amusement.
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Bernie got a transphobe to support the most trans inclusive political platform I've ever seen in my life while conceding nothing to that transphobia.
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Funny thing is in my experience young kids will almost always choose playing outside with other kids over screens, which we all agree is healthier, but weāve continued to take away all the places they could do that.
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DSA was able to recruit 5,000 people in about three weeks just by deciding we should. That's the power of a mass membership organization coordinating together on a single effort.
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@OldChiChi Address is the Owensville Branch Library, 2548 US Route 50 PO Box 875 Owensville, OH 45160. Be there, crowd that board meeting, and show them which side we're on.
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Everyone hates Robert's Rules until you go to an unstructured community meeting where one person consumes the three hours you set aside so they can talk about the need for herbal remedies.
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I've expressed this concern to people privately, but I think one impact of being in the US during covid right now is that we're all absolutely losing it, but in hyperspecific ways that other people will think is bizarre, because it's not *their* kind of losing it.
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You canāt build a socialist politics on cynicism.
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Sorry to burst bubbles but the growth of DSA at the same time as a major decline in the power of the Democratic Party and the rise of fascism suggests youāre wrong.
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āIn my chapter, we didnāt wear DSA shirts so as to not co-opt the event, and got condemned for not showing up to the action.ā. āOh weird! In my chapter, we did wear DSA shirts so people would know we showed up, and we got condemned for co-opting the event.ā.
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@CoreyRobin Seems hand in hand with the idea that power is corrupting and that what is good is necessarily (and must remain) powerless, and the conception of ābearing witnessā as itself a politics.
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With the labor work we've been doing, my grandmother wanted to show me my great grandfather's union card.
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I now understand why Bernie and AOC chose the path they did on this.
Scoop: In WH mtg, Sanders pressed top aides for Biden to outline 100-day agenda for working class - including medical debt forgiveness. Sanders & AOC threw Biden huge political lifeline, want progressive agenda at center of campaign. See Biden as best chance for their policies --.
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Barack Obama not endorsing Kamala and having some secret third choice heās pushing behind closed doors while calling for a mini primary is probably what AOC and Bernieās (tbc bad) strategy was in response to.
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Love seeing John McCain praised at the DNC convention at the same time Linda Sarsour gets viciously attacked. I just think that's neat.
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Thereās only one way for DSA to connect with millions of workers in the US: we need to run bars and sell lottery tickets.
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Really do not understand why *leftists* insist we shouldnāt consider J6 a coup just because it was a poorly planned chaotic thing. Are we just gonna give stuff like that a pass until a competent right wing coup attempt happens?.
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@AugustSteve I am extremely sorry for you both, the way teachers have been treated in this crisis is hugely unfair and devastating.
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Proud of my comrade here for challenging Sherrod Brown on his support for genocide.
Tonight, DSA Cincy members disrupted a Democratic Party event to demand Senator Sherrod Brown join the push for a ceasefire and stop voting for billions in aid to a continuing genocide. #freepalestine #DSA #socialism
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Processing thoughts from this call on the Party. Imo, DSA is the best foundation for a socialist party the US has had in some time and it would be a huge strategic error to not use it as the platform to build a party.
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She has never let any of the awful rhetoric thrown at her slow her down in speaking out against this and she deserves so much praise for that.
Today South Africa will present their genocide case against the Israeli government at the @CIJ_ICJ. I submitted the entire case to the Congressional Record. Let me read directly from the case file so @SecBlinken can hear from Israeli officials in their own words, not mine:
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Given this, I thought it worth mentioning that in the US we maybe take for granted the trend that young people tend to be more progressive than older generations.
18-34.š“Trump: 90%.šµHarris: 2%. 55+.š“Trump: 55%.šµHarris: 22%. #electionDay #Election2024.
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"Deadnaming Israel" is probably one of the most absurd examples of people taking words that have specific purposes and just cynically using them however the hell they want.
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One of the most difficult parts of talking about a socialist Party is we seem to necessarily trap ourselves into thinking of it as a *legal* third party as defined under US law, or some other existing legal structure. The primary role of the Party isn't legal, but relational.
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No expert here, but I feel like no one wants to accept "the establishment pulled a last minute hail mary we could not anticipate or do anything about" so they keep trying to find some way the campaign had already doomed itself regardless of the establishment's moves.
Now that the dust has settled, what *really* went wrong? š¤
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@marrowing 85 mph is incredibly common. If you go at speed limit on a 70 mph highway youāll get passed a *lot*.
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Calling for a general strike on twitter is a lot like shouting "fire in the hole" and hoping someone will just have a stick of dynamite handy.
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A thing I think the left has maybe not yet completely metabolized is that there isnāt really a āgo back to brunchā tendency among Dem voters in 2024 so much as a āreinstate Roe through every vote possibleā tendency.
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Counterpoint: If a DSA member in Congress votes in favor of a land war with Russia, we should never campaign for them ever again.
@DSA_Intl_Comm I agree with everyone pointing out how bad this take is - but luckily, DSA's elected officials have a far wiser POV on this than the DSA IC. And our electeds have actual votes in Congress, whereas the DSA IC's power pretty much begins and ends with an 8k follower twitter account.
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Seems like the desire to dismiss Lenin is really just the desire to dismiss power and its accompanying responsibility.
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How much can you pursue in a defamation lawsuit? Found a new org fundraiser.
On MSNBC, Mayor Adams says in NYC "you had the DSA and others carrying swastikas and calling for the extermination of Jewish people" following Hamas' attack on Israel.
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This dude has been yelling at DSA to do a thing without offering any good answers, just screaming at critics who disagree with him and accusing them of not wanting M4A, and he's gonna call one of *our* members a Karen for pointing out we don't tolerate that from our own members?.
This Karen is just DYING to call my manager, but I donāt have one. Is this really what the DSA is doing while we are doing #ForceTheVote ? Yep. Pathetic. Ask them exactly when they think is the right time for Med4all? They have no answer nor a timeline for implementing it.
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12 years ago it looked like the US broadly was embracing a positive attitude toward immigrants and undocumented workers. Today the spectrum of immigration politics among both the Democratic and Republican parties seems fixed in the nativist brutality of the Trump movement.
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It's gonna be very funny if DSA gets a five figure membership bump because there's a free hat for those who recruit fastest. Also would like to reaffirm that I really want that hat.
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I think any āDSA should focus on being good local coalition partners and not assert itselfā take must wrangle with how many nonprofits treat local DSA chapters-that is, as an apolitical mobilizing body that should let the adults handle strategy and not step on toes.
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What's insulting to her memory is not convicting her murderers of murder.
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DSA mentioned multiple times in a NYT article about Michigan primary? We are so back.
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I think something DSA is gonna have to accept is that Bernie was a very exceptional situation and we might not properly have a presidential candidate for a good bit of time.
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@stillgray You know, there might be a connection between Chelsea being willing to risk herself doing the right thing and her optimism for humanity.
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DSA needs to stop making statements and focus on supporting our electeds who are opposing US funds and weapons for a potential genocide.
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It's not enough to be 'anti-capitalist'-you can't build a politics on pure negation. Socialism is necessary.
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I see comments suggesting NPC should not bother to meet with Bowman and should instead immediately expel. Iād suggest itās a good idea in a democratic org for any member to get to speak in their defense or make amends before expulsion.
Statement from the National Political Committee: DSA unapologetically stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their ongoing struggle for liberation. 1/3.
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There is a certain strand of thought wrt protests that is so concerned with opsec it renders it impossible to actually organize people at protests. Unnecessary risk is bad, but necessary risk does exist.
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Honestly, the ability of popular left commentators to sway and direct where the unorganized go has tilted me into thinking DSA needs its own outward media platforms that answer to the organization. (I say this knowing it's intensely difficult to actually do).
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This is all completely true, which in part is why the DNC comment was truly an egregious error-she said something she knew was untrue out of concern for the election, but in so doing gave fuel to the fire of misinformation being used to destroy the left as a coherent force.
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Me, walking into the Pacific Ocean: Yeah, I'm to the left of most people in DSA.
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Today I officially left DSA Cincy elected leadership, as my term ended and I chose not to run again. I'm extraordinarily proud of our chapter and its ability to make it through one of the worst years in living memory, while *doubling* its membership(358 to 718)!.
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Loooot of 'progressives' will get real conservative soon as their employees want to unionize.
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She regularly gets accused of opportunism but itās fairly notable that Bernie is (while pointing out oligarchy ofc) saying he is ready to work w/ Trump where they agree and showing up to inauguration while AOC is saying stuff like āI donāt celebrate rapistsā and refusing to go.
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Probably the most important change in framework you can have is to see the largely irrelevant US left *not* as the result of a passive resignation, but rather a furious campaign of active suppression by the ruling class with a long history.
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Here we see Sanders engaged in the 'reverse manspread', a classic move.
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DSA will hit 100K before Convention. I believe in us.
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She has a pretty strong point in the clip, how in the world do you have a fair jury trial under these conditions.
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@sidragalvin @ZombiesAreJerks It is absurd because it *doesn't make sense*. People will rightly ask "why is it so dangerous I can't see ten family members, but somehow also safe enough I can go to a worksite with hundreds of other people?" The answer is they shouldn't be going to that worksite, it's illogical.
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Really hate this energy where Sanders will illustrate how a need of one community is connected to another and moderators will go "that's for a different question, please stay narrowly on topic" every time.
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Here's the thing: It doesn't really matter that this is false. The point is to create a bipartisan narrative to explain the past four years that doesn't disrupt a return to status quo.
John Kasich: "The Democrats have to make it clear to the far left that they almost cost him this election."
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Socialists should be very strident and open about being socialists. When we bring people into DSA we have an obligation to demonstrate what it means to be socialists, how that guides our actions, and hold this as a standard political orientation for all our members.
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The first picture appears to be from the 1915 Glasgow Rent Strike, which was noted for the extremely thorough organizing that went into it. An online petition is not equivalent to building an army that can win.
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