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Fighting Their Court From Below

Try to gain some insight into the size of the court organism and how, to some extent, it remains in a state of suspension, and that even if you alter something in one place you’ll draw the ground out from under your feet and might fall—whereas if an enormous organism like the court is disrupted in any one place, it finds it easy to provide a substitute for itself somewhere else.
Franz Kafka, The Trial

At the Monday August 1st, Atlanta City Council meeting, Atlanta DSA members joined reproductive justice organizations to defend the right to abortion and the creation of a city abortion fund.

The Supreme Court’s last term ended with a batch of extreme right-wing opinions. The Roberts Court has lurched sharply to the right, but the Supreme Court’s fidelity to conservative elites is nothing new. Of all the counter-majoritarian mechanisms in our constitutional system (Senate, Electoral College, etc.), none has protected the minority of the opulent as reliably as the Supreme Court has. The only way to protect our rights is through mass mobilization outside of the legal system.

Solidarity is Brewing in Atlanta

DSA members prepare to flyer surrounding neighborhoods to gather community support.
Grabbing a “Union Yes” coffee on a rainy day!
Showing up with Workers United!
DSA members flyer for Starbucks United. Even the baby helped!

On Sunday March 6th, over 20 Atlanta DSA members gathered outside of the Starbucks at Howell Mill in solidarity with workers fighting to unionize their workplace. Together, organizers flyered the neighborhoods and shopping centers surrounding the store to help raise awareness and build community support for the union as workers face increased pressure from Starbucks corporate.

Cleta Winslow the Oligarch

Of the 10 city council members who voted for Cop City, one that was hardly a surprise was District 4’s Councilwoman, Cleta Winslow. Winslow’s support for corporate interests runs deep in her tenure. Despite repeated efforts to circumvent campaign finance laws, it is known that her largest donors include Atlanta Commerce Club member Mike Russell and Real Estate agent Carl Westmoreland.

They Want to Build a Cop City. We Don’t Need It.

All opinions are the author’s own and are not representative of any models pictured.

If a budget can reveal character, then so too can an investment.

It’s been a year and a half out from the public onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. How far have we come?

Workers, once labeled “heroes,” are now being forgotten and exploited more than ever before. Let’s remember that the sentiment was never genuine for those forced back to their jobs on the frontlines amid a global public safety crisis – with no real material benefits to show for it, all while the corporations they work for are clocking record profits.

Cop City Is Not What Atlanta Needs

The controversy over building the proposed Cop City on 150 acres of the Old Atlanta Prison Farm on Key Road is fraught with false narratives, including those in a recent AJC op-ed by George Turner, former Atlanta chief of police. These narratives remain regurgitated by police, reinforce the misunderstood objectives of the City Council, and result in a distorted view of the urgency of law enforcement needs. Police attempt to control the narrative with cooperation by corporate media such as the AJC, whose parent company is paying for Cop City to be built.

A Case Study in Manufacturing Consent

Last week, Fox 5 Atlanta interviewed two leaders of Atlanta DSA, including a lead organizer of the chapter’s recently started “Stop Cop City” campaign opposing the Atlanta Police Foundation’s plans to demolish 300 acres of public forest land. While it is refreshing to see a mainstream news station platform socialist organizers, the nature of the coverage and the interview reveals the way our corporate-funded media attempts to influence public opinion in the name of objectivity.

Climate and Jobs

Don’t beat yourself up to save the planet — fight the boss instead.

In capitalist news and corporate media, we are often presented with a binary choice of the environment versus the economy. Both Democrats and Republicans often claim that we can either have a healthy, livable planet or a strong, stable economy, but it’s impossible to have both. Is this really the case? Should we commit to one or the other, or is there a way to fight for the two together?