On Strike!

In this enlightening discussion, Sabrina Salvati, host of the Sabby Sabs podcast and co-host of the Revolutionary Blackout Network, dives into the implications of Kamala Harris's nomination for working-class and Black communities. She critiques the Democratic establishment's failure to truly support progressive agendas while exploring how candidates like Jill Stein could act as genuine alternatives. The conversation also addresses the growing political disillusionment among marginalized voters and the need for unity in pursuing a pro-worker, antiwar movement at upcoming rallies.

The ongoing chaos of the US political system was heightened on Monday by the spectacle of Teamster President Sean O’Brien speaking at the Republican National Convention – the first Teamster President ever to do so – demonstrating the dramatic extent to which Biden and the Democrats have lost authority through their sellouts of working people. For decades, top labor leaders like O’Brien have provided cover for the Democrats’ betrayals, while pumping hundreds of millions of union workers’ money into Democratic Party campaigns. Now, O’Brien is sucking up to Trump and Republicans in a desperate attempt to escape the Democrats’ sinking ship, to which other labor leaders have already tied themselves. O’Brien’s speech at the RNC is a shameful maneuver that hides the stark reality for working people: neither party is on our side, and we need a new party of our own. Watch a working-class analysis of O’Brien’s RNC speech from On Strike co-hosts Kshama Sawant and Emily McArthur, and a discussion about a fighting strategy for the labor movement that you won’t find anywhere else. And REGISTER NOW for the Inaugural National Zoom Conference of Workers Strike Back, THIS SUNDAY, JULY 21 @ 2 pm PT / 5 pm ET, featuring left independent antiwar Presidential candidate Jill Stein, socialist and former Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, and Revolutionary Backout Network co-founder Nick Cruse: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/eve... BECOME A MEMBER of Workers Strike Back today to help support the production of On Strike and build our independent working-class organization, and so you can VOTE SUNDAY on our proposal to endorse Jill Stein’s independent Presidential campaign. Workers and young people urgently need to build an independent, pro-worker, antiwar alternative. Be sure to subscribe to On Strike And become a member today at www.workersstrikeback.org/join!

Mental health has spiraled into a nationwide crisis, especially for young people. On Strike! speaks with local high school student activists Natalya, Charlotte, and Fatra, who organized alongside Kshama Sawant’s socialist City Council office and a movement of hundreds of other students, socialists, and union members to demand $20 million in funding for student mental health services in 2023 by increasing the city's Amazon Tax – and they won. We also speak with educator and union member Adam Ziemkowski, who was a lead organizer in Kshama Sawant’s socialist City Council office for a decade, and has played a crucial role in many victories, including the fight for mental health services in 2023, as well as winning the original Amazon Tax victory in 2020. If you're inspired by these students fighting back, help us spread these ideas. REGISTER NOW to join antiwar Presidential candidate Jill Stein and Kshama for Workers Strike Back's INAUGURAL NATIONAL ZOOM CONFERENCE on Sunday, July 21, at 2 pm Pacific / 5 pm Eastern. www.workersstrikeback.org/events/july-national-mtg Nearly 20 percent of high school students - one in five - report serious thoughts about suicide, and nearly one in ten report a suicide attempt. This has gone hand in hand with a frightening increase in gun violence affecting young people. Since 2017, gun deaths have become the leading cause of death among people under 25, with a major increase since the start of the COVID pandemic. In Seattle, where On Strike! is filmed, young people are facing both these crises – mental health and gun violence. Just last month, a 17-year-old Garfield High School student Amarr Murphy-Paine was tragically gunned down outside during the school lunch hour. Seattle’s Democratic Party political establishment and their mouthpieces, like the Seattle Times, have been cynically trying to exploit this latest school shooting by insisting that cops need to be brought back into schools. So young people are continuing to fight back and get organized to demand action – mental health support and fully-funded public schools, NOT COPS. Seattle’s corporate Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell and all-Democrat City Council are refusing to hire social workers and mental health counselors for Seattle’s public school students, even though the money is already there as a result of last year's victory of increasing the annual Amazon Tax. Watch to hear how the students are also connecting their struggles to the other urgent questions facing working people, like how to end the genocidal war on Gaza and build the strongest vote against both Biden and Trump in November and for Jill Stein. Be sure to subscribe to On Strike! Workers Strike Back relies on members and supporters across the country and around the world to produce On Strike! and to get the resources we need to get organized to win our demands. BECOME A MEMBER TODAY and get involved to help us build a fighting workers’ movement. As a member, you will also be eligible to vote at the July 21 Zoom Conference on our proposal to endorse Jill Stein’s independent, pro-worker, antiwar campaign for President. Become a member now at www.workersstrikeback.org/join!

A crisis has engulfed the Democratic Party following the train wreck of the Biden-Trump presidential debate, and Biden's catastrophic performance. On Strike is joined by Briahna Joy Gray, host of the Bad Faith podcast and, until recently, co-host of The Hill Rising, from which she was fired in retaliation for speaking out consistently and courageously against the genocidal war on Gaza. We speak with Gray about the crisis for the Biden administration, the failures of AOC and the Squad–including the recent defeat of Jamaal Bowman in New York–and the path forward for working people, including the important effort to build Jill Stein’s independent, antiwar Presidential campaign. Register now for the Inaugural Zoom Conference of Workers Strike Back and join Jill Stein, former Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, and Revolutionary Blackout Network’s Nick Cruse to discuss and vote on a strategy to build an alternative to the rotten Democratic and Republican Parties, which have blood on their hands both at home and abroad. Register now: www.workersstrikeback.org/events/july-national-mtg Powerful sections of the Democratic Party leadership remain determined to ram Biden down the throats of working people despite the absolute disaster of not only last week’s debate, but Biden’s candidacy as a whole. In the face of the threat of a second Trump Presidency, they are prepared to risk everything rather than replace their doomed candidate. The pro-Biden Democratic establishment is trying to pretend nothing much has happened. It’s a weapon’s grade level of political gaslighting. The calls for Biden to step aside have grown, now including two Democratic members of Congress–Lloyd Doggett of Texas and Raúl Grijalva of Arizona. But even as pressure on Biden approaches a boiling point, the so-called progressives in the Democratic Party, including AOC, have remained silent, choosing to preserve their rotten relationship with the political establishment over the interests of working people, who desperately need an alternative to the status quo of crisis and war. Meanwhile, the “alternatives” on offer from the Democratic establishment, like California Governor Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris, have equally abysmal records to Biden and would also be beholden to the pro-war anti-working-class agenda of the Democratic Party. If you think the working class needs new and analysis like in this episode, become a member of Workers Strike Back today. By joining Workers Strike Back, you can support the production of On Strike and help us build a fighting workers’ movement to fight for what workers need: a $25/hr minimum wage, good union jobs, free universal healthcare, quality affordable housing, and an end to the genocidal war on Gaza. Join Workers Strike Back today at workersstrikeback.org/join.

The Democratic Party is in panic over Joe Biden’s disastrous debate against Donald Trump. Even liberal commentators like Rachel Maddow and Van Jones have been unable to spin the debate as anything but a failure, while major publications, including the New York Times, have called on Biden to drop out of the race. But for working people, it’s not just a question of Biden’s catastrophic performance. The content of the debate was the latest reminder that the Democratic and Republican Parties do not in any way represent working people and have no solutions to the many crises facing us–from climate change to the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Biden and the Democratic Party have backed the war on Gaza to the hilt and their failure to represent working people’s interests have only emboldened Donald Trump and the right wing, who are escalating their attacks on immigrants, trans people, and other oppressed groups. Young and working people are in urgent need of an alternative to these two anti-worker, pro-capitalist warmongers on offer from the Democratic and Republican Parties. On Strike is joined by Jill Stein, the independent left, antiwar candidate running for President with the Green Party, to talk about the debate, what her Presidential campaign is fighting for, and how workers can build an alternative to the two capitalist parties. And JOIN US on JULY 21 @ 2 pm Pacific / 5 pm Eastern for the Inaugural Zoom Conference of Workers Strike Back – featuring Jill Stein, socialist & former Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, and Nick Cruse of the Revolutionary Blackout Network – to discuss the strategy for the left and antiwar movement to end the genocidal war on Gaza and build a new party for working people. Register here: www.workersstrikeback.org/events/july-national-mtg

Support for the Israeli state’s genocidal war on Gaza is crumbling. A majority of Americans now oppose the war, and just 36 percent support the U.S. providing military aid to Israel to fund the onslaught, which Joe Biden and both the Democratic and Republican parties have done to the tune of billions of dollars. Working and young people are horrified by the carnage in Gaza and are getting organized and taking action – including ongoing protests around the world and a historic strike by nearly 16,000 academic and graduate workers at the University of California. Protests are demanding an end to US military funding of the Israeli war machine and an immediate ceasefire. This growing antiwar movement has created an escalating crisis for Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the warmongers of the capitalist class. On Strike is joined by Joan Wright, a socialist and queer activist in Seattle, and a member of Workers Strike Back who has been organizing against the war. Joan is a rank-and-file member of OPEIU Local 153 – the union of workers at Kickstarter corporation. We speak with Joan about her successful efforts alongside other rank-and-file union members to win a ceasefire resolution in her union against the war, and about what more is needed to end the genocidal war on Gaza. If you'd like to put forward a ceasefire resolution within your union, reach out to Workers Strike Back for support! And check out our template resolution, which was drafted by Workers Strike Back members in WFSE 889 and passed this April: https://www.workersstrikeback.org/new... Both the WFSE 889 and the OPEIU 153 resolutions were inspired by the ceasefire resolution put forward by Kshama Sawant's socialist city council office, which called for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and US funding of Israel, and which we won last November by organizing to bring over 500 working and young people to occupy Seattle City Hall. Workers Strike Back is calling for national protests and strikes on Monday, August 19, to coincide with protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago which will run from August 19 through 22. If you’re going to be at the protests in Chicago, join us at our rally there on August 20, where we will be joined by independent left Presidential candidate Jill Stein. Stein has taken a consistent stand against the war, and was arrested alongside other protesters for refusing to back down against police repression. Get in touch with Workers Strike Back if you’d like to begin building for a rally in your area on August 19.

As the antiwar protest movement continues to organize on campuses, even with many students now going home for the summer, Biden continues to tank in the polls due to his backing of the genocidal war on Gaza and the cost-of-living crisis that has been burying working people in the US. The question for young people, working-class people, and the antiwar movement is: what should we do in this election given the terrible options on offer from the two capitalist parties, Joe Biden and Donald Trump? And how do we use this election to build the strongest possible movement to end the war on Gaza? On Strike’s Kshama Sawant and Emily McArthur speak with Nick Cruse, a citizen journalist, writer, activist, and the main co-founder of the Revolutionary Blackout Network (RBN), which has covered the war on Gaza since it began. We discuss the ongoing student protests, including the strikes by UAW academic workers at the University of California, the need to build for mass protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this August, the independent anti-war presidential campaign of Jill Stein, and the urgent need for a new party for working people.

The U.S. Presidential election is now less than 5 months away. Working people continue to struggle, as the world falls deeper into crisis and war. Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza continues, funded off the backs of American workers, even as a majority of Americans oppose the slaughter. Meanwhile, the political establishment and media have presented working people with a rotten false choice: Warmonger-In-Chief Joe Biden or right-wing billionaire Donald Trump. We need to reject both Biden AND Trump, who offer nothing but more war and suffering. The billionaires have two parties, we need one of our own. And we need to build an independent movement that can end this war on Gaza and win real gains for working people. We need mass protests at the Democratic National Convention this August in Chicago to demand an end to the slaughter and of all U.S. funding of the Israeli war machine. Workers Strike Back is helping build that movement. We also need to demand that unions rescind their endorsement of Joe Biden, who is no friend to unions or workers. Instead working people should support Jill Stein, the strongest independent left, antiwar candidate. On Strike speaks with union educator Joe S about his and other workers’ recent efforts to pass a resolution in the Washington Education Association to rescind the union’s endorsement of Biden, and how we can fight to build a new party for working people.

As Pride month begins, trans and queer people around the world are searching for ways to fight back against escalating attacks on their basic rights. In 2024 alone, 580 anti-trans bills have been proposed in state legislatures around the United States. This number is already set to surpass the appalling record set in 2023, when right-wing legislatures passed dozens of draconian anti-trans bills attacking everything from pronoun use in schools to gender-affirming care. How do we stop these anti-trans attacks, and win bold positive demands, like free universal healthcare which includes gender-affirming care? Young and queer people should look to the lessons from the history of the fight for queer rights, including Stonewall and ACT UP. We urgently need to get organized with other working people and build our own, independent organizations like Workers Strike Back to win the change we need. The fight for trans rights is also firmly bound up with the fight against other forms of oppression, including the growing movement to stop Israel’s murderous campaign against the people of Gaza. We need to get organized to stop these attacks and end oppression in all its forms. On Strike is joined this week by trans socialist activists Sophie Scholl and Margot Stewart to discuss the militant roots of Pride, and the way forward for trans and queer liberation, including the fight for gender-affirming care and the role of the LGBTQ movement in the fight to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

On April 19, Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga won a historic victory, voting by 73 percent to join the United Auto Workers, or UAW. This was the first-ever union victory at a foreign auto plant in the South, and a huge start to UAW’s national campaign to organize 150,000 non-union auto workers in the United States, at companies like Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Tesla. But this success in Chattanooga was soon followed by a disappointing loss at a Mercedes-Benz near Tuscaloosa on May 19, where 56 percent of workers voted against unionizing. Why did the UAW campaign win at Volkswagen and lose at Mercedes? On Strike speaks with Logan Swan, a union Ironworker with Ironworkers Local 86 and a casual longshoreman represented by ILWU Local 19, and member of Workers Strike Back. Logan tells us about what went right and what went wrong, and how those lessons can be applied in order to restart the fight to unionize the Mercedes-Benz plant. In both the labor movement and in social movements, we need to soberly assess the lessons from both our victories and our setbacks. The lessons that Logan shares in this episode will be needed everywhere, especially in the South, which has long been a stronghold for big business and their reactionary, anti-union politics.