Taps :

This is going to be a thread. If you are doing movement work and are committed to organizing and you have high profile events or get amplification from some known accounts can we always give space LOTS of space to talk about economic justice. Here’s a thread why.

Let me start with who my audience is, not progressive organizations fully some of you yes. My audience is more so creatives, academics, cultural institutions, many many more that often talk or think about race, gender, climate but never class/economy as a whole.

Now the why. So from a really basic perspective it’s only right. We keep going through financial crises not just because things happen like bubbles, pandemics, climate crisis etc. We go through economic hardship because our economy is structured to fail masses of people.

It’s a saying but the rich get richer and the poor get poorer globally! But I will talk about the US. So corporations advocate to deregulate themselves, then they lobby for perks for themselves all while government (state & federal) disinvest in necessary public good services.

So people become billionaires and now trillionaires while public schools are defunded (no one cares when that’s being defunded), our public hospitals (so we have no room during a pandemic) and we have left a lot of cities and states with crumbling infrastructure.

Corporations & the wealthy also advocated to DISMANTLE THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE. What’s that mean? A union, unions (some are flawed like everything) were a drive force of fighting for the working class as a whole. They got us our work week, saved us from burning in buildings & more

so 2008 financial crisis, Dems win after on a narrative of hope and change but NO BANKER WENT TO JAIL, NO ONE WAS HELD ACCOUNTABLE. So tea party pops up talking about economic populism but they blame migrants, women, black folks, LGBTQ, basically everyone except corporations

And then here comes Trump advocating about why we don’t have jobs (corporations get them for cheaper costs overseas), why we need to “drain the swamp” of people who worked at banks (then he appoints Mnuchin), overall speaking to a economic populist base

Now, YES did white supremacy fuel it? Absolutely! We’re a lot of people that supported Trump just racists, yup.

Do we see white supremacy in corporations and the wealthiest? HOW YOU THINK FOLKS GOT SO WEALTHY?

Fast forward to today. You got Senator Cruz and republicans using jobs and wages to say they vote in the interests of working people and that the Dems don’t care about working people. This will continue to grow UNLESS we as movement and people uplift and amplify workers struggles

For instance there’s a strike in the Bronx for Teamsters and basically progressives and New Yorkers are out there but where all y’all cultural folks at? They got cops rolling up on TEAMSTERS to union bust. They should be on broadcasted programming telling their stories https://twitter.com/teamstersjc16/status/1351359963298484224

There’s obviously @FlyingWithSara who has been advocating for flight attendants and the working class for years now because everyone deserves to join a UNION! #1u

But most importantly if we finally don’t start to tackle the structural problems with our economy we will lose and we will create the groundwork for a more intense far right then we’ve seen, and yes unfortunately it’s possible.

So what kinds of things and organizations should you follow well of course follow the party that was started by community organizations and labor unions, my political home @WorkingFamilies

Follow organizations like @sunrisemvmt who have been advocating through the #GreenNewDeal a massive Green Jobs we need 16 million jobs and we need it NOW!

Follow the comrades at @DemSocialists there is nothing inherently wrong with socialism y’all. Some people have had trouble implementing but like redistribution of wealth is a good thing!

Follow housing organizations! @housing4allNY @PplsAction @nychange @ourcityRTTC @MHaction because the commodification of housing is pretty terrible in the United States and I would like people to have homes.

Follow workers organizations like labor unions and also @UWUnited_ @forrespect

And have @mo87mo87 and @snbhatti speak on all your public facing things!