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A revolutionary socialist organizing project

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Videos and panels

Tempest Mag

Tempest is a revolutionary socialist organizing project in the U.S.

This panel aims to bring together activists from across the city to discuss strategy and tactics as Chicago heads into its own election season. Co-sponsored by 33rd Ward Working Families, Chicago DSA Anti-Fascist Working Group, Rampant Magazine, and Chicago Solidarity (list in formation) and endorsed by Chicago DSA Defund Working Group.

Speakers:
Yuchabel Harris is part of the Chicago DSA citywide Defund working group and has been involved in abolitionist organizing for many years. Before living in Chicago, Yuchabel organized with Black and Indigenous youth in Florida against racism.

Nora Flanagan is a veteran high school English teacher in Chicago and has researched and organized against racism for decades. Efforts have included speaking to government agencies, teachers unions, faculties and administrations, community organizations, faith groups, and media outlets about the intersection of bigotry and youth culture. She recently co-authored Confronting White Nationalism in Schools, a toolkit designed to help schools thoughtfully and effectively respond to incidents of racial hostility and proactively strengthen school communities.

Mary Bowman is an abortion and trans healthcare provider who lives in Chicago, land involuntarily ceded by the Council of the Three Fires. They hate your boss and love your outfit.

Moderated by Dennis Kosuth, Tempest member and member of CTU.

Tempest hosted a special fundraiser event, a drag extravaganza on Sunday, October 23.

Featuring performances by Lady Karley Marx and Mildred the Lunch Lady as well as a Q & A session with Afsaneh Moradian, author of Jamie and Bubbie: A Book About Peoples’ Pronouns.

Recent attacks on drag queen story hour events are another front in the Right’s reactionary war on LGBTQ people. Historically, drag performance spaces have organized and sustained queer life. These are not only spaces of community and camaraderie, but also platforms for social and political critique.

Join the Tempest Collective in a virtual bash to bash back against the political Right and its reactionary war on queer people.
In celebration and solidarity!

Lady Karley Marx is an American drag performer, painter, and pop artist. They are originally from Michigan but based in Chicago, Illinois. Marx’s drag persona and name are a play off of Karl Marx, Marxist/Communist pop art aesthetics, and the intersections of critical theory, queer theory, and queer liberation theology.

Afsaneh Moradian is a longtime activist, writer, homeschooling coach, and LGBTQIA+ advocate. Afsaneh is the author of the Jamie is Jamie series and also writes about education and current events. The Jamie and Bubbie series has been featured at drag queen story hour events.

Mildred the Lunch Lady is an 84-year-old lunch lady who works at Blue Moon Bar every Monday 4pm-10pm.

Hosted by Hector Rivera, a queer, Mexican-American socialist educator living in Los Angeles.

This event took place on October 23, 2022.

Read Afsaneh's work https://www.afsanehmoradian.com/
Mildred: Tips at $mildredthelunch
ladyKarleys page: Check out the work of Lady Karley Marx https://www.ladymarx.com/

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To make a donation to Tempest at our PayPal link.

https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=SMYP637JV88GQ&fbclid=IwAR0NfOE3IALCyQ1j78PhKdenfgupUY3Y5aMM0_TwZ6MQWJndBZ7-m1iFIjU

The question of revolutionary organization remains a central one for the left. What kinds of organizations are needed in the 21st century, what opportunities and obstacles exist for activists trying to build them, and what can we learn from recent experiences in different countries? Join us for a discussion of these questions with an international group of left-wing activists.

Facilitated by Lee Wengraf

Speakers:

Rabab Elnaiem is the former spokesperson for the Sudanese Workers Alliance for the Restoration of Trade Unions (SWARTU) and co-founder of Ta-Marbouta podcast.

Andreu Coll is an Anticapitalistas militant in the Spansh state, a member of the FI Bureau, a contributor to Viento Sur, founder of Sylone Editorial, and a history teacher.

Luis Meiners is a socialist activist and sociologist from Argentina who is currently in New York City. He is a member of the Tempest Collective and the Movimiento Socialista de Trabajadores (MST), Argentinian section of the ISL.

Natalia Tylim is a founding member of the Tempest Collective based in New York City.

This event took place on September 25, 2022.

Find out more about Tempest at our website: http://www.tempestmag.org

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Just two years following the anti-racist uprisings in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, an emboldened political Right has made enormous gains: the reversal of Roe, the re-centering of law-and-order politics, and legislative attacks on queer and trans people. Meanwhile, economic fallout stemming from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, international imperialist ventures, and the accelerating climate crisis, has worsened life for ordinary people around the globe.

Speakers

Ashley Smith (2:40) is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America in Burlington, Vermont. He has written in numerous publications including Tempest, Spectre, Truthout, Jacobin, and New Politics.

Andy Sernatinger (16:14) is a socialist labor activist and frequent writer on issues in the Democratic Socialists of America. He is a member of the Tempest Collective.

Kristen Godfrey (28:58) is a Black, non-binary community organizer and social worker who has worked alongside LGBTQ+ young people in after-school programs, community resource centers, and higher ed for nine years. She is a member of Tempest Collective, and a co-founding member of Thompson House Tucson, a socialist organization and mutual aid collective.

Elizabeth Lalasz is a registered nurse and steward with National Nurses United. She is a member of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America Labor Branch and the Tempest Collective.

Facilitated by Eric Maroney

Introduction with Eric Maroney (0:00)

Ashley Smith on the economic crisis and inter-imperial rivalries (2:40)
Andy Sernatinger on the situation in the U.S. (16:14)
Kristen Godfrey on anti-oppression (28:58)
Elizabeth Lalasz on labor perspectives (39:27)

This event took place on August 21, 2022.

Find out more about Tempest at our website: http://www.tempestmag.org

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With the large turnout and organizing energy at the Labor Notes conference last weekend, the Tempest Collective hosts a public discussion to assess the conference and talk about the challenges and opportunities facing the labor movement.

The Labor Notes Conference this past weekend, with thousands of attendees, was young and electric, reflecting what has become clear since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing numbers of people are excited about labor organizing, from Starbucks to Amazon and every industry in between.

This excitement exists alongside unbelievable challenges and hardships for workers. There continues to be deep anger leading to collective action and strikes in response to the pandemic – but workers are still getting pummeled in the COVID period and the reopening.

How do we take inspiration in this incredible moment and maintain it? What are the potential labor struggles ahead and how do they factor into this? How will ongoing wars, massive attacks on abortion access, an emboldened far right committing unspeakable hate crimes against Black, Brown, and LGBTQIA+ workers, and rampant inflation and looming recession impact this window to organize and fight? What role can socialists and militant labor activists play?

Speakers:
John Logan (0:00) Director of Labor Studies, San Francisco State University, author of “Starbucks Workers Have Won 100 Union Elections. Here Are the Lessons From 5 of Them.”

Andy Sernatinger (4:53) Teamsters Local 695, Madison, Wisconsin, author of “Hoffa’s House Divided: The 2021 Teamster Election, Explained.”

Ye-Eun Jeong (17:18) Graduate Workers at Columbia, UAW 2710, and member of the Tempest Collective.

Facilitated by Sherry Wolf

John Logan (0:00)
Andy Sernatinger (4:53)
Ye-Eun Jeong (17:18)

This event took place on June 25, 2022.

Find out more about Tempest at our website: http://www.tempestmag.org

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Chinedu Chukwudinma speaks on Walter Rodney’s political legacy and the revived interest in his work for a new generation today.

The Guyanese Marxist Walter Rodney's life and work spanned the1960s and 1970s. Living in the Americas, Africa, and Europe, Rodney engaged with the revolutionary struggles of the period, including the Working People’s Alliance in Guyana, Pan-Africanism, and international socialism from below.

Chinedu Chukwudinma wrote the recent A Rebel’s Guide to Walter Rodney. He is a socialist and anti-racist activist based in London. He writes on African politics, popular struggles, and the history of working-class resistance on the continent and is a member of the Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE) editorial board.

Find out more about Tempest at our website: http://www.tempestmag.org

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Among the social crises we face are escalating environmental disasters related to the intensification of global warming. This is generated by the powerful forces of fossil-fuel capitalism that overwhelm government efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The resulting climate emergency poses a strategic challenge for socialists, who understand that only the working-class majority has the potential power to tip the balance toward survival. Conceptions of working-class power – advanced through strikes, mass struggle, and disruption – suggest themselves, but this is not yet the reality that exists.

Any hope for the future involves a convergence of labor and climate politics, connecting the fight to reduce emissions with the struggle for an economic transition providing decent jobs, living standards, and quality of life for all. This convergence must become central to the working-class consciousness and class struggle of our time. How can we extend the climate fight inside our unions and workplaces? How can we build an effective coalition of labor, community, and environmentalist forces capable of tipping the balance toward survival?

Facilitated by Peter Ikeler

Speakers

Jeremy Brecher (5:50) – Senior Strategic Advisor, Labor Network for Sustainability; author of labor history classic Strike! and of “The Green New Deal from Below.”

Lauren Bianchi (15:43) - A member of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU); teaches in Southeast Chicago; is active in the CTU Climate Justice Committee and was part of the fight in Southeast Chicago to deny General Iron a permit to place a metal shredder in that neighborhood.

Marcelina Pedraza (26:33) - Environmental justice activist, an electrician at the Ford assembly plant in Southeast Chicago, member of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 551. Marcie is part of the Unite All Workers for Democracy (UAWD) caucus, which is pushing for democracy in the UAW, and is active in the Chicago General Iron struggle.

Sean Petty (32:34) - Registered Nurse, New York City; member of New York State Nurses Association; long-time union climate activist.

Introduction with Peter Ikeler (0:00)
Jeremy Brecher (5:50)
Lauren Bianchi (15:43)
Marcelina Pedraza (26:33)
Sean Petty (32:34)

Find out more about Tempest at our website: http://www.tempestmag.org

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The leaked Supreme Court draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health makes it all but certain that the Court will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade later this summer. This massive attack on women and anyone else who can become pregnant has led to protests around the country. What kind of movement do we need to reverse this attack? Come to a meeting in which experienced abortion-rights activists will offer their perspectives on this vital question.

Speakers:

Camila Valle (3:38) is an editor, translator, writer, and member of NYC for Abortion Rights.

Sheila Bates (11:02) is a member of Black Lives Matter Grassroots.

Linda Loew (20:20) is a founding member of Chicago for Abortion Rights and a longstanding union activist and socialist.

Haley Pessin (31:40) is a socialist activist based in New York and a member of the Tempest Collective.

Facilitated by Natalia Tylim

Introduction with Natalia Tylim from Tempest Collective (0:00)
Camila Valle from NYC for Abortion Rights (3:38)
Sheila Bates from Black Lives Matter Grassroots (11:02)
Linda Loew from Chicago for Abortion Rights (20:20)
Haley Pessin from Tempest Collective (31:40)

Recent articles from Tempest on abortion rights

https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/05/the-fight-to-defend-abortion-rights-continued/
https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/05/the-fight-back-to-defend-abortion-rights-begins/
https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/05/next-steps-to-regain-abortion-rights/
https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/05/anti-choice-bigots-stopped-in-nyc/
https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/05/roe-under-attack-time-to-fight-back/
https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/04/the-need-for-abortion-rights/
https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/02/the-best-offense-is-more-clinic-defense/
https://www.tempestmag.org/2022/01/roe-under-attack/

Find out more about Tempest at our website: http://www.tempestmag.org

Follow us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tempestmag
Follow us on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/tempest_mag
Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tempest_mag

Find out more about NYC for Abortion Rights at http://abortionrights.nyc/about/

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