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Hi John,
As it’s Women’s History Month, I’m thinking about why Trump, Musk, and their political allies’ focus on gender is so important to their political project. In the past few weeks, we’ve seen attempts to legislate gender as biologically determined at birth, remove gender non-conforming markers from government forms, and ban trans women from participating in women’s sports. This is done under the guise of “protecting women and girls from gender extremism.”
The reality is: strict, traditional gender roles do a lot of heavy lifting for the authoritarian and neofascist movements of today. We can see it in the emphasis on women as childbearers and caregivers, or the idea of men as protectors and leaders. This is why autocracy at its most simple is the political expression of a strong man. Extremist world views and authoritarian regimes depend heavily on the enforcement of gender roles and gender expression in order to thrive.
As a movement against autocracy and fascism, we must take seriously the need for a feminist analysis in all aspects of our organizing. That means confronting patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism, and building up systems that value collaboration, sustainability, and care in their stead. I’m seeing this in the way housing organizers are pushing for permanently affordable homes, or low-wage workers are winning paid sick leave, or communities are coming together to win environmental protections and funding for public schools. The economy is not just the goods we produce, but the society that we reproduce in our communities and in our homes.
I’m reminded of a conversation I had with Cindy Wiesner [[link removed]] of Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, where we talked about how gender oppression, extractive capitalism, and authoritarianism go hand-in-hand. To challenge and dismantle these interlocking systems, Cindy argued that we need a feminist analysis of a new economy, one where we truly value each other and our natural world.
The possibility of a new way of governing ourselves, of being in right relationship with each other, is such a threat to this regime’s political project—even amidst fear, horror, and pain, we must hold onto that vision.
Lauren Jacobs [[link removed]] In solidarity,
Lauren Jacobs
Executive Director
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As the Trump regime rolls back hard-won protections, guts critical federal agencies, and launches new attacks on our communities, our network isn’t backing down. Our affiliates continue to organize and fight for good jobs, affordable homes, clean air and water, and all the things we need to thrive. Here’s what that looks like across the country.
Making Meaning & Moving People into Solidarity
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📍 In Orange County, CA, OCCORD has been deepening their organizing efforts to challenge corporate power and push for bold alternatives that center community needs. Together with partners in the Anaheim Is Our Home campaign, they’ve been mobilizing residents against corporate interests that drive displacement and housing insecurity, amplifying tenant voices, and advocating for policies that protect residents. OCCORD has also been responding quickly to policy changes and threats impacting families who are navigating fear and uncertainty due to shifting federal enforcement priorities. They are providing critical Know Your Rights education, power of attorney assistance, and resources to help community members protect their families, assert their rights, and prepare themselves in the event of deportation.
📍 In Boston, Community Labor United (CLU) is building connections between community groups, labor unions, and elected officials to support and defend both the city’s immigrant population and workers facing direct threats from the administration. CLU supported the leadership of the Brazilian Worker Center and other worker centers in leading a convening earlier this month around protecting immigrant workers, which brought about 300 folks into direct conversation with government staff and leaders. This is part of CLU’s ongoing strategy to build trust between community and labor organizations, and coordinate across the region as a united front.
📍 In Colorado, United for a New Economy (UNE) is investing in their deep canvassing program where staff, members, and volunteers knock on doors and have important conversations with community members about the very systems they live in and how they can transform them. Through the program, UNE is helping make the connection between corporate greed and the economic pain it causes everyday people to feel in all aspects of their lives. UNE is dispelling harmful narratives aimed at dividing people, and reminding folks that we have more in common with each other than we realize. “A week ago, if you’d told me that two strangers could have a vulnerable and curious conversation from different perspectives… I’m not sure I’d have believed it. Then I went deep canvassing with UNE and that’s exactly what happened. I talked with a complete stranger in his driveway and in a little over fifteen minutes we both knew about each other's lives, listened to each other's opinions without judgement. I got some of my faith in humanity back in just one afternoon.”
– Ren S., volunteer with UNE
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📍 In Nashville, Stand Up Nashville (SUN) is doing daily community outreach, strengthening their base building work, and connecting with groups on the ground around community needs. This year they’ve held public meetings, community trainings, organizing workshops, and a community visioning session around how public land is used in the city. SUN joined the Tennessee for All Coalition at a town hall to educate folks around a new anti-community benefits agreement bill [[link removed]] that would give more power to corporations and impact workers, renters, and communities across the state.
Building Up Our Numbers & Challenging Corporate Power
📍 In Pennsylvania, POWER Interfaith is hosting regional town halls to bring students, educators, and residents together in the fight for equitable and fully-funded public education. Across the state, public schools are struggling with a lack of funding and contending with corporate forces that are pushing for private school vouchers. POWER’s town halls are bringing community members together to voice concerns, make demands, and engage with state representatives around the future of education in the state.
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"Amazon just reported profits of $20 billion for their last quarter, up 88% from last year. How are they making all of that money while 1 in 4 New Yorkers are living below the poverty line? We know the answer. They’re exploiting workers, they’re polluting our communities, they’re doing whatever it takes to build their bottom line."
– Theodore Moore, Executive Director of ALIGN
📍 In New York, Alliance for a Greater New York (ALIGN) is continuing their fight for healthy communities and climate solutions by calling for the regulation of Amazon’s polluting “last mile warehouses.” Constructed near ports and highways, these warehouses typically border low income communities of color and are infamous for both harmful emissions and high rates of serious worker injuries. At a press conference last month, ALIGN helped to introduce new legislation [[link removed]] that would regulate these warehouses and create safer conditions for workers, communities, and the environment.
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📍 In Southern California, Warehouse Worker Resource Center (WWRC) is focused on building out their membership bases and forging connections between workers across different industries and communities across the state. They’re hosting training sessions on immigrant rights and immigrant worker rights with the goal of informing folks and building solidarity between workers. WWRC is also focusing their efforts into the statewide Safety Net for All Coalition, where the fight for immigrant worker protections and benefits grows increasingly urgent in the face of new threats from the Trump regime.
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📍 In San Jose, Working Partnerships USA has been organizing with groups across the region to protest billionaire Elon Musk’s role in attacking and dismantling critical services and agencies within the federal government. As #TeslaTakedown actions take place at the corporation’s showrooms and offices around the world, WPUSA joined hundreds of allies [[link removed]] at a Tesla location in Palo Alto.
Creating Bold Solutions & Hopeful Alternatives
📍 In Oxnard, CA, Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) is organizing with community leaders to challenge corporate power and push for community-driven solutions around the housing and climate crises. One of their major fights this year is against the Ormond Beach Zombie Power Plant which, despite being scheduled for decommission in 2020, is being kept alive while polluting surrounding neighborhoods and siphoning taxpayer dollars. Another of their fights is against predatory landlords. Together with residents and community leaders, CAUSE has been calling on local and statewide decision makers to address both issues: by truly shutting down the Ormond Power Plant and by passing a strong anti-retaliation ordinance, ensuring that Oxnard’s rent cap and just cause eviction protection truly work.
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📍 In Missouri, Missouri Workers Center (MWC) has been organizing with low-wage workers across the state to win good, family-sustaining jobs, despite corporate-driven efforts to roll back recent wins. Last November, Missourians voted in support of Proposition A, a ballot measure to increase the state minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and guarantee earned paid sick days. When lawmakers tried to roll back this victory, hundreds of low-wage workers and allies with MWC visited the Capitol to fight back and demand that lawmakers do right by workers. They spoke with elected officials, urging them to protect the constitutional right to a fair initiative petition process, to ensure that the recently-won Prop A moves forward, and to pass the Clean Slate bill, which would enable Missourians with arrest or conviction records to better access jobs and housing.
📍 In San Diego, Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI) is uniting with teachers, parents, students, and community members to win solutions that address both education and housing needs. As public education endures attacks and funding cuts, teachers and families alike experience homelessness and struggle to find affordable housing. In 2023, a plan to build a safe parking and sleeping site for students and families fell through, but CPI and supporters are pushing to bring the proposal back to life. Earlier this month they hosted a press conference [[link removed]] urging the Mayor to allocate funding for the project in the city’s upcoming budget. This is one solution in a larger fight to ensure the wellbeing of students, families, and teachers both inside and outside of San Diego schools.
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Driven Out By AI: How Uber Deactivations Force Drivers into Chatbot Hell and Financial Crisis [[link removed]]
This new report [[link removed]] by Action Center on Race and the Economy [[link removed]] analyzes the results of a first-of-its-kind survey of 727 app-based drivers across the United States who rideshare corporations have deactivated in the past five years. It highlights continuing systemic failures of the sector, a broken appeals process that creates financial and emotional strain on drivers, and the harmful reality of AI-driven labor management that impacts workers across industries.
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Resource Guide on Public Goods and Privatization [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] For 15 years, In the Public Interest [[link removed]] (a fiscally sponsored project of PowerSwitch Action) has produced reports, briefs, toolkits, and other research to help people understand what happens when public goods are privatized. This context is crucial in our current moment, when public goods and services are being defunded, shut down, or spun out to private interests. Check out their new resource guide [[link removed]] , which links to a range of resources from education to public services to good governance.
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We are seeking experienced individuals to join our team! If you know anyone who would be a great fit, please send them our way. The ideal candidates will have a deep commitment to social, racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice.
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