Midwest Socialist

Illinois primary elections are March 17th, one week from tomorrow, and early voting is happening NOW!

In this episode, our host Dave Byrnes sat down with Anthony Clark, a democratic socialist candidate running for the U.S. House of representatives in Illinois' 7th Congressional District. Anthony talks about his recent Sun-Times endorsement, his view of the potential power of electoral work in a broader socialist agenda, and how to use the language of shared struggle to push for change.

You can check out Anthony's campaign and sign up to volunteer or donate here: https://www.voteanthonyclark.com/

You can follow Anthony on social media at @anthonyvclark20

You can get involved with DSA's #BERNIE2020 campaign here: https://bernie.dsausa.org/

If you live in Chicago, you can look up an early voting location here: https://chicagoelections.gov/en/early-voting.html

Or look up your registration information and election day polling place here: https://chicagoelections.gov/en/your-voter-information.html

This episode of the Midwest Socialist Podcast was recorded at the CDSA offices on Thursday, February 20th, 2020.

Socialism is often framed as a foreign ideology, but the United States has its own history of socialist movements. Sarah Hurd, host of the Midwest Socialist Podcast, talks to two authors about their explorations of socialism and American identity.

Paul Buhle guides us through the graphic novel he wrote about the life of Midwestern socialist politician Eugene Debs, and what we have to learn from those days.

And Victor Grossman will share the experiences he included in the memoir he wrote about his time as a McCarthy-era exile living in communist East Germany.

Chicago DSA has launched its chapter campaign to Democratize ComEd, Chicago's investor-owned "public" power distribution utility. In this episode, Sarah sat down with two Chicago DSA organizers, Sean Estelle and Sveta Stoytcheva, as well as Timothy Denherder-Thomas from Cooperative Energy Futures.

We discussed what it means to be a 'Public Utility' versus a Publicly-Owned Utility, the legal process of democratization, and the history and challenges of Minneapolis's fight to take back its grid.

The images of kids in cages shocked people across the country, but many Chicagoans don't realize that there are child detention facilities in their own backyard. We talked to CDSA organizers Dan and Sarah about their efforts to shame local non-profit Heartland Alliance into closing its facilities and re-uniting the children there with their families.

For more information check out:

FreeHeartlandKids.com

#FreeHeartlandKids

And to sign up to demonstrate in their week of action visit Bit.ly/FreeHeartlandKids.

Organizers will be downtown demonstrating outside the Heartland Alliance headquarters at 208 S. LaSalle, Monday through Friday from 11am-1pm, and on Friday 4:30-6:30pm as well. At 2pm on Saturday there will be an action at the Rogers Park detention center at 1628 W. Morse led by Little Village Solidarity Network

You may have heard the news by now. Chicagoans just elected 6 members of Democratic Socialist of America to their City Council. I sat down with four Chicago DSA organizers who worked on the campaigns of some of our recently elected aldermen. Rebecca and Caitlin worked on the Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez campaign in the 33rd ward. Lillian served as field director for the one socialist incumbent who ran, Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th Ward) and Robin was the field director for Jeanette Taylor in Chicago’s 20th Ward.

We discussed what worked, what didn't and what it means to have DSA members in elected office.

Within the global movement of working people pushing back against the forces of austerity and neoliberalism, Chicago is an important battle ground. It has become the poster child for corrupt politics and gun violence but also boasts powerful histories of union power and community organizing. The 2019 municipal election presents residents with a choice between the machine candidates of their past and a selection of new comers emerging from grassroots progressive movements.

We spoke to In These Times contributor Miles Kampf-Lassin about the effect that the rise of left social movements has had on the election and what people outside the windy city can learn from from these campaigns. His article for In These Times can be read here: http://inthesetimes.com/features/chicago_mayor_aldermanic_elections_political_revolution_social_movements.html

At our Midwest Socialist Live Aldermanic Candidate Forum we talked to 40th Ward aldermanic candidate Ugo Okere about his background in social work, the role of alderman as “organizer and chief” of the ward, and his work to make people on the far north side care about the struggles of those on the south and west sides of Chicago.

At our Midwest Socialist Live Aldermanic Candidate Forum we talked to 33rd Ward aldermanic candidate Rossana Rodriguez about canvassing until her feet go numb, comparisons to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, her own displacement from her home and how we create real public safety in our communities.

At our Midwest Socialist Live Aldermanic Candidate Forum we talked to 35th Ward Alderman Carlos Rosa about being a local left celebrity, the War on Christmas and his endorsement of Toni Preckwinkle for Mayor of Chicago.

At our Midwest Socialist Live Aldermanic Candidate Forum we talked to 25th Ward aldermanic candidate Byron Sigcho-Lopez about the current alderman’s misdeeds, why we need more activists in city hall and the similarities he has seen between working class people in Chicago and those in his native Ecuador.