#maine-dsa — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #maine-dsa, aggregated by home.social.
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#MaineDSA x #Presente! #FoodBrigade
Start: Saturday, June 27, 2026•09:30 AM
Location: The location will be given once the sign up form has been filled out"Volunteer with Maine DSA at Presente's Food Brigade. Which is their #BarrierFree community food and resource distribution program.
During the Rationing & Box-Making Shift (9:30am-12:30pm), you'll support the team by rationing dry food boxes for distribution to community members!
If you are interested in volunteering Please RSVP and fill out the sign up form emailed to you."
FMI and to volunteer:
https://actionnetwork.org/events/maine-dsa-x-presente-food-brigade-5#DemocraticSocialists #Maine #MainePol #MainersHelpingMainers #FoodSecurity #ResourceDistribution #DSA #MutualAid
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#MaineDSA x #Presente! #FoodBrigade
Start: Saturday, June 27, 2026•09:30 AM
Location: The location will be given once the sign up form has been filled out"Volunteer with Maine DSA at Presente's Food Brigade. Which is their #BarrierFree community food and resource distribution program.
During the Rationing & Box-Making Shift (9:30am-12:30pm), you'll support the team by rationing dry food boxes for distribution to community members!
If you are interested in volunteering Please RSVP and fill out the sign up form emailed to you."
FMI and to volunteer:
https://actionnetwork.org/events/maine-dsa-x-presente-food-brigade-5#DemocraticSocialists #Maine #MainePol #MainersHelpingMainers #FoodSecurity #ResourceDistribution #DSA #MutualAid
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#Maine Court Slams #Landlords, Confirms #RentControlLaws Initiated by #MaineDSA
Posted by Ethan Strimling | Apr 10, 2026
"On March 18, a Maine Superior Court judge summarily rejected the latest attempt by landlords to gut Portland’s rent control law and stifle the power of tenant unions. In fact, in her sweeping decision, Justice Darcie McElwee solidified rent control’s power to keep rents affordable in Maine’s largest city in a way many of us have been fighting for since it was enacted.
This is a big moment, and Portland administrators, as well as those looking to confront the housing affordability crisis across the state (I’m looking at you, candidates for governor), should take notice."
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#Maine Court Slams #Landlords, Confirms #RentControlLaws Initiated by #MaineDSA
Posted by Ethan Strimling | Apr 10, 2026
"On March 18, a Maine Superior Court judge summarily rejected the latest attempt by landlords to gut Portland’s rent control law and stifle the power of tenant unions. In fact, in her sweeping decision, Justice Darcie McElwee solidified rent control’s power to keep rents affordable in Maine’s largest city in a way many of us have been fighting for since it was enacted.
This is a big moment, and Portland administrators, as well as those looking to confront the housing affordability crisis across the state (I’m looking at you, candidates for governor), should take notice."
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Well, if #DemocraticParty leaders who don't live in #Maine feel entitled to select our candidates, then this #DemocraticSocialist has no problem temporarily registering as a #Democrat for the upcoming primaries to help select candidates! And Maine allows us to vote for a party in a primary without leaving our parties, which works for me!
#MaineGreens #MaineDSA #GetOutAndVote #Elections2026 #MainePol #USPol
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Well, if #DemocraticParty leaders who don't live in #Maine feel entitled to select our candidates, then this #DemocraticSocialist has no problem temporarily registering as a #Democrat for the upcoming primaries to help select candidates! And Maine allows us to vote for a party in a primary without leaving our parties, which works for me!
#MaineGreens #MaineDSA #GetOutAndVote #Elections2026 #MainePol #USPol
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Gotta love #MaineDSA! Putting out quality information for #Mainers protecting #NewMainers (and everyone else)!
Did you see ICE?
Here's what to do next - a comradely reminder from your local Maine DSA chapter.
The Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition. and other community partners have set up a hotine to report potential CE sightings. Please use the SALUTE method when reporting ICE to the hotine, Unconfirmed sightings create panic and confusion. please save the number to your phone, or take a tab with the number to keep handy.
Size: How many agents/vehicles?
Activity: What are they doing?
Location: Where exactly is this happening? (exact address if possible)
Unit: what agency? (ICE, CBP. etc)
Time: When did you see this?
Equipment: Vehicle descriptions, clothing, badges, etc.KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: All people living in the United States have rights regardless of your citizenship. Take a moment to learn about YOUR personal rights You shod learn about your rights beforehand so you can exercise them when needed:
Read about your rights: maineimmigrantrights.org/mirc-resource-hub/
This hotline needs volunteers! You can find the sign up link fo get trained and
become a volunteer at maineimmigrantrights.org/mirc-resource-hub/Hotline number: (207) 544-9989.
#WeKeepUsSafe #MaineResists #ResistICE #SALUTE #KYR #KnowYourRights
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Gotta love #MaineDSA! Putting out quality information for #Mainers protecting #NewMainers (and everyone else)!
Did you see ICE?
Here's what to do next - a comradely reminder from your local Maine DSA chapter.
The Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition. and other community partners have set up a hotine to report potential CE sightings. Please use the SALUTE method when reporting ICE to the hotine, Unconfirmed sightings create panic and confusion. please save the number to your phone, or take a tab with the number to keep handy.
Size: How many agents/vehicles?
Activity: What are they doing?
Location: Where exactly is this happening? (exact address if possible)
Unit: what agency? (ICE, CBP. etc)
Time: When did you see this?
Equipment: Vehicle descriptions, clothing, badges, etc.KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: All people living in the United States have rights regardless of your citizenship. Take a moment to learn about YOUR personal rights You shod learn about your rights beforehand so you can exercise them when needed:
Read about your rights: maineimmigrantrights.org/mirc-resource-hub/
This hotline needs volunteers! You can find the sign up link fo get trained and
become a volunteer at maineimmigrantrights.org/mirc-resource-hub/Hotline number: (207) 544-9989.
#WeKeepUsSafe #MaineResists #ResistICE #SALUTE #KYR #KnowYourRights
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#JewishVoiceForPeace #Maine #Fundraiser for MECA
Thursday, November 06, 2025, 06:30 PM
Location: #SacredProfane Brewery, 50 Washington St, #BiddefordME 04005
"Jewish Voice for Peace Maine is raising funds for the Middle East Children's Alliance to provide urgent aid to children & families in Gaza. MECA's staff and local partners in Gaza are on the ground responding to the most urgent needs of children and families."
$30 suggested donation.
Sponsored by
Internationalism Working Group - #MaineDSA -
#JewishVoiceForPeace #Maine #Fundraiser for MECA
Thursday, November 06, 2025, 06:30 PM
Location: #SacredProfane Brewery, 50 Washington St, #BiddefordME 04005
"Jewish Voice for Peace Maine is raising funds for the Middle East Children's Alliance to provide urgent aid to children & families in Gaza. MECA's staff and local partners in Gaza are on the ground responding to the most urgent needs of children and families."
$30 suggested donation.
Sponsored by
Internationalism Working Group - #MaineDSA -
Harness street power: endorse No Kings!
This essay by Maine DSA member Marianne was originally printed in Building Up, which is published by DSA caucus Groundwork. Reprinted here by permission of the author.
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When I was making calls last Thursday for Maine DSA’s $19 minimum wage campaign in Portland, a voter asked me, “how screwed do you think we are?,” broadening the scope of the conversation from a single ballot question in a municipality of 70,000 people. I wasn’t sure, I told him. Things look pretty grim. Since the inauguration of the second Trump presidency, we’ve witnessed the brutality and oppression that the US empire has funded abroad come home to roost on the streets of American cities, with masked thugs kidnapping immigrants and assaulting protestors in a show of naked authoritarianism. Republicans control both houses of Congress, and they’re eager to rubber stamp Trump’s far right billionaire agenda.
But it’s not all bad news. A majority of Americans reject rising fascism. Working people are mobilizing to demand something better, but the official opposition, the Democratic Party, is in disarray. In the No Kings protest movement, the Democratic voters are taking to the streets to express their outrage at the administration and its oligarch backers, but also at their own leaders who have failed to resist the fascist takeover happening before our eyes. This raises a question that DSA must answer: Will we meet the mass outpouring of anti-fascist energy where it’s at, seize the chance to make DSA the face of anti-fascism they are searching for, and organize them into DSA? Or are we too afraid that standing next to liberals in the streets will damage our radical brand to even try?
[Read next: What’s at state in Maine in 2026?]
Working people are hitting the streets in record numbers, and we need to be there with them. In Maine where I live, 3,000 people came out to the statehouse for the first No Kings rally on June 14. For scale, that’s in Augusta, a town of 19,000 people in an almost entirely rural state. As socialists, we know that our democracy is flawed at best, slanted in favor of the rich and powerful since our country’s founding. But the ordinary people coming out to protest know that if we don’t defend the limited democracy we have, it can get so much worse.
It’s easy to cringe at the liberal #resistance. I joined DSA in 2017, frightened by the Trump administration and wanting to continue fighting for the demands of the Bernie 2016 campaign. Like so many of my comrades in that wave of newly-minted DSA members, I didn’t think we had much common ground with the pussy hat and pantsuit resistance that emerged from Hillary Clinton’s defeat in the general election. As I saw it, they wanted to go back to brunch. We wanted to build a better world. I was angry at the Democratic establishment over Bernie’s primary loss as much as I was upset about Trump winning the election. And I was living as a man, five years away from when I would eventually come out as a trans woman. In retrospect, some of those liberals probably did want to tune back out as soon as Trump was gone, but many more were deeply sincere about defending LGBTQ+ rights, fighting for racial justice, and taxing the rich, even if we expressed ourselves differently.
Frankly, I was mad but I didn’t feel the visceral fear I do now when I look at what the Trump administration is doing. While Trump may be back in office, it’s not 2017 anymore. This time, only 9 months in, Trump has launched military occupations of our cities and his administration is openly plotting to seize even more unaccountable power. But also this time the mainstream 2025 resistance is built different. The people in the streets are fed up with appeals to norms and decorum in the face of a fascist takeover. This time, they want blood. What they don’t have is a leader.
[Read next: Support, but don’t endorse Platner]
In 2025, corporations and establishment figureheads have abandoned the pretense of opposition. This time around, they’ve chosen to accommodate MAGA rule. The resistance needs leadership, and DSA must lead. We have a duty as socialists to stand with the masses against fascism. In fact, we may be thrust into it whether we like it or not, given the call-out of DSA by name to Trump himself at a White House roundtable on Antifa.
This moment is more than an obligation; it is an opportunity. By joining the popular front against fascism, we can show the millions of outraged working people in this country that we need more than a return to the collapsing neoliberal order that Kamala Harris offered voters in 2024. We can show up on the streets and declare that to fight fascism, we must build socialism. When we do this, we will undoubtedly encounter people whose politics are all over the place or who are brand new to political struggle. These people, like the voter who asked me if we were screwed, are waiting for someone to show them the power that they have. It would be easier if everyone in the streets were all socialists waiting for a party, rather than a diverse group of working people who don’t like ICE agents pulling kids out of classrooms or CEOs raking in millions while everyday people struggle to pay off their debt. But that’s why we became organizers: to turn these people into socialists. One of the best things we do in DSA is develop the skill of talking to regular people about what is wrong in our communities and how we want things to change. We do it when we knock doors and we do it in our workplaces. We need to do it in the streets at No Kings rallies on October 18th.
Sign the petition calling on the NPC to endorse No Kings!
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Harness street power: endorse No Kings!
This essay by Maine DSA member Marianne was originally printed in Building Up, which is published by DSA caucus Groundwork. Reprinted here by permission of the author.
***
When I was making calls last Thursday for Maine DSA’s $19 minimum wage campaign in Portland, a voter asked me, “how screwed do you think we are?,” broadening the scope of the conversation from a single ballot question in a municipality of 70,000 people. I wasn’t sure, I told him. Things look pretty grim. Since the inauguration of the second Trump presidency, we’ve witnessed the brutality and oppression that the US empire has funded abroad come home to roost on the streets of American cities, with masked thugs kidnapping immigrants and assaulting protestors in a show of naked authoritarianism. Republicans control both houses of Congress, and they’re eager to rubber stamp Trump’s far right billionaire agenda.
But it’s not all bad news. A majority of Americans reject rising fascism. Working people are mobilizing to demand something better, but the official opposition, the Democratic Party, is in disarray. In the No Kings protest movement, the Democratic voters are taking to the streets to express their outrage at the administration and its oligarch backers, but also at their own leaders who have failed to resist the fascist takeover happening before our eyes. This raises a question that DSA must answer: Will we meet the mass outpouring of anti-fascist energy where it’s at, seize the chance to make DSA the face of anti-fascism they are searching for, and organize them into DSA? Or are we too afraid that standing next to liberals in the streets will damage our radical brand to even try?
[Read next: What’s at state in Maine in 2026?]
Working people are hitting the streets in record numbers, and we need to be there with them. In Maine where I live, 3,000 people came out to the statehouse for the first No Kings rally on June 14. For scale, that’s in Augusta, a town of 19,000 people in an almost entirely rural state. As socialists, we know that our democracy is flawed at best, slanted in favor of the rich and powerful since our country’s founding. But the ordinary people coming out to protest know that if we don’t defend the limited democracy we have, it can get so much worse.
It’s easy to cringe at the liberal #resistance. I joined DSA in 2017, frightened by the Trump administration and wanting to continue fighting for the demands of the Bernie 2016 campaign. Like so many of my comrades in that wave of newly-minted DSA members, I didn’t think we had much common ground with the pussy hat and pantsuit resistance that emerged from Hillary Clinton’s defeat in the general election. As I saw it, they wanted to go back to brunch. We wanted to build a better world. I was angry at the Democratic establishment over Bernie’s primary loss as much as I was upset about Trump winning the election. And I was living as a man, five years away from when I would eventually come out as a trans woman. In retrospect, some of those liberals probably did want to tune back out as soon as Trump was gone, but many more were deeply sincere about defending LGBTQ+ rights, fighting for racial justice, and taxing the rich, even if we expressed ourselves differently.
Frankly, I was mad but I didn’t feel the visceral fear I do now when I look at what the Trump administration is doing. While Trump may be back in office, it’s not 2017 anymore. This time, only 9 months in, Trump has launched military occupations of our cities and his administration is openly plotting to seize even more unaccountable power. But also this time the mainstream 2025 resistance is built different. The people in the streets are fed up with appeals to norms and decorum in the face of a fascist takeover. This time, they want blood. What they don’t have is a leader.
[Read next: Support, but don’t endorse Platner]
In 2025, corporations and establishment figureheads have abandoned the pretense of opposition. This time around, they’ve chosen to accommodate MAGA rule. The resistance needs leadership, and DSA must lead. We have a duty as socialists to stand with the masses against fascism. In fact, we may be thrust into it whether we like it or not, given the call-out of DSA by name to Trump himself at a White House roundtable on Antifa.
This moment is more than an obligation; it is an opportunity. By joining the popular front against fascism, we can show the millions of outraged working people in this country that we need more than a return to the collapsing neoliberal order that Kamala Harris offered voters in 2024. We can show up on the streets and declare that to fight fascism, we must build socialism. When we do this, we will undoubtedly encounter people whose politics are all over the place or who are brand new to political struggle. These people, like the voter who asked me if we were screwed, are waiting for someone to show them the power that they have. It would be easier if everyone in the streets were all socialists waiting for a party, rather than a diverse group of working people who don’t like ICE agents pulling kids out of classrooms or CEOs raking in millions while everyday people struggle to pay off their debt. But that’s why we became organizers: to turn these people into socialists. One of the best things we do in DSA is develop the skill of talking to regular people about what is wrong in our communities and how we want things to change. We do it when we knock doors and we do it in our workplaces. We need to do it in the streets at No Kings rallies on October 18th.
Sign the petition calling on the NPC to endorse No Kings!
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Support, but don’t endorse Platner
This opinion is part of a series debating what, if any, endorsements Maine DSA should consider in 2026. We welcome contributions. You can read the first in the series arguing in favor of endorsing Platner and Troy Jackson here, What’s at State in Maine in 2026?
***
“[I]t is not sufficient to attach a “vanguard” label to rearguard theory and practice.” — V. I. Lenin, What is to be Done?
Since launching his senatorial campaign in August, 2025, Graham Platner has quickly gained national attention. Graham has presented himself as a progressive candidate, criticizing the Republican Party for its extreme reaction, but also criticizing the Democratic Party for its utter fecklessness. This hardline progressive and anti-oligarchy position has earned Graham much praise within the progressive movement of the U.S., even earning Graham a speaking opportunity at Bernie Sanders’ 2025 Labor Day Rally in Portland, Maine.
This has predictably led to discussion within Maine DSA about whether the organization should endorse Graham, of which this article is a part. I do not deny that there is much to like about Graham. There are many provisions in his platform which Maine DSA was already fighting for. I do not deny that there are ways in which Maine DSA can and should support Graham’s campaign, but I am also of the opinion that it would be political suicide for Maine DSA to endorse Graham. Hence why am I arguing for “support without endorsement” in this article.
My argument against endorsement rests upon the following premises: 1) to endorse something is to give said thing one’s stamp of approval; 2) it is the job of all self-identified/self-described socialists and their organizations to advance a socialist agenda; 3) Maine DSA is a self-identified/self-described socialist organization; 4) it is, therefore, incumbent upon Maine DSA to advance a socialist agenda; 5) Graham Platner’s platform in its entirety is not only not a socialist platform, but is arguably an anti-socialist platform; 6) Maine DSA would, therefore, not be advancing a socialist agenda by endorsing Graham Platner; 7) Maine DSA should, therefore, not endorse Graham Platner.
How can we be sure that Graham’s platform is not a socialist one? My, admittedly only, proof comes from the section of Graham’s platform titled Take on Waste and Corruption at the Pentagon; Rebuild American Shipbuilding, which includes the following articles:
“We need to take the funds currently paying for mansions in Virginia and Maryland for defense contractors, and reinvest them into closing the massive shipbuilding gap.
I’ve seen under the hood. I know exactly how much money is wasted, and where. Send me to Washington and I will work tirelessly to rebuild the American military.” (Archived Platform)
There still appears to be much to like in these provisions at first glance, but closer examination reveals content which is highly problematic when considered from a socialist perspective.
[Read next: Gaza solidarity… New Banner, New Location, New Friends]
In my larger critique of Graham, I argued that any plan to close the US-China shipbuilding gap would be economically unfeasible without deepening the United States’ already unprecedented imperial exploitation of the globe, and that this would likely entail imperialist war. The project of expanding US shipbuilding to where it could compete with China would likely dwarf the construction of the interstate highway in the US; a project which was undertaken at the peak of the US empire in the 1950s, whereas now the US empire is in a period of steep decline, as is evidenced by the country’s shift from free trade to economic protectionism. The US currently accounts for only 0.1% of global shipbuilding whereas China builds more ships than the rest of the world combined (Center for Strategic & International Studies)
Even if it were economically feasible, it still raises the question of what purpose there would be in closing the US-China shipbuilding gap? It’s easy to grasp why China now accounts for 53.3% of global shipbuilding (Ibid.). As the industrial capital of the world, China needs a substantial shipbuilding infrastructure to build the shipping capacity it requires to effectively export the commodities it produces for countries around the world, including the US. This is not only affirmed by the historical example of the British Empire, whose naval peak coincided with their industrial peak as the industrial capital of the world in the late-eighteenth and nineteenth century, but is also affirmed by the example of US ally South Korea, a country which also produces a great many goods for export and accounts for the second most global shipbuilding output at 29.1% (Ibid.).
The US, by contrast, while still being a very large exporter, is an overall net importer (Bureau of Economic Analysis). The US has a far smaller industrial capacity than China owing to its much smaller population. The ability of the US to be a competitive exporter is already hampered by the comparatively high cost of US labor, and this also means that expanding US shipbuilding might not translate to making the US a more effective importer either. And this is also before we even consider the effect that Trump’s tariff policy has on all of these factors.
Thorough study of the US-China shipbuilding gap leads one to the conclusion that the gap is simply insurmountable for the US for several reasons. Firstly, because the US simply lacks the manpower to facilitate the expansion of US shipbuilding that’s necessary to compete with China. Secondly, even if the shipbuilding infrastructure of US allies like South Korea and Japan are counted as part of the US shipbuilding infrastructure, it’s still unclear that the US would be able to close the resultant 11% gap between the US and China, as China is likely to continue expanding its shipbuilding capacity during this same time. Thirdly, building a newer, more modern, and more efficient shipbuilding infrastructure in the US would likely require the deconstruction of the existing infrastructure to create a clean slate to build on, further allowing China to expand its lead over the US. Fourthly, even ignoring the military utility and all other logistical problems, it’s simply unclear what purpose is served by expanding the US’ shipbuilding capabilities.
As I currently understand the prevailing state of US shipbuilding, expanding the existing infrastructure would, at best, make for a good jobs program, but shipbuilding for the sake of job creation is a different matter than shipbuilding to close a competitive gap with another country. As I will explain later, socialists have no interest in competing with other countries anyway.
[Read next: As Cumberland County Goes, So Go Immigrant Rights in Maine]
The section of Graham’s platform which is most objectionable from a socialist perspective is the clause on rebuilding the US military. Socialists, including moderate socialists, have always been resolutely opposed to war between countries and service in the militaries of capitalist countries. This is due to the socialists’ adherence to the concept of internationalism—the concept that the working class has no country and is therefore international, if not anti-national—which rests on the following premises, as we have summarized elsewhere:
1) under capitalism, individuals make money by selling commodities; 2) the thing that distinguishes the working class from all other classes is that they sell their ability to work to an external consumer as a commodity; 3) as a commodity, the price of labor power is subject to the same basic laws as any other commodity; 4) the price of labor power therefore decreases when workers compete with each other for work or when there is an increase in the availability of labor power; 5) workers should not compete with each other for any reason because all it accomplishes is the mutual immiseration of workers to the benefit of capital owners; 6) workers should cooperate or unite with each other for the mutual benefit of all workers; 7) this idea extends to workers of different national origins because competition between workers of different nations has the same mutually destructive effects on workers as competition between workers of the same nation, especially as labor markets become increasingly globalized in step with the rest of the economy (The Revolutionist).
From these premises, it follows further that since socialiststs do not support workers competing with each other, we also do not support workers killing each other, which is the inevitable result of war between countries. This is stated explicitly and succinctly in the Resolution on Militarism adopted by the Socialist International at its 1907 congress in Stuttgart, Germany, which says,
“Wars between capitalist states are, as a rule, the outcome of their competition on the world market, for each state seeks not only to secure its existing markets, but also to conquer new ones. In this, the subjugation of foreign peoples and countries plays a prominent role. These wars result furthermore from the incessant race for armaments by militarism, one of the chief instruments of bourgeois class rule and of the economic and political subjugation of the working class.
Wars are favored by the national prejudices which are systematically cultivated among civilized peoples in the interest of the ruling classes for the purpose of distracting the proletarian masses from their own class tasks as well as from their duties of international solidarity.
Wars, therefore, are part of the very nature of capitalism; they will cease only when the capitalist system is abolished or when the enormous sacrifices in men and money required by the advance in military technique and the indignation called forth by armaments, drive the peoples to abolish this system.
For this reason, the proletariat, which contributes most of the soldiers and makes most of the material sacrifices, is a natural opponent of war which contradicts its highest goal—the creation of an economic order on a Socialist basis which will bring about the solidarity of all peoples.”
In this regard, in the sense that it can be said that Graham is actively supportive of the US military and its expansion, it can be conclusively said that Graham Platner’s platform is an anti-socialist one. To endorse Graham would therefore be to endorse his platform, and endorsing a platform which clearly expresses explicitly anti-socialist values would constitute more than a simple failure to advance a socialist agenda, it would constitute the advancement of an anti-socialist agenda. This would be especially damaging for Maine DSA since it has already demonstrated that it understands the importance of internationalism by forming a working group specifically dedicated to internationalism, meaning that the organization should know better than to endorse a platform like the one currently being advanced by Graham.
It would be one thing if Graham’s platform was ambiguous on such core aspects of socialist politics, in which case we would be unable to offer a strong argument against endorsement, as the rest of Graham’s platform consists of fairly milquetoast social-democratic policy initiatives which socialists have historically supported with the cynical goal of showing the limits of social-democracy by removing any barrier to it. But as shown above, any self-described socialist organization cannot endorse/approve of Graham’s platform in its current state. If Graham is interested in obtaining the endorsement of Maine DSA, he should be made to earn that endorsement by changing his platform to one which conforms to socialist values.
[Read next: Trump’s Social Murder Bill Passes — Now What?]
DSA is the largest socialist organization in the country, and Maine DSA is the biggest socialist organization in the state of Maine. This means that it is the vanguard of the working class struggle regardless of the discomfort moderates in the organization may feel toward the label of vanguard. We have built that political capital through our own hard work and perseverance, and part of that has meant taking the correct position even when it would be easier not to. While building that political capital has been quite difficult, losing it by making unforced errors is quite easy, and giving Graham our endorsement without making him earn it would be one such unforced error.
By endorsing Graham, Maine DSA would be committing the error of workerism, that is, the tailist error of supporting whatever is popular with the working class, even when what the working class wants is not in its interests as a class.
While I speak very strongly against endorsing Graham, I do not deny that he is by far the strongest candidate in his race. I do not deny that Graham, if elected, would be a definite improvement over Susan Collins in the US Senate—though that could also be said of any completely inanimate object. We want to be quite clear that I support Graham. There are many individual articles in Graham’s platform which do not contradict a socialist agenda and are or have already been advanced by Maine DSA. In these regards, I cannot argue in good faith against supporting Graham in some form, I only argue that support must not come in the form of endorsement. Such alternative forms of support could be things like doorknocking, phonebanking, and other forms of volunteer work which will support Graham’s campaign much more materially than a formal endorsement while also allowing Maine DSA to maintain a critical orientation towards Graham. I recognize that socialist organizations need to be flexible in their tactics, but history shows that socialist organizations cease to be socialist when that same flexibility is extended to the socialist program. Hence why I argue here for support without endorsement for Graham Platner, as I feel this exemplifies the kind of programmatic rigidity and tactical flexibility that must be at the core of any socialist politics.
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I haven't done a #FollowFriday in a while. Here are some accounts that I frequent! If you find them useful and/or interesting, you should follow them as well!
@DemocracyNow_Headlines_rss
Automated toots from #DemocracyNow's Headlines RSS feed.@UnicornRiot
#IndependentMedia amplifying stories from the frontlines of social and #environmental struggles.@AIF_Massachusetts #AmericanIronFront in Massachusetts: standing against Nazis, the alt-right, and fascists of all stripes in Massachusetts and the greater New England area.
@freedomofpress
Defending and supporting public-interest #journalism in the 21st century.@internetarchive
#InternetArchive is a non-profit research library preserving web pages, books, movies & audio for public access. Explore web history via the #WaybackMachine.@RadicalAnthro
London's longest running evening class, studying What it means to be human at UCL #Anthropology dept. We are FREE, on Tues eves term time. Account run by #CamillaPower. Radical anthropologists include #ChrisKnight, Ian Watts, Jerome Lewis and Morna Finnegan.@bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Automated parrot. #CensoredNews is a service to grassroots #Indigenous Peoples engaged in #resistance and upholding #HumanRights.@gerrymcgovern Author of #WorldWideWaste. Focused on reducing data waste and #eWaste.
@RadicalGraffiti Just sharing pics of #AntiCapitalist, #AntiAuthoritarian and #AntiColonial #graffiti, #stickers and #StreetArt seen around the world.
@thebeeguy
Founder of #WorldBeeSanctuary - the expanded ambition of The #Bee Sanctuary of Ireland - 55 acres of certified stock free organic land dedicated to our #NativeWildBees. The one and only true native wild bee sanctuary on the planet. No hives! No honey! Just wild! A not for profit social enterprise. Disruptive but irresistible.@mutualmorris
We are a#MutualAid group in Morris County, New Jersey, USA wanting to connect with likeminded folks, to learn, share, and build #solidarity communities as far as we can. We are led by mostly #queer, #poor / #unhoused, #immigrant, #socialist, #communist, and #anarchist types from multiple generations and we seek to build a real, active path out of "business as usual".@CrimethInc
#CrimethInc. is a rebel alliance—a decentralized network pledged to anonymous collective action—a breakout from the prisons of our age. We strive to reinvent our lives and our world according to the principles of self-determination and mutual aid. We believe that you should be free to dispose of your limitless potential on your own terms: that no government, market, or ideology should be able to dictate what your life can be. If you agree, let’s do something about it.@igd_news
In search of new forms of life. A digital community center and media platform featuring news, opinion, podcasts, and reporting on autonomous social movements and revolt across so-called North America from an #anarchist perspective. 🏴@Todd
#ToddChretien is a farmer, translator, editor, and author. He is co-chair of #MaineDSA and works in the #PineAndRoses editorial collective.@g7izu
#SpaceWeather, #aurora and #RadioPropagation from a UK perspective. Any alerts or warnings are informational only and are not official. I post about various other subjects as well, but always hope to be informative and interesting. Not a professional space weather forecaster, it's my hobby!@sundogplanets
Professor of #astronomy, farmer of #goats. Asteroid (42910). She/her.@MusiqueNow
#Music #Musique #Musica #Musik #Antizionazi Jew , cis,gay franglais 🇫🇷🇬🇧 speaking #anarchist who votes -
I haven't done a #FollowFriday in a while. Here are some accounts that I frequent! If you find them useful and/or interesting, you should follow them as well!
@DemocracyNow_Headlines_rss
Automated toots from #DemocracyNow's Headlines RSS feed.@UnicornRiot
#IndependentMedia amplifying stories from the frontlines of social and #environmental struggles.@AIF_Massachusetts #AmericanIronFront in Massachusetts: standing against Nazis, the alt-right, and fascists of all stripes in Massachusetts and the greater New England area.
@freedomofpress
Defending and supporting public-interest #journalism in the 21st century.@internetarchive
#InternetArchive is a non-profit research library preserving web pages, books, movies & audio for public access. Explore web history via the #WaybackMachine.@RadicalAnthro
London's longest running evening class, studying What it means to be human at UCL #Anthropology dept. We are FREE, on Tues eves term time. Account run by #CamillaPower. Radical anthropologists include #ChrisKnight, Ian Watts, Jerome Lewis and Morna Finnegan.@bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Automated parrot. #CensoredNews is a service to grassroots #Indigenous Peoples engaged in #resistance and upholding #HumanRights.@gerrymcgovern Author of #WorldWideWaste. Focused on reducing data waste and #eWaste.
@RadicalGraffiti Just sharing pics of #AntiCapitalist, #AntiAuthoritarian and #AntiColonial #graffiti, #stickers and #StreetArt seen around the world.
@thebeeguy
Founder of #WorldBeeSanctuary - the expanded ambition of The #Bee Sanctuary of Ireland - 55 acres of certified stock free organic land dedicated to our #NativeWildBees. The one and only true native wild bee sanctuary on the planet. No hives! No honey! Just wild! A not for profit social enterprise. Disruptive but irresistible.@mutualmorris
We are a#MutualAid group in Morris County, New Jersey, USA wanting to connect with likeminded folks, to learn, share, and build #solidarity communities as far as we can. We are led by mostly #queer, #poor / #unhoused, #immigrant, #socialist, #communist, and #anarchist types from multiple generations and we seek to build a real, active path out of "business as usual".@CrimethInc
#CrimethInc. is a rebel alliance—a decentralized network pledged to anonymous collective action—a breakout from the prisons of our age. We strive to reinvent our lives and our world according to the principles of self-determination and mutual aid. We believe that you should be free to dispose of your limitless potential on your own terms: that no government, market, or ideology should be able to dictate what your life can be. If you agree, let’s do something about it.@igd_news
In search of new forms of life. A digital community center and media platform featuring news, opinion, podcasts, and reporting on autonomous social movements and revolt across so-called North America from an #anarchist perspective. 🏴@Todd
#ToddChretien is a farmer, translator, editor, and author. He is co-chair of #MaineDSA and works in the #PineAndRoses editorial collective.@g7izu
#SpaceWeather, #aurora and #RadioPropagation from a UK perspective. Any alerts or warnings are informational only and are not official. I post about various other subjects as well, but always hope to be informative and interesting. Not a professional space weather forecaster, it's my hobby!@sundogplanets
Professor of #astronomy, farmer of #goats. Asteroid (42910). She/her.@MusiqueNow
#Music #Musique #Musica #Musik #Antizionazi Jew , cis,gay franglais 🇫🇷🇬🇧 speaking #anarchist who votes -
Thank you, @Todd ! I hope the #MaineDSA endorses both #GrahamPlatner and #TroyJackson. Hear, hear!
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Thank you, @Todd ! I hope the #MaineDSA endorses both #GrahamPlatner and #TroyJackson. Hear, hear!
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What’s at stake in Maine in 2026
The following opinion piece does not represent the editorial position of Pine and Roses or of Maine DSA as a whole.
Graham Platner has broken the race for US Senate wide open while Troy Jackson promises to be the most pro-union governor in the state’s history. Less than two months ago, all bets were on Gov. Janet Mills sweeping the primary and facing off against Trump enabler Sen. Susan Collins. And, despite Maine labor’s enthusiastic support, Jackson was going to struggle to expand his base sufficiently to outpace left-leaning candidates like Hannah Pingree and Shenna Bellows. The most likely outcome appeared to be a governor one step to the left of Mills—barring an unexpected Republican gubernatorial victory— and a senate race between DNC centrism and the last vestiges of Republican “moderation.” A contest that Collins has repeatedly demonstrated she can win.
Platner’s announcement in August created a buzz, but the 7,000 who attended the joint Bernie-Platner-Jackson rally on Labor Day turned up the volume, raising the potential for a radical turn. Both Platner and Jackson’s campaigns picked up Bernie’s crusade against the billionaire oligarchy. They intend to tax the rich to fund public education, healthcare, and elder care, champion unions to grow working-class power, end the genocide in Gaza and demand freedom for Palestine, and, as Jackson put it, “finally do right by the Wabanaki people.” Platner and Jackson are clearly in it to win and are amassing an army of volunteers, endorsements, and small contributions–Platner has taken in $2.5 million in little more than a month. Mills, especially, will be a formidable primary opponent, but working-class Mainers have a pair of horses in this race and they should take the opportunity to break free from politics as usual.
[Read next: Trump’s Social Murder Bill Passes – Now What?]
As state co-chair of Maine DSA, I am speaking only for myself below. Maine DSA will follow its own procedures to decide when, and if, the organization endorses any candidate. We will have multiple, thorough discussions, we will listen to one another’s concerns—and there are always valid concerns when it comes to politics—and then we will vote democratically on our position. All Maine DSA members in good standing have the right to participate in this debate and vote on any potential endorsement. Of course, rank-and-file Maine DSA members are free to volunteer for any campaign at any time and do not have to wait for chapter authorization.
However, in my opinion, Maine DSA ought to consider endorsing both Platner and Jackson for several reasons.
1. Endorsing is good for the candidates and good for Maine DSA. We can help grow the movement as we grow ourselves. We are a small force, but we have a dedicated layer of experienced organizers and thousands of members and supporters who look to the chapter for direction. If there’s going to be a real fight against the oligarchy in Maine, we’ve demonstrated we will be a dedicated and useful part of that fight, from electing socialists to office to organizing tenants unions to raising the minimum wage. And even as Maine DSA sustains a wide array of working groups and committees, we ought to look for ways to prioritize state-wide efforts where we can become more than the sum of our parts. Where we can all move in the same direction, recruit new members, turn inactive members into active ones, and strengthen our bonds with unions and community organizations.
2. United front defense in a purple state. Maine is one of a handful of so-called purple states in which organized labor, community organizations, and the broad left have not been decimated by neoliberal attacks. That is, we have retained an important capacity for self-defense. This puts a target on our back from the Trump administration, but it also gives us the chance to serve as an example of how to resist the destruction of our hospitals, nursing homes, VA hospitals, and schools. To do so, we’ll have to organize against ICE across the state, continue to speak out against the genocide in Gaza, and defend our LGTBQ+ siblings. Additionally, we’ll have to build a united front movement capable of demanding and winning real taxation of the rich in Maine. Trump wants to defund Maine. We will have to pry open Maine’s own oligarchs’ wallets and stock portfolios if we want to promote job-creating renewable energy projects, fully fund our public schools, and use the legislature’s muscle to embark on an affordable and workforce housing construction boom. Platner replacing Collins provides us one more measure of defense nationally and Jackson has pledged to fight for the kind of budget and reforms that working-class Mainers so desperately need. We have to shift the balance of forces in our favor in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our schools, and in Augusta. It’s not enough to defend democracy and civil liberties against attacks, we need a positive economic program to improve working-class lives.
[Read next: As Cumberland County goes, so go immigrant rights in Maine]
3. Don’t rely on the corporate Democrats. Trump and Stephen Miller declared war on the working class in Arizona this weekend. If Trump demonstrated his desire to tamper with elections in 2020, today he is organizing the (semi)legal and extralegal means to retain Republican control in 2026 and beyond. Unfortunately, the national Democratic Party appears incapable of confronting this reality. If they spent as much time fighting Trump as they have sabotaging Zohran Mamdani and Omar Fateh, we might be in a different position. Unfortunately, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have neither the interest nor the knowhow to oppose Trump. MAGA is becoming a mass fascist movement, the DNC is a fundraising operation for lawyers-turned-politicians. The DNC does not have the tools for this job, instead, unions, community organizations, and the left will have to forge them ourselves.
4. Don’t throw out Platner and Jackson with the DNC bathwater. DNC paralysis should not blind us to recognizing certain places where a real fight against the billionaires is developing within the old form of the Democratic Party. 2026 in Maine is, I believe, one such place. This does not mean we should look to Platner and Jackson to “fix” things for us. As Eugene V. Debs put it while running for president, “I would not be a Moses to lead you into the promised land, for someone would lead you out again.” That is, Platner and Jackson are not, by themselves, the movement we need. All indications are that they want to play a part in a much larger working-class movement for radical change. They will have to prove that in practice, but the movement has to prove itself capable of sinking deep roots, bringing in workers from all over the state, and developing mechanisms and institutions for democratic input and decision making. If we don’t do that, then even if they win, Platner and Jackson will be left high and dry.
5. Focus on building power in the medium term, but start with 2026. We know that 2026 is not the end of the fight. Our long term vision is to free humanity and the planet from capitalism’s destructive drive. We are not naive. Trump is strong. We expect that MAGA will be in power—or very close to it—for the next decade and they will only leave if a stronger force arises. The oligarchy has no intention of giving an inch. In order to change the balance of forces, we need a strategic, medium term vision.
What does medium-term success look like? It means 25 percent of Maine workers winning union contracts (we’re at 13 percent now). It means a real fight inside and outside the Democratic Party to elect twenty-five or thirty socialists (we have 1 now), labor leaders, and genuine defenders of tribal sovereignty, LGTBQ+ equality, and freedom for New Mainers to seats in the Maine legislature. It means electing dozens of town, city (we now have 2), county, and school board officials who ground their legislative work in union and community democracy. It means a continuous process of united front action between working-class and progressive forces to expand our areas of influence. It means Maine DSA learning how to act like a socialist party.
For any of those medium-term dynamics to stand a chance, we should look for short term opportunities that provide our side with maximum opportunities for partial victories and stronger unity. Helping elect Platner and Jackson is one such chance. Not only to win their seats, but to ensure that unions, grassroots communities, and left-wing organizations emerge stronger from the campaigns. Not simply as names on a donor list for the candidates, but in real terms for working-class organization.
The stakes are high in 2026. Maine DSA needs a plan to help our class defend itself, and we need a plan to grow stronger. We have work to do beyond the Platner and Jackson campaigns, but they can serve as a unifying element we need to get to the next level of organizing and influence. It would be a serious mistake to stand aside or to support the campaigns in a purely individual and disorganized manner. Now is not the time for a bylaws fight, now is the time for serious debate, honest disagreement, democratic decision making, and united action.
-
What’s at stake in Maine in 2026
The following opinion piece does not represent the editorial position of Pine and Roses or of Maine DSA as a whole.
Graham Platner has broken the race for US Senate wide open while Troy Jackson promises to be the most pro-union governor in the state’s history. Less than two months ago, all bets were on Gov. Janet Mills sweeping the primary and facing off against Trump enabler Sen. Susan Collins. And, despite Maine labor’s enthusiastic support, Jackson was going to struggle to expand his base sufficiently to outpace left-leaning candidates like Hannah Pingree and Shenna Bellows. The most likely outcome appeared to be a governor one step to the left of Mills—barring an unexpected Republican gubernatorial victory— and a senate race between DNC centrism and the last vestiges of Republican “moderation.” A contest that Collins has repeatedly demonstrated she can win.
Platner’s announcement in August created a buzz, but the 7,000 who attended the joint Bernie-Platner-Jackson rally on Labor Day turned up the volume, raising the potential for a radical turn. Both Platner and Jackson’s campaigns picked up Bernie’s crusade against the billionaire oligarchy. They intend to tax the rich to fund public education, healthcare, and elder care, champion unions to grow working-class power, end the genocide in Gaza and demand freedom for Palestine, and, as Jackson put it, “finally do right by the Wabanaki people.” Platner and Jackson are clearly in it to win and are amassing an army of volunteers, endorsements, and small contributions–Platner has taken in $2.5 million in little more than a month. Mills, especially, will be a formidable primary opponent, but working-class Mainers have a pair of horses in this race and they should take the opportunity to break free from politics as usual.
[Read next: Trump’s Social Murder Bill Passes – Now What?]
As state co-chair of Maine DSA, I am speaking only for myself below. Maine DSA will follow its own procedures to decide when, and if, the organization endorses any candidate. We will have multiple, thorough discussions, we will listen to one another’s concerns—and there are always valid concerns when it comes to politics—and then we will vote democratically on our position. All Maine DSA members in good standing have the right to participate in this debate and vote on any potential endorsement. Of course, rank-and-file Maine DSA members are free to volunteer for any campaign at any time and do not have to wait for chapter authorization.
However, in my opinion, Maine DSA ought to consider endorsing both Platner and Jackson for several reasons.
1. Endorsing is good for the candidates and good for Maine DSA. We can help grow the movement as we grow ourselves. We are a small force, but we have a dedicated layer of experienced organizers and thousands of members and supporters who look to the chapter for direction. If there’s going to be a real fight against the oligarchy in Maine, we’ve demonstrated we will be a dedicated and useful part of that fight, from electing socialists to office to organizing tenants unions to raising the minimum wage. And even as Maine DSA sustains a wide array of working groups and committees, we ought to look for ways to prioritize state-wide efforts where we can become more than the sum of our parts. Where we can all move in the same direction, recruit new members, turn inactive members into active ones, and strengthen our bonds with unions and community organizations.
2. United front defense in a purple state. Maine is one of a handful of so-called purple states in which organized labor, community organizations, and the broad left have not been decimated by neoliberal attacks. That is, we have retained an important capacity for self-defense. This puts a target on our back from the Trump administration, but it also gives us the chance to serve as an example of how to resist the destruction of our hospitals, nursing homes, VA hospitals, and schools. To do so, we’ll have to organize against ICE across the state, continue to speak out against the genocide in Gaza, and defend our LGTBQ+ siblings. Additionally, we’ll have to build a united front movement capable of demanding and winning real taxation of the rich in Maine. Trump wants to defund Maine. We will have to pry open Maine’s own oligarchs’ wallets and stock portfolios if we want to promote job-creating renewable energy projects, fully fund our public schools, and use the legislature’s muscle to embark on an affordable and workforce housing construction boom. Platner replacing Collins provides us one more measure of defense nationally and Jackson has pledged to fight for the kind of budget and reforms that working-class Mainers so desperately need. We have to shift the balance of forces in our favor in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, in our schools, and in Augusta. It’s not enough to defend democracy and civil liberties against attacks, we need a positive economic program to improve working-class lives.
[Read next: As Cumberland County goes, so go immigrant rights in Maine]
3. Don’t rely on the corporate Democrats. Trump and Stephen Miller declared war on the working class in Arizona this weekend. If Trump demonstrated his desire to tamper with elections in 2020, today he is organizing the (semi)legal and extralegal means to retain Republican control in 2026 and beyond. Unfortunately, the national Democratic Party appears incapable of confronting this reality. If they spent as much time fighting Trump as they have sabotaging Zohran Mamdani and Omar Fateh, we might be in a different position. Unfortunately, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have neither the interest nor the knowhow to oppose Trump. MAGA is becoming a mass fascist movement, the DNC is a fundraising operation for lawyers-turned-politicians. The DNC does not have the tools for this job, instead, unions, community organizations, and the left will have to forge them ourselves.
4. Don’t throw out Platner and Jackson with the DNC bathwater. DNC paralysis should not blind us to recognizing certain places where a real fight against the billionaires is developing within the old form of the Democratic Party. 2026 in Maine is, I believe, one such place. This does not mean we should look to Platner and Jackson to “fix” things for us. As Eugene V. Debs put it while running for president, “I would not be a Moses to lead you into the promised land, for someone would lead you out again.” That is, Platner and Jackson are not, by themselves, the movement we need. All indications are that they want to play a part in a much larger working-class movement for radical change. They will have to prove that in practice, but the movement has to prove itself capable of sinking deep roots, bringing in workers from all over the state, and developing mechanisms and institutions for democratic input and decision making. If we don’t do that, then even if they win, Platner and Jackson will be left high and dry.
5. Focus on building power in the medium term, but start with 2026. We know that 2026 is not the end of the fight. Our long term vision is to free humanity and the planet from capitalism’s destructive drive. We are not naive. Trump is strong. We expect that MAGA will be in power—or very close to it—for the next decade and they will only leave if a stronger force arises. The oligarchy has no intention of giving an inch. In order to change the balance of forces, we need a strategic, medium term vision.
What does medium-term success look like? It means 25 percent of Maine workers winning union contracts (we’re at 13 percent now). It means a real fight inside and outside the Democratic Party to elect twenty-five or thirty socialists (we have 1 now), labor leaders, and genuine defenders of tribal sovereignty, LGTBQ+ equality, and freedom for New Mainers to seats in the Maine legislature. It means electing dozens of town, city (we now have 2), county, and school board officials who ground their legislative work in union and community democracy. It means a continuous process of united front action between working-class and progressive forces to expand our areas of influence. It means Maine DSA learning how to act like a socialist party.
For any of those medium-term dynamics to stand a chance, we should look for short term opportunities that provide our side with maximum opportunities for partial victories and stronger unity. Helping elect Platner and Jackson is one such chance. Not only to win their seats, but to ensure that unions, grassroots communities, and left-wing organizations emerge stronger from the campaigns. Not simply as names on a donor list for the candidates, but in real terms for working-class organization.
The stakes are high in 2026. Maine DSA needs a plan to help our class defend itself, and we need a plan to grow stronger. We have work to do beyond the Platner and Jackson campaigns, but they can serve as a unifying element we need to get to the next level of organizing and influence. It would be a serious mistake to stand aside or to support the campaigns in a purely individual and disorganized manner. Now is not the time for a bylaws fight, now is the time for serious debate, honest disagreement, democratic decision making, and united action.
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#MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights
"We are a group of people from #Maine and beyond who stand in solidarity with the #Palestinian people and seek to amplify their movement of liberation from occupation and #apartheid."
Recurring Standouts & Mini-Rallies
#BangorME
Wednesday - 12PM Noon
6 State St (Kenduskeag Bridge)#BelfastME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Post Office Square#BlueHillME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Blue Hill Town Hall#BrunswickME
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Maine St (at Tontine Mall)#BrunswickME
Friday - 5PM
Maine Street (by Walgreens)#BucksportME
Saturday - 12:30PM
Bucksport-Verona Bridge#CamdenME
Friday - 5PM
Camden Village Green#DoverFoxcroftME
Saturday - 9AM
Main Street Bridge#EllsworthME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Union River Bridge#FarmingtonME
Saturday - 11AM
Post Office#HoultonME
Friday - 1PM
Peace Pole#NewcastleME
Thursday - 3PM
Veterans Park#PortlandME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Post Office Park#RocklandME
2nd + 4th Thursdays - 3PM
Main St & Park St#SacoME
First Friday, Monthly - 2:30PM
General Dynamics#WatervilleME
Monday - 11:30AM
Main St & Temple Sthttps://www.mvprights.org/events#block-a15fa12ef4b264f29ded
#FreeGaza #EndGenocide #HumanRights #Maine #MaineResists
#MaineEvents #FreePalestine
#MaineVoicesForPeace #ResistAuthoritarianism
#ResistFascism #USPol #WorldPol #FreePalestine #Gaza #WorldWarBibi
#BibiIsAWarCriminal #Genocide #MaineCoalitionForPalestine #MaineVoicesForPeace #PeaceActionMaine #MaineDSA #JVP
#Palestine #NoWar #PeaceWorks
#HumanRightsAreNeverWrong -
#MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights
"We are a group of people from #Maine and beyond who stand in solidarity with the #Palestinian people and seek to amplify their movement of liberation from occupation and #apartheid."
Recurring Standouts & Mini-Rallies
#BangorME
Wednesday - 12PM Noon
6 State St (Kenduskeag Bridge)#BelfastME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Post Office Square#BlueHillME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Blue Hill Town Hall#BrunswickME
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Maine St (at Tontine Mall)#BrunswickME
Friday - 5PM
Maine Street (by Walgreens)#BucksportME
Saturday - 12:30PM
Bucksport-Verona Bridge#CamdenME
Friday - 5PM
Camden Village Green#DoverFoxcroftME
Saturday - 9AM
Main Street Bridge#EllsworthME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Union River Bridge#FarmingtonME
Saturday - 11AM
Post Office#HoultonME
Friday - 1PM
Peace Pole#NewcastleME
Thursday - 3PM
Veterans Park#PortlandME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Post Office Park#RocklandME
2nd + 4th Thursdays - 3PM
Main St & Park St#SacoME
First Friday, Monthly - 2:30PM
General Dynamics#WatervilleME
Monday - 11:30AM
Main St & Temple Sthttps://www.mvprights.org/events#block-a15fa12ef4b264f29ded
#FreeGaza #EndGenocide #HumanRights #Maine #MaineResists
#MaineEvents #FreePalestine
#MaineVoicesForPeace #ResistAuthoritarianism
#ResistFascism #USPol #WorldPol #FreePalestine #Gaza #WorldWarBibi
#BibiIsAWarCriminal #Genocide #MaineCoalitionForPalestine #MaineVoicesForPeace #PeaceActionMaine #MaineDSA #JVP
#Palestine #NoWar #PeaceWorks
#HumanRightsAreNeverWrong -
Well, the news in the #USA (and #UK) bites! The #MaineDSA has some stuff planned, and I'm sure #PineTreeActivism does as well. I'll work on getting more upcoming events posted here. I'm also assigning myself some "homework" to distract me when I need a break (I do miss being in school sometimes (especially the nerdy camaraderie and challenging assignments!).
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Well, the news in the #USA (and #UK) bites! The #MaineDSA has some stuff planned, and I'm sure #PineTreeActivism does as well. I'll work on getting more upcoming events posted here. I'm also assigning myself some "homework" to distract me when I need a break (I do miss being in school sometimes (especially the nerdy camaraderie and challenging assignments!).
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And THIS is one of the reasons why I'm a #DemocraticSocialist!
#Unions and Community Unite for #MayDay: Lessons for the Fight Ahead
Posted by #ToddChretien | Jun 16, 2025 |
This article is reprinted from the Socialist Forum, a publication of #DSA. It was authored by Todd Chretien, who serves both on DSA’s Editorial Board as well as Pine & Roses’ Editorial Collective. It was originally published on May 30, 2025.
What happened?
"Hundreds of thousands of workers marched and rallied on May Day, making it the largest International Workers Day since 2006 when two million immigrant workers left work and marched to demand their rights. Protests were organized in 1300 locations, large and small; no doubt the first May Day protest in many places. Broadly speaking, there were three different levels of mobilization. First, as in 2006, Chicago stood out with some 30,000 marching, organized by a mass coalition of labor and immigrant rights organizations. Second, cities like Philly, New York, Baltimore, San Francisco, Oakland, Burlington, and #PortlandME mobilized between two and fifteen thousand. Third, hundreds of cities and towns turned out crowds from a couple dozen to hundreds, including smaller cities like Davis, California. This ranking is not intended as a judgement on the organizers. In fact, some of the smaller rallies included higher percentages of the population than the largest. For instance, in the town of #WayneME — population 1,000 — seventy-five people turned out for both morning and evening rallies.
"It’s worth noting that the crowds were not as large as the #April5 day of protest initiated by #Indivisible; however, participants were noticeably more #multiracial, younger, and #radical with widespread support for #TransgenderRights and opposition to the genocide of #Palestinians in #Gaza. Though an important step in the process of building working-class unity against the billionaires and capitalist class, these efforts have a long way to go. For instance, although multiracial, at the national level, the marches did not entirely reflect working-class diversity. And if immigrant rights organizations were critical in many cities, Trump’s reign of terror against immigrant workers suppressed turnout from this community in many places.
[...]
New York City
"On the day, NYC-DSA turned out some 500 members, many of whom marched with their unions. They did so while keeping up with other work—DSA member #ZohranMamdani is running for mayor—with #NYCDSA labor organizers having advanced a month-long Build to May Day campaign. Organizers called on committees and working groups across the chapter to make May Day a priority, turning out members and volunteer marshalls. The chapter is now in a stronger position to discuss next steps with the broader coalition and consolidate a layer of new members and allies. There’s more pain ahead, but May Day helped gather working-class forces together for action and to take the temperature of the most active and militant layer of trade unionists and community activists. As NYC-DSA Labor Working Group member David Duhalde suggests, 'The New York City May Day rally and march from Foley Square to the iconic Wall Street Bull statue was a microcosm of the shift in energy in labor during Trump’s second term.' How far that shift goes can only be tested in practice.
[...]
Portland, Maine
"Maine DSA’s Labor Rising working group decided to focus on May Day in December, laying the basis to help initiate an organizing meeting open to all community groups and unions. Maine AFL-CIO leaders and UAW graduate students participated in a preliminary meeting to brainstorm ideas, and more than 70 people attended an April 12 meeting in the South Portland Teamsters’ Hall, where the group democratically planned Portland’s May Day. Working groups took up all aspects of the action, and we took all important decisions back to the coalition for votes. Running a long a related track, Maine Education Association and Maine AFL-CIO leaders called for actions across the state, amplifying the Chicago May Day Strong call and dramatically broadening what the Portland coalition could organize.
"Nearly 2,000 people turned out in Portland, starting with a rally at the University of Southern Maine to back UAW graduate students’ demands for a first contract and then marching to the Post Office to hear from postal workers. Members of the Portland Education Association and a trans student poet headlined the stop at Portland High School and a librarian union rep spoke in Monument Square before the final rally that heard from the president of the Metal Trades Council at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, a rep from the Maine State Nurses Association, members of the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine, an organizer from #LGTBQ+ community group #PortlandOutright, a local immigrant rights group called Presente! Maine, and others. It was a great demonstration and showed the thirst for a broader coalition. Twenty-five other towns held actions, bringing the total number of Maine participants to over 5,000, the largest Maine May Day anyone can remember.
"It would be shortsighted to overstate the power and stability of this fledgling coalition. Large doses of patience and understanding will be necessary to foster bonds of trust. Sectarian pressures to draw 'red lines' that exclude workers new to political activity and organizations who have various programs and interests represent one danger. A narrow focus on the midterm elections represents another. Fortunately, there’s a lot of room for creativity between those two extremes.
Long road ahead
"May Day was the first test of strength for the left and working class against #Trump, #MAGA, and forty-plus years of #neoliberal rot. We face a long, complex problem where political pressures to return to passivity will be strong, but May Day 2025 constitutes a small step towards healing deep wounds in the American working class, the divide between organized and unorganized, immigrant and US born, etc. If brother Fain’s call for 2028 is to grow strong, then 2026 and 2027 must be practice runs. If 2026 and 2027 are to be real demonstrations of strength, they must grow out of tighter bonds between labor, community, and the left, more active membership participation in all of those forces, and a combination of defensive struggles we are forced to fight and battles we pick on our own terms. As Sarah Hurd, co-chair of DSA’s National Labor Commission, spells out, 'This year’s May Day actions showed the power of what we can accomplish just by setting a date and inviting people to take action together. It has also highlighted what work we need to do to scale up our level of organization in the next three years.'
"What did May Day teach us? Fittingly, the last word goes to Kirsten Roberts, a rank-and-file Chicago teacher, 'The most important element of #MayDay2025 is the explicit entry of organized and unorganized labor into #resistance to Trump. Trump’s attacks are aimed directly at dividing the working class and turning ordinary people against one another while the billionaires rob and plunder us all. An agenda for working class unity can be built when we stand up for those most victimized and vilified by the right-wing bigots AND when we stand together to fight for the things that the billionaire class has denied us—the fight for healthcare, education, housing, and good-paying jobs for starters. For decades, we’ve been told by both parties that funding war, incarceration, and border militarization are their priorities. May Day showed that working people have another agenda. Now let’s organize to win it.”
https://pineandroses.org/reports/unions-and-community-unite-for-may-day-lessons-for-the-fight-ahead/
#MaineResists #NYCResists #ResistTrump #ResistFascism #Socialism #CapitalismKills #MaineDSA #PinesAndRoses #DemocraticSocialistsOfAmerica
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And THIS is one of the reasons why I'm a #DemocraticSocialist!
#Unions and Community Unite for #MayDay: Lessons for the Fight Ahead
Posted by #ToddChretien | Jun 16, 2025 |
This article is reprinted from the Socialist Forum, a publication of #DSA. It was authored by Todd Chretien, who serves both on DSA’s Editorial Board as well as Pine & Roses’ Editorial Collective. It was originally published on May 30, 2025.
What happened?
"Hundreds of thousands of workers marched and rallied on May Day, making it the largest International Workers Day since 2006 when two million immigrant workers left work and marched to demand their rights. Protests were organized in 1300 locations, large and small; no doubt the first May Day protest in many places. Broadly speaking, there were three different levels of mobilization. First, as in 2006, Chicago stood out with some 30,000 marching, organized by a mass coalition of labor and immigrant rights organizations. Second, cities like Philly, New York, Baltimore, San Francisco, Oakland, Burlington, and #PortlandME mobilized between two and fifteen thousand. Third, hundreds of cities and towns turned out crowds from a couple dozen to hundreds, including smaller cities like Davis, California. This ranking is not intended as a judgement on the organizers. In fact, some of the smaller rallies included higher percentages of the population than the largest. For instance, in the town of #WayneME — population 1,000 — seventy-five people turned out for both morning and evening rallies.
"It’s worth noting that the crowds were not as large as the #April5 day of protest initiated by #Indivisible; however, participants were noticeably more #multiracial, younger, and #radical with widespread support for #TransgenderRights and opposition to the genocide of #Palestinians in #Gaza. Though an important step in the process of building working-class unity against the billionaires and capitalist class, these efforts have a long way to go. For instance, although multiracial, at the national level, the marches did not entirely reflect working-class diversity. And if immigrant rights organizations were critical in many cities, Trump’s reign of terror against immigrant workers suppressed turnout from this community in many places.
[...]
New York City
"On the day, NYC-DSA turned out some 500 members, many of whom marched with their unions. They did so while keeping up with other work—DSA member #ZohranMamdani is running for mayor—with #NYCDSA labor organizers having advanced a month-long Build to May Day campaign. Organizers called on committees and working groups across the chapter to make May Day a priority, turning out members and volunteer marshalls. The chapter is now in a stronger position to discuss next steps with the broader coalition and consolidate a layer of new members and allies. There’s more pain ahead, but May Day helped gather working-class forces together for action and to take the temperature of the most active and militant layer of trade unionists and community activists. As NYC-DSA Labor Working Group member David Duhalde suggests, 'The New York City May Day rally and march from Foley Square to the iconic Wall Street Bull statue was a microcosm of the shift in energy in labor during Trump’s second term.' How far that shift goes can only be tested in practice.
[...]
Portland, Maine
"Maine DSA’s Labor Rising working group decided to focus on May Day in December, laying the basis to help initiate an organizing meeting open to all community groups and unions. Maine AFL-CIO leaders and UAW graduate students participated in a preliminary meeting to brainstorm ideas, and more than 70 people attended an April 12 meeting in the South Portland Teamsters’ Hall, where the group democratically planned Portland’s May Day. Working groups took up all aspects of the action, and we took all important decisions back to the coalition for votes. Running a long a related track, Maine Education Association and Maine AFL-CIO leaders called for actions across the state, amplifying the Chicago May Day Strong call and dramatically broadening what the Portland coalition could organize.
"Nearly 2,000 people turned out in Portland, starting with a rally at the University of Southern Maine to back UAW graduate students’ demands for a first contract and then marching to the Post Office to hear from postal workers. Members of the Portland Education Association and a trans student poet headlined the stop at Portland High School and a librarian union rep spoke in Monument Square before the final rally that heard from the president of the Metal Trades Council at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, a rep from the Maine State Nurses Association, members of the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine, an organizer from #LGTBQ+ community group #PortlandOutright, a local immigrant rights group called Presente! Maine, and others. It was a great demonstration and showed the thirst for a broader coalition. Twenty-five other towns held actions, bringing the total number of Maine participants to over 5,000, the largest Maine May Day anyone can remember.
"It would be shortsighted to overstate the power and stability of this fledgling coalition. Large doses of patience and understanding will be necessary to foster bonds of trust. Sectarian pressures to draw 'red lines' that exclude workers new to political activity and organizations who have various programs and interests represent one danger. A narrow focus on the midterm elections represents another. Fortunately, there’s a lot of room for creativity between those two extremes.
Long road ahead
"May Day was the first test of strength for the left and working class against #Trump, #MAGA, and forty-plus years of #neoliberal rot. We face a long, complex problem where political pressures to return to passivity will be strong, but May Day 2025 constitutes a small step towards healing deep wounds in the American working class, the divide between organized and unorganized, immigrant and US born, etc. If brother Fain’s call for 2028 is to grow strong, then 2026 and 2027 must be practice runs. If 2026 and 2027 are to be real demonstrations of strength, they must grow out of tighter bonds between labor, community, and the left, more active membership participation in all of those forces, and a combination of defensive struggles we are forced to fight and battles we pick on our own terms. As Sarah Hurd, co-chair of DSA’s National Labor Commission, spells out, 'This year’s May Day actions showed the power of what we can accomplish just by setting a date and inviting people to take action together. It has also highlighted what work we need to do to scale up our level of organization in the next three years.'
"What did May Day teach us? Fittingly, the last word goes to Kirsten Roberts, a rank-and-file Chicago teacher, 'The most important element of #MayDay2025 is the explicit entry of organized and unorganized labor into #resistance to Trump. Trump’s attacks are aimed directly at dividing the working class and turning ordinary people against one another while the billionaires rob and plunder us all. An agenda for working class unity can be built when we stand up for those most victimized and vilified by the right-wing bigots AND when we stand together to fight for the things that the billionaire class has denied us—the fight for healthcare, education, housing, and good-paying jobs for starters. For decades, we’ve been told by both parties that funding war, incarceration, and border militarization are their priorities. May Day showed that working people have another agenda. Now let’s organize to win it.”
https://pineandroses.org/reports/unions-and-community-unite-for-may-day-lessons-for-the-fight-ahead/
#MaineResists #NYCResists #ResistTrump #ResistFascism #Socialism #CapitalismKills #MaineDSA #PinesAndRoses #DemocraticSocialistsOfAmerica
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#Maine Voices for #Palestinian Rights - Weekly #Standouts & Mini-Rallies (Updated May 2025)
HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NEVER WRONG
"We are a group of people from #Maine and beyond who stand in solidarity with the #Palestinian people and seek to amplify their movement of liberation from occupation and #apartheid."
#BelfastME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Post Office Square#BrunswickME
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Maine St
(in front of Tontine Mall)#BlueHillME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Blue Hill Town Hall#BrunswickME
Thursday - 12PM
Maine Street (at Tontine Mall)#BangorME
Wednesday - 12PM
6 State Street (Kenduskag Bridge)#BrunswickME
Friday - 5PM
Maine Street
(by Walgreens)#BucksportME
Saturday - 12:30PM
Bucksport-Verona Bridge#CamdenME
Friday - 5PM
Camden Village Green#EllsworthME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Union River Bridge#FarmingtonME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Post Office#FreeportME
Every Other Monday - 1PM
Main Street & West Street#PortlandME
Saturday - 1PM
Longfellow Square#RocklandME
2nd + 4th Thursdays - 3PM
Maine & Park St#SacoME
Friday - 2:30PM
#GeneralDynamicsSource:
https://www.mvprights.org/events#block-a15fa12ef4b264f29ded#FreePalestine #Gaza #WorldWarBibi #BibiIsAWarCriminal #Genocide #EndGenocide #MaineCoalitionForPalestine #MaineVoicesForPeace #PeaceActionMaine #MaineDSA #JVP #Palestine #NoWar #PeaceWorks #MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong
-
#Maine Voices for #Palestinian Rights - Weekly #Standouts & Mini-Rallies (Updated May 2025)
HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NEVER WRONG
"We are a group of people from #Maine and beyond who stand in solidarity with the #Palestinian people and seek to amplify their movement of liberation from occupation and #apartheid."
#BelfastME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Post Office Square#BrunswickME
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Maine St
(in front of Tontine Mall)#BlueHillME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Blue Hill Town Hall#BrunswickME
Thursday - 12PM
Maine Street (at Tontine Mall)#BangorME
Wednesday - 12PM
6 State Street (Kenduskag Bridge)#BrunswickME
Friday - 5PM
Maine Street
(by Walgreens)#BucksportME
Saturday - 12:30PM
Bucksport-Verona Bridge#CamdenME
Friday - 5PM
Camden Village Green#EllsworthME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Union River Bridge#FarmingtonME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Post Office#FreeportME
Every Other Monday - 1PM
Main Street & West Street#PortlandME
Saturday - 1PM
Longfellow Square#RocklandME
2nd + 4th Thursdays - 3PM
Maine & Park St#SacoME
Friday - 2:30PM
#GeneralDynamicsSource:
https://www.mvprights.org/events#block-a15fa12ef4b264f29ded#FreePalestine #Gaza #WorldWarBibi #BibiIsAWarCriminal #Genocide #EndGenocide #MaineCoalitionForPalestine #MaineVoicesForPeace #PeaceActionMaine #MaineDSA #JVP #Palestine #NoWar #PeaceWorks #MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong
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Maine unions and community unite for May Day
Hundreds of thousands of workers marched and rallied on May Day—International Workers Day—making it the largest International Workers Day since 2006 when two million immigrant workers left work to demand their rights. Protests were organized in 1,300 locations, large and small; no doubt the first May Day protest in most of these sites. Maine stood out with more than 5,000 participating spread over 26 towns and cities, from Madawaska to Orono to Portland, where almost 2,000 marched and rallied. And in Wayne—population 1,000—seventy people turned out for both morning and evening rallies, one of the highest per capita demonstrations in the country.
Memory and sacrifice play a role in sustaining working-class culture. No 1886. No Haymarket Martyrs. No May Day. More recently, the 2006 May Day protests provided a living link to the past. And UAW president Sean Fain’s call for unions to align contracts and lead a 2028 general strike has introduced May Day to a whole new generation of labor organizers.
As the saying goes, the best organizing tool is a bad boss and Trump is one of the worst bosses possible. Repression and mass layoffs do not always provoke resistance, but this time targeted workers put up a critical mass of opposition. For instance, thousands of teachers from across the country responded to a call by the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers for walk-ins in March to protest Trump’s destruction of the Department of Education, including teachers at Deering High School and Rowe Elementary in Portland.
And many unions have been fighting the bosses all along, linking struggles in specific workplaces to the more general need to defend working-class rights today. The Maine State Nurses Association led a rally to protest Medicaid cuts in March, organized a mass town hall meeting to prevent the closure of the obstetrics department in the small town of Houlton, and saw some of its most active members take a leading role in May Day.
Pair these factors with decades of bi-partisan misery in necessities such as housing, health care, education, inflation, and union busting alongside escalating racism, misogyny, transphobia and homophobia, nationalism, genocidal militarism in Gaza, and anti-immigrant bigotry and it’s not surprising young workers are angry. But objective conditions do not create action on their own. Organized forces with the credibility and capacity to think through a strategy and then put it into practice are required. Fortunately, Chicago’s working class has created this necessary element.
[Read next: The future of housing is public]
According to Jesse Sharkey, past president of the Chicago Teachers Union and lead organizer with the newly-formed May Day Strong coalition, “Chicago became a center of May Day organizing this year for two reasons—first, there was a local coalition that got a lot of people involved. Activists from the immigrants rights community were extremely important in initiating it, and they held open meetings. They invited anyone who wanted to help organize. That drew in trade unionists, and many others. On a second front, Chicago was in the middle of initiating a national call for May Day protests… The call for that effort came from the Chicago Teachers Union and a handful of allied organizations such as Midwest Academy, Bargaining for the Common Good, and the Action Center on Race and the Economy. The NEA also played an extremely helpful role. In late March, we had about 220 people from over 100 organizations join us in Chicago to start planning for May 1 actions. The reason we were able to initiate such a widespread effort was because we have a past practice of closely linking trade union fights to wider working class demands. In places where local unions have worked with community and activist groups, we had networks of communication and trust. Then, once that effort had reached a certain critical mass, some of the big national networks like Indivisible and 50501 got on board and that really grew the reach of the day.”
It’s not that the CTU and immigrant community organizers in Chicago were the only ones thinking about May Day, but their action provided a framework to draw together and amplify similar efforts across the country and to nationalize the protest by providing a framework and resources for labor and community organizers in hundreds of towns and cities. Chicago didn’t create May Day 2025, but it did open a door. Here in Maine, a broad group of organizers came together to walk through that door.
Maine DSA’s Labor Rising working group began discussing May Day plans late in 2024 and we eventually decided to help initiate an organizing meeting open to all community groups and unions. UAW graduate students participated in a preliminary meeting to brainstorm ideas and leaders from the Maine AFL-CIO convened statewide union conference calls. On April 12, more than 70 people attended a meeting in the South Portland Teamsters’ Hall where the group democratically planned Portland’s May Day and adopted the slogan Strength in Solidarity. Working groups took up all aspects of the action and all important decisions came back to the coalition for votes. By the latter part of April, the Maine Education Association and AFL-CIO leaders called for actions all across the state, amplifying the Chicago May Day Strong call and dramatically broadening what the Portland May Day committee could organize on its own.
May Day in Portland began with a rally at the University of Southern Maine to back UAW graduate students’ demands for a first contract, which the administration has stalled for more than 500 days. UAW graduate worker Miranda led the crowd chanting “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” We marched to the Post Office to hear from postal workers, including APWU president Scott Adams. “When our postal service is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” Members of the Portland Education Association led the rally at Portland High School and teacher Bobby Shaddox taught everyone to sing an updated version of Billy Bragg’s There is Power in a Union. “The union forever, defending our rights, down with the tyrants, all workers unite!” Headlining the stop, The Pelikanne, a trans high school student poet, shared their own revolutionary vision with all those assembled. From there, we went up the block to Monument Square to hear Jay Gruber, a member of the librarian’s union, and others at a brief rally before taking Congress Street to march to the final rally at Congress Square Park. Highlights at the final rally included Alana Schaeffer, president of the Metal Trades Council, representing 4,000 workers at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, members of the Maine Coalition for Palestine, Osgood from Portland Outright, Anthony Abdullah from the Maine State Nurses Association, and others. Twenty-five other towns held actions, bringing the total number of Maine participants to over 5,000, the largest Maine May Day anyone can remember. All in all, it was a good day for Maine workers.
[Listen to Maine Mural, DSA’s podcast, latest episode featuring Presente! Maine immigrants rights organizers]
We face a long, complicated road where political pressures to return to passivity and demoralization will persist. Trump is happy and he is strong. There’s no point in underestimating the damage he is going to inflict on working class communities in the coming years. We are not yet powerful enough to stop him. But May Day 2025 constituted a small step towards healing deep wounds in the American working class and it points us in the right direction.
What did May Day teach us? Fittingly, the last word goes to Kirsten Roberts, a rank-and-file Chicago teacher. “The most important element of May Day 2025 is the explicit entry of organized and unorganized labor into resistance to Trump. Trump’s attacks are aimed directly at dividing the working class and turning ordinary people against one another while the billionaires rob and plunder us all. An agenda for working class unity can be built when we stand up for those most victimized and vilified by the right wing bigots AND when we stand together to fight for the things that the billionaire class has denied us—the fight for healthcare, education, housing, and good paying jobs for starters. For decades we’ve been told by both parties that funding war, incarceration, and border militarization are their priorities. May Day showed that working people have another agenda. Now let’s organize to win it.”
*Parts of this article will appear in an extended form examining May Day 2025 beyond Maine in DSA’s journal Socialist Forum.
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What will May Day 2025 teach us?
May Day 2025 will measure the broad left’s strength vis-à-vis the Trump Administration and the MAGA Republican Party here in Maine and across the country. It won’t tell us everything, but it will tell us a lot.
“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”—Sun Tzu
Know your enemy. Trump had a bad week. Even Fox News had to admit that “Americans are not overly thrilled” with Trump as his approval rating slumped into the low 40s. Hegseth keeps on Signaling, Putin doesn’t seem interested in a ceasefire, Netanyahu is ratcheting up his genocide machine, he fell asleep at Pope Francis’s funeral, and, worst of all, his trade war has rattled the markets. “He’s tanking,” as Rachel Maddow put it this week. I hope she’s right.
Yet it’s Maddow, not Trump, who is being pushed aside, reduced to one show per week starting May 5 by MSNBC’s new CEO who is encouraging producers to take a more “measured” tone towards Trump. Meanwhile, the Republican Party is moving in lockstep towards its single most important goal this year: slashing $1.5 trillion from the federal budget. They will hand hundreds of billions in tax breaks to corporations and the rich and they will gut social programs, most likely tearing the first pound of flesh from Medicaid. Republican Congressmen may face angry crowds at constituent meetings, but compared to the millions of dollars pouring into their campaign coffers, they just don’t care.
[Read next: Thousands say Hands Off! in Maine]
The one group that may have the power to back Trump down at this point are the big banks. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank are collectively worth $10 trillion. Trump’s tariffs may trigger a recession—which he clearly doesn’t mind—but if stagflation threatens the bond market and the status of the US dollar as the global benchmark currency, the Lords of Finance might try to get him to move on. But even if they do put their thumbs on the scales, it will only be to save themselves. Remember, Occupy taught us who gets bailed out and who gets sold out.
To my eye, Trump looks happy. He loves this. He may—or may not—believe his plan will bring manufacturing back, but his real goal is to Make his American Great Again. Meaning, make the rich richer. The elite and their hangers on are going to make out like bandits and they love him for it. The MAGA upper middle classes—the managers, big landlords, medium size businessmen, wealthy lawyers and professionals, tech bros—love him for telling them that they will get rich too. Deeper down in the MAGA-inflected sections of the working class, decades of betrayal and swindles from bipartisan union busters, insurance company pirates, and devious banksters have enraged millions of people. And in the absence of a powerful labor movement or a party willing to fight for workers interests, millions have thrown their lot in with Trump because almost anything is better than the status quo.
Trump doesn’t need 50% approval ratings. He needs a ruthless Republican Party willing to gerrymander and intimidate, a loyal base of 35 to 40% of the electorate, and a Democratic Party leadership that has no idea how to fight. As of today, he’s got the trifecta and he intends to run with it.
Know yourself. The working class in the United States has been bruised and battered by neoliberalism. Unions represented about 30% of workers in 1970, today less than 10%. The rich, the very rich, and the ultra rich have scraped an unprecedented share of the national wealth off the rest of us and are—literally—sending their fiancés into space. Meanwhile, holes in the social safety net grow by the day and grocery store inflation hits the lowest paid the hardest. LGTBQ+ workers suffer escalating harassment at work, Black workers endure double-the-average unemployment, women still earn less than men for equal work, and immigrant workers face a terrifying escalation of hatred and repression. Basic democratic rights are under attack to a degree not seen since McCarthyism. In sum, we’re in rough shape.
[Listen to the Maine Mural podcast: Camp Hope, Bangor, Maine]
Throughout the grim neoliberal period, unions and social movements have put up a fight: Black Lives Matter, Standing Rock, Bernie’s presidential campaigns, mutual aid during COVID, education and healthcare workers organizing and strikes in Blue and Red states alike, the UAW stand up strikes, Amazon union drives, and too many more to name. Each of these struggles proved that there are two sides to the class war. Chief among these was UAW president Sean Fain’s call for unions to align their contracts to expire on May Day 2028 and to lead a general strike to make working-class power visible. In fact, the UAW proposal—alongside the living legacy of the 2006 mass May Day marches and strikes by immigrant workers—is an important motivation for this year’s May Day mobilizations.
Despite all this, we remain far weaker than our enemies. There is no shame in recognizing this fact. Nor is there any point in dwelling on it. If we want to defeat Trump and to change the social and economic conditions that gave him a mass base to begin with—Democratic leaders only care about the former—we will have to find ways to accomplish things that only seem possible in history books. How did we get unions in the first place? Factory occupations, mass picket lines, and defiance of pro-corporate courts. How did Black people win the right to vote? Civil disobedience in defiance of racist police and politicians. What brought the Vietnam War to an end? Courageous resistance by the Vietnamese people, campus and urban revolts, postal wildcat strikes, mass marches in the U.S., and soldiers refusing to fight.
The scale and power of these events can seem impossible to reproduce. Too often, people attend a protest or two and despair that the monstrous policy they marched against remains in place. But this is to misunderstand history. The unions fought for seventy-five years before they beat General Motors. African Americans struggled for hundreds of years for freedom. Nothing important changes easily.
However, that truism can lead to a certain kind of fatalism. The trick to bringing history to life is to understand the following. Those decades-long struggles moved in fits and starts, leaps forward and costly setbacks. Success always, in every instance, emerged from 1/ sharp strategic and tactical debates, which 2/ were only possible because hundreds of thousands of people joined political and social organizations, who in turn 3/ created local and national leaders, active and informed rank-and-file members, and skilled organizers. Whether they were called political parties or community organizations or unions or caucuses or churches, no examples of progress towards social justice were won outside the reality of mass membership participation. Why does this matter?
Because we are weak and we must become strong. And the only way to do so is to practice democracy and politics by joining a political, community, student, or union group and dedicating time to building it into something powerful enough to defend yourself and those close to you. Root yourself locally and then link up with other groups and communities in mutual defense pacts, organizing campaigns, and united fronts. This will not be done online. It will require hundreds of thousands of people learning how to listen and how to persuade and participate..
What will May Day teach us? May 1st will show us how many people we can bring out to protest Trump. But May 2nd will show us how many people joined the fight to better our chances in the hundred battles to come.
[Read next: Solidarity against Trump means joining an organization]
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@CrimethInc #MayDay event in #PortlandMaine!
May Day
#NationalDayOfAction
#StopTheBillionaireTakeoverThursday, May 1
3:30 - 6pm EDTUSM Portland Campus | Green Space in front of McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success
35 Bedford St.
Portland, ME 04101Organized Locally by the Maine May Day Committee (including the #MaineDSA).
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@CrimethInc #MayDay event in #PortlandMaine!
May Day
#NationalDayOfAction
#StopTheBillionaireTakeoverThursday, May 1
3:30 - 6pm EDTUSM Portland Campus | Green Space in front of McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success
35 Bedford St.
Portland, ME 04101Organized Locally by the Maine May Day Committee (including the #MaineDSA).
-
#MayDay event in #PortlandMaine!
May Day
#NationalDayOfAction
#StopTheBillionaireTakeoverThursday, May 1
3:30 - 6pm EDTUSM Portland Campus | Green Space in front of McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success
35 Bedford St.
Portland, ME 04101Organized Locally by the Maine May Day Committee.
@Todd : "We’ll begin at 3:30 on the Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine to speak out against Trump’s threat to our public universities. And, we’ll march on the boss to demand the UMaine system bargain in good faith and sign a union contract with graduate student workers represented by the United Auto Workers. The two go hand in hand.
Next, we’ll march to the Post Office on Forest Ave to oppose Trump’s threats to privatize it and hear from workers threatened with mass layoffs. Then up past Portland High School and the Portland Public Library in solidarity with educators and students opposed to Trump’s destruction of the Department of Education and his attacks on LGTBQ+ and immigrant students. Finally we’ll march up Congress Street during rush hour to the Portland Museum of Art to support funding for the arts and hold a final community rally starting around 5:00 pm. We’ll have a program of speaking out against Trump’s attack and offering ideas about how to deepen solidarity between all the different parts of our movement for democracy and justice.
We need your help. Please attend the march if you are able. It’s a big state, so if you can’t get to Portland, please support or organize another action in your town or region hosted by the Maine Education Association and the Maine AFL-CIO or any other community group that steps up to stand up. Strength in solidarity."
Full post:
https://kolektiva.social/@Todd@pineandroses.org/114362039249759162#MayDay #WorkerRights #LaborRights #LaborUnions #MaineDSA #MayDay2025 #Labor #Organizing #MEPol #MaineResists
-
#MayDay event in #PortlandMaine!
May Day
#NationalDayOfAction
#StopTheBillionaireTakeoverThursday, May 1
3:30 - 6pm EDTUSM Portland Campus | Green Space in front of McGoldrick Center for Career & Student Success
35 Bedford St.
Portland, ME 04101Organized Locally by the Maine May Day Committee.
@Todd : "We’ll begin at 3:30 on the Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine to speak out against Trump’s threat to our public universities. And, we’ll march on the boss to demand the UMaine system bargain in good faith and sign a union contract with graduate student workers represented by the United Auto Workers. The two go hand in hand.
Next, we’ll march to the Post Office on Forest Ave to oppose Trump’s threats to privatize it and hear from workers threatened with mass layoffs. Then up past Portland High School and the Portland Public Library in solidarity with educators and students opposed to Trump’s destruction of the Department of Education and his attacks on LGTBQ+ and immigrant students. Finally we’ll march up Congress Street during rush hour to the Portland Museum of Art to support funding for the arts and hold a final community rally starting around 5:00 pm. We’ll have a program of speaking out against Trump’s attack and offering ideas about how to deepen solidarity between all the different parts of our movement for democracy and justice.
We need your help. Please attend the march if you are able. It’s a big state, so if you can’t get to Portland, please support or organize another action in your town or region hosted by the Maine Education Association and the Maine AFL-CIO or any other community group that steps up to stand up. Strength in solidarity."
Full post:
https://kolektiva.social/@Todd@pineandroses.org/114362039249759162#MayDay #WorkerRights #LaborRights #LaborUnions #MaineDSA #MayDay2025 #Labor #Organizing #MEPol #MaineResists
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Strength in Solidarity: May Day protests against Trump take shape in Maine
The slogan “Strength in Solidarity” won the vote to lead Portland’s International Workers Day protest on May 1st. About seventy people took part in the April 12 organizing meeting, including teachers, electrical workers, nurses, graduate student workers, LGTBQ+ activists, Gaza solidarity organizers, and political organizations like Maine DSA, Indivisible, and many more. The Maine May Day coalition meeting aims to build immediate mobilizations while contributing to a long-term united front to defend working peoples’ rights against the Trump blitzkrieg.
The Portland effort is part of a larger picture. On April 17, over 1300 people participated in a national conference call spearheaded by the Chicago Teachers Union to organize May Day Strong protests in hundreds of cities across the country. [Note: Maine May Day sites will be listed starting later today.] Meanwhile, the Maine Education Association and Maine AFL-CIO affiliated unions are calling for rallies in multiple towns and cities across the state.
[Read next: We need an anti-Trump united front in Maine]
Unfortunately, our social movements and unions are not yet strong enough to stop Trump in his tracks. This means we’re going to suffer losses and casualties, even as we increase our ability to fight back. Scores of immigrant workers are being detained and threatened with deportation in towns across our state. Bowdoin College faces threats from Trump for solidarity actions carried out by Students for Justice in Palestine. Free school lunch is at risk for more than 100,000 public school students. Transgender people face an orchestrated backlash, striking at the core of their basic human rights. Federal unionized workers have been illegally terminated and Trump wants to outlaw their collective bargaining rights. Cuts to Medicaid will lead to more hospital closures. Not to mention the impact of massive tax breaks for the rich, the slashing of environmental protections, and the very existence of our—already weak—democracy and civil liberties. The message is clear: if you stand up for basic civil liberties, you risk financial catastrophe and police repression.
Meanwhile, the Maine Republican Party, with Laurel “Doxxing kids” Libby at its head, is raking in millions from far-right groups across the country to ram through a referendum in November to limit voting rights for women, the elderly, the disabled, and—it must be said out loud—anyone that doesn’t look white enough for Libby and her entourage. Their strategy is to break our resolve and gerrymander power for themselves for decades to come in the name of profits for the rich and pain for the working class. They have the wind in their sales and we have to prepare for a drawn out struggle.
In that vein, one inspiration for the May 1st action comes from United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain’s call to begin coordinating contract expiration dates and ongoing actions now in advance of an effort to launch a general strike on May 1st, 2028 to flex workers power. One graduate student union organizer put it this way, “If we want to win, we all need to get strike ready. We need to practice. Not just in our unions, but in our communities, too.”
Collectively, we took an important step in the right direction when 15,000 people in towns across Maine turned out on April 5 to protest Trump’s wrecking ball. These mobilizations began to change the mood from isolation and disbelief to determination to put up a fight and they are set to continue on April 19.
There’s no telling in advance how large the protests will be in the coming weeks and months. The ebb and flow of mass social movements cannot be scheduled in advance. However, the history of labor during the Great Depression and the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s both demonstrate that the better organized we are in advance, the better we are able to cultivate and sustain opposition. The more we leave our internal organization up to a date posted on Facebook and Instagram—or to small professional staffs managing large databases of passive followers and donors—the weaker we will be. This doesn’t mean we can’t use social media or raise money, but there is no substitute for face-to-face planning between organizations who can democratically represent activists in every workplace, neighborhood, community and school. We’re not there yet. That’s where we have to get in the years to come if we want to beat Trumpism and replace it with something better than what came before.
Fortunately, we’re not starting from scratch. Maine has hundreds of community and labor and advocacy organizations who have been doing the hard work of organizing for a long time. That work has expanded the rights and social programs we all rely on. Now, much of that is under threat. It’s no surprise that the first groups to stand up were those with the strongest organizations, for instance, unions representing postal workers, federal workers, nurses, and teachers. We have to build on those efforts. To defend ourselves, we all need to expand our circles and build bridges between communities.
[Read next: Sitting down with the Portland Tenants Union]
Final details will be hashed out this weekend, but the outline of Portland’s May Day action is coming into view. We’ll begin at 3:30 on the Portland campus of the University of Southern Maine to speak out against Trump’s threat to our public universities. And, we’ll march on the boss to demand the UMaine system bargain in good faith and sign a union contract with graduate student workers represented by the United Auto Workers. The two go hand in hand.
Next, we’ll march to the Post Office on Forest Ave to oppose Trump’s threats to privatize it and hear from workers threatened with mass layoffs. Then up past Portland High School and the Portland Public Library in solidarity with educators and students opposed to Trump’s destruction of the Department of Education and his attacks on LGTBQ+ and immigrant students. Finally we’ll march up Congress Street during rush hour to the Portland Museum of Art to support funding for the arts and hold a final community rally starting around 5:00 pm. We’ll have a program of speaking out against Trump’s attack and offering ideas about how to deepen solidarity between all the different parts of our movement for democracy and justice.
We need your help. Please attend the march if you are able. It’s a big state, so if you can’t get to Portland, please support or organize another action in your town or region hosted by the Maine Education Association and the Maine AFL-CIO or any other community group that steps up to stand up. Strength in solidarity.
[Listen to the Maine Mural Podcast latest episode: Camp Hope in Bangor, Maine]
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We need an anti-Trump united front in Maine
The April 5 Hands Off! protests were not the first against Trump and his cronies and they won’t be the last. Indeed, April 5 would not have been possible without unionized federal and postal workers and teachers and students marching and sticking up for themselves. But Saturday saw more than a million people demonstrate their willingness to fight back and that has changed the mood. Millions of people passed over from shock and awe to hell no!
But our unions, communities, and social movements are suffering from decades of free-trading and neoliberal attacks and racist, sexist, and anti-LGTBQ+ bigotry, all of which have weakened our organizing capacity. Trump does not yet care about opposition from below. He’s golfing. We’ll see which way the markets go in the coming days. Big investors may force Trump to modify his tariff trade war in their favor, or they may simply ride it out in exchange for massive tax cuts. And if the courts have shown a willingness to slow down his blitzkrieg, when it comes down to it, relying on the Supreme Court to reign in Trump means relying on Brett Kavanaugh… a grim prospect indeed. Either way, it would be a mistake to underestimate MAGAism’s staying power and the administration’s willingness to stick to its guns. Remember, Reagan used the 1981-82 recession to smash unions and attack social spending.
How do we confront this situation in the immediate and medium term? The long term matters as well but it will be conditioned by what we are able to accomplish in the coming few years.
[Read next: Thousands say Hands Off Maine!]
We all belong to some kind of organization or community. And some have deep roots and traditions anchoring them in decades or centuries of struggle. For instance, the Wabanaki people have endured 500 years of colonial assault and today form one of the most effective and sophisticated political powers in what we call Maine. The Maine AFL-CIO brings together more than 200 unions, representing 40,000 workers across the entire state with a proud history of strikes and struggles. The Maine Council of Churches builds bridges between congregations and faiths and has long stood for social justice. Advocacy organizations like Maine People’s Alliance, Equality Maine, and the League of Conservation Voters shine a light on discrimination and speak up for poor and marginalized communities. The Maine Immigrants Rights Coalition, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, and Presente! Maine all give voice and provide legal and mutual aid to New Mainers. The Maine Coalition for Palestine and Bowdoin Students for Justice in Palestine have forced us all to confront our own elected officials support for the genocide in Gaza. The Maine Democratic Socialists of America is one of the new kids on the block, but has demonstrated an ability to work on multiple fronts, including winning office and important reforms in Portland. And Indivisible and Maine Resists provided the infrastructure for the April 5 protests themselves. There are, of course, hundreds of local and statewide groups I can’t list here. The point is, Maine does not suffer from organizing capacity.
All these organizations have different levels of capacity and bring different expertise, resources, and priorities to the table. It is rarely possible to agree on everything, but under certain conditions, a great deal of unity can be created—not in the abstract—but in action. And this is exactly what we need today. Maine needs a united front to defend ourselves from Trump’s attacks and build a powerful enough movement to turn the tide back towards The Way Life Should Be for all of us.
[Read next: Solidarity against Trump means joining an organization]
The first thing to keep in mind is that a united front is a process. Building unity between different social and political forces takes time, both to build up a set of common experiences and develop the necessary trust to withstand setbacks and differences of opinion. Some may say that time is precisely what we don’t have, instead, we must act now at all costs without patiently building up the durability of our own peoples movements. This is how Trump wants us to think. We can’t fall for it. This doesn’t mean we can’t act quickly, but it does mean that we must move together and, like it or not, that takes time to plan.
Here are some ABCs to begin thinking about how to accomplish this.
Bring together organizations facing a common threat who see the need to build solidarity to defend themselves and to defend the rights and well-being of others. No one organization or community claims to speak for all of Maine. If we want to create a real democratic power, we must recognize that power can only be assembled by mutual recognition.
Make decisions openly and democratically. This is easier said than done, but it is essential for building an effective movement. Trump wants to destroy democracy, if we want to transform our community groups, unions, and organizations into centers of people power, then we should give people a place to practice it. We open the DOOR: Discuss and decide. Organize and act. Observe and assess. Repeat and improve.
March separately, but strike together. Partners in a united front can agree on basic points of unity and basic norms of cooperation. All groups should promote common objectives and actions, for instance, we will all cooperate to organize at X time and Y place or places on May Day. However, each group retains the freedom to publicize and promote their own particular political program and organize their own independent actions. Trust and credibility are the ties that help bind us together when inevitable stresses arrive.
Solidarity and action are the keys. A united front is not a political party. It is not a debating society. It is not a walk in the park. It is an agreement between organizations to take concrete action to defend one another and to tilt the balance of forces towards the common good. Rather than writing long treatises, united fronts work best when they focus on concrete action.
Leaders, organizers, artists, participants all play a role. We ought to make it as easy to participate as possible. This means publicizing events and inviting people through all available means, but especially through face-to-face discussions. We need organizers who are willing to dedicate time to running committees. We need artists who can make our work beautiful and fun. And we need leaders. Leaders in a social movement are not appointed. They have to earn their stripes by strengthening common bonds and articulating mutual aspirations as well as developing useful strategies and tactics.
Organize locally, coordinate statewide. Maine is a big state and no town or region has to wait for anyone’s permission to call a local meeting and start organizing. United fronts can begin in a town, a county, or a region, or among students at different schools, or members of different unions or community groups. The more organizing going on at the local level, the more powerful our efforts will be when we combine into coordinated statewide action. Local and statewide actions can be mutually reinforcing.
What does this mean in Maine? A couple weeks ago, the Chicago Teachers Union hosted people from more than 200 organizations to plan for a mass action on May day. As Bernie might say, it’s going to be HUGE! We face different circumstances here and there is no ready-made blueprint. We may fail or only partially succeed at first. But practice makes perfect. And what other choice do we have? May Day in Maine is a good place to start.
If you’re looking for a place to get involved, email [email protected]
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Solidarity against Trump means joining an organization
Sophie Garner is the state co-chair of the Maine Democratic Socialists of America. She spoke to thousands on April 5 assembled to demand Hands Off! federal union contracts, trans rights and immigrant rights, and democracy. More than 10,000 people gathered across the state in more than a dozen cities and towns. As Trump provokes a global trade war and continues flashing the green light for genocide in Gaza, protests look set to continue on International Workers Day, May 1.
Thank you for being here. I’m Sophie Garner, Chapter Chair of the Maine Democratic Socialists of America. I’m a grad student at Northeastern University and an advocate focused on violence prevention policy and research. I work for a national gun violence prevention organization, and most recently, I was a lead organizer on a ballot initiative to put an extreme risk protection order on Maine’s November 2025 ballot. I hope you vote yes this fall to protect our schools and communities from gun violence.
When writing this speech, I realized I don’t need to list all the horrific things Trump and his billionaire buddies are doing—you already know. That’s why we’re here.
[Read next: Thousands say Hands Off! Maine]
However, I want to talk about another reason we are here. We are here because we know that change doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in the streets, in our neighborhoods, in conversations among people who refuse to accept the status quo. It happens when we build community, not as a concept, but as a force that moves us forward.
But what does it mean to build community? And more importantly, where do you fit in?
Community isn’t just about showing up—it’s about bringing what you have, when you can. Every one of us has a skill, a strength, an experience that can push this movement forward. Maybe you’re an organizer who unites people, a strategist who crafts a plan, or an artist who shapes the message. Maybe you’re a teacher, a healer, a researcher, or a builder. Whatever your skill set, the movement needs you. If we want to end this nightmare and rebuild, we need our own infrastructure.
Too often, we think activism belongs to those with the loudest voices or biggest platforms. But history tells us otherwise. Movements are built by ordinary people showing up, consistently, with intention, and together.
And that’s the key: together.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the labor movement, where unions have proven that collective action wins. Better wages, safer conditions, dignity on the job. That same power of solidarity applies to every fight we’re in today—whether for reproductive rights, trans liberation, Palestine liberation, or any of the struggles happening right now. Not only are they interconnected, but they require the same commitment from all of us.
But let’s be real, while this might resonate with many of you, many of us are also exhausted. Change feels daunting.
I know many of you wake up, turn on the news and think: This country is so fucked—but at the same time, I need to walk the dog, finish work, and have free time? You ache for change. But you wonder, Where would I find the time to do anything? What could I even add to this?
I get it. We all do. Life is overwhelming, especially now. But here’s the hard truth: nothing changes if we don’t make the time.
Movements are built by people just like you—people with jobs, families, responsibilities. You don’t need to give up everything. You don’t have to burn out. But you do need to commit. Because no one is coming to save us. We have to save each other.
So when you go home today, ask yourself: What do you bring to this movement? Who will you stand beside? Will you stand up for workers fighting for fair pay? For renters demanding affordable housing? Organizers knocking on doors, making calls, building the resistance? And after you reflect—act.
Because solidarity isn’t just a word, it’s an action. And it’s the foundation of every victory we’ve ever won, and WILL ever win.
Building a better world starts with small, powerful decisions—to contribute what you can, when you can. When we bring our skills, energy, and commitment to the movement, we turn collective power into real change.
One important step we can all take together is celebrating May Day, International Workers Day, which is May 1st. We’re planning a protest in Portland, and we’d love to see actions all over the state supporting workers. If you’re interested, please get in touch with us.
[Read next: New England DSA protests ICE detentions]
But my big ask here today: Join an organization. If you don’t have a political home, make one. We’d love to have you—Maine DSA needs you. Join us at mainedsa.org/join. If not us, then plug into an organization that’s already doing the work.
Please do not just go home and wait for the next protest. Protesting is only one piece of this. Make a commitment today towards building this resistance movement.
Show up. Bring your skills. Be part of the fight.
Because movements don’t just need supporters—they need builders. And that means you.
What do we do when workers are under attack? Stand up, fight back!
What do we do when immigrants are under attack?
Stand up, fight back!
What do we do when our LGBTQ friends are under attack?
Stand up, fight back!
What do we do when our communities are under attack?
WE stand up, and WE fight back!
[Read next: The method to Trump’s Medicaid cut madness]
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#PineAndRoses #NewEngland #DSA protests #ICEDetentions
Posted by #MaineDSA and Wes Pelletier | Mar 27, 2025
"Last week, the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine organized a protest of ICE detention of #ColumbiaUniversity student leader #MahmoudKhalil. Since then, ICE has operated as the #Trump Administration’s #SecretPolice, abducting a growing number of immigrant organizers for exercising their right to #FreeSpeech and protesting the U.S.-sponsored #genocide in #Gaza. The list includes #RumeysaOzturk, #YunseoChung, #BadarKhunSuri, #MomodouTaal, #RanjaniSrinivasan, as well as #farmworker organizer #AlfredoJuarezZerefino. Maine DSA member and Portland District 2 City Councilmember #WesPelletier spoke at the Portland Mahmoud Khalil protest and DSA chapters around New England issued a joint declaration reprinted below against the ICE abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk.
New England DSA chapters demand freedom for Rumeysa Ozturk
"Yesterday, ICE agents abducted Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student and pro-Palestine activist at Tufts.
"The kidnapping comes after almost 400 #ICEArrests in Massachusetts, as well as the #doxxing of Ozturk by the pro-Isreal website #CanaryMission.
"ICE’s abductions—of Ozturk, Khalil, and many others—is an unprecedented attack on basic #CivilRights in the name of U.S. Empire, whether those detained are peaceful #PoliticalActivists or undocumented #migrants seeking safety, jobs, and a better life.
"We must stand up against this brazen attack on #Palestine, #FreeSpeech, and the #RightToProtest.
"We must stand in solidarity with our neighbors and communities under attack from Trump, ICE, and all agents of #imperialism.
"Governor Healey, the courts, and the Democratic Party establishment are not coming to save us—we must mobilize, agitate, and organize in our workplaces and campuses to defend working-class rights.
In Solidarity,
#BerkshiresDSA, #BostonDSA, #BostonUniversityYDSA, #CapeCodDSA, #ConnecticutDSA, #MaineDSA, #NortheasternYDSA, #RiverValleyDSA, #SimmonsYDSA, #SouthernNewHampshireDSA, #UpperValleyDSA, #WorcesterDSA"
Source:
https://pineandroses.org/news/new-england-dsa-protests-ice-detentions/
#ResistICE #ResistFascism #Resistance #District13 #District13Resists #Fascism #USPol #Authoritarianism #TurReich #CharacteristicsOfFascism -
#PineAndRoses #NewEngland #DSA protests #ICEDetentions
Posted by #MaineDSA and Wes Pelletier | Mar 27, 2025
"Last week, the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine organized a protest of ICE detention of #ColumbiaUniversity student leader #MahmoudKhalil. Since then, ICE has operated as the #Trump Administration’s #SecretPolice, abducting a growing number of immigrant organizers for exercising their right to #FreeSpeech and protesting the U.S.-sponsored #genocide in #Gaza. The list includes #RumeysaOzturk, #YunseoChung, #BadarKhunSuri, #MomodouTaal, #RanjaniSrinivasan, as well as #farmworker organizer #AlfredoJuarezZerefino. Maine DSA member and Portland District 2 City Councilmember #WesPelletier spoke at the Portland Mahmoud Khalil protest and DSA chapters around New England issued a joint declaration reprinted below against the ICE abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk.
New England DSA chapters demand freedom for Rumeysa Ozturk
"Yesterday, ICE agents abducted Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student and pro-Palestine activist at Tufts.
"The kidnapping comes after almost 400 #ICEArrests in Massachusetts, as well as the #doxxing of Ozturk by the pro-Isreal website #CanaryMission.
"ICE’s abductions—of Ozturk, Khalil, and many others—is an unprecedented attack on basic #CivilRights in the name of U.S. Empire, whether those detained are peaceful #PoliticalActivists or undocumented #migrants seeking safety, jobs, and a better life.
"We must stand up against this brazen attack on #Palestine, #FreeSpeech, and the #RightToProtest.
"We must stand in solidarity with our neighbors and communities under attack from Trump, ICE, and all agents of #imperialism.
"Governor Healey, the courts, and the Democratic Party establishment are not coming to save us—we must mobilize, agitate, and organize in our workplaces and campuses to defend working-class rights.
In Solidarity,
#BerkshiresDSA, #BostonDSA, #BostonUniversityYDSA, #CapeCodDSA, #ConnecticutDSA, #MaineDSA, #NortheasternYDSA, #RiverValleyDSA, #SimmonsYDSA, #SouthernNewHampshireDSA, #UpperValleyDSA, #WorcesterDSA"
Source:
https://pineandroses.org/news/new-england-dsa-protests-ice-detentions/
#ResistICE #ResistFascism #Resistance #District13 #District13Resists #Fascism #USPol #Authoritarianism #TurReich #CharacteristicsOfFascism -
We’ll need popular resistance to defend #trans rights in Maine
Posted by Rose D and Marianne M-W. | Mar 6, 2025
"#PineAndRoses’s Todd Chretien sat down with Rose D. and Marianne M-W. to talk about Trump’s attacks on #TransgenderAthletes in Maine."
https://pineandroses.org/opinion/well-need-popular-resistance-to-defend-trans-rights-in-maine/
#MaineResists #ProtectTransKids #MaineDSA #Resistance #TransRightsAreHumanRights -
We’ll need popular resistance to defend #trans rights in Maine
Posted by Rose D and Marianne M-W. | Mar 6, 2025
"#PineAndRoses’s Todd Chretien sat down with Rose D. and Marianne M-W. to talk about Trump’s attacks on #TransgenderAthletes in Maine."
https://pineandroses.org/opinion/well-need-popular-resistance-to-defend-trans-rights-in-maine/
#MaineResists #ProtectTransKids #MaineDSA #Resistance #TransRightsAreHumanRights -
#TaxTheRich, it’s a decent start
Posted by Bluebird | Mar 12, 2025
"As incredible as it may seem, just a handful of #billionaire #Mainers could fund the state for years out of their own pockets and still live out their lives as multimillionaires. So when socialists say tax the rich, we mean more than raising what billionaires pay by 1% or 2%, we mean raising their taxes by 25% or 50% or more to start with. We mean we should take back the wealth they have collected by exploiting all the people who have worked for them, all the land they have stolen, and all the resources they have grabbed all around the world. In the meantime, socialists often support smaller measures whenever we feel like they are a way to raise funds to help our class, raise consciousness, and build organization.
However, increasing taxes on the wealthy isn’t a permanent solution to the persisting problems of #capitalist society. It’s a good start, but it’s not enough.
[...]
"By all means tax [the wealthy] at a rate of 95%, 99%, 100%, 200%! Take back everything they have stolen from us. Truly solving the causes of social inequality cannot happen until the property of the capitalist class has been expropriated, but for the reasons explained above, simply taxing them at any rate will prove ineffective given enough time.
"Moreover, tax increases tend to antagonize capitalists. Sooner or later, as we are seeing very clearly now in Washington, they will transform their economic might into raw political power to claw back even the small social costs that generations of #SocialMovements and trade unions have imposed on them. During such times, as grim as our prospects may seem, it becomes clearer than ever that so long as the capitalists have all the power, even the most progressive public policy can only be temporary.
"How much longer will capitalist industry be allowed to #pollute the planet? How many more times does the economy have to crash? How many more wars will we be forced to fight on the behalf of these #RobberBarons? How many more lives will be ruined by #debts, mass #layoffs, denied insurance claims, and more? Why should we tolerate a system that exploits those whose labor keeps society functioning?"
Read more:
https://pineandroses.org/opinion/www-pineandroses-org/
#MaineDSA #Socialism #CapitalismMustDie -
#TaxTheRich, it’s a decent start
Posted by Bluebird | Mar 12, 2025
"As incredible as it may seem, just a handful of #billionaire #Mainers could fund the state for years out of their own pockets and still live out their lives as multimillionaires. So when socialists say tax the rich, we mean more than raising what billionaires pay by 1% or 2%, we mean raising their taxes by 25% or 50% or more to start with. We mean we should take back the wealth they have collected by exploiting all the people who have worked for them, all the land they have stolen, and all the resources they have grabbed all around the world. In the meantime, socialists often support smaller measures whenever we feel like they are a way to raise funds to help our class, raise consciousness, and build organization.
However, increasing taxes on the wealthy isn’t a permanent solution to the persisting problems of #capitalist society. It’s a good start, but it’s not enough.
[...]
"By all means tax [the wealthy] at a rate of 95%, 99%, 100%, 200%! Take back everything they have stolen from us. Truly solving the causes of social inequality cannot happen until the property of the capitalist class has been expropriated, but for the reasons explained above, simply taxing them at any rate will prove ineffective given enough time.
"Moreover, tax increases tend to antagonize capitalists. Sooner or later, as we are seeing very clearly now in Washington, they will transform their economic might into raw political power to claw back even the small social costs that generations of #SocialMovements and trade unions have imposed on them. During such times, as grim as our prospects may seem, it becomes clearer than ever that so long as the capitalists have all the power, even the most progressive public policy can only be temporary.
"How much longer will capitalist industry be allowed to #pollute the planet? How many more times does the economy have to crash? How many more wars will we be forced to fight on the behalf of these #RobberBarons? How many more lives will be ruined by #debts, mass #layoffs, denied insurance claims, and more? Why should we tolerate a system that exploits those whose labor keeps society functioning?"
Read more:
https://pineandroses.org/opinion/www-pineandroses-org/
#MaineDSA #Socialism #CapitalismMustDie -
New England DSA protests ICE detentions
Last week, the Maine Coalition for Palestine organized a protest ICE detention of Columbia University student leader Mahmoud Khalil. Since then, ICE has operated as the Trump Administration’s secret police, abducting a growing number of immigrant organizers for exercising their right to free speech and protesting the U.S.-sponsored genocide in Gaza. The list includes Rumeysa Ozturk, Yunseo Chung, Badar Khun Suri, Momodou Taal, Ranjani Srinivasan, as well as farmworker organizer Alfredo Juarez Zerefino. Maine DSA member and Portland District 2 City Councilmember Wes Pelletier spoke at the Portland Mahmoud Khalil protest and DSA chapters around New England issued a joint declaration reprinted below against the ICE abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk.
***
New England DSA chapters demand freedom for Rumeysa Ozturk
Yesterday, ICE agents abducted Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student and pro-Palestine activist at Tufts.
The kidnapping comes after almost 400 ICE arrests in Massachusetts, as well as the doxxing of Ozturn by the pro-Isreal website Canary Mission.
ICE’s abductions—of Ozturk, Khalil, and many others—is an unprecedented attack on basic civil rights in the name of U.S. Empire, whether those detained are peaceful political activists or undocumented migrants seeking safety, jobs, and a better life.
We must stand up against this brazen attack on Palestine, free speech, and the right to protest.
We must stand in solidarity with our neighbors and communities under attack from Trump, ICE, and all agents of imperialism.
Governor Healey, the courts, and the Democratic Party establishment are not coming to save us—we must mobilize, agitate, and organize in our workplaces and campuses to defend working-class rights.
In Solidarity,
Berkshires DSA, Boston DSA, Boston University YDSA, Cape Cod DSA, Connecticut DSA, Maine DSA, Northeastern YDSA, River Valley DSA, Simmons YDSA, Southern New Hampshire DSA, Upper Valley DSA, Worcester DSA
[Listen next: Maine DSA podcast on Bowdoin College Gaza encampment]
Wes Pelletier speech at March 18 rally for Mahmoud Khalil in Portland
I’m here to lend my voice to everyone here to call for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil who was illegally detained and is facing deportation. This is part of a sadistic assault on working-class immigrants across the country. It’s part of a broader attack by this administration. In fact, the attack has been going on for a long time, but there’s also something new. This casual separation of families, this destruction of Black and Brown lives has been going on for years but what’s new is that the veneer is off, the idea that these are not white supremacist policies has fallen away. We now have a government that is hell bent on creating fear and uncertainty among everyone.
These are obviously very frightening circumstances. We’re facing a clear and present danger, but it’s also an opportunity. We have a lot of people who are not used to the machines normally reserved for others now turned on them. Yes, it’s scary, but there is an opportunity for solidarity. That solidarity does not come automatically and it’s going to take a lot of work. We need to do what’s right. Meanwhile, the liberal institutions that we count on, the Democratic Party and universities like Columbia are immediately acquiescing to fascism and it’s creating this vacuum.
So we need to turn to each other. Here’s what I’m asking everyone here to do. You need to create community, to build organization. You need to find and join an organization that’s got clear rule and decision-making structures that are democratic so you can create organizations that can help tackle these problems. The time to quibble over small differences has passed. We need to come together against a unified enemy. We need to unify to win this fight. We also need to come together in our communities. We need to go out and knock on neighbor’s doors and join community gardens and create tenant unions and more. This is the kind of community that will protect us because fascism thrives on fear of our neighbors. That’s something we see over and over. They want people to be afraid of the people around them. The poor people, Black and Brown, so you will support the people who will crack down on them. We need to create networks to resist that.
This moment is ours. It’s an opportunity even if it’s dangerous. We’re on the precipice of something, but we can get through this. We can create a stronger, more agile, more powerful working class that’s made up of everyone. We will have something bigger if we do it. So I call on you to contact your representatives, even if I don’t know that they’ll do anything! But it’s good to at least be a pain in their asses.
But more than that, get involved in local politics. Call on Mayor Dion, call on the city manager to stop slow rolling a bill that will prevent police from collaborating with ICE. That’s been kept off the agenda for months. Call the sheriff to end the Cumberland County Jail’s contract with ICE. Get involved at every level of your local government because it feels like something where you can feel your own agency. Together we can affect change in our state, in our county, in our towns. And it creates power and it creates community and it creates resistance. I appreciate you all for coming out tonight. Free Palestine!
[Read next: The method to Trump’s Medicaid cut madness]
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New England DSA protests ICE detentions
Last week, the Maine Coalition for Palestine organized a protest ICE detention of Columbia University student leader Mahmoud Khalil. Since then, ICE has operated as the Trump Administration’s secret police, abducting a growing number of immigrant organizers for exercising their right to free speech and protesting the U.S.-sponsored genocide in Gaza. The list includes Rumeysa Ozturk, Yunseo Chung, Badar Khun Suri, Momodou Taal, Ranjani Srinivasan, as well as farmworker organizer Alfredo Juarez Zerefino. Maine DSA member and Portland District 2 City Councilmember Wes Pelletier spoke at the Portland Mahmoud Khalil protest and DSA chapters around New England issued a joint declaration reprinted below against the ICE abduction of Rumeysa Ozturk.
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New England DSA chapters demand freedom for Rumeysa Ozturk
Yesterday, ICE agents abducted Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student and pro-Palestine activist at Tufts.
The kidnapping comes after almost 400 ICE arrests in Massachusetts, as well as the doxxing of Ozturn by the pro-Isreal website Canary Mission.
ICE’s abductions—of Ozturk, Khalil, and many others—is an unprecedented attack on basic civil rights in the name of U.S. Empire, whether those detained are peaceful political activists or undocumented migrants seeking safety, jobs, and a better life.
We must stand up against this brazen attack on Palestine, free speech, and the right to protest.
We must stand in solidarity with our neighbors and communities under attack from Trump, ICE, and all agents of imperialism.
Governor Healey, the courts, and the Democratic Party establishment are not coming to save us—we must mobilize, agitate, and organize in our workplaces and campuses to defend working-class rights.
In Solidarity,
Berkshires DSA, Boston DSA, Boston University YDSA, Cape Cod DSA, Connecticut DSA, Maine DSA, Northeastern YDSA, River Valley DSA, Simmons YDSA, Southern New Hampshire DSA, Upper Valley DSA, Worcester DSA
[Listen next: Maine DSA podcast on Bowdoin College Gaza encampment]
Wes Pelletier speech at March 18 rally for Mahmoud Khalil in Portland
I’m here to lend my voice to everyone here to call for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil who was illegally detained and is facing deportation. This is part of a sadistic assault on working-class immigrants across the country. It’s part of a broader attack by this administration. In fact, the attack has been going on for a long time, but there’s also something new. This casual separation of families, this destruction of Black and Brown lives has been going on for years but what’s new is that the veneer is off, the idea that these are not white supremacist policies has fallen away. We now have a government that is hell bent on creating fear and uncertainty among everyone.
These are obviously very frightening circumstances. We’re facing a clear and present danger, but it’s also an opportunity. We have a lot of people who are not used to the machines normally reserved for others now turned on them. Yes, it’s scary, but there is an opportunity for solidarity. That solidarity does not come automatically and it’s going to take a lot of work. We need to do what’s right. Meanwhile, the liberal institutions that we count on, the Democratic Party and universities like Columbia are immediately acquiescing to fascism and it’s creating this vacuum.
So we need to turn to each other. Here’s what I’m asking everyone here to do. You need to create community, to build organization. You need to find and join an organization that’s got clear rule and decision-making structures that are democratic so you can create organizations that can help tackle these problems. The time to quibble over small differences has passed. We need to come together against a unified enemy. We need to unify to win this fight. We also need to come together in our communities. We need to go out and knock on neighbor’s doors and join community gardens and create tenant unions and more. This is the kind of community that will protect us because fascism thrives on fear of our neighbors. That’s something we see over and over. They want people to be afraid of the people around them. The poor people, Black and Brown, so you will support the people who will crack down on them. We need to create networks to resist that.
This moment is ours. It’s an opportunity even if it’s dangerous. We’re on the precipice of something, but we can get through this. We can create a stronger, more agile, more powerful working class that’s made up of everyone. We will have something bigger if we do it. So I call on you to contact your representatives, even if I don’t know that they’ll do anything! But it’s good to at least be a pain in their asses.
But more than that, get involved in local politics. Call on Mayor Dion, call on the city manager to stop slow rolling a bill that will prevent police from collaborating with ICE. That’s been kept off the agenda for months. Call the sheriff to end the Cumberland County Jail’s contract with ICE. Get involved at every level of your local government because it feels like something where you can feel your own agency. Together we can affect change in our state, in our county, in our towns. And it creates power and it creates community and it creates resistance. I appreciate you all for coming out tonight. Free Palestine!
[Read next: The method to Trump’s Medicaid cut madness]
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#Maine Voices for #Palestinian Rights - Weekly #Standouts & Mini-Rallies (Updated March 2025)
HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NEVER WRONG
"We are a group of people from #Maine and beyond who stand in solidarity with the #Palestinian people and seek to amplify their movement of liberation from occupation and #apartheid."
#BangorME
Wednesday - 12PM
6 State Street (Kenduskag Bridge)#BelfastME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Post Office Square#BlueHillME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Blue Hill Town Hall#BrunswickME
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Maine St
(in front of Tontine Mall)#BrunswickME
Friday - 5PM
Maine Street
(by Walgreens)#BucksportME
Saturday - 12:30PM
Bucksport-Verona Bridge#CamdenME
Friday - 5PM
Camden Village Green#EllsworthME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Union River Bridge#FarmingtonME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Post Office#FreeportME
Every Other Monday - 1PM
Main Street & West Street#PortlandME
Saturday - 1PM
Longfellow Square#RocklandME
2nd + 4th Thursdays - 3PM
Maine & Park St#SacoME
Friday - 2:30PM
#GeneralDynamicsSource:
https://www.mvprights.org/events
#FreePalestine #Gaza #WorldWarBibi #BibiIsAWarCriminal #Genocide #EndGenocide #MaineCoalitionForPalestine #MaineVoicesForPeace #PeaceActionMaine #MaineDSA #JVP #Palestine #Lebanon #Iran #NoWar #PeaceWorks #MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #MaineStudentsForPalestine #PSL #FreeMahmoud #FreeMahmoudKhalil -
#Maine Voices for #Palestinian Rights - Weekly #Standouts & Mini-Rallies (Updated March 2025)
HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NEVER WRONG
"We are a group of people from #Maine and beyond who stand in solidarity with the #Palestinian people and seek to amplify their movement of liberation from occupation and #apartheid."
#BangorME
Wednesday - 12PM
6 State Street (Kenduskag Bridge)#BelfastME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Post Office Square#BlueHillME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Blue Hill Town Hall#BrunswickME
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Maine St
(in front of Tontine Mall)#BrunswickME
Friday - 5PM
Maine Street
(by Walgreens)#BucksportME
Saturday - 12:30PM
Bucksport-Verona Bridge#CamdenME
Friday - 5PM
Camden Village Green#EllsworthME
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Union River Bridge#FarmingtonME
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Post Office#FreeportME
Every Other Monday - 1PM
Main Street & West Street#PortlandME
Saturday - 1PM
Longfellow Square#RocklandME
2nd + 4th Thursdays - 3PM
Maine & Park St#SacoME
Friday - 2:30PM
#GeneralDynamicsSource:
https://www.mvprights.org/events
#FreePalestine #Gaza #WorldWarBibi #BibiIsAWarCriminal #Genocide #EndGenocide #MaineCoalitionForPalestine #MaineVoicesForPeace #PeaceActionMaine #MaineDSA #JVP #Palestine #Lebanon #Iran #NoWar #PeaceWorks #MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #MaineStudentsForPalestine #PSL #FreeMahmoud #FreeMahmoudKhalil -
Maine DSA’s Statement in Response to Trump’s Threats
Donald Trump’s latest threats to illegally strip federal funding from Maine schools, if we don’t “comply with executive orders,” is nothing less than an authoritarian attack on our communities, our values, and our rights. Maine will not be bullied into submission by a power-hungry fascist billionaire who has repeatedly targeted marginalized groups for political gain and in this case, transgender children. This isn’t just happening at the federal level—a Republican in our state house jeopardized the safety and privacy of a Maine child by making an inflammatory post over her participation on her sports team appropriate for her gender identity. This prompted national public ridicule aimed at this child by adults. Despite community outrage and the censure of this House member, politicians remain unapologetic about endangering trans youth—so long as it propels their agenda. This could be your child.
Maine DSA is working hard to provide tangible hope and solutions to vulnerable communities, despite, and in spite of, all the transphobic backlash from the current administration. Through the newly established Bodily Autonomy Working Group, we are organizing for trans and reproductive rights across the state. Our first major project is a clinic to support individuals who need to change their name legally or get their birth certificate amended; more details will be shared about this soon. Furthermore, we are working on supporting legislation at the state and local level, planning to host events that foster welcoming environments, collaborating with local like-minded organizations, and more. Therefore, we are asking for your financial support to help us accomplish this by donating specifically to our working group. If you cannot financially contribute to our working group right now but still want to help, please message us on our socials or email [email protected].
Donate HereHistorically, the people of Maine have demonstrated a commitment to fairness, inclusion, and the fundamental belief that all people deserve dignity. Our own state motto, Dirigo—meaning “I direct” or “I lead”—reflects the path we choose to follow. We reject any attempt to undermine our sovereignty or to punish us for upholding basic human rights. The people of Maine—tenants, farm workers, trade unionists, teachers, parents, students, and LGBTQIA+ communities—will not be intimidated and we will not back down.
Rather than bending to the fear stoked by this administration, we call on every Mainer—and all Americans—to organize, resist, and fight back. In the face of sporadic executive orders, written to cause panic, do not comply. Our strength lies in our solidarity. We will continue to stand up for trans rights, and for the fundamental belief that every person deserves safety and respect.
We Will Win If We Are Organized.
Join the movement. Take action. Protect Trans Kids.
Donate Here -
Also, #PridePortland2025! We are going to be extra LOUD and PROUD this year!
#Maine #MaineDSA #GBLTQ #TransRightsAreHumanRights -
Also, #PridePortland2025! We are going to be extra LOUD and PROUD this year!
#Maine #MaineDSA #GBLTQ #TransRightsAreHumanRights -
I did it! I'm an official card-carrying #Socialist! If I'm going to be rounded up and sent away with everyone else, I want to make sure TPTB know which side I'm on (as if there was any doubt). I always figured if I were alive during #McCarthyism, I'd be targeted for being a "Commie pinko weirdo", so fuck it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism
#MaineDSA #DemocraticSocialist #DSA #CommiePinko #CommiePinkoWeirdo #WeirdAndProud -
I did it! I'm an official card-carrying #Socialist! If I'm going to be rounded up and sent away with everyone else, I want to make sure TPTB know which side I'm on (as if there was any doubt). I always figured if I were alive during #McCarthyism, I'd be targeted for being a "Commie pinko weirdo", so fuck it!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism
#MaineDSA #DemocraticSocialist #DSA #CommiePinko #CommiePinkoWeirdo #WeirdAndProud -
This week's to do list:
1. Post information about #ICERaids around #PortlandMaine
2. Join the #MaineDSA
3. Make a donation to #CatholicCharitiesMaine to help with #Immigrants
4. Post #SisterJoanChittister quotes near #PlannedParenthood (and provide a safe escort for anyone using their services)
It's not a lot, but it's a start!
#StartLocal #FightFascism #TheTimeIsNow -
And this is why I love #MaineDSA!
#Maine #Socialists #SayNoToTrump
Posted by Todd Chretien | Jan 31, 2025 |
"Maine Democratic Socialists of America co-chair #SophieG welcomed more than one hundred members and friends from across the state who met in Portland over the weekend. Alongside nuts and bolts discussions and elections for the group’s organizing committees and working groups, Maine DSA welcomed solidarity greetings from allies and friends, including the #MaineCoalitionForPalestine and the Maine-based #ImmigrantsRights organization #Presente! as well as reports from #MaineYouthPower and the #MaineGunSafetyCoalition. Members also hosted several workshops including a panel on the opportunities and pitfalls of electoral politics, renters organizing in the mid-coast, and the ABCs of being a good organizer.
"Maine DSA accomplished a lot over the last year. We elected #WesPelletier to serve alongside #KateSykes as #PortlandMaine’s two socialist city councilors. Comrades in #BrunswickMaine launched the #BrunswickRentersOrganization and made their voices heard in city council hearings—even if the city councilors 'value the class position of a landlord over the class position of a tenant' as DSAer #PeachCushing put it at the time.
"Members are also launching a new organizing committee in #SouthPortlandMaine as well as building up working groups to #DefendBodilyAutonomy—for #LGTBQ+ and #ReproductiveRights—and to expand our solidarity work with the #labor movement. In another sign of members’ increasing dedication, a full slate of candidates ran to fill more open leadership positions than last year. Yet, despite that good work, everyone recognized the depth of the danger facing working-class Mainers heading into Trump’s second term—not the least of which is the fact that local Republican county committees are openly celebrating Trump’s pardon for Maine’s very own #January6 #insurrectionists.
"Last week #PineAndRoses published a proposal to guide our organizing over the coming year and it was taken up at the conference. The resolution emphasizes the dangers Trump represents and frankly acknowledges that we are facing 'a period of increased attacks on #MarginalizedCommunities, the labor movement, #PublicEducation, and the working class as a whole.' As such, '#socialists must play a #frontline role in defending the #WorkingClass from attacks by the #FarRight' even as 'the political environment in Maine, as of 2025, presents opportunities to resist the Trump administration and make gains at the state and municipal levels.'
"In order to put this analysis to the test, Maine DSA aims to work side by side a wide array of allies to defend #Immigrants, the #TransCommunity, #IndigenousSovereignty, #Unions, public education, and #democracy in general while simultaneously building up the socialist movement’s reach across the state. During the debate, several members suggested the resolution ought to have a more clearly defined international section. One member proposed an amendment (which passed with a clear majority voting in favor) to specify that Maine DSA aims to 'challenge the #hegemony of the Democratic Party.' Thus amended, the resolution passed (nearly) unanimously. Now comes the hard work of trying to put ideas into action.
"As we do, the more #activists and organizers we can muster the better. So if you’re looking for a way to join the fight against Trump, please consider getting in touch with us and joining Maine DSA."
https://pineandroses.org/news/maine-socialists-say-no-to-trump/
#Organize #Resist #Unite!
#USPol -
#Maine Voices for #Palestinian Rights - Weekly Standouts & Mini-Rallies (Updated January 2025)
HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NEVER WRONG
"We are a group of people from Maine and beyond who stand in solidarity with the# Palestinian people and seek to amplify their movement of liberation from occupation and #apartheid."
Bangor
Wednesday - 12PM
Harlow St & Central StBelfast
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Post Office SquareBlue Hill
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Blue Hill Town HallBrunswick
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Maine St
(in front of Tontine Mall)Brunswick
Friday - 5PM
Maine Street
(across from Walgreens)Bucksport
Saturday - 12:30PM
Bucksport-Verona BridgeCamden
Friday - 5PM
Camden Village GreenEllsworth
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Union River BridgeFarmington
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Post OfficeFreeport
Every Other Monday - 1PM
Main Street & West StreetPortland
Saturday - 1PM
Longfellow SquareRockland
2nd + 4th Thursdays - 3PM
Maine & Park StSaco
Friday - 2:30PM
#GeneralDynamicsSource:
https://www.mvprights.org/events#block-a15fa12ef4b264f29ded
#FreePalestine #CeasefireNow
#Gaza #WorldWarBibi #BibiIsAWarCriminal
#Genocide #EndGenocide
#MaineCoalitionForPalestine
#MaineVoicesForPeace
#PeaceActionMaine #MaineDSA #JVP #Palestine #Lebanon #Iran #NoWar #PeaceWorks #MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights
#HumanRightsAreNeverWrong
#MaineStudentsForPalestine
#PSL -
#Maine Voices for #Palestinian Rights - Weekly Standouts & Mini-Rallies (Updated December 2024)
HUMAN RIGHTS ARE NEVER WRONG
"We are a group of people from Maine and beyond who stand in solidarity with the# Palestinian people and seek to amplify their movement of liberation from occupation and #apartheid."
Bangor
Wednesday - 12PM
Harlow St & Central StBelfast
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Post Office SquareBlue Hill
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Blue Hill Town HallBrunswick
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Maine St
(in front of Tontine Mall)Brunswick
Friday - 5PM
Maine Street
(across from Walgreens)Bucksport
Saturday - 12:30PM
Bucksport-Verona BridgeCamden
Friday - 5PM
Camden Village GreenEllsworth
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Union River BridgeFarmington
Saturday - 12PM Noon
Post OfficePortland
Saturday - 1PM
Longfellow SquareRockland
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Winslow Holbrook ParkSaco
Friday - 2:30PM
#GeneralDynamicshttps://www.mvprights.org/events#block-a15fa12ef4b264f29ded
#FreePalestine #CeasefireNow
#Gaza #WorldWarBibi #BibiIsAWarCriminal
#Genocide #EndGenocide
#MaineCoalitionForPalestine
#MaineVoicesForPeace
#PeaceActionMaine #MaineDSA #JVP #Palestine #Lebanon #Iran #NoWar #PeaceWorks #MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights
#HumanRightsAreNeverWrong
#MaineStudentsForPalestine
#PSL -
@mckra1g Oooooh...! What a great resource! It seems the #MaineDSA is quite active these days. I may have to switch back to being a #DemocraticSocialist again. I'm not seeing this kind of community building and solidarity with the Maine Greens, which is disappointing...
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#Maine Voices for #Palestinian Rights - Weekly Standouts & Mini-Rallies
HUMAN RIGHTS
ARE NEVER WRONG"We are a group of people from Maine and beyond who stand in solidarity with the# Palestinian people and seek to amplify their movement of liberation from occupation and #apartheid."
Bangor
Wednesday - 12PM
Harlow St & Central StBelfast
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Post Office SquareBelfast
Friday - 4:30PM
Waldo County Democrats (until election day)Blue Hill
Saturday - 12PM Noon Blue Hill Town HallBrunswick
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Maine St (in front of Tontine Mall)Brunswick
Friday - 5PM
Maine Street (across from Walgreens)Bucksport
Saturday - 12:30PM
Bucksport-Verona BridgeCamden
Friday - 5PM
Camden Village GreenEllsworth
Sunday - 12PM Noon
Union River BridgeFarmington
Saturday - 12PM Noon P
ost OfficeFreeport
Sunday - 1PM
Corner of West St and Main StPortland
Saturday - 1PM
Post Office ParkRockland
Thursday - 12PM Noon
Winslow Holbrook ParkSaco
Friday - 2:30PM
#GeneralDynamics
https://www.mvprights.org/events#block-a15fa12ef4b264f29ded#FreePalestine #CeasefireNow #Gaza #WorldWarBibi #EndGenocide #MaineCoalitionForPalestine #MaineVoicesForPeace #PeaceActionMaine #MaineDSA #JVP #Palestine #Lebanon #Iran #NoWar #EndGenocide #PeaceWorks #MaineVoicesForPalestinianRights #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #Palestine #Lebanon #Iran #MaineStudentsForPalestine #PSL
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#PortlandMaine rally marks nearly one year since deadly Hamas attack on Israel
by WGME Staff
Sun, October 6th 2024PORTLAND (WGME) - "#ProPalestinian protestors took to Monument Square Park in Portland on Saturday, two days before the one-year mark of the Hamas attack on Israel.
"That attack left about 12-hundred people dead, while 250 others were taken as hostages.
"Since then, the #Gaza health ministry says over 40-thousand #Palestinians have been killed in the war.
"#Protestors in Portland were calling for the United States to stop supplying #weapons to #Israel.
"'I am devastated by watching the destruction that's happening in Gaza and now Lebanon, Syria. It's chaos, utter chaos. And we're paying for it. It's my tax dollars that are paying for the weapons that are killing the children and women in Gaza and beyond,' said protester Mary Beth Sullivan.
"And with the election just one month away, we asked protestors how the U.S. involvement in the Middle East conflict is impacting their vote this November.
"''We are very lucky in Maine because we have #RankedChoiceVoting. So, we can vote, for example for #JillStein who is very opposed to conflict in #Palestine and still vote for #KamalaHarris without compromising that vote for Kamala Harris. But I’ll actually be voting for Jill Stein first and Kamala Harris second,' said protester Nigel Calder.
"Protestors in Portland were joined by thousands of others who gathered across the globe on Saturday in support of Palestine."
Original article:
https://wgme.com/news/local/portland-rally-marks-nearly-one-year-since-deadly-hamas-attack-on-israelArchived version:
https://archive.ph/3bRqx
#FreePalestine #PortlandMaine #InternationalDayOfAction #MaineDSA #MaineVoicesForPeace #JVP #Palestine #Lebanon #Iran #NoWar #EndGenocide #PeaceWorks #CeasefireNow