‘Raise Your Voice’ Archives
Seize the Beans!
Raise Your Voice Seize the Beans! By Peter Molenaar On August 1, 2022, a two-day strike commenced at the corner of Cedar Avenue and 47th Street. Starbucks workers had coalesced in their newly formed union, Starbucks Workers United (SBWU, SEIU) to demand negotiations. Here is a taste of their colorful pickets: Seize the Beans of Production! LIVING WAGE NATION NOW! and Union Coffee Tastes Better!. “This strike is a warning”, said strike captain Ethan Tinklenberg, “it sends a signal to management that we are capable of doing this.” We are told that management has systematically cut workers hours, changed opening and closing times, and has in recent memory, fired workers for resisting. Tinklenberg added: ”We are sick of management doing illegal things.” Indeed, Starbucks founder and on-again/off-again CEO Howard Shultz has a history of anti-union behavior. Naturally, this fact found its reflection [...]
The End Stage
RAISE YOUR VOICE By PETER MOLENAAR In last month’s column the question was posed: after socialization of the production of energy, what sector of the economy should be socialized next? Patience, please. Hold your revolutionary horses. For now, you will be served another dose of foreshadowing. It was at the Franklin Avenue Open Streets event that I became acquainted with Cecelia. Cecelia is an Ojibwe elder whose story of fortitude will be revealed in the September issue of this paper. The end stage? Bags of money won’t save the souls of “patriotic” militias who bow before billionaires. The belief that we are experiencing the “end stage of capitalism” is spreading like wildfire among the nation's youth. We are told that public ownership of the main means of production is the inevitable consequence. However, at the age of almost 72 years, I might not live to see it. Indeed, one must have “revolutionary patience!” Yet we continue to hear youthful [...]
Raise Your Voice: Reporting Back In
By PETER MOLENAAR June 14… A co-activist with the Minneapolis Regional Retirees Council knew the bus route. We traveled a good length of Bloomington Avenue before ultimately arriving at 4th and Hennepin for a demonstration at Xcel energy headquarters. MN350 and Sierra Club had combined to produce a splendid multi-racial/multiple-nationality gathering. Xcel was denounced in English and Spanish for being a private utility, guilty of “extraction from nature and the public.” Quiz question: When “power to the people” is truly realized, what industry is first on the list to be socialized? In hand that day was an article printout from the PEOPLE’S WORLD with the caption: “Trumpite Postmaster DeJoy sued over huge gas guzzler buy.” The USPS desperately needs to refurbish one of the largest vehicle fleets in the world. However, if DeJoy is allowed to have his way, these will not be modern electric trucks produced in a union shop in [...]
