OUR DEMANDS

Money for Jobs, Schools, Healthcare, Housing, and the Environment, Not for War!

The US is the wealthiest country in world history. The US was founded on the genocide and colonization of Indigenous people and the enslavement of millions of Africans, and it continues to wage wars of exploitation to this day. In spite of its riches, the US government refuses to provide basic resources to its own residents. In the words of Tupac Shakur, “They got money for war but can't feed the poor.” 

The military budget this year is $842 billion. The Energy Department spends an additional $30 billion annually on nuclear warheads. The spy, assassination, and other agencies get another $30 billion. Biden got another $133 billion for the war in Ukraine, and now wants $46 billion more for Ukraine and $4 billion more for Israel’s genocide in Palestine.

Meanwhile, almost half of the families in the US live paycheck to paycheck and 19% of Americans have $0 set aside for an emergency. The poorest school districts need more than twice as much as current spending per student to provide an adequate education. Chronic underfunding of our public health system was a major reason why the US had the highest number of Covid deaths in the world: 1,156,484 people. Homelessness in America is surging to record highs amid high rents across the country: almost 600,000 people, many of whom are children, are unhoused.

Even corporate consulting firms estimate that the world would need to spend as much as $9 trillion annually to prevent the growing environmental catastrophe. The Democrats spending billions on war in the middle of an economic and ecological crisis shows their willingness to sacrifice the survival of our people and planet for the sake of profit.

We demand that our tax dollars be used to fund education, housing, healthcare, the environment, and other needs of the people, not genocide and war!

Immigrant Rights and Legalization for All! 

US intervention, under both Democrats and Republicans, in countries across the globe has devastated economies and forced people to migrate abroad in search of better lives. Biden ran for president promising the Latino and immigrant movements that he would reverse the attacks that came down on their communities under Trump and enact immigration reforms that these movements have demanded since the 1980s.

Instead he’s working with Senate Republicans on extreme anti-immigrant proposals: building Trump’s wall; and increasing deportations to 225,483 for the first half of the fiscal year. Biden justifies selling out immigrant communities to get support for the war in Ukraine and for the genocide in Gaza. Going further, he now is threatening Trump-era border restrictions: gutting the asylum system; increasing detention of people awaiting processing at the border; and enacting summary border expulsion policies more extreme than Trump’s Title 42.

We demand that Biden follow through on his promises toward immigrants rights, and we demand legalization for all 12 million undocumented people living in the US!

Defend LGBTQ & Reproductive Rights!

The Democratic Party is complicit in the surging right-wing attacks on women, workers, and the LGBTQ+ community. In spite of their lip service to the women’s and LGBTQ+ movements, the Democratic Party has not backed their words with actions.

As Democrats use reproductive and LGBTQ+ issues to pinkwash the U.S.-funded Israeli genocide in Gaza, their economic policies put women, LGBTQ+, and disabled folks in the U.S. at a disproportionate risk of harm and exploitation.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the ultra-conservative Supreme Court in June 2022, Democrats have failed to fulfill campaign promises of codifying the right to abortion. As a result, Republican-controlled state governments have carried out a coordinated campaign to eliminate women’s and LGBTQ+ rights and criminalize reproductive healthcare across the country.

We demand that the Democratic Party act to defend womens, reproductive, and LGBTQ+ rights!

Defend the right to unionize and strike!

Joe Biden also failed to deliver on campaign promises to pass the Pro-Act which would strengthen workers’ rights to unionize. Instead, he sided with big business by signing legislation that stripped rail workers of their right to strike. The environmental and public health disasters which resulted from train derailments in the following months likely could have been prevented had Joe Biden defended workers’ right to organize and strike for safety improvements.

Biden has claimed to lead a pro labor administration, yet his anti union and anti strike policies disempower workers from taking collective action to improve our lives. We demand that the Democratic Party defend the right of workers to unionize and strike!

Stop police crimes! Community control of the police now!

A common thread throughout our movements is the political repression they face at the hands of the powers that be. As people’s movements gain steam under worsening conditions, the system tries harder  to stifle our resistance. Though Republicans tend to be more viciously repressive against those who dare to fight back, the Democratic Party frequently unites with and enables these attacks. 

From the repression of the Tampa 5, to the Uhuru Three, to the Students for Justice in Palestine, to the fight to free political prisoners, we see the need for tools which empower us to hold back the forces of repression so that our movements can continue to grow in power. 

The struggle against racist policing and mass incarceration is central to our movements, which leads us to demand community control of the police and an end to police crimes. The Democratic Party failed to take any meaningful action following the George Floyd Rebellion, with nearly 100 murders at hands of the police per month occurring in 2022, and the total for 2023 nearing 1,000. Black and brown people, disabled people, and other oppressed communities make up a disproportionate number of those murdered, as well as those kidnapped, assaulted, and wrongfully convicted. 

Fighting back against the U.S. criminal legal system designed to enforce the oppression of Black and brown people and the political repression of the people as a whole is central to the survival of our movements. In order to defend our movements, we carry the demand for community control of the police as we march on the DNC!

Justice, Peace, and Equality!

Together we fight for justice, peace, and equality, but we know that in order to achieve both peace and equality, we must first have justice. We refuse to be pacified by Democratic Party leaders making empty references to justice while ignoring or opposing the demands of the people’s movements. We will not maintain a false peace domestically while our tax dollars are funding genocide and war abroad. We will continue to fight until we achieve true equality.