Empower Our Neighborhoods

A talk about the ways in which people can act together to effectively take power away from the elite and use it to improve their lives. In the city of New Brunswick, NJ, we ran a public vote so that people could vote on restructuring city government, so every neighborhood would be guaranteed representation- including the low-income ones that were very underrepresented. For instance, it has been very difficult for families not tied in with the political elite to get access to decent housing, functioning public schools, or basic safety measures like traffic lights by their parks. We're now working to build a Renters' Union, so that people will have more control over their own living situations, and be able to collectively challenge the power of slumlords. We will discuss how people can locally build democratically-run organizations in their communities that provide alternatives to the often oppressive structures of mainstream institutions- and how we can infiltrate the channels of power to put the institutions that affect us- schools, traffic commissions, zoning boards, apartment complexes, etc.- under our own control. We will have an open discussion at the USSF so that people can get information relevant to their situations.

A talk about the ways in which people can act together to effectively take power away from the elite and use it to improve their lives. In the city of New Brunswick, NJ, we ran a public vote so that people could vote on restructuring city government, so every neighborhood would be guaranteed representation- including the low-income ones that were very underrepresented. For instance, it has been very difficult for families not tied in with the political elite to get access to decent housing, functioning public schools, or basic safety measures like traffic lights by their parks. We're now working to build a Renters' Union, so that people will have more control over their own living situations, and be able to collectively challenge the power of slumlords. We will discuss how people can locally build democratically-run organizations in their communities that provide alternatives to the often oppressive structures of mainstream institutions- and how we can infiltrate the channels of power to put the institutions that affect us- schools, traffic commissions, zoning boards, apartment complexes, etc.- under our own control. We will have an open discussion at the USSF so that people can get information relevant to their situations.