The hospitality workers' union UNITE HERE drew on its deep knowledge of organizing to fuel its members’ all-out fight for their futures in the 2020 election.

We are experimenting with a new type of forum - a "Reader's Forum" - designed specifically to draw out the voices of the many left organizers, activists, and thinkers from around the country. We know you are reading. We also want to know what you are thinking!

Organizing Upgrade is excited to be able to share the video of one of the many exciting sessions that took place at the 2010 United States Social Forum in Detroit:Transformative Organizing Theory: Conscious Organizers Seek to Build Anti-racist, Anti-imperialist Politics Rooted in Working Class Communities of Color. Sponsored by the Labor-Community Strategy Center, this session was based on a piece by that same name written by LCSC’s Director, Eric Mann. The session opened with a presentation by Eric Mann, which was then followed by responses from five other experienced left organizers (many of whom are also Organizing Upgrade contributors): Steve Williams, from People Organized to Win Employment Rights, Ai-jen Poo from the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Cindy Wiesner from Grassroots Global Justice, Ng’ethe Maina from Social Justice Leadership and Patrisse Cullors from the Labor-Community Strategy Center. The room was packed, demonstrating how important these types of strategic dialogues are for left organizers today.

As the disaster in Haiti reaches into its second month, what insights can the left offer to influence the mainstream response to Haiti? What strategies for a just and sovereign Haitian recovery should Left organizers in the US take up?