The wave of resistance that swept through the country during the Occupy movement gave an example of the kinds of tactics that will be necessary to defeat the attacks on the living standards of working people. The Boston Fare Strike Coalition was formed by a base of activists who recognized that lobbying Democratic politicians was a dead end and that direct action was the only tactic available to working people to defend their interests.

Many lessons can be learned from the movement, from both its successes and its later decline. And though Occupy today isn’t a mass force in the streets, its early days last year foreshadowed the even bigger struggles that will emerge in the near future.

Occupy Homes has won seven victories thus far, and more are on the way. The movement has combined longstand­ing community organizing models, like neighborhood meet­ings and BBQs, with militant direct action and mass civil disobedience.

To mark the upcoming one-year anniver­sary of Occupy Wall Street, and to advance the debate over what kind of society we should be fighting for, Socialist Alternative will be organizing public meetings across the country to argue the case for socialism. This article previews some central themes we aim to address.

This year has been marked by heinous attacks on women’s rights. The Slutwalk move­ment emerged after a Toronto cop, Michael Sanguinetti, suggested women avoid rape by “not dressing like sluts.” The protests that followed hinted at the revival of the feminist movement.

Kshama Sawant, a Socialist Alternative candidate in Seat­tle, is challenging Democratic House Speaker Frank Chopp in the general election for Washing­ton’s 43rd Legislative District. Sawant achieved unprecedented primary election results that had her winning second place in both Positions 1 and 2 of the district. She took some time out from campaigning to talk to Justice newspaper.

Tuition fees, society in Quebec has been shaken to the core by four months of student strikes, which have garnered support from trade unions and been linked to far-reaching anti-austerity demands. At the movement’s peak, the demonstrations turned out an estimated 310,000 students: three out of every four students in Quebec.

Under Mayor Daley, Chicago was the testing ground for the agenda of privatization, closures, staffing cuts and high-stakes testing that led to President Obama’s Race to the Top.

The King County Superior Court has just ruled in favor of the Kshama Sawant campaign in our legal fight to have our party preference, Socialist Alternative, printed on the ballot for the general election.

The right has gained strength because the Democrats have failed to offer a real solution to the economic crisis, which has left open the space for the rise of right-wing populism with all its bigoted scapegoating. The only effective counter to the far right is for the left to build its own independent fighting force that articulates a class-based solu­tion, uniting across race, sexu­ality, gender, and nationality to fight the real enemy – the big banks and corporations and their system of capitalism.

After a string of seven improb­able victories over Wall Street’s banks, Occupy Homes MN is increasingly held up as a national model for the housing rights movement, and for the poten­tial of the Occupy movement to move beyond encampments and begin winning concrete victories for the 99%. The seven victories won so far are giving confidence to more homeowners to join the campaign and fight to save their foreclosed homes.

The “hope” and “change” of the last election cycle seems like something from a bygone era, all the euphoric optimism and excitement which surrounded the 2008 Obama campaign replaced by bitter frustration, frightening economic uncer­tainty, anger, general pessimism, and loss of faith in the political establishment.

Imagine 200 Occupy candidates running for Congress this year – independent of the Democrats and Republicans. Imagine if these candidates were not careerist politicians, but activists and ordinary people, running as accountable representatives of a real, fighting movement of the 99%...

After deciding to challenge Democratic House Speaker Frank Chopp in the general election on Tuesday, August 21st, the Kshama Sawant campaign moved to contest a decision by the Secretary of State to deny her the right to declare her party preference on the November Ballot.

Socialist candidate Kshama Sawant speaks to supporters and reporters about the campaigns decision to switch races and challenge Democratic House Speaker Frank Chopp in the general election. Sawant was in the rare position of qualifying for the general election for both position 1 opposing Jamie Pedersen where she was on the ballot and against Chopp for position 2 as a write-in candidate.