“General strikes are rare and something like lightning in a bottle: They tend to overspill their boundaries, becoming, in historically specific moments, something more than just the sum of their parts.” - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social newrepublic.com/article/2053...

The Minnesota general strike demonstrated the leading place the labour movement is playing in opposing ICE. @sarahljaffe.bsky.social's interview @poltheoryother.bsky.social provides a history of the current moment through exploring the central role of migrant workers in American trade unionism.

The proposed changes to immigration rules in the UK will be a real test for unions. Unison has had a huge increase in membership among migrant health and care workers, but the party it's affiliated to is pushing rules that will destroy the lives of these people. www.unison.org.uk/news/2025/12...

While it has been getting better over the last decade, large part of the UK labour movement suffers from the same problem that @sarahljaffe.bsky.social talks about here. I recently wrote this on the barriers to organising migrant farm workers: www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2025...

This is the best piece I’ve read diving into the community organizing going on in Minnesota - from grassroots activists to labor to neighbors. It’s so empowering to see this level of rising amidst resistance. It prefigures renewal.

"The US labour movement often has been guilty of assuming that immigrant workers are unorganisable... Actually the immigrant worker organisations have been the ones leading the labour movement..." - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social

As Minnesota kicks off its day of freedom from ICE, my piece on how the state's movements built power to be ready for this moment, and the closest thing to a real general strike in maybe a century newrepublic.com/article/2053...

ICYMI - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social on the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE and the recent history of organising and protest in Minnesota (and the centrality of the Somali community to those efforts):

"What happens when U.S. capitalism simply needs fewer humans?" "The flaming Waymo, then, is [..] a symbol of the way that more and more people are being rendered surplus." "[E]xpect to see more machine-breaking." #USA #Labour #Protest #Transportation #Technology #Deportation #EthnicCleansing

Breaking: Three unions are calling on the University of Minnesota to shut down for Jan. 23. They include the Graduate Labor Union Electrical Workers Local 1105, AFSCME 3800, & Teamsters Local 320. Campus undergraduate organizations are joining the call. labornotes.org/2026/01/will...

📢 NEW EPISODE 📢 - @sarahljaffe.bsky.social on the murder of Renee Nicole Good by ICE and the history of organising and protest in Minnesota (and the centrality of the Somali community to those efforts). We also talked about the entwinement of the tech industry with ICE and the surveillance state:

Minnesota’s proposed January 23 statewide shutdown didn’t materialize overnight. In 2024, @sarahljaffe.bsky.social reported on how unions and community groups spent years building the coordination and trust that now make a total shutdown possible—and powerful.

A competent opposition political party would cut together the footage of what ICE had been doing in the twin cities with Mike Johnson saying "ICE is doing what ICE is designed to do" and have it in ads all across the country

One of the things that genuinely shocked me as I read through surveillance logs for the police is how much of their energy and attention is dedicated to shutting down vigils and other ceremonies of remembrance.

“So let’s stay brave, stay committed, and stay together. We will remember the fallen, fight like hell for the living, and when this terrible moment is over, we will still have each other, our potential, and the hope of building a better world.”

@sarahljaffe.bsky.social Listening to this stellar book on my way to and from work every day. This morning I was wandering around our shop muttering “there’s more to life than this!” Probably listening to it during my commute isn’t the best idea. Or maybe it is…. 🤔

in excellent company here 😍

If we were given the time to grieve properly, what might we decide to change? — @sarahljaffe.bsky.social

A little holiday newsletter, my lovelies. open.substack.com/pub/sarahlja...

If you're a video game worker looking to have a stronger voice on the job, stop corporate greed and get better pay, benefits and more, join @videogameworkers.bsky.social and build worker power to change the gaming industry for good. uvw-cwa.org

Ask all the professors being laid off, the underemployed adjuncts, the PhD students working in service industries about the "idea machine" 🙃

using machines as metaphors for humans has gotten us nowhere good www.patreon.com/posts/episod...

We have not run out of good ideas, we have a global inequality where good ideas cannot get the necessary supports into becoming solutions. Good ideas are everywhere if we would just allocate resources to trying some out. AI cannot make new ideas. It cannot have ANY ideas.

if you haven't seen it, @sarahljaffe.bsky.social wrote a book called From The Ashes that is very good at situating grief and how it inherently conflicts with capitalism

Did you miss my critical conversation on work & intimacy with @sarahljaffe.bsky.social? Catch the 5min highlight reel here! youtu.be/gZp-IMyKSQg?...

The extreme, ideologically-driven, fast, furious, economically reckless decisions being made by New School president & provost are NOT the simple consequence of economic need. they're a malicious disaster and must be stopped... an assault on critical thought.

This is today! Register here: darden-virginia.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

This is today! Noon EST/5pm GMT/whatever time those are where you are, online darden-virginia.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

You two, @sarahljaffe.bsky.social and @vivaharehills.bsky.social: This podcast, which I discovered like last week, has been such a companion to me. And I keep recommending it. Thank you for this gift of vulnerability and wisdom. Tis the perfect season to have you in my ears.💕🙏🏻

Little lol here but after reading Sarah Jaffe’s “Work Won’t Love You Back” I was telling my supervisor about the section on NPOs (we work at one) and she eventually just sighs and sadly says “please don’t go quoting that book around here.” And friends when I say that only strengthened my resolve!

I'm returning to Work Won't Love You Back territory for this conversation with @sarahmosseri.bsky.social -- online, December 9, free to all, timed for both US and Europe. darden-virginia.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

"The death of institutions hasn’t killed solidarity among journalists — I’m a member, for example, of the Freelance Solidarity Project at the National Writers Union, which provides resources for independent writers and has contracts for minimum standards with several publications." 🫡

I contributed a piece to TPM's look back at 25 years of digital media. Unsurprisingly, I wrote about unionization and how it shaped the press: talkingpointsmemo.com/tpm-25/digit...

Another little clip from the newest Heart Reacts, where we discuss a trend piece about the neologism "chalance" www.patreon.com/posts/episod...

if the amount of people who send me AI-slop PR emails about my book had actually bought and read my book, I wouldn't need their PR.

I received this email about Democrats caving to end the shutdown from one of the SNAP recipients I spoke to:

tonight at 7, @housmansbookshop.bsky.social!

All new Heart Reacts on your podcast feed of choice! This week @sarahljaffe.bsky.social talk about feeling simultaneously over- and under-committed, whether having boyfriends is embarrassing now, and why people are talking "chalant"

Mr. Mamdani, would you please be my mayor? I wrote about the Zohran phenomenon and economic populism for some folks across the pond: macrodosepod.substack.com/p/f0caf063-a...

"Others will take time in catching up to that." whew

After Zohran Mamdani beat disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in this year’s New York City Democratic mayoral primary, Cuomo, his billionaire backers and corporate media all took a beating. But they picked themselves up, got back in the ring, and lost again. fair.org/home/mamdani...

I'm told by Cuomo and others that this is "not" possible.

Recently, @sarahljaffe.bsky.social sat down with @kaiheron.bsky.social, @kmilb.bsky.social and @bertrussell.bsky.social, authors of “Radical Abundance: How to Win a Green Democratic Future” to discuss the difference between radical and bullshit abundance. inthesetimes.com/article/radi...

If anyone is in or around Glasgow on Saturday and wants to hear me talk about my most recent essay on Video Game Worker Unions and Revolution, I'd love to see you there! notesfrombelow.org/article/vide... 6pm at Broadside in Glasgow!

Heart Reacts is up! Some thoughts on relationships and organizing, clarity, terminology, and why I hate the word "situationship" with every fiber of my being. Link below or find the show wherever you get your podcasts. www.patreon.com/posts/episod...

Heart Reacts is up! Some thoughts on relationships and organizing, clarity, terminology, and why I hate the word "situationship" with every fiber of my being. Link below or find the show wherever you get your podcasts. www.patreon.com/posts/episod...

That should be a career ender. Let’s hope that we’re at the point in time when we’re organized and aware enough that it is.

The inflatables have made it to Broadview.