Howard B. Owens finds it ironic that the Democratic Socialists of America “are coming to Batavia to teach us about fascism.”
Mr. Owens should understand that the Democratic Socialists didn’t come to Batavia on Saturday; we were here all along!
The teach-in was initiated and organized by residents of Batavia and surrounding towns—residents who reject the fascists descending on our city after Rochester rejected their vile message.
Mr. Owens should also understand that there is nothing ironic about socialists teaching him about fascism. When liberals and centrists made peace with Nazis, socialists fought the brownshirts in the streets; it has always been socialists who have stood their ground against the fascists’ totalitarian agenda.
We wish Mr. Owens would have exercised his journalistic skills and talked to actual Genesee County Democratic Socialists. Then he wouldn’t have to resort to bogeymen and claim we think, “the wages you earn . . . the ‘fruits of [your] labor’—shouldn’t belong to you.”
Every day we go to work and the fruits of our labor line the pockets of our bosses. We want the fruits of our labor to go to us, the people who do the work.
Mr. Owens claims we oppose locally owned small businesses. You know who opposes locally-owned small businesses? Amazon does. Amazon doesn’t believe in the “free market”; they believe in global monopolies. Jeff Bezos is not “trying to create wealth” for himself and his family; he’s well beyond any reasonable measure of taking care of one’s family. He and the broken system he represents are impoverishing families around this country and the world.
What we democratic socialists want is the multiracial working class united in solidarity; what the fascists want is for us to be divided by fear.
What we want is everyone to have the healthcare our seniors have. We want Medicare for All—plus better dental and optical coverage for all.
What we want is the ultrarich to pay their fair share of taxes; and we want to invest that money in jobs that will save our burning planet: we want the Green New Deal, modeled after FDR’s New Deal.
What we want is for the state—through the cops—to stop murdering African-Americans and for the prison-industrial complex to stop stealing their futures.
What we want is a government that serves all of us, not just the one percent.
Thanks for noticing our teach-in, Mr. Owens. Next time talk to us, and maybe we can learn a thing or two from each other.
