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Bravo Mining (TSXV: BRVO) closed an C$86 million ($63.5 million) public offering this month for ongoing preliminary work at its Luanga nickel-platinum project in Brazil as it prepares to bring on private equity firm Orion Mine Finance Management as a major partner.

The explorer issued 19.6 million common shares at C$4.40 each for its over-subscribed offering under a previously filed C$300 million shelf prospectus. The total included a C$34.5 million non-brokered private placement with Orion, under which it expects to enter a participation agreement and to provide up to $300 million in funding.

“The financing allows Bravo to continue advancing exploration and development of its Luanga project,” BMO Capital Markets analysts Dominic Bolton and Raj Ray said in a Jan. 20 note. “With platinum group metals (PGM) and nickel prices rallying, Bravo is well positioned to capture the upside in future technical studies and financing discussions.”

Bravo said it will use the proceeds to fund a preliminary feasibility study and subsequent feasibility study. The company’s preliminary economic assessment (PEA), updated in November, included a base-case net present value (NVP) of $1.25 billion. Testing results indicate potentially significant improvements in flotation.

Shares in Bravo Mining gained 6.8% to C$5.34 apiece Jan. 23 after the capital raising before falling 22% to C$4.16 in Toronto by Friday, valuing the company at C$543 million.

Economics improve

Analysts Bolton and Ray said in a separate note on the testing that “greater selectivity and lower mass pull implies the potential for higher concentrate grades and materially lower concentrate tonnage for the same payable metal, therefore, driving improved payabilities and reduced flotation plant capex/opex.”

The study was completed as a laboratory-scale rougher flotation and found 5-10% higher PGM and 5-30% higher nickel recoveries, relative to conventional baseline flotation, while reducing mass pull by 50%.

“The preliminary Jameson Cell results are highly encouraging and reinforce the technical optionality available to Bravo as we advance our metallurgical studies,” chairman and CEO Luis Azevedo said  in a statement. He added that Bravo has confidence in the technology as it was installed at Valterra’s Mogalakwena PGM mine in South Africa and the Australian Mount Isa copper mine, which co-developed the technology with Jameson.

“Management believes that further investment in an expanded metallurgical development program to include larger scale (pilot plant) testing is justified,” the company said in a release.

Smelter planned

The fundraising will also support ongoing work on a vertical integration option also considered in Bravo’s November PEA. The alternative case would include downstream processing and refining activities at a smelter to be located nearby in Pará state. The company anticipated this could support a project NPV of $1.86 billion.

These alternative case economics got a boost last week when Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed a presidential decree creating the Barcarena Export Processing Zone in Pará. The zones offer favourable regulatory, tax and customs regime for companies producing export goods and services.

The proposed smelter is to benefit from the regime for 20 years. Azevedo said in a statement the creation of the zone “is a significant milestone for Bravo and materially advances regulatory certainty around our development scenario.”

When Oregon’s short legislative session convenes in early February, conservation advocates will once again try to convince lawmakers to pass a major funding bill that could provide nearly $30 million annually to protect the state’s biodiversity.

The 1% for Wildlife bill, sponsored by state representatives Ken Helm, a Democrat from Beaverton, and Mark Owens, a Republican from Crane, would increase the state’s current hotel and lodging taxes by 1.25 percent, creating a new revenue stream for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to support long-neglected habitat conservation programs. Last session, the bill passed the House, but two Republicans blocked it in the Senate.

Oregon’s federally required State Wildlife Action Plan identifies species at risk of extinction or decline due to habitat loss, climate change, and other threats. In 2025, as the plan was being updated, dozens of species were added, including the Crater Lake newt, the California condor, and the North American porcupine, bringing the total to more than 300.

“It’s a blueprint of the most imperiled species and habitats in the state,” said Sristi Kamal, deputy director of the Western Environmental Law Center, which supports the bill. “But a plan is only as good as the funding to implement it.”

Though Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Department receives some state funding, most of its budget comes from state hunting and fishing licenses and federal taxes on guns and ammunition via the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937. The majority of Oregon’s federal funds, about $20 million annually, are earmarked for big game species and sport fish. Other federal grants primarily support species already protected by the Endangered Species Act. That means that Fish and Wildlife, like most state wildlife agencies, has little money to prevent species from becoming endangered in the first place. Between 2023 and 2025, it spent just 2 percent of its budget on wildlife conservation programs.

Dense mats of Ludwigia spp. choke out native vegetation at Horseshoe Lake, Palensky Wildlife Area, Oregon. Lauri Brewster/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Increasing hotel and lodging taxes would leverage the state’s robust ecotourism industry, which annually attracts tens of thousands of out-of-state and international visitors.

If the bill passes, Oregon’s statewide hotel tax rate would be 2.5 percent — the third-lowest rate in the U.S. and less than half of what Washington, Montana, and Idaho charge. The 1% for Wildlife bill could provide a new model for state-level conservation funding, said Mark Humpert, director of conservation initiatives at the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, which advocates for state agencies at the federal level.

“Ninety-five to 99 percent of species that states are responsible for have no dedicated funding from the federal government. We sometimes joke that state agencies have to offer bake sales to fund this work,” Humpert said. Some sell specialty license plates; others use a small percentage of sales taxes on outdoor equipment. The “gold standard,” Humpert said, is Missouri, where a state constitutional amendment dedicates one-eighth of 1 percent of its sales tax to its Department of Conservation.

According to a 2016 study by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and its partners, fully implementing every State Wildlife Action Plan in the country would cost around $1 billion annually. But for years, Congress has failed to pass the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, a bipartisan bill that would bolster states’ conservation funding. Now, as the Trump administration slashes federal conservation and climate funding, advocates say that the 1% for Wildlife bill could provide the stable funding needed to implement Oregon’s wildlife action plan. “The bill is a very innovative concept, and there are probably 49 other states that are watching closely to see if it’s successful,” Humpert said.

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In northeast Oregon’s high-desert region, Jamie Dawson, the Greater Hells Canyon Council’s conservation director, hopes the bill can fund wildlife crossings on Highway 82. “This section of the Blue Mountains is an absolutely critical habitat connectivity corridor — of continental importance,” Dawson said. Deer, elk, and other species use it to migrate between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascades Range in western Oregon and Washington. But the route is a wildlife collision hotspot, with hundreds of animals killed by vehicles over the past few years.

Elsewhere, the funding could support studies of migratory bird habitats like eel grass estuaries and wetlands, said Joe Liebezeit, conservation director for the Bird Alliance of Oregon. In spring 2025, local birdwatchers and radar data indicated that half as many birds as usual migrated through the state, though the reasons for this are unclear.

As the state’s general fund waxes and wanes, so does the wildlife department’s budget, which is rewritten every two years. The lack of stable conservation funding prevents it from focusing on long-term solutions for species conservation, said Davia Palmeri, the agency’s federal policy director. “We do monitoring for these species when we can — when there’s a grant or short-term funding — to get pulses on species like reptiles or amphibians.”

For over a decade, advocates have fought to secure state funding for conservation. “At one point, there was a proposal to put a tax on birdseed,” said Danielle Moser, wildlife program manager at Oregon Wild. “There was the idea of a gear tax — things you buy at REI.” But none of these ideas would have raised enough, and ultimately, they fizzled.

Last year, two Republican senators, Daniel Bonham and Cedric Hayden, killed the bill by refusing to allow the final committee vote that would bring it to the governor’s desk. Now, conservation advocates from across the political spectrum are determined to pass it.

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“You won’t always see all these logos on the same page,” says Amy Patrick, policy director at the Oregon Hunters Association, which is working with conservation groups like Oregon Wild to shape the bill. “The goal of this funding is to keep common species common, and that’s something sportsmen can get behind. There’s a real sense that this is an investment that will benefit all of our wildlife and habitats.”

The current 1.5 percent tourism tax funds the $45 million annual budget of Travel Oregon, which promotes the state’s tourism industry. Travel Portland, an independent nonprofit that works with Travel Oregon, opposes the bill, arguing that the additional tax would discourage large conferences and events. (Update: Travel Oregon did not respond to a request for comment before publication, but in a later statement, the agency said that it does not take positions on bills.)

The Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association called the bill a “Pandora’s box” of future tax increases. “We don’t see an end in sight, with all the other state agencies that would love a new revenue source,” said Jason Brandt, the association’s president. Brandt and others note that the bill’s original text only provided a 1 percent tax increase for the wildlife agency, but amendments tacked on 0.25 percent for conservation efforts by other departments, including the Department of Agriculture’s invasive species management and anti-poaching efforts at the Department of Justice.

The association’s political action committee donated over $17,000 to Bonham during his time in state office. Bonham, who resigned from the Senate in October when he was nominated to a federal position, did not respond to a request for comment.

Kamal and other advocates say the tourism industry’s opposition is ironic, given that revenue from the new tax would be reinvested in some of the state’s most popular attractions. Travel Oregon’s surveys show that scenic beauty is the top draw for 90 percent of out-of-state visitors.

“A lot of people come to Portland for business, but then they go to our beaches, or the mountains,” said Kamal. “The tourism industry is standing on the back of these natural resources. If you don’t invest in it, the pressures on these resources will make that legacy crumble.”

This story is part of High Country News’ Conservation Beyond Boundaries project, which is supported by the BAND Foundation.

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Visiting Oregon? You may soon have to pay a tax to protect its wildlife. on Feb 1, 2026.

By Jeremy Brecher,
Senior Strategic Advisor, LNS Co-Founder

By Alexandria Shaner, Jeremy Brecher January 16, 2026

Protest against ICE in Minneapolis, Minnesota, January 10, 2026 | Image credit: Fibonacci Blue/Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License

On January 16, shortly after the ICE killing of Renée Nicole Good and just before the “ICE Out of Minnesota: Day of Truth and Freedom”  January 23, I was interviewed by Alexandria Shaner of Znetwork about social strikes and the impending popular shutdown of Minneapolis. Shaner’s introduction noted,

“From escalating resistance to ICE to a growing call for a Jan. 23 Minnesota shutdown following the killing of Renée Nicole Good, forms of mass refusal — to work, to comply, to carry on as usual — are moving from theory into practice. Drawing on historical examples of people power uprisings and on his recent work examining how general strikes and broader “social strikes” are built, in this conversation Brecher reflects on where the U.S. is now, what conditions make such actions possible, and what strategic groundwork is required to turn diffuse outrage into sustained, democratic power.”

The interview grew out of my report “Social Strikes: Can General Strikes, Mass Strikes, and People Power Uprisings Provide a Last Defense Against MAGA Tyranny?” The interview was co-published by ZNetwork.org, Waging Nonviolence, and the Labor Network for Sustainability.

Could you give a definition of what you mean by social strikes?

Social strike is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of activities that use the withdrawal of cooperation and mass disruption to affect governments and social structures. I use the term “social strikes” to describe mass actions that exercise power by withdrawing cooperation from and disrupting the operation of society. Social strikes represent the withdrawal of cooperation and acquiescence by a whole society, manifested for example in general strikes, political strikes and mass popular “people power” uprisings. The goal of a social strike is to affect not just the immediate employer, but a political regime or social structure. In all their varied forms they are based on Gandhi’s fundamental perception that “even the most powerful cannot rule without the cooperation of the ruled.”

Why is this a winning strategy, and as you put it, a “defense against MAGA tyranny”?

The power of the powerful ultimately depends on the acquiescence and cooperation of those they rule. Social strikes have been one way that people have exercised the power to withdraw that acquiescence and cooperation.

Social strikes provide a possible alternative when institutional means of action prove ineffective. In many countries, where democratic institutions have been so weakened or obliterated that they are unable to disempower tyranny, such methods have been used effectively. My report on “Social Strikes” recounts examples that have brought down tyrannical regimes in Poland, the Philippines, Brazil, Puerto Rico, and most recently South Korea. These large-scale nonviolent direct actions — often referred to as “people power” uprisings — made society ungovernable and led to regime change. In all these cases, popular mobilization and the threat of general social disruption were so great that the autocrat’s supporters abandoned or turned against him and forced him to resign.

Of course there are no guarantees that social strikes can win in the U.S. today or in any other situation. But as MAGA tyranny drives more and more individuals, constituencies and institutions into opposition, its power is being progressively undermined. 

Historical experience around the world has shown social strikes are a powerful means to manifest that withdrawal of acquiescence and the refusal of the people to cooperate. Indeed, widespread forms of mass resistance like the Tesla and other boycotts, the No Kings Day-type national protests, and the on-the-ground resistance to ICE are already hamstringing the Trump administration’s freedom of action. Social strikes would represent a significant intensification of what I have called “social self-defense” against Trumpian tyranny. They have the potential both to further impede MAGA depredations and to contest for support from the majority of the population.

Free Our Future. Families Belong Together. Abolish ICE March and Day of Action, Minneapolis, Minnesota | Image credit: Fibonacci Blue/Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License

Where would you situate us, in our current moment, in terms of the trajectory of the escalating authoritarianism that we have been experiencing? How does this compare to some of the historical scenarios you analyze in the report and what does that mean for our strategic organizing?

An authoritarian takeover is under way in the U.S., complete with the arrest of opposition political leaders like Rep. LaMonica McIver, unrestrained executive usurpation, and lawless physical violence and kidnapping by masked, unidentified, armed federal agents. The government is now protecting and defending ICE agents who shoot down protesters in cold blood. The president is now threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to use the military to suppress a “rebellion,” i.e. action by any who oppose him. As his power is threatened, it is entirely plausible that he will turn to a full-scale coup. When a regime starts shooting down unarmed protesters in the street, that’s a Rubicon.

While they have much in common, every tyrannical regime and every opposition has its own dynamics. Growing popular discontent and emerging elite opposition (think Jerome Powell and the Clintons) are likely to lead to intensified repression (think Iran today). Authoritarian regimes are likely to use every means available to them to destroy opposition — something we are seeing every day with the Trump administration and its allies. Such repression can be effective, but it can also provoke still further opposition (think popular response and on-the-ground resistance following the ICE killing of Renee Nicole Good). We need to be prepared for intensified repression, but also be mindful that the people potentially have the power to defeat tyranny.

Following the murder of Renée Good by an ICE agent in Minnesota on Jan. 7, and an ongoing assault on the state by federal immigration forces, a labor-community coalition is calling for residents to refuse to work, shop or go to school on Jan. 23. Could you comment on this and other recent calls for social strikes?

The Minnesota story is developing hour by hour. The escalation of repression, including more and more shooting of unarmed civilians, massive invasion by additional ICE agents, and Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act, seem to have enraged large swaths of the state’s population without intimidating them into acquiescence. Mass action responses have been cascading. Rapid response networks and neighborhood ICE watch groups, armed with cameras and whistles, are proliferating. A friend in St. Paul wrote to me that there are 1,100 rapid response anti-ICE volunteers in their neighborhood alone.

On Jan. 10, ten thousand joined an “ICE Out of Minnesota” rally and march. On Jan. 14, thousands of St. Paul high school and middle school students marched to the State Capitol Building; nine high schools staged walkouts; a thousand students blocked St. Paul’s main thoroughfare with a two-mile march. On, Jan. 18 union postal workers will rally to demand “ICE Out Of Minnesota!,” followed by a march to the site of Renee Nicole Good’s killing. 

The proposed day of refusal to work, shop or go to school is a perfect example of a “social strike,” including work stoppages by workers but also myriad other forms of noncooperation by large and highly diverse sectors of society. A wide swath of immigrant, religious, labor, community, tenant and other groups are deeply involved. Unions already supporting the day of action include the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, SEIU Local 26, UNITE HERE Local 17, CWA Local 7250, and St. Paul Federation of Educators Local 28. 

The way Minnesotans are turning to this form of action is a result of the specific situation they face, but also of the growing discussion of and calls for general and social strikes. In that context, the “day of refusal” could have repercussions far beyond Minnesota. Teacher and union activist Dan Troccoli says, “in addition to appreciation, we want emulation. We need that out there in the streets in every city.”

Large vigil for Renee Good in South Minneapolis. Good, who was observing ICE actions, was killed by an ICE agent earlier in the day.m| Image credit: Chad Davis/Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License

Where are we now in terms of strategy and readiness for impactful and sustained mass social strikes? 

A crucial development of the past years has been the emergence of what I call the “movement-based opposition.” With the Democratic Party largely failing to effectively play the role of an opposition party, an alliance of social movements has begun playing the role of a “non-electoral opposition” that can mobilize those harmed by MAGA, identify common interests, unify their programs and actions, and articulate alternatives. The movement-based opposition is exemplified by the participation of millions in protest days of action like Hands Off!, MayDayStrong, and No Kings, and the mass civil resistance to ICE raids around the country. 

Next steps are already under way. Indivisible’s One Million Rising, which it describes as “a national effort to train one million people in the strategic logic and practice of non-cooperation,” could be a step in preparing those already participating in mass protests for social strikes. Future actions can progressively incorporate elements of noncooperation and disruption that evolve toward social strikes and serve as living representations of their potential power. They can combine strikes with non-workplace actions like boycotts, commercial shutdowns, mass picketing, blockades, occupations and civil disobedience. Such actions will need to constantly seek the “sweet spot” between effective disruption of MAGA oppression and alienation of forces that might otherwise be won over.

Could you outline a medium to long-term organizing vision and priorities for where we should aim to go from here?

I have dubbed the overall struggle against MAGA tyranny “social self-defense” — the defense of society by society against the forces aiming to destroy it.

Social self-defense against a creeping or galloping MAGA coup is most likely to succeed through a combination of electoral and social strike methods. The overcoming of authoritarian regimes in the Philippines, Serbia and elsewhere, while accomplished under circumstances far different from those in the U.S. today, provide examples of how they can be combined.

The detailed timelines of social strikes cannot be known in advance. They are likely to grow out of a gradual, and not always visible, buildup of harm — and resentment at harm. This is already occurring in Trump’s America. It could lead to a series of escalating struggles, possibly punctuated by defeats or by concessions generating temporary quiescence. Popular opposition could also diminish as a result of repression, MAGA counter-maneuvers, a sense of futility, or other “unknown unknowns.” A period of apparent quiescence with a rising sense of grievance might eventuate in a sudden explosion of popular rage and a mass uprising. 

Whether gradually or rapidly, social strikes will need to develop the power necessary to reduce MAGA power enough to bring an end to its rule — through elections, collapse of political support, or social disruption.

Resisting the rise of tyranny will no doubt require sacrifice. But that sacrifice will not be primarily on behalf of one political party vs. another, of Democrats vs. Republicans. It will be a defense of democracy — defense of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Beyond that, it is the protection of that which makes our life together on Earth possible. It is defense of the human rights of all people; of the conditions of our Earth and its climate that make our life possible; of the constitutional principle that government must be accountable to law; of global cooperation to provide a secure future for our people and planet; and of our ability to live together in our communities, our country, and our world. A MAGA tyranny is a threat to all of us as members of society. Overcoming MAGA usurpation of power is social self-defense.

We can hope that social strikes will not be necessary to limit and ultimately end MAGA tyranny. Accomplishing that goal by less drastic forms of social self-defense inside and outside the electoral system would likely require less risk and less pain. But if other means are unavailing, experience around the world indicates that social strikes may provide a way for people facing authoritarian takeover to establish or reestablish democracy.

Join in solidarity: https://www.iceoutnowmn.com/

Alexandria Shaner is a sailor, writer, and organizer. Originally from the US, Alexandria has lived most of her life in the Caribbean, as well as in Egypt and Central America. A sailor, writer, organizer, and street medic, she has been involved in community organizing, media, and education for over 20 years. Alexandria is currently a staff member of ZNetwork.org, a writer for Extinction Rebellion, and is active with Caracol DSA and Food Not Bombs. Her work has appeared on ZNet, Common Dreams, Foreign Policy in Focus, CounterPunch, LA Progressive, Waging Nonviolence, Antiwar.com, The African, The Socialist Project, mέtaCPC, DiEM25, PeaceNews, Green Left, Popular Resistance, Resilience.org, Grassroots Economic Organizing, Shareable, Dissident Voice, Democratic Underground, and various other outlets.

Jeremy Brecher is a co-founder and senior strategic advisor for the Labor Network for Sustainability. He is the author of more than fifteen books on labor and social movements, including Strike! Common Preservation in a Time of Mutual Destruction, and The Green New Deal from Below.

 

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The post Social Strikes: Confronting ICE and Resisting Authoritarianism first appeared on Labor Network for Sustainability.

On New Year’s Day, Zohran Mamdani took office as New York’s 112th mayor, promising a “new era.” But while working-class New Yorkers celebrated Mamdani’s enthusiastic promise to use his power to implement a pro-worker agenda, Mamdani backtracked on a key promise on his education platform.

In a major reversal of his own long held views, Mamdani announced that he would support mayoral control of the city’s schools. While most school districts are governed by elected school boards, in New York City school policy is determined almost exclusively by the mayor. This undemocratic system was implemented and used by previous mayor Michael Bloomberg to enact neoliberal anti-student education reforms including closing schools, increasing the number of charter schools in the city, and ratcheting up high-stakes testing. Eric Adams used his power over city schools to create curriculum mandates that limit teacher creativity and autonomy in the classroom.

Ending mayoral control and giving parents and teachers more of a voice in NYC education has been a longstanding goal of progressive education activists. Mamdani’s turnabout marks a breach of trust with his own base, including the thousands of NYC educators whose doorknocking, phonebanking, and flyering helped get him elected, especially considering that ending mayoral control was the clearest plank of his limited education platform.  His only other major promise was to retain the racist Specialized High School Admissions test, which has blocked Black and Latinx admission to prized high schools like Stuyevsant and Bronx Science.  Even more troubling, the flip-flop indicates that voices of neoliberal education reform, like Gates-funded and anti-union Educators for Excellence, have the mayor’s ear in the transition process.

When it comes to education, the signals Mamdani is sending are contradictory, but they’re not all negative. Mamdani’s promotion of Kamar Samuel, a local superintendent who implemented diversity efforts in his Upper West Side district, to the position of chancellor suggests that desegregation will be a priority for the new administration. This is a welcome and crucial development, as previous Mayors have ignored the issue, at best leaving it to blue-ribbon commissions. However, it seems that the mayor may have been convinced that retaining mayoral control is a necessary tradeoff, required to maintain executive authority to help de-segregate the most segregated school district in the country. While a return to the previous system of decentralized neighborhood school boards would allow local pro-segregation parents to block policy proposals, a post-mayoral control school system (like the proposed People’s Board of Education) could both maintain centralized policy while allowing democratic input.

A positive outcome will only be possible with continuous organizing to build an independent base in our union locals, school union chapters, and parent and community organizations.

But retaining mayoral control is a priority for the city’s ruling class, and for good reason. The neoliberal Bloomberg reforms were crucial for weakening educator unions and centralizing power in an undemocratic NYC Department of Education. DOE policies show a clear and consistent ambition: to control labor costs; undermine the autonomy of teachers, parents, and students; and replace authentic learning with a scripted, sanitized caricature of real education.

We might imagine that, with a leftist mayor in charge, things will be different this time. Mamdani could use his control of the school system to implement reforms that will indeed empower families and educators. But large institutions like the DOE are resistant to change, and losing this opportunity to eliminate mayoral control means future mayors could easily reverse any reforms. Furthermore, creation of democratic institutions for teacher and community input should not be counterposed to implementing left education policy.

And Mamdani’s reversal, along with most of his staffing decisions since winning the election (particularly skipping over former DSA congressman and Bronx principal Jamaal Bowman for the top schools spot), suggests a deep reluctance to rock the boat in a way that will frighten the city’s elite.

Mamdani’s flip-flop points towards a major strategic challenge for rank and file educators facing the incoming progressive administration. Mamdani’s agenda—from taxing the rich to universal childcare, free buses and freezing the rent—is pro-worker, pro-public schools, and popular. We should loudly promote it.  But the very nature of governing a city like New York, the epicentre of global capitalism, means there will be immense pressure to maintain the neoliberal status quo.

[Our] movement will need the workplace power and self-confidence to stand up to the media, the city’s capitalist elite, and perhaps at times the mayor himself.

Only one thing can win the mayor’s agenda, and hopefully broaden it: independent, democratic organization of the city’s working class, perhaps most crucially the city’s school workers and their parent and student allies. This movement will need the workplace power and self-confidence to stand up to the media, the city’s capitalist elite, and perhaps at times the mayor himself. We will need to prepare to both work with the Mamdani administration to fight for the reforms he has promised and also maintain independent pressure on it to go beyond his current promises, and prevent backsliding.

For progressive educators, key questions include:

• Will Mamdani pursue a significant desegregation agenda? Or will he stick to minor reforms that are more cosmetic? The admissions changes pushed by Samuels made only minor changes in class diversity of the Upper West Side schools under his purview, and didn’t have an effect on racial segregation.
• Will Mamdani be willing to touch even more serious segregation issues like curtailing the gifted and talented programs—which middle class public school parents cherish but which also maintain racial division? Will he be willing to change his position by modifying admissions to coveted (and segregated) specialized high schools?
• Beyond desegregation, will he tackle other widely-felt education issues like scripted, mandated curriculum that limit educator professional autonomy to make instruction relevant, engaging and successful for students? Or will neoliberal voices maintain their influence in his administration?

Ultimately, the answer is up to us.  A positive outcome will only be possible with continuous organizing to build an independent base in our union locals, school union chapters, and parent and community organizations.

Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Tempest Collective. For more information, see “About Tempest Collective.”
Featured Image credit: Jakub Hałun; modified by Tempest.

The post Mamdani’s mayoral control mishap  appeared first on Tempest.

The start of the 2026 timetable has once again underlined the continuing expansion and growing strategic importance of OUIGO, SNCF’s low-cost high-speed rail brand. Launched in 2013 as a supplementary offer alongside established TGV services, OUIGO has since developed into a core component of SNCF’s network strategy and a significant presence within the wider European […]

With so many of us watching the tremendous mobilizations in Minneapolis, culminating in the call to action against ICE today [January 23], I wanted to share some of what I have gathered from talking to comrades in Minneapolis over the past few weeks. A few things stood out:

1. The general strike came from organizing for a general strike. Not from social media posting about going on a general strike, but organizing in neighborhoods, organizing power in unions, and organizations drawing out members and networks.

This is critical because the past two years have seen a lot of viral calls for general strikes on a range of vital issues, but these have rarely materialized into the organizing power and logistical coordination necessary for an actual general strike.

2. Movement history and infrastructure: Every comrade I know is deeply rooted in that city’s movement history and infrastructure—whether networks emerging from the American Indian Movement to labor organizing against Amazon to the George Floyd uprising.This has meant: a grounding in the long arc of struggle, helping people avoid repeating some of the same mistakes over and over again; learning across generations; not getting either easily overconfident or easily jaded; and relying on (while sharpening) existing movement infrastructure and informal networks, especially around care, movement dynamics, and conflict resolution.

This is totally subjective but I have long felt that the most significant part of movement infrastructure is ensuring that people who are newly politicized to and joining the struggle are: able to keep learning and have their political consciousness expand, able to find political homes to keep organizing, don’t burn out when things get long and hard, and people are brought into the absolute longevity of struggle with no false promises or false solutions (to avoid the cycles of fizzling out that we constantly see repeat).

3. The neighborhood as central to political, social, and civic life: It’s not a coincidence that we are seeing some of the strongest and most effective rapid response networks in cities like Minneapolis precisely because the ethic of being a good neighbor—despite political differences—still rings true. What many may call mutual aid is basically people looking out for their community members, their neighbors, their teachers, their coworker, their local street vendor, etc.

This is precisely why any kind of organizing that reaches for relationality is central, not secondary—it breaks the capitalist idea of us as atomized, individual consumers and compels us to act in service to and in solidarity with others. And, perhaps more than anything, it’s a politics more rooted in cultivating belonging than ideology.

Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors or the Tempest Collective. For more information, see “About Tempest Collective.”
Featured Image credit: SusanLesch; modified by Tempest.

The post The long arc of struggle  appeared first on Tempest.

In solidarity with social movements in Minneapolis, the family and friends of Keith Porter Jr., and all those murdered and disappeared by ICE and DHS The Strategy Center renews its solidarity and call for open borders and amnesty.

We too, will be on the frontlines with the rest of LA today as we all participate in one of the largest general strikes in the history of the U.S.—a well-deserved vote of no confidence in the federal government as it makes moves to open fascism that has been a bipartisan project of the U.S. for as long as the country itself has existed.

We’re deeply disappointed in the way that the city has mishandled funds, continues to pay half of the city budget to the LAPD, while the LAPD chief announces that, in defiance with an LA county ordinance, he will not enforce any measures that prevent ICE from murdering and disappearing BIPOC community members.

We continue to work with organizations in the Police Free LAUSD coalition to protect programs like BSAP, to fight for a complete defund to the LA School police, to protect LGBTQ students and to fight against ICE activities in and around LAUSD schools and our neighborhoods.

We are from the radical Afrocentric ant-imperialist traditions of caring about all of the oppressed people and the true slogan “an injury to one is an injury to all.

We call on those today whose righteous anger we share, to remember the Black students and adults and Black/African immigrants who are kidnapped every day by the LAPD, County Sheriffs, and ICE, put in holding cells for crimes the system makes up, with no bail, guilty until guilty.

We cry for the houseless of all races. We cry for our Latinx, Somali, and all oppressed sisters, brothers, and siblings. We use those tears as fuel for our rage and our resistance.

This is a long fight against fascism. We will march with everyone, bring our bodies to the larger cause. We offer our Strategy and Soul Movement Center as a safe place for those who want to change the world to gather, eat, talk, get respite, resilience, talk about strategy and tactics and closer alliances, and build the will and encouragement for us to fight on together.

The time for all hands on deck to stop the U.S. imperialist white settler state and its world genocide is not just now but has been now for the past few decades.

Students involved in our Strategy & Soul Social Justice group are fired up, members of the Strategy Centers chapter of South Central Power Up e-bike library are fired up, and friends of the Strategy and Soul Bookstore are ready for the fight.

We’ll see you out there,

In solidarity, the strategy center team.

Channing, Eric, Akunna, Barbara, Pau, Clinton, and many more members of The Strategy Center.

The post Abolish ICE Abolish DHS! From the Clinton Assault to Bush to Obama to Trump to Biden The Strategy Center renews its call for Open borders and Amnesty for all. first appeared on The Labor Community Strategy Center.

What is biomass? Biomass, or bioenergy, creates energy by burning living things like plants and trees. Many wood pellet biomass plants in the US South use trees to create wood […]

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Image Description: Black and yellow text reads “ICE OUT” on a pixelated gray and black gradient background.

Organizing around transit justice is about ensuring that all people have the freedom to move—to travel safely and with dignity everywhere we need to go. All communities should have the ability to freely access their places of school and work, grocery stores, healthcare, and places of recreation and play. 

ICE as an institution is structurally in opposition to that freedom of movement. It is a state instrument of violence, of repression and fear, of incarceration and isolation. We have seen the ways that they have systematically targeted our community of transit riders, which are disproportionately people of color, disabled people, low-income people, and immigrants. 

We are humbled by the solidarity, courage and organizing muscle of all those in Minneapolis, and particularly celebrate the leadership of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 in protecting transit riders and workers from state-sactioned violence. We endorse the call for a National Strike on Friday, Jan 30th, and support the organizing at the County, State and Federal levels to defend against, to defund and abolish ICE. 

We also stand in support of the proposed Allegheny County ordinance that would prohibit County employees and resources from assisting ICE, and protecting equal access to County services without regard to immigration status (real or perceived).

We encourage our community to sign onto a petition showing support for this ordinance. Click the button to tell the County that ICE is not welcome here.

No County Collaboration with ICE

The post ICE Out: Strike Solidarity Statement appeared first on Pittsburghers for Public Transit.

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Kai Huschke explains why revolution is necessary and potentially successful.

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Police monitoring organisations are exposing Scotland's repression of Palestine solidarity movements and challenging a 'supportive' national self-image, says Betsy Barkas

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Protected areas oil exploration 'shocking, irresponsible' Channel News brendan 30th January 2026 Teaser Media

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