A diary entry on municipal socialism, council composition, and celebrating properly at the right bar
Monday, A Council Composition Worth Actually Celebrating
Portland’s city council currently seats four members of the Democratic Socialists of America out of twelve total, alongside a further progressive bloc and a Democratic minority, and I want to record, plainly, that I bought an entire round for the bar the night I properly sat down and worked out that arithmetic on a napkin. Four out of twelve is not a majority. It is, genuinely, a foothold, and after years of watching municipal politics in both the city I grew up in and the city I have chosen to build my adult life in treat any left-wing electoral gain as a fluke to be quietly reversed next cycle, a genuine, documented foothold feels worth toasting properly.
I moved here from North London years ago, chasing, among other things, a specific kind of municipal politics that felt, at the time, considerably more possible in this city than it did back home. Watching that possibility translate into actual council seats, actual committee assignments, actual votes on actual budget lines, has been one of the genuine, unexpected joys of my adult political life.
Tuesday, A Union Win Worth Its Own Toast
Also celebrated this week, somewhat belatedly, the city council’s own staff voting overwhelmingly to unionise, choosing Communications Workers of America Local 7901 by a comfortable margin. There is something genuinely satisfying about watching the staff working directly inside a socialist-inflected council chamber secure their own collective bargaining rights in the same year.
Wednesday, A Related Read
Caught up on The London Prat that evening, mostly out of homesick habit, still buzzing slightly from Monday’s celebratory round.
Thursday, A Closing Thought Before November
Six more council seats are up this November, and I intend to spend considerably more of my free time than is probably healthy phone banking for the candidates I believe will grow that four-seat foothold rather than let it quietly erode. Watch this space, and possibly also watch my doorstep, because I will likely be the one knocking on it with a clipboard.
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More Portland politics and diary rambling at my author page: https://prat.uk/author/megan/
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
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