We're Coming for You and Your Rotten System

The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is honoured to welcome longtime organizer Jonathan Rosenblum back to Toronto for the launch of his brand new book We’re Coming for You and Your Rotten System!

From inside Kshama Sawant’s historic tenure in Seattle City Hall comes a blueprint for twenty-first-century socialists, a counterpoint to the common strategies of mainstream progressives today.

Seattle was the first major city in the US to mandate a $15 minimum wage; the first to implement a payroll tax on Amazon to build affordable housing; the first to secure a bevy of renters’ rights laws, making good on the slogan, “Housing is a human right.” In a municipal government dominated by pro-business Democrats, Kshama Sawant and the popular street movements she led against major corporations headquartered in the region - including Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft, and Starbucks - won battles that would transform the city’s trajectory for years to come.

We’re Coming for You and Your Rotten System tells this extraordinary story from the inside. Jonathan Rosenblum, who worked in Sawant’s office and alongside community activists, weaves together intimate story-telling and political analysis to show how and why the movement succeeded where other progressive outsiders - such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - have failed. For political activists searching desperately to make sense of the world after the reelection of Donald Trump, the Seattle experience offers a vital framework for fighting our way out of the despairing miasma of twenty-first-century capitalism.

All are welcome to join us to hear directly from Jonathan about these experiences, as well as discuss how to apply the lessons from Seattle to our own cities and neighbourhoods!  

This event is a part of an ongoing tour to celebrate the release of the book. Please stay tuned for details regarding launch events in other parts of Ontario, as well as online events. 

Jonathan Rosenblum is a Seattle-based union and community organizer, and the author of Beyond $15: Immigrant Workers, Faith Activists, and the Revival of the Labor Movement (Beacon Press, 2017). He worked as a community organizer for Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant. More about him and his work can be found at jonathanrosenblum.org.

All are welcome to stay following the end of the evening’s discussion for complimentary light refreshments. Copies of the book will be available for sale at a discounted price.

Accessibility

Friends House is accessible to wheelchairs via the automatic door at the Meeting Room entrance at the west side of the house. We kindly ask attendees to refrain from wearing scents to LPSSE events. Further accessibility information can be found here.

Any questions regarding accessibility, participation, or programming can be directed to info@leopanitchschool.ca.