The SoCal Bund

 This is an interesting question. Historically the original bund was destroyed in the Holocaust. But before that, many bundists had made it out of Europe, and even now in Australia there's an active Bund chapter. We're also talking to them, trying to do the right thing in picking up the Bund Banner and carrying the movement forward. But are we playing at being the bund? By reapplying words like "Doikayt", "Yiddishkayt", and "Socialism" are we just taking on a bundist style? Or are we actually Bundists? I think we're actually Bundists. It's not just that "words can mean anything if you reframe them", because, well, that's obvious and superficial. I think we're actually finding the meanings of these words, and looking at how the Bund worked and what Bundists believed, and understanding that their objections to the Zionist state and ours are more alike than not. And maybe prior to 1948 it was just a "potential" thin...

  From the campaign page : A brazen antisemitic arson attack on our Shul (Synagogue) has left the Adass Israel Congregation and the broader Melbourne and global community shaken.  The Shul and its mission to create a Jewish place of worship and community will not be deterred.  While most of us have been distracted by the genocide, actual anti-semitism has been on the rise, and Australia is no exception. Maybe zionists don't admit we're "real" jews, but we accept them as Jews, because, well, they'll be in the same camps we are in the end.

In the current Zionist regime, much of our local resources are sent to Israel. In fact, this is at the expense of providing local goods and services. In light of the recent death of a health care CEO, it's informative to look at just how much Israel extracts from jews and others here in the US. Israel received $24 Billion from the US government alone since the beginning of the current genocide. This number obviously is going up rapidly. Israel also receives roughly $45 Billion per year (adjusted for 2023 dollars). Private donors to Israel exceed the US government's military spending during an active genocide by nearly two times. Every year. And the $45B number is likely much larger this year, since it doesn't include data since the genocide. Israel spends approximately $45,000 per capita, amounting to 7.9% of its GDP on health care annually, while the United States spends $12,000 per capita annually, or 16.6% of its GDP.  Now, for out of pocket expenses, which is what patie...

The Institute for Research on Labor Employment published a study analyzing the outcomes of the new California. The main findings are: 18% Pay Increase:  The new wage policy raised average hourly pay by 18 percent, lifting the earnings of workers in large fast food chains, 90 percent of whom previously earned below $20 per hour. Stable Employment:   Contrary to fears expressed by restaurant groups, the wage increase did not lead to job cuts. Employment levels remained steady across the fast food industry. Modest Price Increases:  Prices of popular menu items rose by 3.7 percent, translating to an increase of just 15 cents for a typical $4 hamburger. So, basically, increasing the minimum wage is a win all around. Now, why would people think for a moment that raising minimum wage would suddenly reduce the amount of work that needs to be done? Ultimately that's the driver for jobs. Things need to be done. Companies need to coerce workers somehow into doing these things. So i...

There was an informative discussion on the Yiddish discord server about why we've taken on the name "Bund". The original Bund was basically eliminated in the Holocaust, and, well, there have been some people carrying the banner since then at various times. But relying on "an unbroken historical line" is also something Fascism requires. So why use the name in the first place then? The Bund was a positive framing to "anti-Zionism". Rather than saying "Don't go to Palestine" it said "We're Jews right here". And this is one of the main guiding principles I think we follow. The term Bund is cognate to "Band". I'm a musician, I played in bands, this is a band of Jews who are Jewish (Yiddishkayt) right here (Doikayt). We fight for social justice because part of being Jewish is making the world better (Socialism). And, as one person aptly pointed out, and what led me to the title of this post, "The Bund is a Vibe...

 Why Los Angeles? Well, I live in Los Angeles, the infamous West Side in fact, so it's the part of SoCal I'm familiar with right now. Maybe 30 years ago I knew San Diego, but a lot has likely changed since then. So what's here? What's here anyway? Well, I'm glad you asked! LA is known for its beaches, it's terrain, hiking, the movie industry, The Valley, heat, traffic, and lots of small barely connected enclaves of life. The traffic does make it much harder to have a coherent singular experience, but, well, we also have nearly 4 million people in the city alone, and over 18 million in the statistical area. And we have impassible streets and highways, narrow passes between regions, a lot of desolate land, and every kind of Jew you can imagine. We also have several Jewish organizations working on different aspects of community and exploring how to live as Jews. There's Der Nister , a secular/religious community in Downtown that's rapidly growing and becomi...