Republican? Democrat? Or something else? A new union, the Industrial Workers of the World, is encouraging community members to join them as they look to alternative parties and promote grassroots community activism.

Republican? Democrat? Or something else?

A new union, the Industrial Workers of the World, is encouraging community members to join it as it looks to alternative parties and promotes grassroots community activism.

The event, "Community Self Defense, Activism and Organizing," will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Mohawk Valley Community College in the Alumni College Center room 116.

"The last four years have been an upswing in confrontations between working class and oppressed people in North America, and the state and far-right organizations," said Brendan Dunn, a local activist, in a news release. "From the uprisings from Ferguson to Baltimore, to the blockade of the Dakota Access Pipeline and the movement against pipelines, to the fight against the rise of the alt-right and ... President Donald Trump, people across the country are mobilizing to defend ourselves and sustain our survival against austerity, mass incarceration and violent racism."

The evening is being described as a discussion with organizers from General Defense Committee Local 14, which organizers said grew out of the Industrial Workers of the World union. The workshop will be on the Community Self Defense model, a "flexible framework of autonomous working-class organizing drawn from experience in labor struggle, the fight against police brutality and antifascist action."

"We will invite participants to share and reflect on their own experiences and goals, so we can trade notes, learn, and continue to develop a nationwide network of strong, interlinked campaigns," Dunn said in the release.

The talk will be led by two members of the Industrial Workers of the World and the Green Defense Committee unions.

For information, visit the Facebook event page at https://www.facebook.com/events/137199203451480.

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