“As Long as Exploitation Is the Default, We Won’t Get to a Place of Liberation.”
We caught up with Candi CdeBaca, a democratic socialist on Denver’s city council who took on the city’s for-profit prison system and won. She spoke to us about growing up working class and becoming a socialist: “When I got to college, I really recognized that the game was rigged.”
Candi CdeBaca is a member of Denver’s city council and a democratic socialist. (Facebook / Candi CdeBaca)
Candi CdeBaca is a democratic socialist and a member of Denver’s city council, elected in June. Earlier this month, the Denver native and member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) convinced the city council to drop contracts with two for-profit prison companies, which also run Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) facilities.
CdeBaca’s action faced plenty of blowback. A viral video circulated of her saying at a candidate forum in April, “I don’t believe that our current economic system actually works. Capitalism, by design, is extractive, and in order to generate profit in a capitalist system, something has to be exploited.” The video generated plenty of right-wing press coverage, along with the personal threats filling her inbox that such coverage always generates these days. The red-baiting was unsuccessful: CdeBaca won anyway.
Jacobin’s Meagan Day spoke to CdeBaca about working-class life and socialist politics in Denver and beyond.
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