 Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez did not attend President Biden's inauguration ceremony and she had a very, very good reason for that. Before members of the media or even a Republicans attack her for this, she had a great reason. And the reason is that she was setting an example for everyone else. She was standing with striking workers. So as Lucy Diavolo of Teen Vogue reports, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez skipped the January 20th inauguration festivities in Washington, D.C. for a strike. The Congresswoman known as AOC showed up at Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx just outside the border for Congressional District to support a local teamsters union whose workers are a big reason New York City has fresh fruit on a reliable basis. Claudia Irizaria Ponte, a reporter for the New York-based publication The City, who covers the Bronx, captured Ocasio-Cortez arriving in the picket line Wednesday evening with a pack of coffee and hand warmers wearing work boots. Irizaria Ponte also captured part of a speech AOC gave on a bullhorn at the picket. Ocasio-Cortez invited everyone to pull up and show solidarity with the union. Another clip from Gothamist's WNYC News editor David Cruz captured more video of Ocasio-Cortez telling the workers their efforts are a way of asking for transformational change for workers across the United States. Speeches from Assemblymember Amanda Septimo and New York City Public Advocate Jumani Williams were also caught on tape. What we're doing here today is taking the upside down and making it right side up, Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd. What's the strike about? According to Irizaria Ponte's reporting for The City, the strike launched after negotiations broke down between the union and management over a $1 an hour raise. Management offered only $0.32 an hour as a raise, prompting the teamsters' local 202 union to launch a strike Sunday night. In a January 16th statement, the union said the strike came after negotiations broke down when management refused to budge from a stingy offer for workers who kept New Yorkers fed through the pandemic. Now here's a clip of part of AOC's speech shared by the reporter who was mentioned. So this is really important because I think currently I'm not alone in saying that the left is kind of lost right now. We don't really have a national leader. Joe Biden is president, but Bernie is not the president. And sure, he does have power in government, but he's not the leader that he was during the primary. He has a job to do. So the left kind of seems somewhat lost. I feel somewhat lost, but it's important that we get reminded what we need to do. And that's why I think that AOC standing in solidarity with striking workers is important because this is what the left has to do for the next four years. We have to make it our goal to build power on the ground. We've gotten so close to the White House that we kind of thought maybe we can actually implement change from the top down, but it never works that way. It always comes from the bottom up. And the way that we actually institute change is by building power at the local level. And the Gravel Institute put out a phenomenal tweet explaining exactly how you do this. They write, Joe Biden is not our friend. We cannot beg him and the Democratic Party for table scraps. The left needs its own infrastructure, its own institutions, its own basis of power. Organize your workplaces, support local trade unions and tenants unions, and join groups like Democratic Socialists of America, support groups like Sunrise Movement, People's Policy Project, and Progressive International that are building political coalitions for left policies and talk with other lefties where you live. So this is really important. You can make the biggest difference at the local level. Join DSA and if there's no chapter near you, start your own chapter. This is what you have to do. Like we can't continue to remain isolated in our own bubbles. I mean, during the pandemic, we don't have much of a choice, right? But once this is over, there's no excuses. We have to organize, you know, find like-minded people in your area who believe in workers' rights, you know, stand up for local workers and unions, organize your workplace. This is how we actually affect change. You build coalitions in your area and in effect build up your power. And then if we have a lot of organizing on the ground, hopefully the aggregate effect that we see nationally will be that we start to really make a difference because currently the left has a lot of ambitious plans, but we have no power. And the problem is that you can't really implement change if you have no power. And the way that you get power is to come together, organize. And this is how you do it. So AOC, it's important that she does this because she's leading by example. And look, whatever you can do to support organizations, you have to do it. So I joined DSA a couple of years ago. And it's important that these types of organizations that like field local candidates, that they have money and resources, you can also join groups such as the Sunrise Movement, which is a good recommendation because they push at the national level for very specific changes related to climate change. We need to build our infrastructure. That's one thing that's been lacking. It's why we haven't been as effective. And I think that as we kind of grow our collective base of power, we will actually start to see more change, at least somewhat quicker. So this is the way forward. Like we have to all recommit to organize at the local level, organize with folks around us if we actually do want to see the change we're talking about. So it starts by doing things like this, supporting these sorts of efforts.