Rise up and organize!

DRUM was founded in 2000 to build the power of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean low wage immigrant workers, youth, and families in New York City to win economic and educational justice, and civil and immigrant rights.

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DRUM YouthPower! is looking for South Asian and Indo-Caribbean youth ages 14-21 for our 25th annual leadership development program this summer. Young people will build relationships and develop skills to make changes in our communities. With increasing attacks on immigrant communities and the defunding of essential resources (social programs for essential workers, housing, education, etc.) it's more important than ever for us to unite and organize.

APPLY ONLINE BEFORE April 11, 2025!

Nearly a year ago, on March 27, 2024, NYPD showed

Nearly a year ago, on March 27, 2024, NYPD showed up to the Rozario home shouting orders and yelling. Before they showed up, things were calm in the home. Once they arrived, they created chaos and increasingly escalated the situation by drawing their weapons. #WinRozario was murdered in a matter of minutes.

In part 2 of this comic series by mirsuhail, we retell Win’s last moments on the day officers Cianfrocco and Alongi came to his door.

How many more of our loved ones must we lose to NYPD? They demonstrate a consistent pattern of violence and abuse towards our working class Black and Brown communities. Officers Cianfrocco and Alongi showed up armed and aggressive to a situation that required patience, compassion, and skill.

We stand with the Rozario family as they seek justice for the senseless murder of Win. We call on our communities to uplift the Rozarios’ demands to fire the officers and remove the NYPD from mental health responses in NYC. Do not invite @nycmayor to spaces in our South Asian and Indo Caribbean communities until he answers the Rozario family’s calls for justice and accountability.

Call @nycmayor to immediately suspend and fire officers Alongi and Cianfrocco who murdered Win (212) 788-7418

Call on the Attorney General for a fair, swift, and thorough investigation (718) 560-2040

Call on the Bangladeshi American Police Association @nypdbapa to call for the suspension and firing of the officers.

Trump 2.0 is on the horizon. And we are committed

Trump 2.0 is on the horizon. And we are committed to being brave, calm, and loving and protecting each other. We don’t yet know what the policies will look like under the incoming administration. What we do know is that the Right—the wealthy and corporate elites—gain and maintain power by dividing us and turning us against each other. For our November membership meetings, we discussed the anti-people culture of the Right, and how we will respond to attacks on working class and undocumented immigrant communities.

At our meetings, we read the poem “First They Came” by Pastor Martin Niemoller about German society under the Nazis.

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

The Right will keep trying to create a culture of fear, mistrust, selfishness, and cruelty that keeps us as working people divided. We went through different skits of what it will look like if we are divided, silent, or panicked when we face immigration agents or the police. When the Right’s culture is dominant, we’re open to attacks and we get hurt.

Solidarity and organizing are the antidote to division and powerlessness. In the past few weeks, members have been preparing themselves and our neighbors with critical Know Your Rights information and practices. We’re going to have to be different for each other in the coming period. Worry, anger, betrayal, and fear are all natural feelings to have in this moment. And in addition to all the feelings, we need clarity for how we will move forward and protect the majority, our people, whom the Right will keep targeting.

This #GivingTuesday deepen your commitment to buil

This #GivingTuesday deepen your commitment to building the working class power we need to fight fascism!

Visit linktr.ee/drumnyc to invest in grassroots leadership and sustain our work!

DRUM’s membership of working class and undocumented immigrant communities are on the frontlines of organizing to keep our people safe and respond to attacks on undocumented immigrants, women, students, workers, LGBTQ+ people, tenants, and Muslims in NYC and beyond.

In the weeks since the election, we’ve come together across our bases in NYC to make sense of the impacts of another Trump administration will have on our working class and undocumented South Asian and Indo Caribbean communities. While we may be scared, we’re also determined to stay connected with each other. Our solidarity and connection to each other as working people will sustain us in our fights ahead.

Over the course of this year, we’ve held dozens of meetings across the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens with hundreds of members in five languages to develop a shared understanding of the conditions in our neighborhoods and the fights ahead of us.

We’re committed to organizing to protect our loved ones for tomorrow, for the next four years, and for generations to come! Will you join us?

Make a donation today or commit to a monthly donation to support working class immigrant leaders fighting to protect our communities!

Do you want to be a part of a community that will

Do you want to be a part of a community that will engage you politically?

Do you want to support working class immigrant communities organizing to improve the material realities of everyday people?

Get organized!
Join DRUM as a volunteer or ally!
Visit the link in our bio or go to drumnyc.org/volunteer

The lived experiences of our members drive our work. The incoming administration will pass policies that will disproportionately impact our members.

A political community offers you an opportunity to see NYC differently. You’ll understand how the current crises we’re living through impacts the working-class and most importantly, how we can fight for a better city and country rooted in doing the work of building grassroots power.

A political community is a place to come together with people that you are down to struggle with. People you want to sharpen your skills with. People who will support you in figuring out how you can contribute to this movement and support the leadership of working-class youth and adults.

Your friends will offer you support and an empathetic shoulder, but they cannot support your political growth the same way that movement organization can. You can engage with everyday people on an ad hoc basis but as an individual, there’s limits to what you can accomplish.

When we come together to join an organization rooted in values of the world we want to build, we can grow and develop past what we thought was possible. A political community expands your skills and imagination. Seeing ordinary people do the most amazing things changes you on a fundamental level.

On March 27 of this year, NYPD brutally murdered 1

On March 27 of this year, NYPD brutally murdered 19-year-old Bangladeshi teenager, Win Rozario, within two minutes of entering his home in Ozone Park, Queens.

In part 1 of this 4 part comic series about the fight for justice for #WinRozario by mirsuhail, we look to how Win’s family remembers their son and brother. His loss is still so deeply felt.

Win had his whole life ahead of him. Hopes and dreams that NYPD cut short in a matter of two minutes. It goes without saying that no one should ever die this way. We honor Win’s memory and stand with his family in their fight for justice.

We call on our communities to uplift the Rozarios’ demands to fire the officers and remove the NYPD from mental health responses in NYC. Do not invite @nycmayor to spaces in our South Asian and Indo Caribbean communities until he answers the Rozario family’s calls for justice and accountability.

Call @nycmayor to immediately suspend and fire officers Alongi and Cianfrocco who murdered Win (212) 788-7418

Call on the Attorney General for a fair, swift, and thorough investigation (718) 560-2040

Call on the Bangladeshi American Police
Association @nypdbapa to call for the suspension and firing of the officers.

TODAY at City Hall hundreds of workers gathered to

TODAY at City Hall hundreds of workers gathered to demand the passage of the #UnemploymentBridgeProgram

South Queens, Guyanese member Maryam spoke about the exploitation and abuse she and her mother faced working class, Muslim women struggling to survive in NYC

We need elected officials to refuse to support harmful federal efforts designed to hurt our people. This is not just about rejecting policies but about offering real, tangible solutions to the issues that working-class New Yorkers face daily, like the Unemployment Bridge Program (UBP)

The Unemployment Bridge Program (UBP) — common-sense legislation that would provide crucial security for 750,000 freelancers, self-employed workers, and others who are excluded from traditional unemployment benefits. Many of these workers are the most vulnerable in our economy, particularly those from Black and brown communities and those in precarious industries.

📣SAFETY NET NOW! The Unemployment Bridge Progra

📣SAFETY NET NOW! The Unemployment Bridge Program (#UBP) will close the gaps in our broken unemployment insurance system by covering 750,000 excluded workers.

Join us tomorrow, Tuesday, 11/19 at 11:30 AM at City Hall Park for the launch of our campaign! STAY TUNED.

#excludednomore

In October, members gathered to prepare for the po

In October, members gathered to prepare for the potential outcomes of the November 5th election. Across our neighborhoods and within our membership, we aired our deep dissatisfaction with the Democrats and Harris. We also had to be real about the fact that many people we know and care about in our Indo Caribbean and South Asian working class and undocumented communities were moved by Trump in some way or another. Our people, the working class and immigrants, are not “stupid” or “bad” for getting swept up by the right wing. We might feel betrayed and enraged, but we also need to take time to understand the conditions and crises (both locally and internationally) that have led to this moment.

The content of our October meetings were about preparing for the outcome of the election, but in essence we were having conversations that speak to our duty to build our power and level up our organizing so that we don’t get stuck with genocidal, anti-immigrant centrists or fascists. Members committed to talking to people in their lives about the elections and to actively work to become sources of reliable information for our communities. And that’s a commitment that goes beyond November, January, and the next four years.

In the days since the election, we’ve been coming together in our bases to process our feelings and stay connected amidst the uncertainty. Many of us are scared about the impacts Trump’s presidency will have on our lives as undocumented immigrants, women, students, workers, LGBTQ+ people, tenants, Muslims, etc. We are already seeing friends, families, and members trying to assess the risks of the next few years. What we can offer right now is that we stay connected, resist the selfishness and meanness that the rise of fascism generated (but has impact across the spectrum), and emphasize solidarity and connection among working people.

Reaffirm your commitment to our communities, come together to break the isolation, and get organized for the fights ahead.

It’s #VeteransDay and we stand with veterans tak

It’s #VeteransDay and we stand with veterans taking action to demand our government stop arming Israel. This month the Senate will take a historic vote on a package that could block $20 billion in weapons!

Use the link in @vetsaboutface bio to email your Senators to vote yes, and sign the #VeteransDemandArmsEmbargo petition if you’re a #Veteran

On October 16, we had our first volunteer mixer an

On October 16, we had our first volunteer mixer and orientation for folks to get to know each other and hear organizers and members reflect on organizing. We talked about what organizing is, organizing successes, and challenges we face when trying to unite working class South Asian and Indo Caribbean immigant communities. Folks shared the victories that ground us like the Excluded Workers Fund which we fought for in 2020 and secured $2.1 billion in unemployment benefits for undocumented workers and cash economy workers. It was the nation’s first unemployment assistance fund for undocumented folks. They also talked about current campaigns like the fight to pressure Citi to stop funding fossil fuel projects and the Unemployment Bridge Program. It was a great chance for volunteers to meet DRUM members and organizers and build stronger connections with each other.

Interested in volunteering with DRUM? Visit drumnyc.org/volunteer (link in bio) to complete our volunteer interest form!

The people say: #DropTheBlockade #LetCubaLive Jo

The people say: #DropTheBlockade #LetCubaLive

Join us just days before the United Nations votes on its yearly resolution to end the U.S. Blockade on Cuba. New Yorkers will come together to stand with the Cuban people in the midst of crisis. Not only has the U.S. blockade strangled the island for over 65 years, but they also just overcame a nationwide electricity blackout, and are facing a destruction from a hurricane.

WHEN: Sun. Oct 27 • 1pm
WHERE: 1 Grand Central Station, 42nd St & Vanderbilt Ave.

Last Saturday, 18 climate justice leaders came tog

Last Saturday, 18 climate justice leaders came together for an all day workshop to deepen their relationships with each other and reflect on the past couple of months of climate organizing: community outreach, surveys that documented the gravity of the impact of the climate crisis in our home countries and here in NYC, Summer of Heat vs. Wall Street campaign, New York Climate Week and more.

We had a political education mini workshop reviewing the top 5 global polluters (US military, Shell, Amazon, coca cola, and billionaire Bill Gates), understanding the root causes of the climate crisis and scale of the global exploitation of poor working class people by owning class people. Leaders sharpened their skills through two workshops: Storytelling & Public Speaking and Outreach.

We ended the day appreciating the base leaders and excited to move the organizing work forward! Leaders are even more fired up to broaden their climate justice organizing and build power to stop destruction of our communities and the planet

On 28th September, DRUM and SALAM hosted Pashtun r

On 28th September, DRUM and SALAM hosted Pashtun revolutionary and politician Mohsin Dawar in Little Pakistan, home to a large diaspora Pashtun population.

Dawar, who is the founder of the National Democratic Movement and a chief organizer with the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, took us through a history of organizing in a context of state repression. He layed out a roadmap of progress for Pakistan, outlined the politics of solidarity across liberation struggles in the country, and contextualized the duty of diaspora organizing.

With the November elections on the horizon, we ded

With the November elections on the horizon, we dedicated our September membership meetings to going through potential scenarios our working class and undocumented immigrant communities would face under Trump and Harris each. Whether we can vote or not, and despite the fact that our votes in New York would not be decisive, we need to be able to assess and prepare for what’s to come leading up to and following the presidential election. Both candidates are opposed to our interests as working people, and also would represent different conditions for us to organize under. We came away from our September meetings with a better sense of how we can talk to our communities about the threats that the centrists and the fascists pose to our lives and the lives of those around the world.

We talked about the concrete examples of attacks and threats that our movements faced under Trump. We remember that we were under a constant state of fending off or responding to attacks under the previous Trump administration that limited our ability to build power. We’re already seeing what a resurgence of Trumpist rhetoric has done to Haitian communities in Ohio.

Under Harris, we can anticipate a continuation of Biden’s policies. Her commitment to the genocide in Gaza, to imperialist domination globally, and the defunding and abandonment of working people across the country would define her presidency. There is also the demobilizing effect that happens within our movements and communities when Democrats are in office. If Harris takes power, the fascist and far right forces would likely challenge the legitimacy of the election and violently retaliate against Black and brown communities. Compared to the fascists, Harris and the centrists pose the same dangers to the world globally, less of an existential and immediate threat to our people domestically, and a significant difference in conditions and our ability to organize and build power under.

The outcome of the upcoming election feels grim. However, what we drew out in our meetings was that we need to be having these rigorous conversations about what the potential impacts of either presidency would be on our lives.

Fall is here and we’re missing having our Youth

Fall is here and we’re missing having our Youth Power interns around!! 😭

One of our West Queens summer interns made this awesome video to commemorate the end of the program (and the summer)! 🎉

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Blog Posts

Building Power & Safety through Solidarity

April 14, 2020

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DRUM Membership Assembly!

November 25, 2019

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United against all gender based oppression!

November 5, 2019

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Days of Action: Immigrants say NO to 4 new Rikers!

October 10, 2019

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