By Gerry Scoppettuolo
The elimination of jobs envisioned in the AI dangerous drive for super profits in the U.S. has caused a massive investment in data centers The current 1500 operating data centers in the U.S. and the corporations they serve have suddenly become national news as AI is quickly becoming a recognized threat to humanity. The public is at first responding to the environmental, water and electricity crises, and the unceasing noise pollution in their neighborhoods caused by data center behemoths.
But this existential threat is not going unnoticed by workers in this country. The masses have been organizing in every state. Hundreds of grassroots organizations and thousands of activists have stopped or delayed the construction of 156 data centers in 2025 valued at $156 billion and 75 data centers in just the first three months of 2026 worth $130 billion. A powerful but so far decentralized mass movement to oppose data centers and defend workers is spreading like wildfire, especially in rural areas. And none too soon. $1.5 trillion in data center borrowed bond debt is being used by so-called “upscalers” like Microsoft, Amazon, META and Google in their hope for a market of capitalist employers who want to buy AI technology to replace labor with capital or in Marxist terms, replace variable capital with constant capital.
One measure of the scope of the national fightback is the sheer number of national and local coalitions that are mobilizing including Humans First, the NAACP’s Stop Dirty Data Centers, Green Latinos, and Stop Center Data Center Coalition (which itself is a coalition of coalitions).Every state has its own coalitions, many at the county and even neighborhood level, most notably in the South, for example:
- Georgia Conservation Voters, Renew DeKalb, Science for Georgia, and Georgia Data Center Transparency Network.
- North Carolina: Piedmont Environmental Council, North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, the Southern Environmental Law Center, the National Hairston Clan, CleanAIRE NC, 7 Directions of Service and North Carolina Justice Network.
- Indiana Citizens Actions, with 27 organizations in that state including Black Lives Matter Soutbend and Direct Action Against CenterPoint Energy.
- Tennessee: No Data Centers Tennessee, Memphis Community Against Pollution and in Nashville, the Metro Council took the first step in passing a proposed moratorium on Tuesday. Council member Courtney Johnston introduced legislation to temporarily cease permits for data center construction following public outcry over a data center project planned in Grassmere Park next to the Nashville Zoo. More than 380,000 people have signed a petition in protest.
A majority of Data Center protestors (55%) identify politically as Republicans
Whether or not these protests become a self-conscious working-class movement is at this point unknowable. But one thing is certain: the masses make history and if conditions worsen, so will discontent increase and liberal reformist solutions will likely be impossible and likely lead to further sharpening of class conflict
The great suffering of the masses brought about by hyperinflation, food shortages and the potential end of the capitalist welfare state. are the necessary preconditions for great tumult. A disgruntled armed forces and Navy returning home after a demoralizing lost war in a country ruled by a mad Tsar may inspire hope in the revolutionary minded.
Sources: https://datacenterwatch.substack.com/; New York Times, March 26th, 2026; Washington Post, April 23, 2026
