Avelo Airlines announced it will cease its Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charter service that transports detainees for the Trump administration, closing its Mesa, Arizona base on January 27. The budget carrier said the program had delivered only “short‑term benefits” but failed to provide enough predictable revenue to offset the operational complexity and costs involved. Avelo’s spokesperson, Courtney Goff, confirmed the move in an email to the New Haven Independent, noting that the airline began running deportation flights from Arizona last May amid growing backlash.
The decision follows months of protests and a boycott movement led by groups such as Connecticut Students for a Dream (C4D), the New Haven Immigrants Coalition, Unidad Latina en Acción, and the Democratic Socialists of America. Activists condemned the airline’s participation in what they described as “sloppy, dangerous” deportation flights, citing an American Prospect report that highlighted safety lapses. Pastor Jack Perkins Davidson warned that “human suffering is not profitable,” while Tabitha Sookdeo emphasized how community organizing and refusal to patronize harmful practices can force corporations to change. CEO Andrew Levy had previously defended the contracts on financial grounds, arguing they were essential to keep Avelo’s New Haven operations running.
Peter has been an active socialist organizer in Brazil for many years and officially joined PSOL in 2009. Before joining PSOL, Peter was active in the student movement, as well as the broader youth movement in Brazil. He also worked as the chief of staff for a Brazilian congresswoman. Comrades in MADSA sat down with Peter for an intimate talk about what it has been like for Peter living in the United States and observing the actions of DSA. We also engaged in conversation about electoral politics, the rise of the far-right, the importance of internationalism, the various ways PSOL differs from DSA, and the differences between our respective countries.
PSOL is the second largest left party in Brazil and is positioned to the left of PT, the Workers Party. PT is the current largest left party, but is not an openly socialist party. PSOL currently has 12 congress members in Brazil out of a congress of over 500 members.
Brazil and the United States
In the spirit of internationalism, Peter expressed that he and his comrades in Brazil are concerned about the rise of right-wing politics in the United States. They are especially concerned about the politics of Trump and the far-right. The realities of Brazil and the United States are intertwined, with far-right sentiment becoming a growing problem in both countries, as well as around the world. With these concerns in mind, socialists are frequently asking themselves: What are the best actions socialists can be taking to combat fascism in their country? For American socialists, do we feel DSA is prepared nationally to combat these issues? What about the issues in our local communities and how they are connected to international politics?
If Americans think their recent political issues are unique to their own country – everything from political assassinations to coup attempts – Brazil is more alike than most might know. Jair Bolsonaro, previously mentioned as the former right-wing president, is currently in jail for orchestrating his own version of a January 6th-style attack, which occurred on January 8th, 2023. After left-wing president Lula da Silva was inaugurated, Bolsonaro supporters attacked federal government buildings in retaliation, hoping to begin a military intervention. Bolsonaro and his supporters were unsuccessful, but unlike the United States, the Brazilian courts sentenced Bolsonaro to a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup.
Political assassinations have been on the minds of Americans for the past year, from the attempt on Donald Trump to the United Healthcare CEO to Charlie Kirk. On the other side of the aisle, many have overlooked the assassinations of Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, as well as the attempt on the lives of Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman and his family.
Peter remembers a particularly difficult time in PSOL: the assassination of Marielle Franco, a Black socialist city councilor, who was a member of PSOL. Franco, who was outspoken against police brutality, was killed by two former police officers. Peter mentioned a foundation created in her name that acts as a place for members of PSOL to organize, promote political education, carry out seminars, panels, studies, research, publications, and more.
Some other similarities between the United States and Brazil are obvious: both countries are bourgeois democracies where money in politics plays a big role in influencing elections and forcing organizers to find different spaces to put forward alternatives to the status quo. One major difference is Brazil does not have a bipartisan system and allows for many different parties to represent the people within congress. Peter believes it is good for socialists to have their own party.
Another difference is that Brazil has public funding for elections, which had been a major demand from left parties in Brazil in past years. This demand was won, but Peter acknowledges that there are still contradictory problems with money in politics. For example, Peter notes that politicians in Brazil are quick to spend massive amounts of money on running elections and building parties, but then turn around and claim there is not enough money to fund public education and other important needs for the working class. At this point in the talk, a MADSA member mentioned that Zohran Mamdani’s winning campaign was helped along using New York City’s public elections fund matching campaign, where individual dollar donations were bolstered by a public matching fund, allowing Zohran to stay competitive in the race.
A major concern with politics in the United States is lack of voter participation. Many citizens regularly sit out elections and most people do not feel well represented by the major parties. In Brazil, voting is mandatory. Despite this obligation, around 20-30% of all voters in Brazil do not actually participate in elections. For comparison, in the 2024 general election, 36% of Americans did not vote. Mandatory voting, Peter argues, creates an environment of vigorous political debate prior to elections. It could also be potentially difficult for an individual in Brazil to apply for a public sector job if they did not have a record of participating in elections, which acts as another incentive to get people to vote and become politically aware and engaged.
The work of DSA and socialists in office
Comparisons between DSA as a political organization and PSOL as a legal party were brought up throughout the talk. Peter noted that DSA engages in candidate development and endorsement procedures, with a focus on questionnaires and candidate forums to try and ensure that DSA-endorsed candidates abide by the socialist strategy of the DSA. However, as members of DSA, we know that the process of engaging in electoral politics differs greatly from chapter to chapter, with large chapters like NYC-DSA seen as a powerhouse of electoral strategy whereas smaller chapters engage in electoral work with perhaps a more critical eye, considering the small numbers. The current endorsement processes MADSA is engaged in have been heavily debated and discussed among members, with most members seemingly eager to make the best possible decision in how to engage in campaigns and whether or not these campaigns will promote socialism at large.
In Brazilian politics and elections, Peter relays how PSOL will run dozens of candidates at the same time at the state level. He finds that it is sometimes more difficult to individually interview every possible candidate and analyze their political beliefs, but this is perhaps in reality a far more simple process considering PSOL is an established legal party with strong leadership and a clear program. While there is no way to directly prevent opportunists from running as members of PSOL, the party structure having a coherent program for addressing issues in Brazil helps to create strong candidates in general, with less of a need to individually vet every candidate.
While living in the United States during the past has been undoubtedly difficult for socialists, we experienced a glimmer of hope with the campaign and successful election of Zohran Mamdani, a cadre member of NYC-DSA who beat back incumbent mayor Eric Adams (who has a history of collaborating with Donald Trump and other conservative groups) and former governor Andrew Cuomo (who has a history of assaulting women). According to Peter, who had an up-close view of NYC-DSA’s historic campaign to elect Zohran, there was nothing quite like the Mamdani campaign. It was a very politicized, high-spirited campaign, focused on a working class affordability agenda while also connecting the issues of New Yorkers to issues to the world, such as Palestinian liberation and fighting the far-right.
The Mamdani win showed that not only can socialists effectively message about bread-and-butter issues such as affordability, they can also highlight internationalism as a positive aspect of the campaign, as well as shining a light on the problems with conservatism in the United States. The unique circumstances of Zohran battling against two unpopular politicians too eager to uplift right-wing causes (most notably Zionism) made a strong case for socialism as the true alternative to “business as usual” politics in New York City. Can this be replicated around the country?
A MADSA member brought up recent electoral political disagreements in NYC-DSA regarding New York City Councilmember Chi Osse’s attempt to potentially challenge Hakeem Jeffries, current Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, in his district. Peter, as an observer, felt that DSA’s political culture surrounding this particular moment was impressive. Around 300 members of DSA attended an in-person discussion about Osse’s potential campaign challenge and over 800 members attended online on Zoom. Peter noted positively that mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani attended in-person as a regular member of NYC-DSA and spoke against Osse’s candidacy. Afterwards, despite the mayor-elect making his preference known, Osse still received 45% support from NYC-DSA members. To Peter, this showed that despite NYC-DSA having just rallied for over a year to support Mamdani’s campaign, members were not afraid to disagree with Mamdani and argue against his point of view. This event also showed that despite his position in the executive office, Mamdani behaved as just another member of DSA, as a cadre member would be expected to act.
DSA has had electoral victories in the past, and Zohran is not the first win we’ve had to celebrate in the last few years. Despite the growing number of DSA electeds, the eternal question remains: What does it mean to be a socialist in office? How can we use elections to advance a socialist strategy? Peter B. shared his beliefs that a representative in government should be a member of a socialist organization, and not just a paper member. This representative should ideally be going to meetings and participating in the organization. Any representative should use their office to help grassroots movements, organize new movements, and help unions organize. Further, a socialist representative should always “talk the truth to society, to the working class.” Members of MADSA have recently expressed similar feelings about socialist electeds, including strong beliefs that an elected candidate should be using their time in office to advance the labor movement, evangelize about socialism, and be a participating member of DSA.
An example of how PSOL has used representatives in office to mobilize the working class was through their 2019 fight against a very conservative pension reform bill, put forward by former right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro. In reaction to this bill, the PSOL congresswoman that Peter worked for launched a campaign to register households as committees to organize against the bill. Although the bill passed, they managed to register and organize over 2,000 households nationally, getting these groups politically engaged at a grassroots level.
The importance of internationalism
At the heart of Peter’s visit to Madison and his travels in the United States was the concept of internationalism. Peter expressed his strong belief in internationalism. To him, it is important because capitalism is an international system, and so defeating capitalism requires international organizing. The crisis of capitalism is a global problem impacting the lives of most of the world’s people, and we should think about our fight against capitalism on a global scale. International issues tend to touch on every country in some way, whether that be the climate crisis, the development and adoption of AI in the workplace, or warfare.
Palestine is another international issue that has seemingly galvanized a large part of the world’s population, uniting everyone in their belief in Palestinian liberation and the end to forever wars. Peter brought up the Global Sumud Flotilla, consisting of over 40 vessels carrying 500 people from around the world, sailing to try and deliver aid to Palestinians, as well as continue the struggle for Palestinian liberation. According to Peter, three members of PSOL were part of the flotilla, and this risky initiative was important for putting the attention back on the genocide and the falsities of the “ceasefire” negotiations.
More specific to DSA, Peter noted that a member of PSOL attended the 2025 DSA National Convention in Chicago, and after this member spoke against Trump, their visa was revoked. Engaging in internationalism is a risky endeavor, but the working people of the world owe it to each other to extend solidarity with one another in the fight against global capitalism.
The First International Antifascism Conference…
…which is being held in March 2026 in Brazil, is a broad initiative organized by the left parties in Brazil, alongside many unions and the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Ruais Sem Terra/Landless Workers Movement). MST is a historic mass movement of rural workers fighting for land reform and against injustice in rural areas. The event is anticipated to attract people from over 40 countries, with individuals ranging from elected officials, rank and file union members, social movement activists, and more.
The conference is open to anyone who wishes to attend. Registration for the event can be found here: https://antifas2026.org/en/
MADSA was very happy to host Peter B. for a few days and talk with him personally about his political beliefs, the realities of being a socialist in Brazil, and the current socialist movement in the United States. MADSA as a chapter recognizes the importance of internationalism, fighting fascism, and being in solidarity with the workers of the world!
In 2025, the United States observed the first proper referendum on the second Trump Administration. Democrats performed well, winning gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey and prevailing in many local contests. Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, received over one million votes in November; Mayor John V. Lindsay was the last person to draw such resounding support in that contest.
Within those local results, I want to highlight some specific victories of fellow members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) – especially given my current run for Justice of the Peace in Precinct 1 of Travis County, Texas. In Minneapolis, Robin Wonsley cruised to re-election on the Minneapolis City Council, and Soren Stevenson won in the first round of a ranked choice system after narrowly losing in 2023. Katie Wilson prevailed in the mayoral race in Seattle, and Denzel McCampbell won a seat on the Detroit City Council. Two democratic socialists in Jersey City, Jake Ephros and Joel Brooks, became the first open socialists elected in New Jersey in a century. Members of our organization celebrated victories from coast-to-coast on Tuesday, November 4, 2025 and Tuesday, December 2, 2025.
Photo from a Jacobin conference Andrew attended in New York City, September 2025
America renewed its interest in socialist politics across the past year. After Trump’s re-election, Council Member Mike Siegel, a fellow member of the Austin Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, won a runoff election for Austin CIty Council’s District 7 on December 14, 2024. Facing the various cruelties of many in power in 2025, including endless wars, extrajudicial murders by ICE, deep cuts to the American social safety net, and lawless military strikes, more people find themselves curious about what, exactly, socialism is. At doors and in the community, people continue to resonate with the message that kids don’t need to face criminalization in response to their actions, renters deserve due process in eviction proceedings, and quality of life concerns – such as homelessness – shouldn’t land a person in the court system. Democratic socialists are committed to preserving and building the public infrastructure in this era of mass privatization, with an emphasis on shifting money from carceral systems like prisons to social services like parks & libraries.
My own journey with socialism has been a long and fulfilling one. I first ran for office in 2022 as a democratic socialist, challenging a long-term incumbent. I lost decisively. I was thirty years old during my first election, and the Biden Administration was in power. Circumstances and conditions have changed rapidly in four years. One thing that has remained consistent across this period is my engagement with the Democratic Socialists of America. I joined the organization in 2021; after I was defeated in my first election, I went deeper into my organizing with the chapter. I knocked on doors for Prop A (and against Prop B) in 2023, attended the biennial DSA convention in Chicago, visited Cuba, spoke to voters about the campaigns of Jose Garza and Mike Siegel, and built invaluable relationships with other members of the chapter.
I spoke at Austin DSA’s org fair on Saturday, November 15, 2025. Ahead of my remarks, I noticed excitement all around me for DSA’s campaigns. Through our Austin Against Apartheid work, we’ve gotten scores of businesses in the community to adopt a boycott-divestment-sanctions framework and agree to not sell Israeli products. Our Trans + Intersex Rights and Bodily Autonomy (TIRBA) campaign is uplifting the incontrovertible fact that every person controls their own body; through our work with TIRBA, queer and trans people will experience freedom everywhere, and abortions will be easily available upon demand. We recently launched our Labor for an Arms Embargo work to push for an end to the incessant aid that the U.S. pours into the genocidal settler-colonial state of Israel. We are laboring with a clear vision of what the world will be in fifty years – one where socialism governs.
I must end with a reflection on the material realities of our time. In Austin, a broad coalition of socialists, labor leaders, and mutual aid organizers suffered a loss with the defeat of Prop Q in November 2025. This election occurred while millions of people faced uncertainty with their SNAP benefits. People are hurting in many ways right now, and an increase in taxes simply wasn’t going to fly. However, as we face this austerity budget in Austin – with its $520 million untouched police line-item – I want the public to know that me and fellow socialists are here for our neighbors. We are committed to building a political party that is truly responsive to the needs of people who – like me – live paycheck-to-paycheck, highlighting the harms that masses of workers experience under American capitalism. My second campaign is simply one piece of that puzzle; even if I lose again, I am so glad that I have found a political philosophy that animates me so clearly. As a Black socialist, I am committed to building a multiracial, multigender, and multinational movement for human dignity. I hope you will join us.
Andrew Reginald Hairston is a civil rights lawyer, writer, and democratic socialist based in Austin. He is running for Justice of the Peace in Precinct 1 of Travis County, Texas on March 3, 2026. More information is available at hairstonforpeace.com
Under the yoke of capital, many among us struggle to see a way out. We become disaffected, believing this to be our only place in life, or we lash out at our comrades, blaming ourselves for being unable to solve the problems which we confront. Indeed our struggle feels, at times, insurmountable. We fight against a globe-spanning hegemony of a system, and many who have come before us have seemingly failed in doing exactly that which we seek to do now. How do we hold hope in a situation like this?
I’ve found these questions and doubts in myself many a sleepless night. I find that these rather existential, society-spanning questions are rather ill-served by the narrow view of life afforded by one person’s point of view. A big problem necessitates a big perspective. We must imagine a better world, of course, but we must also ground ourselves in the arc of history that has landed us in this world to begin with.
The sheer fact that capitalism is, in fact, rather young—on the scale of social forces—is an interesting point. What does this say of the fact that our anti-capitalist project is itself not that much younger? While opposition to capitalism has had many forms and faces as old as capitalism itself, our labor-forward perspective is coming in at almost two-hundred years old now, with cycles of prominence itself. Capitalism only started to eclipse feudalism as the dominant mode of production in Western societies in the 17th century, as early mechanization and financialization began to usher the modern capital-holding class into political relevancy. By just two-hundred years later in the 19th century, the logic of capitalism had so subsumed the West that for the first time it was as workers, not as peasants nor as citizens, but we as workers began to demand their due.
Two centuries is, on average, eight generations. Just eight. In all those generations, in conditions both better and worse, the workers continued to not just toil, but to demand better. To organize. To strike back. That’s no time at all, and look what we’ve already done with it—The concessions won by sweat, and the regulations written in blood, have all happened in those eight generations. Now, to look away from the past, but to the future. Eight generations from now, what will the laborers of the future have to think about us? Probably the same things we have to think about our predecessors: That we were brave and strong to have endured as much as we did while achieving as much as we managed. Imagine what world they’ll live in, the world we’re building for them now.
Ancient cathedrals were built by laborers and craftsmen, with blocks cut to shape and lain by hand. More often than not, the construction of one would take over a century of work, from generation after generation of mason, of laborer, of carpenter. Only the last few would ever get to see their life’s work bear fruit. We labor and carve and chip away, not at bricks of stone and beams of wood, but at the structures of exploitation we live under. Building communities. Building systems. Building love. Building knowledge. Building a better world with the trash and waste of the one we see before us. I wish I could see that cathedral completed, alas we all must content ourselves with knowing that someone, someday will. Whenever you sit in the shade of an ancient tree, feel the love in the hands that planted it. Love them back. You will never be forgotten.
The Portland, Oregon chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America calls on Portland City Council and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson to take critical action to protect Portlanders from ICE and all Federal policing agencies.
Two Portlanders were shot by federal agents working as a rogue personal army for President Trump. We hold them in our thoughts, as well as the people of Minneapolis grieving Renee Nicole Good, who was killed this week by CBP murderers.
At a vigil and rally at city hall last night with 400 people in attendance, Portland DSA was joined by representatives of unions and community organizations, calling for the abolition of ICE and for the city to stand up to state violence. City Councilors Mitch Green, Sameer Kanal, Angelita Morillo, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Jamie Dunphy, and Candace Avalos also attended and spoke at the event.
“ICE must be abolished. The work of our time is to tear down the system that built it and remake it into one that embraces and designs systems that include all people from all places. This work will be done, because the alternative is unbearable. We do that by organizing block by block, neighbor to neighbor until we’ve built a mass movement. From Portland to Minneapolis, we will win,” said Councilor Mitch Green.
“ICE is a rogue paramilitary force that has declared war on our cities. This is a hostile takeover. We must not comply. We need complete noncompliance at all levels of government,” said Olivia Katbi, co-chair of Portland DSA.
Portland is a frequent target of Trump’s brutal crackdown on speech and communal defense— and, for an obvious reason: Portlanders believe in peace, freedom, and an end to state-sponsored brutality in all its forms. Time and time again, Portlanders have stood up and taken to the streets for the rights of all people, especially immigrants and people of color, to live free from the fear of police brutality and Trump’s fascist deportation regime.
“As we grieve the harm done to our community, we must also be clear-eyed about the moment we are in. This is how history repeats itself — unless people interrupt it,” said Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane.
One fact is clear today: Sanctuary City status alone will not protect Portlanders. Now is the time for the City of Portland to take a more aggressive approach to keeping Portlanders safe from Federal terror.
We call on City Council to:
Pass a policy of complete noncompliance with federal policing agencies, treating armed federal agents as overtly hostile actors
Instruct the District Attorney to obtain a warrant to arrest the federal agents who committed the shooting
Develop specific policies to defang and disempower federal agents within Portland, including prohibition of masks, local taxation of income earned from federal law enforcement activities, and any other meaningful restriction on their ability to recruit and operate within Portland
Implement a human rights investment screen, to ensure Portland is not invested in companies that assist in ICE’s violence
Alongside the many organizations and Portlanders fighting to keep our immigrant neighbors safe, Portland DSA is ready to stand against Trump’s violence – both at home and abroad. Join us on Saturday, January 10 at 11 AM at the Battleship Oregon Memorial in Tom McCall Waterfront Park to protest the war on Venezuela and ongoing ICE violence in Portland and across the country.
“It’s going to take all of us standing in solidarity, and understanding that we must be disciplined in this moment. No matter how many people try to divide our movements, we must be disciplined. Our fight is one fight,” said Councilor Angelita Morillo.
Luisa Martinez, a formerly undocumented immigrant who is a member of Portland DSA and leader in the national organization, said: “ICE was created in 2003 and can be abolished. Throwing human beings into prison for civil infractions is a violation of international human rights laws. This violence and human suffering enriches private prison corporations while working people go without adequate housing, health care, and education.”
“ICE needs to be taken apart, brick by brick, and we need to salt the earth,” said Councilor Sameer Kanal.
To celebrate Zohran Mamdami’s inauguration, and in honor of the mass mobilization that made this moment possible, our first newsletter of 2026 is about ways to get involved right now.
First, GMDSA is proud to endorse the following candidates:
Marek Broderick for Burlington City Council Ward 8
Matt Gile for Vermont House of Representatives (Chittenden-21)
Jeffrey Peterson for Vermont House of Representatives (Chittenden-16)
We will be canvassing for Marek starting at 1:00PM in Burlington, location TBA. Reply to this email if you would like to join, and expect many more canvassing opportunities in our next newsletter and beyond. If you’ve been considering getting involved but don’t know how, canvassing is one of the best ways to start. Zohran’s campaign knocked 3 million doors!
To that end, our Electoral and Communications Committees are launching a new, joint initiative. If you are part of a group doing something about our current crisis, formal or informal, big or small, if you’ll have us, we want to meet you in person (or, if you prefer, over Zoom) to learn how we can help.
The first stop of this tour will be at Building A Local Economy (BALE) in South Royalton on January 21 at 6:00PM. Our 2026 Electoral and Communications Chairs, Adam and Alejandro, will be giving a talk and discussing our political strategy with BALE’s Resistance Hub.
A lot is going wrong right now, and we know that there are people all over Vermont trying to do something about it. We already work with many of you, and the coalitions we’ve made are behind our biggest successes, but we know that there are more of you out there doing important things. We want to work with you. Write in, and we can do it together.
Upcoming Events:
Canvassing for Councilor Marek Broderick Saturday, January 3, starting location TBA.
GMDSA member Brandon Lawson is hosting Green Mountain IWW Workplace Organizing Workshop Sunday January 11 at 3:00PM in the Community Room in the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington.
Worker’s Circle is every 2nd and 4th Wednesday at 6:00PM at 179 S. Winooski Avenue in Burlington. The next one is January 14.
GMDSA @ BALE - January 21 at 6:00PM.
For regular GMDSA Committee meetings, see our calendar.
State News:
Starbucks workers are on strike across 145 stores and counting, and the union is asking customers to stop shopping at Starbucks.
Hospice United had a successful Honk and Wave on December 20 as they bargain their first contract.
Western New York, alongside regions across the country, faces healthcare disaster due to the dysfunction of America’s privatized healthcare system being accelerated by federal cuts and state inaction. The Buffalo chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has run a campaign for over a year, Back Off BNP, researching, educating, and organizing WNY residents around the collaboration of local hospital systems, health insurers, and major corporations in the Buffalo Niagara Partnership (BNP).
“Quality healthcare is not just a necessity for us and our kids, it is a human right. It’s unacceptable that we live in fear of insurers, or of bosses dangling healthcare benefits like a carrot over our heads.“
The campaign seeks to publicize the chamber of commerce’s political influence in favor of private capital and corporations in the state, and against the solution of universal healthcare in New York state, legislation called the New York Health Act (NYHA; NY State Senate Bill 2023-S7590 and Assembly Bill A7897). DSA calls for an urgent focus on NYHA this 2026 legislative session as premiums for WNYers skyrocket to unsustainable amounts due to commercial health insurance plans seeking to offset Medicaid cuts and the effects of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill.
“Private health insurers, such as Independent Health, are being empowered to deny therapeutic and rehabilitative services to patients through arbitrarily and automatically requiring prior authorization. They make massive amounts of money to deny healthcare, get in the way of treatment, and I see them inflict cruelty and desertion on stroke and traumatic brain injury patients,” said Olivia Colgrove, co-chair of the Buffalo DSA Healthcare Committee that organized the picket and a speech-language pathologist. The issue referenced by Colgrove has received high-profile coverage in The Guardian, focusing on Kaleida (whose president and CEO sits on the board of BNP).
“We have been volunteers sounding the alarm on the rollback of what little public healthcare still exists, and the crisis that expansion of the role of private insurers in these programs represents. Trump’s second term is already showing how fragile a system based on private insurance is,” said Moira Madden, co-chair of the Buffalo DSA Healthcare Committee and emergency mental health caseworker. “It’s past time for urgency in the movement for universal healthcare on the state level (e.g. NYHA), as a way to protect against this worsening dysfunction. January 2026 begins a new state legislative session, and a new opportunity for public advocacy and oversight of anti-NYHA lobbyists.”
“Quality healthcare is not just a necessity for us and our kids, it is a human right. It’s unacceptable that we live in fear of insurers, or of bosses dangling healthcare benefits like a carrot over our heads. I am proud to stand with Buffalo DSA, as our campaign and chapter fight for the New York Health Act,” said Adam Bojak, Buffalo DSA member and candidate for state assembly in district 149.
On January 8, 2026 the Buffalo Niagara Partnership will be presenting their lobbying agenda for the year to their political allies at the Jazzboline restaurant in Amherst, from 4-7pm. Buffalo DSA has once again been organizing their membership, sympathetic organizations, and the signatories to their Back Off BNP campaign so far to picket the event and BNP’s longstanding role in opposing the NYHA solution to the healthcare crisis that could be led by New York.
More on NYHA and BNP
NYHA would create statewide, universal, “single payer” healthcare, meaning if passed, all New Yorkers would be enrolled in a single, public insurance program. All services requiring a medical professional of the patient’s choice would be fully covered, without extraneous fees or the negative, profit-motivated intervention of a private insurer.
Buffalo DSA has long rallied around NYHA’s passage alongside like-minded groups and unions statewide, based on its positive projected outcomes for workers’ rights, families, and individuals in all stages of life in New York, as well as the state’s health systems. NYHA, according to the organization, would provide $80 billion in savings over 10 years, as a self-sustaining program through the state’s progressive tax structure. Per their research, New York would not need to cut any essential or existing social programs to fund NYHA, and would create ~150,000 new jobs in the public sector, with retraining for and rehiring of current private insurance workers. Public hospitals would benefit from a higher reimbursement rate, which would lower chances of hospital closures, improving health outcomes for New Yorkers.
The corresponding legislation for NYHA has stalled over the course of several sessions, in part due to lobbyists like the Buffalo Niagara Partnership; the region’s most-utilized health insurers hold leadership on the BNP board and the organization enjoys close ties with local politicians. As Buffalo DSA states in its report on NYHA Opposition, the BNP’s Memorandum of Opposition against these bills, and its membership in an untraceable campaign called “Realities of Single Payer” are examples of their lack of care for the region’s residents. “The way the BNP has wielded its power to lobby against universal healthcare is cruel and unacceptable,” said Madden. “Everyday working people, who outnumber the executives of the BNP, deserve a healthcare system that works for everyone. Anti-NYHA lobbying only serves to enrich the insurance and health system executives on the leadership board.”
Western New York residents are encouraged to visit Buffalo DSA’s campaign website to learn more about the New York Health Act and sign the organization’s petition. Those interested in volunteering for further campaigning are encouraged to contact the chapter; the group says no previous campaign experience is required.
Buffalo DSA, Inc. is a member dues funded and member-directed not-for-profit in the State of New York. Democratic Socialists of America believe both the economy and society should be run democratically—to meet public needs, not to make profits for a few. Join Buffalo DSA by visiting buffalodsa.org.
Madison Area DSA unequivocally condemns the illegal and unprovoked bombing of Caracas and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.
This is not an “intervention” against “narcoterrorism” or in favor of democracy, as the Trump Regime claims. It is a blatant act of war in pursuit of resource control and hemispheric dominance, and it sends a message to Latin American and other governments around the world: submit to American imperialism or you’ll be next.
This escalation, while shocking, represents the logical culmination of decades of economic, diplomatic, and covert war by the US against Venezuela, and a return to the norms that characterized the darkest era of US aggression in Latin America that occurred under the auspices of the Monroe Doctrine. It is the latest installment in the pattern of American imperialist violence and regime-change policy that has played out many times over in every corner of the world.
The actions of the United States, in every previous imperialist war and now in Venezuela, clearly violate:
The UN Charter and the fundamental principle of national sovereignty;
International law against war crimes;
The right of all peoples, including the Venezuelan people, to self-determination.
The liberal establishment has once again failed to fight back against the illegal and barbaric acts of the Trump Regime. Rather than recognize the fundamental injustice of imperialism and seek to dismantle it, prominent Democrats have focused on procedural gripes. Rather than condemn the attack, they complain that Trump failed to obtain Congressional approval. This ignores the blatant illegality of the bombing and kidnapping, and the inhumanity of America’s policy towards Venezuela in general. Their responses lay bare the inherent incapacity of neoliberal hegemony to oppose fascist tendency.
As Democratic Socialists, we recognize the true motives and intended effects of the Trump Regime’s escalation:
Seizure of Venezuela’s sovereign oil wealth and the transfer of that wealth from the Venezuelan people to private American companies;
Geopolitical control over the Western Hemisphere through the destruction of Venezuelan resistance to US hegemony and the further dissuading of any other Latin American government from insubordination to Washington and the interests of foreign capital;
The destruction of Bolivarian socialism and any other alternative to neoliberal capitalism.
We therefore demand, not simply a return to liberal norms, but rather:
An immediate end to all hostilities;
The return of President Maduro and First Lady Flores;
The lifting of all sanctions and other forms of economic warfare;
Reparations for lost Venezuelan life and property, both national and private;
An end to the Monroe Doctrine and US interventions that violate other nations’ sovereignty;
Prosecution for war crimes of any US government personnel who planned or executed this illegal military action;
The immediate release and exoneration of any and all individuals detained and arrested on American soil for protesting the bombing and kidnapping, in violation of the First Amendment;
Unconditional amnesty for all current and future Venezuelan immigrants and refugees in the United States in response to the United States’ violent treatment of their homeland.
To the working class of the United States, we say: This war is not in our name. It is waged by a capitalist oligarchy that exploits us and that, while bombing innocent civilians abroad, also bombs our communities with austerity, police violence, and neglect. The billions spent on this criminal adventure are stolen from our healthcare, our housing, our schools, and our climate future. The Venezuelan working class are our siblings and allies in the global class war, and we stand in solidarity with them and all victims of U.S. imperialist wars.
ICE has become a primary tool of oppression for the fascist Trump administration, expanding rapidly beyond its preexisting role in the US where it has long terrorized, separated, and economically attacked our immigrant, refugee, and asylum seeker neighbors.
Today, the agency added murder of peaceful observers to this heinous portfolio, gunning down a Minnesotan legal observer in her car for daring to try and keep eyes on them. The federal government, already comfortable with blatant lies, has cooked up false claims to justify this killing. This shouldn’t be a surprise, and it’s only going to get more common the more this tactic works for them.
We cannot trust any so-called accountability measures put in place for these people. But we also shouldn’t give up hope. We, the working class of the US, outnumber ICE, the bureaucrats deploying them, and their capitalist enablers put together, many times over.
This is a threat to everyone’s freedom and safety, not just in our own country, but worldwide, in all the countries our imperialist leaders see only as potential sources for profit. There is a clear connection between attacks abroad and brutal repression at home. It must be met with unity and purpose. Protests are not enough!
We need to bombard our elected officials with phone calls and other messages insisting they defend their constituents and abolish ICE. We need to be ready to respond when our neighbors are attacked or abducted. And we need to harness our greatest weapon – the labor power of the working class on which the capitalist system depends for its existence – in opposing ICE and their puppeteers.
ROC DSA is working to become the hub for these efforts. If you want to support, consider getting involved with the Tax the Rich campaign, Electoral Working Group, City Vitality Working Group, Labor Working Group, or International Solidarity Group as avenues you can use to take a stand. Remember that an injury to one is an injury to all.
Triangle DSA condemns the US abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, First Lady Cilia Flores. As socialists, we can clearly see this for what it is – an imperial ploy to seize oil resources and destabilize the Bolivarian Socialist government of Venezuela. The American oligarchy acted with impunity, laying the precedent that any nation that does not submit to profit-seeking interests will face unjustified military aggression.
On Saturday, TDSA members showed up alongside our comrades in PSL, other local organizations, and members of the public to protest this act of terror on civilians in Caracas and the escalation of the US’s ongoing war against Venezuelan sovereignty.
The fight for socialism is necessarily international and anti-imperialist. The destructive path of domination and state terror by the US both in Latin America and the Middle East will bring nothing but suffering to innocent people in the global south and increased profits to the ruling class. This is a path to global ruin that can only be brought to an end by socialist revolution.
By organizing within the imperial core, we stand with the workers of the world in a shared struggle to end imperialism, neocolonialism, and war, and to establish a new international order based on relations of solidarity, equality, and cooperation. Join DSA in demanding No War with Venezuela!
