The Socialists Everywhere Project began in the now-defunct Organizing Committee for the North Side Blue Line (NSBL) branch. It arose out of conversations about how to learn more about the employers, landlords, and community organizations in the branch territory. The name, which was coined by former branch steering committee officer Ramsin Canon, originally encompassed an ever larger project involving both member engagement and a broader continuous research effort to do power mapping throughout the branch. This element was still present in the initial resolution authorizing the Project, which was presented to the Executive Committee, along with the part of the Project that would become the focus of work over the next year.

The initial proposal was brought at the November 2024 Executive Committee retreat and formally passed in 2025. It described a program in which local civic meetings would be cataloged and presented to branch membership. Members would be invited to attend these meetings and then submit a report to the Project leaders on what happened there. There are a lot of meetings in Chicago that fit the above description, including ward nights, local school council meetings, park advisory council meetings, and Community Alternative Policing meetings. The report back form asked members to describe what happened at the meeting, what kinds of people were in attendance, and to call out any issues that could serve as opportunities for Chicago DSA to organize in the community.

In practice, this is what the Project looked like with varying results: Ahead of NSBL branch meetings, a list would be compiled of three meetings happening within the branch territory in the next couple of weeks, in tabulated format with space for written names and phone numbers. Branch officers would then explain the Socialists Everywhere Project to the members in attendance, with the list being passed around for members to fill out if they could make the listed meeting times. Later, those members who signed up would receive a message via WhatsApp (sent manually) reminding them to attend the meeting, as well as a link to submit the report back form via Google Forms.

Word of the Project spread rapidly through the chapter, prompting a meeting between leaders in the North Side Blue Line, North Side Red Line, and South Side branches to discuss how the Project should be coordinated between the three geographic branches. For example, the leadership in the North Side Red Line branch prioritized monthly research meetings to add items on the Socialists Everywhere calendar, while classifying members by neighborhood during the branch meeting to decide how to coordinate meeting attendance. With specific goals to expand and automate the Project, research meetings began to produce a full catalog of meetings for members to attend. These research meetings proved popular among certain tech-savvy groups of members who were happy to help DSA by doing something they already knew how to do – work with computers to conduct research via spreadsheet work.

This work continued smoothly among the branches throughout the year. But after the DSA National Convention in August 2025, difficult questions arose during reauthorization. Namely: What has the Project accomplished? Though organizers set goals to build more participation using an automated calendar system rather than through a representative of the Project, only two members documented their attendance of a public, civic meetings after reauthorization, far below any reasonable goal.

What exactly was the goal of all of this work? The immediate goal was to engage new members in their communities, but the larger ambitions of the Project were never fully defined. The Project was envisioned at various times to be a research project, membership engagement, a left-wing answer to Moms for Liberty, and the initial stages of an intelligence network on community issues. If there was one definitive thing that the Project did, it gave new members something to do. Chicago DSA is full of newly minted activists who have just moved to the city and are light on experience and local knowledge, and Socialists Everywhere was ideal for giving them an opportunity to see what was happening in their local neighborhood. The loftier goals for the Project, to give Chicago DSA a foothold in local communities that could be used to organize as socialists on behalf of community members, never came to fruition. Finding a way to bridge the divide between individual volunteer action and a bigger project should be the core of any revival of the Project.

There is no particular shame in the Project’s performance, and not just because it only cost the chapter the price of a small button order. In many ways, the Project came and went at exactly the right time for the chapter. When it began, the chapter was coming out of a nadir of activity, with no significant large-scale work – labor, electoral, or otherwise – for members to jump into. But once the chapter’s campaigns kicked off, it became harder to justify pushing members elsewhere into this more piecemeal work. And once federal agents began their terror campaign in Chicagoland, it became hard not to see the Project as superfluous in the face of the higher degree of organization present in existing local groups that are leading the city’s response to ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Perhaps if the Project had the capacity, infrastructure, and messaging to connect itself to the broader struggle, it could have justified its continued existence.

In January 2026, the Project was ended by a vote of the Executive Committee. It has been placed respectfully in the limbo of interesting but nascent ideas. It may one day be dug up and integrated into a more focused and effective project. Until then, it lives on as one of Chicago DSA’s political priorities: Be Socialists Everywhere.

The post An Assessment of the Socialists Everywhere Project appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

GREEN MOUNTAIN DSA MEETINGS AND EVENTS
Our Tax the Rich Working Group will meet on every Sunday, including Sunday Feb 1 at 6:00pm on Zoom. Sign the  Tax the Rich for Healthcare and Schools petition here.

Our Steering Committee meets on the first Monday of every month at 7:30pm on Zoom, including Monday Feb 2. All members are welcome to participate in the meeting discussion, only members of the steering committee can vote. Email hello@greenmountaindsa.org for the Zoom link.

Our Labor Committee meets on the second Monday of every month at 6:00pm on Zoom, including Monday Feb 9.

Find out how you can help our Membership Committee improve recruitment and involvement in our chapter on Monday, Feb 9. The Membership Committee meets on every 2nd Monday of the month at 7:30pm on Zoom.

The next May Day Coalition meeting is Tuesday Feb 17 at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington) and on Zoom.

Our Electoral Committee will meet on Tuesday Feb 10 at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.

Talk about your job and learn about shop-floor organizing from peers at Workers' Circle (co-hosted with the Green Mountain IWW) on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, including Feb 11 and 25 at 6:00 p.m. at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington).

GMDSA's East and West branches will come together for another general meeting on Saturday Feb 21 at 11:30 a.m. at Christ Episcopal Church Community Room (64 State St, Montpelier, VT 05602). Newcomers encouraged to show up at 10:30 a.m. for an optional “DSA 101” orientation.

Our Palestine Solidarity Committee will meet on Monday Feb 23 at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.

Our Communications Committee will meet on Monday Feb 23 at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom.

GMDSA Steering Committee recently passed a resolution to advocate for and ask members to attend Migrant Justice's next rapid response training, Feb 10, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Sign up for the meeting here

Add our Google Calendar - Check out our website‍ ‍

NATIONAL DSA MEETINGS OF INTEREST

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• Saturday, February 7th, 5pm, Recommitment Phonebank link

• Saturday, February 7th at 2pm Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee 2026 Winter Cohort Training (1 of 4): Social Investigation & the Tenant Movement link

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• Sunday, February 8th at 2pm: Chairing a Meeting with Robert's Rules Workshop link

• Sunday, February 22nd at 5pm: Solidarity Dues Phonebank link

Vermont Public Meetings of Interest for February

• Thursday, February 5th at 9am: 9:00am: VSEA v. State of Vermont, Department of Human Resources

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• Friday, February 13th at 9:00am: Hearing in the matter of Commissioner of Labor v. Wesco, Inc.

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Public Meeting Calendar Link: Published Calendar - Outlook‍ ‍

Important Dates this Year

• Town Meeting Day, March 3rd, 2026‍ ‍

• May Day: May 1st, 2026

• 2026 Labor Notes Conference: June 12-14th‍ ‍

• Statewide Primary Election: August 11th, 2026‍ ‍

• Labor Day: September 7th, 2026

• General Election: November 3rd, 2026‍ ‍

• Next DSA National Convention: 2027

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DSA is endorsing Tammy Carpenter for Oregon State House, and we need your help to win

Dr. Carpenter is a proud member of Portland DSA running to fight for universal healthcare, fully-funded schools and a renters’ bill of rights

Dr. Carpenter is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

We are excited to announce that DSA is endorsing Bobby Nichols for Tempe City Council!

Bobby, of Phoenix-Metro DSA, is a public interest lawyer running to make Tempe affordable for everyone, building public housing and making it easier to form a union

Bobby is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

Congratulations to Andrew Hairston of Austin DSA, our endorsee for Travis County Justice of the Peace!

Andrew is a civil rights attorney who will stand up for working-class students and tenants of color facing unequal treatment in a court system that needs to serve working people, not landlords’ profit motives.

Andrew is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

Congratulations to Adam Bojak of Buffalo DSA, our newest endorsee for New York’s State Assembly!

Adam is a proud democratic socialist and a housing lawyer who will continue the fight to protect working-class people from crooked landlords across the state.

Adam is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!

Atlanta DSA vehemently condemns the abhorrent execution of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent on January 24, 2026. Multiple DHS agents fired on Alex as he was attempting to help assist a community member assaulted by a federal agent moments prior. Further, an agent appeared to have removed Alex’s pistol that he was legally permitted to carry before he was executed in cold blood. Plain and simple, this is an attack on the 1st and 2nd Amendment rights every citizen is entitled to in the United States. The federal government then continued its vile tradition of publishing slanderous lies about those it murders in fabricating false narratives about the peaceful, non-violent behaviors of Alex. To us, it is clear that the purpose of a system is what it does and, so, the purpose of DHS (and specifically ICE) is death and violence. Videos and photos over the past century of black, brown, and tan bodies being butchered by human instruments of the law were ignored, minimized, and treated as inconsequential. Now, we live in the darkening shadow cast by the willing and conscious decision of hundreds of Democrat politicians from Washington to Peachtree Street to further increase funding to cops, ICE, and border patrol. Barely one year into the second Trump presidency, the full weight of the American imperial machine has turned inward to crush any act of resistance, no matter how small.

Just this past week, Democrat leaders have continued their decades-long complicity in the manufacturing of divisions between working people through measly gestures at reform of ICE. These ineffective measures follow in the wake of the killing of Renee Nicole Good not even a month ago, to say nothing of the numerous other deaths on the streets and even more in detention centers over the past year. Yet we know, as workers organizing in our workplaces and communities, this fascist regime is composed of incompetent losers that need you to feel small and isolated to succeed. Together, as an organized multi-racial working class, we can build a new, better world as the old neoliberal world order shakes itself to pieces under the weight of its own contradictions. Beyond polls or optics, it is clear that for working people our only position can be that of calling for the complete abolishment of ICE. It continues to serve as the foot soldier force of a burgeoning fascist regime determined to foment further class divisions based on racist, imperialist border policies.

Atlanta DSA once again calls for the abolishment of ICE and the removal of all DHS agents from our communities, as well as the full prosecution of all those involved in acts violating basic human rights under international laws.

We stand in solidarity with those participating across the country in the general strike taking place today. We strongly encourage our members, fellow comrades and union allies, elected politicians, and neighbors to organize with us in the face of this disgusting atrocity.

• If you can, donate to the efforts of Twin Cities DSA to fight ICE and build a better world. You can do so here: https://twincitiesdsa.org/donate/
• Honor the life and memory of Alex Pretti with us at a vigil hosted by National Nurses United, the American Federation of Government Employees, and other community orgs on Thursday, February 5th at 1670 Clairemont Rd in Decatur (the Atlanta VA Medical Center) from 6:30pm-7:30pm.
• Join DSA to support and lead our organizing efforts against ICE and this fascist federal administration: https://atldsa.org/join/

Lisa Holton

A week ago Thursday, MARCH in Minnesota, a pro-queer, anti-racist, multi-faith group put out a call to clergy around the country. A week later, more than 600 of us–Buddhist monks, rabbis, Hindu leaders, Muslim leaders, Christian ministers and Catholic priests, Interfaith ministers, and atheists – were sitting together in the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis preparing for two days of action. 

I come to you today with a heart that is both broken and hopeful. And I also come with specific messages from the brave folks in Minneapolis. 

First, Minneapolis is an occupied territory. I am not using that language lightly–it is not a metaphor, it is not hyperbole. It is a fact. A violent, lawless military force, sent by an authoritarian leader, has Minneapolis under siege. The mainstream media coverage is not coming close to telling the truth about what’s happening. You don’t even need to see an ICE agent on the ground to know this. You can feel the fear and terror in the air–it’s palpable. Businesses are boarded up because immigrants are scared to be seen running them. Schools are half-full because parents are in hiding. 

Second, the good people of Minneapolis are responding with courage, resilience, creativity, and love. The media keeps talking about protesters, and of course there are protests. But I was asked by local clergy to tell you that the main response on the ground right now is community protection. Hundreds of bags of groceries have been delivered to people afraid to leave their houses; medications have been procured; organized groups are walking kids to school whose parents are in hiding. Car patrols are in constant motion,  meant to disrupt ICE kidnappings.  These are being carried out not only by long-time activists and organizers, but by everyday people who care about their neighbors. They are organized; they are committed; they are in it for the long haul. 

Intimidation, state violence, and oppression are not new to our Black and Brown community members; they are a daily constant. And let’s be clear – that is exactly who is being targeted. At this moment, in Minneapolis, people are showing up and coming out to stand with and protect their neighbors who are under attack.

They are also exhausted. And they need our help. Here are some things you can do:

• Send money. Do research and find local, on-the-ground organizations who are doing this work. 
• If you are on social media, talk about what you are hearing and seeing. Tell the truth to combat the false narrative. As folks on the ground have asked: “Eyes not Lies.” 

The Minneapolis organizers reminded us of the difference between symbolic action and disruptive disobedience. Symbolic action–like protests–have their place, but they alone are not going to get us anywhere. We all need to think about where we are plugged into the pillars of power–business, government, education–and how we can disrupt those pillars.  If you are at all connected to politicians, even local ones, call them and ask what they are doing. Tell them you don’t care that they don’t represent Minneapolis because we are all Minneapolis right now. We all represent Minneapolis. 

Local organizers and citizens are focused on Target because it is based there, and because it is complicit. Target is letting ICE agents come in and kidnap their workers. You might think, well it doesn’t matter if I boycott Target because I’m only one person. True, but what if your faith community asks  every community to which it’s connected to boycott Target? What if you ask every one of your colleagues to boycott? The message from our Minneapolis neighbors is that we all need to be much more aggressive in our nonviolent disruptions, while always making sure that those of us who are white are learning from, supporting, and following the movements led by endangered communities who have been waging this war for decades.  

My final message is the most important one: We need to lead with love. We need to keep our broken hearts soft and open.  Systematic violence is meant to cause fear, hatred, and despair.  Minneapolis is fighting back with love – love for their neighbors and love for their country.  On Friday, we stood at the airport in negative 20 degree weather supporting over 70 local clergy who were arrested protesting Delta Airlines’ complicity in the kidnappings and deportations. And as we stood there we sang, “You need to put one foot in front of the other, and lead with love. I know you’re scared; I’m scared too. But I am here, right next to you.” 

We need to mobilize and stand with Minneapolis as we continue to stand with our immigrant neighbors here and with all endangered communities across the country.  

Let’s lead with love. 

Lisa Holton is an interfaith minister who currently serves as a community minister at Judson Memorial Church and volunteers with the NYC-based mutual aid organization Mi Tlalli.

Matthew Nelson

First, I feel held by Judson. You have sent texts, emails, and messages on social media of support and solidarity. I feel held.

After a day of empowering witness, resistance, protest, march and a general strike, despair hit again quickly with the murder of Alex Pretti. But let me tell you stories of hope:

• Clergy flew in from all over the country–they were protesting at the airport, at corporate offices, and marching
• One of the wealthiest suburbs of Minneapolis is organizing food drives and deliveries to immigrant families. This is a community that stopped coming to downtown Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd
• The general strike asked people to not shop, not work, and not go to school. The roads in the Twin Cities were empty on Friday. Businesses had closed “in solidarity with our community”
• In my lowertown neighborhood of St Paul, we have quickly organized to help businesses understand their rights and how to keep employees and customers safe, to pressure public officials, to communicate needs, and to offer rapid response to ICE activity
• Even after the murder on Saturday, Minnesotans came out with candles on street corners, in windows, and gathered in neighborhood parks to share their grief, their anger, and songs of hope
• Addendum: January 26: The latest story of hope: Our new mayor is encouraging us to shop at ethnic markets, because their customer base is afraid to go out. I went to our local Super Mercado and was greeted at the locked door by two white women. After they assessed my intentions, I did my shopping. This is what community protection looks like for our neighbors and businesses in Minnesota!

And through all this, you have cared, supported, and loved us in Minnesota. I feel held.

Matthew Nelson is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. He is retired from a career in nonprofit management and philanthropy. He is now based in St Paul, Minnesota but continues to be a proud member of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.

Erica Poellot

I am writing on the plane returning home, overwhelmed with hope by what I have witnessed this week. More than 600 other faith leaders from beyond Minnesota responded to the call to stand in solidarity with our siblings in Minneapolis who are being disappeared by ICE: to patrol the neighborhoods where children are being separated from their families, detained, and used as bait; to talk and pray with the neighbors standing vigil in the neighborhoods where mothers are being murdered. 

We flew in Wednesday afternoon, and were greeted with Midwestern love and warmth by our colleague and friend Matthew; a magical Minneapolis love that would appear again and again with each person we met. 

En route to our downtown hotels, we drove past the site where Renee Good was executed by ICE agents; a couple of weeks into the new year following a year where over 32 people died in ICE custody. As we drove past what could have been any suburban neighborhood just after the evening commute, I was struck by the weight of the silence in the air. Next to the memorial site, a single person tended a fire that burned in the dark, the only other light coming from holiday decorations still hanging on homes and trees up and down the street.

The next day, we met this silence again, this time in the Lake Street district as clergy paired off to patrol the neighborhoods for ICE agents, stopping to speak with the one person we encountered, a young woman standing watch across the street from the high school to help keep her neighbors and neighbors’ children safe. She said they had been told that clergy were coming to support them and suggested that we might find others to be in conversation with at the grocery store on the corner, the only business open in the immediate area, secured behind locked doors and flanked by security officers. Once we were inside, the silence and below freezing temperatures gave way to friendly conversation in Spanish, and neighbors gathered around the delicatessen counter from which they offered us cups of sweet, warm leche de arroz.

The silence that figured so prominently the first days in the city was hard to even recall in the days that would follow. Friday morning, we supported our MN-based clergy colleagues in an act of non-violent civil disobedience at the Minneapolis-St.Paul airport. At the organizers request, clergy from out of town were asked to not risk arrest, so as to ensure that the full body of legal resources could be made available to local clergy who had been leading this critical work for decades and would carry this work on long past our departure. The air that day was rich with protest songs, prayers, and the recitation of the many names of people terrorized and disappeared by ICE during this administration.

The spirit of song and embodied protest and prayer would continue throughout the weekend, as clergy joined crowds of Minnesotans in the tens of thousands in the streets, at post-march rallies, and actions in the public square across the whole of downtown.  Presence was felt as song, as prayer, and it eradicated the silence.

This journey was a chance to use our lives and relationships in follower-ship: to “stand between the powers of the world and our most vulnerable neighbors,”  to witness with this body of mine– recently resurrected– and testify that this love and connection, this interdependence, is always ours. This love belongs to all.

Erica Poellot is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ (UCC), and serves as the Minister of Harm Reduction for the national UCC. She is the founder and executive director of Faith in Harm Reduction and a member of Judson Memorial Church in NYC.

The post Minneapolis Diary: This is What Community Looks Like appeared first on DSA Religious Socialism.

This past November, baristas turned up the heat in their campaign to unionize Starbucks by launching a nationwide multi-week strike to win a first union contract. Their escalation came after nearly four years of challenging shop-by-shop organizing across the country, Starbucks’ relentless union-busting tactics, numerous unfair labor practice violations filed against Starbucks at the National Labor Relations Board, and months of contract negotiations that brought the Unfair Labor Practice Strike that DSA has been supporting over the last 2 months.

DSA Los Angeles has been shoulder-to-shoulder with Starbucks workers in Los Angeles County for four years as they have worked meticulously to unionize stores across the region. The chapter has organized sip-ins, mass calls, panel discussions, and has turned out for rallies and pickets. Our consistent solidarity with Starbucks Workers United has helped the chapter build meaningful relationships with rank-and-file, member leaders, and staff organizers. These relationships and the trust that comes with them have been incredibly important during the ongoing strike, as DSA-LA has been the primary community partner supporting these striking baristas who are engaged in their longest work stoppage to date.

Over the last 2 months, DSA-LA members have walked the picket line at various stores, blocked delivery vehicles from making deliveries to Starbucks stores, and fed striking baristas throughout December with financial support from the Labor Solidarity Fund of DSA’s National Labor Commission. DSA-LA Socialists in Office, like City Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez, and LAUSD School Board member Dr. Rocío Rivas have been out walking the picket lines and rallying supporters during the strike, and DSA-LA-endorsed candidates like Marissa Roy, who is running for LA City Attorney, have used their platform to elevate a key action everyone can do to support Starbucks baristas: do not buy anything from Starbucks during the strike! 

Isabella S., a rank-and-file member of Starbucks Workers United and a DSA member, explains better than anyone the value and impact of DSA’s strike solidarity: 

Without community support much of our efforts as striking workers becomes moot. In order to effectively make change at Starbucks we need support from the community to pressure the company to return to the bargaining table by divesting their money from Starbucks and convincing others to not cross our picket line. DSA members have been among the most dedicated and inspiring supporters to join our picket. DSA-LA members help set up our picket, amplify our voices, and put into context what our actions are all about. Their support energizes me, makes me feel less alone, and demonstrates the power we can have if we show up as a community for each other. No one needs to struggle alone.

While in some areas across the country, Starbucks baristas have paused their strike activity and shifted to other tactics to advance the contract campaign, Los Angeles remains a key area for continuing the open-ended strike. As with any open-ended strike, there are challenges. Starbucks Workers United in Los Angeles is grappling with Starbucks escalating its use of scab labor at stores that have been shut down for nearly 2 months due to successful striking. This has meant that Starbucks baristas and DSA-LA have had to be flexible and adjust to changing dynamics on the ground, and explore additional tactics and avenues to bring the pressure on Starbucks to agree to the union contract that Starbucks baristas deserve. In January, a large contingent of Starbucks baristas went to the Los Angeles City Council to elevate their fight for a union contract and to demand that Los Angeles pass a Fair Work Week ordinance that includes workers at companies like Starbucks, Subway, Taco Bell, and other fast food chains that are often exempted from such ordinances. Councilmember Soto-Martinez, a DSA-LA Socialist in Office, is a proud champion for the ordinance Starbucks baristas are demanding in Los Angeles. 

With every week that goes by, it has been inspiring to see Starbucks baristas continue to take the bold and brave step of refusing to go to work until they are afforded the respect they deserve. These Starbucks baristas are in an open fight with a multi-national mega-corporation led by a greedy capitalist billionaire, and for that, their struggle is our struggle. DSA is proud to stand with Starbucks Workers United one day longer, one day stronger.

On December 6, 2025 on a partly cloudy morning when the sun was just starting to peek out and make itself known, community organizers and members from the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), SEIU locals United Service Workers West (USWW) and 221, San Diego DSA, Indivisible San Diego, and a significant number of other community and labor organizations did not gather at the usual protest spaces of Waterfront Park or the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building. Instead we rallied in the heart of La Jolla, California— a high-end coastal enclave of luxury hotels, designer boutiques, and some of the most expensive homes in the county. In the curated scene of Ellen Browning Scripps Park, ACCE organizers in their signature yellow shirts filed into the park ready for a morning of chanting and marching. 

On this statewide day of action, 300 San Diegans proudly declared that the existing priority of “billionaires first” was unacceptable and we demanded an agenda of “People Over Billionaires.” Determined to not just be a crowd yelling at the clouds, we took the message right to their doorsteps. Neither La Jolla nor Ellen Browning Park were picked at random. In fact, the march route was carefully planned to ensure that the protest passed the home of the richest man in San Diego, Joe Tsai, founder of the AliBaba group and owner of several WNBA teams, as well as that of Andrew Viterbi, a co-founder of Qualcomm. While they try to insulate themselves from realities on the ground and the real life pain that they cause while enriching themselves, we decided to make ourselves heard, loud and proud.

A vibrant community space

Armed with yellow safety vests, flags, bullhorns, and inflatable costumes, community members from all over the county rallied around an impromptu stage and pop-up tents to hear speeches from community organizers working in a plethora of activist spaces from tenant organizing and labor unions to migrant rights and anti-surveillance work. Mariachi Cali scored the rally, performing familiar cultural anthems and providing customized intro and outro music for each speaker, transforming a manicured park into a vibrant community space.

After a number of speeches—including from Kyle Weinberg (director of the San Diego Educators Association), Ramla Sahid (Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, representing the Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology (TRUST) Coalition), and Tazheen Nizam (San Diego director of the Council on American Islamic Relations), it was time to take the streets. San Diego DSA had taken the initiative to provide safety marshals for this action, and after a quick but substantive safety brief with an SEIU 221 organizer the yellow vests were ready to take the streets. 

The route was only about two miles, starting on Girard Street right in front of Ellen Browning Park and up a small incline where our differently-abled comrades set the pace. We turned on to Prospect Street where stunned residents met our chants with intermixed looks of uncomfortable skepticism and support. Then we hooked a u-turn heading north and marched north past a number of high-end art galleries, jewelers, and eateries. Spirits were high as we passed diners with a look of shock that our protest dared to interrupt their brunch activities on a cool Saturday morning. Further down the road, we turned left onto Coast Boulevard and headed back towards the park, but not before occupying the mouth of Coast Walk Trail for a proud display of Latine culture. El Arcoiris del Sur, a local Baile Folclórico group, performed to the tune of the Mariachi band and gave their progressive take on Mexican cultural classic performances such as the Jarabe Tapatio. This closed us out before returning to Ellen Browning Park for a feast of burritos provided by USWW and tacos provided by ACCE. 

An ACCE organizer from the People Over Billionaire coalition assured us that there are more of us than there are of them and this will not be the last time the wealthy communities of San Diego get reminded that a community of workers makes the city run.