When the girls of Sugared + Bronzed — a salon chain specializing in spray tanning and sugaring hair removal — first heard about labor unions, we didn’t expect that workers like us could have a union of our own.

The post How Sugared + Bronzed workers won the first salon chain union in the country appeared first on EWOC.

Seattle Democratic Socialists of America stand in firm opposition to the Seattle City Council decision on Tuesday, September 9th 2025 to massively increase video surveillance throughout Downtown Seattle at the behest of the Seattle Police and the encroaching carceral state, in shameless defiance of widespread public outcry against their proposal.

The theory, floated by some Seattle City Councilmembers, that Seattle, or Washington at large, can somehow keep the Trump administration from using local surveillance systems to increase the efficiency of their fascist takeover of the country, is a naive delusion only kept by a cohort of disingenuous politicians that we can now argue are knowingly collaborating with, and encouraging, the local oppressive forces which will undoubtedly have an increased role in the furtherance of Trump’s growing federal police state. 

Just this week, the federal government was given the authority by the Supreme Court to racially profile anyone they wish, giving even more unchecked power to their draconian Immigration & Customs Enforcement raids. These are the conditions under which our local Seattle City Council, made up entirely of Democratic Party politicians, has just decided to give integral pieces of surveillance infrastructure to a federal government they know will use to pursue mass arrests, disappear humans, and further deny our freedom of speech and protest.

Seattle DSA denounces our city council’s collaboration with fascist forces in our society and urges the people of Seattle to hold them to account for their actions. This measure only further reinforces our understanding that nobody will save us but ourselves.

Brazilian political party PSOL reports on the 2025 DSA National Convention and reflects on their participation as invited guests.

The post DSA National Convention Strengthens the Building of the Socialist Left in the United States appeared first on Democratic Left.

Events & Actions

Tuesday, September 9 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM): ICE Out of SF Courts! (In person at 100 Montgomery)

Tuesday, September 9 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Wednesday, September 10 (6:45 PM – 9:00 PM): September General Meeting (Zoom and in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

Thursday, September 11 (5:30 PM – 6:30 PM):  Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

Thursday, September 11 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Immigrant Justice Court Action Orientation  (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, September 12 (8:00 AM – 4:30 PM): ICE Out of SF Courts! (In person at 100 Montgomery)

Saturday, September 13 (10:00 AM – 2:00 PM):  No Appetite for Apartheid Training and Outreach (Meet at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, September 13 (11:00 AM – 1:30 PM):  Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee Fall Cohort Training Party (In person at Radical Reading Room, 438 Haight)

Saturday, September 13 (12:45 PM – 4:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Outreach and Outreach Training (Meet at 1916 McAllister)

Sunday, September 14 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM):  Physical Education + Self Defense Training (In person at William McKinley Monument)

Monday, September 15 (5:00 PM – 6:30 PM): Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing Training (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, September 15 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, September 15 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

Tuesday, September 16 (6:00 PM – 7:30 PM):  What Is DSA? (In person at Ingleside Branch Library, 1298 Ocean Ave)

Thursday, September 18 (7:30 PM – 9:30 PM): “Housing the City by the Bay: Tenant Activism, Civil Rights and Class Politics in San Francisco” – Tenant Organizing Working Group Reading Group (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Friday, September 19 (7:00 PM – 9:00 PM):  Maker Friday (In person at 1916 McAllister)

Saturday, September 20 (10:30 AM – 12:00 PM): DSA SF x EBDSA: No Space for ICE Canvassing (In person at Lincoln Square Park, 261 11th St., Oakland)

Sunday, September 21 (5:00 PM – 7:00 PM): Capital Reading Group (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Sunday, September 21 (5:00 PM – 6:45 PM): Homelessness Working Group Reads Capitalism & Disability… (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Monday, September 22 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board x Divestment Priority Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates. Events with a are especially new-member-friendly!

ICE Out of SF Courts!

Join neighbors, activists, grassroots organizations in resisting ICE abductions happening at immigration court hearings! ICE is taking anyone indiscriminately in order to meet their daily quotas. Many of those taken include people with no removal proceedings.

We’ll be meeting every Tuesday and Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM at Immigration Court at 100 Montgomery. We need all hands on deck. The 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM window is when we most need to boost turnout, but if you can’t make that please come whenever works for you. 1 or 2 hours or the entire time!

Say NO to AB 715!

SAY NO TO AB 715! The California Senate Education Committee will be holding a hearing on AB 715, a very dangerous bill that aims to censor criticism of Israel from K-12 public education across the state. This bill comes straight out of the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther playbook. Scott Wiener has been pushing this bill for several months now, and it is essential for comrades and allies in the pro-Palestine movement to turn out to oppose this draconian measure.

The hearing will now take place on the week of September 8 at 1021 O St, Sacramento with exact date TBD. We need to be ready to mobilize in large numbers to say NO. If you are able to make this hearing to voice your opposition, please reply to this RSVP.

Tell your reps to vote against AB 715!

AB 715 is an extremely dangerous bill designed to censor any criticism of Israel and education about Palestine in California schools, by framing it as antisemitic.

For instance, AB 715 defines the following things as antisemitic:

• “Language […] denying the right of Israel to exist”
• “Labeling Israel a settler colonial state”
• “Denigration of people who believe Zionism is inherent to Jewish identity”

 We need your help to stop this bill. Follow the steps here to email and call your representatives.

Apartheid-Free Bay Area Canvass This Saturday

On Saturday, September 13 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, we will be doing a training on how to talk to stores in your neighborhood, then going out and talking with stores together! Meet at 1916 McAllister. RSVP here.

No Appetite for Apartheid is a campaign aimed at reducing economic support for Israeli apartheid by canvassing local businesses to boycott Israeli goods. Come and canvass local businesses with the Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group!

EWOC: Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing

The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) is running a Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing course weekly in September (see below for schedule). Just like we did back in May, we’re getting a group to take the course together and benefit from in-person discussions and activities (at 1916 McAllister). If you’re interested, RSVP here! The goal is to have more people learn organizing skills, both for your own projects and for organizing with EWOC. Sessions run every week from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM on:

• Monday, September 15
• Monday, September 22
• Monday, September 29

If you have any questions, reach out to labor@dsasf.org.

Court Action Orientation

Come out to the office at 1916 McAllister every Wednesday at 6:00 PM (except Wednesday, September 10 due to the chapter meeting) to help us make signs, learn about how we are resisting ICE, and discover how you can help. It’s a great time to meet like-minded people and ask any questions you might have before court actions!

DSA SF x EBDSA: No Space for ICE Canvassing in Oakland Chinatown

The DSA SF Immigrant Justice Working Group and East Bay DSA Migrant Defense Working Group are leaving No Space for ICE!

Join us on Saturday, September 20, at 10:30 AM in Oakland’s Lincoln Square Park to provide Know Your Rights materials and educate local businesses and religious institutions on their rights in relation to ICE/DHS. This canvass will be EBDSA Migrant Defense’s first in Oakland Chinatown — and DSA SF’s Immigrant Justice is helping out! Meet at the sign for Lincoln Square Park for a brief training before we canvass in pairs or small groups.

Wear DSA merch if you can, or put a DSA pin on a visible part of your clothing.

RSVP here or, if you’d like more details, Contact an organizer via email at immigrantjustice@dsasf.org.

DSA SF Homelessness Working Group Reads: Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell

Join DSA SF’s Homelessness Working Group as we read through Capitalism & Disability: Selected Writings by Marta Russell. We’ll be meeting every other Sunday evening starting in September for 4 or 5 sessions at 1916 McAllister. The next session is Sunday, September 21. For more info, register here: bit.ly/martacd and check the events calendar for latest details.

Tech Reading Group with Kickstarter Union Founder Clarissa Redwine

Come join DSA SF and Rideshare Drivers United on Wednesday, September 24 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at 1916 McAllister for our monthly tech reading group. We’ll be reading an article by Clarissa Redwine about the Kickstarter Union Campaign that started in 2016. Clarissa will also be making an appearance on Zoom to answer questions about her experience. RSVP here!

Behind the Scenes

he Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and publishing the weekly newsletter. Members can view current CCC rotations.

Interested in helping with the newsletter or other day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running? Fill out the CCC help form.

Author: Andrew O

It is impossible to organize without a positive vision of the future. Placing a point on the horizon allows us to steer our ship towards that guiding star. I do not speak for the chapter here, but for myself and in hopes of spurring comrades to think about and voice their own visions of what our chapter can and should be. This document outlines what is actively and passively in my mind when I am arguing for or against something in the many debates within our chapter. These goals inform my politics and decisions. I have roughly outlined a long-, medium-, and short- term set of goals for our chapter. These goals are ambitious–as they must be for us to truly change the world.

DSA Cleveland can and should become an organized and independent political party. We should become an organization capable of building and providing mutual and material good for the working class of Northeast Ohio. This ability must be built outside the control of the state and of capital. Our membership must be militant and organized; our chapter democratic, transparent, and politically well-developed.DSA Cleveland is not and cannot simply be the left wing of the Democratic party. We are capable of being an independent party, with our own identity, program, and support base. DSA is uniquely positioned within American politics to become a true opposition party. Our message is a winning message, we have strong theoretical guides to build off, and our base is only limited by our capacity to organize.

Simultaneous to our electoral and reformist goals, it is essential that our chapter is working towards independence from the state. Our goal is not to take over the levers of power. Our goal is to build a new world.  We must create radical structures of mutual care to support our comrades and fellow workers. All of us will be required to build skills in mutual aid and true community defense, whether via food, medicine, shelter, or otherwise.

Building a new world will be the hardest fight any of us have ever seen. In order to weather it together, we must be organized and we must be militant. Each of us must build ourselves and those around us into the leaders we are all capable of being. Worker-leaders will need to be prepared to fight against the state, capital, and the disasters (natural and otherwise) that will put our entire project at risk. It is up to us to organize ourselves into a working class that can stand up to what is to come.

We will only be able to truly organize worker-leaders if we are seeking to be as democratic and transparent as possible. If we are to build a democratic world, we must start now. Member-led, bottom-up democracy cannot survive with incomplete information or an uninformed membership. Discussion and debate must be open and accessible in all ways. Structures must work to preserve the voice of the minority and to increase the general body’s democratic control of the chapter. We must ensure our elected leaders, both inside and outside of the chapter, are accountable to membership both in principle and in fact. Our membership needs to be politically mature and developed so each member has equal control over our organization.

This chapter can be a powerful base born of and built by the working class of Northeast Ohio, but it will not be easy to achieve. Movements like ours have been defeated in nearly every instance they have been built. We have yet to see a single one survive, let alone thrive, within the imperial core. In order to guide our actions, our chapter needs to work together to learn and teach ourselves political theory. We must grow our chapter through the best available methods of organizing. DSA Cleveland’s structures need to ensure our values democracy, transparency, and accountability are protected. This will only be possible if our membership is educated and knowledgeable on the history of these structures as well as the process to change them.

Every person is capable of being a great organizer. We must work together so that each of us reaches this potential. Unlike under capitalism, we want to make ourselves as replaceable as possible. Within our chapter and within our lives, we should constantly seek to organize ourselves, our neighbors, and our comrades. It is our responsibility as comrades to cultivate a wide variety of skills and pass them on as often as we are able. Organizing and teaching are frequently one in the same. For the working class to take over the world, we must make sure that each of us can lead it, together.

The idea of organizing the whole worker, as laid out by Jane McAlevy’s No Shortcuts model of organizing, is the single most effective organizing model I have encountered or tried. It is not infallible, or gospel, nor should it remain fixed and unchanged as we bring it into the various contexts and work that we are doing. It is, however, essential that we are building our organizing from this model if we want to create a truly militant and organized chapter, organization, and working class. The No Shortcuts model is frequently a lot of work, time, and energy. Not to put too fine a point on it, organizing itself is hard and there is no way to shortcut the process. If we are to build a truly organized working class that extends outside of self-selecting activists, we must do the hard work of organizing ourselves first.

To ensure we are making the best use of our capacity, our tactics, and our time, we must base our organizing, our work, and our politics in a political theory. It is our responsibility as socialists to actively cultivate and examine our own theory of politics. We must read, argue, and live our theories of politics together. Theory cannot be learned in isolation. Theory is not simply words in a book. Learning theory is, in and of itself, part of the radical work to win the future. We are each already working from our own theoretical base, whether or not we have examined it. We must come together and have our political theories debate, clash, and build our chapter. 

To guide and instruct the ways we enact our theories and have our debates, as well as to ensure our chapters’ interests in democracy, transparency, and accountability are upheld, we must work to build structures that will withstand bad actors, both those intentionally seeking to harm our chapter and those unaware that they are doing so. It is a fact that any group seeking to change the world will encounter infiltrators and bad actors. This does not mean we should seek to find these individuals, rather we should put structures in place that are better than us, less fallible than us, and structures will be able to be upheld as we continue to grow and change as an organization. These structures should strike the difficult balance between being robust enough to withstand attacks on the democracy of our organization, but flexible enough that they can be changed as needed. 

Structures are not the only method to ensuring our chapter’s democracy, transparency, and accountability is upheld, rather they are one of the tools that we have. Building a culture that values these ideals and taking steps to make sure that each member is educated and knowledgeable on the history of our chapter, our goals, and these structures will give them an understanding of why the chapter is shaped the way it is. Our chapter is built of many decisions made by members, and it can be changed and rebuilt in the same way. Members should be empowered to seek changes to our chapter as they see fit. This will ensure each member has as much ownership and control over the chapter as any other member.

In order to achieve the medium- and long-term goals laid out above, DSA Cleveland needs to realign the chapter’s dedication and support for our priority projects. We must continue the progress made in Membership Committee and bring this same system of engagement to our Education and Communications Committees. Our Priority Projects and Committees must integrate themselves into mutually supportive work. Finally, each priority we take on must move us towards our ambitious electoral and material goals.

Our chapter was in one of our most successful and sustained periods of growth during the Cleveland Housing Organizing Project (CHOP) priority project. There were many external factors for this, but also a good number of internal factors. This priority project built much of what Cleveland DSA is today. The level of commitment to the project was unlike anything our chapter has done since. Some of this was the lack of things to do in person during the lockdowns, much of this was the availability of repeatable work with predictable schedules within the project, but the fact that the chapter truly took this on as a priority cannot be ignored in the success of the CHOP Priority Project.

Our committees must be integrated with our Priority Projects to carry our mutually beneficial work. To use Membership Committee as an example, as it is what I am most familiar with, we have seen great successes this year. The membership pipeline has been rebuilt into the most effective form I have ever seen thanks to the hard work of Chad and the rest of member committee. We cannot simply be organizing members that sign up for new member one on ones and pointing them towards our projects, though. Instead we must make the work of our committees and priorities inexorable from each other. We must work to build a parallel membership pipeline into our priority projects. We must have trained and experienced organizers built into all levels of our work. This will allow us to build the engagement and capacity of both our Membership Committee and Our Priority Projects. Our Education and Communications Committees should seek to build similar methods of integration with our projects and with each other. 

Finally, DSA Cleveland must build Priority Projects that lead us to our goals. Our chapter has an appetite for electoral work and for mutual aid work. That appetite in and of itself is not enough for us to take on this work. It is important that we take on this work because building skills in these areas are essential for us to build the future we want. We cannot take on priority work merely because the work is good or worthy of being done. Our capacity is limited, but as we build and organize towards a shared positive vision, we will grow, our capacity will grow, and our ability to affect change will grow. 

The membership of DSA Cleveland must treat each Priority Project as a step to build the skills of membership, the experience of the chapter, and the capacity we have. Taking each project as a definite step towards our goals will make it easier for us to take on bigger and more varied work in the future. Right now our capacity is limited. Our chapter has not yet successfully run two simultaneous Priority Projects. When we are able to string together several properly supported projects, we will grow our capacity and will need to add more projects to properly organize membership. If we squander our capacity and burn members out without building towards our goals, we will remain at our current size and ability, or worse.

I want to build a DSA Cleveland and a DSA that can take on the world. I want to ensure we, the working class of Northeast Ohio, build the future we want for ourselves. I have great ambitions for this chapter and am sure that we can build it into something great and powerful. If this vision of the future resonates with you, work with me so we can build it together.

1.  At the 2025 DSA National Convention, we adopted the Principles for Party-Building resolution. This resolution is an excellent framework for us to use as we pursue our electoral goals. I want to call special attention to points two, five, and eight.
2.  Northeast Ohio is our chapter’s area of operation, but our struggle is a global one and we cannot lose sight of that.
3.  We must build a concrete set of goals for our chapter and our organization. These goals are what we will fight for and implement when we win power. Our big tent–which brings us strength through a diversity of thought and perspective–can be raised over these points and debate over how to pursue and achieve them can flourish.
4.  You can read the chapter’s PDF copy in our drive. I believe it is essential reading for our organizers.

The post A Positive Vision for DSA Cleveland appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

Markus Sokol represented Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) at the 2025 DSA National Convention and discussed the challenges facing left-wing organizations against the rise of fascism and the far right around the world.

The post Partido dos Trabalhadores Participates in the DSA Convention in the USA appeared first on Democratic Left.

Even before Donald Trump became president for a second time and began enacting a systematic attack on LGBTQ+ people—trans and nonbinary people especially—their lives and rights were at risk. Across the U.S., state after state under GOP leadership has begun doing everything they can to strip away hard-earned rights to privacy, personhood, and life-saving, gender-affirming care. 

Trans and nonbinary folks are some of the most vulnerable in our society to homelessness, lower wages, mental illness, workplace discrimination, violence, and suicidal ideation. The anti-trans rhetoric and policies that have surged in recent years have only made things more dire. 

As a result, the Cleveland DSA chapter decided to do something to protect trans and nonbinary comrades in our organization and the community at large. Enter the Trans Liberation Priority Project.

Our Vision

Started in 2025, the Trans Liberation Priority Project of the Cleveland DSA’s strategic vision is to: 

• Pass a Trans Sanctuary City resolution in the cities of Cleveland and Lakewood similar to resolutions passed in other cities like Cincinnati and Cleveland Heights that will deprioritize the enforcement of any laws that would harm trans people such as laws penalizing the provision of gender-affirming care.

• Provide support and resources to the trans community in Cleveland DSA’s region.
• Work towards developing organized, sustained, militant, anti-capitalist trans politics in and around Cleveland.

Recap

Cleveland DSA recently reauthorized our trans rights work in August for a second term. This term will be building on the work we did over the course of that first term which included: 

• Hosting clothing swaps where anyone in the community could donate and/or pick up clothing
• Running a Name Change Clinic where community members were able to receive legal aid as well as financial aid to file Name Changes and amend Gender Marker documentation.
• Organizing 2 fundraising events where we raised $1190

In our first month of this new term we’ve hit the ground running with our efforts for the Sanctuary City Resolution by collecting over 700 signatures from the community in support of our resolution. We’ve also begun mobilizing members and the community to the Lakewood City Council meetings to keep the pressure on our elected officials to pass this resolution. We have also started ramping up our collaboration with other local nonprofit and activist groups that are also working to protect trans and nonbinary rights.

What’s Next?

The fight is far from over. We aim to continue to do everything we can to push the Trans Sanctuary City resolution in Lakewood and eventually, through working alongside other organizations and local government reps, the City of Cleveland. We will canvas and collect signatures in support of trans sanctuary legislation in our region, continue organizing other mutual aid events, and spreading literature about trans rights throughout local municipalities. 

Now is the time to act—are you ready to join us? 

The post Trans Liberation Priority Project: Protecting Lives and Rights of a Community Under Threat appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

By: Travis Wayne

BEACON HILL, MA – On the morning of September 9, 2025, organizers from an anti-Zionist coalition of Massachusetts residents arrived at the Massachusetts State House to rally with supporters for their cause: stop a partnership signed by Governor Maura Healey with Israel’s largest medical system to launch an Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup accelerator in the Bay State.

Sheba Medical, its primary site in operation since the Nakba, is funding its AI arm under the name ARC: Accelerate, Redesign, Collaborate. ARC aims to shape healthcare by “connecting entrepreneurs and clinicians, advancing the development and implementation of new technologies.” The main goal of the ARC startup accelerator is to create pipelines, to make it easier for experimental products to be used in clinical settings, with a particular focus on three kinds of technology: diagnostic tools, digital health platforms, and “workforce support technologies.”

Sheba ARC is thus poised upon its 2026 launch to fundamentally alter the management of both patients (through diagnostic tools and digital health platforms) and workers (through workforce support), making both more heavily integrated and reliant on AI technology from the State of Israel.

Start-up Accelerator Against a Backdrop of Genocide

The Governor’s Office announced the partnership back in May 2025. While Governor Healey at the time mainly focused on Massachusetts’ status as a “global hub for healthcare” ready for the accelerator to contribute to the state’s so-called “innovation-based economy,” the Consul General of Israel to New England Benny Sharoni was more explicit about the contract’s actual impact:

Opportunities for deeper collaboration between Israel and Massachusetts are both real and exciting—especially in biotech and life sciences, where both are global leaders. Together, the innovation ecosystems of Israel and the Greater Boston Area can drive breakthroughs in science and medicine for the benefit of all.

The benefit of all pointedly does not include benefits to the Palestinian healthcare system. While Sheba floods money into an AI accelerator to make patient and worker management less human, accessing Massachusetts’ healthcare as a “soft landing pad” in U.S. markets, Gaza’s healthcare system is in total collapse, with Israel killing more than 55,000 Palestinians less than forty miles from Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv.

“The Israeli medical establishment in general identifies with Israel’s colonial project and puts the colonial project over the most basic ethical principles of their profession,” wrote Neve Gordon, the former inaugural director of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and one of three authors who wrote “The Shame of Israeli Medicine” cited by the organizers of Sheba Out of MA, which describes the ways in which the apartheid system is endemic to Israeli medicine. The authors call for the total boycott of Israeli medical institutions like Sheba.

Or as one organizer read: “we must not partner with entities that serve as arms of the regime.”

Taxpayer Coalition Petitions the Governor

The ways in which Sheba ARC will make Massachusetts even more complicit in the U.S.-Israeli genocide, taxpayer dollars even more blood-soaked, is what drove the taxpayer coalition to the steps of the State House.

The Sheba Out of MA coalition is led by Healthcare Workers for Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, and the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, assembling together signatories from 38 other local organizations including thirteen neighborhood-based pro-Palestine formations, Doctors Against Genocide, Physicians for Humanity, United American Indians of New England, and the Boston Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Jordana Laks, an organizer with the Healthcare Workers for Palestine, read from the letter to the gathered crowd while other organizers delivered the letter itself. They shared the words of one signatory after another from across Massachusetts. One Weston medical professional wrote that, “as a physician, I find it particularly appalling to welcome an Israeli healthcare company when Israel has made [destroying Gaza’s medical facilities] its priority.” Another taxpayer said it was a true shame for the Governor to forge such a partnership, “especially in the name of AI technology.”

Around noon, organizers returned from delivering the signed letter to the Governor’s Office.

Speaking to Working Mass as the crowd dispersed, Laks said:

We want safe homes, abundant food, excellent schools, healthcare as a human right–not financial and moral support for Israel. Call Governor Healey to stop Sheba ARC from pervading Massachusetts healthcare.

Sheba isn’t the first such partnership that anti-Zionist coalitions have forced to end in the Greater Boston area. In April 2025, BDS Boston successfully forced MIT-ILP to cancel its lucrative contract with Elbit Systems.

You can sign the Sheba Out of MA petition as an individual or organization or call the Governor’s Office to call for Sheba Out of MA.

Travis Wayne is the deputy managing editor of Working Mass and a member of Boston DSA.

The post Sheba Out of MA: Taxpayers Deliver Letter Demanding No Israeli AI in MA Healthcare appeared first on Working Mass.

By: Taina Santiago

When summer ended and the school year began again, parents were racing to check off their supply lists. For working class families, this task can be time-consuming and expensive. In response, Metro Detroit DSA’s Black and Brown Alliance (BBA) organized a back-to-school backpack drive.

The event took place Saturday, August 30, at the Eastside Community Network (ECN) building in Detroit, where other community services like free vaccines for children and free pizza for families were set up as well. ECN also runs a free store packed with clothes, shoes, and toiletries.

This space fostered the socialist principle of meeting the needs of the working class in real ways. With a “Solidarity Metro Detroit DSA” banner proudly displayed, a dozen DSA volunteers throughout the day distributed 140 backpacks filled with folders, markers, pencils, and other school supplies.

Why Mutual Aid?

Mutual aid is a form of community service that expects nothing in return from those you are lending a helping hand. It functions under the philosophy that we always show up for each other in our communities. BBA has been talking about doing a mutual aid project for a few months now, with members eager to get started on something actionable. BBA Secretary Rodney Coopwood had a personal connection to the idea: “Growing up in Detroit, there were times when I myself didn’t have what I needed for school. I had to wait for supplies well after classes started.”

BBA was also inspired by the Black Panthers and their ability to radicalize people through community services. BBA Co-chair Jon Mukes said, “[Mutual aid is] how a lot of Black people from various other socialist traditions organized. Free breakfast programs, free health clinics, etc., were incredibly revolutionary. Historically one of the reasons why socialism grew is because socialists and communists fed the people when the capitalist system failed.”

Because of the Black Panthers’ example, it was clear to the BBA that there had to be educational and community-building elements in the project to avoid doing one-and-done, detached charity work. So along with handing out supplies, we also gave literature about DSA to parents and had deliberate conversations with members of the community about socialism.

Recruitment Potential of Mutual Aid

One of the BBA’s goals is to diversify Metro Detroit DSA. Black and Brown socialists have always been the backbone of the larger movement and there should be many more people of color in our organization. Mukes said, “One of the many reasons that our chapter is incredibly white is that we aren’t visible/doing work in Black and Brown communities.” While a delegate to DSA’s national convention this year, Mukes says he “made a point to hang around and talk to other POC comrades and I asked about how they recruited Black and Brown members. A backpack drive for Black people in their communities came up a lot.”

BBA’s mission of diversity in the chapter also informed where we chose to hold the backpack drive: in Detroit. Volunteers spent the day informing Black parents about DSA’s September general meeting, giving interested people an actionable next step to get involved, and collecting contact information for further communications. An event that makes DSA visible and allows us to have one-on-one conversations with people of color has great recruitment potential for working class Black and Brown comrades.

Another goal of the BBA — and DSA as a whole — is to change the narrative around socialism. Decades of Red Scare propaganda have painted socialists as the enemy of the people when the opposite is true. Socialists want to bring working class people together and events like the backpack drive do just that.

“If we approach them with more actions and fewer words, they see us as people of purpose. We give their kids backpacks. We provide water when they’re thirsty, heat when they’re cold,” Coopwood said. “When we were there, I expected to be brushed off, but people were very open to talking about socialism. They may not sign up for DSA, but they’ll know that DSA and socialists are there to help. So when an open socialist is on the ballot, holding a rally, or pushing an agenda to publicize a private corporation or implement ranked-choice voting, they’ll be open to us.”

Lessons on Organizing

As important as the event itself was all the planning, budgeting, location scouting, and prepping that had to be done in a short window of time. When BBA voted to put the backpack drive into motion, there were only a couple of weeks before the school year began. Within a couple of days, Coopwood had drawn up a fully mapped out proposal to take to the steering committee. In another week, Mukes was ordering supplies and a week after that, those supplies were in the hands of working class families.

This speed of turning talk into action was a testament to BBA members’ organizing skills and served as a confidence booster to fuel more projects. Coopwood said, “I realized I’m much more capable as an organizer than I originally thought. This was my first time doing something like this. I applied what I do at work as a researcher, made an action plan, and it worked — I was very proud of that.” Mukes sang the praises of fellow organizers, saying, “My biggest takeaway was how quickly a handful of dedicated people can set something like this up.”

These kinds of mutual aid projects would give the chapter more opportunities to build up experienced organizers, giving members projects to try out, learn from, and succeed at. The DSA volunteers who have conversations with strangers about socialism will improve their skills there too. The members who put events like the backpack drive together will take valuable lessons into subsequent projects, bringing ideas from the abstract into reality with effectiveness and efficiency.

As Coopwood pointed out, these events “give action-oriented members an outlet to effectively aid communities, and those communities know exactly who assisted them, building unity and loyalty. This unity will be reflected when we need to run electoral candidates or launch campaigns like Michigan for the Many,” which is a campaign we actually gathered signatures for at the backpack drive. He continued, “This is how we get the public — who intrinsically value actions over promises — to know what Metro Detroit DSA is and bring them to our side.”

Just the Beginning

As socialists, getting the material needs of the working class met is an important element in our ideal political and economic system, so we should put our socialist money/action where our mouth is. The backpack drive is not a one-off event, it is a kick-off to a greater focus of the BBA on mutual aid in general. Our direct involvement in communities of color — getting to know people and cultivating camaraderie — will be invaluable to building our movement.

And it isn’t just about the big picture goals. It’s also about the small moments that keep us connected to the human-driven purpose of everything we are doing, which Coopwood highlighted: “I got to see kids pick out their favorite color backpacks, and in the grand scheme of trying to stop capitalism and imperialism from destroying the world, it’s nice to see a kid pick their favorite color backpack.”

BBA Rings in the School Year with Backpack Drive was originally published in The Detroit Socialist on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

After reading that Burlington’s legendary music spot Nectar’s had permanently closed, GMDSA Secretary David Wilcox wrote to Seven Days to propose municipalizing the venue. His letter, printed on 8/20/2025, is republished below.

In response to the shutdown of Nectar’s, I’d like to suggest a solution: Why not have the city government take over and run Nectar’s? There’s nothing radical or unprecedented about the City of Burlington running a popular music venue, given that it owned and operated 242 Main for 30 years. And I would argue that a venue like Nectar’s, one that’s synonymous with the general idea of what Burlington is, contributes far more to the city’s bottom line than its own financial numbers would indicate.

Without venues like Nectar’s, Burlington loses its aura as a cool, desirable place to live. And if Nectar’s has seemed like a shadow of its former self in recent years, why not try to revitalize it under new (public) ownership? Especially since the final shutdown of Nectar’s was due to a dispute with a landlord. The city has already forced the sale of one Handy property (184 Church Street) for the greater good of the community. Surely, there’s a way to make all this happen with enough political will.

I, for one, am sick and tired of passively accepting the loss of important places and services due to “the market,” which is every bit as much a human-created institution as laws and governments. The Burlington renaissance began with then-mayor Bernie Sanders (whose administration founded 242 Main) refusing to accept the market dictating that we couldn’t have nice things. If we want Burlington’s glory days to return, we need to rediscover that energy.

David Wilcox
Winooski