[[{“value”:”

By: Ben A

BOSTON, MA – In the wake of the Trump regime’s criminal attack on the Bolivarian Revolution and Venezuela’s sovereignty, as well as the ICE killings of Renee Good and Keith Porter, over a thousand people gathered on Saturday January 10th in the Boston Common and City Hall Plaza to demonstrate their refusal to stand by while the Trump regime commits heinous acts of violence at home and abroad.

The protest on the Common was organized by the Boston chapters of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), alongside a number of sponsoring organizations, including Cambridge Our Revolution, Mass. Peace Action, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), the MA Sierra Club, Mass. 50501, and others, which marched through the streets of downtown Boston to meet up with a simultaneous protest in City Hall Plaza organized by the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network.

Renee Good, one of the two murdered by the secret police, participated in a Minneapolis ICE Watch operation similar to LUCE.

“We bore witness to the imperial boomerang this week,” said Bonnie Jin, co-chair of Boston DSA, and a speaker at the rally. Jin outlined demands for Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and other elected representatives to take more authoritative action. “Take a public stand against ICE, and use the full power of the law to hold ICE accountable.”

This protest was just one of nearly a thousand that took place across the country, many of which were part of a day of action called for by the national leadership of DSA, along with PSL and the Palestinian Youth Movement nationwide. While the political tendencies represented at this protest were diverse, protesters were largely united in their demands. Protesters carried signs demanding “No Wars for Oil,” a call back to the deeply unpopular and disastrous Iraq War, as well as “Abolish ICE” and “Nobody is Illegal on Stolen Land.”  

The shared messaging points to a larger shared understanding.

Most protesters, affirmed with each head nod to each speaker, hold a series of beliefs:

1. Immigrants are not our enemies,
2. We don’t benefit from imperialist wars in other countries, especially not our immigrant neighbors terrorized by ICE, and,
3. ICE is our actual foe, alongside the government funding its crimes, the same government attacking Venezuela.

While the crisis of capitalism, manifested by an affordability crisis and a housing crisis, continues to ruin the lives of working class people in the United States, Trump’s regime would rather dump hundreds of billions of dollars into paying for war in other nations and tens of billions into expanding ICE operations, instead of helping working class people afford their rent, their groceries, or their utilities.

Rallying for the Safe Communities Act

While protests stretched across most major cities nationwide, one specific aspect of Boston’s was a demand: the Safe Communities Act.

A priority of Boston DSA in its campaign alongside ICE Watch, the Safe Communities Act would terminate state cooperation with ICE, including courts and police questioning about immigration status, as well as protecting basic rights. The rally drew numerous labor leaders, including Evan McKay, former president of the Harvard Graduate Student Union (HGSU) and DSA-endorsed candidate for Cambridge’s Middlesex-25 district for State Representative, who told Working Mass about the need for urgent action and passing of the Safe Communities Act.

This legislation has been blocked by the Statehouse in secret votes, year after year, in secret votes by powerful politicians that want to hide from accountability. Today, we said enough is enough, because we know who is accountable… State House leadership.

MacKay is challenging incumbent Marjorie Decker for the Cambridge district spanning from Central Square to Harvard and Porter in the 2026 election, which they lost in 2024 by only a handful of votes.

Nadeen from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) drew connecting lines between military action in Venezuela and the genocide in Palestine:

Economic strangulation is presented as policy, long term occupation and intervention presented as stability – but stability just for the oil oligarchs.

Another speaker from the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) has launched a long-shot bid for U.S. Senate. The candidate, Joe Tache, connected the historic context of Boston as a site of revolutionary and abolition activity to the current moment:

I see Renee Good’s murder as connected to Trump’s war of aggression in Venezuela, which he is trying to conquer for oil. The capitalist system which prioritizes profits above all else, and uses racism as a tool to dominate working people, is going to continue to allow figures like Trump and the right-wing to grow.

Trump’s recent kidnapping of Venezuelan President Maduro is the continuation of a long history of illegal U.S. interventions in Latin America. President Trump, in a moment of remarkable transparency, posted on Truth Social about the financial inflow from the operation, writing that, “this Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and the money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America…”.

Geo Maher, an abolitionist scholar and author, has argued that the move for the U.S. to reassert itself in Latin America represents a decline of traditional U.S. imperial power on the global stage.

Both the ICE crackdown at home, and the U.S. assault on Venezuela abroad are symptoms of the crisis of capitalism and the decline of the US empire. ICE operations target and remove people deemed expendable by the Trump Regime and the capitalist class, mimicking mass incarceration by essentially getting rid of people that the US can no longer provide for as economic conditions worsen. Meanwhile, the attack on Venezuela is designed to prevent China and Russia from accessing much needed oil, and to create more compliant regimes in Venezuela and all of Latin America as the United States proceeds with its plans to create new supply chains that cut out China and are based in Latin America. The plan is clearly outlined in the latest National Security Strategy document released by the Trump regime in November 2025.

Deportations may also serve to bolster this as well, by keeping the Latin American work force in Latin America, forcing them to become the labor driving this new supply chain. 

The long term vision of this plan decoupling the U.S. supply chain from China in order to prepare for a great power war. Obviously, the consequences would be devastating to the all of the working classes around the globe. Our only chance of ensuring that we never see this outcome is by creating a powerful anti-war movement that can ultimately challenge the capitalist class’s control of the US and the world. Actions like the nationwide protests seen on Saturday are important developments along the path of building this movement, with more to come soon.

Ben A is a member of Boston DSA and contributing writer to Working Mass.

The post January 10, 2026: Mass Protests Against ICE and War in Venezuela Hit the Boston Common appeared first on Working Mass.

“}]] 

Enjoy your January National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 27-person body (including both YDSA Co-Chairs) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, melting ICE, standing against militarism, volunteer opportunities, and more!

And to make sure you get our newsletters in your inbox, sign up here! Each one features action alerts, upcoming events, political education, and more.

• From the National Political Committee — Energy in Darkness
• Apply for the National Arms Embargo Committee and Abolish ICE Committee! Deadline Tuesday 1/27
• Sunday 2/1 — RSVP for Starbucks Strike Reportback with the DSA National Labor Commission
• Are You a Union Member? Check Out Our Hands Off Venezuela Resolution Template!
• Join Labor for an Arms Embargo Trainings Wednesday 2/11 and Wednesday 2/25
• RSVP for Political Education Trainings Thursday 1/22 and Thursday 2/5
• Sign Up for the Housing Justice Commission’s Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee Training Series! Starts Saturday 2/7
• Be Part of the DSA National Editorial Board! Applications due TONIGHT, Thursday 1/15
• DSA is Hiring! Application Deadline Sunday 2/8
• Welcome Our Newest Chapter!

From the National Political Committee — Energy in Darkness

Dear Comrades,

Happy New Year! Just a few weeks into 2026, we’re feeling how intensely the contradictions are heightening across our society.

On New Year’s Day, we celebrated with our comrades in New York City who froze their toes off for hours in the crowd of thousands outside City Hall, inspired by the warmth of collectivism as we watched the inauguration of Zohran Mamdani, who proudly announced he will govern as a democratic socialist mayor of the world’s wealthiest city. While Lucy Dacus sang the historic labor anthem “Bread and Roses,” Bernie Sanders swore in the mayor over a Quran, and Zohran himself touted “DSA meetings” as a core part of the civic fabric of this city of 8 million people, it was hard not to feel deeply moved by how far our movement has come through the past decade of DSA’s massive growth in the United States.

Within just two days, we watched in horror as the Trump administration bombed Caracas and rapidly escalated an illegal military intervention and regime change in Venezuela by kidnapping their President and his wife. Just days after that, ICE agents murdered Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, and we continue to see an all-out siege of the Twin Cities by the occupying force of ICE. You can donate here to support Twin Cities DSA’s ICE Watch and Know-Your-Rights work. Threats of active regime change are escalating against Cuba, and Trump is increasing belligerence against Mexico, Colombia, Greenland, Nigeria, Iran, and more — openly invoking the Monroe Doctrine of naked imperialism from over a century ago, and shamelessly embracing it as the “Donroe Doctrine” to dominate the whole hemisphere to plunder resources.

Next week is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. His internationalist vision is more crucial than ever. In his pivotal “Beyond Vietnam” speech, Dr. King said “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.” Today, the US is in a zombie state. Our government’s military budget soars past $1 trillion, and the ICE budget balloons larger than the militaries of most other countries — all while basic social services are cut for millions of working class people.

As Antonio Gramsci said: “The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters.” Against all the darkness, we believe this is our time to win. Against the flailing of the monsters leading this regime, we’re organizing everywhere for a gorgeous and more compassionate world for all. Millions of people are realizing what we’ve known all along: as the existing order continues to decay, socialism is what can beat fascism.

Across the country, that’s what DSA is demonstrating. Within hours of Trump’s invasion of Venezuela, our National Political Committee sprang into action with our members to coordinate days of action and say Hands Off Venezuela. DSA chapters quickly organized actions and showed up with thousands across the country to say No War, No ICE. More and more Americans are realizing that abolishing ICE isn’t a radical demand. It’s a rational response to an out-of-control force of state terror that’s still younger than most DSA members today.

MLK Day will fittingly kick off a week of protest across the country, with labor unions and community groups gearing up for a statewide shutdown of Minnesota. We’re calling on people across the country to join a nationwide day of action against ICE terror on January 20, to walk out and show up on the streets.

From coast to coast, chapters are taking on Trump’s fascist deportation machine. DSA organizers from Los Angeles to Chicago to Charlotte are learning from each others’ strategies to help each other protect residents and resist ICE — participating in ICE Watch programs, exposing the malfeasance of ICE agents near Minneapolis as they swapped out license plates before conducting raids to kidnap people, organizing for sanctuary city legislation, and making ICE collaboration a toxic decision for businesses like Avelo Airlines. Within a day of Renee’s killing by ICE, we learned that DSA members helped score a major win to pressure Avelo to cancel their contract with ICE, after chapters across the country threw down over the past year with a boycott campaign to expose their deportation flights and show that tearing families apart is toxic to their bottom line.

Learn more about that incredible win on our mass call on Wednesday 1/21 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT: From Solidarity with Minneapolis to a Win Against Avelo Airlines! And then join us for our next ICE OUT call Tuesday 2/3 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT!

Meanwhile, DSA chapters across the country are standing with workers against bad bosses. From Atlanta, to Detroit, to Denver, to Wilmington in North Carolina, to San Antonio in Texas, and beyond, are standing with Starbucks Workers United and saying “No contract? No coffee!” Last month, striking baristas brought the picket line directly to Starbucks’ biggest regional distribution centers in northern Nevada and Pennsylvania, and DSA labor organizers and chapter leaders showed up in solidarity as they faced mass arrest in protest of Starbucks’ unfair labor practices. The largest nurses strike in NYC history is underway, and Mayor Zohran was right there on the picket line in solidarity with 15,000 nurses and many NYC DSA members. 

Socialist elected officials are leading and winning on an affordability agenda for all, and we’re continuing to expand toward our ultimate horizon as socialists: everything for everyone. NYC DSA members have stacked mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s transition team — all the better to deal with the challenges of building municipal socialism in America’s largest city. The right wing is freaking out about DSA member appointments like tenant organizer Cea Weaver, but our movement is strong enough to stand strong against bad faith attacks from the landlord lobby. Within two weeks of taking office, mayor Mamdani began to deliver on a core campaign promise for free childcare for all. We’re not resting on our laurels — DSA chapters are looking ahead to build on our historic wins from the past year and keep contesting exciting races for elected office across the country in 2026.

All this is why more people are part of DSA now than ever. This week we just passed 95,000 members nationwide, our biggest membership milestone yet, with hundreds more plugging in week by week. Our 2025 recruitment drive wrapped right after New Year’s Day, and the results show we’re organizing everywhere. Some of our fastest growing DSA chapters are in places you might not expect — Corpus Christi DSA in Texas; Sonoma County DSA in California; Middle Georgia DSA, and Bluegrass DSA in Kentucky. If you are not yet a DSA member, join us now!

2026 will demand even more energy and courage from all of us, and we know DSA members everywhere will do the most to support each other in the struggles ahead. With our massive increase in membership comes a lot more in collective resources we can use to level up our people power. At our National Political Committee’s first monthly meeting of 2026 last weekend, we committed to major increases in support to the amazing work happening across DSA, with $1 million in direct grant funding we will disburse to chapters throughout the year to sustain and promote our ongoing growth, hiring more full-time staff to support our member-led organizing work, stipends to help support working class leadership of our elected body, and organizing tools to help reach masses of people in our organizing campaigns. 

DSA is more powerful today than most of us could have imagined a decade ago, and we will keep organizing everywhere for the world we know we all deserve to win.

In Solidarity, 

Ashik and Megan
DSA National Political Committee Co-Chairs

Apply for the National Arms Embargo Committee and Abolish ICE Committee! Deadline Tuesday 1/27

As part of the implementation of convention resolutions, last December the NPC chartered two new national appointed committees, the Arms Embargo Committee and the Abolish ICE Committee.

The Arms Embargo Committee will include four liaisons from other national bodies and  At five Large seats. It will provide coordination and develop joint strategies across different bodies carrying out arms embargo-related work. 

The Abolish ICE Committee will include five liaisons from other national bodies and six At Large seats, and will develop a robust national priority Abolish ICE campaign. 

The NPC is soliciting applications for the At Large seats of both committees! Apply by Tuesday 1/27 midnight PT through the Arms Embargo Committee Application Form or the Abolish ICE Committee Application Form if you have relevant experience and are excited to develop DSA’s anti-war or migrant defense national strategies.

Sunday 2/1 — RSVP for Starbucks Strike Reportback with the DSA National Labor Commission

Since Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) kicked off their strike in November 2025, DSA has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with them as they fight for their first union contract to bring dignity, respect, and union power to Starbucks baristas across the country. While the strike continues in Oregon, Illinois, New York, California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Texas, in many cities, SBWU members are back to work. During this strike, DSA chapters across the country have stepped up to support baristas, experimenting with new strategies and building new capacities in the process.

Join us for a debrief discussion at the NLC Membership Meeting on Sunday 2/1 at 1pm ET/12pm CT/11am MT/10am PT to go over our strike solidarity organizing, next steps for continued solidarity with the Starbucks Strike, and how DSA members can get involved in building a powerful labor movement in 2026!

Are You a Union Member? Check Out Our Hands Off Venezuela Resolution Template!

The National Labor Commission has created a Hands Off Venezuela resolution template for union members to pass in their union locals and labor councils. Please share this in your chapters and labor networks. 

And if you introduce this resolution in your union, please let us know using this resolution tracker so we can track its progress and follow up with you.

Join Labor for an Arms Embargo Trainings Wednesday 2/11 and Wednesday 2/25

There is no ceasefire. The United States sends more weapons for Israel’s genocide than any other country on Earth. In these trainings, you’ll learn why we need to win an arms embargo to support Palestinian liberation. Map your community, identify allied unions/organizations, set organizing targets, and get your campaign off the ground.

Attend to know what you need to unite your city and stop these shipments! These two-part trainings will recur monthly. You can RSVP here:

• Wednesday 2/11, 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT/6:30pm MT/5:30pm PT Labor for an Arms Embargo: Introduction
• Wednesday 2/25, 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT/6:30pm MT/5:30pm PT Labor for an Arms Embargo: Setting Up Your Campaign

RSVP for Political Education Trainings Thursday 1/22 and Thursday 2/5

It’s a new year, and DSA’s National Political Education Committee (NPEC) has old and NEW trainings on the books! 

• Join us Thursday 1/22 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for our regular training on setting up and running your own chapter political education committee.
• And on Thursday 2/5 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT, join our new Socialist Archiving workshop, The Digital Deep Dive!

To find out more about upcoming trainings, committee goings-on, and all things poli ed, sign up to receive the Red Letter, NPEC’s monthly email newsletter.

Sign Up for the Housing Justice Commission’s Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee Training Series! Starts Saturday 2/7

Start your year with everything you need to know about starting a tenant union! This is a four week training in February, with a two-hour session each Saturday at 2pm ET/1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT. We’ll go over the basics of talking to your neighbors, creating collective demands, and how to strategize around the landlord-tenant contradiction. If you bring at least three participants, we’ll find your group a mentor to give you more support as you start your tenant union!

Be Part of the DSA National Editorial Board! Applications due TONIGHT, Thursday 1/15

Applications are DUE TONIGHT to the 2025-2027 DSA National Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is a 9-member body appointed by the NPC that oversees the organization’s two national publications, Democratic Left and Socialist Forum. The Editorial Board is composed of members with various points of view on important political questions. It does not exist to develop a single theoretical or strategic perspective. As a result, the publications reflect the wide range of views within the organization. The goal of the Editorial Board is not to espouse a particular “party line,” but to maintain strong editorial standards for our publications. As such, the process prioritizes familiarity with DSA and editorial experience in appointment to positions on the board.

If you are interested in being appointed to the Editorial Board, please fill out this application by tonight, Thursday, 1/15 at 11:59PM Hawaii Standard Time.

DSA is Hiring! Application Deadline Sunday 2/8

DSA is hiring a Media Coordinator! Applications are due by Sunday 2/8. You can find details here.

Welcome Our Newest Chapter!

Let’s kick off 2026 with a warm welcome to our latest chapter, Central Mississippi DSA! You can find a full list of our chapters here.

The post Your National Political Committee newsletter — Energy in Darkness appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

The excursion into the politics of the Obama presidency fails to reckon with the escalating crisis of the Trump era.

The post “Ella McCay” misses the moment appeared first on Democratic Left.

A member of the National Political Committee saw the consequences of the blockade and the potential for international solidarity as part of DSA’s second delegation to Cuba.
Christian Araos, NPC

The post Clouds Over Havana appeared first on Democratic Left.

A labor lockout is an effort by bosses to block workers from working in the midst of a labor dispute.

The post What is a labor lockout? appeared first on EWOC.

Author: Mike Z

On Wednesday in Minnesota an innocent poet, journalist, and mother of three children was murdered in cold blood by a masked ICE thug. Renee Nicole Good was acting as a legal observer to the ICE raid in question, taking on an extremely important role in documenting the abuses our government inflicts upon us. This woman was just like you or me — an average person who is doing their part to try and help their neighbors in these dark and tumultuous times as our rights and liberties are stripped away and infringed upon daily.

There was a doctor on the scene who was denied access to Renee Good and held at gunpoint. Had the doctor been allowed to reach her, potential life saving care could have been performed. When the paramedics arrived, much like how Israel does when they brutalize a population in the West Bank or Gaza, they were denied access to Renee. They were then forced to walk on foot to retrieve her limp body to transfer to a location where she could be given treatment on the way to the hospital. She was pronounced dead upon arrival, succumbing to her wounds.

Renee Good’s life was stolen. Make no mistake with how the media is trying to spin this narrative, there was no justifiable reason to brutalize this woman, much less murder her in cold blood. There is no conceivable way to interpret the evidence we have in any other way than willful execution of a civilian by the state. 

It is a tragedy that three children, ages 6, 12, and 15, will now grow up without their mother. A six year old child has been made an orphan as a result of this sick transgression. This is someone who could have been the person in front of you in line as you wait in the grocery store checkout with your food for dinner. This family and the communities they inhabit will feel this loss for the rest of their lives. It is an abject tragedy that we cannot come together in the wake of such senseless violence to condemn an action that never should have happened in the first place. Her absence will be felt by many.

Renee Good is not the first person to have been brutalized or slaughtered by ICE and will assuredly and unfortunately not be the last. While other instances of violence lack the damning video documentation that Good’s execution had, that does not diminish the impact of them in any way. Just one day after her murder ICE agents opened fire on 2 civilians in Portland and wounded them – luckily as of now both victims have survived.  On New Year’s Eve an off duty ICE agent murdered a man in Los Angeles for firing off gunshots in celebration. All of this and more happened just in the first two weeks of 2026!

2025 was the deadliest year in the history of ICE – no less than 32 innocent people were murdered by their hands. And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the other various heinous crimes committed on the civilian population from sexual assault to unlawful and brutal incarceration. No doubt more incidents such as these are happening right now. I wish I could tell you things were going to get better, but I think the hard reality is we are in for things to get much worse. The state will be ever emboldened by this development as large swaths of the nation seemingly have been propagandized into not believing their own eyes. As the media manufactures consent for further acts of brutality on the civilian population we enter a new and frightening chapter of the fascist takeover of the United States of America.

With the imperial boomerang quickly finding its way back home, now more than ever we need to be standing with one another as community members with intertwined destinies. It should be clear to us with these startling developments in our country that no single individual will be able to stop these masked thugs from going neighborhood to neighborhood, door to door, acting with unaccountable impunity against our friends and family. The only way we can demand justice for these heinous crimes is collectively. Our government does not care about our outcry as individuals, but together we can make our voices heard in ways that none of us could ever hope to do on our own.

The most important thing for us to be doing at this moment is bolstering the human connections that bind our communities together. If our government will not defend us from an armed Gestapo, we must work to build those defenses together. Find local protests in your area to make your righteous anger known, join in on pressure campaigns to demand condemnation of ICE from our elected officials, help with rapid response networks tracking ICE’s actions in your area, engage in mutual aid to help the families of victims in your neighborhoods, or join an organization working to change the political character of this nation like the Democratic Socialists of America. Together we must stand as one in our quest for justice and rebuke this blatant assault on our base freedoms. We must refuse to allow the tragic martyring of those victims of ICE like Renee Good to be for nothing and ensure that it not be allowed to happen again.

The post A Moment for Renee Nicole Good appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.