Frederick Douglass’s classic oration, given on July 5, 1852, 174 years ago tomorrow, in Rochester, New York, is an essential text for any celebration of America’s holiday of independence. At a time when those in power in this country consistently attempt to remove or minimize the proper–indeed, in an important sense actually patriotic–acknowledgment and reflection upon our country’s injustices, Douglass’s words still cut to the heart of the American story. Between the festivities of the day, find the time to read the whole thing here and join with other DSA members, civil rights activists, conscientious religious believers, and all others of good will to resolve that Douglass’s example of agitation and prophecy will never, ever, perish from the earth, or lay ignored and in vain.

The post “What, to the American Slave, is Your Fourth of July?” appeared first on DSA Religious Socialism.

Read more at Memphis-Midsouth

by Carl W.

In the Year of Our Lord 2026, the vibes are extremely fucked. They are disgusting.

Oh say can you see, from the rancid green Reflecting Pool, to the open construction pit of the Crypto Bribe Ballroom in the ruins of the White House, next to the Monster Energy Drink sponsored UFC octagon where CTE-addled transphobes bludgeon each other into oblivion; we come to the last sad vestige of this pathetic, limping “celebration” of the empire: the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair.

It’s kinda perfect, isn’t it? It’s like they built a physical metaphor or something.

There are more people in our General Meetings than at this Fair. The cheap plaster hides an empty, hollow affair celebrated by no one; the simulacrum of dignity and power. Just like Trump’s fake golden Oval Office, bought at Home Depot and spray-painted. A fake on a fake, it’s fugazis all the way down.

This entire affair reeks of desperation, of AI-generated fantasy crashing into the reality of the moment. The banks are out of money, the oil wells are running dry, and the people of this country are finally seeing the empire for what it is: a casino run by pedophiles ripping the copper out of the walls, meanwhile half a million don’t know where they’ll sleep tonight. The decrepit rapist president makes over a billion dollars in Pisscoins while people pay $5 a gallon and go bankrupt from toenail infections.

Nationally, the decaying facade has gone stupid, a pathetic display of cheap white masculinity, the imperial combover hiding the growing bald spot. Wait until the Cybertruck with the Joker car wrap shows up. The rants from the front seat about woke Star Wars will be epic.

We made it, chat. 250 years of pretending this isn’t some failed experiment: a dead strip mall with crypto billboards built atop a mass grave. The liberal impulse is that Trump is some uniquely destructive force, and everything before that was great, hunky-dory, and the Bad Orange Man ruined everything! A DANG CHEETO ruined it! The centrists and liberals of America think he’s some kind of video game boss, and if we can just beat him, all the fascists NPCs will despawn. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. This implosion was always built into the making, a straight line from theft, rape, and murder to international laughingstock. It was rotten from the start; the thieves arriving on these shores eager to grab everything they could, slap down a clapboard world, and kidnap people from the across the ocean to do all the work. Then a constant string of war, coups, economic sabotage, and mass exploitation of the entire world. Every right that the working class has gained has cost lives, we’ve had to retcon rights for women and people of color in every generation into a framework that was intentionally designed to exclude them. Every battle for worker rights has been costly, its victories temporary, and the results stolen by the liberal political class as trophies. 

And now, the forces of AI want to take the final ounce of power we have left: our labor and our literacy. They want drones, a calcified underclass of powerless, illiterate consumers living in tents at the edge of their gated communities.

There is a certain romanticism to the story of American progress, however, some fantasy of the ideal America of freedom, truth, and justice that belies an uncomfortable truth: any rights granted by this rotten structure can be taken away just as easily.

Another uncomfortable truth lies unspoken, that the foundations of this building are rotten, an open construction pit paid for with bribes, the Reflecting Pool liner is being stripped away, and meanwhile the front lawn is a Monster Energy drink ad.

Yet the liberal fantasy of democratic renewal is not coming, there is no Obama 2.0 waiting in the wings to be the dumpster of our hopes and dreams. For all of MAGA’s revanchist frothing, the cosmopolitan capitalism of American liberalism is equally as farcical. Competent imperial management is not the answer. Some techno-utopian vision of “capitalism with guardrails” is concept art, nothing more.

You can’t build a lasting stable society of democratic values while the entire economic under-girding is about ripping as many people off as possible and hoarding gold like Scrooge McDuck. You can’t have a permanent underclass of invisible, exploited workers and precarious castoffs and then expect them to turn around and sing God Bless America.

The death rictus grin of denial is slipping, the spell of the empire is fading. The contradictions are intensifying to a shrill degree, the capitalist veneer peeling off in chunks, just like the bottom of the rotting Reflecting Pool. And the people in charge are just dumping single bottles of bleach into it. There’s something so perfectly emblematic of the Reflecting Pool debacle, something that illustrates a greater crisis. Demand a fix to something that wasn’t broken, go for cheap, hollow spectacle, overpay a corrupt ally to do a shitty job, and when it goes terribly, pay another crony to an equally bad job at twice the price.

A core function of the American bureaucracy is to transfer as much public money into private pockets as humanly possible. That is the purpose of all wars, all projects, and all technology: to take as much as quickly as it can.

America as a political institution is becoming more and more a society of empty gestures, failed promises and half-assed attempts to do a landlord special and paint the veneer of strength and respectability when $36 billion of war money floats at the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz. There goes your school, your healthcare, your housing, your roads, your future. The National Anthem is now a rusty toilet flushing sound.

This spectacle is also exhausting and boring. No one’s buying this shit anymore. And for many, especially black and brown folks, the decay of the empire never bothered them because the empire wasn’t meant for them anyway. 

Do you think those who bled and died for their rights and freedoms would feel celebrated by the Fourth of July Monster-themed energy drink? Which rumpled, overpriced football jersey speaks to the soul of America? What Freedom Truck best represents the spirit of… whatever?

But a sinking ship drags everyone down, even those in third class. And we’re all drowning just the same. Yet still, the discontent remains. The feeling continues, doesn’t it?

Hello, it’s us, your friendly neighborhood socialists. We’ve got some good news: it doesn’t have to be this way. We’ve got answers to your questions, and even answers to questions you may not have thought to ask.

The answer is not “better capitalism”, because there is no such thing. A varying shade of shit is still, well, shit. A New Deal 2.0 would be nice, but capable of the same dismantling that the current New Deal has undergone. It’s not enough. We should fight for those benefit and then keep going. Everything good about America is because of the working class, its greatest force for change and its greatest victim of the empire’s abuses. 3% tax credits and Trump Bad platitudes are over.

A tectonic shift is necessary. A reckoning with the sins of this country’s past and present.

The accelerating extremism of American fascism, now automated in technology with AI slop and outrage farms, powered by the full faith and power of the American police state, would laser target a tepid reformist agenda just like it has wiped away decades of legal precedent, benefits, and rights most people thought were settled.

This Fourth of July, everything must go. We’re holding a fire sale on the White House lawn, next to the demolition zone, passed-out podcasters and the discarded vape cartridges. DSA is the most promising vehicle for socialism that we’ve seen in our lifetimes; the best, most vibrant chance for a real future to believe in.

Socialism isn’t the answer because it’s just any alternative, it’s the answer because of what it does. A working class movement understands the truth: that your power comes from your labor, your body, yourself and melds it together with countless others who share the same truth. Capitalism rips us apart, makes us tiny little specks, powerless in front of the machine. Socialism binds us together in that amazing human family of an entire class of people.

It’s not just about universal healthcare and winning elections, it’s about demanding tomorrow and the possibility that it holds.

DSA is now over 116,000 members, growing every day with every victory, making it officially the largest socialist organization in American history. Now that’s something worth celebrating.

We’re workers just like you, tired of the mess we’ve been handed, tired of the failed promises and clownish spectacle, so fucking goddamn tired of the static and bullshit being pumped into our brains. We’re tired of being powerless. And we know you are too. So join up. The future is out there waiting.

So Happy 250th Birthday America, we got you a little something: class consciousness. Hope you like it.

The post Happy Birthday, America? appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America.

July 4th, 2026 marks the the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Below is a collection of reflections by Baton Rouge Democratic Socialists on this event.

Maxine Phillips, Religious Socialism's current co-convener, interviews Dr. Elliot Ratzman on the history of Jewish pacifism, the contradictions of religious authoritarianism, and the historical precedent for leveraging nonviolent resistance to tyranny.

The Buffalo Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America congratulates Adam Bojak on his victory in the Democratic primary election for the 149 NY Assembly district, and extends immense gratitude to everyone responsible for making his victory possible. 

So, what next? Why join DSA? For a decade, Buffalo DSA has fielded these specific yet important questions. Last Tuesday, with chapter co-founder Adam Bojak’s primary night victory, we received the resounding affirmation that when we fight, we win! 25,000 doors knocked. Thousands of phone calls. Six figures of fundraising from the average person, the worker, those who share the belief, “a better world is possible.”

What does this win mean? We hold the firm belief that electoralism isn’t “the answer,” no matter how exciting or gratifying it is to win, but rather another step along the way. It’s a catalyzing step, a way to draw people in and organize them, but winning an election is never the end goal. We don’t believe in the mentality that you should “just vote.” To be a serious organizer and Buffalonian interested in a more just and equitable society, controlled democratically by the working class, we must do more. An election result is only as good as the power we can build and the priorities we can win.

In this moment, we step onto a much bigger stage for our chapter and broader movement for working people. Ask yourself: what can I do? Then, let’s do it. Nothing is stopping us but ourselves!

The work is an ongoing struggle, and we need you to achieve our vision. If you’ve ever felt ready to take on the establishment, the time to join the largest socialist project in American history is now.

Thank you to the people of the 149th Assembly District. We continue to fight for you, the people of Buffalo, Erie County, and workers of the world. 

Join DSA today!

This is an opinion piece written collaboratively by the Immigrant Solidarity Working Group and was not voted on at a general membership meeting. Opinion pieces from sub-bodies do not reflect the opinions of all members and are not chapter approved statements.

It is with no stutter and no hesitation that Salt Lake DSA stands with the 15 defendants facing charges for anti-ICE organizing in Minneapolis. Their stance is part of a proud, long-standing tradition of resistance against law enforcement overreach in this country. Faced with the indiscriminate violence of this winter’s ICE/DHS activity in the Twin Cities, these neighbors banded together in an inspiring and powerful model. After these feral agents murdered two and celebrated their own impunity, the regime attempts to contort law and morality to punish their real enemy: our unwillingness to submit.

There is risk in taking a principled stance. It is in that spirit that we also condemn the charges faced by two former court clerks in Logan that allegedly helped individuals evade ICE agents at the courthouse. When faced with an opportunity to perform the moral, righteous act, these clerks took it—at their own personal risk. They acted against a vindictive and thoughtless regime intent on tearing apart families, and for that we salute them.

It is not enough to point out the blatant hypocrisy of the Trump regime, as it is not only painfully obvious, it is expected and routine. They decry the “weaponization” of the law while also rewarding loyalist felons with pardons. The hypocrisy and double-dealing are markers of a system in a permanent tailspin. Trump and his cronies find themselves in the criminal trough of our economic system, resorting to merely demanding submission and collecting bribes. They are rapidly running out of distractions, and soon, the lid will tighten yet further.

As the administration criminalizes dissent in America, we implore all Utahns: do not consider yourself exempt from this assault on your civil liberties. Stand with us, or stand beside us, but at least stand up and be seen in opposition to this continued erosion of freedoms. In this capitalist system, law is merely a weapon in the hands of the powerful, completely divorced from morality and righteousness. As a weapon of the powerful, once you stand crosswise to their goals, the law will be used to hammer you back into place. It is time for us to seize the hammer.

We know we stand firmly on the right side of history, because between solidarity and hate, we will always choose the former.  In time, we will win; the only question is, for how long will we all need to suffer until we can put an end to this madness? How many of us will be caught up in the gears? When the working class has unified to fight this fight together, we will no longer have to wonder. We will have already won.

The post Solidarity is Not a Crime first appeared on Salt Lake DSA.

The River Valley Democratic Socialists of America is opposed to the widely-reported rent control compromise legislation being considered by the Massachusetts legislature. Based on positive polling and the power of the tenants movement, we believe we will win rent control on the ballot in November. The compromise proposed by some rental control advocates would raise […]

The private jets, limousines, and tanned vacationers coursing through Atlantic Aviation’s exclusive lot mask a grim reality. Every Tuesday and Friday, the private company facilitates the transportation of residents detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in and out of Las Vegas. They sometimes come, and sometimes go, chained at the wrists, waist, and feet, shuffling single file between white caged-windowed buses and unmarked aircraft supplied by major commercial airlines.

The members of Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America (LVDSA) demand that Atlantic Aviation terminate contracts with DHS and immediately end its participation in these flights. With support from the Habeas Flight Watch Network, LVDSA’s Abolish ICE Campaign is taking steps to ensure they do. LVDSA is conducting habeas flight watches and hosting a National Day of Protest against Atlantic Aviation on June 27th.

Located at Harry Reid International Airport, Atlantic Aviation reserves its runways and hangars for the luxury jet set. No doubt, the private company enjoyed a boost in positive press when Taylor Swift chose to park her private jet at Atlantic upon breezing into town to celebrate Travis Kelce’s Super Bowl LVII victory. Today, the company promises to whisk World Cup spectators to games in style, offering gourmet in-flight dining and wrap-around concierge services. Unsurprisingly, it does not flaunt its frequent flying of ICE victims among its first-class services.

While Atlantic Aviation caters to celebrities and sports pros to rake in profits, they are also fattening their bottom line on the injustices our neighbors suffer. People are rounded up based on their skin color, language, and clothing, exploited by the city’s shady 287(g) agreement, and targeted by Flock AI mass-surveillance technology. Denied due process, they are deliberately displaced in the expanding network of concentration camps and the routes that connect them. We are taking action for the victims, their families, and the attorneys who are unable to secure their clients’ habeas rights.

A team of flight watchers from LVDSA and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) meets outside Atlantic’s runways with cameras, documenting the arrival and departure of ICE victims. The goal is to capture footage of the individuals getting on and off buses and planes— their faces, clothing, and shoes—so that their families and lawyers might find them. A Habeas Flight Watch Network volunteer flight dispatcher keeps the team notified of the ETAs for Las Vegas-bound ICE flights, and, just like commercial flights, these schedules are subject to frustrating last-minute changes.

Friday, June 12th, is no exception. At 6:44 am, our Las Vegas flight watch team receives an ETA from the dispatch: today’s flight arrives from Fort Hood via Reno on a Canadair CRJ-200 operated by Air Wisconsin; it’s scheduled to land at 12:22 pm. We set up early in case the plane arrives ahead of schedule, which happens. Stationed outside the Atlantic Aviation fence with cameras and tripods, we learn the flight is delayed until 12:51, then 1:13. It is now over 100 degrees.

Buffy Taylor, a member of PSL, sighs and walks under a tiny tree in the lot’s perimeter for a sliver of shade.  She’d arrived on her bike, a duffel bag containing several ice-cold water bottles and her Canon T7 strapped over her shoulder. “I’ve been tracking and photographing planes for years as a hobby, and I figured I could help people find their family or friends and expose the illegal actions of the government,” she explains. “Put my skills to good use.” By the time the team receives their final status update – ETA 1:21 pm – their phones are overheating, and Taylor’s waters are hot to the touch.

As with other Las Vegas ICE-related activity, the arrival of the ICE plane is quiet and understated. Our team learns it has touched down on Atlantic Aviation’s Runway 19, the same one used to welcome visiting celebrities. Moments later, a dull gray aircraft, serial number N455AW, devoid of any colors or logos except a tiny US flag, rolls toward us before turning slightly to let a taxiing private jet by. We can’t believe our luck– we now have a clear view of the plane’s stairway, the white prison bus, and the stretch of pavement between them.

When its doors open, four men in neon vests spring to action, neatly setting about 20 bright orange bundles in a row on the ground.  “Prison jump suits?” I ask Taylor.

“Nope, their personal belongings.”

Uncertain whether people are held prisoner on the plane, on the bus, or both, and seeing no movement from either, we focus on the four yellow-vested staff bustling about, bounding up and down the airplane stairs. Are they Atlantic ground crew? ICE agents? They eventually form an assembly line between the bus door and the plane’s stairway. Finally, the victims step off the bus, stooped and resigned, shackled at the wrists and feet, a long chain linking them at the waist.

Taylor abandons her tripod and darts around on foot, zooming in on captives, as I dictate a physical description of each man boarding the plane after he is frisked from head to toe. Twenty-two in all, mostly young, 20s and 30s, though one man appears to be old, perhaps in his 70s. Once the last has boarded, a pilot inspects the plane’s exterior as the caged-windowed bus slowly drives off the tarmac. We wonder about the victims, whether they’ve eaten or used the bathroom, and what they must be thinking.

As we spot the white bus exiting Atlantic’s parking lot, Taylor sprints, zigzagging through parked cars, and snaps photos of the bus’s driver and license plate. “It’s astonishing how many people have to be complicit for this to happen,” observes Audrey Hines, a co-steward for LVDSA’s Abolish ICE Campaign.

Not all habeas flight watches are this successful. Some sessions have yielded pictures of the plane or bus—still helpful—but no people. Other times, planes and utility vehicles have arrived unexpectedly, suddenly blocking the view. Organizers leave hot and exhausted, but determined to catch useful images on the next one. “Each new flight watch has the potential to help even one person, help one family be reunited, so it is so worth it,” says Hines.

“Even if we don’t have the best shot, we keep trying— you kind of feel like a spy,” adds 19-year-old Mikey LaFrambois, a lead organizer in UNLV’s Young Democratic Socialists of America.

Hopefully, these ICE flight watches won’t last too long. On Saturday, June 27th, at 6 pm, LVDSA is joining the National Day of Protest against Atlantic Aviation and other airlines abetting ICE activity. We are hosting a protest outside Atlantic Aviation, in a united demand that they cancel their contracts with DHS and the federal government. We stand in solidarity with cities around the country that are speaking up. We salute Dallas, a World Cup host city whose organizers and faith leaders are taking Atlantic Aviation to task for courting wealthy ticket holders while preying on the powerless. As Rev. Neil Thomas, lead pastor of Cathedral of Hope, noted on June 10, 2026:

As people arrive for the World Cup and other major events, we will proudly showcase our city as a place of hospitality and opportunity. Yet, at the very same time, through these very same airports, on these very same streets, within sight of celebrations, immigrant members of our community are being removed from their homes and families. This contradiction forces us to ask difficult but necessary questions about who we are as a city.

Atlantic Aviation caters to the indulgences and excesses of billionaires while actively participating in and profiting from the crimes against our neighbors. All professional athletes, celebrities, and customers using Atlantic Aviation’s services are part of the problem. Pilots transporting victims of ICE arrests, ground staff loading cargo —all are agents in perpetuating this nightmare.

In solidarity with local immigrant rights efforts, we urge readers to demand that Atlantic Aviation terminate these inhumane flights. This company will be held accountable for its actions.

 

By Jill Glass, LVDSA Abolish ICE Campaign Co-Steward

Images by Buffy Taylor @buffysphotographs 

 

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References

American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada. (2026, April 8). ACLU of Nevada files notice of appeal to continue challenge of LVMPD 287(g) agreement with ICE. https://www.aclunv.org/press-releases/aclu-of-nevada-files-notice-of-appeal-to-continue-challenge-of-lvmpd-287g-agreement-with-ice/

American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin. (2026, April 2). Racial profiling rampant after Supreme Court ruling. https://www.aclu-wi.org/news/racial-profiling-rampant-after-supreme-court-ruling/

Atlantic Aviation. (2026, June). World Cup. https://www.atlanticaviation.com/world-cup/

Balas, R. (2026, January 17). Inside Taylor Swift’s $54M Dassault Falcon 7X: 2026 Eras Tour & flight tracking controversy. The Flying Engineer. https://theflyingengineer.com/taylor-swifts-private-jet-inside-look/

Immigration Policy Tracking Project. (2025, April 8). Reported: ICE contracts with commercial airlines to facilitate deportation flights. https://immpolicytracking.org/policies/reported-ice-contracts-with-commercial-airlines-to-facilitate-deportation-flights/

Instagram. (2025). Post by @habeasflightwatch [Instagram post]. https://www.instagram.com/p/DYXLGP7AI7E/

Lexington Alarm. (2026). Habeas Flight Watch. https://lexingtonalarm.org/habeas-flight-watch/

Schilken, C. (2024, February 9). Will Taylor Swift be able to park a private jet for Super Bowl? Vegas airports are full. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2024-02-09/super-bowl-private-jets-parking-las-vegas-airports-49ers-chiefs-taylor-swift

Velotta, R. N. (2016, May 18). Jet Suite to offer luxury travel between California and Las Vegas. Las Vegas Review-Journal. https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/jet-suite-to-offer-luxury-travel-between-california-and-las-vegas/

ICE takes 240 from Clark County jail under new pact; ACLU fights deal. (2026, March 11). Las Vegas Review-Journal. https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-las-vegas/ice-takes-240-from-clark-county-jail-under-new-pact-aclu-fights-deal-372339

Enjoy your June 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, get involved with labor organizing, learn how you can fight data centers, sign up for trainings, 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 — Hot Socialist Summer
• Volunteer for the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)!
• Learn New Skills! Sign Up for a Growth and Development Committee Training Starting Saturday 6/20
• Sign Up for Housing Justice Commission General Meeting Saturday 6/20
• Sunday 6/21 — RSVP for “Whose Power? The Ecosocialist Fight Over Data Centers and Corporate Power”
• Religion and Socialism Working Group Meeting Monday 6/22 — and Sign Up for Our Black Liberation Theology Book Study Group!
• RSVP for Strategic Mutual Aid Training Monday 6/29
• Help Support DSA — RSVP for Growth and Development Phonebanks Starting Thursday 7/2
• Saturday 7/11 — Sign Up for Fundraising Committee Training
• Labor, Labor, Read All About It! New Labor Herald June Issue Out Now!
• National Political Education Commission Applications are Open!
• Congratulations to New DSA Chapters and Organizing Committees — Plus New YDSA Chapters

From the National Political Committee — Hot Socialist Summer

This June, another hot socialist summer is underway, and the contradictions are high as ever. Janeese Lewis George’s win in Washington DC’s primary election this week puts us on track to win a democratic socialist mayor of our nation’s political capital, joining Zohran Mamdani as mayor of the economic capital of capitalism in New York City and adding to our scoreboard in a breakout year for the left. In the same week, Elon Musk just became the world’s first trillionaire. The median American family would take 12,000,000 years to accrue that much wealth.

Trillionaires should not exist, and workers deserve so much more! We have a massive opening to show millions of people what democratic socialism means, and how we can organize to win it together.

On this Juneteenth weekend, we reflect on the enormous struggle it took to achieve the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States after the Civil War — and how the project of Reconstruction was suppressed and remains unfinished to this day. The far right and ruling class have a long-term plan to roll back hard-won civil rights victories like the Voting Rights Act, with recent Supreme Court decisions like Louisiana v. Callais aiming to take us back to the days of Jim Crow and worse. 

They’re working this hard to suppress organized people because we’re building so much momentum on our side. Socialists have a long history of organizing to build Black political power. And the stakes are high for us to defend democracy and deepen our power at every level we can. All across the country, DSA is demonstrating how to organize solidarity across identity differences, around our shared class interests — and win! 

Janeese’s win is a breakthrough in DC because she won every part of the district, except affluent white homeowners, and ran up the numbers in majority black working class neighborhoods. That’s a major shift away from decades of racial polarization fueled by the ruling class, and toward a left mass politics that’s based on the reality of class conflict, as Metro DC DSA helped lay bare. In Atlanta, Mathewos Samson won State House District 58 as a Black DSA cadre candidate in a majority Black district in the heart of the political establishment’s base. That builds on last month’s exciting wins, when Chris Rabb won the deepest blue Democratic district in the country in Philadelphia with unapologetic socialist demands for Black power, and Louisville DSA’s Robert Bell won a Kentucky state house primary. In the weeks ahead, DSA chapters from NYC to St Louis are throwing down to keep racking up big wins and expand working class power against AIPAC, ICE and corporate control of our society.

This month also marks one year of ICE raids since June 6, 2025, when ICE began terrorizing Los Angeles. From LA to Minneapolis to Delaney Hall in New Jersey, in cities across the country, DSA chapters have been among the many grassroots organizations mobilizing everyday people in our communities to stand with our neighbors and keep ICE out. Support for abolishing ICE hit record highs over the past year, and we must keep organizing to make it happen.  

Our greatest tool to win the world we all deserve is organized labor — and on that front, DSA is organizing to rebuild a strong and vibrant labor movement in the United States. At the Labor Notes conference in Chicago last weekend, DSA showed up powerfully with hundreds of members who are organizing their workplaces. DSA members led over 100 panels and workshops. The building trades meetup was led by DSA members leading their reform project, and DSA members participated in the largest gathering of Amazon workers organizing to date. 

Solidarity with organized workers is the backbone of all the great social movement gains of the past century. We reflect on this as part of Pride month. Many DSA chapters celebrate by watching the excellent 2014 film “Pride,” about gay and lesbian activists organizing common cause with striking mineworkers against neoliberalism in the UK in the 1980s. This year, miners in Durham County, England stood in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community when Reform UK threatened local pride celebrations’ funding. This has powerful resonance for us here as trans and queer rights are under attack. DSA is proud to be the one of the largest organizations of transgender people in the country, and we’re organizing solidarity everywhere for a world where all of us are free to be ourselves and take care of each other.

All this and more is why DSA chapters are growing quickly everywhere from Kansas City, Missouri, to Sonoma County, California. People all over the country want to protect ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. We can do that through the power of our democratic mass organization. We must keep organizing to bring more of our friends, coworkers, and neighbors as DSA members, scale up our work, and build the power to win what we all deserve!

Solidarity,

Ashik Siddique and Megan Romer
DSA National Co-Chairs

Volunteer for the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC)!

Do you have workplace organizing experience? Do you want to help workers connect with their coworkers, build power, fight the boss, and unionize? Well, the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) needs YOU!

Every summer EWOC hears from hundreds of workers who are fed up with the status quo. We need organizers who can coach them as they build relationships, organizing committees, and campaigns. Is that you? Sign up today!

Learn New Skills! Sign Up for a Growth and Development Committee Training Starting Saturday 6/20

Check out the Growth and Development Committee’s upcoming trainings! Our core curriculum of trainings spans topics from meeting facilitation to membership engagement.

And are you interested in taking on a leadership role in your DSA chapter? Already in a position of leadership. but looking to up your game? Attend the June Leadership Intensive Saturday 9/12–Sunday 9/13. RSVP today.

Sign Up for Housing Justice Commission General Meeting Saturday 6/20

RSVP for the Housing Justice Commission (HJC) General Meeting Saturday 6/20 at 2pm ET/1pm CT/12pm MT/11am PT! In this meeting, we’ll cover the HJC Steering Committee elections, the HJC Liaisons program, and the Summer Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee (ETOC) training. Join us!

Sunday 6/21 — RSVP for “Whose Power? The Ecosocialist Fight Over Data Centers & Corporate Power”

Join the Ecosocialism Transition Committee, DSA organizers and Special Guests Astra Taylor and DSA elected Kristen Gonzalez Sunday 6/21 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT to discuss the fight for a working class ecosocialism!

This call will address the deeply felt and growing opposition to data centers, and DSA’s current chapter work on the issue. Hear speakers and a panel of chapter organizers on the common roadblocks, tactics, and strategies this work shares with other vital areas of DSA’s Ecosocialist chapter work — like resistance to polluting and community-destroying industries, base-building initiatives, and building green infrastructure under the ongoing Building For Power Campaign!

And in July, we’ll have a discussion-based call on the broad sweep of DSA’s Ecosocialist work, the formation and goals of the Ecosocialism Commission, and becoming a member. Stay tuned for more details!

Religion and Socialism Working Group Meeting Monday 6/22 — and Sign Up for Our Black Liberation Theology Book Study Group!

The monthly meet-up of the DSA Religion and Socialism Working Group will be Monday 6/22 at 8:30pm ET/7:30pm CT/6:30pm MT/5:30pm PT. Sign up here to find out what your comrades of faith are doing and how you can be part of our project.

Starting in July, the Black Liberation Theologians group will launch an 8-session study of “Sisters in the Wilderness” by womanist theologian Delores Williams. This text centers the story of Hagar as a lens for Black women’s survival, God-talk, and liberation.

Because this text speaks from and to a particular community, this space is being held specifically for Black members. We’ll wrestle with questions such as: What does the cross mean for people who have been forced to carry it for others? Who is God to the woman in the wilderness? What does survival demand of us theologically? Fill out the form here to sign up.

RSVP for Strategic Mutual Aid Training Monday 6/29

Join DSA’s Mutual Aid Working Group (MAWG) Monday 6/29 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT for a strategic mutual aid training. Hear answers to questions like:

• What makes a mutual aid project strategic for a chapter?
• How does mutual aid put socialist ideas into practice?
• How can we use mutual aid to integrate into our communities?

RSVP for our training and learn from the experience of the Mutual Aid Working Group!

Help Support DSA — RSVP for Growth and Development Phonebanks Starting Thursday 7/2

Join the Growth and Development Committee (GDC) for a July phonebank!

• Solidarity Dues phonebank Thursday 7/2 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT
• Recommitment phonebank on Thursday 7/16 at 7pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT
• Solidarity Dues phonebank on Sunday 7/19 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT

Saturday 7/11 — Sign Up for Fundraising Committee Training

Join the Fundraising Committee on Saturday 7/11 at 5pm ET/4pm CT/3pm MT/2pm PT for a fundraising training on the basics of fundraising as a chapter.

Labor, Labor, Read All About It! New Labor Herald June Issue Out Now!

The June issue of the New Labor Herald, DSA’s National Labor Commission (NLC) bulletin, is out NOW!

In this issue, you’ll find a Q&A from two labor council delegates; a Democratic Left article on DSA’s Strike Ready campaign; a college professor’s breakdown of AI in the classroom; a reportback from the May Day Strong conference in St. Louis; and a book review of Walda Katz-Fishman and Jerome Scott’s Motown and the Making of Working-Class Revolutionaries. And get updates from NLC subcommittees and how you can get involved!

Please print and share the New Labor Herald in your chapter labor formations! And email nlc@dsacommittees.org, subject line “Bulletin Submissions,” to contribute as a writer or share comments with us.

National Political Education Commission Applications are Open!

DSA’s National Political Education Commission is becoming an open commission, which means all members in good standing can apply to join. If you educate, research, or write, apply NOW to help grow and improve DSA’s political education!

We’re aiming for a diverse commission, so we especially encourage non-men and comrades of color to join us. To participate in our first meeting and nominate or run for the steering committee, you must apply by Saturday, August 15.

Congratulations to New DSA Chapters and Organizing Committees — Plus New YDSA Chapters

A warm welcome to the latest DSA chapters and Organizing Committees!

New DSA Chapters

• Shasta County, California
• Fort Wayne, Indiana

New DSA Organizing Committees: 

• North Mississippi, Mississippi
• Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
• Bowling Green, Ohio
• Skagit County, Washington
• Heart of Iowa, Iowa
• Evansville Riverbend, Indiana

New YDSA Chapters

• University of Texas Austin
• University of Tennessee Knoxville
• Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts
• Cerritos College, California
• Evanston Township High School, Illinois
• North Dakota State University

The post Your National Political Committee Newsletter — Hot Socialist Summer appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).