By Diego Pajuelo

While PSU made headlines in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement when they claimed campus police were disarmed, this was never true. It is less true now that even partial concessions have been rolled back. Since 2023 the police have been fully re-armed.

In the midst of all this, the university still has a mural in the Smith building and a memorial on the street where Jason Washington was killed. In effect, they maintain symbols meant to give a sense of justice and remembrance to Jason Washington, but deny him any actual justice. Students at PSU are left in an oppressive setting, with 57% of BIPOC students saying they didn’t feel safe talking to campus police in a survey in 2020.

PSU Backstabs the Disarm Movement

In 2018, Jason Washington, a black man, veteran, USPS worker and community member at Portland State University was shot at 17 times (with 9 hitting him) by Portland State University campus police after trying to break up a fight.

In the aftermath of his death, a movement to disarm the campus police arose, with a great deal of support from the PSU Student Union (PSUSU), the Students United for Palestinian Equity and Return (SUPER), and from a number of professors working within the Disarm PSU coalition.

A number of demonstrations would be held between 2018 and 2020, including a non-violent occupation of the Campus Public Safety Office in 2018, and marches which blocked traffic. Despite the numerous demonstrations of significant public support, PSU never truly disarmed. However, due to the size and organization of the movement, PSU offered one major concession: campus police would start a few unarmed patrols.

Campus police, even during the unarmed patrols period, kept access to their guns, and the Disarm movement began to suffer loss of momentum. The year after, the PSU Student Union dissolved and SUPER dissolved in 2025. The Disarm coalition shifted focus toward PSU’s ties with the Boeing weapons manufacturer, but the group also became inactive by 2025.

More broadly, the Black Lives Matter movement went into decline after 2020. The economy recovered and a new president was elected.

In Portland specifically the Black Lives Matter movement experienced setbacks, with the re-election of pro-cop mayor Ted Wheeler, and the defeat of a number of progressives on the city council.

Combined, the lack of organization, drop in momentum, and illusion of partial victory resulted in the Portland State University administration in 2023 choosing to completely drop the partial victory of “unarmed patrols” and bring back armed patrols.

The Youth Wing of the Socialist Party

In academic year 2025-26, a number of students started building a YDSA chapter at PSU. Much of our membership comes from a place of fighting against the dictatorship of the capitalists, the oppression of LGBTQ+ people, and the brutality of racist police. Like the rest of DSA, we align ourselves with the Workers Deserve More program adopted by the organization in 2024, and while not everyone in YDSA is necessarily a worker in a classical sense, we all align ourselves with a working-class program: fighting for union power, college for all, and most importantly in this case, against mass incarceration and police brutality.

During the Winter term we set the priority of disarming campus police. Such a task is crucial in our fight for a worker-run society. In the history of the United States, the police have played the role mainly as strike-breakers and scabs, with the most notable example in recent history being the NYPD breaking up the picket line of the Amazon Labor Union strike in December of 2024.

They have also historically played a role enforcing an order of white supremacy, not just during the era of Jim Crow, when segregationist and white supremacy were more open in the law, but also during the modern day, by utilizing the war on drugs as a cover. For many, and especially Black communities, the police are known not as peace-keepers, but as weapons of mass destruction. They keep communities impoverished through the mass imprisonment of Black people, making it harder later in life to find jobs, and through economic exploitation of incarcerated and enslaved workers.

At PSU, the campus police are subservient to a completely unaccountable oligarchy: the Board of Trustees and the President. They serve to protect not students, but the PSU administration from any sort of agitators. Campus police are often hired from the regular police, and they carry with them the norms of structural racism, and enforce it here at PSU. To many at PSU, the murder of Jason Washington remains a reminder that we are not exempt from the racism which plagues the entire country, and which forces Black people into the most exploited sections of the working-class.

Our Demands

As a first step, we call on students at PSU to join us in petitioning to PSU to completely disarm campus police, including so-called “less-than-lethal” weapons. We also demand within the petition for all future decisions regarding the armament and funding of campus police to be subject to a vote by the students, professors and staff at PSU. No decisions on the campus police should be made unilaterally by the President, Board of Trustees, or whatever force acts without the consultation and consent of students.

The petition is itself only a first step, as we know it may not change the opinions of the administration. Furthermore, the administration has an active interest in keeping its own police force, not to protect students but to protect their own interests, to ensure that students fall in line with their rule rather than take any substantial moves to change. 

While we acknowledge limits to this petition, we do not abandon the fight to disarm PSU, but instead fight further on it, and actively organize students and student workers to fight for a program of working-class liberation. We call on those students, who seek action further than a petition, to join PSU-YDSA, and fight for an anti-racist society for the working class.

The Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are joining calls demanding the release of Islamic Society of Milwaukee president Salah Sarsour after nearly a dozen ICE agents detained him on March 30.

Sarsour is a community leader. He is a legal permanent resident of the U.S., where he has lived for decades with his wife and family without any criminal record. ICE’s ongoing terror tactics in our communities over alleged foreign policy threats and flimsy constructions of legal status continue to harm more Milwaukee families than any of the agency’s now-displaced victims.

“ICE and the Trump administration are attempting to instill fear and division,” Milwaukee DSA co-chair Andy Barbour said. “We must stand together in solidarity, using our might as the working class to oppose the violence directed at our communities.”

Milwaukee DSA recognizes the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) role in violently suppressing political dissent in the U.S., especially when that dissent concerns support for the Palestinian struggle. We see clearly the danger posed by Sarsour’s detention in the so-called “land of the free” over a decades-old conviction by a foreign military court with a more than 95% conviction rate and a history of torture and abuse.

“Our hearts go out to Salah Sarsour and his family as he faces illegal and inhumane detention,” Milwaukee DSA co-chair Autumn Pickett said. “We reaffirm the call of DSA leaders like gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong and District 3 alderman Alex Brower to abolish ICE.”

Milwaukee DSA is Milwaukee’s largest socialist organization fighting against imperialism for a democratic economy, a just society, and a sustainable environment. Join today at dsausa.org/join.

Purpose

The Moderation Appeal Procedure provides a step by step process for members if they disagree with a moderation action. 

Procedure Steps

1. Discuss in direct messages with the Moderator, and other Moderators, about why the moderation action was taken.
2. Review applicable policies: Online Code of Conduct, Internal Communication and Moderation 
3. If you belive that moderator(s) have a pattern of wrongful moderation which targets:
   1. you specifically 
   2. a particular political view within the “Big Tent” of DSA 
   3. persons based on protected class listed in Resolution 33

Then contact the HGO(s) via grievance.mkedsa@gmail.com  to discuss and/or file a formal grievance HGO(s) will follow Procedure: Harassment and Grievances. Consult this procedure for more information about the grievance process

4. If, after pursuing (1) and (2) you believe that a post of yours was wrongfully moderated, but this moderation was not part of a pattern of targeted wrongful moderation, then you should contact the HGO via grievance.mkedsa@gmail.com and include:
   1. “moderation appeal” in the subject line.
   2.  Information about the post that was moderated
   3. Screenshots of your discussion with the moderators  
   4. Your concerns relative to the policies (see 2) 
5. HGO(s) will review the moderation decision.
   1. HGO(s) should assess if the situation would be more properly handled as a grievance and take appropriate action if so. 
   2. HGOs can access deleted messages in the deleted messages channel of Discord.  
   3. HGO(s) may reach out to the member if more information is needed
6. HGO(s) will discuss the reasoning behind the moderation action with the Moderator(s) who made the moderation action. 
7. HGO(s) will assess the moderation action based on the applicable policies related to community standards 
8. HGO(s) will inform the members and Moderators of the assessment. They may further pursue any of the following as appropriate:
   1. re-educate member and/or Moderators about MKE DSAs applicable standards and polices
   2. Instruct Moderators to reverse the moderation action
   3. Instruct removal of “strikes” against a member
   4. any other appropriate actions or recommendations 

This article is written by a DSA member and does not formally represent the views of MADSA as a whole or its subgroups. 

Welcome to Vol. 8 of the monthly round-up! The content in this publication overlaps significantly with our DSA newsletter and monthly General Membership Meetings. To sign up for the newsletter or check out an upcoming General Membership Meeting, visit: https://madison-dsa.org/events/

MADSA Annual Convention a Success

The chapter held our annual convention on the evening of Friday March 20th and the full day of Saturday, March 21st. MADSA members elected new leadership for the coming year, voted to continue many working groups, and debated and passed resolutions that will shape how the chapter does its work this year and beyond. Below are 3 key themes from this year’s convention.

1. Organizing Everyday People, Especially Labor

This convention passed several exciting proposals around mobilizing everyday worker power. One was a major resolution setting clear goals around a “rank and file” worker organizing strategy. In short, key goals include: increasing organizing discussions in people’s unionized and non-unionized workplaces; taking specific actions to help existing unions become more active and socialist; taking steps towards a mass labor action on May 1, and building further potential for mass labor actions; and leveraging MADSA’s worker power for building new unions, pulling existing union members towards socialism, and building coalitions within and between unions. The resolution emphasizes a move away from convincing formal labor leadership, and towards supporting rank-and-file workers in taking concrete steps for socialist organizing in their specific context.

The convention also ratified a Community Defense Working Group, which will be taking the main role in guiding MADSA’s STRIKE ICE OUT actions. The group will emphasize community education, non-violent neighborhood mobilizing, mutual aid, and strike preparation. Specific goals for the working group include providing materials and trainings, doing administrative tasks for maintaining neighborhood group chats across the city, encouraging in-person meetings between neighbors, disseminating information from other reliable sources (Voces, MTI, and Comite Sin Fronteras), supporting tenant organizing, and helping build towards a May 1st major labor action / general strike.

2. Electoral Work

Members voted to continue the Program Working Group, which is developing a formal platform with the key viewpoints and priorities of MADSA as a chapter. This work will be helpful in guiding MADSA’s collaboration with political candidates, and when deciding how to prioritize projects in the face of unprecedented growth in membership. 

Members also passed a resolution to build DSA’s capacity as an independent political party. The resolution included a continuation of this past year’s electoral work, while also adding features like additional political education in the “off-season,” and collaboration with the Labor Working Group around research and explicit support of policy that improves labor rights.

Lastly, members passed a resolution reaffirming the chapter’s commitment to Palestinian liberation and anti-Zionism. This resolution mandates that any program, platform, and/or candidates endorsed by MADSA “must support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, refrain from any and all affiliation with the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups, pledge to oppose legislation that harms Palestinians and support legislation that supports Palestinian liberation.”

3. Improving Chapter Functions

Lastly, several convention items focused on improving the running of our chapter. A spirited discussion took place around the accessibility of meetings. One particular area of concern has been disability access, including – but not limited to – variable masking requirements at different meetings. Another topic was improving support for working parents within the chapter, who face additional barriers to participating in regular meetings. On Saturday, members discussed a proposal and an amendment around accessibility issues, and they ultimately decided to table the final vote until the April general membership meeting.

Several resolutions did pass related to the running of the chapter, including: 

• Changes to certain chapter rules and processes, including standing meeting rules;
• Creating a cohort model for welcoming and onboarding new members to the chapter;
• Creating some editorial practices and increased structure for Red Madison, to improve responsiveness and to foster more participation in the publication. 

A resolution around creating a process for formal coalition-building with external groups did not pass, after significant discussion and debate. 

MADSA Attends “No Kings”

Members of the chapter recently attended the No Kings protest on March 28th, with the goal of being a visible socialist presence, handing out materials, and talking to interested crowd members about action steps for being politically engaged and effective. In preparation for the march, MADSA had organizing meetings, an art build on 3/27, and a crowd canvassing training emphasizing “NO ICE, NO WAR, NO BILLIONAIRES!” 

Several MADSA members gave speeches at the protest! You can see them here, and shorter clips will be posted on Instagram in the coming week.

ICE Out Efforts Continue

MADSA continues to coordinate information about trainings and events, and neighborhood group chats, via the Strike Out ICE hub. Check it out here, and keep your eyes out for the newsletter in your inbox! 

A major next step in the process is the Madison Worker’s Assembly on April 4th. This is an opportunity for the community to come together and reflect on goals and strategies for mass labor action.

Additional Organizing

Other important efforts this month included the following:

• Labor Working Group hosted a Strike Studies event on 3/2; the next one is on April 6th.
• MADSA hosted a panel discussion titled Against Empire: A Socialist Conversation on Imperialism on 3/26 – a topic that is especially relevant given current events.
• MADSA held an Affordable Housing Panel, featuring local organizers and elected officials on 3/27 – video here!
• The Program Working Group had an event on one of the planks in MADSA’s developing platform – public transit! This took place on 3/31.
• There was a one-off reading group on 3/23 focusing on two short texts by Alexandra Kollontai, focusing on the intersection of Marxism and feminism. 

And coming soon:

• MADSA is starting to prepare for another Queer Liberation March, with a meeting planned for 4/4.
• DSA made plans to attend the upcoming May Day Strong Solidarity School, preparing for a May 1st day of mass labor action / general strike – this is scheduled for April 11th.

Social Events

We continue hosting recurring social events – DSA 101, Coffee with Comrades, and the Rosebuddies program. MADSA Run Club is making a return on Sundays as the weather warms up!

Protest Song of the Month

For this month’s song, have a 1913 tune by Joe Hill, We Will Sing One Song.

• Video here of a modern cover.
• More about Joe Hill here.

And that concludes our monthly round-up!

We are excited to announce our first federal endorsement for 2026!

Oliver Larkin is taking on one of the most war-mongering democrats in Congress, and DSA is proud to endorse him. Four Florida DSA chapters have already endorsed on the ground, canvassing and carrying petitions for Oliver. We will no longer allow billionaire-backed democrats to claim that we have to spend billions on war while healthcare is further decimated — we’re challenging them in the primaries with organized people who can’t be bought.

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

Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026 at 6pm PST

Online Only. RSVP for Zoom Link.

Monthly Steering Committee Meetings are open to members to observe but, generally, only Steering Committee members may vote and participate.

Date: Sunday, April 12 from 9:30 am til 11 AM

Location: Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters – 550 Collection Blvd Suite 130, Oxnard, CA 93036

Come join like-minded comrades for a cup of your favorite morning beverage. These gatherings offer a relaxed space to meet members and find out how to get involved, decompress, talk about the issues we face, and stay connected as we close out the year.

No RSVP needed!

April 2026 Newsletter

Music and the Movement: Sharing Songs

Since the start of the leftist movement, songs have been of paramount importance in lifting spirits and sharing stories of bravery, solidarity, and a better world.

Countless people have been moved in spirit and into action by Which Side are you On, Power in a Union, and the UK Labour Party anthem Bread and Roses. These songs can speak to us still. But many new artists are expressing the spirit of the working class.

So it is my privilege and joy to share my current playlist of modern Folk and Americana inspired songs: DSA Playlist - Recent Americana/Folk‍ ‍If you like Carsie Blanton, she will be performing in Earlville and Naples, NY in June and in Syracuse in October!

New songs that inspire with hip-hop vibes include Cure for Paranoia and DAMAG3.

Please share the songs that inspire you!

Send what inspires you to newsletter@syracusedsa.org for inclusion in next month’s Newsletter.

April 2026 Newsletter

Labor Movement Hero: Mother Jones

by Comrade Alex R

In the midst of a growing nation that was reaching the peak of its industrial development, prosperity, capital gains, and expansion was the projection of American society to the world in the late 19th and early 20th century. Manufacturing, industrialization, and technological advancements characterized the country at this time. However, a vast majority of the country was not benefiting from or living within the prosperity that was advertised. Instead, what was on the forefront of the daily life of workers was the conspicuous wealth inequality, the minimal amount of workers’ rights, unsafe working conditions, and horrid living conditions. In order to be exploited further, many workers were ostracized for organizing, kept largely uneducated, and were purposefully limited in their material possessions to keep them dependent on their employer. 

The time was ripe for an awakening of the working class and for someone to fearlessly lead them in their fight. As Mary Jones stated, “[These] were the days of sacrifice for the cause of labor (Jones, pg. 14).” Mary Harris Jones (well known as Mother Jones) took on this challenge and has become renowned for major contributions to the labor movement. Among her accomplishments are massively expanding the United Mine Workers of America, helping to eliminate child labor, and co-founding the Industrial Workers of the World (Jones). This does not even touch on the vast number of strikes and demonstrations she led or the countless number of workers she helped unionize. Beyond her renowned fiery speech and relentless toughness, her ability to draw from her own experience and her dedication to fighting for her class molded her into the labor hero she has become.

Mother Jones’ background is a major factor as to why she was such a prominent figure in the labor movement. The trials she faced throughout her life prior to work in the labor movement hardened and emboldened her. As a first generation immigrant from Ireland, Jones witnessed the toil and struggle of her people who had to work to earn passage to North America. Upon arriving, she experienced discrimination based on her heritage and witnessed the toil of her father who worked on the railroads. Additionally, soon after marrying, her husband (a member of the Iron Moulders’ Union) and four children died of yellow fever in the epidemic of 1867 (Jones, pg. 13). This was one of the first moments that Jones has noted as stirring her to action. A startling observation she made was that the victims of this epidemic were “mainly among the poor and the workers [as] the rich and well-to-do” had the means to leave the disease ridden city (Jones, pg. 12). This experience riled her to action as a nurse for her sickly neighbors. Following this, in her work as a dressmaker, she was appalled by the gross discrepancy in wealth as she saw the “poor, shivering wretches, jobless and hungry” next to the apathetic “tropical comfort” and “luxury and extravagance” of the upper class (Jones, pg. 13). Soon after much of her life was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire and she found herself in the labor movement as a frustrated, hardworking individual with a rising class consciousness. Mother Jones leaned on the trials and lessons she learned throughout her life and used them to formulate a clear worldview that relied on equity, fairness, and justice for the working class. 

Another central tenet of Mother Jones’ work was acknowledging the difference in the experiences of the socioeconomic classes of the time. Rather than turning a blind eye, she embraced these differences and approached the burgeoning labor movement from this lens. Her contempt and vitriol for the wealthy and their government lackeys was inherent to her approach. Speaking largely to groups with limited education and limited social safety nets (including health care, child care, social services, etc.), she was ruthless in calling out career politicians who were clearly bought by the wealthy and passed legislation for their causes. At one demonstration, she expounded about the “prosperity of the rich” being “wrung from the poor and helpless” all while chastising the “legislators [who] in one hour pass three bills the relief of the railways” while bills on labor go untouched (Jones, pg. 80-81). Jones attacked the newspapers who limited coverage of the movement because “mill owners had stock in the papers (Jones, pg. 70).” Intimidation was not an option for Jones and loudly proclaiming her criticisms of the upper class helped to fuel the class solidarity necessary for labor movements to succeed. Beyond this, she confronted many of the top politicians in the country, confronted mine owners, police officials, and every proxy of the upper class without trepidation. All the while, she injected a class consciousness and educated the working class on how to succeed through solidarity.

The principles and beliefs that Mother Jones proclaimed to the masses were essential to her role as a prominent figure in labor history; however, her true impact was not her speeches. It was that she lived her beliefs, fortified the labor movement with more class consciousness, and built solidarity among workers. She engaged in the very labor struggles she spoke passionately about, fought side by side with striking workers, organized all that were willing (and many who were hesitant and reluctant), and wore her label as an “agitator” proudly. The model of Mother Jones is one that teaches us to live our struggle, get our hands dirty, fight in the name of class solidarity, and to stand with our fellow worker in the face of adversity. She reminds us that “there are no limits to which powers of privilege will not go to keep the workers in slavery (Jones, pg. 27)” and to be “not afraid to face any thing if facing it may bring relief to the class that [you] belong to (Jones, pg. 87).”

Jones, Mother. The Autobiography of Mother Jones. Edited by Mary Field Parton, Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1925.

The entirety of Mother Jones’ Autobiography can be read for free here. Thanks Alex!

Send your creative work to newsletter@syracusedsa.org for inclusion in next month’s Newsletter.

April 2026 Newsletter

Socialism in the News

Democratic Socialism has been in the news this year like never before. With the success of the Mamdani campaign national and local news organizations have taken notice of the DSA and our aims. We’re glad to have the attention!

Protest Coverage

Syracuse DSA and allied organizations taking part in protests in Syracuse. Keep showing up and making your voices heard, comrades!

Protesters gather in Syracuse to oppose U.S. strikes and capture of Venezuela’s president Syracuse.com - January 4, 2026

Dozens of protesters gather in downtown Syracuse to condemn U.S. actions against VenezuelaWAER Syracuse Public Media - January 8, 2026

Syracuse citizen groups plan large protest Monday against ICE raids after Minnesota killing WAER Syracuse Public Media - January 11, 2026

Syracuse activists plan anti-ICE protest and march on Monday Syracuse.com - January 11, 2026

More than 1,200 rally in Syracuse against Trump immigration crackdown, killing of Renee Good Syracuse.com - January 12, 2026

Hundreds of people protest ICE and Trump administration immigration policy in Syracuse WAER Syracuse Public Media - January 13, 2026

‘Ice Out of Everywhere’ protest draws crowd in Downtown Syracuse LocalSYR.com - January 30, 2026

Melt the Contracts/Mass Surveillance

Melt the Contracts is an initiative of the Syracuse DSA International Solidarity Committee. It seeks to ban the city from establishing new contracts with vendors that have direct involvement in illegal detainment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This issue came to a head when the city switched from Flock to Axon for their license plate reading surveillance software.

Local advocates want to ‘melt’ Syracuse’s links to ICE. Will lawmakers listen? Central Current - January 14, 2026

Syracuse looks to a familiar company for replacing controversial license plate readers Syracuse.com - January 21, 2026

Syracuse lawmakers to urge governor, state legislature to enact ‘New York For All’Central Current - January 21, 2026

Activists want Ryan McMahon to stop ‘colluding’ with ICE. What’s that mean? Syracuse.com - January 23, 2026

Syracuse police to pitch lawmakers on switching license plate reader provider Central Current - February 5, 2026

ICE protesters removed from Syracuse council meeting amid vote on license plate readers Syracuse.com - February 9, 2026

Why Syracuse lawmakers’ voting session became a meltdown between activists and lawmakers Central Current - February 9, 2026

Syracuse lawmakers approve contract for Axon license plate readers, plan to block Flock Safety from city streets Central Current - February 9, 2026

Syracuse drivers are under corporate surveillance. Where’s the outrage? (Your Letters) Syracuse.com - February 14, 2026

Syracuse lawmakers ice out Flock Safety in favor of company contracting with ICECentral Current - March 23, 2026

Endorsed Candidates

Syracuse Democratic Socialists of America have endorsed Tammy Honeywell (County Legislative District 8), Maurice Brown (State Assembly District 129), and Jo Bennett (County Legislative District 15) as our Affordability Slate for Syracuse and Onondaga County!

Onondaga County legislator launches primary challenge to longtime state Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli for CNY seat Spectrum News 1 - February 20, 2026

Mo Brown launches primary bid to unseat Bill Magnarelli for NY Assembly seat in Syracuse Syracuse.com - February 20, 2026

Mo Brown launches primary campaign against Bill Magnarelli, a fixture of Syracuse politicsCentral Current - February 9, 2026

Onondaga County Legislature candidate trio launches Affordability Slate The Daily Orange - February 21, 2026

Democratic Socialist to primary ex-lawmaker in race for Mo Brown’s county legislature seat Syracuse.com - February 24, 2026

Other Stories

Syracuse Democratic Socialists say election wins by Mamdani & Ehrenreich can improve public policyWAER Syracuse Public Media - January 14, 2026 (scroll down for the full 25 minute interview)

Africa Initiative, SU’s Young Democratic Socialists denounce Project 2025 The Daily Orange - March 28, 2026

More views of Good Cause Eviction (Your Letters) Syracuse.com - February 18, 2026 (See second letter by Jo Bennett)

Did we miss anything? Please send any additions, corrections or updates to newsletter@syracusedsa.org