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

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

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

Hope you’re staying warm, comrade! 🥶🥶🥶

January was a lot more harrowing than most of us probably anticipated — from the US attacking Venezuela and kidnapping their president to a nationwide uprising in response to the cold-blooded murders carried out by ICE. But, even amid all the anxiety and uncertainty, there is a silver lining.

With each passing day, more and more people hear the call of the socialist movement. As I write, DSA is closing in on 100,000 members. By the time you read this, we may already have surpassed that figure. And, that’s what we need to remember: even when the world feels unhinged, no socialist is ever alone!

Pinellas DSA is rising to meet the moment. Read on to see what we’ve been up to, and what’s coming next!

January Highlights

We started off the month with members of our International Solidarity Working Group picketing at a Chevron station in St. Petersburg as part of the Stop Fueling Genocide campaign, followed the next day by an emergency demonstration to demand “HANDS OFF VENEZUELA!” in response to the imperialist assault on that nation carried out on January 3.

The International Solidarity Working Group also hosted a forum to share political education on the history of the Bolivarian Revolution and US aggression against Venezuela, a book study on the history of Cuba, organized a march through the streets of St. Petersburg to reject the US regime’s latest war for oil, and rallied in front of the headquarters of SPPD with well over a hundred of our neighbors from across the city to demand Chief Halloway end the city’s 287(g) agreement to collaborate with ICE.

Our Ecosocialist Working Group hosted a press briefing and canvassing as part of our ongoing Dump Duke campaign. Our Health Justice Working Group hosted a training for those interested in learning about how to administer self-managed abortions. Members of our Housing Working Group met with tenants at The Morgan on St. Pete’s South Side about their ongoing efforts to establish a tenants’ union. And, to top it all off, January 24 marked the official launch of PDSA member Richie Floyd’s campaign for re-election to St. Petersburg City Council.

In other words: it’s been a busy month, comrades.🥴

Working Group Spotlight: International Solidarity

As we always say at our general meetings, the real work of DSA is done in our working groups. Each working group is made up of a dedicated cadre committed to advancing the cause of socialist struggle in one specific arena, be it housing, labor, electoral, ecosocialism, health justice, etc.

We wanted to begin spotlighting the important work carried out by each working group, and how it fits into the broader strategy of our chapter. This month, we’ve invited the members of our International Solidarity Working Group to share a little about what they’ve been up to, what’s coming next, and why this work is important to the broader aims of the chapter.

Check out the full report back from ISWG, written by Natalia C.

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Re-Elect Richie Floyd

We officially kicked off Richie Floyd’s re-election campaign for St. Petersburg City Council on January 24!

More than two dozen volunteers hit the ground running (figuratively, of course), braving the cold to canvas neighborhoods. Our aim is to collect 500 petition signatures and get Richie’s name on the ballot just like we did in 2021: the grassroots way. Rather than paying for ballot access, the campaign is relying on people power. And, we collected more than 100 signatures just on that first day alone!

Folks gathered to warm up and celebrate with a barbecue afterward. Owing to the chilly weather, the party moved indoors at Richie’s house, where good food and good energy filled the room. It was a reminder of what we can build together. But, we’re just getting started!

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: End 287(g)

Pinellas DSA, as a member organization of the Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network, hosted a volunteer meeting at the Barack Obama Library in St. Petersburg on Sunday January 25. Turnout was so overwhelming, the event had to be moved into a larger space to accommodate all attendees!

We shared information about the campaign and our next steps to ratchet up the pressure Chief Holloway and his boss in City Hall, Mayor Ken Welch, to void the 287(g) agreement signed last year with ICE. But, this wasn’t just an educational session — it was also a training session, aimed at getting everyday people involved in the fight against ICE! After the education session, we led attendees out to knock doors and circulate our petition to raise our demands and tell local government officials: No collaboration! No ICE in our streets!

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Dump Duke

The Dump Duke campaign is picking up real momentum in St. Petersburg and entering a critical new phase. The city has officially released an RFP (request for proposals) for a feasibility study on a publicly owned power utility, which represents a major step toward breaking Duke Energy’s grip and exploring a cleaner, more accountable alternative for the city. Now, it’s on us to make sure the selected bid gets approved and this process moves forward.

There’s more coming up fast. On Tuesday, February 3, campaign members are scheduled to meet with Mayor Ken Welch to discuss next steps and the path ahead. And, on February 9, Dump Duke will face off against Duke Energy’s surrogate group, the Clearwater Energy Alliance, in a public debate at Bayboro Brewing — a great chance to hear the arguments and show visible support. This is what progress looks like: bringing real pressure to the halls of power!

Upcoming Events

Housing Working Group & St. Pete Tenants Joint Meeting

Tuesday, February 3 from 7:00–8:30pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Discuss and take action on the housing crisis in St. Pete at this joint meeting between the St. Pete Tenants Union and Pinellas DSA.

Socialists in Office Working Group Meeting

Wednesday, February 4 from 6:30–8:00pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Will be hosted in the Hybrid Room, as well as virtually. Zoom link.

Run DSA: Glow in the Park 5k

Friday, February 6 from 6:30–8:30pm at Vinoy Park. Get those endorphins up by running alongside your comrades with the Run DSA squad!

Canvas for Richie Floyd

Saturday, February 7 from 10:30am–1:30pm at 2900 3rd Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 3371, (Seminole Park). RSVP at richiefloyd.com/volunteer-rsvp.

General Meeting & Social

Sunday, February 8 from 2:00–3:30pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg).

Dump Duke Public Power Debate

Monday, February 9 10 from·7:00–9:00pm at Bayboro Brewing (2390 5th Ave S. in St. Petersburg).

International Solidary Working Group Meeting

Tuesday, February 10·from 6:00–8:00pm. This will be a virtual meeting. Zoom Link.

Fundraising Committee Meeting

Thursday, February 12 from 6:30–8:00pm. Our chapter’s monthly fundraising check-in and brainstorming session at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Will be hosted in the Hybrid Room, as well as virtually. Zoom link.

Canvas for Richie Floyd

Saturday, February 14 from 10:30am–1:30pm at 2300 13th Ave N, St. Petersburg, FL 33713 (Booker Creek). RSVP at richiefloyd.com/volunteer-rsvp.

Labor Committee Meeting

Wednesday, February 18 from 6:30–8:00pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Will be hosted in the Wesley Room.

Capitalism Vs. Socialism 101 & Social

Friday, February 20 from 6:30–8:00pm. The next in our series of quarterly education sessions, explaining key elements of socialist theory and practice. To be hosted at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg).

Canvas for Richie Floyd

Saturday, February 21 from 10:30am–1:30pm. Location TBD, but RSVP at richiefloyd.com/volunteer-rsvp.

Gulfport Eng 287(g) Meeting

Saturday, February 21 from 3:00–5:00pm. Location TBD.

Boycott Chevron Canvassing

Sunday, February 22 from 12:00–1:30pm. Location TBD.

Clearwater Boycott Chevron Protest

Sunday, February 22 from 2:00–4:00pm. At the Chevron station located at 23977 US Hwy 19 N.

International Solidary Working Group Meeting

Monday, February 23·from 6:30–8:30pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Will be hosted in the Hybrid Room, as well as virtually (check back for the Zoom link).

Health Justice Now! Reading Group

Tuesday, February 24 from·6:45–8:00pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). Join us to read and discuss Timothy Faust’s Health Justice Now: Single Payer and What Comes Next. We will meet in-person in the Hybrid Room and virtually. Zoom link.

Canvas for Richie Floyd

Saturday, February 28 from 10:30am–1:30pm. Location TBD, but RSVP at richiefloyd.com/volunteer-rsvp.

Cuba: An American History Reading Group

Saturday, February 28 from·4:00–5:30pm at Allendale United Methodist Church (3803 Haines Rd N. in St. Petersburg). We’ll be meeting in the Hybrid Room for a final discussion of Cuba: An American History.

As we always say at our general meetings, the real work of DSA is done in our working groups. Each working group is made up of a dedicated cadre committed to advancing the cause of socialist struggle in one specific arena, be it housing, labor, electoral, ecosocialism, health justice, etc.

We wanted to begin spotlighting the important work carried out by each working group, and how it fits into the broader strategy of our chapter. This month, we’ve invited the members of our International Solidarity Working Group to share a little about what they’ve been up to, what’s coming next, and why this work is important to the broader aims of the chapter.

Pinellas DSA’s International Solidarity Working Group (ISWG) kicked off the year with a Boycott Chevron picket at the Chevron on Tyrone Blvd in St. Petersburg to speak out against the corporation’s role in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. That same day, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores were kidnapped and forcibly removed by the imperial US forces. ISWG sprung into action, organizing the Emergency “Hands Off Venezuela” protest on Sunday, January 4th at Williams Park in St. Pete. Speakers from Tampa DSA, the Tampa Bay Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and the Tampa Bay Immigrant Solidarity Network (TBISN) joined us to publicly condemn imperial forces impeding Latin American sovereignty during the emergency protest, sounding off a call to action for our community to resist capitalist-driven imperial action around the world.

Later that week on January 7th, ISWG kicked off this year’s educational forums with an excitingly well-attended Venezuela Educational Forum at the Barbra S. Ponce Library. DSA members, as well as some non-member attendees from the community, learned about the history of the Bolivarian Revolution leading up to where it stands now in Cuba and Venezuela. This is during a pivotal time where propaganda and disinformation continue to fuel unjust military aggression against sovereign countries in Latin America and around the world.

On January 17th, with a coalition of organizations — including Tampa DSA, Pasco/Hernando DSA, Tampa Bay PSL, Food Not Bombs, Students for a Democratic Society, and more — we held another Hands off Venezuela march in downtown St. Pete. Speakers and attendees brought amazing energy that was felt through the entire city center.

Additionally, ISWG members have been working closely with TBISN, which Pinellas DSA is a part of, to demand that our city police force end the 287(g) agreement with ICE, which allows local cops to be deputized as ICE agents. On January 11th, just a few days after the senseless murder of Renee Good by ICE in Minneapolis, TBISN organized a protest outside the St. Pete Police Department, and two hundred people came to speak out against ICE terror. Only a couple of weeks later, Alex Pretti was shot ten times by ICE agents in Minneapolis after helping a fellow civilian who was shoved to the ground. The next day, TBISN held an End 287(g) volunteer and canvassing training at the Barack Obama Library in St. Pete, and over one hundred people attended to learn how they can fight back against ICE aggression.

We closed out the month by condemning ICE terror funded by our tax dollars at the vigil for Alex Pretti and the victims of ICE during the January 30th national day of action at War Veterans Memorial Park. Over one hundred community members came out to mourn the victims of ICE’s violence.

January has been jam-packed for this working group thanks to Trump and his cronies. ISWG is thankful for our comrades of PSL, TBISN, and Tampa DSA, along with all the other organizations that have come out to give speeches and participate in the condemnation of US imperialism this month. ISWG meets in-person at Allendale United Methodist Church on the fourth Monday of every month, and we often hold Zoom meetings in-between, so come join us! So far, February’s schedule includes:

• Tuesday, February 10th, 6 pm: ISWG meeting on Zoom
• Saturday, February 21st, 3 pm: Gulfport End 287(g) meeting (location TBD)
• Sunday, February 22nd, 12–4 pm: Boycott Chevron neighborhood canvassing and protest at Chevron in Clearwater
• Monday, February 23rd, 6:30 pm: ISWG in-person/hybrid meeting at Allendale UMC
• Saturday, February 28th, 4 pm: Book discussion on Cuba, An American History by Ada Ferrer

🌹

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

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

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

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

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

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. 6 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 Endorses Fran Hong for Governor

Cheers erupted in the January 28th General Membership Meeting when over 100 people voted in favor of endorsing Francesca Hong in the upcoming Wisconsin gubernatorial race. The air in the meeting was electric and attendance was the largest in recent chapter history. Comrades engaged in rousing debate during the discussion block, on factors including election timing, chapter capacity, trust in structures of power, the opportunities and drawbacks that come with campaign organizing work, and the potential representation of socialism in WI. Ultimately, the chapter expressed readiness to put work into this campaign. 

As the District 76 State Representative and a member of the Wisconsin Legislative Socialist Caucus, Fran has championed democratic socialist policies like universal childcare, public education and healthy school meals for all, paid family leave, and an Economic Justice Bill of Rights which guarantees the right to a unionized job. She continues to run as a proud democratic socialist on a platform of economic justice and workers’ rights. This campaign also means a huge opportunity for community-building; people will be connecting across Wisconsin through door-to-door canvassing, phone banking, town halls, and other volunteer opportunities during the campaign. The chapter looks forward to meeting new people, discussing the issues that matter to them, and promoting policies for building working class power. 

Chapter Prepares for Upcoming Annual Convention

The DSA follows a deliberative democratic decision-making process, empowering all members to have a say in local and national DSA action. The process has many benefits, including feeling a higher sense of ownership in the projects of the organization, building leadership and speaking skills among members, encouraging critical thinking, modeling active participation in decisions that impact us, maintaining a sense of accountability in leaders, and being able to focus on several areas based on the abilities and desires of membership. As our chapter has grown in size, we’ve seen new working groups, changes to the bylaws governing our chapter, expansion of certain roles, and lots of lively discussion in-person and in our online channels! We’ve been seeing more debate as well, which is a sign of healthy engagement.

We have an opportunity for more change as our annual chapter convention is approaching. The dates have been finalized for March 20th and March 21st, 2026. The convention plays a huge role in chapter work for the rest of the year. At the convention, you will:

• Hear reports from working groups in our chapter;
• Vote on continuing existing working groups (rechartering);
• Vote on new bylaw amendments and chapter resolutions (starting new campaigns, working groups, projects, etc.);
• Vote for leadership positions – executive co-chairs, administrator, treasurer, communication and membership coordinators, “at-large,” Solidarity Captains, and the Community Accountability Committee (“CAC”). 

There are several preparation meetings scheduled before the convention, where people can co-work on resolutions and get feedback. Here is the timeline leading up to convention:

• Resolution Writing Workshop 1 – January 14th, which already took place this month!
• Resolution Writing Workshop 2 – February 12th 6:30-8:30pm at Social Justice Center.
• Due date for All Convention Materials – February 20th.
• Due date for Amendments to Proposals – March 10th.
• March General Meeting – convention agenda will be discussed – March 11th.
• Convention Friday March 20th 6-9pm + Saturday March 21st 10am-4pm.

Click here to see the full Convention Guide and/or RSVP – all members are strongly encouraged to attend so that they can participate in leading MADSA’s next steps for 2026!

ICE Out: Working Towards Community Safety

Alongside hope for Fran’s campaign, and focus for the upcoming convention, people’s hearts are burning with fear, sadness, and rage around state violence inflicted in the name of unjust “immigration enforcement” and protest “crowd control.” We are witnessing senseless deaths and extrajudicial kidnappings – flagrant human rights violations. 

Socialists know that the horrors we are seeing today are not the result of one mad leader (nor his cabinet), but the result of over a century of festering capitalism, racism, and imperialism concentrating wealth and power to the few. MADSA released a statement, and is ongoingly deliberating on what our medium- and long-term role will be in supporting communities around safety and immigration rights in the face of escalating political violence. The previous section noted the highlights of our deliberative democracy structure, but the major drawback is that decisions tend to move more slowly than in a “top-down” structure. While that work is ongoing, MADSA and its members have organized and participated in several actions in January, and will continue to do so:

• Members participated in the Ice Out Solidarity Vigil on January 9th after the killing of Nicole Good, as well as the following Ice Out rally on January 10th.
• Members participated further in an Ice Out rally on January 25th in response to the killing of Alex Pretti. Member Sam D. gave a speech – click here for a link with captions. 
• Members participated in an ICE Week of Action building up to a January 30th walk-out + march and the January 31st Madison Anti-ICE Community Meeting organized by MADSA. This included Know Your Rights training, group discussion, opportunities to generate concrete political demands, and information about next steps to build networks of community support. Organizers will continue to meet around this work. 
• Members are also building to a national general strike on May Day, which will include demands around safety for immigrant communities and communities of color.

Additional Organizing

Other important efforts this month included the following:

The Labor Working Group is launching the Madison Organizing Institute –a 12-week long course designed for anyone who wants to build or strengthen a union in their workplace. The course will teach you about your organizing rights, skills for talking to coworkers, developing demands, and more. Click here for the link to sign up.

No Appetite for Apartheid announced a launch party scheduled for February 7th, 6-8pm at James Reeb on E. Johnson. This event is open to the public, stating: “The goal of the No Appetite for Apartheid campaign is to make Madison a more ethical place to shop by removing all grocery items complicit in the violence against Palestinians.”

A member announced an Artists’ Planning Meeting for February 1st with the goal of adding art programming to the upcoming Convention, and overall increasing art and music engagement in the chapter.

MADSA has been more in touch with Milwaukee DSA in light of recent organization work, and the latter chapter published a podcast episode about successful labor organizing in Milwaukee. Listen to it here! 

Social Events

We continue hosting recurring social events – New Member Orientations, DSA 101, Coffee with Comrades, and the Rosebuddies program. We also look forward to various canvassing opportunities and electoral campaign-related events in February and beyond. 

Protest Song of the Month

For January, I present the Song of Choice by Peggy Seeger. This song uses an extended metaphor of dormant seeds to represent fascism, and urges the listener to pull the weeds before it’s too late. A snippet:

“Early every year, seeds are growing

Unseen, unheard, they lie beneath the ground.

Would you know before the leaves are showing

That with weeds all your garden will abound?

If you close your eyes, stop your ears,

Hold your mouth, how can you know?

The seeds you cannot see may not be there;

The seeds you cannot hear may never grow…

In January you’ve still got the choice,

You can cut the weeds before they start to bud!

If you leave them to grow higher, they’ll silence your voice

And in December you may pay with your blood!”

And that concludes our monthly round-up!

Lisa Holton

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s lead with love. 

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

Matthew Nelson

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

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

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

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

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

Erica Poellot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A vibrant community space

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

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

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

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

US imperialism is thriving at home with attacks on immigrants and allies, and newly energized activists are looking to respond. A key step in the fight ahead? Grieving.

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