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. 7 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/

ICE Out Hub / Strike Out ICE!

MADSA has launched a centralized resource for community defense and related organizing in Madison. Members in the February GMM debriefed about MADSA’s ICE-related efforts so far, and approved a proposal for Strike Out ICE!

MADSA’s goals are to support other groups already doing this work – especially Voces de la Frontera – while also developing networks of mutual aid, supporting MADSA members in becoming active organizers, and building towards a national general strike on May 1st. What is most exciting to this author is that the strike plan is a movement backed by real strategy and community ties, not just a random internet call to action. The chapter is working on political education, building community bonds, spreading the word among coworkers and friends, and coordinating with other organizations, including unions. The strike could be a historic step in taking back the people’s power across the nation and in turning the tides of politics in the United States, if people embrace the spirit of making real, concrete demands, and shutting down the economy to ensure they are met.

You can check out the hub here: https://madison-dsa.org/ice-out-hub/ The hub also contains weekly strike reports, and members will receive these reports in their email inboxes as a newsletter.

I encourage all members to take action today, whether that’s joining a neighborhood group chat, attending an educational meeting about strike history or organizing skills, being trained as a legal observer, or talking to people in your life about the strike. And remember – millions of people participating imperfectly will always outweigh a few dozen participating perfectly. Embrace uncertainty and imperfection as a normal part of your political process! 

MADSA Endorses Heidi Wegleitner for Re-Election

Members voted in the February meeting to endorse Heidi’s re-election campaign for Dane County Board. Heidi has served as a delegate to the South Central Federation of Labor, is in a leadership role with the United Legal Workers union in Madison, and has a long history of fighting for housing rights. She will be running in District 2, which includes most of the Isthmus north of E. Washington Avenue, including neighborhoods around James Madison Park, Tenney Park, and Demetral Park. Elections will take place on April 7th, 2026.

Additional Organizing

Other important efforts this month included the following:

• No Appetite for Apartheid held a launch party, and is now regularly hosting Grocery Scouting with DSA. At these 1 hour events, you can meet a MADSA member at a specific grocery store and learn how to spot products for boycotting, and how to build your voice for pressuring stores to stop carrying companies that are complicit in the subjugation of Palestinian people.

• Phil Gasper held a talk on Trotsky’s Marxism at the Madison Public Library.

• Southern Dane County Branch successfully had its own membership meeting.

• There is now a working group meeting regularly about Fran Hong’s campaign.

• A temporary working group is aiming to establish a physical office for MADSA to help with our growing size and work load.

• Some chapter members have been seeking to grow community ties through art and music, and are building towards a community art build in March, as well as fostering a stronger chanting and music presence at protests.

Social Events

We continue hosting recurring social events – New Member Orientations, DSA 101, Coffee with Comrades, and the Rosebuddies program. A highlight from February was a special Galentine’s day event on February 13th! 

The chapter also has a newly-started reading group for The Communist Manifesto, meeting on Saturdays at 10am.

Protest Song of the Month

MADSA members highlighted a few songs this month as part of the budding art and music efforts in the chapter. A recent feature was a modernized version of The Internationale, with lyrics updated in 2020 by Billy Bragg. Check it out here – song starts at 3 minutes in!

And that concludes our monthly round-up!

By Andrew D. & CB C. We’re launching a campaign called Trans Sanctuary Davenport: we want Davenport City Council to pass an ordinance that protects people who are receiving or providing gender-affirming or reproductive healthcare. At a time when the State of Iowa and the Federal Government are restricting the rights of trans people and […]

By AJ M I stay around for too long again I listen to the same song I think the same scene ripe and real for adaptation till it gets too old and rotten. Floating eyes encircle the cerebral barge like pigeons. I’m a performer spinning plates, or handling rings from limb to limb. I disappear […]

By AJ M The band sings in an uplifting tone about things that bore down on them till nothing was left of the city but bones, till skin shrieked in the wind, tattered flags menacing the visitors who could afford a way out. We were there, we saw it all, it didn’t surprise any except […]

By AJ M The man claimed to be my friend, he who had met me at that instant. He crept alongside me, and behind, sometimes even in the front of me, I was reminded of Poe’s story of the doppelganger I started to believe in him He managed my social engagements, work life, home life, […]

Quad Cities DSA Communications and Political Education Committee The Quad-City Worker is launching a brand new video platform, starting with a YouTube channel you can find at youtube.com/@qcworker. This platform will be a new place for members to share a socialist perspective on the problems and opportunities that face the working class in our community. […]

By Meagan R It’s January 10th, 2026, the morning of our Mutual Aid distribution event, and it’s cold and windy outside of the Davenport Public Library. My fellow DSA members and I prepare the items we have spent the last few weeks fundraising and shopping for: coats, sweaters, socks, blankets, bus passes, boxes of food […]

Film bridges gaps that emerge when working primarily with theoretical text. Reading helps us develop a shared language, shared frameworks, […]

Congratulations to Marek Broderick of Green Mountain DSA, we proudly endorse your re-election to Burlington’s City Council!

Marek’s time so far on the city council is marked by his dedication to protecting renters, supporting students, and public service!

When students at UVM organized for better living conditions, Marek listened, and acted! The city council passed a resolution to address the deteriorating dorms thanks to Marek’s action and students’ organizing!

DSA is proud to continue fighting alongside Marek for a better Burlington!

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