What does it mean that so much of the discussion around Renee Good emphasizes her vaunted status as a mother and a citizen, and tends to elide the fact and significance of her queerness? Which characteristics does this focus tacitly endorse as meriting protection and which are prone to fall out of our analysis? We are right to identify that these ticks in the boxes of ‘moral goodnesses’ did not and could not protect her – her whiteness, her status as a mother, her smile. But we also need to understand which characteristics endangered her and which are, further, responsible for the propagandistic effect of the snuff film DHS produced of her.

Renee Good was a non-conforming, unsubmissive, queer woman. This is enough for a Nazi to advance on her vehicle and shoot multiple rounds in her face as he calls her a “fucking bitch”. Good’s queerness, both in her choice of partner and her practice of solidarity politics, is material to her targeting and execution. To queer is precisely to intervene into and resist hegemonic structures of power; to queer is to bend the arc of normativity’s force. To queer is to insist on the dignity of a life that the supremacist state wishes to eliminate: to legislate or incarcerate or convert away. Renee Good’s queerness is thus manifestly relevant to her resistance, and to the state’s justification for her targeting and murder.

I argue here that we must also pay attention to the racialized violence that, as I discuss in an earlier piece, accompanies gendered violence and which tends to be even less articulated in mainstream discussion. Renee Good is not the first person to be killed by the secret police, or even shot at in their cars. And in the wake of her murder, DHS and ICE moved to occupy Minneapolis, adding to their terror-from-a-distance of threatening food stamps and childcare money. The occupation has made a beeline to the most vulnerable communities, among them Somali and Native communities, attacking and abducting people with a speed and volume that prevents the same depth of articulation of each resister’s life. Yet we see the same principle acting in all cases: the targeting of what white supremacist domestic policy has identified as threats to this oppressive order.

The inability to countenance the violence ICE is enacting as a matter of course on black and brown people and communities– or our susceptibility to the normalization of the agency’s charter to target these populations since its inception in 2003– has a meaningful impact on the kind of carceral abolition we can imagine and demand. We understand the history of police in america as a history of slave catchers: an agency devoted to the perpetuation of the legal status of Black people as owned property, as chattelized beings without bodily autonomy and without rights and protections. In this way the police as they exist now continue to be agents of the United States’ white supremacist project, the very same project that ICE and their terror tactics pursue. That is why, to every call to abolish ICE, we add the call to abolish the police: the existence of armed groups tasked with the ideological order of the country is a threat to everyone, even to those who have footholds within that order. 

Above, I call the video released by DHS of Renee’s execution a “snuff film”. I am not the only one to identify this as a propaganda tactic, as a call to the misogynists and gaybashers: ‘see, if you join ICE, you can execute “lesbian bitches” with impunity’. We can imagine the quickening of the fascist’s pulse as they take in this de facto recruitment video, even as all of our hearts sank watching (or avoiding watching) the same. I write this piece in an attempt to make plain the logic of ICE’s operation, so that we do not see Good’s execution as an exception insofar as she was white, a mother, and a citizen, but that we rather understand her queerness as dissent, understand queerness itself as a target for elimination, and understand how this is continuous with ICE’s genocidal plans against Black, Native, Latin@, and other racialized people. In my opinion this understanding is crucial to forging and enacting solidarities that are critical in this moment, and in the moments which develop from it. 

Bodily autonomy means: freedom from police, from incarceration, from state violence. 

Bodily autonomy means: choosing our communities and relations, and the forms of those relations. 

Bodily autonomy means: a right to migration, to assembly, to resistance. 

The struggle against ICE is fought precisely for these freedoms and autonomies, and this makes critical analysis of gender and race– and particularly their joint analysis– indispensable. 

Caitlin Murphy

This past fall, I watched the fourth and latest installment of the Jurassic World franchise, Jurassic World: Rebirth (hereafter, Rebirth). Jurassic World is a sequel franchise to Jurassic Park, launched by the classic film of the same name in 1993. In the original Jurassic Park, a wealthy businessman, John Hammond, creates a theme park on a remote island with dinosaurs resurrected (or de-extincted) through genetic engineering from dinosaur DNA recovered from prehistoric mosquitos trapped in resin. Hammond invites two paleontologists, Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler, to review the park and give Hammond their scientific recommendation to boost his park’s reputation. Unfortunately, the genetically resurrected dinosaurs end up escaping their confines and terrorizing the humans. Jurassic Park has become synonymous with the dangers of the misuse of science, which is explored in more detail in the two sequel films of the original franchise.

The first film of the sequel franchise, Jurassic World (2015), delves more into the theme of misuse of science for the sake of economic profit. A new park is created many years later by the same company, InGen, which starts to create increasingly more monstrous dinosaurs to revive the novelty of the park and increase profit from ticket sales. Eventually, one of the genetically modified dinosaurs, Indominus Rex, gets out and chaos ensues. Themes of animal rights are also implicit in a striking scene in the first Jurassic World film. Vic Hoskins, head of InGen security, portrayed as enthusiastically supporting using velociraptors as weapons of war because they “can follow directions,” convinces the protagonist, Owen Grady, to use the velociraptors to track the renegade Indominus Rex. When the velociraptors catch Indominus Rex, with the human characters watching in the background, the semi-sapient velociraptors and I. Rex communicate with each other and conspire to betray the humans. 

This scene could be interpreted as the dinosaurs revolting against the humans to avoid becoming slaves in a biotech military-industrial complex. To drive the point home, Hoskins is eventually eaten by a velociraptor, a common fate of greedy corporate characters in the franchise. The slogan “eat the rich” is literal in these films. 

A pattern throughout both franchises is a dichotomy between the corporate characters interested in profiting off the dinosaurs and those who see the dinosaurs as intrinsically valuable and want them to be left alone so that they can have the best chance of survival. Another example of the former is Peter Ludlow, the CEO of InGen in the second film, The Lost World: Jurassic Park who has a T. Rex transported to San Diego to start a new theme park. In contrast, Hammond is an example of the latter. He is portrayed as an idealist who wants to bring back the dinosaurs to give humanity humility and perspective. 

Implicit in both franchises are different perspectives on the role of technology.  In the former case, exemplified by corporate characters, technology is for extracting value from nature, seen as a warehouse of raw materials for human production and consumption, through exploitation of natural resources. In the latter case, exemplified by Hammond and most scientist characters in the films, technology is to help us to gain humility and perspective on our true place in the cosmos. 

A real-world example of using technology to help us gain humility and perspective from appreciating nature is the famous pale blue dot image of Earth. In 1990, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, on its way out of the solar system, was told to turn its cameras to look back at Earth. Voyager 1 recorded Earth as only a point of light suspended in a sunbeam. In this way, a robotic spacecraft was used to remind us of our true place, small and fragile in a vast universe. 

In the real world, the for-profit company Colossal Biosciences wants to resurrect long extinct animals, such as woolly mammoths, to restore ecosystems and even fight climate change. It could be argued that this is misguided, but it is certainly a mission-driven, not profit-driven, enterprise because there is currently not a business case for resurrecting woolly mammoths.

The challenge is that although many tech startup founders seem to genuinely seek to benefit humanity and the planet, they operate within an economic system that is based on accumulating profit for investors. Many startups interested in sustainable or “eco-friendly” technology are shaped implicitly or explicitly by eco-modernism. Eco-modernism is better than mere capitalist extractivism in its emphasis on environmental sustainability but falls short because it fails to question the underlying assumptions of the ideology of economic growth for its own sake that undermine environmental sustainability efforts. Religion could play a role in shifting from eco-modernism to true ecological solidarity that encourages the necessary structural changes.

Many religious traditions emphasize our connection to the planet and the importance of nature as God’s creation. They also warn against the folly of seeking wealth as the ultimate source of fulfillment. This outlook is common within Indigenous communities. Also, within Christianity, my background, there is a strong tradition of seeing humans as stewards of God’s creation, particularly in the tradition of Saint Francis of Assisi and the work of modern eco-theologians such as  Leonardo Boff and Sallie McFague who have argued that a healthy relationship with nature is essential to a robust spirituality. More recent religious statements such as Laudato Si by Pope Francis II also emphasize the importance of caring for the planet as a human calling and warn against the dangers of environmental destruction in the name of avarice.

Such religious traditions could help to inspire an approach to technology where the main goal is not expanding capitalist production but to remind us of our place in the cosmos, encourage humility and a non-anthropocentric perspective, and improve the wellbeing and flourishing of humanity and the planet. 

A social movement that embodies such a view of technology is the convivial technology movement founded by Ivan Illich, which inspired the creation of human-scaled technologies to promote individual and communal autonomy. Other examples include the indigenous-led Buen Vivir movement in South America, which encourages living in an ecologically sensitive relationship with nature, and the Red Deal, an Indigenous political proposition that includes restructuring the world economy around, among other things, ecological solidarity rooted in an Indigenous worldview.

It could be said that capitalism currently functions as a global religion. Specifically referencing ecology and biotech, do we want a world that looks like Jurassic World, where dinosaurs are exploited for profit often to the endangerment of human beings, or one that looks more like, say the ending of Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, where humans and talking animals together live freely and in peace? It will depend on what we end up worshiping.

The post Jurassic Park, Ecological Justice, and the Technological Future appeared first on DSA Religious Socialism.

Avelo Airlines announced it will cease its Department of Homeland Security (DHS) charter service that transports detainees for the Trump administration, closing its Mesa, Arizona base on January 27. The budget carrier said the program had delivered only “short‑term benefits” but failed to provide enough predictable revenue to offset the operational complexity and costs involved. Avelo’s spokesperson, Courtney Goff, confirmed the move in an email to the New Haven Independent, noting that the airline began running deportation flights from Arizona last May amid growing backlash.

The decision follows months of protests and a boycott movement led by groups such as Connecticut Students for a Dream (C4D), the New Haven Immigrants Coalition, Unidad Latina en Acción, and the Democratic Socialists of America. Activists condemned the airline’s participation in what they described as “sloppy, dangerous” deportation flights, citing an American Prospect report that highlighted safety lapses. Pastor Jack Perkins Davidson warned that “human suffering is not profitable,” while Tabitha Sookdeo emphasized how community organizing and refusal to patronize harmful practices can force corporations to change. CEO Andrew Levy had previously defended the contracts on financial grounds, arguing they were essential to keep Avelo’s New Haven operations running.

https://www.newhavenindependent.org/2026/01/07/avelo-to-exit-deportation-biz/

by Andrew H

In 2025, the United States observed the first proper referendum on the second Trump Administration. Democrats performed well, winning gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey and prevailing in many local contests. Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, received over one million votes in November; Mayor John V. Lindsay was the last person to draw such resounding support in that contest.

Within those local results, I want to highlight some specific victories of fellow members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) – especially given my current run for Justice of the Peace in Precinct 1 of Travis County, Texas. In Minneapolis, Robin Wonsley cruised to re-election on the Minneapolis City Council, and Soren Stevenson won in the first round of a ranked choice system after narrowly losing in 2023. Katie Wilson prevailed in the mayoral race in Seattle, and Denzel McCampbell won a seat on the Detroit City Council. Two democratic socialists in Jersey City, Jake Ephros and Joel Brooks, became the first open socialists elected in New Jersey in a century. Members of our organization celebrated victories from coast-to-coast on Tuesday, November 4, 2025 and Tuesday, December 2, 2025.

America renewed its interest in socialist politics across the past year. After Trump’s re-election, Council Member Mike Siegel, a fellow member of the Austin Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, won a runoff election for Austin CIty Council’s District 7 on December 14, 2024. Facing the various cruelties of many in power in 2025, including endless wars, extrajudicial murders by ICE, deep cuts to the American social safety net, and lawless military strikes, more people find themselves curious about what, exactly, socialism is. At doors and in the community, people continue to resonate with the message that kids don’t need to face criminalization in response to their actions, renters deserve due process in eviction proceedings, and quality of life concerns – such as homelessness – shouldn’t land a person in the court system. Democratic socialists are committed to preserving and building the public infrastructure in this era of mass privatization, with an emphasis on shifting money from carceral systems like prisons to social services like parks & libraries.

My own journey with socialism has been a long and fulfilling one. I first ran for office in 2022 as a democratic socialist, challenging a long-term incumbent. I lost decisively. I was thirty years old during my first election, and the Biden Administration was in power. Circumstances and conditions have changed rapidly in four years. One thing that has remained consistent across this period is my engagement with the Democratic Socialists of America. I joined the organization in 2021; after I was defeated in my first election, I went deeper into my organizing with the chapter. I knocked on doors for Prop A (and against Prop B) in 2023, attended the biennial DSA convention in Chicago, visited Cuba, spoke to voters about the campaigns of Jose Garza and Mike Siegel, and built invaluable relationships with other members of the chapter.

I spoke at Austin DSA’s org fair on Saturday, November 15, 2025. Ahead of my remarks, I noticed excitement all around me for DSA’s campaigns. Through our Austin Against Apartheid work, we’ve gotten scores of businesses in the community to adopt a boycott-divestment-sanctions framework and agree to not sell Israeli products. Our Trans + Intersex Rights and Bodily Autonomy (TIRBA) campaign is uplifting the incontrovertible fact that every person controls their own body; through our work with TIRBA, queer and trans people will experience freedom everywhere, and abortions will be easily available upon demand. We recently launched our Labor for an Arms Embargo work to push for an end to the incessant aid that the U.S. pours into the genocidal settler-colonial state of Israel. We are laboring with a clear vision of what the world will be in fifty years – one where socialism governs.

I must end with a reflection on the material realities of our time. In Austin, a broad coalition of socialists, labor leaders, and mutual aid organizers suffered a loss with the defeat of Prop Q in November 2025. This election occurred while millions of people faced uncertainty with their SNAP benefits. People are hurting in many ways right now, and an increase in taxes simply wasn’t going to fly. However, as we face this austerity budget in Austin – with its $520 million untouched police line-item – I want the public to know that me and fellow socialists are here for our neighbors. We are committed to building a political party that is truly responsive to the needs of people who – like me – live paycheck-to-paycheck, highlighting the harms that masses of workers experience under American capitalism. My second campaign is simply one piece of that puzzle; even if I lose again, I am so glad that I have found a political philosophy that animates me so clearly. As a Black socialist, I am committed to building a multiracial, multigender, and multinational movement for human dignity. I hope you will join us.

Andrew Reginald Hairston is a civil rights lawyer, writer, and democratic socialist based in Austin. He is running for Justice of the Peace in Precinct 1 of Travis County, Texas on March 3, 2026. More information is available at hairstonforpeace.com

The post An Inflection Point for Democratic Socialism first appeared on Red Fault.

The Portland, Oregon chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America calls on Portland City Council and Portland Mayor Keith Wilson to take critical action to protect Portlanders from ICE and all Federal policing agencies.

Two Portlanders were shot by federal agents working as a rogue personal army for President Trump. We hold them in our thoughts, as well as the people of Minneapolis grieving Renee Nicole Good, who was killed this week by CBP murderers. 

At a vigil and rally at city hall last night with 400 people in attendance, Portland DSA was joined by representatives of unions and community organizations, calling for the abolition of ICE and for the city to stand up to state violence. City Councilors Mitch Green, Sameer Kanal, Angelita Morillo, Tiffany Koyama Lane, Jamie Dunphy, and Candace Avalos also attended and spoke at the event.

“ICE must be abolished. The work of our time is to tear down the system that built it and remake it into one that embraces and designs systems that include all people from all places. This work will be done, because the alternative is unbearable. We do that by organizing block by block, neighbor to neighbor until we’ve built a mass movement. From Portland to Minneapolis, we will win,” said Councilor Mitch Green.

“ICE is a rogue paramilitary force that has declared war on our cities. This is a hostile takeover. We must not comply. We need complete noncompliance at all levels of government,” said Olivia Katbi, co-chair of Portland DSA.

Portland is a frequent target of Trump’s brutal crackdown on speech and communal defense— and, for an obvious reason: Portlanders believe in peace, freedom, and an end to state-sponsored brutality in all its forms. Time and time again, Portlanders have stood up and taken to the streets for the rights of all people, especially immigrants and people of color, to live free from the fear of police brutality and Trump’s fascist deportation regime.

“As we grieve the harm done to our community, we must also be clear-eyed about the moment we are in. This is how history repeats itself — unless people interrupt it,” said Councilor Tiffany Koyama Lane. 

One fact is clear today: Sanctuary City status alone will not protect Portlanders. Now is the time for the City of Portland to take a more aggressive approach to keeping Portlanders safe from Federal terror. 

We call on City Council to:

1. Pass a policy of complete noncompliance with federal policing agencies, treating armed federal agents as overtly hostile actors
2. Instruct the District Attorney to obtain a warrant to arrest the federal agents who committed the shooting
3. Develop specific policies to defang and disempower federal agents within Portland, including prohibition of masks, local taxation of income earned from federal law enforcement activities, and any other meaningful restriction on their ability to recruit and operate within Portland
4. Implement a human rights investment screen, to ensure Portland is not invested in companies that assist in ICE’s violence 

Alongside the many organizations and Portlanders fighting to keep our immigrant neighbors safe, Portland DSA is ready to stand against Trump’s violence – both at home and abroad. Join us on Saturday, January 10 at 11 AM at the Battleship Oregon Memorial in Tom McCall Waterfront Park to protest the war on Venezuela and ongoing ICE violence in Portland and across the country.

“It’s going to take all of us standing in solidarity, and understanding that we must be disciplined in this moment. No matter how many people try to divide our movements, we must be disciplined. Our fight is one fight,” said Councilor Angelita Morillo. 

Luisa Martinez, a formerly undocumented immigrant who is a member of Portland DSA and leader in the national organization, said: “ICE was created in 2003 and can be abolished. Throwing human beings into prison for civil infractions is a violation of international human rights laws. This violence and human suffering enriches private prison corporations while working people go without adequate housing, health care, and education.”

“ICE needs to be taken apart, brick by brick, and we need to salt the earth,” said Councilor Sameer Kanal.