On January 25, workers from Delta Air Lines organized an inspiring rally at the St. Paul Labor Center.  The ramp, cargo, and tower workers are fighting to join the International Association of Machinists (IAM), and flight attendants are fighting to join the Association of Flight Attendants at Delta, the most profitable airline in the industry.  […]

The post Bodily Autonomy Working Group appeared first on Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America.

Decommodification of Housing in Berlin and how we can learn from it in the Twin Cities(Originally Published in Streets.MN) BERLIN, GERMANY — Berlin residents have shown a path out of our global housing crisis via the Deutsche Wohnen & Co. Enteignen (DWE) movement — a mass civil society campaign to socialize tens of thousands of […]

A Line in the Sand On September 28, 2024, the Twin Cities Democratic Socialists of America (TCDSA) etched its name into the annals of socialist anti-imperialist struggle. By passing the resolution “Make Twin Cities DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis,” the chapter didn’t just condemn Zionism—it declared war on the settler-colonial project itself. […]

I started the Street Corps Working Group shortly after I joined Twin Cities DSA back in 2021 in response to the collapse of the previous Mutual Aid and Solidarity Economy (MASE) Working Group. Besides filling in the important organizing around mutual aid and dual power that I believed this chapter should be doing, I wanted […]

Don’t let private interests loot education dollars and defund important programs. Charter-school lobby-backed politicians, including IPS board members Angelia Moore, Hope Hampton, Deandra Thompson, and Ashley Thomas, want to redistribute […]

Hello,

The struggle of working people for an equitable society free from injustice and oppression has sharpened in recent months, taking center stage through headlines on everything from the devastating climate catastrophe to anti-immigration raids. As that fight shows its face in Milwaukee, we must say no to the elements of hatred and division, even when our institutions appear to embrace them.

Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and our allies are calling on CBS 58 and their parent company, Weigel Broadcasting, to restore former meteorologist Sam Kuffel to her position.

We’ve launched a petition Monday rallying their supporters behind Kuffel and against the notion that a stand against fascism should cost someone their employment. Can you sign?

The people of Milwaukee deserve local reporting that is unafraid to challenge the rising tide of far-right hatred instead of running cover for its leading figures. As we reflect this year on Holocaust Remembrance Day, it is important that we recognize and fight the forces behind historical atrocities as we see them in the present.

Sign the petition online. View the chapter calendar.

In solidarity,
Milwaukee DSA

Seattle DSA Statement on the Jan. 15th announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza

Seattle DSA greets January 19th’s commencement of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas with measured relief – after more than 450 days of unremitting Israeli bombing of Gaza, this ceasefire represents a glimmer of hope for the besieged yet steadfast Palestinians of Gaza. Over the past year, the Israeli campaign of genocide has cost the lives of hundreds of thousands in Gaza and displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants. 

This campaign of genocide was made possible by the unrestricted diplomatic cover provided to Israel by the disgraced Biden Administration and more than $17 billion in military aid appropriated by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. These funds represent a theft of tax dollars by the ruling class that should have been put to use feeding, housing, educating, and caring for the working class in this country. This genocide was also made possible by Israel’s apartheid regime, which denies millions of Palestinians basic civil and political rights. Israel has a history of violating ceasefires; it can and will resume its genocide unless Palestine is free from Israeli apartheid and occupation. 

As socialists, we believe that we are not free until Palestine is free. We stand resolute in our commitment to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people. By divesting our communities from Israel, we will work to prevent the Israeli government from repeating these atrocities and support Palestinian liberation. Through our Boycott War Profiteers campaign, we have worked over the last 6 months to collect pledges from over 1500 community members to boycott Israeli goods and fight back against companies that have fired workers for standing up for Palestine. We have built public pressure against companies that profit from the sale of Israeli goods and bolstered support for those that stand in solidarity with Palestine. This campaign is just getting started; the global Palestinian solidarity movement isn’t going anywhere and neither are we. 

You can support community divestment in the greater Seattle area by joining our Boycott War Profiteers campaign and participating in the following Boycott War Profiteers campaigns:

1. Sending an email to Artist and Craftsman Supply management to protest their firing of a worker for wearing a watermelon pin. 

2. Writing to the PCC Community Markets’ Board of Directors to urge them to drop Israeli products. 

3. Join the campaign to help identify supportive and antagonistic businesses, growing our organizational capacity.

Boycott and Divestment campaigns across the globe have already played an important role in bringing Israel back to the negotiating table for this ceasefire. From eroding Israel’s credit rating to shuttering thousands of Israeli businesses, Israel’s apartheid regime is more vulnerable than ever. Together, we can keep up the pressure to end Israeli apartheid over Palestine. 

Onward to a free Palestine, from the river to the sea. 

Donald Trump’s fascist regime has returned to power, unleashing a cascade of anti-immigrant policies. Trump campaigned on a platform of violently racist rhetoric, and he has promised to inflict extreme harm on both newcomers and long-time U.S. residents alike through bans, deportations, and incarceration. 

While we prepare ourselves for the coming onslaught of attacks on all marginalized groups, we should not forget Trump’s most vulnerable targets, many of whom live among us in Chicago: migrant children. 

Here in Chicago, the nonprofit Heartland Human Care Services or HHCS (formerly part of Heartland Alliance), holds hundreds of children captive in buildings across the city. These facilities, which the nonprofit calls “shelters,” are better described as detention centers for kids apprehended at the border. In the past, the organization even detained some children who were separated from their families under Trump’s first administration. HHCS took roughly $45 million from the Department of Health and Human Services for its immigration “services” in 2024, a whopping 74% of its overall federal funding.

According to former employees and residents, these facilities act as holding centers where immigrant children are kept separated from their loved ones while their guardians are investigated by HHCS employees. Children are not allowed to leave the centers without permission, and their parents cannot access them without going through a “vetting” process that is designed to gather information on the parents’ legal status, which is often shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to former employees. 

In the words of prison abolitionist Rose Braz,
“Kinder, gentler cages are still cages.” 

Former Heartland employees have said children in the detention centers are treated like prisoners with strict schedules and limited freedom, are prevented from seeing loved ones for months or even years, and may be turned over to ICE authorities when they turn 18 and age out of the nonprofit’s custody.  Employees also reported that parents had to pay to see their children when reunification was possible. A ProPublica investigation in 2019 found that children in the system had sexual contact with one another due to lax supervision and inadequate staffing, and a Department of Family and Support Services investigation found that a staff member had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old child in one of Heartland’s detention centers in Des Plaines, which has since closed. ProPublica also found that some children in the centers experienced suicidal ideation and others ran away out of desperation.

HHCS leadership claims that its so-called “shelters” are a better alternative to other detention systems for children, and that it protects kids who would otherwise be vulnerable to human trafficking. This rhetoric simply normalizes the U.S. government’s brutal system of immigrant policing, which tears apart families and communities and criminalizes people for fleeing conditions that the U.S. helped to create through its imperialist policies. 

In the words of prison abolitionist Rose Braz, “Kinder, gentler cages are still cages.” 

Children should not be kept in cages. Parents should not have to submit to surveillance and investigation to be given access to their own children. The entire U.S. immigration system is violent and should be abolished.

Former HHCS employees who have worked in the centers have spoken out against the nonprofit’s treatment of immigrant children, parents, and its own workers. Immigrant rights groups, including Únete La Villita and the Free Heartland Kids group started by CDSA members, have spoken out and protested against these horrors. These efforts paid off — in 2019, in response to a ProPublica’s reporting on the centers and organizers’ appeals to public opinion, Heartland Alliance closed four of its detention centers. Still, more work must be done to free the children in HHCS’s remaining facilities.

The CDSA’s new, improved immigrants’ rights committee faces huge challenges in the years to come. 

Throughout his campaign, Trump and his allies have promised to ramp up violent systems that criminalize, imprison, and expel immigrants — especially Black and brown working-class people. Trump has said he will use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport “suspected gang members” without due process, and use federal troops and local police to arrest and deport immigrants. He has declared he will end protections such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and reinstate his ban on migrants from Muslim-majority nations. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship, which would prevent the U.S.-born children of undocumented migrants from becoming citizens from birth. His plans promise to dramatically increase immigration policing and incarceration across the country. 

We cannot allow the onslaught of attacks on immigrants to overwhelm us and make us feel helpless. We can all make a difference right here at home. 

While the border may feel far away to some of us here in Chicago, the effects of immigration policy will be felt by many of our neighbors. Trump’s chosen immigration advisor even claimed Trump’s quest to deport and incarcerate immigrants will “start right here in Chicago,” and recent news reports confirm that the incoming administration plans to conduct massive ICE raids in Chicago shortly after inauguration day. We must keep our focus sharp, work together with other migrants’ rights groups, and remember that the most vulnerable among us need our attention and deserve our unwavering support. 

If you want to get involved with the fight to end child migrant detention in Chicago and defend migrants across the U.S., connect with the CDSA’s new Immigrant Rights Working Group. The next meeting will be held February 6 at CDSA headquarters at 3411 W Diversey Ave #7 Chicago, IL 60647. You do not need to be a dues-paying DSA member to join — all are welcome! 

You can also join in the PO Box Collective’s ongoing letter-writing campaign from now until February 13 by writing Valentine’s Day cards to show support to kids in the HHCS detention center in Rogers Park. Click here for more details on this action. 

If you are a current or former HHCS employee who would like to share your story or join the campaign to close the child detention centers, please email freeheartlandkids@gmail.com to connect with our group. There are several current and former HHCS employees in the group, and leadership will work with you to protect your identity if you are afraid of retaliation. 

The post Free Heartland Kids appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

The post From Our Co-Chair: A Vision for Memphis Midsouth DSA 2025 first appeared on Memphis-Midsouth DSA.