Widening the Circle
What do we mean when we say “abolish” ICE?
Never Again: Revisiting the Tragedy of Mass Detention in Utah
This is an opinion piece written collaboratively by the Migrant Rights Working Group and was not voted on at a general membership meeting. Opinion pieces from sub-bodies do not reflect the opinions of all members and are not chapter approved statements.
Without reservation, the Salt Lake Democratic Socialists of America (SL DSA) firmly oppose any and all immigration detention within Utah. We reject the Federal Government’s racist, nativist, and exploitative approach to immigration policy, and are appalled at the intentional and cruel humanitarian crisis it has created. Recent leaks uncovering plans for an immigration detention facility in Utah threaten to continue the state’s ugly history of participation in large scale, racially-targeted internment. These past and present attempts to suppress immigrant communities are not only an affront to the fundamental notion of intrinsic human dignity, but also a cudgel wielded against the interests of the working class. They obscure the identities of the true architects of our exploitation, redirecting responsibility for our justified feelings of bitterness and discontentment away from oppressive regimes and economies and onto the precarious and undocumented; those who are, in fact, our allies.
Over the past several months, internal ICE documents have emerged that outline a plan utilizing US military resources to establish “facilities to house as many as 10,000 people each” in several locations across the country, including Salt Lake City. After the failure of Florida’s taxpayer funded “Alligator Alcatraz” which was shuttered after violating detainee rights, disregarding local government and tribal rights, and dismissing environmental concerns, one would think that Utah’s leaders would express more hesitation to ride shotgun on this wild spectacle of waste and abuse. Sadly, it is not so: Utah’s state-level and congressional leadership, in submissive fealty to Trump’s agenda, refused to comment, much less openly oppose the effort. With new leaks indicating a warehouse near Salt Lake City International Airport as the intended location, there has been mixed response from local officials. The only official acknowledgement from Salt Lake City has been a rather passive reminder from Mayor Erin Mendenhall that a detention center at the location would run afoul of local zoning ordinances; on the other hand, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson admirably condemned the plan and committed the county to fighting it “using every available tool.” In the face of such inconsistent leadership, we salute the people of Utah that showed up in the early hours of January 13th to make their opposition perfectly clear. While the owners of the rumored detention center site ultimately denied their intent to sell or lease to ICE, it is abundantly clear that ICE’s continue working to build the infrastructure necessary to execute their authoritarian directive. Considering today’s fresh atrocities and with historical perspective, SL DSA’s stance is rooted in one critical message: never again.
“Never again:” a much-needed refrain which calls us to remember Utah’s record of hosting racial concentration camps within its borders. In 1942, Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, directing the Secretary of War to “prescribe military areas […] from which any or all persons may be excluded” and provide for them “other accommodation as may be necessary.” EO 9102 established the War Relocation Authority, and assigned it the task of “[effectuating] a program for the removal…of the persons or classes of persons designated under [EO 9066], and for their relocation.” In the text of these two executive orders, which speciously argued for the need to protect against foreign espionage and sabotage, Roosevelt identifies a single justification: national security.
Two of the sites that provided for that relocation program, which in total detained approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent, were the Topaz War Relocation Center in the desert west of Delta, Utah, and the Dalton Wells Isolation Center, a disciplinary camp outside Moab. From 1942 to 1945, 11,000 people were incarcerated in the Topaz camp, making it the fifth largest city in Utah over its three years of operation. Prisoners were given “loyalty questionnaires,” with those not deemed sufficiently loyal sent to more restrictive isolation facilities like Dalton Wells. A unique stain on state history, these concentration camps were the result of a government empowering itself to decide whose rights were sacred, and whose were forfeit.
The stage is set for another monumental crime of a scale that promises to shock Utahns to our core; and in this crime, we will be complicit. We cannot say we did not see it coming.
Now, these actions are justified with the same warlike rhetoric and appeal to the maintenance of national security. Equating immigration to a “foreign invasion” and making use of military largesse, ICE and the US military are coordinating on a facility in Utah that could have a capacity nearly the size of Topaz. This facility could have up to 10,000 beds, with detainees potentially housed in weather-vulnerable soft-sided tents. We are now living through a moment that demonstrates that although history doesn’t repeat, it does rhyme: the Trump regime engages in racial profiling, deports citizens and legal residents, targets and sanctions those critical of the regime, and offers excuses and justifications for its most violent excesses. The stage is set for another monumental crime of a scale that promises to shock Utahns to our core; and in this crime, we will be complicit. We cannot say we did not see it coming.
SL DSA’s stance is one that increasingly resonates with the people of Utah as we face a hostile government intent on stripping away our rights. We demand: no detention centers in Utah, no cooperation with ICE, and full solidarity with our immigrant community. We reject any false distinction between “good” and “bad” immigrants, “legal” and “illegal” immigrants, and immigrating the “right way” and the “wrong way.” These distinctions are nothing more than the flimsy judgements of an immoral power structure with no respect for our rights, protections, or human worth. Finally, we reject the increasingly brazen lies of the Trump administration, as it claims “If you are here legally and contributing, you have nothing to fear.” In fact, cases of arrest based on ICE’s refusal to accept documentation, employment records, payment of taxes, or even while following the official immigration process all fall apart under the barest scrutiny. There is no logic, no rule of law, and no respect for human beings in ICE’s “enforcement” activities.
In our ongoing work, our goal is to mobilize, organize, and educate the working class, ultimately engendering and reinforcing solidarity within it. This objective necessarily must include working class immigrants. If a portion of the working class is deemed unworthy of protection, the rights of the working class as a whole cannot be assured.
Words on a page, however, are not enough. As wages are depressed, as landlords are permitted to use immigration status to threaten tenants, as bosses and managers benefit from workers’ stolen labor, the consequences of this authoritarian regime will affect us all. This regime and the capitalist economic structure that gave birth to it requires systemic exploitation in order to sustain themselves. At its best, it must demand silence; at its worst, it requires complicity and total obedience. In order to justify this system and its cruel repercussions, we are invited to despise and ostracize our fellow human beings. As socialists, we refuse. We invite you to join us in that refusal, and struggle with us to build a better world that is inclusive of us all.
ETA: Credit where credit is due to Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who in her 2026 State of the City address, elaborated on her firm opposition to ICE operations in the city.
No, there is no terrible thing happening coming for you in some distant future. But know that a terrible thing is happening to you now. You are being asked to kill off a part of you that would otherwise scream in opposition to injustice. You are being asked to dismantle the machinery of a functioning conscience. Who cares if diplomatic expediency prefers you shrug away the sight of dismembered children? Who cares if great distance from the bloodstained middle allows obliviousness? Forget pity. Forget even the dead, if you must. But at least fight against the theft of your soul.”
― Omar El Akkad, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
The post Never Again: Revisiting the Tragedy of Mass Detention in Utah first appeared on Salt Lake DSA.
Milwaukee DSA ready for statewide governor’s race as Madison DSA joins in endorsing Francesca Hong
The Milwaukee Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) are working to support a statewide race for governor after both that chapter and Madison DSA voted to endorse DSA member Francesca Hong in her bid for that office.
“Working people have seen that the system doesn’t work for them,” Milwaukee DSA Co-Chair Autumn Pickett said. “Time and again, the establishment has failed us so as not to upset their billionaire donors. As ICE threatens to terrorize our communities and kidnap our neighbors, Francesca Hong stands committed to fight back as the only candidate calling for their abolition.”
Hong’s campaign comes at the heels of successful DSA campaigns across the country, from New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani to Milwaukee District 3’s Alder Alex Brower, and U.S. polling has shown an increased interest in socialism, a clear reflection of the crumbling material conditions of the American working class amid ongoing crises at the hands of capitalism and its benefactors.
“Francesca Hong has fought for Wisconsinites’ right to healthcare, paid family leave for all, a vibrant union movement, and public power owned by the people and not for the profit of billionaires—the same billionaires who are now forcing us to pay for their destructive data centers,” Pickett said. “She, thankfully, is not alone in this fight. As a movement of everyday people, DSA members are tired, fed up, and ready to win the better world we know is possible. Mayor Zohran Mamdani proved there is a better alternative to fascism than the same old tired establishment policies that brought Donald Trump into power to begin with. Socialism beats fascism, and now it’s our turn to prove it. Elect Francesca Hong for Governor.”
Those interested in joining DSA’s efforts to elect Hong can fill out a DSA campaign interest form to get plugged into the chapter’s work. More information on Hong’s candidacy is available on her campaign website.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.
2026 Twin Cities DSA Annual Member Convention
Vermont Socialist (2/4/26): February Edition
GREEN MOUNTAIN DSA MEETINGS AND EVENTS
Our Tax the Rich Working Group will meet on every Sunday, including Sunday Feb 1 at 6:00pm on Zoom. Sign the Tax the Rich for Healthcare and Schools petition here.
Our Steering Committee meets on the first Monday of every month at 7:30pm on Zoom, including Monday Feb 2. All members are welcome to participate in the meeting discussion, only members of the steering committee can vote. Email hello@greenmountaindsa.org for the Zoom link.
Our Labor Committee meets on the second Monday of every month at 6:00pm on Zoom, including Monday Feb 9.
Find out how you can help our Membership Committee improve recruitment and involvement in our chapter on Monday, Feb 9. The Membership Committee meets on every 2nd Monday of the month at 7:30pm on Zoom.
The next May Day Coalition meeting is Tuesday Feb 17 at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington) and on Zoom.
Our Electoral Committee will meet on Tuesday Feb 10 at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.
Talk about your job and learn about shop-floor organizing from peers at Workers' Circle (co-hosted with the Green Mountain IWW) on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month, including Feb 11 and 25 at 6:00 p.m. at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington).
GMDSA's East and West branches will come together for another general meeting on Saturday Feb 21 at 11:30 a.m. at Christ Episcopal Church Community Room (64 State St, Montpelier, VT 05602). Newcomers encouraged to show up at 10:30 a.m. for an optional “DSA 101” orientation.
Our Palestine Solidarity Committee will meet on Monday Feb 23 at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.
Our Communications Committee will meet on Monday Feb 23 at 7:00 p.m. on Zoom.
GMDSA Steering Committee recently passed a resolution to advocate for and ask members to attend Migrant Justice's next rapid response training, Feb 10, 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Sign up for the meeting here
Add our Google Calendar - Check out our website
NATIONAL DSA MEETINGS OF INTEREST
Saturday, February 7th, 5pm, Recommitment Phonebank link
Saturday, February 7th at 2pm Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee 2026 Winter Cohort Training (1 of 4): Social Investigation & the Tenant Movement link
Sunday, February 8th at 2pm: Chairing a Meeting with Robert's Rules Workshop link
Sunday, February 22nd at 5pm: Solidarity Dues Phonebank link
Vermont Public Meetings of Interest for February
Thursday, February 5th at 9am: 9:00am: VSEA v. State of Vermont, Department of Human Resources
Friday, February 13th at 9:00am: Hearing in the matter of Commissioner of Labor v. Wesco, Inc.
Public Meeting Calendar Link: Published Calendar - Outlook
Important Dates this Year
Town Meeting Day, March 3rd, 2026
May Day: May 1st, 2026
2026 Labor Notes Conference: June 12-14th
Statewide Primary Election: August 11th, 2026
Labor Day: September 7th, 2026
General Election: November 3rd, 2026
Next DSA National Convention: 2027
Abolish Borders: Why we can’t stop at ICE
The government and ICE are using the threat of deportation to strike fear into our hearts. It is because they want to stop people and workers like us from working together — from trying to create genuine positive material change in our lives and workplaces. How and why does the owning class align with and use the state to prevent our unity? They know that when we are divided is when we are most exploitable.
They want to convince us that immigrants and citizens are somehow fundamentally different, despite immigrants living and working in the same community as us. They want us to think that immigrants are aliens or foreigners, when they call the same cities home. The ruling class enforces a border and ever-stricter legal barriers on movement from country to country to keep us divided, when the only real difference between citizens and immigrants is that immigrants are forced into fear of deportation should they speak up or try to organize when their employers or the state exploit them.
While the extraction of labor value is inherent to capitalism, immigrants are much more exploited, being paid less and subjected to significantly worse conditions.
Immigrants are forced into submission and squeezed for every last droplet of profit.
Every moment they step outside, there could be a ‘legally’ armed swarm of masked bandits to abduct them.
This is not acceptable.
This is fascism, and this is our reality.
The owning class has a long history of implementing the divide and conquer strategy towards workers, legally and socially supporting racial segregation, and racializing immigrant groups as somehow different from citizens. It has been done to exploit existing populations, as with Irish immigrants entering into “whiteness” to gain a position of social superiority over Black workers. It has been done to exploit incoming populations, as with Chinese immigrants in California during the 19th century. This strategy has been used repeatedly, around the United States and worldwide. Our history is a history of exploitation fueled by the profit motive.
Let us consider why there are so many immigrants here from Latin America today. What economic and personal hardship could they be fleeing, or what greater opportunity does the U.S. provide?
Consider that the U.S. has repeatedly destabilized Latin America for centuries. The U.S. has sent its agents to coup any government that might turn against U.S. hegemony. It has turned Latin America into an economy of extraction, with resources being exported and very little money flowing back in.
U.S. imperialism, another extension of capitalism’s need to expand and find more exploitable methods to drive higher profit margins, has created the migration that the imperialists and fascists now portray as invasion.
We created this displacement crisis, and because climate change disproportionately affects the overexploited global south, there will be significantly more people seeking refuge and a place to start over.
Yet the U.S. stops immigrants at our arbitrary border and says, “Even if you enter, you will not be free.”
You are marked for life, and unless you want ICE to come knocking on your door, you can never protest, you can never fight back.
You will never be free.
Never forget that those who endlessly scapegoat immigrants for all of the inevitable horrors of capitalism are the cause of their own problem. Capitalism is a gluttonous system. It cannot help but decay, because infinite growth is not possible, when there is nobody left to exploit here or abroad, and when all limited resources are inevitably extracted.
First, fascists find a target, be it immigrants, queer people, or any marginalized group. Then, the fascists attack those groups because it is an easy narrative to say: “Immigrants are the ones taking your jobs and bringing wages down.” The narrative that immigrants drive down wages because “they will work for less” has to be defeated. Immigrants do not voluntarily choose to work for less than the full value of their labor; exploitative work is the only option offered to them. Additionally, wages are only “brought down” when a manager or a member of the owning class chooses to lower them.
It is easy to blame every societal problem on already marginalized groups, because it gives the masses an easy out, a narrative to follow, rather than forcing themselves to come to terms with the full scale of their oppression. It is easy for the fascists to create their own “problem” and then use the promise of solving it to gain power. Anyone who has studied the Holocaust understands this to be the case. This is the same method the Nazi party gained support in Weimar Germany, and it is the same method the Trump administration used to gain power today.
They want us to accept their narratives rather than face the reality that immigrants are the same as all legal citizens — they are people, they are workers, they deserve endless kindness, love, and respect, they deserve the same access to education, welfare, and basic amenities as we all do.
We must understand that immigrants are often the most exploited workers, and that liberals and conservatives alike use their immigration status as a means to force them into low-paying jobs. The narrative that we only accept immigrants because they “do the jobs citizens don’t want to do” must be eradicated. It is the justification for using immigrants as what amounts to a slave class: people only allowed in society as long as they engage in the most exploitative labor.
All immigrants are welcome. We must eradicate the narrative that any immigrant is more valuable than any other because of how long they have been involved in their current community, or how much they have produced within it. These factors are irrelevant. All immigrants deserve to have their needs met, just as every other human does.
The idea that we must organize society from each according to their ability, to each according to their need, does not stop at an arbitrary national distinction. It does not stop at the racial border perpetuated in our minds.
We must understand that immigrants would not be illegal if those in power did not make them illegal. They decide to arbitrarily restrict movement and to create national boundaries. They choose the criteria for legal entry and set the threshold as high as they wish.
The abolitionist struggle cannot stop at state policing, incarceration, or ICE.
We must abolish borders as well.
Likewise, the socialist struggle cannot stop at capitalism or imperialism.
We must abolish borders as well.
Today, we must come to a realization. Immigration was never the problem. Borders themselves are the problem.
They exist for no reason but to divide us — to divide the people so that we may not rise up together against our oppressors.
If the owning class can drive us apart by nationality and race, then they can exploit us. If the owning class can tie these with immigration status, they can and will use ICE to destroy our communities.
We will no longer let that happen.
As organizer and author, Harsha Walia writes in the conclusion to Border and Rule:
We understand that “man-made borders shall never fully thwart human movements compelled by the upheavals of our era.”
We fight for the idea that “the freedom to stay and the freedom to move are revolutionary corollaries refusing imperial bordered sovereignties, with home as our shared horizon.”
Abolish ICE!
Abolish Borders!
None of us are free until all of us are free.
Sources:
Border and Rule by Harsha Walia (Ch. 4; Conclusion)
Walia, Harsha. Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism and the Rise of Racist Nationalism. Haymarket Books, 2021.
How the Irish became White by Noel Ignatiev (Introduction)
Ignatiev, Noel. How The Irish Became White. Routledge, 2009.
Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat by J. Sakai (Ch. 4, s. 3)
J. Sakai. Settlers: the Mythology of the White Proletariat. Morningstar Press, 1989.
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent by Eduardo Galeano (Part 1, Ch. 3)
Galeano, Eduardo. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. Monthly Review Press. 1973.
Endorsement: Tammy Carpenter for Oregon State House
DSA is endorsing Tammy Carpenter for Oregon State House, and we need your help to win 
Dr. Carpenter is a proud member of Portland DSA running to fight for universal healthcare, fully-funded schools and a renters’ bill of rights 
Dr. Carpenter is part of a slate of candidates in the Socialist Cash Takes Out Capitalist Trash fundraising project!
Chapter Notes: February 2026
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.
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.
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
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