by Emerson Shaw

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.

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.

Each month Seattle DSA (SDSA) holds a General Membership Meeting. These meetings serve as a democratic vehicle for members, educational vehicles for those looking to get more involved, and informational vehicles to learn about upcoming events and votes.

Each GMM follows the same basic schedule: We begin with a call to order, during which we acknowledge the fact we’re operating on stolen land. After the call to order, we vote to approve or amend the proposed agenda, and then we move through the agenda once approved.

Robert’s Rules of Order is our chapter’s parliamentary authority, which sets rules on decorum, debate, resolutions, and voting for making democratic decisions.

Universal Childcare Ballot Initiative: Amended Proposal

SDSA members gathered on a very windy, very dreary Seattle night to organize, discuss, and vote on chapter business. 

The first vote of the evening was on whether we wanted to continue with our 2026 Universal Childcare Ballot Initiative. Last year, the chapter voted to support a 2026 ballot initiative for free universal childcare in Seattle. However, as the Electoral Working Group proceeded with the initiative drafting, they hit some unexpected roadblocks. 

At the previous monthly meeting, the drafting team presented these roadblocks to the chapter and proposed abandoning the ballot initiative. They no longer believed this was an effective path to universal childcare, and wanted to explore a different approach. 

The chapter spent the intervening weeks discussing the initiative over Discord, and finally, we would put it to a vote.

For fifty minutes, members presented their positions to the chapter, advocating either for or against the ballot initiative. Those in favor spoke passionately about the need for universal childcare, with arguments including: 

• Wildly Popular Policy: Childcare costs in Seattle are untenable, and the strain is felt across the working class. These extreme costs keep people in economic uncertainty, restrict workers’ bargaining power, and keep women economically oppressed. As one member put it, “The lack of childcare is a weapon of the ruling class against the working class.” 

And whether or not they’d phrase it the same way, working class voters clearly agree; wide voter support has been demonstrated in cities like Portland and New York. Seattle could be next. 

• We Have Momentum: Speaking of New York, after the wins of socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani in NYC and Katie Wilson here at home, it is clear that progressive and socialist policies have momentum. Class consciousness is rising. We should capitalize on this momentum, especially while we have an amenable mayor. 

• Fair Wages for Employees: One member yielded their time to a group of non-members – five women of color who spoke to their experiences as childcare workers in Seattle. They highlighted the current state of exploitation in their industry and urged the chapter to vote in favor of the initiative, which requires fair wages for employees. 

On the other hand, while those opposed to the initiative supported universal childcare as a goal, they expressed concerns about the way this particular initiative was structured. Their arguments included:

• Lack of Union Support: While some childcare workers, like the five women who spoke, were indeed supportive of the ballot initiative, official union leadership came out strongly against it. SEIU 925, Washington’s branch of the Service Employees International Union, came out in opposition to the initiative, and urged all other local unions to oppose it as well. 

No socialist wants to oppose unions, and this opposition could erode the coalitions assembled around Raise the Wage Renton and Prop 1A. Members also expressed concern that a campaign against both the expected big business backlash and Washington’s unions would be nearly impossible to win. 

• Lack of Funding: The costs of this program would immediately make it the most expensive program in the city, and because Washington doesn’t have an income tax, the only way to fund it would be to increase the tax on big business. This progressive big business tax, Jumpstart, is already funding important projects like Prop 1A’s Social Housing Developer. The ballot initiative would greatly increase this tax. 

While we certainly believe that businesses like Amazon and Microsoft should be taxed higher, they have too much leverage within our current system. If this additional tax pushed Amazon or Microsoft to finally move operations to Bellevue, as they’ve been threatening, the entire funding source for all these projects would collapse. 

• Better Potential Pathways: Part of SEIU’s objection was that they believe universal childcare in Seattle will cannibalize the fight for universal childcare in Washington state. A statewide initiative has a higher chance of receiving statewide support. Additionally, some members argued that rather than proposing ballot initiatives, we should focus our strategizing on getting cadre candidates into office–like New York City DSA did–where they will be better positioned to push for socialist policies.

Ultimately, the final vote was 56 yeses and 82 nos. SDSA will not present a universal childcare ballot initiative in 2026 or 2027. 

Despite the vote, it is clear that universal childcare is a major need, and it is something our members care deeply about. To address this, the Electoral Working Group will propose alternate ways to fight for universal childcare at a future meeting.

Chapter Business

After the ballot initiative vote, the meeting proceeded with some announcements and general chapter business. Here were some highlights! 

• The new Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Working Group was approved with unanimous consent–and was met with a round of enthusiastic applause. 

• The Seattle DSA Code of Conduct was also approved. This Code of Conduct was written by a committee of members through a long and thoughtful feedback process. 

• The chapter celebrated its artists with a presentation of potential new logo designs. Members submitted designs along with an explanation of their thought process. After a vote, we selected our beautiful new orca logo! 

Bill Analysis With Bud! 

After a short break, one of our Socialist in Office Committee members gave a presentation on bill analysis. In a twenty minute segment he called “Bill Analysis with Bud!”, AJ taught the chapter how to research bills in the state legislature and form our own opinions. 

Bill analysis is one of the main projects of the Socialist in Office Committee because elected officials don’t have time to thoroughly read and research bills before they vote. Socialists in office (in our case, Shaun Scott) rely on DSA to provide analysis. 

Attend a Socialist in Office Committee event to learn more. 

Twin Cities Fundraiser

While local politics and chapter business are incredibly important, we know that the fight against capitalism extends far beyond Seattle. And in the wake of multiple state sponsored killings and the fascist ICE invasion in the Twin Cities, SDSA stands in solidarity with Minnesotans. 

After a member read the names of all those murdered by ICE, we observed a moment of silence – followed by a spirited and expletive laden anti-ICE chant.

The final order of business? A fundraiser for the Twin Cities DSA.

SDSA members donated what they could, the Arts and Merch team sold shirts and stickers, and one of our local council members adopted the role of auctioneer. The chapter auctioned off vintage socialist ephemera like newspapers, pamphlets, and even a book of old socialist songs. 

In one night, our chapter raised a little over $3,000 to help Minnesotans fight ICE and protect their neighbors. 

Conclusion

We closed our meeting by singing “Bread & Roses”. This socialist song was based on a speech by suffragette and activist Helen Todd, where she called for “bread for all, and roses, too.” The phrase became a rallying cry during a 1912 textile strike, in which workers maintained their right not only to fair wages, but also to dignity and respect. 

We do everything we can to help one another survive the world we’re currently living in – but we fight for a kinder, juster future, too. These are dark times, but a better world is possible. 

Give us bread but give us roses. 

In solidarity with Renee Good, Alex Pretti, Keith Porter, Herber Sanchaz Domínguiz, Victor Manuel Diaz, Parady La, Luis Beltran Yanez-Cruz, Luis Gustavo Nuñez Caceres, Geraldo Lunas Campos, Isaias Sanchez Barboza, Jose Castro-Rivera, Silverio Villegas González, Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, Jaime Alanis, and all those fighting for a better future, 

Seattle’s Democratic Socialists of America

Events & Actions

(NOTE: TIME CHANGE) Tuesday, February 3 (5:30 PM – 7:00 PM): Social Housing Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Tuesday, February 3 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Public Transit Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Thursday, February 5 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM): Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (zoom)

Thursday, February 5 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM): Public Bank Project Meeting (zoom)

Thursday, February 5 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Immigrant Justice Working Group Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Friday, February 6 (7:00 PM – 11:00 PM): District 1 Coffee with Comrades (Breck’s, 2 Clement St)

Friday, February 6 (3:00 PM – 5:00 PM): KCC Office Clean with TLHC (Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Friday, February 6 (7:00 PM – 11:00 PM): Comrade Karaoke at the Roar Shack (Roar Shack, 34 7th St)

Saturday, February 7 (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM):  ETOC Session 1 – Social Investigation and the Tenant Movement (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Saturday, February 7 (11:00 AM – 12:30 PM):  Public Bank Lit Drop – Mission (Mission Playground Park, 36 Cunningham Pl)

Saturday, February 7 (4:00 PM – 6:30 PM): “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” Film Screening (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Sunday, February 8 (11:00 AM – 1:00 PM):  Physical Education + Self Defense Training (Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Monday, February 9 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Tenderloin Healing Circle (Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Monday, February 9 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM): DSA Run Club (in person at McClaren Lodge)

Monday, February 9 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board General Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Tuesday, February 10 (6:30 PM – 7:30 PM): Ecosocialist Bi-Weekly Meeting (zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Wednesday, February 11 (6:45 PM – 9:00 PM):  DSA SF General Meeting (zoom and in person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate Ave)

Thursday, February 12 (6:00 PM – 8:00 PM):  New Member Happy Hour – Richmond District Edition! (in person at Lost Marbles Brewery, 823 Clement St)

Thursday, February 12 (6:00 PM – 7:00 PM):  Education Board Open Meeting (zoom)

Thursday, February 12 (7:00 PM – 9:00 PM):  Tech Worker Reading Group (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Saturday, February 14 (11:00 AM – 2:00 PM):  ETOC Session 2 – Building Campaigns I (in person at 1916 McAllister St)

Monday, February 16 (6:30 PM – 8:00 PM): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (in person at 1916 McAllister St and zoom)

Monday, February 16 (7:00 PM – 8:00 PM): Labor Board Meeting – Existing Union Support (in person at 1916 McAllister St and zoom)

Check out https://dsasf.org/events for more events and updates.

Comrade Karaoke at the Roar Shack

This Friday, February 6, 7:00 – 11:00 PM, come hang out at the Roar Shack (34 7th Street) and do some FREE karaoke with your fellow DSA SF comrades or cool people you want to impress with your incredible singing voice! No songs refused, no entry denied! The entrance is on Odd Fellows Way around the corner from 7th Street.

SF Public Bank Lit Drop

Please join the Ecosocialist Working Group and the SF Public Bank Coalition for a lit drop event this upcoming Saturday, February 7th at 11:00 AM. We’ll be meeting at Mission Playground (Valencia between 19th and 20th). No experience needed and snacks will be provided. RSVP here.

Emergency Tenant Organizing Committee (ETOC) Fundamentals of Tenant Organizing Watch Party

Looking to deepen your understanding of housing work on the ground? Interested in building durable tenant power in SF? Come learn how to organize tenant associations, fight landlords collectively, and build toward radical tenant unionism in San Francisco. These ETOC watch parties happen every Saturday in February at 11:00 AM at our office (1916 McAllister) and focus on turning socialist analysis into mass tenant struggle: investigation, campaigns, and building real tenant organizations that can win. If you’re serious about anti-landlord work, this is where to plug in.

Immigrant Justice Know Your Rights Canvassing + Social

Join the Immigrant Justice working group Saturday, February 7 at 1:00 PM for a KYR canvass in the Marina district, followed by a happy hour where we’ll be grabbing food and drinks and doing a debrief on canvassing! Meet up at the Marina Branch Public Library!

Film Screening of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

On April 11, 2002, a failed US-backed coup attempt was orchestrated against the then Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. Join us this Saturday, February 7 at 4:00 PM at 1916 McAllister St for a screening of “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, a documentary that focuses on events leading up to and during the failed 2002 coup, and filmed by Irish filmmakers Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Briain, who happened to be in Caracas when it happened. We hope you can join us as we stand in solidarity with the Venezuelan people and their fight for self-determination and against U.S. sanctions.

Reportback: EWOC Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing

We have another graduated cohort from the four week long Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee organizing training! The last two weeks covered “The Arc of the Campaign” and “Inoculation and the Boss Campaign”, allowing for even more detailed discussion about the organizing efforts happening within the group. 

The “Arc of the Campaign” focused on Lisa, a nurse who met with her co-workers to organize them in an escalating campaign towards a strike. They used different ways to organize people towards this goal, such as media coverage, candlelight vigils, educating about the meaning of the strike, and collectively representing their issues. There are a variety of ways that union leaders can educate the public about their cause, and making them fun and creative can move the campaign forward!

We heard from Diego, a Trader Joe’s worker whose union election ended in a tie, during “Inoculation and the Boss Campaign”. The boss targeted workers that were less informed about their rights or shakier in their commitment to organizing in order to catch people off guard. It was important that organizers had people prepared to combat the anti-union narrative in larger captive meetings and after 1:1s with management. We went through the union busting bingo card to ideate what we could say in response to anti-organizing rhetoric, whether it was from management or fellow coworkers.

The Fundamentals of Workplace Organizing course is run every other month! If you’re interested in an in-person format or generally want to get involved with the SF local chapter of EWOC, reach out to the lead coordinator Caitlin S or email labor@dsasf.org. EWOC is a standing topic at the new organizing meetings of the Labor Board, which are held on the second Monday of every month at 7:00 PM, both in-person at 1916 McAllister and over Zoom. Anyone is welcome to attend, and we’re always looking for people interested In workplace lead canvassing, organizer trainings, and volunteer outreach. If you’re interested in organizing your workplace and would like to be connected with an EWOC organizer, fill out the request form here.

Behind the Scenes

The Chapter Coordination Committee (CCC) regularly rotates duties among chapter members. This allows us to train new members in key duties that help keep the chapter running like organizing chapter meetings, keeping records updated, office cleanup, updating the DSA SF website and publishing the weekly newsletter. Members can view current CCC rotations.

Interested in helping with the newsletter or other day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running? Fill out the CCC help form.

Chapter and Verse: Chapter News for December 2025 and January 2026

The post Mobilization Against Brutality in Minneapolis and More appeared first on Democratic Left.

Educator & Seattle Democratic Socialists of America member Ty Saxon discusses the chapter’s Socialist Night School program.

Patrick O’Neill: Ty, the last time we talked you discussed your theory of education, and you talked about bringing democracy into your classes. Can you tell me what that looks like in practice in one of the Socialist Night School classes?

Ty Saxon: One of the ideas that we’ve adopted as a core principle of Socialist Night School (SNS) is the concept of “protagonism,” specifically protagonism of everyday working class people. Protagonism focuses on the idea of working people becoming active subjects in our own lives. WE are the agents of change in history, and WE have the power and responsibility to remake the world for the common good of the people. This is a concept we talk about at SNS, but more importantly protagonism is a concept that we really try to design the format of our classes around.

In practice, this means spending less time lecturing AT people and more time discussing WITH them, encouraging everyone to speak up and to speak out, using small breakout groups and giving attendees the opportunity to volunteer to report back their group’s ideas to the larger group. Those of us who organize and facilitate different parts of SNS sessions aren’t there to tell the attendees what or how they should think. Our role is to help the attendees think through the topics and issues and figure out how to come to their own conclusions. The conclusions we come to aren’t just some prefabricated talking points that us organizers have come up with. Instead, we develop them as a group during our session together. In upcoming sessions, we’ll increasingly be emphasizing training in organizing skills and using roleplaying exercises to help attendees actively practice the necessary skills to develop that ability to become protagonists in a working class movement with the power to change the world. As democratic socialists, we believe that everyday people have the power and ability to directly run society collectively and democratically, but we need the right kind of liberating education to realize that potential.

Patrick O’Neill:You also mentioned that school under the capitalist system is largely used as a place to train people to be workers, and to train people to accommodate themselves to authoritarianism. Can you talk a bit about how socialist night school re-imagines this relationship with school?

Ty Saxon: There’s a great book by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis called Schooling in Capitalist America. In the book, they go over evidence showing that our schools are primarily training people to obey authority. Teachers mainly reward students for obedience and not for intelligence, creativity, curiosity, or critical thinking. While students cover various topics in the curriculum, such as math, science, english, etc., the whole tim, they’re also learning the meta-curriculum, which is basically that you have to show up on time, listen to the authority figure (teacher/boss), and do what they tell you to do. This maps directly onto the primary demands of capitalist workplaces. So they’re not just learning information, they’re learning how they’re supposed to behave in capitalism. Bosses want the workers to be smart enough to be able to produce valuable products that the capitalists can profit from, but not smart enough to question why the workers don’t get a bigger cut of the sales from the products they’re making. More importantly, the ruling class needs workers to never consider getting rid of the bosses completely. Why not just keep all the profits for the workers and let the workers decide what products to produce and how to produce them?

There’s no structural reason why workers can’t just run their workplaces themselves. It would actually be much more efficient to get rid of the managers’ bureaucracy and surveillance of workers and to not have to give profits to the owners who don’t do any work. Of course the capitalists strongly oppose this, but other than that the biggest barrier is that workers aren’t typically educated or trained in how to run their own workplaces. This can definitely be done, though. The largest worker-managed business in the world, Mondragon, realized this issue early on and established their own university for training workers. For the same reasons, DSA should have its own democratic socialist education program, because DSA’s goal is for workers to democratically control society. Though SNS is currently much smaller than Mondragon’s education system, we aim to grow into a similar role for SDSA, though one that is more suited specifically to a socialist organization than to a business like Mondragon.

Ultimately, we want the SNS to be a place where people can come to when they want to learn how to get more involved in and even become a leader in organizing in DSA, in their workplace, and/or in their community. It’s essential that DSA is not just a place where people come to complain about why capitalism sucks, but where we can learn the skills and tools to actually DO something to build a new society. We always make a point at the end of each session of the school to discuss opportunities for how people can take action, and we have attendees try to make a commitment to doing at least one thing, based on our discussions.More broadly, we see the SNS as being a key entry point into SDSA and a means of building up a strong culture of democracy, participation, and protagonism.

Patrick O’Neill: What are the big topics of discussion for the first quarter of 2026 Socialist Night School?

Ty Saxon: We try to cover a broad range of topics (as DSA generally does) from session to session, but we also want to keep things topical and relevant to whatever big thing is currently happening. Of course, that’s pretty hard since Trump got reelected, but in 2026 our first session was looking at reforms to make our electoral system more democratic, and our next session in February will be a role-playing exercise based on the historic west coast longshore strike of 1934. This session will be a great opportunity to experience one of the major workers’ victories in US history and also to learn some of the basic skills for organizing toward a general strike, which a lot of people are thinking about right now.

Other ideas we’ve discussed for future sessions: feminism and bodily autonomy, immigrants’ rights, trans asylum seekers, the role of religion/faith in organizing, the role of art in organizing, the concept of work, anarchism, and direct action

Patrick O’Neill: Are there any books, essays or texts you might recommend for a new comrade getting ready to join one of these classes?

Ty Saxon: We always post readings/videos for each particular session. However, these are optional because we want to encourage as much participation as possible, and we want the SNS to be super accessible for everyone. If you can do the readings before the session that’s great, but no shame if you can’t.

Here are a couple of articles that give a good introduction to our education philosophy and pedagogy:

• Organizing to Learn, Learning to Organize
• Myles Horton and the Pedagogy of Protest

For further reading, the book We Make the Road by Walking, with Paolo Freire and Myles Horton is excellent.

Patrick O’Neill: You partnered with YDSA for the last Socialist Night School class of 2025, are you planning to continue that partnership and will there potentially be more classes in 2026?

Ty Saxon: Absolutely! Our first session with YDSA last year was our best SNS yet, and we’re planning to do at least one SNS with YDSA at UW each quarter. Doing SNS at UW makes perfect sense, so we definitely plan to do more sessions with YDSA there and will work with them to see what kind of topics are most relevant particularly for students.

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

🌹

by Elizabeth Henderson

Despite the transactional orthodoxy dinned into us from the centers of power, there are people all over the world who express solidarity through their food shopping. Right here in Rochester, there are many members of area CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture farms) who agree to share the risks with the farms by paying in advance, and thousands who go to the trouble to shop at farmers markets instead of the produce sections of big grocery stores.  For three days in December, I had the opportunity to attend “The flagship global event for Local and Solidarity-based Partnerships in Agroecology (LSPA) of which Community Supported Agriculture is the best-known iteration…” in La Bergerie de Villarceaux, Chaussy, France.

As one of the first US CSA farmers and author of Sharing the Harvest with translations into Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Spanish, I have the honor to serve as Urgenci’s Honorary President. For twenty years, Urgenci has been serving as an international network, bringing together grassroots farmers, conscious eaters, activists and researchers from over 40 countries on all continents except Antarctica “to exchange experience and knowledge, analyze global food policies, and develop collective strategies” to strengthen local/regional food systems, secure dignified livelihoods for farmers and everyone who works on farms, and defend the commons. “URGENCI is an acronym standing for Urban-Rural networks: GEnerating New forms of exchanges between CItizens.” Thanks to Urgenci’s “seeding,” there are CSAs in most Eastern European countries and in all the countries ringing the Mediterranean.

The Symposium opened with a ritual expressing our mutual gratitude to our home planet – to the air, earth, winds and waters – and with a pledge to make the gathering a safe space with hope and love in the room. We shared a quote from Vaclav Havel – “Love and truth always prevail over hatred and lies.”

Then Urgenci co-presidents Shi Yan Sina from China and Isa Alvarez Vispo from Basque country Spain addressed the hundred or so participants from 38 countries. Shi Yan reminded us that CSA reconnects people with land, farmers with consumers. She recounted her own path to CSA via 6 months in 2008 at a CSA farm in the US that changed the direction of her life.  Once home, she organized the first CSA – Little Donkey Farm, renamed Shared Harvest Farm with 100 member households, farmed by a combination of village peasants and “new farmers,” college educated youngsters trained in agroecology. Since then, working with a growing team, Shi Yan has helped establish a national CSA network that provides farmer services and technical assistance. As of 2026, there are over 2000 CSAs united by EcoEarth, a national Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), a grassroots alternative to organic certification.

In her address, Isa Alvarez focused on international food policy. Isa represents CSAs as a member of the Internation Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty, part of the consumer sector of the Civil Society Mechanism of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, where they oppose industrial corporate control of the global food system and advocate for locally-controlled food sovereignty and agroecology. Centering an eco-feminist perspective, Isa declared, “we need a program so that we can fight together.”

We spent the afternoon visiting farms that use some of the 80 hectares belonging to La Bergerie. GAEC Farm grows organic vegetables for two AMAP groups (French farmers named CSAs AMAPs – Associations for the Maintenance of Peasant Agriculture, a brilliant cultural move that inspired thousands of people to join the farms that are the source of the great French cuisine.) Their soil is heavy with a high clay component. There are two large greenhouses where they do winter production, and a well-equipped packing shed. The next farm has cattle and grain production. Both operations sell at the Bergerie farm store which was well-stocked with breads made from farm grain and many cuts of meat.

After an Apero – a cocktail hour with a wild abundance of snacks contributed by participants – and an ample dinner, we spent the evening watching films. I hope to bring the documentary on Om Sleiman Farm in Palestine to next year’s Witness Palestine film festival.

Dec 12 – Moving the Movement.

We spent the second day in a series of plenary sessions and workshops. The plenary, “CSAs in the Fight for Food Sovereignty,” was done fishbowl style with prepared short statements and then the audience could jump in too. We heard about the Nyeleni Process (I reported on in it the December Red Star) that issued the Kandy Declaration. A Japanese Teikei (CSA) leader called for globalizing CSA and our shared cultural values of living peacefully and gently on earth.  A representative of RIPESS, the international Social Solidarity Economy Network, called upon us to expand beyond food to include energy, housing, health, and other sectors. Several speakers pointed to the urgency of raising the percentage of the price of food that goes to farmers – farmers are quitting and young people hesitate to farm because prices are too low to cover costs of farming.  

I moderated two of the parallel workshops. Farmer to Farmer: Farmers from Finland, France, Marocco, Mexico, the Philippines, Belgium, Lebanon and Egypt shared their strikingly similar stories and struggles with competition from cheaper supermarket food. CSA and Climate Change: CSA farmers from China, the Philippines, West Africa and Finland reported weather that has become more extreme – the wet is wetter, the dry drier, the winds more violent. The Beijing area averages 400mm/yr of rain, but in July 2024, there were 400mm of rain 3 times in July.  The Philippines has suffered 20 typhoons in just two years that wipe out entire crops. Due to this frequency, trust has become an issue.  Consumers are afraid to pay in advance. The rainy season is longer. Now they have two seasons – wet and wetter.  In Togo, West Africa, there are 2 seasons, dry and wet. Previously the wet season started in March and the farms sowed their corn.  Now, rains may not come till May or even June. As a result, they plant the corn later which greatly reduces the harvest. Corn harvest was 1700K/hectare – now it is only 300K. By contrast, Thomas Snellman from Finland, a farmer and the founder of REKO, a variant of CSA, said the changed weather is milder and better for farming.

In the plenary, “Conflict and Weaponization of Hunger,” Souad Mahmoud from Lebanon, Carolina Alzate Gouzy from Colombia and Yara Dowani from Israel/Palestine made moving, powerful presentations about how wars undermine food sovereignty. Israeli and US bombing of Lebanon along the border with Palestine has killed livestock, destroyed crops and contaminated the land and environment. Damages amount to over $700 million. Farmers are unable to access their land and thousands have been displaced. With the movement of troops, battleships and constant surveillance, the US is threatening Colombia and neighboring countries with attack.  As vividly depicted in the film we had seen the night before, Yara Dowani, who is openly Queer and does not wear a Hijab, described Om Sleiman Farm where they have created a CSA, growing vegetables under the walls and constant surveillance of Israeli settlers.  From her home in the West Bank, Yara has to drive through or around check points to reach the farm. They founded the farm in 2016 using land belonging to the village. The farm has 25 – 30 members, and runs a training program and a school – the Under the Pear Tree project.  They produce vegetables and grapes using a lot of handwork with trickle irrigation and mulch.

Dec 13, the final day of the Symposium, we held regional meetings and the Urgenci General Assembly. Six CSA activists from the US and one from Quebec were able to attend.  We agreed that the North American CSA Innovation Network should expand to include Canadian and Mexican CSA networks. The Assembly ratified a new 5-year strategic plan that includes expanding outreach, technical assistance and training in CSA to additional countries, compiling a report from researchers on CSA Around the World, and on-going participation in the international peasant campaign to uproot corporate domination and transform the food system. Finally, we elected the International Steering Committee that meets quarterly to guide the network: Isa Alvarez Vispo (Spain), Shi Being Yan Sina (China), Kate Anstreicher (USA), Kazumi Kondoh (Japan), Florent Sebban (France), Simon Anoumou Todzro (Togo), Fernando Docpil (Philippines), Ariel Molina (Brazil).

I come away from the Urgenci Symposium with feelings of encouragement and joy. Solidarity programs are growing steadily in many countries. In the context of increasing far-right ideologies, CSA and agroecology are subversive, chipping away at corporate domination.  Many of the national and regional networks focus on deep farm/farmer support rather than advertising with consumers, though the Chinese CSA Network has a reach of a million on WeChat. Shi Yan interviewed me the first day and told me the second day that 48,000 people had already listened to my words. The farmers and activists supporting CSA are enthusiastic, committed and fun to spend time with. The most surprising proposal I heard is that Urgenci and La Via Campesina in Europe have started campaigning for food social security! As with US income Social Security, employers and tax payers pay into a system that guarantees food security for everyone. That’s an inspiring idea to start planting.

The post Getting Grounded: Report back from the Urgenci 9th International Symposium: Sowing Solidarity, Cultivating Community first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

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/

By a Comrade

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!