On March 8, two plainclothes agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) entered a Columbia University apartment building and arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate. Khalil was a prominent leader of the Gaza solidarity encampment protesting the genocide in Gaza and the university’s ties to Israel. Initially, the agents informed Khalil that the State Department was revoking his student visa. Khalil is, in fact, a green card holder. In a clear violation of due process, the State Department under Marco Rubio is now saying it will revoke green cards for those who speak out in favor of Palestinian liberation. This development is part of a larger pattern where DHS is disappearing people regardless of the facts. When Khalil’s wife, eight months pregnant, attempted to visit him at an ICE detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, she was told he was not there. While a judge has temporarily blocked his deportation, Khalil is currently being held incommunicado in Louisiana, half a continent away from his home and family.

The arrest of Mahmoud Khalil is a brazen and extralegal assault by the Trump administration on immigrant rights and the Palestinian liberation movement. Our chapter condemns the actions of DHS, ICE, and the Trump administration, and demands the immediate release of Khalil from detention. After the wave of protests last year, Columbia University created the Office of Institutional Equity, which weaponizes the Civil Rights Act to suppress criticism of Israel. In doing so, Columbia has paved a path for escalated government suppression of our right to protest.

Here in the Bay Area, we have seen a climate of fear take hold as ICE has built a new detention center nearby and sent agents into our communities–all this while Berkeley, UCSF, and other local institutions have cracked down on protest. Bay Area tech companies like Google and Facebook have systematically suppressed any criticism of their contracts with ICE and Israel, censoring social media and firing their own workers.  

As socialists, we understand that the cause of liberation abroad is inextricably linked to the cause of liberation at home. The tragic and chilling case of Mahmoud Khalil makes these connections between immigrant justice and Palestinian liberation viscerally obvious. As Israel has dropped American bombs on Palestinians whom Israel continues to imprison inside the Gaza Strip, the U.S. government has contracted with Israeli weapons manufacturers like Elbit Systems and spyware and hacking outfits like Paragon and Cellebrite to build its wall with Mexico and terrorize immigrant communities throughout the United States.

While both major parties have instituted the current regime of repression, a different future is possible. Instead of building walls, we need to tear them down and build socialism instead. We need to take on our struggles locally and globally, and realize that they are one and the same. Our chapter stands strong in its commitment to justice for immigrants here at home, for the people of Palestine, and for all marginalized groups suffering under the yoke of capitalist oppression and imperialist aggression. We demand an end to their repression by university administrations across the country. We demand an end to American universities’ complicity in Israeli apartheid, occupation, and genocide. We also demand an end to that apartheid, occupation, and genocide. Finally, we demand the abolition of ICE and an end to the assault on immigrants.

Free Palestine. Abolish ICE.

Solidarity,

DSA SF 🌹

Upcoming Events

🌹Wednesday, March 12 (6:45 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): March General Meeting (In person at Kelly Cullen Community, 220 Golden Gate)

🌹Thursday, March 13 (5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.): Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group (Zoom)

🌹Friday, March 14 (4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): 🍏 Education Board Open Meeting (Zoom)

🌹Sunday, March 16 (1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.): DSA SF Socialist Job Fair (In person at 215 Golden Gate)

🌹Monday, March 17 (6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.): Electoral Board Meeting (Zoom)

🌹Monday, March 17 (6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Homelessness Working Group Regular Meeting (Zoom and in person at 1916 McAllister)

🌹Monday, March 17 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Labor Board Meeting (Zoom)

🌹Tuesday, March 18 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): Abolish Rent Reading Group – Session 2 (In person at 1916 McAllister)

🌹Wednesday, March 19 (6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.): What Is DSA? (In person at 1916 McAllister)

🌹Wednesday, March 19 (6:45 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Tenant Organizing Working Group Meeting (In person at 1916 McAllister)

🌹Thursday, March 20 (7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.): Immigration Justice Priority Working Group Meeting (Zoom)

🌹Friday, March 21 (7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.): Maker Friday (In person at 1916 McAllister)

🌹Saturday, March 22 (10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.): No Appetite for Apartheid Training and Outreach (522 Valencia)

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

Events & Actions

No Appetite for Apartheid Training and Outreach

Come and canvass local businesses with the Palestine Solidarity and Anti-Imperialist Working Group! No Appetite for Apartheid is a campaign aimed at reducing economic support for Israeli apartheid by canvassing local businesses to boycott Israeli goods. On Saturday, March 22, we’ll be doing a training on how to talk to stores in the neighborhood, then going out and talking with stores together. Meet at 522 Valencia at 10:00 a.m. and we’ll debrief after canvassing at 2:00 p.m.

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 newsletter, etc. Members can view current CCC rotations.

To help with the day-to-day tasks that keep the chapter running, fill out the CCC help form.

Let’s celebrate and pay tribute to International Women’s Day — a day of resistance, formed by the militant struggles of working-class women. From the 1909 garment workers’ strike in New York to the Petrograd protests that ignited the Russian Revolution, International Women’s Day has always been a call to action against exploitation and oppression. Now, as reactionary forces try to erase the successes of this radical history by dismantling our hard-won rights, we must reclaim its true spirit in the ongoing fight for socialism.

The revolutionary origins of International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day (IWD) has its roots in the struggle of working-class women. In 1909, 20,000 female garment workers, the majority young immigrants, staged a mass strike in New York City, demanding better wages and safer working conditions. This collective action inspired the Socialist Party of America to declare February 28, 1909, as the first “National Women’s Day,” and committed the Party to the demand for women’s suffrage.

A year later, at the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference, German socialist Clara Zetkin proposed an annual, global day of action, an “International Working Women’s Day”. This was first observed March 19, 1911, with mass demonstrations across Europe, where women demanded the right to vote and for social security for mother and child, including maternity leave and health insurance.

The significance of March 8 was cemented in 1917, when Russian women textile workers in Petrograd took to the streets demanding “bread and peace.” This became the catalyst for the movement leading to the October Revolution, and in 1921, the Second International Conference of Communist Women officially declared March 8 as International Women’s Day; a date finally adopted by the United States in 1994 thanks to a bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).

International Women’s Day is now celebrated worldwide, a testament to the revolutionary potential of working women and their fight for liberation. Unlike bourgeois feminists that seek reforms within capitalism, as socialists we view International Women’s Day as part of the broader struggle to overthrow capitalism itself, and the abolition of both wage slavery and domestic oppression through the socialization of education and care work.

The struggle continues

Women remain at the forefront of the anti-capitalist struggle, resisting the ruling class’s attempts to maintain power through culture wars and the marginalization of vulnerable communities. 

It’s clear that neither the Democratic nor Republican Party are in the struggle for women’s liberation. Since 2020, both Democratic and Republican administrations have seen over 1,500 anti-trans bills introduced nationwide. Trans women face ongoing attacks on their health, safety, and well-being, including restrictions on sports participation, travel, and access to gender-affirming care. The Supreme Court’s striking down of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, during the Biden administration, came after a deliberate multi-decade campaign of negligence by the Democratic Party. We can see what the Republicans accomplish when they hold 50 senate seats, but when the Democrats under Barack Obama held 59? Nothing. When you strip away all their cynical rhetoric, we see the predictable result of Obama’s choice was a severe blow to reproductive justice and bodily autonomy. In so doing, Democrats collaborated in removing federal abortion protections and in leaving marginalized communities even more vulnerable. And once again, Trump’s current cruel and harsh immigration policies disproportionately harm women and children.

Though these attacks often claim to protect “women’s rights,” the same forces restrict bodily autonomy, deny abortion access, and deny the rights of trans people to exist, all while ignoring domestic abuse and sexual violence in a capitalist system in crisis.

As socialists, we know this struggle is part of a larger fight — not just for women’s rights, but for the liberation of all people from the chains of capitalism. Winning women’s liberation requires unity among people of all genders, and the fight for gender equality is not solely women’s responsibility; it serves the interests of the entire working class. Everyone, regardless of gender, must actively participate by keeping these issues central in our organizing, discussions, and education. And we must resist the ruling class’s divisive tactics, meant to pit men against women, in our fight for collective freedom.

Further Reading

As the far-right seeks to erase history and liberals water down the legacy of progressive and socialist movements in the U.S., it is crucial we honor and elevate the contributions of women in the fight for justice. In the face of efforts to dismantle hard-won rights for women and gender-diverse people, restrict bodily autonomy, and erase the contributions of Black women and other women of color, we wanted to share this reading list curated by Lux Magazine and the DSA AfroSocialist and Socialists of Color Caucus for their Socialist Legacy of Black Feminism course.

WEEK 1 

1. Introduction to How We Get Free Black Feminism and The Combahee River Collective (2012) edited and Introduced by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
2. “Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s Ideas, Unifying Socialist and Identity Politics, Are Suddenly in the Spotlight” (2021) by E. Tammy Kim in Lux Magazine
3. “Mapping Gender in African American Political Strategies” by Leith Mullings in The Socialist Feminist Project: A Contemporary Reader in Theory and Politics

WEEK 2

1. “Identity Politics and Class Struggle” (Abridged) (1997) by Robin D. G. Kelley in New Politics
2. The Master‘s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master‘s House (1979) by Audre Lorde
3. “Nothing Short of Liberation” (2015) by Khury Petersen-Smith and Brian Bean in Jacobin
4. “Looting for Our Lives” (2021) by Marian Jones in Lux Magazine 

SUGGESTED READINGS

• “A History of Black American Feminism” from Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton by Duchess Harris
• Claudia Jones and Ending the Neglect of Black Women
• “The Two Faces of Kamala Harris” (2017) by Branko Marcetic in Jacobin
• “No Time for Despair” (2017) by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor in Jacobin 
• “Sisterhood: Political Solidarity Among Women”​ Chapter 4 of Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984) by bell hooks
• “Intersectionality and Marxism: a Critical Historiography” (2018) by Ashley J. Bohrer in Historical Materialism Issue 26(2): Identity Politics
• “Unite and Rebel: Challenges and Strategies in Building Alliances” (2006) by Elizabeth (Betita) Martínez in Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology
• Coalition Building Among People of Color: A Discussion with Angela Y. Davis and Elizabeth Martinez (1994)