Socialism 2026: Full Schedule

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10:00am CDT

Chicago's Educators and Families Defending Communities Against ICE

Saturday September 5, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am CDT

Chicago public educators and community members reflect on lessons learned on the front lines defending our schools and neighborhoods during Operation Midway Blitz. We united to protect our communities in brilliant acts of multi-racial solidarity, providing a blueprint for the kind of critical resistance demanded in an era of unfettered state violence.

Speakers

Lisset G

Lizette G became involved with the southwest rapid response team during operation midway blitz and is now a key organizer at a day laborer hiring site in her neighborhood of Brighton Park. She is a mother to two CPS students.

Kobi Guillory

Kobi Guillory was born in Atlanta and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a middle school science teacher on the South side and a CTU delegate. He is also a member of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Raul Islas

Kathryn Zamarron

Kat Zamarrón teaches elementary school music and is a member of the Chicago Teachers Union and Caucus-of-Rank-and-File-Educators (CORE). She is a member of the union's Latine Caucus, PAC, and Executive Board. Outside of union activities, she is involved with community defense work... Read More →

Saturday September 5, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am CDT
Jackson Park A

Migrant Justice

12:00pm CDT

Migra Watch Training for Illinois Residents

Saturday September 5, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT

Erie

For more than a year, PUÑO has been building collective power to protect Chicago’s immigrant communities through a variety of trainings and connecting Chicagoans to their local rapid response group. At this training organizers will lead attendees on how to document and record ICE activity, as well as how to combat ICE terror in our communities.

Speakers

Diego Morales

Sponsors

PUÑO

Saturday September 5, 2026 12:00pm - 1:30pm CDT
Erie

Migrant Justice

3:00pm CDT

How to Close a Camp: Dispatches from the Fight Against Immigrant Detention

Saturday September 5, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT

Jackson Park D

Masked federal agents are kidnapping and killing our neighbors, on the streets and behind the bars of hundreds of detention centers across the country. In spite of the decades-long growth of immigrant detention, communities have been fighting back against camps—and winning. Join award-winning journalist and translator John Washington and community advocate Johannes Favi as they discuss the community-led fights to shut down these camps.

Speakers

John Washington

John Washington is a journalist covering the border, climate change, democracy, and more. He has written for The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The Nation, The Intercept, and other outlets. He is the author of The Case for Open Borders and The Dispossessed: A Story of Asylum... Read More →

Johannes Favi

Johannes Favi is a nationally recognized community leader, human rights advocate, and founder of Caged Dreams, a nonprofit organization advancing healing, leadership, and educational opportunity for immigrant communities. His work bridges lived experience, public policy, and community engagement... Read More →

Saturday September 5, 2026 3:00pm - 4:30pm CDT
Jackson Park D

Migrant Justice

6:30pm CDT

How to Close a Camp Study Session

Saturday September 5, 2026 6:30pm - 8:00pm CDT

Erie

Join us for a collective study session on lessons from the struggle against immigration detention, drawing on extracts from John Washington's How to Close a Camp. Through a shared reading and drawing on organizing lessons and experiences of folks in the room, we will explore the different ways the border regime and detention state can and must be resisted.

Reading the book's Introduction, or “This is How We Close the Camps” by John Washington in the Nation, ahead of the session is ideal but not necessary to attend. How to Close a Camp is also available from haymarketbooks.org and at the Socialism 2026 bookstore.

Sponsors

Books Against Borders

Saturday September 5, 2026 6:30pm - 8:00pm CDT
Erie

Migrant Justice

8:00pm CDT

Neighbors Get Ready: Forging New Solidarities and Defeating ICE

Saturday September 5, 2026 8:00pm - 9:30pm CDT

W190

When ICE goose-stepped into our cities to raid and terrorize, regular people from all walks of life forged new solidarities to throw them out. Join activists from the front lines of the struggle to defend our neighbors for a plenary on getting organized and ready for what’s coming.

Moderators

John Washington

Speakers

Silky Shah

Silky Shah has been working as an organizer on issues related to racial and migrant justice for over two decades. Originally from Texas, she began fighting the expansion of immigrant jails on the US-Mexico border in the aftermath of 9/11. In 2009, she joined the staff of Detention Watch Network... Read More →

Chris Newman

Chris Newman is the Legal Director & General Counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) based in its Los Angeles office. He has worked with day laborers since 2002, and was hired as NDLON’s first attorney in 2004. Since then, he has helped develop and coordinate... Read More →

Tania Wolf

Tania serves as the Southeast Advocacy Manager at the National Immigration Project and as a Steering Committee member of the Southeast Dignity Not Detention Coalition. Born in Queens, New York to parents who immigrated from Colombia and Ecuador, Tania has worked as an immigrant justice... Read More →

Cat Salonek Schladt

Cat Salonek Schladt (she/her) is a South Minneapolis based organizer for people power.
At work, Cat serves as Executive Director of Tending the Soil, an alignment of five power-building non-profits and labor organizations led by working class, BIPOC community leaders with a long history of effective and equitable organizing. Prior to her current role, Cat made good
... Read More →

Saturday September 5, 2026 8:00pm - 9:30pm CDT
W190

Migrant Justice

10:00am CDT

12:00pm CDT

3:00pm CDT

6:30pm CDT

8:00pm CDT

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