Dear readers,

We are launching a fundraising drive to build this newspaper. We urge you to contribute. Already, supporters of Fight Back! in Chicago have gotten the jump on this campaign, raising several thousand dollars. We are confident that supporters in other cities will match their efforts.

Over the past 4 years, Fight Back! has been on the front lines of the people's struggles. From the battle for decent schools in Los Angeles, to the picket lines in Alabama and the demonstrations against police brutality in Chicago, Fight Back! has been there. Our correspondents around the U.S. bring you accurate and clear coverage of the fights for justice, peace and equality.

Because of the solid efforts of our readers, distributors, photographers and writers, Fight Back! has grown steadily in size, scope and quality. When we began publishing four years ago, Fight Back! was a regional newspaper, primarily distributed in the Midwest. We are now a nationwide paper with readers or distributors in every region of the country. Our technical staff has worked hard to steadily improve the quality of the paper.

The paper has grown in size, and Lucha Y Resiste! has steadily expanded. It is our goal to publish all the articles in Spanish and English at the earliest possible date.

Over the past two years, we have regularly sent teams of Fight Back! distributors to nearly every major national demonstration, where they assist local distributors and help to find new subscribers. We will be doing this again at the critical anti-war demonstration that will take place in Washington D.C. on April 20.

It's worth noting that as the paper has grown, it has become an important source of information for people in other countries who want to learn more about the struggles of working and oppressed peoples here. In the weeks before we went to press with this issue, contributions and subscriptions came in from as far away as Australia and Brazil.

As the paper has developed, our expenses have increased – and that is where you come in. Printing costs money. Shipping papers around the country costs money. And the post office doesn't give us a break either. Often, we have more material than we can publish. Our layout editor tries to fit it all in, but we have hit the point where we need to publish more pages each issue.

We believe that Fight Back! is especially important right now. The Bush Administration, along with the rich and powerful that stand behind it, has launched a war on the world. There is no other way to describe it. Working people and oppressed nationalities in this country are catching hell, and so are the people of Afghanistan, Palestine, and nearly every other place you can think of. And we all share a common enemy – the White House and Wall Street. Every issue of Fight Back! drives this point home.

Not so long ago, a boss of a Chicago hospital wrote us to complain about our coverage. Knowing that he is someone who consistently attacks clinic employees, we have to admit that we are glad that he's mad. It means we are doing something right. The same applies to a corrupt teamster official who bellowed at a union meeting that Fight Back! was the “worst paper in the world.”

We realize that we have a way to go before the exploiters and oppressors that run this country also judge this newspaper to be the “worst in the world.” But we are trying. And you can help us.

Contribute to the fundraising campaign.

Mick Kelly, for the editors of Fight Back!

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