Preparations underway for strike on May 1

San Juan, Puerto Rico – On April 27, police pepper sprayed teachers in a protest led by the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR) outside the Department of Education. The teachers were protesting the government’s plan to close hundreds of public schools as part of a massive ‘education reform’ plan to privatize public education.

The Puerto Rican Teachers Federation and allied teachers’ organizations in the Broad Front in Defense of Public Education (FADEP) have called a national teachers’ strike in Puerto Rico for March 19. The strike is in response to the Puerto Rican House of Representatives passing an education reform bill this week that would introduce charter schools and private school vouchers and that would close hundreds of public schools. The government is trying to opportunistically push through this sweeping attack while Puerto Rico is still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Maria.

Richard Aoki. Morris Childs. D.H. (Don) Wright. Darrell Grover. Betty and Larry Goff. The “Ad-Hoc Committee for a Marxist-Leninist Party.” Carl Freyman. Herbert K. Stallings. John McCaffrey.

Resist deportations and continue fight for legalization for all

Minneapolis, MN – On Jan. 8, President Trump announced the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for around 200,000 Salvadorans living in the United States. TPS for Salvadorans will be phased out in 18 months. This comes after Trump has already ended TPS for Haitians and Nicaraguans, and soon Hondurans will almost surely lose TPS as well. While the loss of TPS for any country is an injustice, the number of Salvadorans with TPS is more than all other nationalities combined.

St. Paul, MN – In 2017, the people’s movements took to the streets in huge numbers, facing off against Donald Trump as he assumed the presidency along with his band of billionaires and generals. Like many hated right-wing politicians before him, Trump has provoked not just protests but also a lot of music reflecting on and expressing outrage about his reactionary actions and words.

Washington D.C. – On Dec. 15, seven undocumented immigrant youth, now referred to as the #Dream7, risked deportation by staging a sit-in outside of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office in the Capitol building, as part of a wave of protests demanding that Congress pass a clean Dream Act now.

_Pushing back against ‘disaster capitalism’ measures _

In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria’s devastation in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR, for their initials in Spanish) has been warning for weeks that Department of Education Secretary Julia Keleher was going to use the crisis as an opportunity to try to close hundreds of Puerto Rico’s public schools. This is something that those in power have wanted to do for a long time but haven’t been able to due to resistance from teachers and communities defending their schools.

San Juan, Puerto Rico – Despite strong criticisms from the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation, Puerto Rico's Education Secretary Julia Keleher is moving forward with plans to start to reopen public schools Oct. 24. More than a month after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, public schools have not yet repented since many are still damaged. Much of Puerto Rico is still without electricity and water. According to the Puerto Rican Teachers Federation (FMPR), some schools being forced to open are not adequately prepared, while others that could be opened are not slated to open under Keleher’s plan.

Utuado, Puerto Rico — On Oct. 21, a large volunteer work brigade of over 50 people went to Utuado, 65 miles west of San Juan near the middle of the island. They did basic post-hurricane relief work that still hasn't been done by the U.S. government or any other official body a month after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico.

2016 has been a year marked by many important struggles for justice, and also by the ascent of reactionary right wing politics to the White House. All of our movements will face big battles in 2017 as Donald Trump and his band of billionaires and generals take the reigns of power. Here’s some new music from the past year that can help inspire us to carry forward and strengthen our movements for the struggles to come. These are only a sampling of songs from this year; if you want to add more that have inspired you, comment on the article on facebook.