Chicago, IL – “Stop the subpoenas, stop the raids! We are here, we aren’t afraid!” On a chilly morning, Jan. 14, over 50 people gathered at the Federal Building in downtown Chicago to deliver a mock subpoena to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is in charge of the wave of FBI raids, harassment and subpoenas that began last September across the country. Since then, 23 people have been summoned to appear before a federal grand jury in Chicago and all have refused to participate in what is being called a political witch hunt.

Students, Faculty, and Workers Take to the Streets on National Day of Action

Thousands of students, faculty, and campus workers on over 40 different campuses took action today, Oct. 7, to fight back against the cuts to education. Across the country, people are saying ‘no!’ to the cuts to education, to furloughs and layoffs, to tuition and fee hikes, to cuts to programs and services, and to privatization schemes. The protests are part of a unified day of action in defense of public education.

Chicago, IL – 500 people picketed and chanted outside Chicago FBI Headquarters to protest the FBI raids, harassment, and intimidation of anti-war and solidarity activists, and to show support for the three Chicago activists targeted by the September 24 raids. Among the crowd were trade unionists, students, anti-war and Palestine solidarity activists, all outraged by the FBI raids. Stephanie Weiner and Joe Iosbaker, whose home was raided last Friday morning and are two of the twelve people handed subpoenas, were at the protest, joined by their son Tre.

Chicago, IL – More than 3000 people gathered here, June 1, to picket the Israeli consulate in Chicago and to express outrage over the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.

Tuscaloosa, AL – Alabama bus drivers are on strike. At the University of Alabama, bus drivers, students and supporters picketed First Transit headquarters the morning of March 1. The Crimson Ride Shuttle Drivers, part of ATU Local 1208, decided to strike after First Transit offered the workers crumbs from the table. At last week’s negotiation, First Transit refused to offer a living wage, job security and decent health care benefits. The Alabama bus drivers, who make $9.50 an hour, decided they had had enough.

Students from across the country participated in a National Day of Action for Education Rights, Nov. 10, demanding an end to the budget cuts, layoffs and tuition hikes hitting schools since the economic crisis began.

In the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, leaders and organizers across the country are gearing up for the “They Say Cut Back, We Say Fight Back!” national conference planned for Oct. 3 in Chicago, Illinois. From California to New York, people who for the past years have been fighting back against cuts to programs that serve our communities, against home foreclosures and evictions and against plant closures will come together to share experiences and make plans to work together in the coming years.

Birmingham, AL – On July 26, Drummond Co., a Birmingham-based coal company, was found ‘not liable’ in the deaths Colombian trade unionists Valmore Locarno and Victor Orcasita – the head of a union local and his deputy – as well as the next union president Gustavo Soler. The three leaders of the Sintamienergética miners union worked at the Drummond’s La Loma mine in northern Colombia. They were tortured and murdered in 2001.

New Orleans, LA – Instead of the usual Independence Day celebrations, over 350 New Orleans residents and activists gathered at the St. Bernard Housing Project in the Ninth Ward district to demand the right to return to their homes and to voice their opposition to the Iraq war.

Selma, AL – Over 1000 people gathered here, Sunday, March 4, to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the 1965 civil rights demonstration known as Bloody Sunday – during which over 600 men, women and children crossed over the Edmund Pettus bridge and were attacked with tear gas, clubs and violence from police. The event gained notoriety around the world, making obvious the hypocrisy of the U.S. government and pushing forward the Voting Rights Act that was passed five months later.

New Orleans, LA – Days after President Bush visited New Orleans and proclaimed that the city was “making noticeable progress,” people from as far as France and Brazil gathered in New Orleans Labor Day weekend to for an international tribunal to mark the two-year anniversary of hurricane Katrina.

Jena, LA – Momentum continues to build in the campaign for the Jena 6, a group of high school students that were arrested on trumped-up charges for a schoolyard fight. Though the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed charges against one defendant, Michael Bell, ruling that the 17-year old should not have been tried in adult court, thousands still plan on traveling to Jena on Thursday to protest what is being called, “a modern day lynching.”

”'They say 'Jim Crow,' we say 'hell no!'”

Tuscaloosa, AL – Across the country, students held rallies in solidarity with the Jena 6. At the University of Alabama, over 100 students, faculty and staff gathered on the library steps, Sept. 20, the day after the massive rally Jena, Louisiana, demanding justice. The protest, organized by the Social Work Association for Cultural Awareness, the University of Alabama chapter of Students for a Democratic Society and the NAACP. The NAACP chartered a bus of students to attended the rally in Jena, which is being reported as the largest civil rights march in years, with crowd estimates around 20,000.

Washington, DC – People across the country took to the streets to protest on the sixth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Demonstrators called for an end to the ongoing wars and occupations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. It was the first national day of protest against the war and occupations since Obama was elected president.

Hoover, AL – In solidarity with the over 15,000 Goodyear Tire and Rubber workers who have been on strike since Oct. 5, demonstrations were held on Dec. 2 at Goodyear retail stores across the country. In Birmingham, over 100 workers and their supporters rallied at the retail store, while in Hoover, Alabama, a similar rally was held to protest the company’s unfair contract proposals, as well as to warn consumers of the risk involved in buying tires manufactured by strikebreakers.

Gadsden, AL – Despite the heavy rains and the passing weeks, workers at the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. plant here are holding the picket line, demanding job security and better health and insurance benefits. All 1250 workers at the Gadsden plant have been on strike since Oct. 5, leaving the plant idle and plant supervisors scrambling to make tires on their own. The United Steelworkers of America, who organized the strike, represents eleven other plants in America and two in Canada, a total of 15,000 workers, all of whom are participating in the strike.

Tuscaloosa, AL – Applause and cheers erupted in the courtroom at the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse, May 2, when the judge threw out the charges against four anti-war protesters. “As I was waiting outside to give my testimony, I heard the roar of clapping from behind the door,” remembers Tom Keenan, a member of the Tuscaloosa chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). “A mass of people flooded out of the court room, saying ‘We won!’”

People across the country marked the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war by taking to the streets in protest. Students turned out in full force. Members of Students for a Democratic Society, whose call for a week of action against the war brought together over 90 SDS chapters and other progressive organizations committed to rallying, marching and walking out to protest the war. This week of actions was the largest student-organized anti-war protests since the war on Iraq began.

Tuscaloosa, AL – Four protesters from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) were arrested here, Feb. 29, at the University of Alabama for performing a mock raid meant to demonstrate the effects of the U.S. occupation on Iraqi civilians.

Tuscaloosa, AL – Over a dozen students from the Tuscaloosa chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), wearing ‘bloody’ t-shirts, staged a die-in March 6, lying sprawled on concrete in the hot sun for over half an hour to draw attention to the massive number of casualties in the Iraq war. Students gave speeches over a megaphone, calling on their fellow students to stand up and speak out against the war.