The April 5 demonstrations across the country saw hundreds of thousands taking to the streets. Countless others were inspired by the numbers of people willing to take a stand right now against the Trump administration. At these marches were everyday people from all walks of life; workers, students, activists and families were raising their voices to demand change. There will be more of these kinds of actions ahead. They are a test for us. Will we step up to unite all who can be united against Trump and the billionaire class he serves? If we sit this one out, we lose by forfeit.
The political climate in this country is sharpening, and we are headed into battles on many fronts. We in the Freedom Road Socialist Organization are going to rise to every challenge standing strong, united, and prepared. This past year, we achieved a monumental goal: we purchased a building. This accomplishment is a beacon of change and a testament to our determination—when we say we’re going to do something, we do it.
On Saturday, March 8, Department of Homeland Security and ICE agents seized and detained a prominent Palestinian student leader at Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, despite his immigration status as a legal permanent resident. There are no grounds for the arrest, except that Khalil stood up for Palestine during the spring 2024 Columbia encampment for Gaza. Khalil is being illegally detained in the 2nd District in Louisiana.
Across the world, International Women’s Day has always been more than a celebration – it is a day of struggle. It was forged in the fight of New York City garment workers who took to the streets in 1908, to protest the super-exploitation they endured in sweatshops as they tried to support their families: dangerous working conditions, back-breaking hours, child labor and wage theft. They marched shoulder to shoulder with the suffragettes fighting for women’s right to vote. The revolutionary hero Clara Zetkin marked March 8th as a global day of action as a way to unite women worldwide in the fight for socialism and liberation.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Louisiana State University Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
On Monday January 20th, LSU SDS led a march on the capitol with other organizations to unite in opposition to Trump’s backwards agenda. Days before, our reactionary governor Jeff Landry issued an executive order that encouraged all Louisiana residents to raise a “Make America Great Again” flag in celebration of Trump’s inauguration. He also participated in this by flying a MAGA flag in front of his mansion.
The Palestinian resistance has forced the Israeli apartheid regime to agree to a ceasefire in Gaza. This ceasefire agreement is a significant achievement won by the bravery, sacrifice and unity of the Palestinian resistance, bolstered by the patriotic forces in Yemen, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and, until recently, Syria.
For three days starting January 8, the Border Patrol conducted immigration sweeps terrorizing Kern County residents around Bakersfield, California. Like a pack of wolves, they hunted and detained hundreds. They snatched up 78 people, lining them up for deportation. Kern County is a top producer of agriculture for the region and many affected were farm workers or work in the industry.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization shares its condolences with the family, friends and comrades of Jose “Cha Cha” Jimenez, chairman of the Young Lords Organization. He died on January 10, 2025, at the age of 75 in Chicago.
All those who knew him appreciated Jimenez’s determination and his ability to motivate others to action, all the while teaching about the need for revolution and socialism. A revolutionary to the end, he often quoted Mao Tse Tung on the united front strategy, “Unite the many to defeat the few!”
Just days into 2025, the Los Angeles area has been engulfed by record-breaking wildfires. Amidst widespread drought and hurricane-force winds, some areas which have never once needed to evacuate due to fires have been completely destroyed, with over a 100,000 people ordered to evacuate the area so far.
2024 was, yet again, the hottest year in history. Global average temperatures crossed an important threshold in 2024: 1.5° C (2.7° F) warmer than pre-industrial levels. This was the maximum temperature set as goal by the Paris Climate Accords, the threshold after which dangerous effects of climate change are expected to become commonplace.
As Venezuelans celebrate the inauguration of President Maduro on January 10, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization salutes the Bolivarian Revolution, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), and especially President Maduro on another great victory! Overcoming U.S. sanctions, election interference and lies, the people of Venezuela have triumphed once again.
Trump is set to take office at his inauguration in Washington, D.C., on January 20th. From nonsense expansionist land-grabs, to challenging constitutionally protected birthright citizenship, already his outrageous statements come one after another. While some of this is undoubtedly blustering meant to embolden the most reactionary elements of his base, his incendiary rhetoric contains real, material threats. Trump and his thunderdome of billionaire bigots and fools will make every effort at their disposal to pursue their oppressive, reactionary agenda. A look at his appointments to the incoming administration is a preview of the mess that’s sure to come. The message is clear—big business will come first; the planet and the people will come last.
As 2024 draws to a close, we prepare to march into the new year. It promises both challenges and opportunities, and now is the time to take stock of the world around us and recommit to the work ahead.
The past year has been a flashpoint—a series of crises that have shone a piercing light on the stakes of our fight. In Palestine, the genocidal war in Gaza, and the unflinching resistance of the Palestinian people and their allies, provoked a global tidal wave of solidarity and outrage, making clear the urgency of the anti-imperialist struggle.
At the invitation of the Comitati di Appoggio alla Resistenza per il Comunismo (CARC), Michela Martinazzi of the Central Committee of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization delivered the following speech to a national meeting against NATO, held in Italy, December 8.
Good morning from New York comrades,
On behalf of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, I extend warm greetings and solidarity to the participants and organizers of this important gathering. The violent involvement of NATO is felt throughout the world. As communists, we have a special task to oppose U.S. monopoly capitalism, the wars that it brings, and its tools like NATO. We’re honored that you invited us to take part in this meeting to fight NATO on a global scale. And we’re ready to continue the fight alongside you!
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the ongoing U.S.-backed aggression against Syria. President Bashar Al-Assad has been forced to flee the country, and now sits in exile in Moscow. What is clear is that the Syrian government has collapsed. This blatant assault on Syrian sovereignty is part of a larger effort – by Western imperialists, Israel and reactionary forces in the region – to defeat the Axis of Resistance, which is fighting for the liberation of Palestine and to end U.S. control in the region.
On November 27, Lebanon and the U.S.-backed apartheid government of Israel enacted a ceasefire. Hezbollah, a powerful army in the Middle East fighting to free Palestine, fought Israel to a standstill. The Lebanese Army is already reporting that Israeli occupation forces have breached the terms of the ceasefire multiple times in the last two days.
The re-election of Donald Trump and the dominance of Republicans in Congress sends a loud and painful message: the system is broken, and those at the helm don’t care about working people, oppressed nationalities, or the marginalized. We in the Freedom Road Socialist Organization understand that the time is now to channel our rage, dissatisfaction and hope for a different future into something revolutionary.
So, it happened. The racist, reactionary fool Donald Trump is returning to the White House, and Republicans will dominate Congress. The polarization of American political life is sharpening and deepening. Revolutionaries and progressives have some heavy lifting ahead of us.
There is going to be plenty of time to analyze what happened in the election, but on the morning after, some things are clear. The leadership and wealthy backers of the Democratic Party have only themselves to blame for the outcome. The Harris/Walz campaign was tone-deaf to the needs and aspirations of working people. In fact, the two words that they seemed unable to work into any of their speeches were “working class.” Instead, they offered a sad mixture of genocide in Palestine, combined with an appeal to college-educated, “never Trump” Republicans. And they failed.
FRSO urges our members and supporters to take to the streets and organize the broadest possible protests the day after the November 5 elections. No matter what the outcome, we must continue to stand with Palestine and oppose the ever-widening U.S./Israel war in the Middle East. And we must advance a progressive agenda that defends the rights of immigrants, workers, LGBTQ people, women’s and reproductive rights.
The upcoming presidential election is referendum on the U.S.-sponsored genocide in Palestine and the broader war that the U.S. and Israel are waging in the Middle East. The Biden/Harris administration is coordinating the attack on Iran, and the U.S. has dispatched troops and missiles to Israel. There is a minimum of 44,000 dead in Gaza, and Israel is raining 2000-pound bombs down on the cities of Lebanon. While it should go without saying that a reactionary racist like Trump does not deserve a vote, Kamala Harris doesn’t either.
Freedom Road Socialist organization strongly condemns the attacks by the U.S. Treasury Department and Canadian authorities on Samidoun: Palestinian Political Prisoner Network. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) claims that Samidoun is a “sham charity,” an allegation that is designed to criminalize solidarity with Palestine. We urge everyone who is progressive or concerned about civil liberties to stand with Samidoun against political repression.
The U.S government has devised a host of laws that treat movements for national liberation, be they in Palestine or the Philippines or points in between, as “terrorism.” As a result, almost every group that is fighting to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine is on the U.S. State Department’s list of designated terrorist organizations. And it gets worse. Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, folks can face long prison terms for “material support of terrorism.” It’s a legal framework that tries to make solidarity a crime. These laws should be scrapped.
