Chapel Hill, NC – Eight students are risking arrest by sitting in at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) administration headquarters, April 17, demanding that Chancellor Moeser take a stand in opposing the production of UNC clothing by sweatshop labor. Earlier, 50 students, faculty and staff rallied outside to show their solidarity with the sit-in. The protesters, members of the Carolina Sweatfree Coalition – a coalition of 20 student groups at UNC – are demanding that UNC cut ties with sweatshops and adopt the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP).

Winston-Salem, NC – The opening round of what promises to be a hard-fought battle against big tobacco took place here, Oct. 28, as over 300 farm workers, trade unionists, religious leaders and students marched through the streets of downtown Winston-Salem chanting “Si se puede!” and “R.J. Reynolds escucha, el pueblo esta en lucha!” The march was called by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) to demand that R.J. Reynolds negotiate with the union over the oppressive conditions suffered by North Carolina tobacco workers.

Students and Workers Blast Censorship at UNC-Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC – A delegation of fifteen city and university workers, student activists and union organizers delivered a petition of over 500 signatures on Oct. 26 to the University of North Carolina System General Administration, charging that workers’ voices were being silenced at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The petition was addressed to Erskine Bowles, who is president of the UNC general administration, and who is responsible for all 16 state universities in North Carolina.

Chapel Hill, NC – Campus and city workers, union organizers and students held a press conference at the university here, Sept. 13, to denounce University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill administration’s censorship of an article on collective bargaining. In June, an article that described the growing statewide movement for collective bargaining rights was cut from the University Gazette, an official publication distributed to all UNC workers. The North Carolina Public Sector Workers Union, UE Local 150, organized the press conference to demand the article be published.

Asheville, NC – “What’s disgusting? Union busting!” Over 40 students with the Justice at Smithfield campaign began their countrywide tour here with a spirited picket of a local Ingles supermarket. Ingles stocks Smithfield products from the notorious Smithfield hog processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina. The Justice at Smithfield campaign will visit several major cities in the United States in a tour to raise awareness and build solidarity between trade unions, community organizers, student activists, and the Smithfield Tar Heel plant workers.

Raleigh, NC – Raleigh sanitation workers changed tactics, after months of protests to city management fell on deaf ears. The sanitation workers held a four-hour and a two-hour temporary work stoppage on Sept. 13 and 14, forcing city management to address their concerns. An important struggle has unfolded in the weeks since.

An upsurge of armed resistance to the U.S. occupation has swept across Iraq over the past six weeks. Most of the fighting was initially concentrated in the southern port city of Basra, and then in the densely populated Sadr City, an impoverished suburb of the capitol Baghdad. The fighting in Basra and Sadr City is significant in that it represents a decisive rejection by the masses of Iraqi Shiites of the occupation government’s ‘political process.’

Another massacre by occupation forces in Afghanistan unfolded on Dec. 12 in the central province of Wardak. U.S. military forces on a foot patrol opened fire on an approaching bus, killing four civilians and wounding at least ten others, according to Halim Fidai, the governor of Wardak Province. The killings are the latest in a string of massacres that have led to increased Afghan anger at the occupation.

The following interview with Baha Abu Hussein, the Director of International Relations in the Palestinian Progressive Youth Union, was conducted by Kosta Harlan.

Raleigh, NC – “We’re in the middle of an historic crisis,” the president of the North Carolina Public Sector Workers Union (UE 150), Angaza Laughinghouse, told Fight Back!. “It requires a historic response from unions, youth groups, faith groups and community organizations to develop the fight back.”

Don't Balance the Budget on the Backs of City Workers!

Durham, NC – Fifty city workers and their supporters gathered outside City Hall here, May 18, to protest a decision by the city council to lay off 35 workers and eliminate 113 more positions that are currently unfilled. The result will put a huge strain on the backs of workers who are already understaffed, underpaid and over worked. The job losses will also lead to a deterioration in critical services that these workers provide to the public.

Chapel Hill, NC – Chanting “They say cut back, we say fight back!” a group of 50 students, campus workers and faculty marched on the Board of Trustees meeting March 26. The main theme of the protest was “No budget cuts on the backs of students and workers.” After rallying on campus, the demonstrators marched over to the Carolina Inn, a luxurious hotel that was hosting the Board of Trustees meeting.

As effects of the economic crisis ripple across the U.S., budget shortfalls have sparked crises in nearly every educational system. Public school systems are seeing layoffs of teachers which will mean bigger class sizes, declining quality in education and more stresses on already strained public school systems. Universities have seen their endowments shrink substantially, prompting a crisis of how to continue with slashed operating budgets.

Smithfield, NC – Around 250 demonstrators rallied here, Oct. 27, to protest the war in Iraq and demand an end to the ‘torture taxi service’ run by Aero Contractors out of the Johnston County airport. Activists with the North Carolina Stop Torture Now coalition and independent journalists have documented that the CIA has moved hundreds of detainees through the rural Johnston County airport. The airport forms a link in the chain of the transportation of so-called ‘extraordinary rendition’ suspects on their way to be tortured, and sometimes killed, in secret prisons outside of the United States.

Washington, DC – Over 20,000 demonstrators marched here on Sept. 15 to protest the U.S. occupation of Iraq. At the same time, dozens of demonstrations were held in cities across the country. Initiated by the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) Coalition, the Sept. 15 protests were timed to coincide with top U.S. General David Petraeus’s report to Congress on the ‘surge’ earlier this week. Bush and Petraeus stated they will continue the war, but the response of the protesters was loud and clear: “End the war now!”

Students at University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill made national headlines last week when they confronted the racist ex-congressman Tom Tancredo. 200 students marched, shouted down, or silently protested Tancredo. When 60 students chanted in the lobby of the building where he was to speak, police attacked the demonstration with pepper spray. Two women were thrown to the floor, another protester had her hair pulled by a cop and several people were pushed into the walls. The police drove the students out by threatening them with tasers. Shortly after we were pushed out, a window was broken and the event was shut down.

Athens, Greece -Demanding “No to anti-people politics,” tens of thousands of workers, students and youth rallied across Greece in mid-December to open a 24-hour general strike that virtually shut down the country’s businesses and industry. The strike was called by the All Workers’ Militant Front (PAME) and the General Trade Body of Greece (GSEE) in response to proposals in the 2006 budget that would cut public services including health care and education, abolish the eight-hour work day, decrease pensions and benefits and open up at least eight Sundays a year for work.

Chianciano, Italy – An historic conference with leaders of the Iraqi national resistance was held here last week. It was the first time that representatives of the Iraqi resistance have been able to speak in the West. Organizers had previously attempted to hold the conference in the fall of 2005, only to have the Italian government withhold visas from the Iraqi participants after intense pressure from the United States government. The scope of the conference extended beyond Iraq to include the resistance movements in Palestine and Lebanon, as well as representatives from the antiwar and liberation movements in countries from around the world.

A struggle has broken out over the results of Iran’s presidential elections, held Friday June 12, which resulted in the apparent landslide victory of incumbent President Ahmadinejad. On Friday night, before the results had been announced, the main opposition candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, declared himself the winner. The following day, Iran's election commission announced that Ahmadinejad had won with 62% of the vote. Mousavi responded with allegations of vote-rigging. This set into motion a chain of events that has resulted in hundreds of thousands coming out to the streets in protest. Some of the protests turned into riots, with protesters attacking police, government offices and banks and burning cars. 19 people are reported to have died in clashes with the government.

Rochester, NY – Los estudiantes de la Universidad de Rochester declararon una victoria y dieron por terminada la ocupación luego de que la administración de la universidad aprobara varias de sus demandas. En el 6 de febrero, más de 75 estudiantes ocuparon el auditorio del edificio Goergen biomédica e ingeniería, como muestra de solidaridad con el pueblo palestino en Gaza. Los Estudiantes por una Sociedad Democrática (SDS) en la Universidad de Rochester organizaron la toma para aumentar la presión en la administración para que accediera a sus demandas.