Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

Ryan Hamann

By Ryan Hamann

Members of the Cole family speaking at the March on the DNC in Milwaukee on Augu

Milwaukee, WI – On the afternoon of October 7, it is expected that Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm will make a decision on the killing of Alvin Cole. The decision comes over eight months after Cole’s murder. Milwaukee and Wauwatosa – the suburb where Cole was shot by Wauwatosa police – have been gripped by protests and actions of varying size and intensity since the resurgence of the movement for Black lives at the end of May.

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By Ryan Hamann

Veronica Roll of UWM SDS speaks during the rally

Milwaukee, WI – On the evening of September 25, organizers with the recently re-formed University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) led a rally in Spaights Plaza on campus. More than 20 students and supporters gathered to demand that the university disarm, defund and ultimately disband the campus police.

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By Ryan Hamann

Protest march, led by a banner that reads We Can't Breathe

Waupaca, WI – Nearly 100 people turned out for a Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally in the rural Wisconsin town of Waupaca. This huge turnout for an action in such a small town came in the wake of two earlier events that faced a growing amount of harassment from police and white supremacists.

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By Ryan Hamann

Protest march, led by a banner that reads We Can't Breathe

Waupaca, WI – Nearly 100 people turned out for a Black Lives Matter (BLM) rally in the rural Wisconsin town of Waupaca. This huge turnout for an action in such a small town came in the wake of two earlier events that faced a growing amount of harassment from police and white supremacists.

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By Ryan Hamann

MATU member Jacquee Clark speaks outside mayor Tom Barrett's house.

Tenants in Milwaukee march and rally for an eviction freeze

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee, WI – On August 20, the day that Joe Biden is expected to be in Milwaukee to accept the Democratic nomination, the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention is hosting a march and rally within sight and sound of the Wisconsin Center.

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By Ryan Hamann

Press conference demands prosecution of killer cops.

Milwaukee, WI – On the morning of June 4, the family of Alvin Cole, a 17-year-old African American teen who was killed by Wauwatosa Police on February 2, together with around 25 supporters, held a press conference. The family, led by Alvin’s mother Tracy and his sister Taleavia, made their intentions clear: they want justice, but not just for Alvin.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee, WI – The police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis not only sparked a 20,000-person protest, but appears to have given rise to a broader uprising the likes of which haven’t been seen since the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson in 2014, Freddie Gray in Baltimore in 2015, and, albeit to a lesser extent, the killing of Sylville Smith in Milwaukee in 2016.

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By Ryan Hamann

Case brings up memories of the past police crimes

Cop involved in the death of Joel Acevedo has yet to be charged with a crime

Milwaukee, WI – Three weeks ago, on the morning of April 19, an off-duty Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) officer named Michael Mattioli was arrested for beating someone into an unresponsive state at a party hosted at his, the cop’s, house on Milwaukee’s South Side. Mattioli was booked at Milwaukee County Jail on tentative charges of first-degree reckless injury and strangulation. He was released on April 23 after posting the $50,000 cash bail. Mattioli was placed on administrative duties and formally suspended by MPD after his arrest. He has a court date set for June 10.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee, WI – People all across Canada, and even in some cities in the United States, are coming together to demonstrate solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation in their fight against the construction of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who serve at the whim of the energy corporations behind the project. Actions have been reported in at least six of Canada’s ten provinces.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee, WI – A week after Wauwatosa police killed Alvin Cole, a 17-year-old Milwaukee resident, the Wauwatosa Police Department claimed that he fired a gun before he was murdered by one of their officers back on the evening of February 2. The information about Cole discharging a weapon was not contained in any of the earlier news reports despite its significance to the ongoing investigation, which is being conducted by the Milwaukee Police Department. This is the first public statement put out by Wauwatosa police since the killing.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee, WI – In the early morning hours of February 6, officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) invaded territory belonging to the peoples of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, attacking indigenous activists and supporters who are actively opposing a pipeline project that will cut across Wet’suwet’en land. At least six land protectors were arrested and several others, including members of the media on the scene, were detained and removed from Wet’suwet’en territory by the RCMP.

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By Ryan Hamann

Madison, WI – Back in December of 2019, the professional nurses working at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority (UWHCA) demanded the voluntary recognition of their union from the UWHCA Board of Directors.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee, WI – Australia has been burning since early October 2019, with 1020 square miles having been burnt already. The country has been in a state of emergency for nearly three full months, with major cities like Sydney receiving a fire danger level of “catastrophic.” People are flocking to the beaches in fear of the flames because they have nowhere else to go. Aboriginal communities like the Yuin in the town of Mogo are being impacted the hardest. 25 people have been confirmed dead as a result of the fires, and estimates suggest that millions of animals have been killed.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee, WI – Near the end of August, a whistleblower released a document uncovering a private conversation between U.S. president Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The fact that the two of them were talking is not newsworthy; what was revealed and is of some import, however, was the specific content of their exchange.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee protest demands action on climate change.

Milwaukee, WI – Several hundred people gathered on the morning of December 6 in downtown Milwaukee at Zeidler Park to demand that the big banks like Wells Fargo, Chase and other corporations divest from the fossil fuel industry.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee march challenges causes of climate change.

Milwaukee, WI – On the morning of September 20, more than 500 people gathered and marched in downtown Milwaukee to defend the planet. The crowd included a wide variety of people from all different backgrounds and of all different ages. The leaders were young, Black, and predominantly women.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee, WI – In the early morning hours of September 14 ten drones carried out an intensive bombing of two of the world’s largest oil refineries, both located in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Aramco facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais were decimated, crippling the productive capabilities of the oil manufacturers in the country. The Air Force of the Yemeni Army and Popular Committees have announced that these strikes are a part of what they’re calling the 2nd Operation of Balanced Deterrence.

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By Ryan Hamann

Milwaukee remembers the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Milwaukee, WI – On the evening of August 9, over 50 anti-war activists, peace advocates and community members gathered at the Urban Ecology Center in Washington Park on Milwaukee’s north side to remember the victims of the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9) in 1945. Additionally, victims of recent and prior mass shootings across the U.S. were honored.

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By Ryan Hamann

Oshkosh, WI – On January 20, more than a dozen residents of Oshkosh gathered at Opera House Square downtown to protest the disastrous policies of the Trump administration since his inauguration two years ago. The rally was hosted by community group United Action Oshkosh (UAO).

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