Activists weighing lawsuit against cops

Tampa, FL – According to an August 3 report in the Tampa Bay Times, Major Marc Hamlin, the head of Special Operations for the Tampa Police Department, is boasting about the political spying carried out at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Activists weighing lawsuit against cops

Tampa, FL – According to an August 3 report in the Tampa Bay Times, Major Marc Hamlin, the head of Special Operations for the Tampa Police Department, is boasting about the political spying carried out at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Jacksonville, FL – On August 2, more than 35 people from across Jacksonville attended a forum on institutionalized racism. Sponsored by the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC), the event featured a stack of speakers who addressed the Black Lives Matter movement, the struggle against police crimes and the fight against mass incarceration.

Minneapolis, MN – Attorneys appeared in court, August 5, before Judge Peter Cahill for a status conference in the #BlackLivesMatter demonstration case. Notably, Bloomington Prosecutor Sandra Johnson has dropped all substantive trespassing charges against the alleged organizers of the Black Lives Matter demonstration. The move came on the heels of motions to dismiss that were filed by lead attorneys Jordan Kushner and Bruce Nestor, who are representing 10 of 11 individuals identified as ‘ringleaders’ of the Black Lives Matter gathering at the Mall of America last December.

Minneapolis, MN – To mark one year since the start of the latest U.S. bombing campaign in Iraq, a coalition of Minneapolis and Saint Paul organizations will hold a protest on Saturday, August 8. The protest will be held at Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis starting at 1:00 p.m.

Fridley, MN – On July 14, 345 Hospital Workers at Unity Hospital in Fridley, a first ring suburb of Minneapolis, voted by a roughly 60% majority to join SEIU Healthcare MN. The new bargaining unit includes Nursing Assistants, Dietary Aides, Patient Care Techs, Health Unit Coordinators, Environmental Services Aides and other job classes.

St. Paul, MN – Minnesota’s Governor Mark Dayton and legislative leaders are considering bringing all the legislators from around the state, 201 of them, to talk about giving zero-interest loans and tax breaks to resort and business owners, claiming they will ‘suffer’ because the walleye fishing season is ending early on one lake – Lake Mille Lacs, in east-central Minnesota.

San Salvador, El Salvador – On July 30 students marched here to commemorate the 40th anniversary of a massacre of Salvadoran students on July 30, 1975. The march started at the University of El Salvador (UES) and marched to the bridge where in 1975 the security forces and military violently repressed a peaceful protest where students were marching to demand their rights and to defend the UES. At that time the UES suffered from constant repression from the military and police.

_Turkey redoubles war on Syria, Kurds and the left _

Chicago, IL – Chicago-based anti-war leader Joe Iosbaker is speaking out against the latest U.S./Turkey attacks on Syria and the Kurds. “What does it mean that the U.S. and its NATO junior partner, Turkey, are creating a ‘Safe Zone’ along the Turkey-Syria border? The first result is that dozens of Turkish fighter planes are engaging in attacks against the Kurdistan Workers Party in Syria as well as in Iraq. In Turkey, they’re cracking down on Kurds and the left, with hundreds of arrests.”

San Salvador, El Salvador – The Cuban 5 spent well over a decade in U.S. prisons, arrested by the U.S. government in the late 1990s for monitoring anti-communist Cuban groups based in Miami, Florida that have planned terror activities against socialist Cuba. The five were recently released from U.S. prisons in the face of a worldwide movement demanding their freedom. They returned to a heroes welcome in Cuba, unbroken and firm in their dedication to the Cuban revolution. Their release by the U.S. government was an early move in the renewing of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S.

Bloomington, MN – Over 25 community members and 15 members of the clergy gathered at the Mall of America, July 26, to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, to call for an end to the terrorization of people of color through police violence and mass incarceration and to urge Mall of America (MOA) to drop its charges against 36 organizers and bystanders stemming from last December’s MOA protest.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 40 people protested outside the office of Senator Amy Klobuchar on July 24, demanding the closing of ‘family detention centers’ housing thousands of immigrant mothers and children near the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. The largest family detention center in Dilley, Texas houses around 2000 immigrant mothers and children, the vast majority of whom fled rampant violence and economic deterioration in the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. After a harrowing and dangerous journey across several borders, these mothers and children are suffering yet another nightmare of being jailed indefinitely by the U.S. government under terrible conditions. The Dilley prison is a private prison operated for profit by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA).

St. Paul, MN – Dozens of protesters gathered at the intersection of Summit and Snelling Avenues here, July 24, to remember last summer’s war on Gaza. They held signs, Palestinian flags, and chanted “Free Palestine” as cars that drove by the busy intersection. After getting supportive honks and peace signs for an hour they concluded with a short rally.

Chicago, IL – The Chicago Police Department has shot 400 people in the past eight years, but city officials have declared that only one of those shootings was unjustified. The government body that decides this is the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA).

Chicago, IL – On July 20, Rasmea Odeh’s legal defense team filed a new brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, demolishing the July 8 arguments of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel, who is opposing her bid for a new trial.

Dallas, TX – About 60 people gathered at Belo Park here, July 22, to remember Sandra Bland, the young African American woman who died in police custody in Waller County, Texas, and to demand justice for her. The activists listened to a number of speeches and a few prayers, before marching through downtown chanting “What's her name? Sandra Bland,” and other slogans.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Joint Statement in Solidarity with the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is one of the many signers. Joint Statement in Solidarity with KKE

Minneapolis, MN – About 200 people gathered in the Warehouse District here, July 18, to install a plaque commemorating the 1934 Teamsters strike. The epic strike was one of the pivotal events of the 1930s that ushered in a huge upsurge in the labor movement.

Washington, DC – The International Peoples’ Tribunal on Crimes Against the Filipino People (IPT) opened here July 16. 250 legal experts, witnesses of human rights violations, and social activists from the U.S., the Philippines and elsewhere came together. The mood in the hall was defiant, yet somber, as one after another survivor appeared before jurors to present the murders and torture committed against loved ones.