Tallahassee, FL – About 15 people waved signs and chanted outside the Leon County Courthouse, March 1, to protest the wrongful conviction of Antonio and Rodrizgus Richardson, two brothers recently sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder.
Justice for Arafat Jaradat, Samer Issawi and all Palestinian hunger strikers
St. Paul, MN – On March 1, people of conscience gathered here during rush hour at a busy Saint Paul intersection, to show solidarity with hunger striking Palestinian political prisoners and to demand justice for Arafat Jaradat, who died Feb. 23 as a result of being tortured by Israeli security. Many passing cars honked in support of the protest.
Tallahassee, FL – On Feb. 26, 2012, African-American high school student Trayvon Martin was gunned down in Sanford, Florida. His murderer is George Zimmerman, a 29-year-old man who maliciously stalked the 17-year-old Martin under the grounds of his ‘looking suspicious.’
Minneapolis, MN – 13 people were peacefully arrested Feb. 27 as they marched on Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, demanding the bank turn over vacant homes to community control and calling for fairer banking practices.
Chicago, IL – An Israeli legal theorist and former officer in the Israel Defense Forces spoke Feb. 25 at the University of Chicago. Professor Amos Guiora helped provide the justifications for ‘targeted killing’ programs like the one pursued by the Obama administration. 40 protesters, including ten from the campus’ Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), turned out.
Gainesville, FL – On Feb. 26, University of Florida Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), allied with other student and community organizations, will organize a local action demanding justice for Trayvon Martin, a black youth who was brutally murdered by George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on Feb. 26, 2012.
San Diego, CA – Four men from Somalia – Basaaly Saeed Moalin, Mohamed Mohamed Mohamud, Issa Doreh and Ahmed Nasiri Taalil Mohamud – accused of raising money to help the Somali resistance group al Shabaab, were convicted of material support for terrorism-related charges here, Feb. 22. The defendants are facing maximum sentences that range from between 65 to 80 years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for May 16.
According to a Feb. 23 report published by Korean Central News Agency, an important leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) military told the commander of U.S. troops occupying south Korea to stop plans for the provocative military exercises that are scheduled for March 1.
Chicago, IL – Joe Iosbaker, of the Anti War Committee here, denounced Pentagon plans, Feb. 23, to place a new drone base in West African country of Niger.
USAID head Rajiv Shah visited Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia, Feb. 21. There he met with the Western-backed president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Despite U.S. claims of victory over the Islamist resistance group al-Shabaab, Shah never left the airport complex due to security concerns.
Pittsburgh, PA – The city of Pittsburgh agreed Feb. 14 to pay $400,000 to settle the claims of 13 people who were swept up in a mass arrest of demonstrators, observers and passersby in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, hours after the 2009 G-20 Summit ended. The city previously paid $88,000 to settle the claims of 11 of the 25 original plaintiffs, bringing the total paid to settle the case to $488,000.
Protesters demand President Obama stop the Keystone XL pipeline
Washington, DC – According to protest organizers, more than 50,000 people joined the massive “Forward on Climate” rally here Feb. 17. Organized by 350.org, the Sierra Club, Hip Hop Caucus and the Natural Resources Defense Council, the rally was the largest protest in U.S. history addressing the issue of climate change. Many participants were students.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said in a Feb. 16 televised speech that Lebanese resistance forces are well equipped and would not tolerate any Israeli aggression.
For several years, immigrant rights activists have said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is systematically carrying out mass deportations of immigrants who have done nothing wrong, resulting in well over 1 million deportations during the first four years of the Obama administration. This has caused the separation of untold thousands of families and the tearing apart of Chicano and Latino communities around the country – simply to fill arbitrary deportation quotas. ICE officials and the White House denied such allegations. On February 15, 2013, USA Today newspaper broke the story in a front page article based on newly released documents that verify what activists have been saying – that ICE has in fact been intentionally targetting 'low-priority' immigrants for mass deportations, through methods such as mass searches of drivers license databases and checkpoints set up near workplaces and neighborhoods thought to have many immigrant workers. One checkpoint referenced in the USA Today article was near Asheville, NC. Here Fight Back! News has an exclusive interview with Bobby Sullivan, who was stopped repeatedly at a checkpoint near Asheville, North Carolina – likely the same checkpoint referenced in the USA Today article.Woodfin, NC – Bobby Sullivan goes to work every day from his home near Asheville, NC. One day something strange started happening on his way to work: he kept getting stopped at a police checkpoint. What was going on? The police, along with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), had set up an immigration checkpoint on a road near his home.
In response to President Obama’s Feb. 12 announcement in his State of the Union address that about 34,000 troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan, the Afghan resistance responded on Feb. 13 saying that all foreign troops must leave the country.
Tampa, FL – Immigrant rights activists across the country will be participating in a national call-in day, Feb. 14 to demand, “Stop deportations and legalization for all!”
According to a Feb. 12 report from the Korean Central News Agency, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) conducted another successful nuclear test.
Milwaukee, WI – Over 50 students and community members rallied Feb. 6 at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) to demand an end to the sale of Palermo’s pizza on campus. The rally was organized by the Coalition to Boycott Palermo’s, which includes Youth Empowered in the Struggle, Students for a Democratic Society, the Alliance of History Graduate Students, the Hmong Student Union and the Milwaukee Graduate Assistants Association.
St Paul, MN – Minnesota’s Governor Mark Dayton got an earful from members of the Welfare Rights Committee, Feb. 6, when he entered the House chambers in the Capitol building to deliver his State of the State address.
Milwaukee, WI – Over 50 students rallied today, Feb. 6, at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to demand the University join the boycott of Palermo's Pizza. Organized by UWM Boycott Coalition, striking workers participated in today’s rally.