Tampa, FL – Starting on August 18, members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) will kick off a major, week-long effort to build for the August 27 protest at the Republican National Convention, by visiting college campuses in the Southern region of the U.S.

Fight Back! interviewed Sarah Buchner, a call center worker at SITEL Corporation in Asheville, North Carolina. The New South is notorious for low-wages and big corporations calling all the shots, but brave new leaders like Buchner are arising to organize unions. Their yearlong struggle for respect, better benefits and good wages is gaining power and impacting the local area.

Another reason to march on the RNC

San Francisco, CA – While millions of retired Americans are struggling to make ends meet and millions more working people who have been laid off don’t know how or if they can ever afford to retire, laid-off corporate executives are living in another world. Take General Electric Vice-Chairman John Krenicki, who is 50 years old and retiring at the end of 2012 because of GE’s restructuring plans. GE will be paying him $89,000 a month for the next ten years (about a million dollars a year, or $10 million total), after which he can receive GE’s executive pension. In addition, Krenicki is getting stock options and stock valued at almost $15 million, and a bonus of almost $3 million, for a total golden parachute worth almost $28 million. In exchange, Krenicki promised GE that he wouldn’t work for a competitor for three years.

Chicago, IL – NATO opponents are accusing State's Attorney Anita Alvarez of severely distorted priorities after her office steered a grand jury to reinstate charges against NATO protester Danny Johnson, whose case was thrown out by a judge at a preliminary hearing in May for lack of probable cause. Johnson was then secretly indicted by the State Attorney's Office on June 29 with an additional felony charge. Johnson had originally been accused of only one count of aggravated battery of a police officer during a May 15 immigrant rights protest held in conjunction with the week of NATO-related protests. Now Johnson is charged with two counts of aggravated battery for a crime that both Johnson and eyewitnesses refute.

Minneapolis, MN – About 30 people assembled outside the Hennepin County Government Center here, August 1, to stand in solidarity with Occupy Homes’ Nick Espinosa and to demand all charges against community members involved in defending the Cruz family home be dropped. Nick Espinosa has been charged with riot in the third degree, along with other Occupy Homes activists. The charge is baseless.

Minneapolis, MN – The Minnesota Occupy movement won a victory in their battle against the Minneapolis city attorney’s office, July 30. Four protesters got their charges reduced to only petty misdemeanors for an October 2011 civil disobedience action at U.S. Bank. This came about despite the Minneapolis city attorney office’s efforts to escalate the charges to crack down on the use of civil disobedience in the fight against home foreclosures.

Anaheim, CA – Hundreds marched on the Anaheim Police Headquarters, July 29, to protest police killings of young Chicano men. The protesters confronted the police with chants, shouts and banners denouncing these brutal and racist killings. The Anaheim Police Department (APD) has carried out a rash of killings this year, far more than previous years. Two people have been killed in the past week.

Kick-off event held at Ramsey County welfare office

St. Paul, MN – About 20 members of the Welfare Rights Committee (WRC) gathered at the Ramsey County welfare office, July 26, to announce a campaign to raise the welfare grants in the state of Minnesota.

Anaheim, CA – Manuel Diaz, a 25-year old Chicano, was shot in the back and in the head by Anaheim police in the afternoon of July 21. The police killing took place in a Chicano working-class community, where most people live in apartments and where families know, get along with and hear each other. Diaz was murdered while standing in his front lawn. The police have given no reason or probable cause for attempting to stop him.

14 face ‘riot’ charges

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 people rallied inside City Hall here, July 24 to demand all charges be dropped against members and supporters of Occupy Homes who were arrested defending the Cruz family home. In recent weeks, city prosecutors added the charge of third degree riot – a gross misdemeanor which carries a sentence of up to one year in prison and a $3000 fine – to the original trespassing charge. The 14 were arrested May 30 in a peaceful protest at the Cruz family home.

Los Angeles, CA – Immigrant rights organizations staged a press conference here July 12, to demand that Sheriff Lee Baca stop cooperating with the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) ‘Secure Communities’ program. The Secure Communities program has resulted in the repression of thousands of immigrants. The press conference was organized by the National Day Labors Organizing Network. Participants included representatives from CARCEN Day Labor Center, ACLU, Pomona Day Labor Center, Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC) and CHIRLA.

Fight Back! interviewed Newland Smith, a member of the Committee Against Political Repression in Chicago, the local affiliate of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Smith led a campaign within the national convention of the Episcopal Church to take a stand for civil liberties in the face of repression of Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians and peace activists. The convention adopted a resolution expressing concern, which will become part of the Episcopalian legislative agenda. There are 30 to 40 members of U.S. Congress who are practicing Episcopalians.

Reporting from Damascus, the Syrian News Agency states that Minister of Defense General Dawood Rajiha, Deputy Minister of Defense General Asef Shawkat and Assistant Vice-President General Hassan Turkmani were killed in a terrorist explosion targeting the National Security Headquarters, July 18.

Chicago, IL – Members and supporters of the Committee Against Political Repression gathered here July 15 to celebrate the legal victory scored by Carlos Montes in June. Montes faced many years in prison for his political activism, with trumped up legal charges thrown at him by the Los Angeles District Attorney. He is one of the anti-war and international solidarity activists under attack by the FBI.

Tampa, FL – The Coalition to March on the RNC successfully obtained permits to rally and protest in Tampa, Florida. The permitted rally and march on the Republican National Convention will start at 10:00 a.m., Monday, August 27, at Perry Harvey Sr. Park, 1200 North Orange Avenue, in Tampa.

Milwaukee, WI – Demanding the right to collectively bargain, Palermo’s frozen pizza workers have been out on strike since June 1.

Chicago, IL – Joe Iosbaker, a leader of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and one of the main organizers of the massive march on the NATO summit, gave an important speech June 30, summing up the some of the lessons of the anti-NATO protest.

Free the NATO 5! Free the Cleveland 5!

Chicago, IL – Activists from Occupy Chicago, the Chicago Committee Against Political Repression and Hammerhard Media met here, July 9, to discuss the police and FBI attacks on protests here and across the country.

Chicago, IL – One month after the historic protests against NATO, activists from across Chicago and even Milwaukee gathered in the shadow of the McCormick Place, site of the NATO summit, on June 30, for a discussion on the lessons of the NATO protests. The event was held at Trinity Episcopal Church and sponsored by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).