News and Views from the People's Struggle
New York, NY – On September 10, NYU students joined a rally led by the NYU Students for a Democratic Society, with the endorsement of over a dozen university organizations, to demand that NYU end its compliance with the Trump administration’s attacks.
Atlanta, GA – In a devastating blow against Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr’s crusade of attempting to intimidate opponents of the construction of Cop City (a training facility intended to militarize the police and train them in urban warfare tactics), on September 9 a Georgia judge tossed out the case against the 61 people indicted with RICO charges, citing a lack of proper procedure.
Comisión Estudiantil de la OSCL
Ya comenzaron las clases: para muchos, el semestre de otoño de 2025 ha comenzado. Los estudiantes están regresando a una situación cargada de tensiones. Trump ha hecho su mejor esfuerzo para degradar la educación pública. Su objetivo es eliminar a su competencia política, que obtiene mucho apoyo de las fuerzas en los campus universitarios. Lo que él presenta como una alternativa a la educación no es ningún tipo de alternativa: escuelas con fines de lucro que enseñan las mentiras de la plataforma “Haz América Grande Otra Vez” (MAGA, por sus siglas en inglés), que son propiedad de sus socios y demasiado caras para que la mayoría pueda asistir.
Trump y su Secretaria de Educación, Linda McMahon, han desatado una infinidad de ataques contra la educación. Están presionando a las universidades para que recorten los estudios étnicos, los centros culturales, los programas académicos y los empleos, para borrar la historia de la opresión de los currículos, para expulsar a los jóvenes de la clase trabajadora y para poner fin a las protestas estudiantiles. Mientras tanto, quieren utilizar las universidades para continuar realizando investigaciones para las guerras, intervenciones, ocupaciones y genocidios respaldados por EE. UU. que amenazan a pueblos de todo el mundo. Al igual que ICE, el Departamento de Defensa recibió enormes aumentos de presupuesto.
Minneapolis, MN – Roughly 1400 Workers at the University of Minnesota walked off the job on Monday night, September 8. beginning an open-ended strike. The workers are represented by Teamsters Local 320 and do grounds maintenance, facilities, dining services and many other important jobs that keep the university running.
Oakland, CA – On September 6, CSO Oakland and outraged community members took to the streets of East Oakland on 73rd and Bancroft Avenues, mobilizing just blocks from where ICE agents staged a brutal raid that tore six people from their home.
On August 12, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) forcibly detained six people in their home in East Oakland on 79th Avenue near Hillside Street. Of the six people detained, one is a minor and another is a disabled person.
Chicago, IL – On September 6, 8000 Chicagoans rallied and marched downtown to demand that no federal troops be deployed in the city.
The demonstration, led by the Coalition Against the Trump Agenda (CATA) in partnership with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), showed broad opposition to the incoming illegal military occupation and made clear that Chicagoans are not afraid to exercise their democratic right to resist.
Brooklyn, NY – On September 6, The New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR) hosted a town hall in Crown Heights to discuss community experiences with the NYPD and ways to fight back against police terror on the subway system. The town hall was held at Another World community center, which emerged from mutual aid efforts started as the Crown Heights CARE Collective in 2022.
New York, NY – On September 6, in Midtown Manhattan labor unions began assembling at 8:30 a.m. for the annual NYC Labor Day Parade sponsored by the NYC Labor Council, AFL-CIO. The event is the nation's oldest and largest Labor Day Parade, with over 200 unions and constituency groups participating.
San José, CA – On August 31, CSO San José, the Brown Berets and others held the annual Chicano Moratorium commemoration, a historic event when over 30,000 Chicanos marched in 1970 against the war in Vietnam to demand justice for their communities. This significant moment in Chicano history highlighted the disproportionate deaths of Chicano soldiers abroad, as well as the struggle for equality and self-determination at home.
East Los, CA — On the evening of September 4, Chicanos from East Los Angeles mobilized to disrupt a local town hall hosted by racist, right-wing Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman at a Chicano restaurant called East Los Tacos.
Hochman's reactionary policies like gang enhancements and his “tough on crime” approach have been proven to not make anyone safer. In fact, they deeply and disproportionately target and harm Black and Chicano neighborhoods. In general, crime in Los Angeles has been decreasing for years.
Austin, TX – On Thursday, September 4, around 70 students gathered outside the UT Tower to protest Trump’s bigoted and reactionary agenda. The protest was organized by Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) as a part of a National Day of Action.
“We’re out here to demand protection for immigrants here at UT and in Texas, and also in acknowledgement that Trump wants to turn the whole country into Texas,” SDS member Daniel Ramirez said, in reference to Trump’s attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion and multicultural programs. “We can’t stand alone in this fight, and we’re proud to kick off this semester standing in solidarity with students all over the country in the fight against Trump.”
Milwaukee, WI – In late August the Milwaukee Police Association (MPA), a police union, put out a call for their membership to join them for a protest on September 5 related to contract negotiations with the City of Milwaukee. The group planned to march from Red Arrow Park to City Hall where they would hold a press conference. Locals often refer to the park as Dontre Hamilton Park to honor the death of Dontre Hamilton, a Black man murdered by now-former Milwaukee Police Department officer Christopher Manney.
Tallahassee, FL – On August 20, community members spoke out at Tallahassee’s city commission meeting to demand that the city back out of the 287(g) program which gives local officers immigration enforcement abilities. As a result, the city commission voted unanimously to review the agreement at the next city commission meeting.
The struggle over the 287(g) program began earlier this year in March when the Tallahassee Police Department signed the agreement with ICE after pressure from Governor Ron Desantis, despite having no legal obligation to do so.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns President Trump’s outrageous attacks upon Venezuela and President Maduro. Trump claims he had the U.S. Navy attack a boat and that eleven Venezuelans were killed. Assuming it so, it is another in a long list of violent attacks by the U.S. against the independent country of Venezuela and its leadership.
The loss of innocent Venezuelan lives with no investigation, evidence, or trial is shameful. It is an act of war. The U.S. needs to seek peace and friendship, not war and intervention.
This time Trump mobilized multiple U.S. Navy missile ships, 4000 marines and sailors, and a nuclear-powered submarine. In response, masses of Venezuelans flocked to join the people’s militias in their communities and at their jobs. The militias are a reserve force of citizen soldiers, the eyes and ears of the revolution, trained under the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela (FANB) to defend their homeland.
While Trump’s attacks are dangerous, the past U.S. provocations and repeated coup attempts against both President Chavez and President Maduro have failed again and again. Instead of hurting the Bolivarian Revolution, the U.S. interventions strengthen it.
The Bolivarian Revolution emerged out of the Venezuelan armed forces, under the leadership of high-ranking military officers sickened by corruption and thievery of the nation’s resources. It spread among working people, farmers and the poor. It is a democratic revolution with broad participation. It is based on the idea that Venezuela belongs to the masses of Venezuela, instead of rich elites who serve U.S. oil companies and Wall Street capitalists.
Ever since Comandante Hugo Chavez won the presidency in 1999, the U.S. has harassed, sanctioned and violently attacked Venezuela. Trump is now intensifying these attacks against the former bus driver and union leader President Nicolas Maduro. The whole world sees the lies and slander of Trump and his media kooks. None of it is worth repeating.
President Maduro continues to build and develop an independent and sovereign Venezuela benefiting the people instead of Wall Street capitalists and U.S. oil corporations. The leadership is provided by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which recently won elections in all but one state. The Bolivarian Revolution has broad support, and people’s participation is reaching an all-time peak due to U.S. threats.
As Venezuela builds a new society, a new economy for the people, with steady economic growth for the past couple of years, we can see what it is that Wall Street fears. As the U.S. empire continues to decline at a rapid pace, Trump fears the example of Venezuela. He can try to bully Maduro and Venezuela’s leadership, but it isn’t working. So now the U.S. is escalating toward missile attacks and threatening an invasion.
The FRSO stands in solidarity with President Maduro, the PSUV and the Bolivarian revolution! No to U.S. attacks and war! Bring the U.S. warships and Marines home now!
#Venezuela #Imperialism #AntiWarMovement #International #Trump #InternationalSolidarity
La Comisión Afroamericana de la Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad condena la ocupación de Washington D.C. por parte de Trump, quien desplegó a la Guardia Nacional y a la policía federal en las calles de DC. Durante la conferencia de prensa del lunes en la que anunció su decisión, Trump invocó la Sección 740 de la Ley de Autonomía de D.C., que permite al gobierno federal tomar control directo de la Policía Metropolitana de DC. En su conferencia, Trump habló de darle a la policía de DC el poder de hacer “ lo que se les diera la gana”
Washington DC, una ciudad en el borde superior del Cinturón Negro, tiene una gran población negra, con la comunidad negra representando el 43% de la ciudad según el censo anterior. La gente de DC ha sido víctima durante mucho tiempo de la falta de autonomía en sus propios asuntos democráticos y de la falta de representación democrática negra en el Congreso. Las demandas sobre la estadidad de DC han sido planteadas y apoyadas por diversos sectores del Movimiento de Liberación Negra, con legislación como la HR 51 estancadas en el Congreso durante años.
La Comisión Afroamericana de la OSCL ve esta ocupación como una escalada en la agenda de terror policial de Trump y una herramienta flagrante de opresión nacional. Si en 2020, los ataques de Trump contra los manifestantes de Las Vidas Negras Importan en DC para una sesión de fotos fue un ensayo general de cómo se vería el terror policial desatado, este podría ser potencialmente el acto de apertura. Esta no es la amenaza del terror policial abierto. Este es el impulso de Trump hacia su implementación.
No podemos ignorar los otros ataques de Trump al Movimiento de Liberación Negra durante su presidencia de 2024. La orden ejecutiva de Trump contra la Ley de George Floyd busca expandir el estado policial y carcelero. Desde federalizar a la policía local para que sean agentes de ICE hasta ocupar Los Ángeles con tropas de la Guardia Nacional, el gobierno de Trump está avanzando en su agenda rápidamente, y esta es otra provocación extrema. La ocupación de Washington DC debe verse como un ataque directo al Movimiento de Liberación Negra y a lo que se ganó con sacrificio y lucha. Estos ataques continuarán y se extenderán a otras ciudades, y la gente tendrá que defenderse. Trump entiende el poder que tiene nuestro movimiento y está haciendo todo lo posible para evitar nuestro avance.
En este momento en Texas, el gobernador derechista Greg Abbott y su legislatura de derecha buscan eliminar más distritos congresionales negros con una manipulación racista de los distritos electorales, un plan de ataque que estados como Florida, junto con Alabama, buscan imitar.
Desde los intentos de implementar aún más impunidad policial en DC, hasta eliminar la representación política negra en Texas, estos ataques están todos conectados, y nosotros nos oponemos a ellos. La Comisión Afroamericana de la OSCL continúa apoyando la demanda del control comunitario de la policía y vemos las acciones de Trump como opuestas directamente a esas demandas, poniendo la vigilancia policial de las comunidades negras directamente bajo su control. Hacemos un llamado a todas las fuerzas del Movimiento de Liberación Negra para que se opongan a estos ataques contra los derechos democráticos de la comunidad negra. Debemos unir a todos los que puedan ser unidos contra la agenda supremacista blanca de Donald Trump.
¡Alto a la ocupación de DC!
¡Estadidad para DC ahora!
¡Derrotemos la agenda racista de Trump!
Tampa, FL – On Tuesday September 2, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society held a protest on 50th and Fowler Avenue against Trump and his policies as part of the National Day of Action called by National Students for a Democratic Society. The event had slogans such as “No deportations,” “Protect cultural groups” and “Stop Trump’s agenda.”
Students spoke up against Trump’s attacks on the student body and education, as they chanted to passing cars and passersby. Standing opposite the University of South Florida, they spoke on how the University is enabling Trump’s attacks, as they are willingly tying USFPD with ICE through the 278(g) program. This program allows USF police to profile and detain international students and immigrants the same as an ICE officer would.
International student and SDS member Joseph Charry said: “Many students have already had their visa revoked by the university, and we’re gonna continue to see these deportations from the university, guided by Trump, unless we stand up and fight back!”
Other topics included the shutdown of cultural programs and clubs because of a 50% funding cut by the university’s administration, due to Governor DeSantis and Trump’s agenda to remove diversity, equity and inclusion from education.
SDS Member Dhanvi Patel spoke about it saying: “We demand funding for our cultural groups, increased enrollment and scholarships for Black students, and protect and expand ethnic studies departments. We demand a sanctuary campus now!”
The message clearly resonated with students passing by, as cars honked in support and a group of students stopped by to give the protesters popsicles and water to help against the heat.
Tampa, FL – August 31 was the first celebration of Chicano Liberation Day in Tampa history. Tampa Immigrants’ Rights Committee marked the 55th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium with a showing of the HBO film Walkout, starring Alexa PenaVega and Michael Peña, directed by Chicano actor and East Los Angeles native Edward James Olmos.
The celebration was held at a local bar, La Cantina. The film depicts the events of Spring 1968 East Los Angeles high school walkouts, or Chicano Blowout, where students walked out of five East LA schools to demand better conditions, like allowing Spanish to be spoken and an end to corporal punishment. People who attended the showing learned about both the walkouts and the history of Chicano Liberation Day.
The history of Chicano Liberation Day begins in 1970, when, as moderator Val Beron of TIRC explained, “over 20,000 Chicanos marched in Los Angeles to protest the Vietnam War, specifically the fact that Chicanos made up 29% of casualties despite being 5% of the total U.S. population. Chicanos felt that the true struggle wasn’t in the jungles of Vietnam, but the barrios at home.” This march, called the Chicano Moratorium, demanded an end to U.S. involvement in Vietnam, and an end to oppression at home, such as police violence.
As Florida and the nation experience a wave of anti-immigrant and anti-Chicano repression from the reactionary Trump and DeSantis administrations, the film and the Chicano Moratorium also resonate today. However, just as in the film, when the people organize and fight back, they win – as the concentration camp for immigrants in the Everglades was just shut down this past month due to legal efforts of the Miccosukee Tribe and political pressure from the people holding constant protests.
The Tampa Immigrants’ Rights Committee will be holding a know your rights training in the near future in an effort to further develop a rapid response network to ICE terror in the Bay area. They can be found on Instagram and Facebook at TampaIRC.
#TampaFL #FL #ImmigrantRights #ChicanoMoratorium #Chicanos #OppressedNationalities #TIRC
Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, August 30, workers came out in full force to demonstrate outside of Senator Rick Scott’s office in downtown Jacksonville. This rally, organized by the North Florida Central Labor Council and the North Florida Future Labor Leaders, was in protest to the onslaught on US workers by the current administration.
This protest was sparked by the AFL-CIO’s call for a “Workers' Labor Day.”
Union teachers, plumbers, longshoremen, electricians, logistics workers and city employees showed out and demonstrated the power of union solidarity. LJ Holloway, a rank-and-file member of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), led the chant: “United we bargain! Divided we beg!” Anyone in downtown Jacksonville could hear the echoes of the workers chanting, “Who’s got the power? We got the power! What kind of power? Worker power!”
Monica Gold, a middle school teacher and proud union member, told the crowd, “Within our building we have teachers, paraprofessionals and office personnel. We have maintenance workers, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians. And I think about how their victories are my victories, and how their losses are my losses, and that we’re so much stronger when we work together. I think it’s high time that we stop asking for things, but that we demand things.”
Many at the rally spoke on the Trump administration’s shameful attacks on unions and the working class as a whole, including the recent ruling on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Michael Sampson, an organizer and union rep for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) stated, “What we are seeing is the agenda of Donald Trump to starve us, to get rid of our unions, to get rid of the solidarity that we have with each other. Because he knows that having a union means having an organization, and having an organization of workers means having the ability to fight back against the agenda of corporate America.”
Shayne Tremblay, a union electrician and president of the North Florida Future Labor Leaders spoke on the need for solidarity, stating, “I believe that we need to take the winning strategy of solidarity that got us our unions, and we need to aim higher. We need to stand in solidarity, not just with our coworkers, but with every working person in this country. We need to organize all working people to turn this into a country that is for workers, by workers.”
The rally took place in one the most traffic-heavy parts of the city, and the workers got a plethora of honks and expressions of support from folks driving by.
#JacksonvilleFL #FL #Labor #LaborDay #NFFLL #AFLCIO #ILA #AFSCME
Portland OR – On August 28, protesters rallied outside the Portland Permitting and Development Department to demand the city revoke the conditional use permit for the Portland Macadam ICE Sub Field Office.
The protest was held by Revoke the ICE Permit PDX, a coalition formed by Portland Contra las Deportaciones. After weeks of meeting with city council members and putting pressure on elected officials at city hall, organizers decided to go to the department directly responsible for managing permits in the city.
According to the conditional use permit granted to the facility in 2011, the facility is required to hold detainees no longer than 12 hours, and no detainees can be held overnight. A recent Fox 12 Oregon News Segment found ICE has violated this clause at least 28 times. In 20 of these cases, the individuals were held for over 24 hours, violating the rule that no detainee can be held overnight. According to this data, 24 of the 28 violations occurred after President Donald Trump returned to office.
This is in line with a pattern around the country, where ICE Field Offices that previously served as a location for mainly administrative work and check ins have increasingly detained immigrants for days on end, with no bedding, showers, sinks, limited food and access to medical care.
Shawnee Miller, a resident of Grays landing, a low-income housing complex directly across from ICE facility, gave personal testimony outside of the permitting office, “Let me be clear, we are not collateral damage. We are actual Portland citizens who are all being affected by these terroristic acts. When you deploy chemical weapons against a peaceful community you are creating a state of terror. When you ignore our calls for help, you are telling us that we are alone and that our safety doesn’t matter.”
This comes the week after residents of Grays landing held a press conference outside of their homes demanding that the city take action against the ICE Facility. Teargas and other chemicals weapons have been used on a regular basis outside of the Macadam Facility. At times ICE agents have even gone as far as shooting at residents trying to record these violations from their balcony.
Revoke the ICE Permit organizer Holly Brown weighed in on the inaction on the part of city officials, “Our elected officials continue to drag their feet and hide behind bureaucratic procedures to justify their inaction, while ICE terrorizes our city. But we will continue to put pressure on the city to do the right thing and shut down the Macadam ICE facility, no excuses.”
Protesters expressed concern about the inaction of city officials given the continual violation of the permit and resolved to continue to put pressure on the government. The next action scheduled for the Revoke the ICE Permit coalition will be at city hall on September 17.
Fight Back! News is circulating the following statement from the New Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Illinois Chicago (New SDS at UIC).
We are calling on students and youth from the Chicagoland area to attend the Progressive Student Conference on Saturday, September 13th from 12pm-4pm at the Chicago Teachers Union Hall (1901 W Carroll Ave).
The conference will bring together student and youth groups from various areas of the movement to talk about lessons and ongoing struggles under the reactionary Trump administration. From Black liberation, Palestine/Filipino solidarity, fights to defend and fund education and cultural centers/studies, labor on campus, and much more!
Since it has taken power, the Trump administration has brought down heavy attacks on the people of Chicago. It has continued to greenlight the genocide in Gaza, find ways to conduct mass deportation in sanctuary cities, and committed to “strengthening and unleashing” police against black communities. Chicago politicians and followers of Trump’s agenda have tried to overturn Chicago’s welcoming city ordinance, restrict free speech on campus, and continue to criminalize black youth with racist curfews.
The attacks on the people of Chicago are heightening. Trump has promised the deployment of the National Guard, and increased ICE raids in the city.
Trump’s particular hatred for Chicago is a reaction to the progress that has been made over the past decades. But in Chicago these things were not charitably brought down to us. It came about through people getting organized, demanding, and fighting back. This same strategy will be used to defend what we have won, and fight back against the Trump agenda!
Students and youth play an important role in fighting back. Our education, our democratic rights, and our futures are under attack. An occupation of the city is on its way.
As society becomes more and more hostile, our action is powerful and necessary to building a better future!
Register for the conference here.
Come out to the Progressive Student Conference!
Build the student movement against Trump!