Minneapolis, MN - Around 400 protesters gathered at the Islamic Cultural Community Center here, Jan. 2 to protest against the Israeli attack on Gaza. Most of the protesters were Muslim and Arab. The crowd was passionate and demanded an end to U.S. aid to Israel and an end to the bombing of Gaza. The protesters marched throughout the neighborhood that is home to many Arab people. The marchers were greeted by honks and many people joined the march as it went by.

Minneapolis, MN – In a packed Hennepin County Court room, May 26, District Judge Lloyd Zimmerman decided to delay the foreclosure-related eviction trial of Rosemary Williams until June 22. A hearing on the legal issues to be considered at the trial is scheduled for June 16.

Minneapolis, MN – “Banks got bailed out, we got sold out! Stop foreclosures now!” was the chant on a spirited picked line here, April 28 at the Hennepin County Government Center. Rosemary Williams, who faces eviction from her foreclosed home, along with leaders of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign announced some important developments in her legal case.

St. Paul, MN – Fifty protesters gathered on tax day, April 15, on the front steps of the Minnesota state capitol building to demand state government tax the rich and not balance the state budget on the backs of working and low-income people. Organized by the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bail Out, speakers included leaders of labor unions, low-income groups and anti-war organizations.

Demonstrators say, “Moratorium now on foreclosures and evictions!”

Minneapolis, MN – About 100 demonstrators gathered outside the Minneapolis Convention Center to protest a massive auction of foreclosed homes, March 28. The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout.

Duluth, MN – Low income people demonstrated at the City Hall/Civic Center on March 1 to demand an end to police abuse. “We are protesting human and civil rights violations committed by Duluth law enforcement officers,” said rally leaders.

St. Paul, MN – The first legislative hearing on the Minnesota People’s Bail Out Act (House File 626) was held in the Minnesota House Labor and Consumer Protection Division Committee, March 20.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 40 protesters gathered here March 14 at the foreclosed home of Rosemary Williams, to demand that Williams be allowed to stay in her home and an end to foreclosures.

Minnesota – A broad coalition has formed to demand that the Minnesota legislature take concrete steps to protect low-income and working Minnesotans from the effects of the snowballing economic crisis. The Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bail Out brings together union members, welfare rights organizations and others.

St. Paul, MN – While state officials announced a record $5.2 billion dollar budget deficit at the State Capitol here, Dec. 4 , about 25 members of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout were outside the room chanting, “Hey politicians, here’s the fix! Tax the rich! Tax the rich!”

Asheville, NC – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) gathered for an emergency demonstration at the Asheville Federal Building, May 12 to protest the May 4 U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan, killing over 130 civilians. The Obama administration has stated that they will not ban future air strikes.

The government of Nepal is in trouble. Nepal is ruled by King Gyanendra, who shared power with an elected legislative assembly until Feb. 1. On that day, King Gyanendra abolished the assembly, banned the legal political parties in the assembly and arrested their leaders and censored the media and Internet.

As of April 24, Nepal's King Gyanendra appears to be nearing his last days in power. Huge mass protests of hundreds of thousands of people are defying a shoot-to-kill curfew after 19 days of a general strike. Massive crowds are gathering on the outskirts of the capital, Katmandu, and attempting to move slowly into the city in the face of the Royal Nepal Army shooting into the crowds. Presumably the protesters are trying to get to the center of Katmandu to the Royal Palace, which was cordoned off a couple days ago with barbed wire and military troops.

On June 11, King Gyanendra left Nepal's royal palace for the last time. He was forced out of power by a powerful revolutionary movement. A new Nepali government is now being formed through a Constituent Assembly, led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

Reporting to Congress Sept. 11, General David Petraeus confirmed what most in the anti-war movement have long been saying: The U.S. has no intention of getting out of Iraq anytime soon – unless it is forced to.

Newark, NJ – On Aug. 25, almost 44 years to the day after Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech to between a quarter and a half million people, the Peace and Justice Coalition, an alliance of more than 120 peace and justice organizations, will march in Newark, New Jersey.

Asheville, NC – After several months of investigation into the University of North Carolina-Asheville (UNCA) budget situation, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) met with Chancellor Anne Ponder to address students’ grievances against the administration. The statement, What We Want & What We Believe , was presented by an SDS delegation of students and community members on May 1, International Workers Day.

In March, U.S. antiwar activist and Freedom Road Socialist Organization member Kosta Harlan attended a historic international solidarity conference in Italy with leaders of the Iraqi resistance ( see “Voices of the Iraqi Resistance,” Fight Back!, March 2007). Since returning to the United States, Harlan has traveled to college campuses and cities across the South, speaking to hundreds of students and antiwar activists about the Iraqi resistance. He spoke at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Chapel Hill, and Charlotte; at Winthrop University in South Carolina; at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and at community centers in Winston-Salem and Minneapolis, Minnesota.

An Interview with Cherrene Horazuk

In recent months the U.S. Department of Justice has sent threatening letters to the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), which works in solidarity with grassroots social justice movements and the left in El Salvador. The government is accusing CISPES of being an 'agent of a foreign power' – specifically of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the leftist political party in El Salvador. This echoes the FBI's groundless accusations against CISPES in the 1980s, which led to a seven-year campaign of illegal U.S. government harassment against CISPES that the FBI later had to apologize for.