News and Views from the People's Struggle
Caracas, Venezuela – “Hasta la victoria! El pueblo unido jamás se ha vencido!” tens of thousands chanted, filling the streets, in the rally for President Nicolás Maduro on July 26.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following July 26 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) calls on the Filipino people to expose and condemn the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), specifically the Philippine Army’s 20th Infantry Battalion, for unlawfully imposing a military lockdown on the peasant communities of Northern Samar, and subjecting thousands of people to onerous policies and measures. People of barangays Hitapian and San Vicente in Catubig town, as well as Barangay San Jose in Mapanas town have been placed under lockdown since July 19.
Minneapolis, MN – Minneapolis park workers have been on strike since July 4, after seven months of negotiations failed to lead to a contract that they could accept. The park workers are represented by the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), Local 363.
On Wednesday July 24, the park workers decided it was time to take their fight to the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board meeting and make them face the workers. The board had intended to vote on a resolution to move a proposal at the bargaining table. However, after LIUNA members and supporters held a picket line for three hours, and packed the board room, ultimately the meeting adjourned with no other business being conducted except approving the meeting agenda.
Washington, DC – More than 10,000 pro-Palestine demonstrators marched in the streets of Washington DC, July 24. The demonstration coincided with the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress defending the genocide in Gaza. Police attacked the protest with clubs and pepper spray. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris denounced the protest as “unpatriotic.” Speakers at the large rally urged attendees to join the massive pro-Palestine protest set for the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, August 19.
Chicago, IL – On July 25, the U.S. Secret Service laid out maps for its security perimeter at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August. In response, Hatem Abudayyeh, one of the spokespeople for the Coalition to March on the DNC, said, “Now that the perimeter is finalized, we still demand that the city of Chicago must provide a march route for tens of thousands of people who will be protesting the convention on the week of August 19.”
Abudayyeh continued, “The route offered to us by the city’s Law Department is inadequate. With the ongoing U.S.-funded genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, which has already killed 40,000 people, and all the other grievances that people have with the Democrats in DC, the city knows that it can’t accommodate all the protesters that will be here if it puts us on side streets and insists on a one-mile-long route.”
Organizers know that the crowd will stretch out over at least two miles, and the city’s route will cause bottlenecks and other problems that are easily resolved.
“The ball is in the city’s court,” concluded Abudayyeh. “It just needs to give us a longer route with wider streets, that is, all the way up Washington Boulevard, and we’ll immediately sign on the dotted line.”
In addition, the Coalition is concerned about DNC security plans after the experience of the March on the RNC in Milwaukee, when a Black man, Samuel Sharpe, Jr., was killed by a cop from Columbus, Ohio. The Coalition to March on the DNC is demanding that all officers from outside Chicago must be limited to duties inside the security perimeter and must stay out of public parks.
The Coalition will also launch a campaign this week to ask supporters to call the city of Chicago Law Department and urge Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry to grant the longer march route on Washington Boulevard.
#ChicagoIL #IL #PeoplesStruggles #DNC #AntiWarMovement #Palestine
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following July 25 statement from Homegrown Workers' Union, who are members of Unite Here Local 8.
The Homegrown Worker’s Union, members of Unite Here Local 8, was notified on July 18, after it leaked in the news, that Homegrown Sustainable Sandwiches plans on closing 10 out of its 12 locations, effective September 15. The company has confirmed that this closure would result in the layoffs of 158 of its employees. We condemn these closures and layoffs in the strongest possible terms. We are enraged and devastated that after over two years of organizing and action to win livable wages and benefits for Homegrown workers, our CEO has chosen this course. Employees, including managers, were notified of this decision via email just 60 days before the proposed date of the closures, the minimum timeline required by Washington State law, and have been given no further information at this time.
Denver, CO – On the morning of Saturday, June 29, members of Denver SDS and Denver Anti-War Action (DAWA) picketed outside Pigtrain Coffee Company, a café located in Union Station in the Historic Lower Downtown District in Denver, Colorado.
Atlanta, GA – The family of Christon Collins, a 27-year-old veteran who died in Dekalb County Jail, held a press conference on Monday morning, July 22, to share new information about their son’s death.
Jonia Milburn, Collins’s mother, says she got mixed and confusing stories from the sheriff’s office. The family is asking for an independent investigation and for those responsible to be held accountable.
Emotions filled the room as Jonia Milburn talked about what she saw in the video of her son’s last moments in the jail. “My son laid on the floor for three hours with no care. Nobody noticed. No guards, no supervisors, no one but the inmates.” Milburn says the video shows her son losing balance and hitting his head, then lying on the floor for three hours in the common area of the jail with no one checking on him but the inmates. Documents shared by the family show that when Collins was finally attended to hours later, EMTs did not perform life-saving measures on him.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following July statement from the Coalition to March on the DNC.
Genocide Joe Biden has stepped down from running for president as the Democratic Party nominee. His decision doesn't change the policies of Democratic Party leadership, specifically their support of the genocide in Palestine, so our movement must continue to apply pressure. On August 19 we will march on the DNC for Gaza regardless of who gets nominated for the presidency.
Note: For memorial service details, see end of article.
Dallas, TX – Kawana Scott Menchaca, a community organizer from Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, passed away last weekend, having been found in the early hours of Sunday, July 14ᵗʰ. She is known to be profoundly sharp, intellectually effusive, driven by a craving for justice, and undeniably brave in fighting for a more just and humane world. She leaves behind her husband, Nicolas Menchaca, her parents Antione and Trenell, her two brothers Anderson and Langston, and a constellation of friends and community members all reeling from this news.
Milwaukee, WI – As the Republican National Convention came to an end on Thursday, July 18, hundreds of law enforcement officers and dozens of media outlets circled a crowd gathered for a rally at Red Arrow Park demanding justice for D’Vontaye Mitchell and Samuel “Jah” Sharpe, Jr.
Minneapolis, MN – On July 4, round 100 members of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 363 walked off their jobs and began what was intended to be a limited-duration strike set to end on Wednesday, July 10.
Right from the start the attitude was one of feisty resolve from these workers. This is the first time in the Minneapolis Park Board’s 141 year history that the workers went on strike, and the strike was authorized by a 94% majority.
Milwaukee, WI – On Tuesday, July 16, five police officers with the Columbus, Ohio Police Department shot and killed 43-year-old Samuel “Jah” Sharpe Jr. These police officers came to Milwaukee to provide security for the Republican National Convention (RNC), but the shooting took place near 14th and Vliet Streets, which is more than seven blocks away from the RNC security perimeter.
Alan Chavoya, outreach chair of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, stated, “We warned the representatives of the city, of the Milwaukee Police Department, over the past two years that they were exposing our city to this kind of violence with the 4500 out-of-town police officers coming in for the RNC.”
New Orleans, LA – On Monday, July 15, protesters crashed Boeing’s anniversary celebration to demand that the aviation corporation stop arming Israel. That evening, Boeing celebrated its 108th year at the National WWII Museum’s “US Freedom Pavilion: Boeing Center.” Activists rallied outside and expressed disgust with the corporation.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression is ecstatic to announce that the Milwaukee Police Association has dropped their lawsuit in opposition to Standard Operating Procedure 575. The Milwaukee Alliance has been fighting for SOP 575 since Memorial Day Weekend of 2021. This SOP will force the Milwaukee Police Department to release footage, including body camera footage, of critical incidents to the victims’ next of kin within 48 hours and the public within fifteen days. This is a huge victory for the people of Milwaukee and the first step towards true transparency and accountability between police and the community. For the first time, Milwaukeeans will have a hard timeline on when they can expect answers about police crimes in our communities.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.
The unjust guilty verdict handed down by the Tagum Regional Trial Court against Rep. France Castro, former Rep. Satur Ocampo and several other individuals, is a direct attack of the fascist US-Marcos regime against the democratic and patriotic forces of the Filipino people. We join the broad masses of the Filipino people in roundly condemning this grave act of political persecution.
Tampa, FL – On July 10, around 50 students and community members rallied and marched in support of students targeted by the University of South Florida (USF) for participating in a Gaza Solidarity encampment in April. Two students, Joseph Charry and Victoria Hinckley, were suspended and expelled respectively by the university, and now a third, was hit with code of conduct charges.
Milwaukee, WI - After a protracted fight with authorities, the Coalition to March on the RNC came to agreement July 12 with city government on the route the protest will take on the opening day of the Republican National Convention.
San Jose, CA – On Saturday, July 6, around 20 people gathered in San Jose for a protest in solidarity with the national mobilizations against NATO and RIMPAC that are occurring in Hawaii, San Diego and Washington D.C.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by the World Federation of Trade Unions.
The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing more than 105 million workers who work live, and struggle in 133 countries all over the world, strongly condemns the continuation of military interventions and wars, the accelerated militarization of international relations and confrontational rhetoric, the soaring of the military expenditures, as well as the NATO plans amid the escalating intra-imperialist confrontation. The 2024 ΝΑΤΟ summit which will take place in Washington D.C. on 9-10-11 July 2024, constitutes one more step toward the intensification of NATO’s aggressive imperialist plans, interventions, and wars.