John Thale Presente!
Fight Back! conveys the following news with great regret:
John Thale, internationalist, trade union militant, fighter for immigrant rights and generous supporter of Fight Back! newspaper, died on July 7, 2009. John fought a long and courageous struggle for life, despite a fast growing brain tumor. He was told at his diagnosis that he had only months to live, but he persevered for nearly five years, motivated by his love for his daughter Rosie and life-partner Sarah.
John took inspiration for his fight from the Vietnamese national liberation movement against U.S. imperialism. He knew he was facing enormous pain and suffering. He needed to find strength and courage. John said, “Against all odds, the Vietnamese people fought the meanest, most vicious empire ever to exist. That is how I picture what I am up against.”
John Thale is a son of Milwaukee, ‘the Socialist City,’ and became a student activist in Madison, Wisconsin. He then worked in New York City on the staff of the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), publicly supporting the armed struggle of the Salvadoran people led by the FMLN.
In the late 1980s, John moved to Chicago, becoming a supporter of the Progressive Student Network and Irish Northern Aid. He built the movement against U.S. war, marching and protesting with the 10,000 against the first U.S. invasion of Iraq in 1991. When Bush Jr. invaded and occupied Iraq in 2002, John could be seen pushing his daughter in a stroller in Chicago’s Loop and at other times holding the Teachers for Peace banner, with colorful children’s handprints all over it. He never gave up. He never lost his thirst for peace and justice.
Likewise, John came to all the Colombia Action Network protests against the U.S. military aid and in support of Colombian trade unionists. In 2001, when asked what he thought of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), he said, “They are a people’s army that fights for the peasants and workers, right? That’s all I need to know.”
John dedicated his life’s work to teaching Mexican and Latino immigrant children in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood. He helped organize union members and parents to support dual language (Spanish-English) education and oppose backward laws like California’s Proposition 187. Like many of us, he was overwhelmed with joy by the mega-marches for immigrant rights on May Day 2006 in Chicago. It was a dream comes true – May Day was reborn!
For years, John studied and taught others about the living importance of May Day and the Haymarket Martyrs – a group including German immigrant revolutionaries, hung by the capitalists and the government for leading the fight for the eight-hour workday in Chicago. It is only fitting that along with many great revolutionaries, John is buried next to the Haymarket Martyrs’ monument in Forest Home Cemetery. We will remember John Thale by carrying on the struggle for peace, equality, and socialism!
John Thale Presente!