Zionists driven away

Houston, Texas – On March 27, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted a discussion at the University of Houston called “The Black Radical Tradition and Palestine” with Dr. Gerald Horne, chair of African-American Studies at the University of Houston (UH). Over 50 students and people from the community who showed up to learn about the history of Black activism and about the importance of solidarity between Black people and Palestinians in America.

San José, CA – On March 25, 200 people marched from San Jose Japantown to San Jose City Hall to express the solidarity between Japanese Americans and American Muslims. Since the election of Donald Trump, many Japanese Americans have been mobilized to oppose the anti-Muslim government policies such as the travel ban from majority-Muslim countries. The march was sponsored by the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) and the South Bay Islamic Association (SBIA).

_Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). _

The General Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine concluded its regular meeting, named in honor of the two martyrs, Omar Nayef Zayed and Ferial Nasrallah. The session evaluated the overall current developments on the Palestinian, Arab, regional and international levels, discussing at length and in depth the various matters on its agenda. The meeting coincided with the heroic confrontation waged by the revolutionary intellectual martyr, Basil al-Araj, against the fores of the Zionist enemy. His struggle stood as a confirmation that the flame of the uprising burns and will remain constant, bringing forth yet more revolutionaries to continue the path of the martyrs and the revolutionaries who have filled the ranks of the Palestinian national liberation struggle since the first confrontation of the Zionist invasion of Palestine.

Los Angeles, CA – The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) just claimed their first Boyle Heights victim of 2017. A 36-year-old Chicano named Fred Barragan from the Boyle Heights neighborhood was killed by cops on March 25. Per local news reports, gunshots were heard around midnight. LAPD reports to the press that they saw Barragan run and an attempted to stop Barragan, leading to his killing. A witness disputes the LAPD version of events.

St. Paul, MN – Seventy people protested outside the Whipple Federal Building, March 24, to send the message “No more deportations” and “ICE out of our communities” to the Trump administration. The emergency response protest was called just two days earlier in response to local provocations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its umbrella organization, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

San Jose, CA – On Saturday, March 25, the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) and the South Bay Islamic Association (SBIA) will be co-sponsoring a day of solidarity with the American Muslim community. A march of solidarity will begin in San Jose Japantown and will end with a rally at San Jose City Hall.

Minneapolis, MN – Despite cold and rain, 60 people rallied in Minneapolis to voice their opposition to Trump’s Muslim Ban, March 16. Starting the rally out were chants of “Hey Trump, let’s be clear: Muslims are welcome here!” and “No Trump, no KKK, no racist USA!” which reverberated off the glass of both the Federal Court Building and the Minneapolis City Hall across the street. The protest was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee.

Tucson, AZ – A couple dozen Tucsonans gathered outside the federal government building to protest the new Muslim ban proposed by Trump. The crowd celebrated the victory over the Trump administration’s Islamophobic executive order, resulting from popular pressure and two federal judge rulings in Hawaii and Maryland.

Minneapolis, MN – A federal judge blocked President Donald Trump’s recently revised Muslim ban executive order, March 15, just hours before it was to take effect.

The U.S. has a long history of women rising up against their bosses and demanding economic justice. The first industrial strike in the U.S. was in May 1824, when 102 women workers in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, left their looms after the mill’s owners announced a wage cut. They refused to return to their stations and, instead, gathered the rest of the workers (including children) and took to the streets. They marched to the factory owner’s house while throwing rocks and shouting obscenities. Before the strike ended, the protests affected factories in eight nearby towns. The workers only returned when the factory owners reinstated their wages.

Minneapolis, MN – President Donald Trump signed a revised Muslim ban executive order March 5. The Minnesota Anti-War Committee will hold a protest at 4:30 p.m. at the U.S. Federal Courts Building (300 S 4th St, Minneapolis) on Thursday, March 16, the day the executive order will be put into effect.

St. Paul, MN – Pro-Trump supporters came to the MN state capitol, March 4, for their “March 4 Trump” rally, while protesters showed up to oppose the Trump regime and to shut down the rally. The counter protest was organized by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Minnesota. They were joined by other citywide groups and Twin Cities residents to unite against the Trump rally under the slogan “Make Racists Afraid Again.”

SDS aims to “Make Racists Afraid Again”

St. Paul, MN – On Saturday, March 4, nearly 100 protesters confronted a pro-Trump rally at Minnesota's state capitol in Saint Paul. The gathering, called for by the University of Minnesota chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), marched into the Trump rally, disrupted it with chants, air horns and whistles. Physical skirmishes resulted. The anti-Trump protest was organized under the slogan “Make Racists Afraid Again.”

SDS says “Make Racists Afraid Again”

St. Paul, MN – On Saturday, March 4, Twin Cities residents are coming together at the Minnesota state capitol to oppose the Trump regime and to shut down the state's local manifestation of the national “March 4 Trump.”

On Feb. 22, students voted to make Florida State University (FSU) a sanctuary campus by a vote of 67%. The referendum vote was part of the Spring 2017 Student Government Association elections at FSU.

On Feb. 9, during the swearing-in ceremony for new Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump signed three executive orders concerning policing. The orders were said to be directed at public safety but in fact could have a devastating impact on Black and brown communities.

On Sunday, Feb. 19, a standing-room only crowd of more than 700 packed the San Jose Day of Remembrance event. Every year the San Jose Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) organizes this event to commemorate Executive Order 9066. Executive Order 9066 paved the way for the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War II.

Tampa, FL – On Tuesday, Feb 14, more than 20 students at the University of South Florida (USF) gathered to demand that the administration bring Iranian student Mehdi Zeyghami home. The rally, which began at 12 noon, marked the beginning of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society’s (SDS) new campaign: “Sanctuary for All.”

On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized the removal of 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent from the West Coast of the U.S. to concentration camps. Despite not a single case of espionage by Japanese Americans, they were removed en masse by a combination of what has been called “war hysteria, racial prejudice, and a failure of political leadership” under the guise of national security.

Chicago, IL – The strains of the civil rights anthem, Oh, Freedom, rang out in Trinity Episcopal Church on Chicago’s South Side, Feb. 12, sung by Evangeline Jackson. Jackson, a registered nurse, is a leader in her union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1216. As a young woman in the South in the 1980s, her hospital was unionized with the help of Frank Chapman, a veteran of the Black liberation movement.