New York, NY – Over 100 people gathered in Times Square on May 31 in honor of the International Day of Al-Quds. This day marks the occupation of Palestine and is in protest of Israel’s apartheid regime.

Minneapolis, MN – 30 people held signs reading “Hands off Venezuela” and a big banner saying “No coup – no sanctions – no war – hands off Venezuela” on a bridge from Loring Park to the Walker Sculpture Garden over Interstate 94 in Minneapolis during rush hour, May 30. Ten lanes of traffic filled with rush hour traffic traveled underneath. The protesters heard hundreds of honks of agreement that the U.S. shouldn’t intervene in Venezuela.

Minneapolis, MN – “The area we were in was an opposition neighborhood, but nobody’s leaving their houses. The news in the U.S. is saying people are flocking to the streets because they’re ‘being liberated’, but no one’s leaving their houses. It was so untrue it was shocking,” said Tracy Molm, to about 40 community members gathered to hear her firsthand account of the events of April 30 in Caracas, Venezuela.

Columbia Heights, MN – About 40 Palestinian-Americans, Palestine solidarity activists and immigrant rights activists rallied in Columbia Heights on May 16, to draw attention to the U.S. negative role in Palestine. Central Avenue in Columbia Heights is a main street for the Arab and Muslim community in the suburbs north of Minneapolis. The protest got a significant response from people returning home after work and shopping for food for their upcoming iftars.

Interview with Anti-war activist Sarah Martin

Fight Back! interviews noted anti-war activist Sarah Martin, of the Minnesota-based Women Against Military Madness. Martin traveled to Venezuela on a solidarity delegation organized by the U.S. Peace Council, March 11-18. Fight Back!: The corporate media says Venezuela’s government, headed by President Maduro and the national democratic Bolivarian Revolution, has little popular support. What were your impressions?

Dallas, TX – About 20 people came to Pan-African Connection in Oak Cliff, Dallas, May 9, to show solidarity with Cuba and Venezuela, and brainstorm ways to organize against imperialist threats against them from the U.S. government. Akwete Tyehimba of Pan-African Connection hosted the forum. Many of the participants were from local socialist groups but others said they were unaffiliated.

Resisting the U.S.-backed Venezuelan coup attempt in belly of the beast

Washington, DC – On May 4, over 100 people came out to support the Embassy Protection Collective that has been inside the Venezuelan embassy, defending it for the past several weeks.

Caracas, Venezuela – The delegation from Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) met with Jacobo Torres, May 6, the international relations coordinator for the Central of Bolivarian Socialist Workers (CBST) and a member of the international relations commission of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). He also is a delegate for the working class in the Constituent National Assembly (ANC).

Caracas, Venezuela – En el primero de mayo, día del trabajador, en el centro de la ciudad, 400,000 trabajadores acudieron a las calles por dos razones: para honrar su día, el Día Internacional de los Trabajadores; y para celebrar la derrota del intento de golpe de Estado contra su presidente electo Nicolás Maduro.

Richardson, TX – About 60 people came together at Faith United Methodist Church here, May 3, for a community forum on the trafficking of Filipino teachers in the nearby suburb of Garland. The forum was hosted by Migrante USA, Malaya Movement Texas, United Federation of Fil-Am Educators Texas, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns, North Texas Dream Team, Pilipino American Unity for Progress, and RAICES.