Chicago, IL – On a stormy Fourth of July, 1000 Chicagoans marched to oppose Trump’s racist and reactionary agenda. The people marched to oppose Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that he signed into law Friday.

The new law slashes safety net programs that feed and educate children and provided healthcare for the poor and disabled. It also adds an estimated $3.3 trillion in debt and gives billionaires tax cuts. More tax dollars will now go for deportations, police repression, Israel’s genocide in Gaza and war against Iran.

“There has never been anything to celebrate on the Fourth of July, but especially not this year, as our neighbors are being kidnapped right in front of us, as our civil rights are under attack, and as Trump continues to advance his racist and reactionary Republican agenda,” said Kayla Nguyen, an immigrant rights activist.

Nguyen also condemned the FBI’s arrest and repression of Alejandro Orellana, Verita Topete, and other immigrant rights activists in Los Angeles.

“Racist, white supremacist legislators in DC just voted for Trump's tax cuts for the ultra-rich which also mean historic cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps that will result in people dying,” said Lara Haddadin of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network.

Organizers led the crowd in chants like “Money for jobs and education, not for wars and deportations!” and “We want justice, you say how, ICE off our streets now!”

The crowd responded uproariously to calls for defending the rights of immigrants and LGBTQ people.

“Our strategy must be to unite and fight back. We have to be calling our elected officials. We have to be shutting down their offices. We have to be doing labor organizing. Get involved in an organization!” said Kobi Guillory with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Crystal Gardner, a community leader with Westside based 290 IPO spoke, “To Donald Trump and his minions, we are not afraid of you. My people have seen worse and survived. We’ve seen worse and fought back. We’ve seen worse and won!”

The demonstrators marched across downtown Chicago, stopping at a federal detention facility. Chicago Police blocked the march across the street from the ICE field office, but the people maneuvered around them using the sidewalks. Marchers then advanced to Trump Tower on the river, where they gathered for a final rally.

Onlookers cheered on the marchers as they approached the tower, and Chicago’s famous Bucket Boys raced into the march, where they filled the air with their legendary drumming and chants of “Free, free Palestine!”.After a few more moments of chants, organizers ensured participants left in groups to dissuade harassment from police, as DHS agents had been observed near the march.

Organized by the Coalition Against the Trump Agenda (CATA) and the Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP), the day’s message was clear: working and oppressed people must organize together to defend our rights and fight for the resources our communities need.

#ChicagoIL #IL #PeoplesStruggles #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #LGBTQ #ImmigrantRights #Labor #CATA #CJP #ICE #Trump

Chicago, IL – Several hundred people mobilized in downtown Chicago, June 28 to demand the end of all U.S aid to Israel and divestment of Illinois bonds from companies complicit in the occupation of Palestine.

This weekly demonstration was organized by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP). CJP has organized mass demonstrations almost every week for nearly two years since the current Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza began in October 2023.

Husam Marajda, an organizer with the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), a member organization of CJP, described the recent atrocities perpetrated by apartheid Israel. All of them – from estimates of over 300,000 Palestinian people missing, to the Israeli occupation forces playing shooting games with starving Palestinians – are funded by U.S. tax dollars.

Deanna Othman with American Muslims for Palestine explained, “People have recorded finding opioids in the flour.” She reiterated the failure of mainstream media to cover this cruelty, stating “It is no accident that these drugs have been found in something like flour – something that people are depending on to stay alive when food is scarce in Gaza.”

Because of these and other horrors being inflicted daily on the Palestinian people with U.S. backing, CJP organizers reminded protesters of the importance of continued organizing. They also explained that the Palestinian liberation movement is on the upswing.

Marajda described Iran’s victory over Israel after the latter launched unprovoked attacks on the Iranian people on June 13, with the full backing of the U.S. Both the U.S. and Israel were humiliated on the global stage by their failure to inflict significant damage on Iran, the staunchest supporter of Palestinian resistance in the region.

Domestically, Zohran Mandani won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor after being the sole candidate who refused to visit Israel if elected. “They poured millions of dollars to defeat him, and he came out victorious, because everyday people like us are tired of the double standards, we’re waking up, and we’re saying hell no to Israel and our complicity with Israeli war crimes!” said Marajda.

“Anti-Zionism is no longer fringe. We are the mainstream, and we will not back down!” said Othman. “Continue spreading the word, continue bringing others, and ensure that this momentum only grows stronger!”

Speakers reiterated that the genocide is funded by the tax dollars of U.S. citizens. In Illinois, State Treasurer Michael Frerichs has invested over $145 million in Israel bonds, facilitating the genocide and ecocide in Palestine. Organizers with USPCN, BDS Chicago, the Anti War Committee Chicago and other organizations handed out hundreds of flyers with the link to their petition calling on him to divest now.

After the program, the protesters once again took the streets of downtown Chicago chanting “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”’

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #Iran #Palestine #ImmigrantRights #CJP

Chicago, IL – Only a few hours before the public learned of the U.S. military’s attack on Iran’s three nuclear sites, hundreds took to the streets in Chicago, June 21, with the Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP) to demand hands off Iran. The protest was one of the Coalition’s recurring downtown protests, demanding an end to the ongoing U.S.– backed Israeli genocide of Palestine.

Over the last eight days, Israel has been at war with Iran, beginning with its unprovoked attack on Iran on June 13. Iran launched waves of retaliatory missiles in response, confusing Israeli defense systems and striking key locations in Tel Aviv, Haifa and the surrounding areas.

In sweltering 93-degree heat, over 200 protesters gathered at Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue yesterday, with community-based organizations such as the Anti-War Committee Chicago (AWC-Chicago) Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (CAARPR), and Students for Democratic Society at University Illinois Chicago (SDS at UIC) mobilizing in support.

“There is one country in the middle east that has refused—that has vehemently rejected—to be a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty; that is not Iran, that is Israel!” Tarek Khalil from American Muslims for Palestine Chicago, a member of CJP, said in his address to the crowd.

Khalil continued, “There is one country in the Middle East that is, as I speak, committing a genocide against the Palestinian people; that is not Iran, that is Israel!” Israel and the U.S.’s recent attacks on Iran come in the 21st month of the ongoing genocide of the Palestine people, carried out by the Israeli apartheid regime, with full diplomatic support, weapons, billions of dollars of military aid, and intelligence from the U.S.

After the rally, protesters took to the streets, marching along Michigan Avenue, and drawing public attention from downtown Saturday shoppers, tourists, workers and businesspeople.

The protest’s demands were timely, with Trump announcing only four hours later that the U.S. military had attacked Iran’s nuclear facility, Fordo, with six B-2 stealth bombers, dropping 396,000 pounds of bunker buster bombs on the underground site. The U.S. Navy reportedly fired 30 TLAM cruise missiles at two other nuclear sites. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi condemned the U.S. attack as “a grave violation of the UN Charter, international law and the NPT.” NPT is the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Lara Haddadin from U.S. Palestinian Community Network linked the attacks on Iran to the genocide in Palestine, saying, “The U.S. and Israel are always the aggressors – from Palestine to Lebanon to Syria to Iran, it is clear that the pattern of sanctions, destabilization, occupation and more is all to maintain U.S. dominance in the Middle East and all of the Third World.”

An emergency response action, called by U.S. Palestinian Community Network, a member of CJP, and Anti-War Committee Chicago is set for Monday at 5 p.m. in Federal Plaza.

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #Iran #Palestine #USPCN #AWCChicago #CJP

Chicago IL – Students at the University of Chicago set up an encampment in solidarity with Gaza on Monday, April 29. After a week of threats from the university administration, the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) raided the encampment before dawn on Tuesday, May 7.

Videos circulated on social media show UCPD officers tearing down tents, throwing objects, and pushing sleep deprived students to the ground. UCPD also barred journalists and legal observers from entering the quad where the encampment was located. Some officers covered their badge numbers in an effort to escape accountability.

“They waited like cowards until the supporters had left for the night and most of the students were asleep,” an organizer with UChicago United for Palestine told protesters who gathered in solidarity the morning of the raid.

The 300 students and community members who rallied on Tuesday morning outside the U of C quad chanted “UCPD, KKK, IOF they're all the same” and “Paul, Paul, you can't hide, you're supporting genocide” in reference to U of C President Paul Alivisatos. Alivisatos is still the main target of students' demands that the university divest from Israel and all weapons manufacturers, publicly disclose its investments, and commit to a program of reparations for Palestine and the South Side of Chicago.

“President Paul Alivisatos won't even acknowledge the scholasticide that's been happening in Gaza,” a leader of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UChicago said during the rally. “Every university in Gaza has been destroyed! We will not accept our tax and tuition dollars being used to fund genocide and apartheid,” they continued.

The raid at University of Chicago marks the third student encampment to close in the Chicagoland area. Northwestern University students closed their encampment after negotiations with the administration, and students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago faced a CPD raid shortly after setting their encampment up on Saturday. The student encampment at DePaul University is still running over a week after it was set up on Tuesday, April 30.

In addition to police raids, Chicago student encampments have encountered aggression from Zionist counter-protesters and university administrations. On the other hand, the students have received plenty of community support led by organizations such as the Coalition for Justice in Palestine, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and the Anti War Committee – Chicago.

“In truth, the encampment is never over,” SJP said in a social media post in response to a statement from Alivisatos titled “ending the encampment.”

The SJP statement continued, “UCPD may steal some tents, but they cannot break the bonds and steadfastness we built there.”

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #SJP #AWCChicago #CAARPR #CJP

Chicago – On March 30, thousands of Palestinians, Arab Americans and others took to the streets of Chicago to protest the ongoing genocide in Palestine and to demand an end to all U.S. aid to Israel. Protesters rallied in the Federal Plaza and then marched to and occupied Michigan Avenue- a major street in downtown Chicago. This action was the 30th mass mobilization called by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP) since the Al-Aqsa Flood began on October 7.

March 30 in particular holds special significance for the people of Palestine because it marks two important events in the history of the Palestinian liberation movement: Land Day in 1976 and the Great March of Return in 2018. Both protest movements began in opposition and resistance to Zionist Israel’s illegal occupation and theft of the land of Palestine.

According to a social media post by the United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), a member of CJP, “The Israeli government’s expropriation of thousands of donums of Palestinian land sparked what is now known as Land Day, and years later, the Great March of Return was intentionally organized on March 30 by Palestinians in Gaza to honor the six lives lost in 1976. The Great March of Return lasted until December of 2019, and even though Israel murdered 214 protesters and injured over 36,000 people, Gazans remained steadfast and continued weekly Friday mobilizations demanding the #RightofReturn. The Palestinian resistance has always been strong and well organized, and the Palestinian peoples’ dedication to our land is one of the driving forces behind all of the movement’s successes.”

This was especially evident in Chicago’s downtown march as one of the most popular chants was “Get up and take a stand! We’re taking back our land!” 

Chicagoans were not the only people in attendance. Emma Sheerin, a Sinn Féin party representative from the north of Ireland was also present and stood in solidarity with protesters and organizers of the march. This comes just a week after the USPCN and Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression met with Naledi Pandor, the South African Minister of International Relations And Cooperation. Speakers asked attendees of the march to demand that their congressional representatives vote against the United States South Africa Bilateral Relations Review bill, which could potentially place sanctions on South Africa for its support of Palestine.

Members of USPCN and other organizations also passed out fliers informing protesters of the upcoming April 13 conference to prepare for the March on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19 through the 22. 

“We want to make one thing clear to Genocide Joe, Killer Kamala, and every elected official who feeds us lip service: you will have no rest, no sleep, no peace until Palestine is free!” said Nick Sous, a member of USPCN.

#ChicagoIL #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #LandDay #USPCN #SinnFein #CJP

Chicago, IL – As the bombardment of Gaza entered its seventh week, 5000 protesters seized Chicago's DuSable Lake Shore Drive, November 18, demanding an immediate end to the Israeli genocide. The latest in a series of protests held across the city and beyond, this act of mass civil disobedience marked the first such shutdown of this important and iconic thoroughfare since the outset of the Iraq War two decades before.

Organized by the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP), the action was preceded by a rally at nearby Buckingham Fountain, uniting a diverse audience around demands to stop the U.S.-funded genocide, end the siege on Gaza now, and end U.S. aid to the Israeli apartheid state. Speakers at the rally represented an array of Palestinian community groups under the CJP umbrella, as well as allied organizations including the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Kobi Guillory, co-chair of CAARPR, emphasized the links between the Palestinian liberation movement and freedom movements of the past, stating “Just as we did with the resistance against colonialism and apartheid, we stand with the Palestinian resistance now. Police around the country are trained by Israeli forces. Our repression is connected.” Guillory concluded: “Our solidarity is a strategic weapon against a common enemy.”

Representatives of SDS and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spoke of their struggles to organize and educate their classmates in the face of growing repression, both from government officials and school administrators. Despite these challenges, the student leaders remained determined to fight on. “We are on the right side of history,” declared Erin Boyle with the SDS chapter at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “Young people are acting with courage and compassion. These students are not organizing around hate. They are building a movement and changing public opinion.”

Underscoring the human toll of the siege on Gaza, speaker Fidaa Alaydee recounted to the audience her own family's struggles to survive the onslaught, from having to search for food, water and fuel, to digging neighbors out from the rubble.

One, two! What’re we gonna do? Three, four! Take Lake Shore!

As the rally concluded, suddenly there was a flurry of activity a few hundred yards away. Scores of activists had run across Lake Shore Drive, half of them facing south and half facing north. They succeeded in stopping the traffic in both directions.

Organizers quickly called on the audience to march onto the Drive and shut down traffic through the central expressway. The crowd burst into a run heading down the slope toward a line of waiting cops. The Chicago Police Department made a last-ditch effort to hold back the crowd with a line of officers and barricades, but they could not stop the determined protesters.

The cops at first succeeded in stopping the main body of the protest, but hundreds more in the crowd moved to the north and the south to get around the cordon. Spontaneously, the crowd started chanting, “Move, cops, get out the way!”

Having marched repeatedly over the past month, this community, ranging in age from kids in strollers to men and women in their 70s, climbed over steel bike racks, pushed through thorny shrubbery, and scaled other obstacles to break through. It was the desire to strike back at the war makers, and their U.S. backers, that propelled the success of this tactic. In the face of the determination of the mainly Palestinian crowd, the police relented and ceased attempts to stop the protesters.

This would be the first time such an action took place since a momentous March 2003 protest at the start of the Iraq War, when 10,000 protesters seized the Drive. Then, Chicago PD responded by arresting 900 of them. This time, after a decade of protests for police accountability, no squadrols were pulled in, and no arrests were made.

“Who is the revolution? We are the revolution!”

Once on the roadway, the enthusiastic crowd broke into chants. Individual protesters scaled traffic poles to wave their Palestinian flags high above applauding onlookers, and an 80-foot banner of the Palestinian flag was unfurled in the crowd below, with hundreds helping to hold it.

In a particularly powerful expression of solidarity, nearly all the protesters then staged a sit-in along the street. Popular chants made clear connections to other struggles, including “From Palestine to the Philippines, stop the U.S. war machine!” and “From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have to go!” Traffic remained blocked for hours, spilling over into other arteries and bringing traffic to a standstill throughout the downtown Loop, and along the expressways as countless drivers sought an alternate route away from the lake.

The shutdown of Lake Shore Drive is only the latest in a series of confrontations with authorities in centers of economic and political power, as the Palestinians and allies seek to increase the social costs of the ongoing U.S.-backed slaughter in Gaza. While ultimately only the Palestinian people can achieve their liberation, it is imperative that the people of the West unite to exert maximum pressure on their rulers, and by maintaining a visible resistance, to show the world that millions here in the U.S. are standing with Palestine.

#ChicagoIL #Palestine #AntiWar #CJP #SDS #NAARPR #Feature

Milwaukee, WI – On October 20, dozens of healthcare workers joined a press conference to condemn the unprecedented public health crisis being caused by Israel's criminal siege and bombardment of 2.3 million civilians in Gaza.

“As healthcare workers in the Milwaukee area, we are deeply disturbed by the current Israeli war on Gaza, and the large toll of civilians that have been killed and injured, particularly children,” said Dr. Hashim Zaibak, a Palestinian-American doctor from Gaza.

Gaza's health ministry says over 4000 people have been killed by Israel's indiscriminate air strikes. Over 1000 children have been killed.

“Our president's claim that he will make sure civilians are treated according to the laws of war are empty and false words. By supplying Israel with much of its arms and giving Israel the green light to attack the civilian population of more than 2.3 million people, our government is complicit in the violation of international laws and treaties that are considered war crimes,” Dr. Zaibak said.

More than 1 million children are at serious risk of dehydration and water-borne diseases as they are forced to drink contaminated water, because that's all that's available.

“We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe as it unfolds before our eyes. We cannot remain silent,” Dr. Zaibak said. “As healthcare workers in the Milwaukee area, it is our mission to help protect and save lives. This is a human right that applies to all people, regardless of where they reside. Our government must act now!”

The press conference was organized by American Muslims for Palestine and the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Healthcare workers from several local hospitals and clinics participated in the event, including at least one union member from the only organized private hospital in the city of Milwaukee.

Many in attendance intend to join the demonstration planned for Sunday, October 22 at 11 a.m. being hosted by the recently formed Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine.

#MilwaukeeWI #Palestine #AMP #Healthcare #CJP

Milwaukee, WI – On October 18, a 20-person delegation from the newly formed Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP), which represents nearly 30 different organizations across the southeastern part of the state, delivered a letter to the office of U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore. Moore, a Democrat, who has joined the chorus of condemnations aimed at the Palestinian resistance for their efforts at fighting against genocide and occupation.

The letter calls Representative Moore out for her decades-long support for Israel and de facto opposition to the rights of Palestinians. Janan Najeeb, president of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition and spokesperson for Wisconsin CJP, read the letter aloud to one of Moore’s staff members.

“In the past week, overwhelming support by U.S. politicians for Israel’s strike against the people of Gaza have facilitated the mass death and displacement of Palestinian civilians, including children. The Israeli stranglehold on Gaza deprives its citizens of vital food, water and medical supplies, as well as power and internet. A threatened ground invasion by the Israeli Defense Forces looms,” Najeeb read.

She continued, “This inconceivable brutality, this 21st century genocide, this ethnic cleansing, has been backed in no small part by a rush of U.S. politicians to uncritically support Israel. The mainstream press has been of little assistance, often spreading racist rumors about non-existent atrocities committed by Palestinians. These fabrications were recklessly repeated by President Joe Biden and offered as justification for the war crimes committed by Israel with full economic and political backing by the United States.

“The only thing between the world and a looming genocide, the only thing that can protect Palestinians from further death, displacement and suffering, is rapid and uncompromising action. We urge you to stand on the right side of history,” Najeeb concluded.

The letter demands a number of things, including an end to U.S. aid to Israel and the opening of humanitarian corridors to Gaza. Specifically, the Wisconsin CJP is calling for Gwen Moore to join her Wisconsin colleague in the U.S. House of Representatives, Mark Pocan, in signing on to House Resolution 3103, also known as the Defending the Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act, which would effectively cut much of the aid Israel currently receives.

“We declare that anything less amounts to complacency with the genocide of Palestinians,” Najeeb said.

After the letter was read aloud, many of those assembled gave additional comments expressing their anger with the congresswoman for disregarding the calls of her constituents, the people who have allowed her to enjoy a multiple decade-long career in Congress.

The Wisconsin CJP will be hosting a mass demonstration on Sunday, October 22 at 11 a.m. in downtown Milwaukee demanding an end to the genocide and occupation of Palestine.

#MilwaukeeWI #Palestine #CJP