Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

ChicagoIL

By staff

University of Illinois Chicago \[UIC\] students marching towards the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps building \[ROTC\]. |  Baitul Javid

Chicago, IL – On Wednesday, August 25, the New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS at UIC) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP at UIC), alongside other progressive student organizations at the University of Illinois Chicago, ended the month strong on campus by organizing a hands-off Lebanon demonstration following not only the terrorist cyberattack/bombings against Lebanon but the deploying of U.S. troops to the region.

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By staff

Chicago students march in solidarity with Palestine.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – On Thursday, September 12, New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at UIC and a host of other student and progressive organizations participated in a National Day of Action called for by National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

The Progressive Student Coalition at UIC had coalition members speak for their respective organizations at the protest including Students for a Revolutionary Union (SRU), SJP, Anakbayan, and SDS.

The group of about 50 students demanded Israel withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza and that the U.S. government stop funding the genocidal apartheid state of Israel. They also supported the demands of SJP at UIC to get the university to divest from Israel and cut ties with Israeli institutions.

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By staff

Chicago student protest demands hands off Lebanon.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – On Thursday, August 29, New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) started the week strong with a demonstration on campus, with about 90 students, demanding U.S. hands off Lebanon, an end of U.S. aid to Israel and to stand strong with Palestine.

Speakers from other progressive student organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UIC, and Anakbayan at UIC, also spoke. The rally strengthened the students’ message of funding for education – such as cultural centers and student resources – not for genocide, war and occupation in Palestine.

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By Richard Berg

University of Illinois Health transplant and ICU nurse Maria Baba is an INA leader and member of the bargaining committee.  | Richard Berg/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – Working as a nurse in a large university hospital is a hard job. Large numbers of patients roll through. Vulnerable people look for hope, remedy and help. Despite this persistent pressure, hospital administrators ask for quick patient turnover. Supervisors ask overstressed nurses to do the work of housekeepers, food service, technical staff and others, who are often in short supply. Some doctors are nice, while others boss nurses around.

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By staff

Chicago, IL – More than 11,000 people marched for Palestine on the final evening of the Democratic National Convention, August 22. While Kamala Harris was giving her presidential nominee acceptance speech inside, the protesters outside chanted against the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza. Delegates inside the convention report hearing demonstrators on the streets inside the convention hall.

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By Chrisley Carpio

SDS marches for Palestine at the Democratic National Convention.

Chicago, IL – On August 19, hundreds of students from across the country traveled to Chicago to march on the Democratic National Convention. Wrapped in khaffiyehs, holding banners, signs and Palestine flags, they gathered as early as 8 a.m. at Union Park for the noon rally and march.

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By staff

Lead banner at the August 19 march on the DNC.  | Kim DeFranco/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – On August 19, over 20,000 people marched on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel and an end to the genocide in Gaza. The march was the result of over a year of work by the Coalition to March on the DNC. Marchers came within sight and sound of the Democratic National Convention, putting heat on United States government as it facilitates a genocide.

Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, told the crowd, “Black liberation, immigrant rights, reproductive rights, women's rights, workers’ rights, the right to strike, the right to unionize. The rank-and-file workers are here, the Black community members are here, the documented and undocumented immigrants are here, how powerful this is to be together here, all of us.”

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By staff

August 19 march on the Democratic National Convention.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – About 17,000 people joined a massive march for Palestine, August 19, the opening day of the Democratic National Convention. Gathering at Union Park protesters marched on the United Center, the site of the DNC, challenging the U.S. backed genocide in Gaza.

Organized by the Coalition to March on the DNC, the protest drew attendees from across the U.S., including buses from Minnesota, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids and Detroit.

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By staff

Loading trucks with signs for the protest at the Democratic National Convention.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – Tens of thousands of protesters are expected for the Palestine march on opening day of the Democratic National Convention and preparations for the march are in full swing. More than 7000 signs have been printed and banners have been prepared. The Coalition has issued press passes to nearly 1000 journalists, and volunteers have been organized to ensure a successful demonstration.

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By staff

Hatem Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the DNC announces win on getting stage, amplified sound for Palestine rally.   | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – “The City’s Law Department had to drop their unconstitutional denial of a sound system,” said Hatem Abudayyeh, a spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the DNC. “They knew it wouldn’t hold up in court, but they also knew that we have been organizing day and night to line up important supporters in Chicago who helped advocate for us too.”

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By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

The U.S. and Israel are carrying out a genocide in Palestine. It needs to end. On August 19, tens of thousands of people will take to the streets of Chicago and insist on exactly that. More than 40,000 Palestinians have already died. We will march from Union Park to the United Center, the site of the Democratic National Convention, demanding that the U.S. stop funding Israel and making it clear: We stand with Palestine.

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By staff

Crowd gathers around two leaders who stand near a microphone. The crowd has signs that say things like "we have a right to be here" and "we demand a permit now".

Chicago, IL – On the afternoon of Wednesday, August 14, five days before the Democratic National Convention, the city of Chicago slapped organizers of the Coalition to March on the DNC with permits saying they can assemble in Union Park on the condition that they have no sound amplification, stages, tents, or port-a-potties. This effectively denies them the ability to hold a rally.

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By staff

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the Coalition to March on the DNC.

Emergency national call in day!

The city of Chicago is saying that we cannot have a stage or amplified sound at the national rally and march on the DNC.

Call the Chicago Chief Operating Officer and Demand our right to rally for Palestine at the DNC!

John Roberson 312-744-7736

Script to make calls: “Hi, my name is ___ and I’m calling to demand the city of Chicago reverse its decision to deny us the right to have sound and stage at the March on the DNC. We demand our right to protest for Palestine at the Democratic National Convention!”

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By Joe Iosbaker

Hatem Abudayyeh, of the Coalition to March on the DNC speaking at press conference at federal court building.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – On Monday, August 19, the Democratic National Convention comes to Chicago. The Coalition to March on the DNC, consisting of more than 200 organizations, will bring tens of thousands of protesters to the streets surrounding the United Center.

The front banner in the street will read, “Stand with Palestine! End U.S. aid to Israel!” Because this is mainly a march for Palestine, the Democratic Party powerbrokers are scared.

On Monday, August 12, U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood ruled against the coalition’s lawsuit, which sought a longer march route than the city of Chicago had offered. The coalition argued the need for a longer route because the short one-mile route offered by the city would have most of the marchers still in the park when the front marchers return.

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By Ash Stewack and Caeli Kean

Chicago protest against police crimes.  | Alec Ozawa/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – 500 demonstrators rallied in Federal Plaza and marched through downtown Chicago, July 27, to protest the atrocious police murder of Sonya Massey. Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman, was shot in the face in her own home after calling the police to report a potential intruder.

The officer who murdered her, Sean Grayson, a sheriff's deputy in Sangamon County, Illinois, was discharged for murdering Sonya. Grayson was previously discharged from the army for serious misconduct, had a pattern of DUIs, and was shuffled around to at least six different police departments over the span of four years.

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By staff

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

By staff

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.

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By Eliza Schultz

Illinois Amazon drivers strike against union busting.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Skokie, IL – Amazon workers are striking the Skokie delivery center known as DIL7, because of the company’s union-busting tactics which violate federal laws. The drivers have faced Amazon’s unfair labor practices, a response to the workers’ efforts to organize with Teamsters Local 705.

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By Mick Kelly

Chicago, IL – Chicago activist groups are mobilizing in big way for the July 15 march on the Republican National Convention, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

“Many of the protesters coming from Chicago are students,” said Joe Iosbaker of Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Iosbaker recalled, referring to Trump, “In 2016, students in Chicago were the first to move against his hate tour.” In March 2016, 5000 protesters rallied and confronted Trump at the University of Illinois at Chicago, stopping him from speaking.

“The same organizations – Students for Democratic Society, Students for Justice in Palestine, Mexican Students of Aztlan – are mobilizing to confront him again,” says Iosbaker.

#ChicagoIL #RNC2024 #SDS #SJP #MexicanStudentsofAztlan #FRSO

By Gabriel Miller

Meeting of the newly appointed Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – Chicagoans demanded action to stop police crimes on Thursday, June 30, at the first official meeting of the newly appointed Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), a citywide body charged with holding the Chicago Police Department accountable.

50 community members, organizers, police district councilors and family members of those lost to police violence showed up at Saint Sabina Church on the Southside to demand an end to pretextual traffic stops and so-called “tactical teams.” Nine of the ten speakers who gave public comments raised the demand to end these racist police practices which have caused the murders of Dexter Reed and Reginald Clay Jr among many others, as well as the daily harassment of Black and brown people.

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