Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

ChicagoIl

By Kobi Guillory

Chicago People's Hearing on Police Crimes.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – “You can't throw a stone and not hit someone who is affected by police torture and wrongful conviction here in Chicago, the torture capital of the United States,” said Merawi Gerima, a co-chair of the Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Torture (CFIST.)

Gerima was speaking at the annual People's Hearing on Police Crimes on Saturday, February 24, at the office of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) in Woodlawn neighborhood on the predominantly Black South Side.

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By Jae Franklin

Nesreen Hasan and Olan Mijana. | Fight Back! News/Jae Franklin

Chicago, IL – On February 18, the Chicago Freedom Road Socialist Organization hosted over 50 members of the community at the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) office to celebrate Black History Month.

The event featured a panel on the historic solidarity between Black and Palestinian organizers in Chicago as well as how that solidarity shows up in practice today, and it was followed by a poetic cultural performance from FRSO and CAARPR member Brian Young, Jr.

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By Angel Naranjo

UIC students hold forum on the ongoing immigration crisis. | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – On January 24, over 60 people crowded the Latino Cultural Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to join a discussion with Juan González of the Great Cities Institute and David Ramirez of the Cuban Embassy around the current immigrant crisis and its root causes. The discussion was co-hosted by two campus groups: New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at UIC and Mexican Students de Aztlán (MeSA) at UIC.

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By Kobi Guillory

Coalition to March on the DNC demands permits for march during a Chicago press conference.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – Organizers with the Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention held a press conference outside City Hall on Tuesday morning to speak out against the denial of their permit applications. The Chicago Department of Transportation gave the coalition an alternate route four miles away from where the DNC is scheduled to happen.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez speaking to the rally following the passage of her Palestine resolution. | Fight Back! News/Alec Ozawa

Chicago, IL – The Palestinian community and their movement allies won an historic vote January 31. With 500 protesters crowded into City Hall, the Chicago city council passed a ceasefire resolution, becoming the largest city in the country to have done so.

The vote was extremely close: 24 to 23. In fact, the vote among council members ended in a tie – 23 to 23. Mayor Brandon Johnson broke the tie. He forecast his courageous action after last week’s city council meeting when he said to the press, referring to the genocide in Gaza, “The killing has to stop. So, yes, we need a ceasefire,” Johnson said.

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By staff

 Students protest racist policing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – On Friday, January 26, over 50 people gathered on the University of Illinois at Chicago’s campus to protest the racist and discriminatory practices of the UIC police department. The protest was called jointly by Students for Justice in Palestine and Students for a Democratic Society in response to two separate instances of racist policing and discrimination at the University.

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By Kobi Guillory

Protest at Chicago City Hall. | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – Over 300 supporters of the movements for Black and Palestinian liberation showed up to the Wednesday, January 24, Chicago city council meeting.

Organizers spoke in favor of a resolution put forth by Rossana Rodríguez Sanchez and Daniel La Spata calling for a ceasefire in Palestine, and against a Fraternal Order of Police-backed decision to send even the most severe cases of police misconduct to arbitration where they could be handled with no public oversight.

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By staff

Chicago students stand in solidarity with Yemen and Palestine. | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – On Thursday, January 18, nearly 150 students rallied and marched at the University of Illinois at Chicago as part of Students for a Democratic Society’s national day of action against the U.S. bombing of Yemen and in solidarity with the resistance in Palestine.

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By staff

Chicago protest in solidarity with Palestine and Yemen. | Fight Back! News/Alec Ozawa

Chicago, IL – Over 750 protesters braved the coldest weekend of this winter so far on Saturday, January 13 to demand that the U.S. and its allies take their hands off Yemen and end their support of Israel’s genocide in Palestine.

The protesters spoke in favor of Yemen's naval blockade against Israel as well as in support of South Africa charging the apartheid state with genocide at the International Court of Justice. This was the latest in a string of weekly protests organized by the Coalition for Justice in Palestine since October 7, 2023.

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By staff

Chicago Black and brown solidarity march with Palestine.  | Fight Back! News/Olan Mijana.

Chicago, IL – 500 protesters gathered on the evening of January 5 outside Chicago Police headquarters on the Southside of Chicago in a demonstration of Black and brown solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

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