News and Views from the People's Struggle
Chicago, IL – On Monday, August 19, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) came to Chicago. As the Coalition to March on the DNC was marching with tens of thousands of protesters in the streets surrounding the United Center, Dr. Nadia Ahmad was being attacked inside.
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.
Tallahassee, FL – On Sunday, August 18, about 30 community members gathered at the Florida Capitol building to protest Kamala Harris and her policies regarding the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Protesters held signs within sight of the busy intersection in front of the capitol complex stating, “We won’t vote for genocide” and “Arms embargo now!”
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.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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!”
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.
By Ash Stewack and Caeli Kean
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.
Milwaukee, WI – On Tuesday, July 23, Vice President Kamala Harris made her first stop as a presidential candidate in Milwaukee, less than a week after the Republican National Convention. For four hours straight, members of the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine (WCJP) chanted outside of Harris’ campaign rally.
Washington, DC – More than 10,000 pro-Palestine demonstrators marched in the streets of Washington DC, July 24. The demonstration coincided with the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, who delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress defending the genocide in Gaza. Police attacked the protest with clubs and pepper spray. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris denounced the protest as “unpatriotic.” Speakers at the large rally urged attendees to join the massive pro-Palestine protest set for the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, August 19.
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
Atlanta, GA – Hundreds of community members gathered June 27 to protest the presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in Midtown Atlanta. The event was sponsored by a broad coalition of Atlanta and Georgia-based activist groups united around the demand for a free Palestine.
Los Angeles, CA – Over 40 people gathered at a local bar, Distrito Catorce, to raise funds for organizers traveling to march on the Republican and Democratic National Conventions (RNC and DNC) taking place in Milwaukee and Chicago, respectively. Those traveling include members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization and both the LA and Orange County chapters of Community Service Organization (CSO).
Chicago, IL – “This is only a pinch of what we're going to do in August,” Merawi Gerima said to 150 people who rallied outside the 18th District police station on the Near Northside of Chicago, May 19.
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.
Milwaukee, WI – El 3 de octubre, docenas de grupos y activistas en Milwaukee están organizando una manifestación para exigir un permiso para una marcha afuera la Convención Nacional Demócrata. Hasta ahora, el alcalde de Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, les niega el permiso a los activistas locales. Otros políticos y empresarios adinerados están cayendo sobre sí mismos prometiendo cerrar calles, interrumpir los horarios de trabajo y gastar decenas de millones de dólares en la celebración de la Convención Democrática. Sin embargo, a las personas locales se les niega un permiso de protesta para expresar sus problemas.