Orlando, FL – On Friday, May 1, dozens of community members gathered at BookBurn Cafe and Social in Orlando's Milk District to celebrate International Workers' Day. The interactive, educational event was presented by Freedom Road Socialist Organization Orlando, and included discussions led by rank-and-file union members from the public and private sector.

The four different presenters spoke about their firsthand experiences organizing union drives and strikes, fighting for decent contracts, resisting anti-union policies from the Florida legislature, and the ever-growing need for communist and militant union members to engage in class struggle unionism.

“The strike has always been the greatest weapon that the working class can wield against the greedy bosses,” said FRSO Orlando member and public high school teacher Edmund Anglero. “And throughout history, there are numerous instances of union workers wielding that power to win fair contracts. That is what we should be building toward today and is why FRSO members make our home in the organized working class.”

After a lively Q and A session, the educational portion of the event ended and was followed by a social for those in attendance to celebrate the holiday together.

#OrlandoFL #FL #Labor #ImmigrantRights #Labor #FRSO

Directed by Christopher Martin and John Pilger, The War on Democracy (2007) is a sobering and critical examination of the United States’ deadly imperialism in the Americas.

Examining the history from the mid-20th century going to the 2000s, Pilger examines the bipartisan attacks against Latin America, especially on the socialist countries and those that are not aligned with the interests of U.S. imperialists. Special focus is given to the 2002 failed coup d'etat attempt in Venezuela, featuring interviews with Hugo Chávez.

After the documentary, Angel Naranjos, a member of FRSO, led a discussion on what the audience learned, the historical development of American imperialism, the decline of imperialism, the fight for national liberation and how the working class and people of oppressed nations must unite against capitalism and use socialism to crush their enemies.

As imperialism continues to more depraved actions, the conflict between the oppressed nations of the world and the monopoly capitalists sharpens. All over the world, we are seeing examples of freedom fighters defeating and leaving the monopoly capitalists embarrassed and confused. In Iran the U.S.’s imperialist war has backfired spectacularly; Palestinian resistance continues to hold firm against Israel and the U.S., and here in the belly of the beast, the American working class is striking blows against Trump's attacks. If these fights have shown one thing, it has shown that when the people unite against the imperialists, they can win!

#ChicagoIL #IL #StudentMovement #SDS #FRSO #International #Venezuela

Milwaukee, WI – On a brisk May 1st morning, the Milwaukee community gathered in the thousands to stand up for immigrants’ and workers’ rights. The rally began on the city’s Southside at the Voces de la Frontera (VDLF) office, a leading organization that gathers students, workers, and residents annually to march since 2006. 22 years later, el Día sin Inmigrantes continues to demand justice for workers of all legal status and a path to legalization for all.

The day started with words from student organizers in Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), urging solidarity and collective action under the second Trump administration. The three-mile march then began with a large coalition carrying banners and pickets, chanting “Money for jobs and education, not for war and deportation!”

As marchers arrived at the end point, VDLF director Christine Neumann-Ortiz summed up the theme of this year's demonstration: “Immigrants are not the problem; they are the solution. The problem is the billionaire class.”

The crowd then heard from Kareem Sarsour, the eldest son of Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian and president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Sarsour was kidnapped over a month ago by ICE and remains in custody for bogus charges because he is a fierce advocate for Palestine. Sarsour assured the crowd that his father, along with his family, remain committed to fighting for a free Palestine and will fight until he is released.

In a fiery speech, the head of the city’s Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA), José Ramirez, told the crowd, “Elected officials try to explain to the working class that they understand and know our struggles. They don’t know what it’s like to pour concrete all damn day, to be bent over tying rebar, to wake up early and work a double shift.” Ramirez then pointed to the strength of grassroots organizations and community, calling for continued solidarity among workers beyond May Day because “this is what the clowns and cowards in Madison fear.”

The day’s march wrapped up midday with mariachi, but the festivities continued.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization held a program later that evening at Villa Arco, a community space which also hosts ESL classes for immigrant laborers. Here, FRSO national leader Syd Loving spoke about the erasure of May Day in the U.S. as an international socialist holiday. Loving said, “It sounds lofty and far away, but we [FRSO] fight for the overthrow of capitalism because we see that socialism is a real thing in other countries,” as seen in her recent visit to the People’s Republic of China.

Local FRSO leader Alan Chavoya offered a background on Dia Sin Inmigrantes, highlighting labor and oppressed nationality movements as the key to striking blows against the enemy. Chavoya stated, “In every struggle historically, it’s the working class. That’s where we need to go with the immigrant rights struggle; withholding labor is what shakes the capitalist class.”

To close, Tracey Schwerdtfeger offered her perspective as an emergency room nurse, Milwaukee resident and labor organizer. Her neighborhood has seen the effects of companies like Allis Chalmers, Harley-Davidson, and AO Smith moving plants to other countries, leaving working families to face home foreclosures and healthcare cuts. Now, local hospitals knowingly understaff wards despite the real, proven cost of human life.

Schwerdtfeger then encouraged those attending to get involved and take up the struggle for socialism. “Today is our holiday and our struggle for a better life continues.” She said of the capitalist class, “Their survival depends on our suffering.”

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Labor #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #FRSO #VDLF

Chicago, IL – Over 8000 people gathered in Union Park on May 1 to celebrate International Workers’ Day and march demanding protection for workers and immigrant rights.

Since May Day last year, Trump sent ICE and Customs and Border Patrol to Chicago for months of terror, with over 3000 members of immigrant communities arrested and taken away. The large contingents marching from immigrant communities in Union Park was a statement of courage.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said during his speech, “We are not going to stop fighting for every single worker and every single working family in this city and in this country and in this world,” and demanded that “we get our fair share of the equitable distribution of the wealth. Are you with me workers?”

Some of the principal organizers of this May Day protest included the Chicago Teacher Union (CTU), Service Employees International Union Health Care Illinois/Indiana, the Coalition Against the Trump Agenda (CATA), and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR).

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said, “Workers united with communities, across cultures, across industries, win the fight every time. Do not give up your power to assemble and do not give up your power to organize. Workers over billionaires!”

This year CTU organized to make May Day a day of civic action in Chicago. Together with families, they brought out over 800 high school students to participate in the protest. Hundreds of university students and graduate employees were also in attendance.

Nadia Alyafai spoke at the rally for the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and CATA. She said, “Our city is home to one of the largest Palestinian communities in the United States, alongside a broader Arab immigrant population that has long been at the frontlines of the immigrant rights and other movements in this city. We were there alongside many of you when we put almost a million people in the streets to defeat the Sensenbrenner bill in 2006, and now 20 years later we still are fighting strong for justice for our communities.”

CATA marched with a banner demanding “Legalization for all. Defend voting rights. Stop all U.S. wars!” They marched together with the immigrant rights contingent organized by ICIRR.

Chicago has played a crucial role in the labor and immigrant rights movements. May Day was born in Chicago, the center of the nationwide1886 strike for the eight-hour workday. The resulting repression of the labor movement led to workers around the world declaring May 1 to be International Workers’ Day. On March 10, 2006, Chicago held the first mega march of the immigrant rights movement. That movement then called for nationwide marches on May 1. Over 2 million immigrants and their supporters took to the streets that day, which also brought May Day back to the labor movement in the U.S.

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #FRSO #CATA #Trump #CTU

Philadelphia, PA – Around 100 people gathered in Love Park on May 1, before joining a rally of thousands organized by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO at City Hall. Among these groups were Philadelphia Anti War (PAW), Philadelphia Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (PAARPR), Anakbayan, Marxist Education Group, Industrial Workers of the World, Workers World Party and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

At the rally, speakers condemned Trump’s actions, U.S. wars, ICE detention and the continued exploitation of workers. A brass band provided entertainment and volunteers offered pretzels and water to those standing in the sun along the crowded John F Kennedy Boulevard.

Around 6 p.m., demonstrators marched northwest, stopping at hotels and other businesses, where union groups demanded higher wages and improved working conditions.

Demonstrators with megaphones led constant chants during this contingent's march. Despite traffic and police flanking the roads, demonstrators showed their commitment to liberation movements with such chants as, “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido,” “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go,” “Luchando, creando poder popular,” “Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, brick by brick, wall by wall” and “La migra, la policia, la misma porquería.”

The revolutionary contingent left the march and went to the offices of Day and Zimmerman, the weapons company that produced the munitions that killed Palestinian child Hind Rajab. Members of these progressive groups stood firm as police gathered at either end of the crowd. There, a speaker denounced the imperial violence of U.S. military contractors. The contingent then rejoined the main march, which ended at 7 p.m.

May 1 is an international holiday. It is important that progressive and socialist movements build internationalism. Since the 19th century, the day has celebrated the working class. The day honors their fight against the capitalist systems and their desire to end the oppression of all peoples.

#PhiladelphiaPA #PA #Labor #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #FRSO

Los Angeles, CA – On Friday, May 1, 500 Chicano community members and activists gathered at Mariachi Plaza to rally and march for the 11th annual May Day protest in Boyle Heights. More than 50 different community organizations, unions and local businesses helped put on the event, and were joined by students who walked out of Roosevelt, Garfield and Ed Roybal high schools.

The organizations urged workers fight back, demanding legalization for all, an end to war and police brutality, and to fund public education.

This year’s May Day marks 20 years since the 2006 protests, La Gran Marcha, where millions of immigrants marched against the Sensenbrenner Bill (HR 4437), which aimed to criminalize undocumented immigrants.

“This is the 20-year anniversary to the 2006 mega-marches where Raza and a lot of working class immigrants walked off the job, didn’t go to school and shut the city down by taking the streets in downtown LA,” said Centro CSO immigration co-chair Verita Topete.

The event began with a blessing from Father Brendan from the Dolores Mission church, followed by a rally which included speakers from Centro CSO, Legalization for All, Proyecto Pastoral, About Face, Union De Vecinos, the People’s Care Collective, Immigo and Teamsters Local 396.

Sara Venegas, an Amazon driver who recently unionized with Teamsters Local 396 and then went on an unfair labor practice strike after Amazon retaliated against their union said, “They thought they could kill the fire in our hearts, but they’ve strengthened the flame, and now we’re on a ULP strike. Let’s hold big corporations like Amazon accountable.”

The group took to the streets to march across 1st Street Bridge, chanting “¡Se ve, se siente, el pueblo está presente!” and demands for legalization for all and an end to U.S. wars. As speakers from Black Lives Matter LA and Freedom Road Socialist Organization addressed the crowd, LAPD helicopters hovered above, telling the group to disperse and stop blocking traffic. The police also sent out an Amber Alert to everyone in the area stating that people should avoid the area because an “Unlawful assembly declared.”

Gabriel Quiroz Jr. from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization commented on the ongoing police violence against May Day protests from the Haymarket riots in Chicago, to the streets of Los Angeles today, “The first protest I ever attended was May Day in 2007 at MacArthur Park. I got to see the power of organized Raza. I also got to see political repression by LAPD.”

As the march turned back towards Boyle Heights, speakers from the Palestinian Youth Movement, ILPS, the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, and Gabriela LA spoke on the how U.S. imperialism affects other countries and the need for working and oppressed people of the world to come together to fight back against it.

“The corrupt Philippine government sold out our country to the United States and the imperialists. They are responsible for the displacement and migration of our people. We are here in solidarity with the working class here in Los Angeles and abroad. Many migrate here for better opportunities, promised the American dream and yet they struggle,” said a member of Gabriela LA.

As the sun set over the march, the crowd danced back into Mariachi Plaza. Throughout the program the speakers encouraged the crowd to join an organization to build the fight against Trump and for an even bigger and more united May Day protest next year.

#LosAngelesCA #CA #Labor #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #FRSO #CentroCSO

Bozeman, MT – On Friday, May 1, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) Bozeman and Montana State University's chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a rally in support of workers and immigrants’ rights.

The rally featured FRSO Bozeman member Homa Masood, a spokeswoman from Gallatin County’s Community Rapid Response organization (CRR-GC), and SDS member Evan Minadakis, who spoke to 70 enthusiastic protesters, who held signs that proclaimed, “Immigrants built America” and “Trump is a fraud!” A large banner read “No war, no ICE, no billionaires!”

Masood told the crowd, “May Day isn't just about naming oppression. It's about recognizing power, challenging it, and forcing it back into our hands! Every victory in the history of working people came from organization, solidarity and struggle, and that remains true today!”

CRR-GC's spokeswoman attacked the dangerous 287(g) agreement between Gallatin County and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which allows individuals in Gallatin County’s Detention Center who are eligible for release to be held for an additional 48 hours and ultimately be turned over into ICE custody.

FRSO Bozeman’s Julian Staggs spoke to draw attention to the Gallatin High School walkout held earlier that day. About 50 students walked out of class and gathered outside to protest the nationwide ICE raids of terror unleashed by the federal government against the immigrant communities of the United States and stand in solidarity with those communities.

Evan Minadakis brought forward their SDS chapter's recent victory in kicking Customs and Border Protection out of the university's spring Career Fair, focusing on exemplifying for all that the change created by the organized people may truly move mountains.

“Do not let them convince you that you are weak. do not let them convince you that you have no power,” Minadakis said. “Every single person out here today has the ability to shift the tides, to make waves so massive that they take down any forces that try to stand in their way. Progress isn't something we wish for, it is something we fight for! And until every single corrupt, oppressive billionaire is wiped from this earth, we will continue to fight for progress, and we will continue to win!”

The protest’s final chant was one of “Revolution! Revolution! Revolution! Revolution!” International Worker’s Day is a day for celebration of the worker and the oppressed nationalities of the world, and it is a day to intensify the struggle. Bozeman has begun to walk the road to liberation!

#BozemanMT #MT #Labor #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #FRSO #SDS #StudentMovement

New Orleans, LA – On Friday evening, May 1, a crowd of about 50 community members marched from a statue of Benito Juarez to the New Orleans City Hall for International Workers’ Day. Despite the pouring rain and strong winds, the energy was high.

The action was put on by the immigrants’ rights organization Unión Migrante in coalition with several other organizations and unions. The focus of this year’s march was on ending police and ICE collaboration, defending labor rights, and legalization for all.

Protesters chanted slogans such as “¡No somos criminales, somos esenciales!” (“We're not criminals, we’re essential!”); “¡Chinga la migra!” (“Fuck ICE”); and “Money for jobs and education, not for mass deportation!”

New Orleans has long been a center for ICE operations, with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services Southern field office – formerly located in the heart of its Central Business District. In February of this year, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno told reporters that the New Orleans Police Department would not sign a formal cooperation agreement with ICE, but they would still “follow the law.” Under Louisiana Act 399, it is illegal for law enforcement to not alert ICE if they released someone who “either illegally entered or unlawfully remained in the United States.”

“It’s not that he [Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry] doesn’t like immigrants, he loves immigrants when it comes to his wallet,” said Alfredo Salazar, a member of Unión Migrante and a first generation Mexican immigrant. “He sends us to be locked up in private prisons that enrich themselves on human suffering.”

After hearing speeches from immigrant speakers about fighting back against Trump’s racist ICE attacks, the determined crowd took the street and marched to City Hall to hear from unions and their struggles against their bosses for better working conditions. Tulane Workers United celebrated their first tentative agreement with Tulane University after 2 years of negotiations. Nurses United members at University Medical Center kicked off a 5-day strike to pressure admin to sign their contract.

“The bankruptcy of this capitalist system has demonstrated itself again and again. The enemy is getting weaker, and we are getting stronger,” said Cristine Farah of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Closing out the program, she added, “The future is bright, we just have to take it!”

#NewOrleansLA #LA #Labor #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #FRSO

Minneapolis, MN – On Friday, May 1, a coalition led by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and the Indigenous Protectors Movement (IPM) and endorsed by more than 60 unions, immigrant rights groups, and other progressive organizations took to the streets in Minneapolis to commemorate their 20th annual march on International Workers’ Day.

The coalition demanded ICE out of Minnesota and legalization for all, as the march came after months of heightened struggle against a federal occupation of the city by immigration agents and militant clashes between the people and ICE. 10,000 protesters marched, chanted, held signs and celebrated at this year’s International Workers’ Day march.

The march flooded Lake Street, the heart of the immigrant community in South Minneapolis, with large banners and flags, and contingents of various unions, immigrant rights groups, anti-war groups, student groups and other progressive movements. As is tradition for MIRAC May 1 marches, the lead banner was held by youth, this year a group of high school students. The massive march had three sound trucks, each with their own speaker programs. People and families lined the sidewalks on Lake street to join in on chants and cheer the march on, coming out of the various immigrant businesses to show their support.

Just before the program began, progressive Minneapolis City Council members held a brief press conference to read the city council’s resolution recognizing May 1 as International Workers Day, followed by a performance by Danza Unida.

At the starting rally, the crowd heard from Diego Guaman from Operación Vuelo Sagrado, a grassroots community group that was created as a direct response to the growing crackdown on immigrants in Minnesota and the need to protect, inform and support immigrant families.

“Being an immigrant is not a crime, fighting for your rights is not a crime and speaking up is not a crime!” said Diego Guaman.

Manuel Pascual, a member of MIRAC, told the crowd some May Day history and the importance of taking the streets on the city’s 20th annual May 1 march, “Every year we are out here on May 1 and every year we mean the same thing: this is the workers’ day. The immigrant workers’ day! The only holiday in the world that belongs to us!” He ended his speech by telling the crowd about MIRAC’s current campaign for a Sanctuary State in Minnesota and an end to all state and local collaboration with ICE. “We are organizing, we are showing up, we are pulling our neighbors back when ICE tries to take them. Today is the rehearsal, tomorrow we keep going!”

The march stopped at Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue, the site of a large federal operation where immigration agents were present in June of 2025. The crowd heard from Isavela López, an activist who was brutalized by federal agents that day and now faces bogus federal charges.

“I know that I am not alone,” said López, “Right now it’s more than about me, it’s about the kids in Palestine, it’s about the people in Venezuela, and it’s about the people that are still in detention centers right now!”

Benji Gomez, a rank-and-file member of Teamsters Local 638 who also organized a pantry for immigrant families out of his garage during Operation Metro Surge with the help of other Teamsters from his local, told the crowd, “I am an immigrant. I am also the first in my family to join a union and it's given me real power. Unions exist because workers stood together and demanded dignity, fair wages, safe conditions and respect, and so often those workers were immigrants, people with the least protection but the courage to organize anyway! That’s still true today.”

The march also featured speakers from Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham, MFE Local 59 President Marcia Howard, members of Asamblea de Derechos Civiles, MN8, Monique Cullors-Doty with the Righteous 39, the MN Anti-War Committee, and many others representing their unions and other grassroots organizations.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization had a large and visible contingent in the march.

The march ended at a Target store across the street from the former (burned down) 3rd Precinct with a theater performance calling out Target and corporate greed, as well as more speeches inspiring the crowd to continue to take action. At the end of the march, organizers encouraged participants to eat at the immigrant businesses on Lake Street and attend an after-party at Mercado Central to finish up the day.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #Labor #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #MIRAC #FRSO

On International Workers’ Day, we uplift the past and present global struggles for a better world. We commit to carrying the torches of liberation forward, because there’s much to fight against, and much to fight for. Monopoly capitalism is built on exploitation, and it hands down needless suffering, environmental ruin and endless wars. The decay is obvious. Prices soar, families are bankrupted by medical costs, millions are saddled with crushing debt and working people who were already on the brink are being pushed into ruin. The system delivers obscene profits to the ones on top who are relentless in pursing profits. We should be even more relentless in building the united forces of workers and oppressed people that can take them down.

May Day is a reminder that the people organized can land blows against this system. It cuts right through the lie that nothing will change, or we can’t do any better.

The history of May Day itself is rooted in a great upsurge in the class struggle. It began in Chicago in 1886, where workers in the factories bore brutal working conditions and extreme hours. They said enough is enough and flooded the streets, clashing with the hired guns of the robber barons. The state then executed four of the strike leaders. The martyred working-class heroes became a rallying point for people power, and May 1 became the day for working people to advance our demands.

Under the banner of struggle, huge May Day demonstrations take place around the world every year. This year is the 20-year anniversary of the mega-marches – the immigrant rights struggle against the racist Sensenbrenner bill that brought May Day back to the forefront as a day of mass protest in the U.S.

Across the country, the great upsurge against ICE thuggery and the fight against mass deportation created a force that has pulled forward all the people’s struggles. These are the first major battles fought against the Trump agenda, bringing out a broad grouping of people and forging new fighters. From Los Angeles to Chicago, people rebelled with massive demonstrations and a show of force to push back Trump’s attacks.

ICE agents, emboldened and violent, have murdered members of the community, immigrants as well as the people standing up for them, in cold blood. In Minneapolis, a three weeks after the murder of Renee Good, Alex Pretti was killed, just blocks from where George Floyd was executed, in a community where a history of broad resistance to state violence reverberates. These crimes activated people in the tens of thousands to take to the streets. Trump and his ICE goons tried to swallow Minneapolis whole, but they ended up choking.

These battles became a “whose side are you on” moment. Whole sections of people were activated for the first time. In each upsurge, the outpouring of people who want to fight back shows that we’re living in different times than past decades. More and more people see that this system, monopoly capitalism, has no future. It’s a system sitting on a rotten and cracked foundation failing to meet the needs of the many while enriching the few.

In the era of imperialism, we stand in solidarity with workers and oppressed people everywhere. The U.S.-Israel war on Iran is indefensible. They want to destroy the camp of resistance that has been at the forefront of the fight for Palestine. We’re glad if Iran succeeds, not only because the war is wrong, but because we share a common enemy: the monopoly capitalists at the helm of the war machine.

U.S. imperialism is on the decline, and the rate at which things are coming apart in this country is picking up speed. The growth of the revolutionary movement is on the rise as well. We want to take every opportunity to bring more people into the fight.

Our movements are going to come out of this era stronger than they went in. People are changed forever by participating in these battles: their outlook, their views on what’s possible and their understanding of what it’s going to take to bring this system down. We’re not looking to keep things steady. We want to fan the flames.

On International Workers Day:

Fight for Workers & Immigrants’ Rights!

ICE Out! Stop the Deportations!

Down with Trump & the Billionaires!

No to War on Iran, Lebanon & Palestine!

#Statement #FRSO #Labor #ImmigrantRights #PeoplesStruggles #Featured

En el Día Internacional de los Trabajadores, honramos las luchas globales pasadas y presentes por un mundo mejor. Nos comprometemos a seguir adelante con las antorchas de la liberación, porque hay mucho contra lo que luchar y mucho por lo que luchar. El capitalismo monopolista está construido sobre la explotación y nos hereda sufrimiento innecesario, destrucción ambiental y guerras interminables. La decadencia es evidente. Los precios suben fuera de control, las familias caen en bancarrota por los gastos médicos, millones enfrentan deudas insoportables y la gente trabajadora que ya estaba al borde del abismo está siendo empujada a la ruina. El sistema les entrega ganancias obscenas a los de arriba, quienes son implacables en su búsqueda de ganancias. Nosotros deberíamos ser aún más implacables para construir las fuerzas unidas de los trabajadores y los pueblos oprimidos que puedan derrocarlos.

El Primero de Mayo nos recuerda que el pueblo organizado puede dar golpes contra este sistema. Atraviesa la mentira de que nada va a cambiar, o de que no podemos hacerlo mejor.

La historia del Primero de Mayo tiene sus raíces en un gran levantamiento de la lucha de clases. Comenzó en Chicago en 1886, cuando los obreros de las fábricas sufrían condiciones brutales y jornadas extremas. Dijeron ya basta e inundaron las calles, enfrentándose a los pistoleros a sueldo de los barones ladrones. El Estado ejecutó a cuatro de los líderes de la huelga. Estos héroes mártires de la clase trabajadora se convirtieron en un punto de unión del poder popular, y el 1 de mayo se convirtió en el día para que la gente trabajadora avanzara en nuestras demandas.

Bajo la bandera de la lucha, cada año se realizan enormes manifestaciones del Primero de Mayo en todo el mundo. Este año es el 20 aniversario de las megamarchas – la lucha por los derechos de los inmigrantes contra el proyecto de ley racista de Sensenbrenner que trajo de vuelta el Primero de Mayo al frente como un día de protesta masiva en Estados Unidos.

En todo el país, el gran levantamiento contra la brutalidad de ICE y la lucha contra la deportación masiva crearon una fuerza que ha impulsado todas las luchas populares. Estas son las primeras batallas importantes contra la agenda de Trump, que convocaron a una amplia diversidad de personas y forjaron nuevos luchadores. Desde Los Ángeles hasta Chicago, la gente se rebeló con manifestaciones masivas y una muestra de fuerza para echar para atrás los ataques de Trump.

Los agentes de ICE, descarados y violentos, han asesinado a sangre fría a miembros de la comunidad, tanto inmigrantes como quienes los defienden. En Minneapolis, tres semanas después del asesinato de Renee Good, mataron a Alex Pretti, a solo unas cuadras de donde ejecutaron a George Floyd, en una comunidad donde resuena una historia de amplia resistencia a la violencia estatal. Estos crímenes movilizaron a decenas de miles de personas a las calles. Trump y sus secuaces de ICE intentaron tragarse a Minneapolis entera, pero terminaron ahogándose.

Estas batallas se convirtieron en un momento de “¿de qué lado estás?”. Sectores enteros de la población se activaron por primera vez. En cada levantamiento, la gran cantidad de gente que quiere luchar demuestra que vivimos en tiempos distintos a los de décadas pasadas. Cada vez más personas ven que este sistema, el capitalismo monopolista, no tiene futuro. Es un sistema asentado sobre una base podrida y agrietada, que no satisface las necesidades de los muchos mientras enriquece a unos pocos.

En la era del imperialismo, nos solidarizamos con los trabajadores y los pueblos oprimidos de todo el mundo. La guerra de Estados Unidos e Israel contra Irán es indefendible. Quieren destruir el campo de resistencia que ha estado al frente de la lucha por Palestina. Nos alegra si Irán tiene éxito, no solo porque la guerra es injusta, sino porque compartimos un enemigo común: los capitalistas monopolistas al mando de la maquinaria de guerra.

El imperialismo estadounidense está en decadencia, y el ritmo al que las cosas se están desmoronando en este país está acelerando. El crecimiento del movimiento revolucionario también está aumentando. Queremos aprovechar cada oportunidad para sumar más gente a la lucha.

Nuestros movimientos saldrán de esta era más fuertes de lo que entraron. La gente cambia para siempre al participar en estas batallas: su perspectiva, sus ideas sobre lo que es posible y su comprensión de lo que se necesita para derrocar este sistema. No buscamos mantener las cosas estables. Queremos avivar las llamas.

En el Día Internacional de los Trabajadores:

¡Lucha por los derechos de los trabajadores e inmigrantes!

¡Fuera ICE! ¡Alto a las deportaciones!

¡Abajo Trump y los multimillonarios!

¡No a la guerra contra Irán, Líbano y Palestina!

#Labor #ImmigrantRights #DerechosDeLosInmigrantes #MayDay #PrimeroDeMayo #FRSO #OSCL

Freedom Road Socialist Organization condemns the Italian authorities for the raids on the homes of members of CARC (Committees of Support for Resistance – for Communism) Party. It is an attack on the democratic rights of Italian revolutionaries, who we stand in solidarity with.

On April 21, Italy’s political police searched the homes of six comrades associated with the CARC Party, five in Naples and one in Florence. Three of the homes raided were those of members of the CARC Party’s National Executive Committee: Paolo Babini, Igor Papaleo and Marco Coppola. The government is lying and trying to put the tag of “terrorism” on them.

Members of FRSO know about repression firsthand, and we stand with those who are experiencing repression. The decline of imperialism is accelerating, and the capitalists are using repression to preserve the existing order of things. They will certainly fail.

The Italian working class has a proud history of struggle that is an inspiration to workers everywhere. We are confident that the CARC Party will defeat these attacks.

End the repression against the CARC Party!

Long live international solidarity!

#FRSO #International #CARC #Italy #PoliticalRepression

Chicago, IL -Chicago is preparing for May Day, which is again a national day of protest against Trump’s racist agenda. A broad coalition of immigrant rights, Black liberation, workers, youth and student organizations are preparing to rally and march on May 1, International Workers Day.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) is going all out to build for May Day. One part of FRSO’s contribution is our annual Working Class Awards Dinner. Again, this year, it was held in the hall of the Chicago Teachers Union on Saturday, April 18.

The purpose of the event is to recognize individuals and organizations that have made contributions to the struggle of workers and the oppressed over the past year, celebrate some victories, and recognize the people who made them possible. It is also FRSO Chicago’s main annual fundraiser.

The event was very successful, with almost 300 people in the hall and over $20,000 raised.

A year of resistance to ICE: Four awards presented

Chicago was one of the first targets of ICE occupation, beginning in September 2025. ICE and Customs and Border Patrol officers terrorized immigrant communities, arresting 3000. They even staged a raid with 300 agents at 3 a.m. in the Black community of South Shore, with agents rappelling from helicopters onto an apartment building where Venezuelan refugees lived.

The Rapid Response teams, Migra Watch, and emergency response protests began before Trump surged agents here.

The awards dinner recognized four activists for contributions to resistance to Trump and ICE. Kathryn Zamarrón is an elementary school music teacher at the Walt Disney Magnet School, and a rank-and-file leader in the Chicago Teachers Union. She serves on the CTU Latinx Caucus and Elementary Education Committee. Zamarron played a crucial role in organizing sanctuary teams to protect students not only in her own school, but across the city. She was presented with an award named for Karen Lewis, the legendary president of the Chicago Teachers Union.

Corina Pedraza, a worker at the Chicago public library, played a leading role in helping the community provide services to the tens of thousands of migrant laborers bused here by the governor of Texas starting in 2022. She was also recognized for her leading role as an organizer of both Southwest and Southeast Side rapid response teams in 2025. Her award was in the name of Silverio Villegas González, murdered by ICE in a Chicago suburb at the outset of the ICE/CBP occupation.

Reverend Ciera Bates-Chamberlain received the Angela Davis Award for organizing faith leaders in opposition to ICE. As executive director of Live Free Illinois, when ICE threatened Chicago, she organized a multifaith, multiracial coalition including Black ministers and churches on Chicago’s South and West Sides. The network held a press conference, a protest in the pulpits, and rallied with the immigrant rights movement to defend our communities.

Finally, the Mexican Students de Aztlán (MeSA) at UIC received an award named for Rigo Padilla Pérez. A member of the Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance at UIC, Rigo was a leader in the Dreamers movement, which compelled passage of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals legislation. He died of cancer three years ago.

MeSA was honored because in October, ICE agents arrested two women near campus. Students protested, and ICE released the women, but the UIC administration failed to respond. MeSA then led a mobilization of over 200 students to oppose ICE on campus and demand a sanctuary campus.

Award for Palestine solidarity

Gabriella Martinez is a Special Education Certified Assistant in the Chicago Public Schools and a rank-and-file leader in SEIU Local 73. She organized coworkers to file ethics complaints against Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs for the purchase of Israel Bonds. Frerichs even purchased more bonds during the ongoing genocide in Gaza. For her work, Martinez received the Assata Shakur award. Together with several members and retirees from SEIU Local 73, Gabi’s family joined her for the event.

Lifetime Achievement Awards: Pete Camarata Award to Jim Fennerty for movement legal defense

Jim Fennerty has been a fixture at protests in Chicago for decades, wearing the lime green cap of the National Lawyers Guild. Jim is a people’s lawyer who has consistently defended our movement from attacks by the ruling class. Jim and his wife, Janet have been politically active in the movement for over 50 years. Jim represented Rasmea Odeh and the Anti-War 23, and he helped win a historic civil settlement representing 800 protesters arrested at the start of the Iraq War.

Fennerty’s award was named after the late Pete Camarata. Pete was a founder of the Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). In his fight against the criminals that took control of the union, Pete was one of the first to combine rank and file power with legal action.

Fennerty was introduced by family friend Hatem Abudayyeh of the Arab American Action Network and US Palestinian Community Network. Many tables were filled with Jim and Janet’s friends and family, including son Nate, daughter Dina, her husband Daniel Contreras, and grandson Quinn Contreras.

In addition, the family of Pete Camarata was there with the Fennertys, including his wife, Robin Potter, stepson Jackson and his wife, Joan; stepdaughter Aimee, and granddaughter Phoebe.

William L. Patterson Award to Frank Chapman

The night’s biggest moment was the lifetime achievement award for Frank Chapman. It came with recorded greetings from CTU President Stacy Davis Gates and Vice President Jackson Potter.

The William L. Patterson Award was introduced by Anthony Quesada, 35th Ward alderman:

“Through his leadership with the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Frank has helped lead campaigns that have shaped Chicago. He has been central to the fight for justice for the wrongfully convicted and for community control of the police. His work helped push forward the movement that won elected police district councils, giving people a real voice in public safety. And today, Frank continues to advance this struggle through our fight for the Community Power Over Policing referendum.

“He has also mentored generations of organizers, many of whom are in the room tonight. Across Chicago and beyond, people have learned from him how to stay grounded, how to build collective power, and how to keep going through every phase of struggle. His impact lives in the people he has shaped and the movements that continue to grow.”

There were other elected officials present, including 33rd Ward Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, 35th Ward Democratic Committeeperson Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 25th Ward Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez, and State Senator Graciela Guzman.

The award is named after William L. Patterson, the Communist Party USA attorney who led the International Labor Defense (ILD), and who organized the mass defense of the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930s. Later he headed up the Civil Rights Congress, and together with Paul Robeson took the We Charge Genocide petition to the United Nations. The formation of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression was based on the model of the ILD.

Chapman: “We’re part of a better world in birth”

Chapman is the executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; field organizer and education director of the Chicago Alliance; and a Central Committee member of FRSO. In his remarks, he shared some perspective on the Trump regime and on change in this country from his vantage point having been born in 1942.

Referring to people who see Trumpism as an aberration when they say, “That’s not us,” meaning not what the U.S. stands for, Chapman responded, “The hell it ain’t. What they’re doing to the immigrants happened to me and my people…6200 children have been held in detention since Trump came in,” adding, “And shooting people on the streets execution style.”

“But we’ve seen this: we saw Laquan McDonald shot 16 times. And a few days ago, the state police shot a man 15 times, not far from my house,” and “Quit telling me this is something you haven’t seen before.”

“We’re demanding an end to Trumpism, but we’re going further than that. We’re part of a better world in birth!” Going on with the lyrics of The International, Chapman said, “Arise you prisoners of starvation. Arise you wretched of the earth. For justice thunders condemnation. A better world’s in birth.”

“Are you ready to get this done? Are you ready for the revolution?” he asked, to thunderous applause.

#ChicagoIL #IL #ImmigrantRights #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #FRSO #NAARPR #FrankChapman #Trump #PeoplesStruggles

Tallahassee, FL – On Friday, April 10, Tallahassee SDS, along with Freedom Road Socialist Organization and FSU YDSA brought together over 40 people on FSU’s Landis Green to protest the Israel Fair, an event sponsored by pro-Israel groups across the campus to celebrate Israel as it carries out genocide against Palestinians.

The event took place two days after Israel conducted 100 airstrikes against Lebanon in ten minutes, killing hundreds.

“It is shameful that FSU is allowing an event on our campus in the name of a state that is built on colonization and genocide,” said Maria Duarte, a member of Tallahassee SDS who spoke at the protest. “Israel is a state that has been displacing and murdering Palestinians for over 70 years. A state that believes that bombing children and innocent civilians is ‘self-defense.’ It is disgusting how our university is whitewashing genocide while Palestinians continue to be murdered and displaced.”

The fair was created by various Zionist organizations, including Students Supporting Israel, Hasbara Fellowships, Hillel at FSU, Zionist Organization of America and the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.

The protest began at 1 p.m. and was supposed to go until 2 p.m. but continued until around 3:45 p.m. Students chanted “Free Palestine” and made statements that showed solidarity with Palestine, condemned Israel, and ridiculed those involved with the fair.

Zionist counterprotesters responded with slurs and attempts to disrupt the rally, which the protesters ignored. As for the Israel Fair, it should have gone until 3:30 p.m., but it was closed down a little after 2:00 p.m. due to pressures from the protest – which would outnumber the attendees of the Israel Fair.

The speakers made a point to emphasize FSU’s support of Israel and, by extension, the genocide of Palestinians.

The speakers mentioned how the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering partners with Boeing. A close partner of Israel for 75 years, the company recently signed an $8.6 billion contract with the Pentagon to make 25 new F-15 Fighters for Israel. More recently, in March, Boeing signed another deal for $289 million to deliver 5000 air-launched smart bombs to Israel.

“Make no mistake, our campus is heavily complicit,” said one protester.

Before the Israel Fair, FSU power washed pro-Palestinian statements that were written in chalk on Landis Green. An anonymous affiliate of the fair’s organizers posted on YikYak, “this is what FSU thinks of your anti-fair chalk,” with a picture of the Landis Green walkways being power washed.

The “anti-fair chalk” included statements such as “72,000+ dead” (the number of Palestinians who have been killed thus far in the Gaza genocide), “One should not be killed for just being a Palestinian” and a list of names of children who were killed in Gaza and the West Bank by the Israeli occupation forces.

As FSU’s administration defends allowing of Zionist organizations on their campus, Israel continues to perpetuate its genocide of Palestinians. Tallahassee SDS deplores FSU’s hypocrisy in sanctioning hate groups on their campus while suppressing leftist student movements, and they remain in solidarity with Palestinians.

#TallahasseeFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #FRSO

Detroit, MI – On Sunday, April 12, another protest took place in Detroit to demand an end to the war on Iran. The second weekly protest brought around 90 participants to the Spirit of Detroit sculpture and through the streets around Woodward Avenue and Campus Martius Park.

The weekly protests are organized by the Detroit Anti War Committee, along with the support of US Palestinian Community Network, Code Pink, Wayne State Students for a Democratic Society, Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Engineers Against Apartheid.

The protest began with people lining the edge of the street holding banners and signs, such as “Detroit divest from war profiteers!” Cars passed and honked in support of the anti-war messaging. With the route going around Campus Martius, the One Campus Martius Building sparked up heated chants of “Fuck Dan Gilbert!” referring to the billionaire Zionist who owns the building and contributed over $80,000 to Detroit election campaigns, including that of Mayor Mary Sheffield.

Bryce Morin from Students For A Democratic Society stated, “We here at SDS oppose Wayne State’s support of these mass killings and displacements through investments in companies like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. And we are against our university allowing ICE to continue to deport students from our campus. Because we believe that our tuition and tax dollars should go towards funding education, not towards supporting war.”

Hiba Elturk, a founding member of the Detroit Anti-War Committee came out to speak on her experience having familial ties to Beirut and Bechamoun in Lebanon, “When Israel broke the ceasefire, it felt like the weight of the entire world had come down on me. I pray to God none of you ever have to reach for your phones and make the decision of who to call first to check and see if they’re still alive! Thanks to the Zionist entity, these decisions I’m being forced to make,”

Elturk continued, “My uncle was on his way home from work when the street he was driving on got struck by a missile. Five minutes too early, five minutes too late, and he would have been murdered.”

Jo Pico, of Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, “Ultimately, in this moment of uncertainty, trauma, and pain, there is one fact we can hold onto: we have power. This is what gives us clarity to meet the moment.”

After marching, the demonstrators rallied in front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, which is where the city council meets.

Daanyal Syed of Detroit Anti-War Committee stated, “The city of Detroit is complicit in genocide, as it has contracts like Shot Spotter, whose technology is used to surveil Palestinians, is used to surveil our Black and brown communities.” Syed closed out the protest by calling on everyone to show up to protest next week.

#DetroitMI #MI #AntiWarMovement #DAWC #Iran #Palestine #FRSO #SDS

On Monday, March 30 DHS and ICE took Salah Sarsour into custody. While driving, he was pulled over by ten ICE agents with no just cause.

Salah has been a lawful permanent resident in the United States for over 32 years. Salah serves as the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee (ISM), board member of the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), and has been a prominent advocate for the Muslim and Palestinian communities for three decades.

Members of these communities understand that Sarsour is being targeted due to his leading roles locally and nationally. Like the targeting of Mahmoud Khalil, Leqaa Kordia, Mohsen Mahdawi and other pro-Palestinian people of conscience, Sarsour is being subjected to the same treatment. Just as in their cases, the people are calling to mobilize!

A press conference will be held today, April 2, at 4 p.m. in the Islamic Society Milwaukee Community Center (815 W. Layton Avenue).

Solidarity to Sarsour, his family, the Palestinian, Muslim, and immigrant communities. Opposing the genocide in Gaza is not a crime! Fighting for Palestinian liberation is not a crime! Free Salah Now! Join the movement to free Salah!

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #ICE #ImmigrantRights #AntiWarMovement #FRSO #ISM #AMP #Palestine

Los Estados Unidos e Israel están lanzando una guerra contra Irán. Es una guerra injusta y sin provocación. Ha habido numerosas bajas civiles en Teherán y en otras ciudades, incluyendo los reportes de 85 niños escolares muertos en Minab.

Esta es una guerra que EE.UU. eligió. Trump se apartó de las negociaciones, y luego alistó a Israel apartheid, y ahora, bombas y misiles están lloviendo sobre escuelas y estaciones de televisión. Irán tiene todo el derecho de responder.

Este año llega en un contexto. El declive del imperialismo de EE.UU. se está acelerando. Trump está tratando de preservar el moribundo imperio estadounidense, y el control del Medio Oriente es parte de ese proyecto. El año pasado, EE.UU. e Israel lanzaron una guerra fallida de 12 días con el objetivo de quebrar a Irán.

Ahora han regresado para intentarlo otra vez. Junto con su cómplice Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump enfrentará más derrotas y fracasos — si no pronto, será después. De cualquier forma, tendrán el mismo destino de los tigres de papel que los precedieron.

Irán traza un camino independiente. Se encuentra en el centro de un eje de resistencia que incluye a las fuerzas progresistas y patrióticas de Palestina, Yemen, Líbano e Irak. Los pueblos libres del Medio Oriente no vivirán bajo la dominación de EE.UU. Están determinados a acabar con la ocupación genocida de los sionistas. Así que los defensores del imperio tendrán sus manos llenas.

Aquí en los EE.UU., progresistas y revolucionarios tienen que salir, uniendo a todos los que se puedan unir para terminar con la guerra contra Irán. Lo que EE.UU. e Israel están haciendo contra Irán es un crimen, y debe ser juzgado como tal.

Trump ahora está hablando sobre un cambio de régimen. La verdad es que sí necesitamos un cambio de régimen — un cambio de régimen en Washington DC. Mientras nos oponemos a la guerra en Irán, y construimos un frente amplio contra Trump, podemos y haremos a los EE.UU. ingobernable.

#es #Iran #AntiWar #Statement #FRSO #OSCL

Trans Day of Visibility Statement by the Women’s & LBGTQ Work Team of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization

On Transgender Day of Visibility, Freedom Road Socialist Organization unites with the masses of transgender people who refuse to be erased from public life. This past year saw an escalation in anti-trans Executive Orders from the Trump administration and reactionary legislation in states across the country. The struggle for visibility has been hard-fought and must be defended. Now is the time to hit the streets to demand trans liberation.

Attacks on trans healthcare have taken center stage in Trump’s anti-LGBTQ agenda. While 27 states have already enacted laws to limit gender affirming care for trans youth, Trump intends to ban this healthcare nationwide by blocking Medicaid and Medicare funding for all services at hospitals that also provide pediatric gender-affirming care. Trump has given hospitals an ultimatum: end their youth gender-affirming care programs or face bankruptcy. Already, this has resulted in a pause in care at many facilities, including those in states where gender-affirming care for youth is still protected under local law.

The Trump-appointed 4th Circuit Court takes these attacks a step further, ruling that West Virginia’s Medicaid program can exclude coverage of all gender-affirming care procedures, even for consenting adults. The decision opens the door for similar bans in other states. This was never about protecting children. Attacks on trans youth chip away at the bodily autonomy of all trans people, and we are seeing the true plans of reactionary forces take shape in real time. Our enemies seek to eliminate gender-affirming care in its entirety and to stamp trans people out of existence, and we must fight them on every front.

The civil rights of trans people in the United States are extremely uneven and precarious. Laws vary from state to state. In Kansas, the drivers licenses of trans people are being revoked en masse. Conversely, in Minnesota, a trans refuge bill was passed to protect patients and providers of gender-affirming care. Depending on where they live, trans people face bathroom bills and sports bans, are forcibly misgendered in schools, left unprotected from workplace discrimination, and more. But this polarization also offers fertile soil for the seeds of struggle. Organized resistance is the only way to beat back these attacks, defend our gains, and truly improve the conditions in the lives of transgender people.

Across the country, members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization have led the fight for trans liberation by protesting cuts to gender-affirming care, opposing anti-LGBTQ bills, rallying their communities against hate crimes, and demanding justice for stolen trans lives. FRSO is involved in yearly events for Trans Day of Visibility, Trans Day of Remembrance, as well as protests during Pride Month that revive the revolutionary spirit of Stonewall. Campaigns to lower the cost of name changes and bolster sanctuary resources for trans refugees ignite the struggle for trans liberation year-round. Where people stand and fight, there are victories to be won.

In its accelerating decline, the U.S. Empire will continue to launch repressive attacks against working and oppressed people as a means to prevent revolutionary change. We must help those fighting for liberation of any kind to see trans liberation as intertwined with their own. Visibility is only the beginning. One day, trans people will be more than visible—they will have the political power to take their destinies into their own hands.

#TransDayOfVisibility #Trans #LGBTQ #WomensMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Statement #FRSO

New York, NY – On March 26, around 100 people gathered at 8 a.m. across the street from the Southern District of New York courthouse in solidarity with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

Government officials and the defense appeared before a judge to determine whether or not the two could use their own lawyers. The defense argued that the kidnapped couple have a right to due process, and that the entire trial is unconstitutional, violating the 6th Amendment.

The action was organized by a coalition of anti-war organizations in New York City that have been organizing around the Maduro and Flores case since January 3.

Michela Martinazzi of Brooklyn Against War led the protest. Martinazzi told the crowd, “We do not want our tax dollars to go to war, plunder and genocide. We do not want our tax dollars to go to illegal kidnappings of foreign government officials. The Venezuelan people have a right to decide their own future and destinies. It is not up to the United States. We demand that all charges are dropped and that President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores are returned safely to Venezuela.”

The crowd in the plaza chanted, “From Venezuela to Iran, no more sanctions, no more bombs!” and “Free the prisoners, free them all! Free Maduro from these walls!”

The opposition and anti-Maduro forces showed up as well. They brought with them an effigy of Maduro and hung it from a tree – a disgusting show of cruelty and racism. Many of the opposition resorted to name-calling and slurs as they attacked the pro-Maduro forces. There were a few instances where the opposition tried to enter the protest and disrupt, but the pro-Maduro forces were organized and prepared. They easily pushed out the counter-protesters.

Tom Burke, the organizational secretary of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, said, “Trump’s trial of President Maduro is a political trial meant to portray the upstanding and righteous leader of Venezuela as something else. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are being punished for standing up to the U.S. empire interfering in their country. The whole world sees Trump and Wall Street attempting to dominate Venezuela’s oil, minerals and economy.”

The protest ended with a march out of the area to end on a high note. While the hearing didn’t determine whether or not Maduro and Flores can use their own funds for their defense, the protesters were resolute in their determination to keep fighting to get the charges dropped.

New York City protesters will be at the Metropolitan Detention Center on April 3 for the three-month anniversary of the kidnapping of President Maduro and First Lady Flores.

#NewYorkNY #NY #International #AntiWarMovement #Vemezuela #Maduro #AWAN #FRSO #BAW #Featured

Chicago, IL – On Monday, March 16, UIC students gathered in the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center to learn about and discuss women’s and LGBTQ liberation and socialism.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization held the presentation and discussions to commemorate Women’s History Month by showing how both women and the LGBTQ community are oppressed by capitalism, and that both have an interest in fighting for socialism.

Speakers engaged the audience in discussion about how the rich benefit from gender-based exploitation in and out of the workplace. Audience members shared personal experiences of seeing how women in their life face gendered oppression in both their jobs and in their homes.

“LGBTQ equality presents a direct challenge to this oppressive system, and so LGBTQ people are also subject to severe repression, including discrimination in employment, housing, education, and healthcare, and denial of the right to marriage equality,” explained River Argyilan from FRSO.

Students also shared the stories of women fighters for liberation including Claudia Jones, a Black Trinidadian communist woman who was a dedicated leader within the Communist Party USA in the 1940s and 50s, as well as Marisol Marquez, an active Chicana revolutionary in California who is a member of FRSO.

Presenters recommended that students read Marisol Marquez’s pamphlet “My Journey to Aztlán,” which discusses her path to becoming a revolutionary Chicana activist, and to honor Women’s History Month by continuing to study and fight for women’s and LGBTQ liberation as an integral part of the struggle for socialism.

#ChicagoIL #IL #WomensMovement #LGBTQ #InternationalWomensDay #FRSO