Detroit, MI – On Tuesday June 16, activists rallied outside of the Reindustrialize Summit to oppose war profiteers, surveillance tech billionaires, members of the war mongering Trump administration and high-ranking military personnel. The companies that attended the conference seek to bring war industry manufacturing and surveillance tech jobs to Detroit and other Midwest cities to expand their businesses. For this reason, protesters demanded that the attendees and the companies they represent have no place in their city.

The event was organized by the Detroit Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization Detroit, and Engineers Against Apartheid with many other organizations participating.

The conference was hosted in the Hudson’s building, which is owned by Detroit Zionist billionaire Dan Gilbert. The speaker list of the conference included capitalists from war-profiteering companies such as Boeing, Hadrian, Lockheed Martin, GM, Castelion, and the Summit’s marquee sponsor, Govini, which makes “defense” software.

The conference included speakers from the Trump administration such as FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, United Nations Ambassador Waltz, Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of War David Lorch, and Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael. The Reindustrialize Summit featured pre-recorded videos from President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

At the beginning of the rally, a few members of Detroit Anti-War and Freedom Road Socialist Organization protested on the street corner closest to where the attendees were exiting the Reindustrialize Summit. These protesters were met with antagonism by several attendees, including keynote speaker Campbell Meyers, CEO of CreateMe, who pushed a protester. Not long after this encounter and others, the Detroit Police Department exited their vehicles nearby and told the activists to join the rest of the rally on the other side of the street. Despite providing no clear legal justification for this request, Sergeant Johnson threatened to arrest the activists if they failed to comply.

Though the police prevented the activists from taking one street corner, they occupied two out of the four corners of the intersection, forcing many attendees to either walk around the crowd in the street, walk through the crowd where they were heckled, or completely change the direction they were walking.

Detroit Anti-War Steering Committee member Daanyal Syed said, “We cannot allow these companies to make Detroit their home. The jobs they might bring are ones soaked in blood. The services these killer companies will offer the city will only increase surveillance and the deadliness of our police force. Services that these companies want our tax dollars to fund them. These people are not only murderers, but they’re also thieves, stealing from our paychecks to fund their bloodsport.”

Celia Erikson, a member of El Comité de Acción Comunitaria de Detroit, spoke on how some of these companies collaborate directly with ICE. These companies include Palantir, Northop Grumman and Ford, which is headquartered in Dearborn and provides vehicles to CBP and ICE. The Department of Homeland Security uses prison labor to modify their vehicles for agency-specific purposes.

Erickson finished her speech, “The technologies created by these companies and their use by ICE harm real Detroiters, real children, parents, families and community members. That is why we are here to say, Reindustrialize, get the fuck out of Detroit!”

Jackson Robak of Freedom Road Social Organization Detroit stated, “Detroit doesn’t need reindustrialization, if it means slaughter. Detroiters don’t need bomb factories; we need factories that build up the people. We need to bring back automotive and working-class jobs that better society. We need union jobs, not jobs run by war profiteers or jobs that kill children.”

Towards the end of the action protesters gathered outside of the Shinola Hotel, which is also owned by Dan Gilbert, where CEOs, speakers and attendees of the conference were staying. Protesters chanted “Detroit makes it clear, war profiters aren’t welcome here!” and proceeded to heckle the speakers by shouting their names and their crimes.

Some of the high profile attendees took it upon themself to “speak” with the protesters, coming down from the balcony to the rally across the street. Two of these individuals were Cody James, CEO of OpenX, a company that works with the Air Force and war profiteer Raytheon, and Brian Greeley, senior vice president and chief banking officer of the U.S. Export-Import Bank. While James was quickly deterred from interacting with the protesters, Greeley proceeded to antagonize the crowd. As he was escorted by a line of police officers, Greeley called one of the protesters a queer slur.

The rally continued for an hour after that, with the protesters continuing to target the men on the balcony. After chanting, “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, loser chuds go away!” for several minutes, a vast majority of the people on the balcony returned inside the hotel. Despite earlier being driven off the balcony due to the activists recognizing him, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr returned outside, smiling and waving at the protesters as they continued to call out his complicity in the Trump administration’s warmongering and targeting of immigrants at home. Not long after this, the rally concluded with only Carr and a few others remaining on the balcony.

Beyond just the scope of the protest, the Reindustrialize Summit showed itself to be a hub of imperialist networking and a platform for the Trump administration’s destructive agenda. For example, while at the Summit, General Motors announced a partnership with Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest weapons manufacturer well known for producing the Hellfire missiles Israel has dropped on Gaza throughout the genocide.

At the same time, despite the struggles of the day, from Detroit police department’s repression to Brian Greeley’s bigotry, Detroit made a clear stance against the summit. The fight against these companies and the Trump administration continues. As the protesters yelled to Brendan Carr as the rally ended: “See you next year!”

#DetroitMI #MI #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Divestment

Tacoma, WA – 15 Portland for Palestine organizers traveled up to the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, Washington on Saturday, June 13. Portland for Palestine (P4P) was there to promote their ongoing campaign to help free a local Palestinian immigrant Tareq Zakarneh, a man who has been in ICE detention for over two years.

These organizers joined the Tacoma-based immigrant rights group La Resistencia for one of its regularly-held “Solidarity Days.” Overall, there were about 50 people in attendance.

Zakarneh has mostly been held at the NWDC, though recently DHS and ICE have been trying to break his resolve and remove him from the U.S. The U.S. does not recognize Palestinian statehood, so he is in danger of being deported to Israel. Any Palestinian deportee in the hands of the Israeli authorities is in grave danger as Israel pushes to complete their project of ethnic cleansing in the region.

P4P wanted to make sure that DHS’s underhanded, illegal tactics don’t go unnoticed with regards to Zakarneh, and tragically, so many other immigrants. Since his removal from NWDC on June 2, ICE has made Zakarneh impossible to track and taken away his rights to communication with the outside world.

On June 5, P4P mobilized and conducted an emergency call-in campaign to Judge David Estudillo’s office to demand he allow Tareq the rights of due process. And it worked! A last-second order issued by the Washington judge got Zakarneh pulled off his final deportation flight while he was waiting to board early in the morning on June 9.

The group further mobilized to show solidarity with detainees still unjustly locked away in NWDC. They also sought to send a message to the facility’s operators, the infamous GEO Group.

Kacey Desantis, organizer for P4P, commented on the conditions in NWDC and others. From her speech delivered that day, “Tareq has often told us of the atrocious quality of the food and water and about how ICE would not give Tareq nor his fellow Muslim detainees the appropriate time and space to practice their religion. On hot days, there is often no air conditioning. He was denied access to legal materials and legal representation on multiple occasions. When Tareq was detained in a facility in Eloy, Arizona, he was denied his right to meet with lawyers at least six times.”

Zakarneh often found himself a target of extraordinary abuse and deprivation by ICE and the operators of these facilities. Why? In their own words, they deem him a “nuisance” for daring to engage in jailhouse lawyering. Not only is he extremely active in fighting in his own defense, but he has been critical in helping, with self-filed motions, to ultimately get several of his fellow detainees released. The more he helped others, the more ICE would attempt to isolate him.

At the event, organizer Cole Dunahugh said, “We demand that Tareq be brought back to the NWDC so he can be allowed to argue his case in person in front of a judge, that he be granted asylum, and that he be released from ICE detention.”

It is critical that we stand up to protect immigrants of all nationalities. But Palestinians require special attention as ICE deports them exclusively to Tel Aviv, where they face possible long-term internment, torture and even extra-judicial execution.

Desantis closed out her speech, “The ICE facilities in this country and the Israeli prisons that Tareq faces are connected. The violence of the American immigration system and the apartheid system that is killing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are connected. They are connected by an imperial system that inflicts and promotes violence abroad, learns the best ways to do it and brings it home to the U.S.”

#TacomaWA #WA #ImmigrantRights #Palestine #P4P

Minneapolis, MN – On June 5, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) and allied organizations held a rally outside the Minneapolis Convention center to disrupt the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s (DFL) 2026 Humphrey-Mondale fundraising dinner. The dinner is the Minnesota Democratic Party’s annual fundraising event and a strategic rallying point for local Democrats ahead of key elections.

Braving the intense summer heat for a program of chanting and speeches, community members made their voices heard as they demanded an end to state funding of Israel’s genocide in Palestine, an end to the war on Iran and Lebanon, and a return to quarterly in-person State Board of Investment (SBI) meetings.

Cassidy Aickin, member of the AWC and co-emcee for the day, opened the event by saying, “In that building the DFL is hosting their annual Humphrey-Mondale dinner; their biggest fundraising event of the year. The people who have the most institutional power in our state, alongside their benefactors, are coming together to celebrate – another ‘great year’ of shutting out their constituents, ignoring people’s cries for divestment, and directly paying for the bombs that have martyred hundreds of thousands of Palestinian, Lebanese and Iranian people. Shame!”

Aickin continued, “The State Board of Investment, composed of Tim Walz, Keith Ellison, Julie Blaha and Steve Simon, chooses to invest hundreds of millions of Minnesota state employee pension dollars into weapons manufacturers, Israeli companies, and war profiteers like Palantir.”

The SBI had been scheduled to hold its second quarterly meeting of 2026 on Wednesday, June 3, but quietly removed the details from its schedule less than a month before. This effective cancellation continued the SBI’s over year-long trend of restricting community participation in what should be public meetings. But these cancellations have not deterred community involvement and have instead given way for powerful coalitions.

Representing the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Mira Altobell-Resendez reminded the crowd that, “The Minnesota Democratic Party spent all of winter ignoring the calls for protections for immigrants during Metro Surge. Tim Walz can sign an executive order at any time to ban 287(g) agreements that deputize county law enforcement into local ICE agents. The candidates for this year’s gubernatorial election like Amy Klobuchar could commit to creating ICE free zones as soon as they step into office.”

Alissa Washington, founder and executive director of the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-Sentenced Families Council of MN, gave an impassioned speech connecting the wrongful conviction of her fiancé, Cornelius Jackson, and the over-policing of communities here and abroad. Washington said, “We’re here tonight because while the DFL dines with donors, we’re out here struggling to survive. While politicians gather behind closed doors, families are torn apart by wrongful convictions and over-sentencing! While they celebrate fundraisers, our loved ones are deported, imprisoned, displaced, and forgotten.”

Washington continued, “The DFL loves to tell us they are the party of working people. Then prove it! Stop shutting the public out of SBI meetings. Stop making decisions that impact our communities without our communities present.”

“What they’re really doing is defining what it means to run as a Democrat: position yourself as the only alternative to the Republican Party when you support genocide, racist tough-on-crime policies, corporate profiteers, expansion of the police state, all at the expense of the same constituents you claim to represent,” said Maddy Schwartz, member of the MN AWC. “The SBI has ignored constant calls from public employees to address this disgusting complicity in human rights violations. This sends a clear message that if you stand against genocide, your voice doesn’t matter.”

Only two days after the SBI was scheduled to meet, workers and allies in the anti-war movement made their voices heard, questioning why DFL politicians have time for their donors but not the taxpayers who pay their salaries. One volunteer working at the dinner stepped out from his role inside the Convention Center and picked up a “Divest MN from Apartheid Israel” sign for a portion of the action, before returning to his duties inside. When asked why he chose to join the voices demanding divestment he said, “It is the right thing to do.”

#MinneapolisMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #DFL #Palestine #Divestment #BDS

Jacksonville, FL- On June 10, the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network held a press conference before the dismissal of the State Attorney’s Office’s municipal charge against Leah Grady for “resisting an officer without violence.”

The Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network, in coalition with the Jacksonville Community Action Committee, maintained Grady’s case as a flagrant attack against freedom of speech. State Attorney Melissa Nelson was further emboldened to attempt double jeopardy, another breach of constitutional law. On May 29, the state had already charged and sentenced them for a misdemeanor of the same title.

In the eyes of the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network and the people of Jacksonville, the cases of Conor Cauley and Leah Grady have represented repeat violations of constitutional rights, most prominently the right to freedom of speech and protections from double jeopardy.

The targeting of activists was made clear to the public, as Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters had spoken to the press, demanding Grady and Cauley be made into an example. The collusion between city council officials and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was prevalent in pushing an identical agenda. As Ryan Delaney with JPSN reported, “the Director of City Council Jason Teal demanded an example needed to be made out of him [Conor Cauley]” in order to justify the harsh sentencing.

The Jacksonville Community Action Committee asserted Leah Grady and Conor Cauley’s cases are inextricably linked, contributing to the growing trend of repressing views that oppose the Jacksonville City Council and their continued injustices in the city. When interviewed by First Coast News, Monica Gold with JCAC noted, “They [Grady and Cauley] are being targeted for their political speech, for their practice of speaking out, for their practice of going to city council, for pointing out flaws in Jacksonville and trying to make Jacksonville a better place.”

Despite the aggressive year-long mission to repress the Palestine movement by State Attorney Melissa Nelson’s Office, the dismissal of Leah Grady’s second charge was a result of consistent community pressure and a competent defense campaign. Today’s win shows that the people will not accept these political attacks by Melissa Nelson or the Sheriff’s Office, and JPSN will work tirelessly to find the same victory in the upcoming appeals process.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #ConorCauley #LeahGrady #Palestine #AntiWarMovement #JPSN #JCAC

Chicago, IL – Around 150 people gathered outside of the Hyatt Regency hotel on Saturday, June 6 to demand that the American Medical Association (AMA) advocate for the immediate release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian pediatrician who was abducted by the Israeli military in late 2024 due to his refusal to abandon his young patients.

The campaign to demand his freedom was formed in August 2025 by US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and Healthcare Workers for Palestine and was later joined by Code Pink. The organizations called Saturday’s action to target AMA’s House of Delegates and Board of Trustees, who were gathered inside the Hyatt Regency for the organization’s annual conference.

“The inaction and silence of the AMA and its leadership in regard to a medical colleague who survived a genocide and horrific imprisonment in Israeli prisons is a betrayal to its oath. It is directly violating AMA’s own civil and human rights policy and only exposes the organization’s anti-Palestinian bias, hypocrisy and selective advocacy,” said Rania Salem of USPCN.

“We've tried a lot of different things,” stated Erin of Healthcare Workers for Palestine, “We tried to go and talk to them, we tried to get them to meet with us. We've had call campaigns, we've had email campaigns. 
We've had press conferences outside of their central office, which is here in Chicago. We've gone to their House of Delegates meetings where we were outside because they wouldn't let us inside.”

One campaign tactic that proved successful happened a few months ago when organizers cornered the president of the AMA, Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, and set up a meeting with him. In this meeting, Mukkamala stated that the AMA prioritized remaining “neutral” to not alienate either side. Yet on Saturday, the campaign learned from a medical student attending the conference that on the opening night, the AMA gave a special acknowledgement to the members of the Israeli Medical Association that were invited and present in the room with the entire organization.

The call for Dr. Abu Safiya’s release became even more urgent when on Thursday, June 4, he was placed in solitary confinement. When April Ward of Mothers Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity (MAMAS) heard the story of Dr. Abu Safiya, she thought of her son, Mickiael Ward, who was tortured into a false confession by Chicago police and held in solitary confinement. She described it as “mental torture.”

“We hear, watch, and talk about the cruelty and inhumanity in Palestine and Gaza, specifically, and we want the mothers, the sisters, the aunties, and the caregivers in Palestine to know that we are in unconditional solidarity with you,” Ward stated.

Many of the methods of torture that the Israeli military uses against Palestinian prisoners are also used by the Chicago police. “There are hundreds of people who are locked up here with credible, verified accounts of torture by the police, who still, and were forced into signing false confessions, who were still locked up in prisons today,” said Merawi Gerima on behalf of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), “and so we know that Black people, brown people, working and poor people here in the United States, have every interest to stand in solidarity with Dr. Safiya and all Palestinian prisoners.”

Despite its location on a small side street, the rally drew lots of attention as it unfolded. Many medical professionals attending the conference watched the speakers from the building’s glass skywalk, and several passersby stopped to listen and join the chanting.

“Dr. Husam represents a value that is often forgotten among doctors today. He represents the value of the medical fight against imperialism. That's why it's crucial we organize globally like how we are today to demand the release of Dr. Husam,” said Alfonso Castillo of Anti-War Committee – Chicago (AWC).

The rally ended with a reading of testimonies of Palestinian medical workers and naming the 83 medical workers who are in Israeli detention today.

Individuals can send a letter to the AMA delegates demanding they immediately advocate for the release of Dr. Abu Safiya and follow @uspcn and @hcw4palichi and @codepinkalert on Instagram for updates on the campaign.

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #USPCN

St. Paul, MN – On June 6, a beautiful Saturday morning, over 100 people gathered in Langford Park in Saint Paul’s Saint Anthony Park neighborhood for Women Against Military Madness’s (WAMM) 19th annual Walk Against Weapons.

This year WAMM marched on Lockheed Martin subsidiary ForwardEdge ASIC, which makes application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) for F-35 jets which have been used in the U.S.-funded Israeli genocide of Palestinians and now in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

WAMM’s new director and emcee for the event, Meredith Aby, said, “Today we are marching to Forward Edge to highlight the role of Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest manufacturer of weaponry. Lockheed Martin is a primary weapons supplier to the Israeli military, providing F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, Hellfire missiles, and tactical transport aircraft that have been used extensively against Palestinians.”

Aby continued, “The U.S. outspends the next several highest-spending nations combined, historically accounting for roughly 33% of all global military expenditures and U.S. military spending is approximately 13% of total U.S. federal spending.”

Before leaving the park to march to Lockheed Martin, No Weapons No War Collective performed a short song and dance piece to explain how ForwardEdge ASIC was brought to Saint Paul by Governor Tim Walz, a member of the State Board of Investments, which has the power to divest Minnesota from apartheid Israel. Additionally, WAMM and Veterans for Peace members displayed a life-size battle tank replica that shoots flowers as a send-off for the participants marching.

Cassidy Aickin, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, spoke about the experience of learning about genocide and the “brutality of war” from her teachers who have their pensions funded in genocide.

“The State Board of Investment, which manages the pensions of thousands of public employees in Minnesota, chooses to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into weapons manufacturers and surveillance technology companies like Palantir, which makes the software for the child-killing bombs used in Iran, and the ICE-funded surveillance technology used domestically. My teachers, who have to buy classroom supplies out of pocket, are indirectly paying for the abduction of their students and the slaughter of Palestinians,” Aickin said.

Christina Neighbors, a Navy veteran and member of About Face Veterans Against the War stated, “The products manufactured by ForwardEdge conveniently enable such events [genocide of Palestinians] to be far enough away that no one who profits ever has to see the reality of what their greed births and leaves behind.” The crowd erupted in “Shame!”

Neighbors continued, “ForwardEdge builds the silicon mind inside the weapons circuits made for one specific application; that application is death. And the giant it answers to, Lockheed Martin, pulled $75 billion last year out of a country that is told, time over time, that there is no money – none for the clinic, none for the classroom, none for the people sleeping in the cold outside in the very city that is helping slaughter innocent men, and women, and children around the world.” The crowd once again erupted in “Shame!”

WAMM’s next actions are on June 10 with a protest at the Saint Paul City Council meeting to pressure the city to divest from Israeli cyber security company Waterfall and, later that day, another protest at the Minneapolis Federal Building to demand the Trump administration stop its war threats against Cuba.

#StPaulMN #MN #AntiWarMovemen #LockheedMartin #Iran #Palestine #Cuba #WAMM

Grand Rapids, MI – On the evening of June 2, more than 40 people showed up outside the entrance of Devos Hall to protest the visit of former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill J. Clinton to Grand Rapids. The war criminals were speaking as guests of honor at the annual dinner put on by the Economic Club of Grand Rapids, a networking club for local elites.

The protest, which was organized by the Grand Rapids Opponents of War (GROW) took the form of a “People’s Indictment” of Bush and Clinton. Speakers from GROW condemned the Economic Club for hosting these men, while listing their record of war crimes. These condemnations included the sanctions, invasion and occupation of Iraq, as well as intervention in Somalia, Haiti and Sudan.

“There is no Trump without the past decades of history, without Bush, Clinton and their ilk. We cannot soften or blur our historical memory, lest we be made fools of again and again,” said Julian Cortez of Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Joining GROW, with speeches and chants directed towards the imposing steel and glass frame of DeVos Place, was Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids, the Grand Rapids Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and Michigan Senate District 29 candidate Iván Diaz.

“It’s important to show up in coalition as a candidate because as a grassroots organizer, I know we can’t do this work by ourselves,” said Diaz after the protest. “Bush and Clinton represent the bipartisan neoliberal, corporate and imperial order that we are seeking to disrupt and end. As a voter, I want the people who want to represent me to show up in exactly these kinds of spaces.”

Around 6:15 p.m., as Diaz was giving his speech, Grand Rapids police quickly rushed in between him and the protesters on bikes, leading to a tense confrontation between the two sides. Diaz and the protesters managed to stand up to the police, asserting their First Amendment rights to speak on a public sidewalk, but a citation was issued to Diaz for using a bullhorn.

An officer with GRPD was heard making a comment meant to intimidate Diaz, who continued to speak unfazed after the officers withdrew a short distance. Despite GRPD prohibiting amplification, protesters continued speeches and chants, increasing their volume without it, for nearly another hour. The unity and anger with the GRPD's show of force was palpable.

Throughout the demonstration, it was reiterated by attendees and speakers alike that the two former presidents sitting comfortably inside had laid much of the groundwork for the crises the world now faces.

“In my 57 years on this planet, I have realized the deliberate divide between us – the distractions, the lies,” said Kym Combs of the GR Queer Coalition. “We have been in a state of the haves and have-nots for decades, and it’s been cloaked by other things by the powers that be.”

#GrandRapidsMI #MI #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #PSGR #GROW #Featured

Minneapolis, MN – Under the early summer sun, about 50 people came together on a busy Minneapolis bridge for a double-headed rally addressing the domestic and international sides of the struggle for liberation. A combined bannering took place for two hours, spreading the message to passersby and drivers on Washington Avenue and Interstate 35W.

The first part of the event was organized by the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-sentenced Family Council (WIAOFC) and marked 20 years since Cornelius “Corn” Jackson, fiancé of WIAOFC founder Alissa Washington, was unjustly incarcerated.

The second protest, organized by the MN Peace Action Coalition (MPAC), demanded an end to U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, Lebanon, and Palestine.

Washington, stated, “We want you to ask questions. We want you to ask why a man who has spent 20 years behind bars is still fighting for justice. We want you to ask whether Minnesota’s criminal legal system truly believes in redemption. And we want you to ask why so many families are still fighting to bring their loved ones home.”

The first speaker for MPAC was Amber Mathwig from About Face Veterans Against the War, “It doesn’t matter if you’re a cook, turning a wrench, patrolling the base, or pressing the button that launches a Tomahawk into a school full of children – every single job in the military contributes to the end goal of destruction and occupation and every single service member has a right to say ‘No, I do not want to be part of this anymore.’”

Cedar Larson, representing Women Against Military Madness, stated, “Today we are protesting a number of heinous crimes being committed by our government. We’re protesting not only Trump’s continuous attacks on Gaza, in violation of a so-called ceasefire, but we’re also protesting the continuing attacks on Iran and the attempted ethnic cleansing of Lebanon. Writing this speech, I felt a pent-up rage exploding. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, you guys. I am angry. I am tired of writing speeches about something that makes me so pissed off.”

Larson concluded, “I cannot make sense of the fact that billionaires, the ruling class, see nothing more important than a profit while I, an educator who lives paycheck to paycheck and purchases classroom supplies and end-of-year gifts out of her own pocket, see nothing more important than sustaining and educating the next generation who will no doubt recognize this absurdity for what it is and will join with us to destroy it!”

Naveen Borojerdi of the MN Peace Action Coalition and the MN Anti-War Committee spoke on another tragedy that occurred closer to home; the death of AFSCME Council 5 field director Khalid Abdi, a 26-year-old union organizer who was shot and killed on May 27 in Shakopee, Minnesota while observing Eid.

“Khalid’s death is not just a coincidence,” Borojerdi said, “but rather, the symptom of a much larger problem. The normalization of mass murder that we’ve seen in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan since September 11, 2001 is what resulted in his unfortunate death. When you spend over two decades since the turn of the century slaughtering Muslims, Arabs and Persians while demonizing them through the production of propaganda films like American Sniper, Argo, and Black Hawk Down, this is what you get. Shame on this country.”

All of the speakers spoke to the critical importance of remaining visible and in the streets to oppose this criminal war.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #InjusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #Palestine #Iran

Salt Lake City, UT — On the afternoon of May 31, the Utah Anti-War Committee, along with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization held a workshop titled “Anti-War Organizing in the Face of Repression” at the University of Utah Union building. The workshop drew community members, students and organizers committed to defending the movement against escalating political repression. The event also raised funds for Rick Toledo, a student activist and educator who was fired from his teaching position at Cal Poly Humboldt University in retaliation for his participation in a pro-Palestine protest.

Before the workshop, the UAWC had released a statement on Toledo’s case, that stated, “We have watched with outrage and disgust as Cal Poly Humboldt University has escalated its campaign of repression against a graduate student whose only 'crime' was standing up for the individuals and families Palestine whose lives are being not only destroyed, but eradicated.”

Adrian Romero, a local organizer with the Utah Anti-War Committee, delivered a workshop presentation that covered knowing your rights when facing law enforcement and grand jury subpoenas, organizational security practices, and building campaigns to defend targeted organizers.

Romero stated, “Grand jury proceedings are designed to isolate and intimidate people. You still have rights. Go public, mobilize the community in any way that you can and show [the enemy] that you won't be silenced.”

After their presentation, Rick Toledo joined via Zoom to speak directly on his case and the circumstances of his firing. ”We know that when the state wants something, they'll do whatever they can get away with. They like to make an example out of student organizers and protesters to try and scare other people. That's one of the things really at the heart of my case – but you can't let them break you, because that's what they want.”

The event raised approximately $375 through admission donations as well as book, zine and apparel donations contributed by UAWC and FRSO, with pledges still coming in. All proceeds go directly to Toledo's legal defense fees and expenses.

The targeting of Rick Toledo is part of a broader wave of repression facing the movement for Palestinian liberation and the fight against U.S. imperialism. University administrations discipline and expel student organizers and fire faculty who speak out.

As the imperialist war in Gaza continues and the domestic crackdown on dissent escalates, the duty of every socialist and anti-war activist is to build the defenses necessary to protect our ranks and advance the struggle. The ruling class expects us to be silenced; our response must be louder, more organized, and more united than ever before.

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #UAWC #Palestine #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression

Rochester, MN – On May 29, activists from across Minnesota converged outside the Mayo Civic Center to protest the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party’s annual state convention.

Delegates lining up to enter the convention were confronted by several dozen protesters with banners, Palestinian flags, petitions and informational leaflets about the DFL’s ties to Israel and the movement to cut them. The action was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) and Rochester Solidarity with Palestine.

Using slogans like “DFL, grow a spine! Stop funding war crimes!” protesters demanded complete divestment of Minnesota money from apartheid Israel, an end to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon, the release of the unredacted 2024 election autopsy, and that DFL politicians refuse to accept campaign funds from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). DFL Representative Angie Craig and Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith have received hundreds of thousands in AIPAC funding.

Organizers highlighted DFL members’ condemnation of President Trump’s agenda while investing state funds in corporations that are instrumental to executing that agenda.

For example, the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) invests $57 million in Palantir, the secretive surveillance company contracted by ICE, the DHS, the U.S. military and the Israeli Ministry of Defense. ICE describes Immigration Case Management, Palantir’s deportation support system, as “mission-critical,” and it relies on Palantir’s large language models and custom FALCON targeting system to optimize ICE activity and orchestrate violent raids.

Meanwhile, the U.S. uses the Palantir product Maven to select strike targets in its war on Iran. DFL leader and current governor, Tim Walz, has condemned the Iran war as a product of fascism and likened the experiences of immigrant children under ICE occupation to those of Anne Frank – all while actively funding companies whose products enable the Iran war and ICE operation.

“We’re gathered outside the DFL convention 965 days into the U.S. and Israel’s live-streamed genocide of the Palestinian people,’ explained Maeve Aickin, an organizer with the AWC. “This is a genocide that many DFL politicians are helping fund and benefiting from ignoring. The State Board of Investment, which DFL members Tim Walz, Keith Ellison, Julie Blaha, and Steve Simon sit on, invests $5.5 billion in companies that have a financial interest in perpetuating Israeli apartheid and genocide.”

“I am a public worker whose pension is invested in genocide against my will, and many of the speakers who you’ll be hearing from today are also public workers with SBI-managed pensions,” Aickin continued. “We wanted to share our horror over the use of funds we earn to plan our futures to extinguish hundreds of thousands of futures in Palestine, Iran and Lebanon, but the SBI canceled a quarterly public meeting for the third time in the past year and a half.”

The SBI canceled two of its quarterly public meetings in 2025, and on Wednesday, May 13, it deleted the details of its previously announced meeting scheduled for June 3. SBI representatives have yet to communicate a reason for continuing to delay and cancel opportunities to engage with public workers. As of press time, no rescheduled date has been posted.

Another public employee with a state-managed pension, Maddy Schwartz, pointed out the DFL’s hypocrisy. “When they claim to be the moral opposition to the Republican Party, and claim to oppose Trump's wars, that isn’t enough! They need to take substantive action to earn people's trust and votes.”

Schwartz continued, “What do the DFL elected leaders on the SBI do instead? Cancel public meetings. What do elected officials do instead? Avoid their constituents and refuse to take accountability for their ties to Israel.”

In 2025, the SBI divested the majority of its holdings in Israel Bonds, which are direct loans to the Israeli apartheid state, after facing immense pressure from a coalition of local grassroots organizations and unions. However, board members refused to acknowledge the removal of almost all Israel Bonds from their investment portfolio as a political divestment act, despite Israel’s historic unpopularity with their constituency, with eight in ten Democrats holding an unpopular view of Israel as of March 2026.

Deah Kinion of Rochester Solidarity with Palestine also spoke outside the convention. “It’s our right and duty and our moral obligation to speak out and do what we can to stop this racist, sadistic war on Palestinian children and others. [The DFL] refused to acknowledge the war crimes Israel and the U.S. are perpetrating on Palestine, Lebanon and Iran.”

“They want us to believe that this is not a Democratic problem, that this is not a state problem,” said Kinion. “It is everyone’s problem.”

Many of the convention attendees expressed support for protesters’ demands. Inside the convention, divestment emerged as a key issue for the state auditor’s race in particular.

The AWC announced it would similarly protest the DFL’s annual Humphrey-Mondale fundraising dinner, to be held one week later on Friday, June 5, at the Minneapolis Convention Center, 1301 2nd Avenue S, Minneapolis.

#RochesterMN #MN #Divestment #Palestine #AntiWarMovement #AntiWarCommittee

St Paul, MN – On Friday, May 29, about 40 protesters rallied on the corner of Summit and Snelling Avenues to demand a free Palestine. The action was organized by Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), which has run Free Palestine rallies at this location every Friday for decades.

This week, the rally had a special focus on WAMM's “Cut the Contract with Waterfall” campaign. Waterfall Security Solutions is an Israeli cybersecurity company contracted by the city of Saint Paul to provide security services for its infrastructure.

Cedar Larson, a member of WAMM, spoke to the crowd about the importance of cutting the Waterfall contract, “When people say that this is a faraway issue that does not affect us here, I want them to know about Waterfall Security Solutions and the fact that they are using taxpayer dollars to feed Israel's genocide against Palestinians.”

Larson continued, “The tech sector within Israel feeds their war chest and their war economy. WAMM stands firmly against aiding the Israeli economy and we believe that boycott, divestment and sanctions are a crucial strategy for ending the Israeli occupation of Palestine.”

Larson also pointed out that Waterfall is directly led by former Israeli state officials and military officers. This includes its founder, Lior Frenkel, who bragged about doing “offensive cybersecurity” for Israel, and Keren Tal, who once worked for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister and fugitive from the International Criminal Court.

“There is no other way to put it. Waterfall Security Solutions contains a racist, genocidal leadership, and Saint Paul should not do business with them,” said Larson.

Under the pressure of this campaign, the Saint Paul Board of Water Commissioners has agreed to take a vote on the fate of the Waterfall contract during its July meeting.

In the meantime, WAMM invites concerned Minnesotans to help keep the pressure up by attending the Saint Paul City Council meeting on June 10 at 3:30 p.m., as well as the Saint Paul Board of Water Commissioners meeting on June 16 at noon.

#StPaulMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #WAMM

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following update from the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network regarding the sentencing of pro-Palestine Jax activist, Conor Cauley.

Conor Cauley was sentenced to 60 days with time served, 3 years of probation, court fines, 150 community service hours and a stay away order from the same officer, Officer Aliaga Ruiz, who threw him over a row of chairs!

We will reiterate what our beloved member Conor Cauley has repeatedly mentioned, this fight is for every single person in the city of Jacksonville, and this sentencing will not deter us. We know Palestinians experience torturous conditions in Zionist prisons, and we also acknowledge the decrepit nature and condition of the Duval County Jail.

From Palestine to Jacksonville, Zionists and imperialists will use the system as it’s designed; to break you down and destroy your spirit. But we know the power of the people is greater than the people in power!

Please visit and donate to Conor’s Gofundme and we will see folks later to protest at the Jail! Find the Gofundme here.

SHAME ON MELISSA NELSON!

SHAME ON JSO!

FREE CONOR CAULEY NOW!

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #ConorCauley #JPSN #CSFR #AWAN

Jacksonville, FL – On May 29, Community members protested against the harsh sentencing of Conor Cauley and Leah Grady, vowing to continue the fight against their charges and demanding the release of Conor Cauley, who is currently being held in Duval County Jail as a political prisoner.

Despite heavy rainstorms, over 60 community members protested in front of the courthouse and, later, in front of the county jail under tents buckling and breaking from the weight of rainwater. This did not discourage attendees, who continued to chant and rally against the unjust treatment of anti-war organizers.

These protests were led by Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network alongside community organizations including Jacksonville Community Action Committee, Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance, Brentwood 300, Democratic Socialists of America, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Cauley was sentenced to 60 days jail and three years of probation. He is additionally being ordered to stay more than 1000 feet from Officer Maykel Aliaga-Ruiz, the arresting officer who instigated the initial arrest last year by violently grabbing Cauley by the neck and throwing him over a row of chairs. This condition will, as Cauley’s lawyer pointed out in the courtroom, effectively ban him from city council meetings where Aliaga-Ruiz works, directly attacking his right to speak openly to his own elected officials and organize in the city.

Grady was sentenced to six months’ probation, 50 hours of community service, and court-ordered to write a “letter of apology” to the Republican City Council President Randy White.

Both sentences were heavier even than what had been recommended by the prosecutors. The prosecution requested three months’ probation and 25 hours community service for Leah Grady and requested 30 days of jail and one year of probation for Conor Cauley. In both instances, the judges either doubled or tripled the sentences. This comes after public calls by Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters for judges to make an example out of the arrested JPSN organizers in order to politically intimidate them.

This was also in spite of an overwhelming display of community support for both organizers. Over 40 character letters were submitted to the court for Conor Cauley, and high profile character witnesses spoke in Cauley’s favor, including the executive director of the International Longshoreman’s Association (ILA) Local 1408, Courtnee Staples.

“Who came out to defend Conor today?” asked a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization during the rally at the courthouse. “Teachers, neighbors, union workers, students and people from all walks of life in Jacksonville – in short, a microcosm of the entire community. The city could only wrangle up a handful of people to speak against Conor, and who did they pick? The director of city council and chief of police.”

Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network is committing to fight the verdicts of both Conor Cauley and Leah Grady, having developed a plan to fight their convictions through appeal for retrial. They will be rallying to demand Cauley’s release until he is out of jail.

“It’s because of this jail that, for the next 60 days, Conor will see no justice,” said Ryan Delaney of the Anti-War Action Network. “Well that means that we’re gonna be the reason that for the next 60 days, this jail will see no peace!”

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #JPSN #AWAN #Palestine #ConorCauley #Featured

New Orleans, LA – A crowd of around 40 attended the NOLA Freedom Forum on May 15 to hear from local anti-war activists about their successful campaign to remove Chevron as a sponsor of French Quarter Fest. The activists, largely members of New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports (NOSHIP), presented “Stop Fueling Genocide: Chevron Out of French Quarter Fest Campaign” as a public summation of their efforts.

The struggle, called the “Chevron Out of French Quarter Fest Coalition”, brought together anti-war activists, pro-Palestine organizers, local musicians, and a robust collection of organizations such as Jewish Voices for Peace, New Orleans Democratic Socialists of America, Sunrise Movement New Orleans, and NOLA Musicians for Palestine.

NOSHIP members spoke about the primary platforms – ecocide and genocide – which formed the basis of their public campaign against Chevron.

Organizer Matt Banks spoke about the damage that Chevron has caused to the region’s coast, which led to a Plaquemines Parish jury finding the corporation liable for the loss of 50% of the parish’s land. On April 17 of this year, Chevron won a lawsuit against Plaquemines Parish at the Supreme Court, requiring the case to be removed to federal court. “But this is standard practice for Chevron,” Banks said. From Ecuador to occupied Palestine, where Chevron owns the two largest oil fields, Chevron has gotten rich off of the suffering of other nations.

The organizers explained why and how they chose French Quarter Fest as their target and how they built a strategic coalition. For 13 years, Chevron and French Quarter Fest were considered synonymous, another organizer said, pointing to their website that still features a second line parade with a “Chevron” sign on the front. Chevron Out of French Quarter Fest proved that to be untrue. They noted that, in fact, French Quarter Fest existed for 29 years without Chevron as a primary sponsor.

NOSHIP helped organize teach-ins, public campaigns, petitions and protests that built awareness, another organizer said. They conducted power mapping and identified their primary targets, and they wrote a letter to the French Quarter Fest Board asking them to drop Chevron as early as October of 2025. As a result, they could identify their allies and opponents and develop their strategy. The Coalition got hundreds of signatures on their petition the day they launched their campaign in October.

Melina Diner, another organizer with NOSHIP, discussed the timeline of the coalition’s success and their planned action with the musicians. On February 20, they learned that Chevron would be completely pulling out of its sponsorship of French Quarter Fest in 2027, but they would still sponsor the event this year. This allowed the organizers time to plan an “Oil Free Afterparty” to celebrate.

At French Quarter Fest, instead of staging a disruption, attendees handed out small Palestine flags, donned keffiyehs, and wore “Chevron Out” shirts. The public and the musicians supported them. Four bands in total made statements in support of Palestine, Diner noted. The New Orleans Police Department was ruthless, however, threatening to escalate against them for wearing matching shirts and giving out flags. “But, you’re wearing matching shirts and wearing flags too!” Diner said, evoking laughter from the audience.

The public summation closed with a message of hope, noting that Chevron Out got their lessons from successful BDS campaigns in Austin and Denver. “We hope that our campaign can help the next one win, too,” Banks said.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #NOSHIP #Palestine #AntiWarMovement

Jacksonville, FL- A broad coalition, led by Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network (JPSN), rallied outside Duval County Jail on May 20 to condemn the guilty verdict against local organizer Conor Cauley, who now faces up to five years in prison.

A crowd of over 50 people mobilized within an hour of the verdict. Cauley, who was originally facing ten years with two felony charges, had one felony for resisting violence dropped after a year-long grassroots campaign against the district attorney Melissa Nelson. He is now in jail awaiting sentencing.

Hundreds of people from Jacksonville and across the country called and emailed State Attorney Melissa Nelson, calling on her to drop these trumped-up charges. But, as highlighted in a statement by JPSN, “Melissa Nelson proved to the people that her allegiance is not to them, it's to a corrupt Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and city council that have publicly called for the state to make an example out of us in hopes that they can stop our movement.”

The rally called out the backward political slant of the trial, and the unjust rulings by the judge. Among them were the judge's refusal to allow the political nature of the arrest to be discussed in trial, banning the keffiyeh from the courtroom, not allowing Cauley's lawyer to question arresting Officer Aliaga's history of harassment complaints, and not allowing political repression to be described to the jury.

The judge elected to revoke Cauley's bond upon the guilty verdict, remanding him to police custody. This comes after public pressure on the judge by Sheriff T.K. Waters and multiple Trump-aligned city council members to make an example of Cauley.

“They think they are gods!” shouted Maceo George, president of the Central Labor Council as he spoke to the crowd. “We have to send a message to city council that they won't be in office if they don't support the people!”

The rally was composed of community members, labor leaders, and organizers from JPSN, Jacksonville Community Action Committee, Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance, Democratic Socialists of America, Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), AFL-CIO's Central Labor Council, and Students for a Democratic Society.

“Here are our demands: Free Conor, no jail time, protesting is not a crime! We want Conor back home with us,” declared María García-Gerardo of FRSO. JPSN and the coalition in attendance have committed to continue the campaign, shifting now from one demanding the state drop the charges to a “Free Conor Cauley” campaign. Cauley is set to appear in court on Tuesday, May 26 for the setting of the sentencing date.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #JPSN #Palestine #PoliticalRepression #ConorCauley #InjusticeSystem

Partners for Palestine set up a poster gallery around the church’s main hall for attendees to browse as they entered, depicting Palestinian artwork and daily life, as well as statistics regarding life under occupation. Attendees shared food potluck-style which included catering from Oasis Cafe, a local Palestinian restaurant, paid for by the uncle of Mohammed Ibrahim. Last year, 16-year-old Ibrahim was kidnapped and illegally detained in an Israeli prison under torturous conditions. He has since been released.

Community activist Luann Roseberry gave a presentation on the history and significance of the Nakba. Caroline Abidin, member of the Space Coast Immigrant Rights Alliance, followed with a lesson on the Palestinian cultural traditions of tatreez and dabke.

Many in attendance had come to know the history of the Nakba after the great Palestinian uprising on October 7, 2023.

When asked what the Nakba and Palestine meant to her, Abidin said, “Palestine became deeply personal to me because the genocide didn't just inform my views, it broke my old world apart and rebuilt me from the inside out. Watching it happen in real time, with undeniable proof, shifted something fundamental. I could no longer believe that justice would come from institutions I once trusted, or that silence was neutral. That realization was world-shifting.”

Abidin added, “I stopped waiting for others to act. That shift pushed me to organize, to use whatever platform or energy I had to bring attention to Palestine because looking away was no longer an option.”

Throughout the event, several calls to action were shared, including a number to call to demand justice for Sayfollah Musallet, a 20-year-old Palestinian from Tampa killed by settlers in the occupied West Bank in July of 2025.

#SpaceCoastFL #RockledgeFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine

Minneapolis, MN- Al-Nakba, meaning “The Catastrophe,” is a day of remembrance when communities grieve the over 15,000 Palestinians the Israeli occupation murdered in 1948 and the over 750,000 Palestinians displaced from their homeland. After the Anti-War Action Network called for their third annual day of action commemorating Al-Nakba, the Twin Cities hosted two protests to mark the importance of resisting U.S. funding for Israel.

On Friday, May 15, Women Against Military Madness held their weekly protest at the Summit and Snelling intersection in Saint Paul with a specific focus on the Nakba. Speaker Wyatt Miller from the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) said, “I’ve given plenty of speeches like this on past Nakba Days. I usually say something about how Palestinians are the bravest people on Earth. I still believe that, but let’s have this year’s Nakba Day be the one where we say, the Palestinians have been brave enough. They have made enough sacrifices. The world can no longer deny the injustice of the occupation. It’s time for the rest of us to learn to find that bravery in ourselves. The Palestinians have taught the world that dignity doesn’t mean mere politeness or etiquette; true dignity means standing up for what is just and refusing to tolerate anything less than justice.”

On Sunday, May 17, over 30 cyclists gathered at Minnehaha Falls for the Gaza Sunbirds solidarity ride in commemoration of Al-Nakba. The Great Ride of Return global bike rides are organized in support of the Gaza Sunbirds, a Palestinian para-cycling team bringing awareness to the ongoing Israeli siege on Gaza and its production of disability under occupation. The cyclists biked through Minneapolis with Palestinian flags attached to their bikes, chanting “Free, free Palestine” over their bullhorns.

The bikers joined hundreds of activists and community members gathered at Chute Square to march along the Mississippi River in protest of 78 years of Israeli occupation in Palestine. The Nakba Day march was organized by the Minnesota chapter of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and the AWC.

Nadiyah Salawdeh, co-chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network’s Minnesota chapter stated, “Palestinians had been rebelling against British and Zionist forces for decades,” they said. “Every time a fascist settler murders a Palestinian, it’s a catastrophe. Every time a Palestinian is illegally detained, it is a catastrophe. Every time a child starves to death, it is a catastrophe. Home demolition, poisoned water, burning olive trees—these are all catastrophes. Just as the Nakba was not confined to 1948, it is not confined to the borders of historic Palestine. The Lebanese people and the Lebanese resistance have been on the front lines defending their land from Israeli settler expansion. Since the U.S.-Israeli war was launched on Iran and Lebanon, thousands have been murdered, and over a million have been displaced. That is a catastrophe.”

Joe Yamine of the AWC told the crowd, “Today, the Zionist entity is more callous, more destructive, more depraved, and more afraid than it has ever been.”

Yamine continued, “The Western regimes [that] back it have revealed their utter contempt for their people, who turn out in the streets demanding justice and liberation for Palestine now. In Minnesota, we're confronting our municipal governments as they try to sign contracts with Israeli tech companies like Zencity and Waterfall. We are fighting for an end to our state's complicity in Israeli apartheid and the ongoing Nakba by pressuring the State Board of Investment to divest.”

Alissa Washington of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice and the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-sentenced Families Council expanded on the theme of state detention as she discussed the Palestinian right of return.

“The right to resist oppression, occupation and dehumanization is rooted in the struggle of oppressed people across the world,” Washington affirmed. “That is why we also demand freedom for Salah Sarsour and all people targeted, criminalized, or punished for standing with Palestine and speaking out against injustice.” Sarsour, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee’s president and an AMP board member, has been held in ICE detention since March 30.

Washington contined, “Today, let us remember: They want us divided because united people are dangerous to systems built on oppression. From Minneapolis to Palestine, our struggles are connected. From the prison walls to the refugee camps, our people are connected. From the streets demanding accountability to the marches demanding liberation, our resistance is connected. And as long as oppressed people continue to rise together, there will always be hope for freedom.”

Before the protesters flooded the streets to express their grief, hope and rage, Taher Herzallah of AMP articulated Israel’s commitment to dehumanization, breaching international law and fostering a culture of settler violence, concluding, “Israel has absolved itself of its right to exist.” In this spirit, the crowd marched down to the Mississippi River and disrupted business as usual to demand an end to the ongoing Nakba, Sarsour’s release, and a free Palestine.

After two and a half years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its continued annexation of the West Bank and southern Lebanon, people of conscience know that the Nakba is an ongoing ethnic cleansing project that the U.S. government has funded for over three-quarters of a century. Indeed, Minnesota state pensions are currently funding Israel’s crimes to the tune of $5.5 billion in SBI investments. The SBI canceled two of its quarterly public meetings in 2025, and on Wednesday, May 13, it deleted the details of its previously announced meeting scheduled for June 3 from its website.

The MN Anti-War Committee will demand answers at the 2026 DFL State Convention, taking place in Rochester, Minnesota on May 29.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Nakba #AntiWarCommittee #USPCN #AMP #SalahSarsour

San Jose, CA – On May 16, around 150 people gathered at the Santa Clara County Government Center to celebrate the county’s 25th annual Palestinian Cultural Day. The event, sponsored by the county supervisors and the Palestinian Heritage Committee, celebrates the 30,000 Palestinian-Americans living in Santa Clara County and their contributions to the South Bay community.

The event began with the raising of the Palestinian and American flags in front of the County Building, as each country’s national anthem played.

The opening speaker was Samir Laymoun, longtime Palestinian community leader and lead organizer of Palestinian Cultural Day since its inception. “A trauma passed down through every single generation. Today our hearts break because the violence has reached a terrifying depth. Israel is not just taking Palestinian lives. It is trying to kill the very soul of Palestine.”

Laymoun continued, “The deliberate destruction of schools and universities aims to silence our children's dreams. This is a cruel attempt to make us forget and erase our history. Here in California, Palestinian students' stories and history of Palestine are censored in K-12 under vague controversial issue policies and laws such as AB 715.”

16-year-old Mariam Al-Tamimi spoke about her personal experiences with this censorship at her

high school. Al-Tamimi wrote an article for her school newspaper about underrepresented students, including Palestinian students. “The moment that I mentioned Palestine in the article, the Zionists in my class immediately pushed back, ready to silence me, as if my article wasn't already advocating for those who are silenced. They complained endlessly to the principal until the principal finally decided to take out the article, which I had worked on for weeks, in mere seconds.”

“However, this didn't silence me. Instead, I was determined to publish my article. “I was able to publish my article in the Silicon Valley Voice, a professional newspaper,” Al-Tamimi continued. “That moment made me realize that they wouldn't work so hard to silence us if we didn't matter.”

Palestinian-American human rights lawyer Jennifer Zacharia stated, “Civil rights laws created to protect the most vulnerable and marginalized among us are being distorted and wielded as well. These attacks on our schools, wrapped in a misrepresentation of antisemitism, are naked efforts to silence both Palestinians and advocates for our liberation. These measures aim to criminalize teaching our history, impugn and make suspect our identity and culture, and quell dissent about the occupation, apartheid, and genocide that define how Zionism has been enacted on the lives and bodies of Palestinians.”

Zacharia continued, “We are dehumanized and told that our existence can only take muted, quiet, hollow shapes that don't offend those who work tirelessly to negate us. But we are still here. We are building institutions and solidarity, and we are cultivating hope and imagination.”

The event concluded with a performance by Al-Juthoor Dabke, with attendees joining in at the end to dance together.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #Palestine

“May 15 marks the day when Zionist militias destroyed hundreds of villages, massacred thousands, and violently forced 750,000 Palestinians out of their homes and off of their historic land in order to create the state of Israel. Since 2023, the U.S. has sent over $25 billion in aid to Israel and has outfitted the Israeli military with its advanced weaponry. It is a fact that Israel wouldn’t be able to carry out these crimes of massive scale without the backing of the U.S. empire,” said Tucson Anti-War Committee member Nick Winsten when speaking to the crowd.

“That’s our tax dollars, that’s mine and yours, used for the depraved war crimes of the U.S. and Israel. That’s our hard earned money used for the razing of homes, the bombing of schools and hospitals, and the killing of countless families. That’s money not going to health care, education, housing, or any real human need but that has gone to murdering over 70,000 Palestinians,” Winsten added.

Organizers from Arizona-Palestine Solidarity Alliance and Jewish Voice for Peace also spoke to the crowd. Other co-sponsoring organizations of the event were Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, Veterans for Peace, Common Defense, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization-Tucson.

#TusconAZ #AZ #AntiWarMovement #Nakba #Palestine

San Jose, CA – On May 15, over 50 people in downtown San Jose to commemorate the 78th year since Al Nakba, “The Catastrophe,” where 750,000 Palestinians were violently displaced by Zionist forces for the establishment of the apartheid state of Israel.

Chants included, “Free, free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” Protesters held signs reading, “We will not be complicit, San Jose divest from genocide” and “Silicon Valley has blood on their hands.”

Haddy Barghouti of Students for Justice in Palestine at San Jose State University spoke to the crowd about the fearful existence that he and his family endured in Palestine. He implored the crowd, “We cannot stay silent. We have to continue using our voices, telling our stories and speaking for the [Palestinian] people who are living in fear every day.”

Dyon Capote of Silicon Valley Democratic Socialists of America addressed the crowd, “Nakba Day should not just be a commemoration but also an acknowledgment of the tribulations the Palestinians have endured but they have never given up their dreams of a free Palestine and neither should we!”

Dina Saba, president of Democrats for Palestinian Rights, highlighted the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars sent to uphold Israel, saying, “78 years of our hard-earned money funding Israel’s atrocities!”

Jack McCann from San Jose Against War commended the brave Palestinian resistance and emphasized that the struggle is local as well, saying, “It is our duty here, in the belly of the beast, to honor their sacrifice, to join in the BDS movement and to fight for a free Palestine!”

McCann continued, “This is why San Jose Against War is waging a struggle at city council, demanding an end to complicity in the crimes of the genocidal Zionist entity. Until we succeed, there is blood on our hands, especially council members who recently voted not to divest from Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon: George Casey, Michael Mulcahey, David Cohen, and Anthony Tordillos. Shame!”

Drusie Kazanova of FRSO San Jose said, “The people of Palestine and their allies have not given up in their fight for national liberation, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization stands with them!”

Kazanova continued drawing the connection between the working and oppressed people in the U.S. and the oppressed people of Palestine, saying, “[We] share the same enemy: the U.S. imperialists. The FRSO is committed to the call for an independent Palestine. We are marching today and we will march every Nakba Day until Palestine is finally free!”

Salem Ajlouni, board member of Human Agenda, stated, “A free Palestine is part of the struggle for a just U.S.”

Fadi Saba, a Palestinian-American teacher, stated, “Gaza and Palestine is the moral compass of the world. It is ‘Free Palestine’ until Palestine is free.”

The protest began at the Dr. MLK Jr. library and marched through the streets of downtown to a busy pedestrian corridor, San Pedro Square, to chant loudly and continue the program before marching back to the library.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #SJAW #Palestine