Chicago IL – On Saturday, July 1, more than 70 students and activists gathered in downtown Chicago. They joined the nationwide campaign by Students for a Democratic Society and the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression demanding that the charges on the Tampa 5 be dropped.

Tampa, FL – On June 24, over 130 people packed the Maureen Gauzza Library in Tampa early Saturday morning to join in the fight to defend the Tampa 5, activists charged with felonies, some facing up to ten years in prison for exercising their free speech rights.

Minneapolis, MN – Around two dozen students, journalists and community members gathered outside the Humphrey School of Public Affairs for June 15 press conference addressing the FBI harassment of SDS organizer Gillian Rath, regarding her activism surrounding abortion rights, including the SDS campaign in opposition to government-funded and predatory “crisis pregnancy centers.”

Tampa, FL – Frank Chapman, a prominent leader of the Black Liberation movement and the executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression will speak at the “Emergency Conference to Defend the Tampa 5: Civil Liberties in the Era of DeSantis” that is set for June 24 in Tampa, Florida.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

Three face outrageous money laundering and charity fraud charges

Atlanta, GA – On May 31, roughly 150 people gathered outside the DeKalb County Jail for a noise demonstration in support of three activists arrested that morning by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department. The three Georgian activists – Marlon Kautz, Savannah Patterson and Adele Maclean, who are associated with the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF), were arrested for money laundering and charity fraud, according to a statement made by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) on Twitter.

Outrageous indictments and arrest warrants issued for APSP leadership

Minneapolis, MN – On April 18, the Department of Justice announced new indictments and arrest warrants for the leadership of the African Peoples Socialist Party (APSP) and the Uhuru movement. The Department has alleged that Omali Yeshitela, Jesse Nevel and Penny Hess conspired to act as unregistered foreign agents, in violation of the 18 U.S.C. § 951 – a statute related to the little known Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

On Tuesday, April 18, a federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida indicted four U.S. citizens and three Russian nationals with charges of “acting as agents of the Russian government within the United States without prior notification.” The U.S. citizens indicted are: Omali Yeshitela, chairman and founder of the African Peoples Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement (APSP); Penny Joanne Hess, a leader of APSP; Jesse Nevel, a member of APSP; and Augustus C. Romain Jr., aka Gazi Kodzo, a former leader of APSP. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The Russians indicted are Aleksandr Ionov, founder and president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AGMR); Aleksey Sukhodolov, and Yegor Popov. This is a repressive escalation by the U.S. state, following up on the FBI raids of July 29, 2022, which targeted Yeshitela's residence and an Uhuru/APSP office.