Minneapolis, MN – More than 20,000 people marched here, May 26, to demand justice for George Floyd, an African American man who as murdered by Minneapolis police on May 25. The three-mile march filled city streets for blocks and then closed a major four-lane highway. It started at the murder scene at Chicago Avenue and 38th Street and went to the Third Precinct station on Lake Street, where intense clashes took place. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets. Bricks broke some of the stations windows, a police car was demolished, and the slogan “I can’t breathe,” were visible on the station’s wall.

Angel Smith-El of the Twin Cites Coalition for Justice for Jamar (TCC4J), states, “During a time where people are already stressed because of COVID-19 the police took full advantage by killing an unarmed Black man. He laid with his face to the ground begging for the cop to get off his neck because he couldn't breathe. The officer continued to push his knee deeper into George's neck even after he was unconscious.”

Smith-El continued, “This is the time for us as a community to stop these killer cops once and for all. This is the time to implement community control of the police.”

TCC4J is also demanding the four cops who killed George Floyd, who were fired by the city the afternoon of May 26, also be prosecuted for murder.

#MinneapolisMN #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #Antiracism #GeorgeFloyd

Tallahassee, FL – On March 20, Tallahassee Police Department Officer Zackri Jones killed 31-year-old Mychael Johnson. Mychael Johnson was the second person shot and killed by Jones, and the first since Lawrence Revell became chief of police in January. Revell’s nomination in November and his later appointment led to protests due to his killing of George Williams, a Black teenager, in September 1996.

The Tallahassee Police Department has issued statements claiming that Johnson had attempted to steal a car and had fought with Officer Justin Davidson before being shot and killed by Jones. However, the family is questioning whether the police have told the full story.

“Mychael was fun, loving, intelligent, he was a giver, and a protector, he was a son, brother, father, and a great friend to have known,” Johnson’s sister Mildred Richardson said. “I think that there is way more to the story that we aren’t getting and the small details that we have received just doesn’t sound like him at all, it’s just not sitting well and adding up with the family.”

The family is also questioning whether the police were justified in using deadly force.

“What I think happened is that he was afraid, he wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, but he didn’t want to go back and have to spend time in a broken prison system,” said Mychael Johnson’s mother Evelyn Johnson. “I feel like he was running for his life because he was scared. It’s sad that I reached out to his probation officer, the police office, the Apalachee center, and the Leon county sheriff’s department, before this point. And the only thing that they assisted with was taking his life.”

The Tallahassee Community Action Committee (TCAC) has criticized the lack of transparency from TPD. They organized community members to call into police and city officials on March 25 to ask for the release of body cam or dash footage and for an independent investigation led by the community.

“We can’t let the police investigate themselves, as we see time and time again that the police never have a transparent process,” said TCAC President Regina Joseph. “We need an independent investigation for this case, and every case from now. That is why we are fighting for community control of the police. We need an elected body that will investigate all police crimes and bring peace and justice to our community.”

“I want people to know what type of person that he was, I don’t want his name to go in vain,” said Mildred Richardson. She continued, “And I also want people to be more aware of the police violence against the Black community, and that if we all stick together so many things can be accomplished.”

#TallahasseeFL #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #Florida #BLM

Racism against Asian Americans is on the rise with 650 attacks reported this last week of March, 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic deepens, Donald Trump is PURPOSEFULLY inciting these attacks. President Trump is using anti-Asian racism to distract from his bungled COVID-19 response and to demonize China. Despite the fact that Trump previously praised China’s transparency and heroic efforts to curb the pandemic, he is now maliciously labeling the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus.”

Trump has repeatedly defended his racist attacks on the Chinese people, ignoring reprimands from the scientific and medical community. Dr. Mike Ryan, an executive director in the World Health Organization responded implicitly to Trump, saying, “Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the color of your skin….it’s really important we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to the profiling of individuals associated with the virus”.

Trump is not alone in promoting these racist attacks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refuses to stop referring to Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus” and the “Wuhan virus”. Pompeo’s persistence in inserting racism into the public discourse about COVID-19 has hamstrung international efforts coordinating the efforts to fight the Covid19 pandemic. At the recent G-7 conference, Pompeo's insistence in using the term 'Wuhan virus' made it impossible for the G-7 foreign ministers to issue a joint statement on the pandemic.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Representative Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Representative Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) have introduced a resolution blaming China for the coronavirus. To these politicians, it’s more important to distract from U.S. government failures and smear China than to coordinate global efforts to save human lives.

It is certainly no surprise to us that Trump and his allies would react to this crisis by lashing out in ignorance and fear. We have seen hate-mongering by this Administration in the form of Islamophobic “Muslim bans,” an irrational promotion of the racist border wall, inhumane concentration camps for asylee children, and vindictive sanctions against Venezuela and Iran. Nor are these policies completely out of the blue, given the U.S.’s barbaric history with white supremacy from the two founding sins of genocide of indigenous peoples and the enslavement of Black people in chattel slavery, to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Japanese-American concentration camps in WWII, the Jim Crow era, and the mass incarceration of a disproportionate amount of people of color.

Our lamentable history makes it even more incumbent on all people of conscience to refuse to buy into the racist and white supremacist slop Trump is trying to force-feed us. As the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent economic crisis grows, Donald Trump and his allies will become more frenzied, inciting greater anti-Asian racism in order to shift the blame for their neglectful handling of COVID to China and protect U.S. global domination. The Anti-War Committee condemns anti-Asian racism and all other forms of bigotry. Mass opposition against racist white supremacy, and solidarity with all peoples under attack by the U.S. government are immediately necessary.

The concentration camps imprisoning migrants swept up in Trump's racist immigration policies must be closed. Islamophobic attacks like the Muslim bans must be stopped, sanctions like those imposed on Iran must be lifted. Anti-Asian slurs like 'Wuhan virus' must be exposed as distractions and U.S. intervention. We must demand these from every level of government in the U.S., always pushing government officials to end these racist attacks.

When Chinese people are under attack, what do we do?! Stand up! Fight Back! When Asian Americans are under attack, what do we do?! STAND UP! FIGHT BACK! Fight anti-Asian racism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism! Fight U.S. imperialism!

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #Antiracism #Trump #Coronavirus #COVID19 #AsianAmericans

Chicago, IL – The corporate media has missed what is most important about Chicago’s April 2 elections. Its focus on the uninspiring mayoral contest between Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot helped contribute to the lowest voter turnout ever. Only 29% of registered voters went to the polls.

What this election did see was a record number of young candidates challenging incumbents, and the greatest amount was in the Black wards of the city. According to Aislinn Pulley, an organizer with Black Lives Matter-Chicago, “What was significant were the young activists – mostly Black and Latino – that fought neighborhood by neighborhood.”

In addition, the agenda of these candidates was progressive. There’s been a polarization on the issues, and while there were fault lines along race and class, the most militant positions had to do with police terror.

Jeanette Taylor was elected alderperson of the 20th Ward, one of the poorest on Chicago’s South Side. After her victory, she wrote to her supporters, “This does not happen without the fight for Dyett, the struggle for a trauma center, the fight for a Civilian Police Accountability Council (CPAC), or the campaign to bring a Community Benefits Agreement to the Obama Center,” and, “If the next mayor wants to close Black schools, lay off Black teachers, protect killer cops, and force Black and Brown and working-class people out of this city, she will have a City Council fighting her at every step of the way.”

Dyett School was threatened with closure by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In 2015, Taylor helped to lead a hunger strike of parents to save it. She then joined a fight led by Southsiders Together Organizing for Power to compel the elite University of Chicago to open a trauma center on the South Side of Chicago.

Jackson Potter, one of the founders of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) in the Chicago Teachers Union, said at the victory party for Jeanette Taylor, “For the first time in history, a Chicago mayor will face a strong city council.”

Chicago cops stage racist protest before election day

One of the platforms in the progressive agenda is for community control of the police. The morning before the election, the racists in the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) showed the need, according to Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, “for the Black and Latino communities to have democratic control over who polices their communities and how they are policed.”

The FOP brought out over 100 people, including members of three white supremacist organizations, to protest in front of the office of the Cook County State’s Attorney. The cops, along with Emanuel, were incensed at State’s Attorney Kim Foxx when her office dropped charges against actor Jussie Smollett, who had been accused by the Chicago Police Department of staging a hate crime against himself.

The context for the FOP’s anger is that last year, for the first time ever, a cop (Jason Van Dyke) was convicted of murdering a Black person, and that Black and Latino communities in Chicago are demanding CPAC.

The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, BLM, Southside Organized for Unity and Power, and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network counter-protested. They were joined by Jeanette Taylor, previous candidate for mayor Amara Enyia, and the Reverend Otis Moss III, pastor of the historic Trinity United Church of Christ. Addressing the FOP, Rev. Moss said, “You’re going to be outraged by this, but you weren’t outraged by Laquan McDonald?”

Pulley thought the protest had to happen, and added, “What was really important was to have Jeanette there, fighting with us. It shows we have a new day in Chicago.”

Poised to fight for CPAC

After the run-off elections, there are now 17 members of the city council who have endorsed the CPAC legislation, nine of them from the crop of new activists. Five of the new alderpeople – Taylor, Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Andre Vazquez, Daniel LaSpata, and Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, will join Carlos Ramirez-Rosa in a Socialist Caucus. There are still two ward elections with insurgent CPAC candidates that are too close to call. If both William Calloway and Marianne Lalonde win, CPAC would have 19 supporters in the council.

After the election, Chapman spoke out against Lightfoot. “I submit that Lori Lightfoot is the Trojan Horse presented to us by the business barons of the Magnificent Mile, the outgoing regime of Rahm Emanuel, and the Fraternal Order of Police. While commentators, reactionary pundits, and misguided, self-deceiving people in our movement are praising Lightfoot as a triumphant first Black, openly gay woman to be mayor of a major city, they are ignoring her role as president of the Police Board. She was not a reformer, but a heartless vindicator of police brutality and murder.

“But let me quickly add that what we have won in terms of new seats on the city council is far more important than what we lost in the mayoral election. The wins of Byron Sigcho Lopez, Jeanette Taylor, and other progressives and CPAC supporters has set a new stage for struggle for our movement.”

#ChicagoIL #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Racism #Antiracism #CPAC

What behind these anti-Semitic attacks? After Trump’s election, the number of hate crimes has shot up immensely. Trump’s rhetoric of “Make America Great Again” has ignited far-right white supremacists to come out of hiding and express their bigotry more openly. Trump himself has called himself a “nationalist” and claimed that some of the Nazis in Charlottesville were “some very fine people,” after they marched in the streets chanting, “The Jews will not replace us.” Words alone are not the cause of this violence. Trump has proven that he is willing to implement and support policies that hurt immigrants, oppressed nationalities, LGBTQIA+ people, and others. Anti-Semitism existed before Trump, but his election has emboldened those who believe in it.

One stark example of how this dynamic has played out locally is the difference in treatment of the far-right Proud Boys versus Jewish protesters in New York City. When Gavin McInnes spoke at the Metropolitan Republican Club on October 12, Proud Boys attacked protesters, while the NYPD and their Strategic Response Group stood by. On the other hand, 14 Jewish activists were arrested during a sit-in at the same club weeks later to protest this heinous incident and the Pittsburgh shooting. This contradiction exposes how the NYPD is complicit with white supremacists, while punishing those who are attacked by them.

The rise of the far right is undoubtedly a result of decaying imperialism in motion. We must continue to fight back against Trump’s attacks on oppressed people and stand with those victimized by white supremacist violence.

#NewYorkNY #US #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #Antiracism #Antifascism #Trump #Antisemitism

New York, NY – Almost 100 activists and community members gathered in Brooklyn on July 29 to mourn the murders of Black women. The vigil was held after the murder of Nia Wilson, who was recently stabbed to death by a white man in Oakland, California. The vigil also brought attention to the violence that Black trans women face.

Various speakers came up to talk about different issues relating to violence against Black women and gender non-conforming people. Zila Renfro from Gabriela NY addressed imperialism as the root of Black women’s and gender non-conforming people’s oppression in the U.S.

“Imperialism was built on the backs of our enslaved ancestors. We are being violently displaced, impoverished, murdered, just for being so that the dominance of those wealthy few at the top can continue,” said Renfro.

Along with speeches, the event also included singing and altar offerings. The emcees read off the names of Black women wo have been killed, with the crowd chanting back “Say her name!” The night ended with an Assata Shakur chant.

The vigil was organized by the Audre Lorde Project, Gabriela NY, Black Youth Project 100, and Sige.

#NewYorkNY #NewYork #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #womensMovement #Antiracism #Brooklyn

Tallahassee, FL – Last weekend, Nia Wilson, an 18-year-old African American woman was brutally murdered by a white man, John Lee Cowell, in an Oakland, California Bay Area Rapid Transit station. Cowell also stabbed Nia’s sister, Malika Harris, who has been released from the hospital.

Cases like this are not unfamiliar to Black women. Black women face disproportionate levels of violence in every avenue. According to the Violence Policy Center, in 2000, Black women were murdered at a rate more than three times higher than white women. Not only do Black women face domestic violence at higher levels compared to other nationalities, but they are often the victims of police crimes – in which the media continually downplays or outright ignores Black women who have been sexually assaulted or killed by the police.

For instance, we can examine cases like former police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, who raped 13 Black women in Oklahoma.

Recently, Cynthia Clements was fatally shot by a white police Lieutenant Christian Jensen in Elgin, Illinois.

Furthermore, this year alone in Florida, four Black trans women have been killed, with the killers still on the loose. Even in death, Black trans women, like Sasha Garden, continue to be misgendered and humiliated by the police and the media.

The media always finds ways to portray Black women in a negative light, again, even in death. Some news outlets have run pictures of Nia Wilson posing with a handgun. This is completely irrelevant, as owning a handgun is a legal right and Nia was not even armed.

Since the founding of the United States, Black women have been brutalized and killed to maintain the white supremacist and capitalist power structure.

We must demand that John Lee Cowell be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Demand that all cops guilty of police crimes, including those against Black women, be arrested and jailed. Demand full and equal rights.

We say her name – Nia Wilson, for all Black women who can no longer speak.

#Tallahassee #TallahasseeFL #AfricanAmerican #Racism #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #NiaWilson #sayHerName

Fight Back! interviewed Bassem Kawar, national coordinator of the Campaign to TAKE ON HATE, a project of the National Network for Arab American Communities.

Fight Back!: A year ago, a Republican elected official in a heavily Arab area of Chicago’s suburbs insulted Arabs and Muslims, and an uproar has continued in that community. Who is this Republican? What were the racist statements that caused this uproar?

Bassem Kawar : Sharon Brannigan is a Palos Township trustee, and a former representative on the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues. She was forced to resign from this commission two months into our campaign.

The comments that surfaced a year ago included unfounded allegations that the schools in the township are filled with undocumented students of Middle Eastern origin, a dangerous statement in this country today, when undocumented families are under attack, and while anti-immigrant biases and racism are the norm of Trump’s domestic policies. Her comments went so far as to assert that women who wear the hijab are “undignified,” which she wrote when Melania Trump visited Saudi Arabia without wearing the headscarf.

And Brannigan also tried to make political gains during her run for U.S. Congress against the conservative Democrat Dan Lipinski, by making racist and fear-mongering accusations that Arab and Muslim community members “keep themselves and their activities hidden from the general population.”

Fight Back!: How has the Arab community responded?

Kawar: We immediately convened a meeting that included community-based organizations, Arab community members, and other residents, and went right to work. Our first response was to call for her resignation, but we knew we had to also build a sustained campaign.

The Campaign to TAKE ON HATE, along with its partners at the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) and Family Services, led the newly built coalition, which began its organizing by administering a petition calling for the resignation, visiting local mayors to demand that they commit to inclusivity in their villages, and canvassing dozens of homes and over 100 businesses in the township.

The campaign we are running, and the platform we are creating, is turning traditional electoral politics on its head. We were very intentional in providing an inclusive platform to engage youth, undocumented immigrants, and other non-citizens in our campaign, by calling for the removal of an elected official from office vs. calling for the election of an alternative candidate. TAKE ON HATE trained over 50 volunteers in door knocking, canvassing and phone banking – community organizing hard skills that we believe are essential in continuing the base and movement building necessary to challenge white supremacy in the era of Trump.

We believe that the only way to defeat white supremacy and racism is by confronting the racists, and we have demonstrated this by rallying at and protesting every single township meeting in the last year and by picketing in front of Brannigan’s flower shop on Mother’s Day weekend. Our efforts have been led by the community and will continue to be led by the community until we win the resignation and real accountability from the Palos Township.

Fight Back!: What are the objectives of the movement?

Kawar: The movement is demanding the immediate resignation of Brannigan, a call that we believe will deliver a material and tangible blow to the right wing and white supremacists. We are localizing the struggle against white supremacy, as well as sustaining our community’s organizing momentum from the protests of the first Muslim Ban, the airport shutdowns, and the one-day bodega strike led by Yemeni women in New York.

Fight Back!: What has been Sharon Brannigan response, and the response of the Republicans in Palos Township?

Kawar: Brannigan’s response has been the traditional response of racists. She immediately hid behind the First Amendment, claiming that she had the “right to free speech.” We believe in free speech, of course, but completely reject the notion that racists should be allowed platforms for spewing hate against our or any other community.

Then, just a few months after the persistent pressure from our campaign, she issued a phony apology that did not address the racism and hate speech, but instead claimed that her words were “poorly crafted” and her feelings were “inadequately expressed.”

We rejected this ‘apology’ because it was insincere; a case of too little, too late; and clearly an example of political expediency. We had asked for it months before, and she refused to budge. So she decides to apologize months later, just to try and salvage her political career? No, that’s not acceptable.

The Republicans in the township, including the top dog, Cook County Commissioner Sean Morrison, have either supported Brannigan, or remained silent on the issue. We do not expect anything else from them, but did organize a call-in week to demand Morrison to speak out.

Fight Back!: Are there incidents like this in other parts of the country?

Kawar: Not exactly with the same level of organizing and community mobilization, but there was a post-Trump election incident in Kalkaska, Michigan, where the mayor called for the killing of “every last Muslim” on his social media.

Keep in mind that, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “the number of hate groups [in 2017] rose to 954 from 917 the prior year, up 4%. Within the white supremacist movement, neo-Nazi groups saw the greatest growth – soaring by 22% from 99 to 121. Anti-Muslim groups also rose for a third straight year. After tripling from 2015 to 2016, they grew by another 13%, from 101 chapters to 114 in 2017. Anti-immigrant groups also leapt, from 14 to 22 in 2017.”

This is the alarming reality of where we are, and where we are still headed, in Trump’s United States.

Fight Back!: What are the lessons of this?

Kawar: The main lesson is that racism and white supremacy must be confronted head on. We know what it looks like, and we know what it sounds like, so we cannot allow it to continue to infect U.S. society. This is why we challenge Brannigan directly and call on others to do the same when their elected officials, media personalities, or other public figures spew racist hate.

And to defeat this racism and Trump overall, we must continue to build our alliances with the most affected and impacted communities (Black, Latinx, Native American, Asian, women, workers, LGBTQIA, and other oppressed people), and together establish platforms that will advance our political understanding and activism in the broader social justice movement in the U.S.

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #ArabAmericanActionNetwork #Racism #Antiracism #TakeOnHate

We don’t declare mutuality of suffering of our respective peoples to simply make the cynical point that the separation of Black families has failed to produce the same outrage. No, quite the contrary, we must see in this inhuman policy, in this crime against humanity, the need for unconditional solidarity – and the need to clarify and define who our friends and enemies are, to develop a conscious alliance between our oppressed peoples.

We must unequivocally unite in an act of solidarity with the families being separated at the Mexican border. Why? Because as freedom-fighters we must never allow the racist rulers of this land to define for us who our friends and enemies are. Racist concepts are reactionary, for the enemy is not a race, it is a system of capitalist oppression. The enemy extends its reach across the globe, irrespective of borders. Our solidarity for the oppressed must do the same.

Let us be clear. Standing in unconditional solidarity with the separated families at the Mexican border is not an act of charity. To quote the great African revolutionary Samora Machel, “It is an act of unity between allies fighting on different terrains toward the same objective.”

Frank Chapman is Field Organizer for the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) and a member of the Central Committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Racism #solidarity #Antiracism #Antifascism #FrankChapman

This year, International Workers Day on May 1 is important for the labor and immigrant rights movements. For over a year now, the people have faced an onslaught of attacks from President Trump’s right-wing administration. Trump’s White House wants to enact the agenda of billionaires and bigots at all costs, whether through tax breaks for the rich, or through cruel raids and deportations of immigrants that rip families apart.

As soon as Trump took office, people started fighting back. We in the Freedom Road Socialist Organization call on workers, immigrants and oppressed people to make this year’s May Day an extraordinary moment of resistance by marching and protesting against these attacks.

A holiday for unity and struggle!

International Workers Day was born in the USA. Forced to work long hours for low wages, workers across this country, many of them immigrants, marched by the hundreds of thousands on May 1, 1886. They demanded an eight-hour workday. This massive showing of worker power shook the ruling capitalist class. The bosses turned out police and anti-union strikebreakers to physically attack workers. Eight strike leaders were framed up and jailed. Four were hung – the Haymarket Martyrs. Like Trump today, the politicians used anti-immigrant rhetoric and red-scare tactics. The executions sparked worldwide outrage, and workers in many countries won the eight-hour workday. Inspired by the Martyrs of Chicago, May 1 became International Workers Day!

Bosses and politicians tried to erase May Day in the U.S., but it took on new life in 2006. Chicanos, Mexicanos, Central American and others packed the streets for the May 1 mega-marches. In Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee and nearly every city, millions marched for immigrant rights and demanded legalization for all. Marches will continue this year.

Trump’s relentless campaign of bigotry and repression

Unleashing ICE, Trump has ramped up deportations and workplace raids, like the raids targeting 7-Eleven stores that detained 400 workers. Trump also stripped Central American and Haitian refugees of their Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Then Trump overturned the Obama-era DACA executive order, threatening those brought to the U.S. as children. While bridges collapse, and walkways fall, Trump promises to build a useless wall.

Trump continuously misrepresents and attacks the Diversity Visa, which allows 50,000 people to immigrate, half from African countries. No surprise from a bigot who claims President Obama is a foreigner, ran false advertisements framing the Central Park Five, and complains white supremacists are treated unfairly.

Now the Trump administration is gearing up to attack the unions. This year, the ruling class hopes to deal the labor movement a body blow. The Supreme Court is expected to rule against public sector unions in the landmark Janus v. AFSCME case. The ruling is expected to encourage the none payment of union dues. The ruling will totally ignore that the majority of workers democratically voted for the unions and contracts in their work places.

Teachers win strike! People are fighting back!

All is not lost however! Last year more people took part in protests than ever before, and in West Virginia teachers and support-workers just won a strike. They shut down the entire state’s public school system for nine days. The strike won a 5% pay increase and a temporary halt on politicians plans to cut health insurance. The teachers proved that by stopping work and building solidarity, it is workers – not laws drawn up by the 1% – that have real power. Teachers in other states are already learning the lesson.

Immigrants too have stood up to the ruling class’ attacks in the Trump era. DACA recipients and immigrant rights activists are waging a campaign of civil disobedience pressuring Congress to pass a Clean DREAM Act and end deportations. Others are fighting for sanctuary areas free of ICE raids.

In many cities, African Americans, Chicanos and others are continuing their fight to jail killer cops, to free those who were tortured and framed, and for community control of the police. Trump can verbally abuse this movement, and insult those who kneel during the national anthem, but the struggle for justice and equality will triumph.

Workers and oppressed people unite!

This year’s May Day will see a good number of demonstrations by immigrant rights groups, unions and others hoping to build our fightback. Some voices want us to place our faith in politicians and talking heads to stop Trump’s agenda. We think the most effective resistance is in building the people’s movements – in the streets.

As Trump exposes the naked greed and brutality of the U.S. system of capitalism for the world to see, working people – especially young people – are looking to alternatives. They are beginning to favor socialism over capitalism, and are increasingly willing to fight for it. Under capitalism, the ruling class of billionaires, with their banks and corporations, hold political and economic power. Trump is their brainchild.

Socialism is a system where the working class holds political and economic power, ending oppression and exploitation. It guarantees a job, health care, housing, education, dignity and respect for the majority who suffer under capitalism now. It is what May Day stands for.

In the socialist countries, International Workers Day is a national holiday. Cuba will see a massive rally as workers take the day off to defend their revolution and oppose the U.S. blockade on their country. In China too, workers and farmers will celebrate the achievements of socialism, which has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization believes that this year’s May Day is enormously significant to workers in the U.S. and around the world. We encourage everyone to attend rallies, marches and events celebrating the achievements of workers, and to fight for a better world!

#UnitedStates #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Racism #Antiracism #Trump

New York, NY — On Sept. 12, around 100 activists gathered in Columbus Circle in solidarity with the Durham, North Carolina activists who a month before tore down a statue of a Confederate soldier.

On August 14, Worker’s World Party comrades tore down a statue in response to the Neo-nazi and white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Since then, Durham activists have faced political repression in the form of raids and are currently awaiting trial.

Last night’s rally and march was part of a series of solidarity events happening throughout the country on the first day of trials.

The crowd gathered facing the Christopher Columbus statue and held signs saying, “Drop the charges,” “Stop the witch hunts,” and “Honk to fight racism.”

Taryn Fivek, from Worker’s World Party, and Vijou Bryant, from Bayan USA, led the rally and started it off with chants.

One of the speakers was Michela Martinazzi from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. She spoke about how activists should stand in solidarity with Durham activists, and she brought up the Jax5 as an example of fighting political repression. She even touched upon why they were gathered in Columbus Circle: “You see, the Confederacy may have died, but white supremacy is alive and thriving. It's built in the very fabric of our society — from our laws to these disgusting monuments that decorate this country.

“Behind me, we have pioneer who opened the doors for genocide, colonization and white supremacy on this land. Christopher Columbus was the harbinger of death. He's the original American murderer.”

Larry Holmes, a leader of Worker’s World Party, spoke about Charlottesville and said, “We will remember Heather [Heyer]. She will live forever. We are in solidarity with the anti-fascist forces and antifa. I was told that if it wasn’t for antifa in Charlottesville, a lot more people may have been killed or hurt. Stop the attacks on antifa, especially in the left.”

He continued the speech by touching upon the Durham fighters, “We demand that all charges against these wonderful militants in Durham, North Carolina who carried out that righteous act be dropped immediately. They did nothing criminal. They should be celebrated. They should be honored — we should follow their example!”

The rally finished around 8 p.m. and the crowd marched down to Times Square.

Throughout the event, there was a high police presence. Over two dozen NYPD officers, a van, and several police cars followed activists as they marched. A couple of blocks down, they began playing a loudspeaker warning activist that they could get arrested if deemed necessary. Two arrests occurred that night. The arrests were followed by chants of, “FTP! Fuck the police!” and “How do you spell racist? NYPD!”

The march ended in Times Square with activists chanting Assata Shakur’s famous words.

#NewYorkNY #PeoplesStruggles #AntiRacism #Racism #Antifascism #ConfederateStatues

The Anti-War Committee spearheaded a number of massive protests against Trump’s Muslim ban.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #US #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #Minnesota #Antiracism #Trump #DonaldTrump #bombings

75 years earlier, on March 24, 1942, the U.S. government imposed a curfew on Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. The same day, the first roundup of an entire community took place on Bainbridge Island, Washington, across Puget Sound from Seattle. The curfew also led to one of the first acts of resistance, when Japanese American lawyer Min Yasui deliberately broke the curfew to test the legality of Executive Order 9066 on March 28, 1942.

After the November 2016 election, there has been a rise in anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments. Then on Jan. 27, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13769, which sought to ban travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. In response, states filed lawsuits that led to a court injunction against the ban, while grassroots protests of thousands of people happened at airports across the country.

According to a statement from the day of solidarity organizers, “NOC and the SBIA would like to invite you to a grassroots day of solidarity between Japanese Americans and American Muslims on Saturday, March 25. The event will begin in San Jose Japantown at the corner of 5th Street and Jackson Street at 11:00 a.m. and will proceed down 6th street to a rally at 12:00 p.m. at San Jose City Hall on 5th and Santa Clara Streets. The event is free and open to all who wish to oppose the growing anti-Muslim sentiments and government actions today.”

#SanJoseCA #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #Islam #Antiracism #DonaldTrump #MuslimBan

Minneapolis, MN – Dec. 10 marks International Human Rights Day. The Minnesota Anti-War Committee had a short rally at Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue, followed by a march of 200 people to denounce Trump's agenda of hate and racism.

Around the world, Human Rights Day day is known for people rising up and speaking out. The MN Anti-War Committee organizes a Human Rights Day protest every year, but Anti-War Committee member Jennie Eisert notes that this year organizers felt a pressing need for a protest for human rights, “We know that the anti-war movement needs to be a part of the growing movement against Trump and his agenda of bigotry and racism. We need to stand firm against his rhetoric of fear and hate both at home and abroad. We’ve heard his beating the drums of war to bomb the Middle East out of existence. We’ve already seen an increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes. We will not stand aside and wait to see what he has in store for this nation. We will be a part of the world’s voice in saying ‘No’ to Trump and we will continue to do so through his whole presidency!”

At the rally speakers from the Anti-War Committee, Black Lives Matter Saint Paul, People of Color Union Members, the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee and the Council on American Islamic Relations spoke out against Trump’s promises of war, increased police powers, union bashing and anti-Muslim bigotry.

Marchers then took the streets on a cold, brisk day and got honks and cheers from folks in cars and on the sidewalks. Signs and chants demanded rights for immigrants and Muslims and an end to bigotry and war. The march concluded with an indoor rally at All God’s Children Church in Minneapolis’ Powderhorn neighborhood.

Sarah Martin, of Women Against Military Madness, was the first speaker at the indoor rally. “Last Sunday I and others here today were lucky enough to be at the Oceti Sakowin camp at Standing Rock as the announcement came that the Army Corp of Engineers had denied the permit to the Dakota Access Pipeline Company to drill under the Missouri River and ordered a new environmental impact study. This is a great victory and it happened because of the resistance of the water protectors – the Standing Rock tribe, hundreds of tribes and native nations from around the world as well as non-native supporters. But the Water Protectors understand and know the struggle is not over and the company will use every possible means to complete this $3.8 billion pipeline. And it will have the full support of Trump.” She concluded with, “We need jobs, healthcare, education and an end to racist police violence here at home, not U.S. wars abroad and not new pipelines.”

Craig Wood and Barry Reisch from Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 and JR Bobick, a leader in the Native Lives Matter movement, who had all recently returned from North Dakota also spoke about the human rights abuses they witnessed committed by the U.S. government at Standing Rock.

Stephanie Taylor from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Minnesota also spoke about the dangers of the upcoming Trump presidency, “Women have fought for centuries for control over our own bodies, especially when it comes to reproductive rights and we continue to struggle. Trump seeks not to claim these victories that we’ve created for ourselves, like many politicians do, but instead, to toss them out into the dust bin of history, destroying futures, families and quality of life for many individuals.” Taylor continued, “It there is a silver lining presenting itself in the fact of an incoming racist, sexist and homophobic president-elect, it is this: it is the people, not politicians, who are the makers of history. Our movements will become emboldened to move this country forward – this is just a challenge and we will win!”

The event concluded with speakers from S