El Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. fue un icono del movimiento por los derechos civiles. Forjado en el fuego del terror racial, surgió de la brutal era Jim Crow como un guardián de luchadores por la libertad, cuyas contribuciones fueron hechas evidentes por sus actividades a través de su vida.

Jesse Jackson siguió los pasos de Fannie Lou Hamer y el Partido Demócrata por la Libertad de Mississippi, que luchó para tomar al Partido Demócrata fuera de las garras del control Dixiecrat basado en el desapoderamiento del pueblo negro en el Cinturón Negro del sur. El Rev. Jackson construyó sobre esa fundación y presionó por más reformas, que trataban sobre cuestiones de igualdad, incluyendo trabajos y vivienda para el pueblo negro.

Sus campañas por la nominación presidencial Demócrata en 1984 y 1988 electrificaron una generación de progresistas. Arrasó en el sur en 1988, ganando en Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, Carolina del Sur, Carolina del Norte, y el Distrito de Columbia, amplificando el poder de las aspiraciones de un pueblo oprimido por el poder político y la democracia. Trajo al pueblo negro a la corriente principal de la política burguesa, contribuyendo a una ola de candidatos negros en campañas electorales. Los marxistas-leninistas apoyaron las campañas de Jackson, reconociéndolas como una expresión de los sentimientos democráticos de un movimiento nacional afroamericano.

El Rev. Jackson tomó una posición justa en asuntos domésticos e internacionales. Promovió la campaña por la desinversión en Sudáfrica y se opuso a la intervención de EE.UU en Nicaragua, Irán, y la Guerra del Golfo. Fue el primer líder nacional negro en abordar la cuestión del Estado Palestino y desinversión anti-apartheid de una manera valiente durante su campaña.

Una figura monumental del movimiento por los derechos civiles, él es el último de los líderes surgidos de la Conferencia de Liderazgo Cristiano del Sur de los 1960s, emergiendo directamente del movimiento de Martin Luther King Jr. El impulso de sus campañas llevó adelante la lucha por el poder político negro, un componente de la liberación negra. Extendemos nuestras condolencias a su esposa Jackie y a toda su familia. Su legado nos recuerda que la lucha por la libertad es constante.

#Opinion #Remembrances #AfricanAmerican #OppressedNationalities #JessieJackson

Milwaukee, WI – On Tuesday, February 3, the people’s struggle in Milwaukee lost one of their strongest comrades, Nada Moubarak, aged 24.

Moubarak was a leader in the Students for Democratic Society (SDS) chapter at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (UWM,) the Popular University for Palestine Coalition, Coalition to March in the RNC 2024, and chair of the Medic Subcommittee in the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR).

Moubarak first began organizing in the movement to free Palestine shortly after the events of October 7, 2023 with SDS – UWM. It took little to no time for her to become a fierce leader in the movement. She became the security chair of SDS-UWM and eventually served as its secretary. Moubarak, along with her comrades in SDS, served as a pivotal leader in the successful 14-day encampment at the Falesteen Lawn at UWM. Moubarak was pursuing a nursing degree, utilizing her expertise in healthcare to support the movements in Milwaukee.

Shortly after, Moubarak was approached by the leadership of the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024 to help the security detail of the Coalition. With her expertise in healthcare, she led the medical team with great care and attention to detail – all medical-related incidents on the 95-degree day were handled effectively. The medic team for the Coalition was nothing short of a great success.

Before graduation, Moubarak officially joined MAARPR and was appointed to the medic subcommittee. As a result of her appointment, she held multiple trainings for Stop the Bleed and two-day street medic trainings. Moubarak’s vision for the subcommittee was to establish a group of street medics for organizations in Milwaukee to call upon for their respective actions. This dream will be fulfilled in due time.

Moubarak is survived by her parents, siblings, nieces, nephews and her comrades. Let us best remember Nada Moubarak by carrying on her passion and heart that she put into everything she did. Until Palestine is free, until we win community control of the police, until we meet again!

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #Remembrances #Opinion

Carlos Montes, a member of the Central Committee of Freedom Road Socialist Organization stated, Assata Shakur was a softspoken, warm friendly mujer! We met in Cuba, in 1996, while on a trip with Global Exchanges led by Medea Benjamin. We talked about the importance of unity of Chicano and Black liberation struggles, and how Cuba was really building a revolution and protecting her from U.S. state repression. She knew about the Chicano movement.”

#InJusticeSystem #AssataShakur #Opinion #Remembrances

Assata Shakur was a fighter for freedom and an icon of the Black liberation movement. She came of age during the struggles of the 1960s and 70s, and everything that was good and powerful about that time, Assata embodied. The deep understanding that a better world is possible, and most importantly, the conviction to never give up. Never surrender.

Assata began as someone searching and questioning why life was so hard for Black people in the U.S. Over time, through her experiences in the streets and her study of revolutionary movements in Africa and the Caribbean, she became a Marxist. She came to understand capitalism was at the bottom of the problem and committed herself to the fight to pull it up from the root.

This clarity made her dangerous in the eyes of the U.S. government. Assata was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. For that, she was targeted by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program, which spied on, framed and tried to destroy Black activists. She was harassed, hunted and finally captured after a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. Evidence against her was thin but she was convicted anyway and locked away. The government wanted to make an example out of her to show what happens when Black women dare to fight back.

But Assata refused to be broken. In 1979, she made a daring escape from prison. Socialist Cuba wrapped its arms around her and protected her. She lived out her years with dignity, surrounded by friendship and love.

Assata’s life was not easy. She paid a heavy price for her steadfastness: years in prison, exile and separation from her family. But she made the choice to stand on the side of liberation.

Assata is alive in the struggle for liberation for all oppressed people today. At the end of many demonstrations around the world, people still gather to raise their voices in her words: “We have nothing to lose but our chains.” She is alive wherever people resist oppression and refuse to bow down to the existing order of things. She is alive in the fight for a better world.

She showed us what it means to be unbroken, and because of her, we know that the struggle for liberation cannot be stopped.

Assata Shakur teaches, inspires and lives always, in the fight for freedom.

#FRSO #Statement #Remembrances #RevolutionaryTheory #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #AssataShakur

To: Communist Party of the Philippines, National Democratic Front of the Philippines

From: Freedom Road Socialist Organization

The memory and contributions of Ka Louie Jalandoni will live forever!

Dear Comrades,

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Ka Louie Jalandoni, an outstanding revolutionary who made great contributions to the struggle to end exploitation and oppression. We extend our condolences to his comrades, family and friends. Ka Louie was known throughout the world for his integrity, commitment and intelligence. He will be missed by many.

Ka Louie worked tirelessly to strengthen the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, and he achieved much during that effort. He was a living example of what it means in the real world to serve the people. All of us can learn from his cheerful tenacity as he carried out his work.

The leadership and members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization appreciate Ka Louie’s keen interest in the progress our organization has made inside the United States, and in him we found a genuine comrade and friend. He was a living example of what proletarian internationalism means in practice. The people of the Philippines and the people of the U.S. share a common enemy in U.S. imperialism.

The revolution in the Philippines has produced a host of leaders who have made great contributions to the struggle to liberate all of humanity, and the Communist Party of the Philippines has done much to advance the fight for national and social liberation. Revolutionary leaders, like Ka Louie, are respected wherever communists are found fighting for a new world.

At this difficult moment, we share the grief of all comrades in the national democratic movement of the Philippines. And we will always cherish the memory and contributions of Ka Louie.

With communist greetings,

Mick Kelly

For the Standing Committee of the Central Committee,

Freedom Road Socialist Organization

#International #Philippines #Opinion #Remembrances #FRSO #Statement #CPP #NDF

“I'm a person that comes from the left, comes from a humanist way of thinking. So, my photography couldn't be separate from that. It couldn't not serve those causes.” – Sebastião Salgado

Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgado, one of the most important and well-known photographers in the world, died May 23 at the age of 81.

His stark images, mostly shot on film in black and white with high contrast and often with dramatic light, are unmistakable in their grandiosity and their ability to tell the stories of workers, oppressed people and of our planet’s majestic but distressed environment.

Salgado’s striking work on central issues of our times largely focused outside the margins of the core industrialized countries. In his book Workers (1993), Salgado documented the intense exploitation of workers engaged in manual labor in the developing world. In his collection Migration: Humanity in Transition (2000), he documented the realities of mass migration which have reached historic levels worldwide due to the ravages of imperialism, war and climate catastrophe. In Other Americas (1985) and An Uncertain Grace (1990), Salgado documented farmers, indigenous people and landscapes of remote regions of several Latin American and African countries. In his work Amazônia (2021), Salgado photographed the Brazilian Amazon rainforest and the indigenous people who live there. In Genesis (2014), Salgado spent eight years documenting parts of the Earth’s environment that have not yet been destroyed but are at risk from climate change.

After leaving Brazil in the late 1960s during the right-wing military dictatorship, Salgado spent decades traveling the Americas, Africa, Europe and the rest of the world. He spent months at a time documenting the people and the geography of some of the most oppressed peoples of the world, as well as some of the most incredible and endangered parts of the Earth’s environment.

When Salgado returned to Brazil in the 1990s, he dug deep into the struggles of rural landless workers, the indigenous peoples of the Amazon rainforest, and the struggle to sustain the rainforest itself in the face of international capital ravaging what are referred to as “the lungs of the Earth.”

Salgado didn’t just take photos; he and his wife Lélia Deluiz Wanick Salgado started an organization called Instituto Terra dedicated to reversing environmental damage in Brazil. Instituto Terra educated people on the importance of the Amazon and has planted more than 3 million trees.

Salgado actively supported militant organizing among rural landless workers in Brazil. His passing was marked by Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (MST), which said, “It is with deep sadness that we received the news of the passing of Sebastião Salgado, one of the most important photographers in contemporary history. His passing is a huge loss to art, to human rights and to all who believe in the image as an instrument of social transformation. As a photographer he maintained a relationship of solidarity and support with the Landless Workers Movement, recognizing in the movement one of the most legitimate expressions of the struggle for social justice in Brazil...may his memory be alive in every image, in every portrait, in every fight that seeks justice and humanity.”

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the Workers’ Party said, “His inconformity with the fact that the world is so unequal and his obstinate talent in portraying the reality of the oppressed always served as a wake-up call for the conscience of all humanity. Salgado not only used his eyes and his camera to portray people: he also used the fullness of his soul and his heart. For this very reason, his work will continue to be a cry for solidarity.”

In a 2024 interview with Geographical, Salgado said, “Each photographer works with his own ideology, his history, his heritage. I can’t say my work is because I’m an ‘activist’ or that I want to show the plight of people being exploited. Of course, I’m a guy from the left – I’m a leftist. I was working in these places because I am part of a society that needs to see what is happening on our planet. But I grew up in a Third World country. I see the injustice that we have on this planet. I have a big hope that we can have a better way to live, a better situation for the health of our planet, and better social protection for everyone on this planet.”

Around a decade ago I had the privilege to see the exhibition of his work Genesis at the International Center of Photography in New York City. Seeing his stunning landscapes and portraits printed in huge displays was an unforgettable experience. His photos were breathtaking. He helped us truly see the reality that is barely considered by those in power – the backbreaking manual labor done by millions, the peoples displaced or eliminated, and the environment ravaged – all so a small class of rich people can accumulate more profit.

While Sebastião Salgado has passed on, his vast trove of powerful images will continue to inspire people to fight for social and ecological justice.

#Remembrances #SebastiãoSalgado #photography #Brazil #LandlessWorkersMovement #MST

El 10 de abril se cumple un año del fallecimiento de Florentina Pérez Calderón, defensora del internacionalismo, férrea defensora de la Revolución Popular Sandinista y una querida líder de la comunidad campesina de El Lagartillo, Nicaragua. Con su tenacidad y sacrificio, Tina (como la conocían quienes la amaban) dejó un ejemplo de vida para quienes luchamos por la revolución y la liberación.

Tina nació el 20 de junio de 1948 y creció en las montañas del norte de Nicaragua, la región donde Augusto César Sandino y su ejército campesino habían librado una guerra de guerrillas contra Estados Unidos unas dos décadas antes. Su infancia y las experiencias de su familia reflejaron la extrema pobreza, la falta de atención médica y el sistema educativo deficiente que padecieron los campesinos nicaragüenses bajo la dictadura de Somoza, apoyada por Estados Unidos. Cuando tenía un año, Tina cayó en un horno de procesamiento de caña de azúcar, quemándose los pies y apenas sobreviviendo. Debido a este accidente, sería la única niña de la familia que tendría zapatos. Al igual que sus padres, no pudo asistir a la escuela y fue analfabeta durante su juventud.

A los 15 años, Tina conoció a José Ángel Pérez, su “compañero de vida”. En 1963, la pareja se casó y al año siguiente tuvieron su primera hija, María Zunilda, quien contrajo polio a los dos años y medio. María Zunilda sobrevivió, pero quedó con una discapacidad en una pierna de por vida. Su segundo hijo, Osmar, falleció por una sobredosis de anestesia a los 6 años. Tras el nacimiento de María Zunilda y Osmar, Tina y José Ángel tuvieron cuatro hijos más: José María (o Chema), Osmar (nombrado en honor a su hermano mayor fallecido), Julia Marina y Aracely de la Concepción. En total, Tina también sufrió cinco abortos espontáneos.

Las vidas de la familia Pérez, de otros campesinos, trabajadores y estudiantes de toda Nicaragua comenzaron a cambiar a finales de la década de 1970. Por supuesto, esta revolución fue obra suya. José Ángel comenzó a asistir a talleres de concientización impartidos por un joven sacerdote llamado Gustavo Martínez en Achuapa, el pueblo más cercano a su aldea. Le contaba a Tina lo que había aprendido sobre Carlos Fonseca y el Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN). Antes de estas conversaciones con Martínez, Tina y su familia habían sido persuadidos por las emisiones de radio propiedad de Somoza, que les habían enseñado que el FSLN “eran muy malos, enviados desde Cuba, donde comían niños y mataban a los ancianos”. Pronto, los Muchachos, como los campesinos llamaban a los jóvenes guerrilleros del FSLN, se adentraron más en las montañas e identificaron a la familia Pérez como posibles colaboradores. Ante la creciente represión de la Guardia Somocista, Tina y José Ángel tomaron la arriesgada decisión de apoyar al FSLN y luchar por la liberación de Nicaragua.

Al principio, Tina enviaba comida o preparaba café para los Muchachos, con cuidado de limpiar inmediatamente las colillas para que la Guardia no sospechara de las alianzas de la familia Pérez. Con la dictadura de Somoza luchando por su supervivencia, la Guardia realizó limpiezas para torturar y, a menudo, asesinar a simpatizantes del FSLN. Después, Tina y José Ángel confeccionaron brazaletes para los guerrilleros con tela negra y roja, un claro símbolo de compromiso revolucionario si la Guardia los hubiera descubierto. La casa de los Pérez se convirtió en un refugio para los Muchachos mientras lanzaban ataques contra la Guardia por las montañas y pueblos de la región.

Los sacrificios y riesgos asumidos por campesinos, trabajadores y guerrilleros en toda Nicaragua dieron sus frutos el 17 de julio de 1979, cuando Anastasio “Tachito” Somoza Debayle, el tercer miembro de su despótica familia en gobernar Nicaragua, huyó del país. Dos días después, los sandinistas tomaron Managua y comenzaron a construir un gobierno soberano, un estado que realmente beneficiaría al pueblo nicaragüense. Tina y su familia se dedicaron a la creación de una nueva Nicaragua.

En su biografía, Tina señaló que la Campaña Nacional de Alfabetización de 1980 fue particularmente importante para los campesinos. Casi 60.000 estudiantes de secundaria y universitarios, 30.000 adultos y equipos de maestros cubanos se desplegaron por el campo y barrios urbanos previamente desatendidos para fomentar la alfabetización y la conciencia política de los nicaragüenses comunes. Ismael Fernández, un educador cubano, se quedó con la familia Pérez y les enseñó mientras sus compatriotas construían la primera escuela en la comunidad. Tina comentó sobre la experiencia: “La campaña de Alfabetización nos sacó de la oscuridad en la cual estábamos sumergidos.” En cinco meses, el analfabetismo se redujo drásticamente del 50 % al 15 % y la educación política ayudó a consolidar la visión del FSLN para Nicaragua.

La Revolución Sandinista también mejoró la situación económica de la familia Pérez y otros campesinos nicaragüenses cuando el FSLN emprendió la reforma agraria. En 1983, el FSLN distribuyó las tierras del exteniente de la Guardia, Antonio Palacios, en El Lagartillo, a la familia Pérez y a otros campesinos que antes no tenían tierras. Ese mismo año, José Ángel viajó a la hermana república de Cuba para estudiar cooperativas, y los campesinos de los alrededores de El Lagartillo formaron la Cooperativa Santiago Arauz Reyes. Los cooperativistas comenzaron a trabajar la tierra colectivamente, recibiendo por primera vez las cosechas de su trabajo.

Para deshacer estos avances, el imperialismo estadounidense, la ex Guardia Civil, los terratenientes y la burguesía nicaragüense —quienes se beneficiaron del sistema anterior— comenzaron a organizar a la Contra. Estos paramilitares asesinaron civiles, violaron mujeres y atacaron clínicas de salud, cooperativas y otras formas de progreso social apoyadas por el gobierno sandinista. En noviembre de 1984, comenzaron a aterrorizar los alrededores de El Lagartillo, secuestrando campesinos y profiriendo amenazas de muerte. “La Contra andaba muy cerca, moviéndose como una manada de perros ensangrentados, queriendo matar a los campesinos,” escribió Tina.

En la mañana del 31 de diciembre de 1984, llegó el temido ataque. 150 contras rodearon El Lagartillo y dispararon bombas y artillería pesada contra el pueblo. Con pocas armas a su disposición, 14 miembros de la comunidad se quedaron para permitir que las mujeres y los niños huyeran por el terreno rocoso. “Fue infernal – mujeres y niños gritando, llorando,” describió Tina. “No sabíamos dónde íbamos. Era tan precipitado que teníamos que dejar caer los niños para ser agarrados por la gente que estaba abajo.” Sin embargo, la hija de Tina, Zunilda – de 20 años, muralista que encontró tintes en los bosques alrededor de su casa y sobreviviente de la polio – permaneció. Tomó un rifle y ocupó su posición de combate en la parte sur del pueblo.

El grupo tardó tres horas en bajar la montaña. Esperaron todo el día noticias de lo sucedido en El Lagartillo. Finalmente, un camión bajó para dejar los cadáveres en el centro de salud. Tina escribió: “Hubo seis muertos de la cooperativa: Tres adultos, Jose Angel Rameiro Bravo y Encarnación Palma; dos jóvenes de catorce años, Reynaldo Ramírez y Javier Pérez (mi sobrino: y mi hija Zunilda de 20 años.”

Mientras Tina lloraba la pérdida de sus seres queridos y la cooperativa intentaba reconstruirse, los brigadistas viajaron a la comunidad para observar tanto la Revolución Sandinista como el impacto del imperialismo estadounidense. Tina asumió su rol como activista solidaria, recibiendo a cientos de visitantes y manteniendo viva la memoria de José Ángel y Zunilda. En 1986, Witness for Peace ayudó a Tina a recorrer Estados Unidos y exponer las atrocidades que el gobierno de Reagan había cometido contra su familia y el pueblo nicaragüense. Escribió: “Hicimos todo lo que pudimos para parar la guerra para poder vivir en paz y dignidad. El viaje me ayudó mucho emocionalmente. Contando mi historia, compartiendo mi tragedia una y otra vez me ayudó muchísimo. También me ayudó a sentir que sus muertes no pasaron inadvertidas.” Tina finalmente publicó su propia autobiografía, La Vida de Tina, y su historia es una parte central de Nicaragua: Sobreviviendo al legado de la política estadounidense, de Paul Dix.

A pesar de los grandes esfuerzos de los sandinistas por construir una nueva sociedad, las atrocidades del imperialismo estadounidense acabaron desgastando a la población nicaragüense, que eligió a Violeta Chamorro, apoyada por Estados Unidos, para detener la guerra. “Para mí, ésto fue el peor golpe en la entera la lucha por la liberación,” escribió Tina. “Fue incluso peor que cuando perdí mi familia porque sus muertes fue lo que yo perdí personalmente. La pérdida de la revolución fue la pérdida de la libertad de todo el país.”

El gobierno neoliberal de Violeta Chamorro revirtió las victorias de la Revolución, privatizando los recursos públicos y restituyendo a los grandes terratenientes a sus posiciones anteriores en la sociedad nicaragüense. En El Lagartillo, esta contrarrevolución implicó vender tierras para pagar la matrícula universitaria, largas caminatas para obtener agua potable y un estancamiento general del progreso social. A principios de la década de 2000, en respuesta al empeoramiento de las condiciones económicas, los jóvenes de El Lagartillo —en esencia, los primos de Zunilda— fundaron la escuela de idiomas Hijos del Maíz, utilizando un modelo cooperativo inspirado en el ejemplo de sus padres de la década de 1980.

Visité El Lagartillo por primera vez en 2017 como parte de este programa, atraído por las descripciones de la historia cooperativa del pueblo en el sitio web de la escuela. Llegué a Nicaragua con algunas ideas preconcebidas sobre la situación actual del país. Aunque yo era escéptico ante las descripciones del Sur Global que el imperialismo hacía del país, había leído en fuentes confiables de izquierda la narrativa típica de que el FSLN había regresado al poder, pero se había convertido en la maquinaria política personal del presidente Daniel Ortega. Según prácticamente cualquier medio de comunicación estadounidense, el FSLN era indistinguible de sus anteriores oponentes y todos los verdaderos sandinistas habían abandonado el partido.

Pasé una noche en Managua, observando las estatuas iluminadas de Hugo Chávez y el Árbol de la Vida, que representan la visión del gobierno actual, antes de tomar varias camionetas y autobuses para finalmente llegar a El Lagartillo. Inicialmente me alojé con Fermín y Rufín, una pareja de ancianos que sobrevivió al ataque y vivía a pocas casas del mural de los 7 mártires (los seis que murieron en El Lagartillo, además del internacionalista suizo Maurice Demierre, quien había ayudado a la cooperativa antes de ser asesinado en otro ataque de la Contra). Este lugar también marca el lugar donde Zunilda murió protegiendo a su familia y a la cooperativa. Lisbeth — mi primera profesora de español, hija de Fermín y Rufín, y nuera de Tina — rápidamente desmintió cualquier idea de ruptura entre la lucha de los años ochenta y el proyecto actual del FSLN. Durante las clases de español en cabañas a pocos metros del mural, explicó las continuas transformaciones sociales de Nicaragua.

El regreso de Daniel Ortega a la presidencia en 2007 marcó el inicio de la segunda etapa de la Revolución Sandinista. El progreso ha sido gradual, pero sustancial para el ciudadano común nicaragüense. Una clínica móvil visitaba la comunidad una vez por semana, facilitando la atención médica a mujeres y niños de pueblos en las profundidades de las montañas. Estudiantes de El Lagartillo asistían gratuitamente a universidades en León y Managua para convertirse en médicos e ingenieros. El acceso a la electricidad, el agua potable y los techos mejoró significativamente. La sinuosa carretera que atravesaba las montañas hacia El Lagartillo había sido repavimentada por primera vez en una generación, simplificando los viajes y el comercio.

Parafraseando a mi otra profesora, Norma, cuyo hermano Javier, de 14 años, murió durante el ataque: Solo quienes nunca han vivido sin estas necesidades básicas no pueden comprender la diferencia que suponen. Contrario a los artículos de la prensa occidental sobre los sandinistas de alto perfil que habían abandonado el FSLN, quienes vivían en el campo, quienes habían derramado sangre para ganar y defender la Revolución, continuaron con El Frente.

Me mudé a casa de Tina el 30 de octubre de 2017, el día de mi 25 cumpleaños. La había visto varias veces de pasada durante mis dos primeros meses en El Lagartillo, guardando un silencio absoluto por miedo a faltarle el respeto a una leyenda. Como me quedaba un mes, Lisbeth quería que tuviera la oportunidad de aprender de ella. Esa primera noche, le expliqué que últimamente no había podido dormir y Tina me preparó el remedio — un té de canela y hojas de naranja — que usaba para relajarse en los años posteriores al ataque, durante su duelo. Durante ese tiempo, José Ángel y Zunilda aparecían con frecuencia en sus sueños. Mientras bebíamos este té, Tina empezó a hacerme todas las preguntas necesarias para fomentar la confianza y la amistad entre culturas: ¿Te pareces más a tu madre o a tu padre? ¿Eres cercana a tu hermano? ¿Cómo es Nueva York? ¿Por qué no te casas todavía?

Todo un mundo fluía dentro y a través de la cocina de Tina. Con su cabello negro recogido y probablemente vestida con su color favorito, el morado, Tina se movía entre la estufa de leña, el fregadero y la mesa, preparando el desayuno, el almuerzo y la cena. Todas las mañanas, Radio Estelí publicaba noticias, consejos de salud y cumpleaños en la región. Su hijo Chema, su nieto Gabriel y otros trabajadores agrícolas traían leche, maíz, verduras y otras cosechas de la milpa. En manos de Tina y las muchas mujeres que la ayudaban, esos productos se convertían en cuajada (un queso tradicional), tortillas, jugos y gallo pinto (el plato nacional de Nicaragua): el combustible de la comunidad. Sus sobrinos y sobrinas nietas corrían por la puerta principal y trasera jugando a la mancha mientras perros y gatos aparecían en busca de algo de comida. Ancianos de las profundidades de las montañas llegaban a su porche para tomar un café y presentar sus respetos.

Al caer la noche y cuando todo el pueblo regresaba a sus casas a ver telenovelas o béisbol, la familia de Tina seguía conversando. Su hijo Chema, quien se había convertido en líder de una cooperativa al igual que su padre, me preguntaba sobre geopolítica y los últimos esfuerzos del imperialismo estadounidense para reprimir la lucha popular. Su sobrino Juan, bibliotecario de la escuela de idiomas y parapléjico que sobrevivió al ataque arrastrándose por un túnel, describía a todos los brigadistas y mochileros que habían pasado por El Lagartillo.

Había una seriedad especial cuando Tina contaba historias de la fundación de El Lagartillo, equilibrando anécdotas humorísticas sobre animales de granja rebeldes con el terror de esperar el eventual ataque de la Contra. Con una sonrisa que dejaba ver su diente de plata, ¡siempre hablaba de lo frío que era Michigan! Una vez, sacó un álbum lleno de fotos de internacionalistas de todo Estados Unidos y Europa que se habían alojado con ella. José Ángel y Zunilda y todos los mártires de la Revolución vivieron en sus historias.

En abril de 2018, el imperialismo estadounidense y la sociedad nicaragüense afín a él se organizaron una vez más para socavar al FSLN. Los medios estadounidenses publicaron los informes del Departamento de Estado sobre la represión gubernamental de las protestas, a la vez que censuraron por completo cómo matones a sueldo atacaban e incluso asesinaban a sandinistas. Recibí rápidamente mensajes de Facebook y WhatsApp de mis amigos de El Lagartillo, perplejos y enojados por esta mala fabricación de la verdad. Visité El Lagartillo ese julio para verlo con mis propios ojos, hablando con sobrevivientes de los sangrientos bloqueos callejeros. Por primera vez desde la guerra, miembros de la comunidad patrullaban El Lagartillo para garantizar su seguridad.

Sobre todo, recuerdo la confusión de Tina cuando me preguntó qué había pasado con todos los activistas estadounidenses y europeos que habían visitado El Lagartillo y habían aprendido de su lucha. ¿Dónde estaba la solidaridad ahora que Nicaragua estaba nuevamente bajo ataque? En ese viaje, me uní a los Amigos de la ATC, una red de solidaridad antiimperialista que apoya a la Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo (ATC) de Nicaragua. La ATC había organizado a los campesinos contra la dictadura de Somoza, había ayudado a implementar la reforma agraria en El Lagartillo y en toda Nicaragua, y había continuado desarrollando cooperativas agrícolas en las décadas posteriores a la Revolución. Tina y la ATC me revelaron la importancia de la lucha prolongada. El internacionalismo no es un acto único, sino un compromiso de por vida con la oposición al imperialismo. Un internacionalista debe construir solidaridad tanto en las revueltas como en las crisis, al igual que la ATC había continuado organizando a los campesinos durante la revolución y la contrarrevolución.

En mi tercer viaje, entre diciembre de 2018 y enero de 2019, acompañé a Tina a la Caminata, una recreación anual de cómo huyeron las mujeres y los niños durante el ataque a Achuapa. Al amanecer del 31 de diciembre, la familia de Tina, los miembros de la comunidad y los perros se reunieron frente a su casa. Luego descendimos por un infierno de maleza, rocas y un sendero sin pavimentar antes de desayunar en las piedras de un arroyo. Tina, con un palo y un gran sombrero para protegerse del sol, nos condujo al cementerio de Achuapa, donde residen su esposo y su hija. Después, todos nos apretujamos en una camioneta para regresar a El Lagartillo. Se sentó frente al mural con los retratos de su esposo e hija mientras los jóvenes de El Lagartillo cantaban música revolucionaria y realizaban danzas tradicionales para conmemorar a los mártires. Con la llegada del Año Nuevo, El Lagartillo comió nacatamales y lanzó fuegos artificiales.

El 10 de abril de 2024, a los 75 años, Tina falleció en Managua tras un ataque de alergia. Tras una caravana de camionetas, motocicletas y un autobús prestado por la empresa local, El Lagartillo la enterró en Achuapa junto a José Ángel y Zunilda. Su vida ejemplificó la verdad de que «El pueblo, y solo el pueblo, es la fuerza motriz que forja la historia del mundo».

Así como Tina preservó la memoria de su esposo e hija, sus numerosos seres queridos perpetúan su legado revolucionario.

En palabras de su nieta, Angélica Webster Pérez: “El único consuelo que tengo es que Mamá Tina siempre nos enseñó que nuestros queridos difuntos siempre nos cuidaban: todos los nietos fuimos criados con ese amor, esa presencia y ese respeto hacia la tía Zunilda y Papá Chango, aunque ninguno de nosotros los conocimos en vida. Y bueno, al menos el dolor se alivia un poco al saber que se ha reunido con ellos.

Quienes conocieron a Mamá Tina, o su historia, saben que era una leyenda y me siento muy, muy orgullosa de llevar su sangre, y sé que nos aseguraremos de que la próxima generación también lo sea.”

Florentina Pérez Calderón – ¡Presente, Presente, Presente!

#International #Nicaragua #Sandinista #Remembrances

Los Angeles, CA – April 10 marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Florentina Pérez Calderón, a champion of internationalism, a staunch defender of the Sandinista People’s Revolution and a beloved leader within the peasant community of El Lagartillo, Nicaragua. With her steadfastness and sacrifice, Tina (as she was known by those who loved her) left a model of life for those of us who struggle for revolution and liberation.

Tina was born on June 20, 1948, and grew up in the mountains of northern Nicaragua, the region where Augusto César Sandino and his peasant army had waged a guerrilla war against the United States about two decades before. Her childhood and the experiences of her family reflected the intense poverty, lack of healthcare and broken educational system that Nicaraguan campesinos endured under the U.S.-backed Somoza dictatorship. When she was one, Tina fell into an oven for processing sugar cane, burning her feet and barely surviving. Due to this accident, she would be the only child to have shoes in her family. Like her parents, she was unable to attend school and was illiterate during her youth.

At 15, Tina met José Ángel Pérez, her “compañero for life.” In 1963, the couple married and the following year they had their first child, Maria Zunilda, who contracted polio at two-and-a-half years old. Maria Zunilda survived but had a leg impairment for the rest of her life. Her second child Osmar passed away from an overdose of anesthesia when he was six years old. After the births of Maria Zunilda and Osmar, Tina and José Ángel went on to have four more children: José Maria (or Chema), Osmar (named in honor of his deceased older brother), Julia Marina, and Aracely de la Concepción. In total, Tina also suffered five miscarriages.

The lives of the Pérez family, other campesinos, workers and students across Nicaragua began to change in the late 1970s. Of course, this revolution was of their own making. José Ángel started attending consciousness-raising workshops led by a young priest named Gustavo Martinez in Achuapa, the closest town to their village. He would bring back to Tina what he learned about Carlos Fonseca and the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). Before these conversations with Martinez, Tina and her family had been persuaded by Somoza-owned radio broadcasts, which had taught them that the FSLN “were very bad, sent from Cuba where they ate children and killed old people.” Soon los Muchachos, as campesinos referred to the young guerilla fighters of the FSLN, penetrated deeper into the mountains and identified the Pérez family as potential collaborators. In the face of increasing repression by Somoza’s Guardia, Tina and José Angel made the life-threatening decision to support the FSLN and take a stand for the liberation of Nicaragua.

At first, Tina sent food or prepared coffee for the Muchachos, being careful to immediately clean up their cigarette butts so that the Guardia wouldn’t suspect the Pérez family’s allegiances. With the Somoza dictatorship fighting for its survival, the Guardia conducted limpiezas, clean-up operations to torture and often kill FSLN supporters. Next, Tina and José Angel made armbands for the guerillas out of black and red cloth, a clear symbol of revolutionary commitment if the Guardia had ever discovered them. The Pérez home became a safehouse for the Muchachos as they waged attacks on the Guardia throughout the mountains and towns of the region.

The sacrifices and risks taken by peasants, workers and guerillas throughout Nicaragua bore fruit on July 17, 1979, when Anastasio “Tachito” Somoza Debayle, the third member of his despotic family to rule Nicaragua, fled the country. Two days later, the Sandinistas claimed Managua and began constructing a sovereign government, a state that would actually benefit the Nicaraguan people. Tina and her family devoted themselves to the creation of a new Nicaragua.

In her biography, Tina noted that the National Literacy Campaign in 1980 was particularly important for campesinos. Nearly 60,000 high school and university students, 30,000 adults and teams of Cuban teachers spread across the countryside and previously neglected urban neighborhoods to raise the literacy and political consciousness of common Nicaraguans. Ismael Fernandez, a Cuban educator, stayed with and taught the Pérez family while his countrymen built the first school in the community. Tina said of the experience, “The Literacy Crusade lifted us out of the darkness in which we were submerged.” In five months, illiteracy plummeted from 50% to 15% and the political education helped consolidate the country to FSLN’s vision for Nicaragua.

The Sandinista Revolution also improved the economic status for the Pérez family and other Nicaraguan campesinos when the FSLN undertook the process of agrarian reform. In 1983, the FSLN distributed the land of former Guardia lieutenant, Antonio Palacios, in El Lagartillo to the Pérez family and other once-landless peasants. That same year José Angel traveled to the sister republic of Cuba to study cooperatives, and the peasants around El Lagartillo formed la Cooperativa Santiago Arauz Reyes. Cooperative members began working the land collectively, receiving the harvests of their labor for the first time.

To undo these breakthroughs, U.S. imperialism, former Guardia, large landowners and the Nicaraguan bourgeoise – those who benefited from the previous system – started organizing the Contras. These paramilitaries killed civilians, raped women and targeted health care clinics, cooperatives and other forms of social progress supported by the Sandinista government. In November of 1984, they started terrorizing the areas around El Lagartillo, kidnapping campesinos and leaving death threats. “The Contras were very close, moving like a pack of bloody dogs, wanting to kill all of the campesinos,” wrote Tina.

In the morning of December 31, 1984, the feared attack arrived. 150 Contras encircled El Lagartillo and fired off bombs and heavy artillery at the village. With few arms at their disposal, 14 community members stayed to allow the women and children to flee through rocky terrain. “It was like hell – women and children screaming, crying,” described Tina. “We didn’t know where we were going. There were drops so steep that we had to drop the children to people waiting below.” However, Tina’s daughter Zunilda – 20 years old, a muralist who found dyes in the woods around her home and a survivor of polio – remained. She grabbed a rifle and occupied her combat position in the southern part of the village.

It took three hours for the group to descend the mountain. They waited all day for news of what had happened in El Lagartillo. Eventually, a truck made its way down to leave cadavers at the health clinic. Tina wrote, “There were six dead from the cooperative: three adults, José Ángel, Ramiro Bravo and Encarnación Palma; two 14-year-old boys, Reynaldo Ramirez and Javier Pérez (my nephew); and my daughter Zunilda, 20 years old. We laid all of our dead out in the church. It hurt my very soul to see little Javier with his head split open.”

As Tina mourned the loss of her loved ones and the cooperative attempted to rebuild itself, brigadistas traveled to the community to observe both the Sandinista Revolution and the impact of U.S. imperialism.

Tina transitioned into her role as a solidarity activist, hosting hundreds of visitors and keeping the memory of José Angel and Zunilda alive. In 1986, Witness for Peace helped Tina tour the United States and expose the atrocities that Reagan’s government had committed against her family and the Nicaraguan people. She wrote, “We did all we could in the interest of stopping the war so that we could live in peace and dignity. The trip helped me very much emotionally. Telling my story, sharing my tragedy over and over again was helpful. It also helped me feel that their deaths would not go unnoticed.” Tina eventually published her own autobiography, La Vida de Tina and her story is a central part of Nicaragua: Surviving the Legacy of U.S. Policy by Paul Dix.

Despite the best efforts of the Sandinistas to construct a new society, U.S. imperialism’s atrocities eventually wore down the Nicaraguan population, which elected the U.S.-backed Violeta Chamorro in order to stop the war. “For me, this was the worst blow in the entire struggle for liberation,” wrote Tina. “It was even worse than when I lost my family, because their deaths were my personal loss; the loss of the revolution was the loss of freedom for my entire country.”

The neoliberal government of Violeta Chamorro rolled back the victories of the revolution, privatizing public resources and restoring large landowners to their previous positions within Nicaragua society. In El Lagartillo, this counterrevolution meant having to sell land to afford university tuition, long hikes to obtain potable water, and a general halt in social progress. In the early 2000s, responding to worsening economic conditions, young people within El Lagartillo – essentially the cousins of Zunilda – founded the Hijos del Maiz language school, using a cooperative-based model inspired by their parents’ example from the 1980s.

I visited El Lagartillo for the first time in 2017 as part of this program, attracted by the descriptions of the village’s cooperative history on the school’s website. I arrived in Nicaragua with some preconceptions about the country’s current state; while always skeptical of imperialism’s descriptions of the Global South, I had read from reliable left sources the typical narrative that the FSLN were back in power but had converted into President Daniel Ortega’s personal political machine. According to pretty much any U.S. news outlet, the FSLN was indistinguishable from their previous opponents and all true Sandinistas had left the party.

I spent one night in Managua, passing by the illuminated Hugo Chavez and Tree of Life statues that represent the current government’s vision, before taking a series of vans and buses to finally get to El Lagartillo. I initially stayed with Fermin and Rufin, an elderly couple who had survived the attack and lived a few houses down from the mural for the seven martyrs (the six who died at El Lagartillo as well as the Swiss internationalist Maurice Demierre who had helped the cooperative before being killed in a separate Contra attack). This spot also marks the location where Zunilda died protecting her family and cooperative. Lisbeth – my first Spanish teacher, Fermin and Rufin’s daughter, and Tina’s daughter-in-law – quickly dispelled any notion of a rupture between the struggle from the 1980s and the FSLN’s current project. During Spanish lessons in cabins a few feet away from that mural, she explained Nicaragua’s ongoing social transformations.

The return of Daniel Ortega to the presidency in 2007 had in fact commenced the second stage of the Sandinista Revolution. Progress has been incremental but substantial for ordinary Nicaraguans. A mobile clinic visited the community once a week, making health care possible for women and children from villages deep within the mountains. Students from El Lagartillo were attending – for free – universities in Leon and Managua to become doctors and engineers. Access to electricity, potable water and roofing significantly improved. The winding highway through the mountains to El Lagartillo had been repaved for the first time in a generation, simplifying travel and commerce.

To paraphrase my other professor Norma, whose 14-year-old brother Javier had died during the attack: Only those who have never lived without these basic necessities could not understand the difference they make. Contrary to the hit pieces in the Western press about high-profile “Sandinistas” who had abandoned the FSLN, those in the countryside, those who had shed blood to both win and defend the Revolution, continued with El Frente.

I moved into Tina’s house on October 30, 2017, my 25th birthday. I had met her a few times in passing during my first two months in El Lagartillo, keeping extremely quiet in fear of disrespecting a legend. As I had one month left, Lisbeth wanted me to have the opportunity to learn from her. On that first night, I explained that I hadn’t been able to sleep lately and Tina prepared me the remedy – a cinnamon and orange leaf tea – that she used to relax herself in the years after the attack as she grieved. During that time, José Ángel and Zunilda regularly returned in her dreams. As we sipped this tea, Tina began asking me all the necessary questions that build trust and friendship across cultures: Do you look more like your mother or your dad? Are you close with your brother? What’s New York like? Why aren’t you married yet?

A whole world flowed within and through Tina’s kitchen. With her black hair pulled back and most likely wearing her favorite color purple, Tina moved between her wood stove, sink and table, preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every morning Radio Esteli publicized news updates, health tips and birthdays in the region. Her son Chema, grandson Gabriel and other agricultural workers brought milk, corn, vegetables and other harvests from the milpa. In the hands of Tina and the many women who helped her, those products became cuajada (a traditional cheese), tortillas, juices and gallo pinto (the national dish of Nicaragua) – the fuel for the community. Great-nieces and nephews ran through the front and back door playing tag while dogs and cats showed up to find a scrap of food. Elders from deep within the mountains arrived at her porch for a cup of coffee and to pay their respects.

When the night would settle and the whole village had returned to their homes to watch novelas or beisbol, Tina’s family would keep conversing. Her son Chema, who had become a leader in a cooperative just like his father, asked me about geopolitics and the latest efforts by U.S. imperialism to roll back the people’s struggle. Her nephew Juan, the language school’s librarian and a paraplegic who had survived the attack by dragging himself in a tunnel, described all the brigadistas and backpackers who had come through El Lagartillo.

There was a special gravity as Tina recounted stories of El Lagartillo’s founding, balancing humorous anecdotes about unruly farm animals with the terror of expecting the eventual attack by the Contras. With a grin that exposed her silver tooth, she would always talk about how cold Michigan was! Once she came out with an album full with photos of internationalists from across the U.S. and Europe who had stayed with her. José Ángel and Zunilda and all the martyrs of the Revolution lived in her stories.

In April 2018, U.S. imperialism, and those from Nicaraguan society aligned with it, once again organized to undermine the FSLN. U.S. media published the state department’s reports of the government cracking down on protests while completely censoring how paid thugs were attacking and even killing Sandinistas. I quickly received Facebook and WhatsApp messages from my friends in El Lagartillo, perplexed and angry about this fabrication. I visited that July to see for myself, speaking with survivors of the bloody street blockades. For the first time since the war, community members patrolled El Lagartillo to keep it safe.

Most of all, I remember Tina’s confusion as she asked me what had happened to all the American and European activists who had visited El Lagartillo and learned from their struggle. Where was the solidarity now that Nicaragua was once again under attack? On that trip, I joined the Friends of the ATC, an anti-imperialist solidarity network that supports Nicaragua’s Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo (Rural Workers’ Organization or ATC).

The ATC had organized peasants against the Somoza dictatorship, helped implement land reform in El Lagartillo and across Nicaragua and continued developing agricultural cooperatives in the decades after the Revolution. Tina and the ATC revealed to me the importance of protracted struggle. Internationalism is not a single act but a life-long commitment to opposing imperialism. An internationalist must build solidarity in both upsurges and downturns, just as the ATC had continued to organize peasants during both revolution and counter-revolution.

On my third trip in December 2018 and January 2019, I accompanied Tina for the caminata, an annual re-creation of how the women and children fled during the attack to Achuapa. As the sun came up on December 31, Tina’s family, community members and dogs gathered outside her house. We then descended through the infierno – a hell of wild brush, boulders and unpaved path – before eating breakfast on the stones within a creek. Tina, with a walking stick and a big hat to protect her from the sun, led us to the cemetery in Achuapa where her husband and daughter reside. We then all squeezed into a pickup truck to get back to El Lagartillo. She sat in front of the mural with her husband and daughter’s portraits as El Lagartillo’s youth sang revolutionary music and performed traditional dance to commemorate the martyrs. As the New Year arrived, El Lagartillo ate nacatamales and shot off fireworks.

On April 10, 2024, at the age of 75, Tina passed away in Managua after a bout with an allergy. Following a caravan of pickup trucks, motorcycles, and a bus loaned from the local company, El Lagartillo laid Tina to rest in Achuapa alongside José Angel and Zunilda. Her life exemplified the truth that “The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.”

Just as Tina preserved the memory of her husband and daughter, her many loved ones carry forward her revolutionary legacy.

In the words of her granddaughter, Angélica Webster Perez, “The only consolation I have is that Mama Tina always taught us that our beloved deceased were always taking care of us: all of us grandchildren were raised with that love, knowledge of presence and respect towards Aunt Zunilda and Papa Chango, although none of us had met them in life. And well, at least the pain is relieved a little knowing that he has reunited with them.

 “Those who knew Mama Tina, or her story, know that she was a ‘complete legend’, and I feel so, so proud to carry her blood, and I know that we will ensure that the next generation will be too.”

 ¡Florentina Pérez Calderón – Presente, presente, presente!

#LosAngelesCA #CA #International #Nicaragua #Sandinistas #Remembrances

Rhize joined the organization after the conclusion of the March on the DNC in Milwaukee in 2020. She brought a combination of experiences, perspectives and skills to the table as an activist and comrade.

Despite her many medical challenges and the cruelty of a capitalist system that doesn't care for disabled people, comrade Rhize made every effort physically possible to contribute to the movement for a better future for all. She was a dedicated and studious general member of FRSO, demonstrating a great willingness to learn and grow to better serve the people.

Comrade Rhize belonged to the Milwaukee branch of Jewish Voices for Peace, the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. She could also be found at many actions hosted by other groups and organizations, serving typically either as a medic or as a car marshal during marches.

In this historical moment, comrade Rhize would perhaps most want to be remembered as an anti-Zionist Jew who stood resolutely for the liberation of Palestine. She demonstrated that resolve through her practice in the capacity she was able.

Rhize will be missed by her comrades, the activists who knew her, her friends, and her family.

Rhize, ¡Presente!

#WI #Remembrances #FRSO

Note: For memorial service details, see end of article.

Dallas, TX – Kawana Scott Menchaca, a community organizer from Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, passed away last weekend, having been found in the early hours of Sunday, July 14ᵗʰ. She is known to be profoundly sharp, intellectually effusive, driven by a craving for justice, and undeniably brave in fighting for a more just and humane world. She leaves behind her husband, Nicolas Menchaca, her parents Antione and Trenell, her two brothers Anderson and Langston, and a constellation of friends and community members all reeling from this news.

Born in Opelika, Alabama on November 15, 1992, Kawana departed this world before turning 32 this year. She had a passion for public health, and in the truest sense wanted everyone to receive quality healthcare, and for that to be a guaranteed human right. A graduate of Prairie View A&M University, she continued her education at the Baylor School of Public Health and worked for Tarrant County to improve equitable access to medical resources. Even as her own health suffered, she fought for the health of others.

Kawana was rebellious to her core, from her defiant personal aesthetic – an inspiration to everyone who gets it – to being a community leader in the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (NAARPR) as well as Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). She’d held vigils for victims slain by police violence, led marches and delivered speeches, and fought for complete and democratic community control of the police across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. “She would come through on a moment's notice. She always told her friends she loved us,” says Sydney Loving, chair of the Dallas branch of NAARPR, “She was a really great friend, and she was also a great comrade. She put in work when not many others would – when there was no glory to be had.”

There were many sides to Kawana: She was a science fiction nerd, who loved the Lovecraft mythos (embracing the terror Lovecraft felt of people of color), anime, and space travel. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of professional wrestling. She could cook and impress with everything from Indonesian noodles to corned beef and cabbage. She had a deep love of African culture, discernible from her taste in music to the orisha tattoo she wore. Kawana was always overflowing with creativity, with knowledge, and with warmth. Her incredible wit was the kind of humor that could only come from someone as smart as she was and would endear her to anyone she revealed it to.

Organizers and activists around Dallas-Fort Worth are grieving this tremendous loss but cherish all the memories they have of her. Fellow organizer and close friend Daniel Sullivan looks back, “There was no one like Kawana. She was powerful, and a leader, but she was also a caretaker, the kind who brought snacks to every meeting. Everyone loved her, and she was brimming over with love. I had so many hopes for her, and I'm crushed to see her go so young. But now there is nothing more we can do for her but to carry on her work.”

Rest in Power, Comrade.

¡Kawana Scott Menchaca, Presente!

Service Details

Her memorial will be on Saturday, July 27ᵗʰ, 2024 The service starts 11:00 am (Central time) at:

First Methodist Mansfield 777 North Walnut Creek Drive, Mansfield, TX 76063

Community organizers in Dallas are also holding a commemoration 6pm on Sunday, July 28ᵗʰ, 2024 at:

White Rock Lake (Dreyfuss Club Point) 600 East Lawther Drive, Dallas, TX 75218

#DallasTX #TX #Opinion #Remembrances #OppressedNationalities #NAARPR #FRSO

Linda Hoover, a longtime member and former interim director of Women Against Military Madness, died on April 20, 2024. She was a longtime anti-racist, anti-war activist and a leading member of MPAC (Minnesota Peace Action Coalition) formerly the IPAC (Iraq Peace Action Coalition).

Linda will be greatly missed. She was a thoughtful, well informed, articulate, consistent, committed and principled activist and revolutionary. When she was involved in the campaign to stop the U.S./NATO war against Yugoslavia, she correctly understood and spoke frequently about it as an imperialist war. This was not commonly spoken of during rallies but because she was insistent and persistent, she was important in advancing this understanding in the anti-war movement.

Meredith Aby, a leader in the Anti-War Committee said, “Linda Hoover was a strong leader in the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition. I enjoyed working with her because she was a fierce anti-imperialist.”

Linda was also a teacher in her work life. She ran adult education programs, summer programs for youth and worked for the Loring Nicollet Bethlehem Center which offers a wide range of educational services for kids in grades two through six. She was always a strong advocate for the students and not afraid to be a thorn in the side of administrators when she encountered injustice.

Joe Callahan, member of MPAC and the Minnesota Cuba Committee shared this remembrance, “She chaired the Joe Callahan Support Committee meetings, though that committee only existed for a little over a year, thankfully.” Callahan’s trial on immigration charges ended in a victory for Joe and the movement. Callahan continued, “In addition to anti-war activities, she attended many other kinds of protests – anti-racist, Cuba solidarity and more.”

Linda was a voracious reader. Kristin Dooley, a volunteer at Mayday Books says, “She was a very good customer and a frequent customer. She especially liked books and articles by Samir Amin, an Egyptian economist.”

Michael Livingston, who alternated leading MPAC meetings with Linda recalls, “She was a founder and organizer of the Minnesota Marxist Book Club, a group that met regularly to read and discuss serious works of Marxist and Leninist theory.”

Despite her deteriorating health, she continued to rally and march as much as she could, accompanied by her son, Omari, who carries on the family legacy, as an important leader in the Twin Cities anti-war movement and in the Free Palestine Coalition.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #Remembrances #Presente #MPAC #IPAC #WAMM