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

Arlington, TX – In the evening hours of Thursday, April 27, Jennifer Rose Miller unexpectedly departed this world at the age of 30. Her friends, family and comrades are devastated by the news, knowing her to be incomparably kind, loving and unwavering in her commitment both to the struggle and to little Xavier, her beaming soon-to-be-seven-year-old son who she leaves behind. The center of her life was her son, her pride and joy. She often had to arrange childcare for him to allow her to lead marches. She is also survived by her younger brother, parents and many other family members who loved her so much. Jennifer's life was cut far too short, but it was a full and a poignant one.

Jennifer was born January 5, 1993 on the other side of the world in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to an American father and an Eritrean mother. Perhaps because of this, she had a keen sense of world affairs and a strong commitment to anti-imperialism. She was raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area of Texas, where she was a faithful member of the Orthodox church and held deep roots in the African American and Eritrean communities of Texas. She studied sociology and received her degree with the class of 2017 from the University of North Texas and has been a resolute and courageous activist ever since.

Jennifer had a sharp intellect and was a powerful writer, but she shone most as a speaker. Her charisma and force of personality allowed her to work any crowd and to lead even the largest protests, even as others attempted to divert things. Jennifer was creative and joyful and even a bit mischievous, with a laugh so warm and infectious. She also had a beautiful voice, even recording a few demo tracks with different artists. She was a central part of building up the Dallas branch of the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression throughout its earliest years, and she participated in the refounding of NAARPR as a national organization in 2019. Jennifer had been a member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and more recently she worked for the Texas Organizing Project up until her far too early passing.

Those who knew Jennifer casually may remember her most for her fierceness, but those who worked closely with her know that that fierceness sprang from a deep kindness. Jennifer was always there for friends or comrades who were struggling, always ready with a kind and sympathetic word, and always ready to listen without judgment. That kindness extended to a profound sense of protectiveness over the people who marched behind her.

During the George Floyd rebellion of 2020, she was an unmistakable force, leading thousands of protesters through the streets of Dallas demanding justice for all victims of police crimes in the city and across the country. In the face of an army of tanks, dozens of vehicles, and officers in riot gear, through a barrage of tear gas, rubber bullets, and concussion grenades, Jennifer never surrendered to political repression. She led the first chants to demand the resignation of now former police chief U. Renee Hall, who ordered the attack on the protest. The resulting political pressure dramatically changed the way that Dallas police manage protests.

Jennifer was an internationalist. She often spoke in defense of the Cuban Revolution and the Pink Tide. Many who knew her knew of her support for Irish reunification. She was a valued supporter of the Filipino national democratic movement. But next to her commitment to the liberation of African Americans, the cause with which she was most connected was the liberation of Palestine. On one memorable occasion, Jennifer spoke to a crowd of thousands of Palestine supporters and pointed out that the very same brand of tear gas used by the Zionist occupiers in Palestine had been fired at her and her son on the streets of Dallas.

A close friend and fellow organizer, Kyra, remembers the immense care Jennifer displayed towards others, “As long as I knew her, nobody was below receiving that type of love from her. She had such a fiery sense of justice; you could see it often overwhelmed her. Someone like that can't help but be dedicated to the struggles to uplift all people of the world.”

Looking back on the fierce speech Jennifer delivered during an earth-shattering protest after Nakba day in 2021, Dallas organizer Rick Majumdar said, “Jennifer was a friend of the people, she was a friend of Palestine.” There is no shortage of these memories. “I saw her joy in being not only a mother but a revolutionary,” said another organizer, Sam Martinez. Reminiscing about hearing Jennifer tell the birth story of her son, Sol Márquez of Centro CSO was “having such a good time with her,” she recalls, “I completely forgot I had a plane to catch. I almost missed it, but it would’ve been worth it to lose my flight, in such good company.” Her confidence, charm, and magnetism brought so many people together.

The community of progressives and activists throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area owe a great deal to this firebrand leader. Jennifer once said, “It's bigger than just me and my son. I want to create a better world and be one of the many millions who can spark the change that needs to happen.”

Jennifer knew that no fight was worth more than the fight for the liberation of all oppressed peoples, and we mourn the heavy loss from her death. Her brothers and sisters and all comrades in the struggle remember how precious tomorrow is, and how important it is to seize the time, to live life to the fullest, and to keep fighting while we can.

Rest in power, comrade.

¡Jennifer Rose Miller, presente!

A fundraiser is being organized by her family to support her son; donate at https://www.gofundme.com/f/jennifer-rose-miller

#ArlingtonTX #Remembrances #JenniferRoseMiller

Chicago, IL – We dip our banners of struggle for the civil and human rights icon, Harry Belafonte, who joined the ancestors yesterday, April 25, surrounded by family and friends in his New York City home. Belafonte was born in Harlem in 1927 and died at age 96. He always acknowledged that, “most of my family in Jamaica were plantation workers,” hence Day-O, or Banana Boat Song, had the lyrical line, “Come mister tally man, tally me bananas.”

Belafonte was a great artist who blossomed in an era that also spawned Paul Robeson, Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, and Sidney Poitier of the silver screen and stage. Belafonte and Robeson stood out especially as freedom fighters who were also blacklisted by the government for openly working with communists in the struggle for human rights and peace. He also marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was an outspoken champion of civil rights and workers’ rights to organize and strike. He supported the Campaign to Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners and was a staunch ally of ours in the anti-apartheid movement calling for the freedom of Nelson Mandela.

It is hard to find words of tribute that can capture the depth, brilliance and genius of Belafonte, who stood among the tallest trees in the great forest of freedom fighting artists from the mid passage and dusk of the 20th century to the dawn of the new millennium in the 21st century.

Belafonte summed up his philosophy of struggle in these words: “I would say that you are really responsible for the world in which you live. If others happen to come along and join you in the spirit of your endeavors and your objectives to make the world a better place, then you’re the richer for it.”

Harry Belafonte is survived by his wife, Pamela Frank; three daughters, Adriene Biesemeyer, Shari and Gina Belafonte; a son, David Belafonte; two stepchildren, Sarah and Lindsey Frank, as well as eight grandchildren.

#ChicagoIL #Remembrances #HarryBelafonte

Minneapolis, MN – Polly Mann, a leading force and giant in the Twin Cities anti-war movement, died on January 12, 2023 at the age of 103 in San Francisco, California where she had lived with her daughter Connie for a little over a year.

In 1981 she called her friend Marianne Hamilton, who in 2015 recalled, “The smartest thing anyone ever thought of and carried through with was a new name for war: military madness. Men who were against war had to flee the country to avoid arrest, so women protested in great numbers. Dear Polly gave us a name to live up to – Women Against Military Madness: WAMM.”

Hamilton and Mann knew that polls showed most women were anti-war but they needed an organization to challenge the current government’s spending priorities, from military spending to human services. They were also concerned about the ongoing threat of nuclear warfare. They wanted a place for women to become leaders who would demand a peaceful and just society.

Mann always thought big, made things happen and remained involved. Until just six months before she died, she was still sending ideas and suggestions to the WAMM newsletter editor.

Mann began her lifelong commitment to peace and justice during World War II. As a secretary with the U.S. Army, she witnessed soldiers bayonetting straw effigies of enemy soldiers yelling “Kill, kill, kill!” and she instantly and from then on knew she opposed war.

Her fierce and relentless activism to all U.S. wars, interventions, and occupations began with the Vietnam War. She was a field organizer in the Gene McCarthy campaign, was present on the streets during the police assault on protesters during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 and attended the Paris Peace talks in 1971 between the north Vietnamese and the U.S. with The Citizen Committee to End the War in Vietnam.

Mann was the first volunteer staff person in the WAMM office. She understood the importance of an office and staff to an organization and as a result she saw WAMM celebrate 40 years as a persistent anti-war presence opposing U.S. foreign policy. At times these were unpopular positions such as WAMM’s early decision to support Palestinians in their struggle for liberation, opposition to the U.S./NATO dismemberment of Yugoslavia and the U.S. involvement in the unsuccessful but destructive attempt at regime change in Syria.

Mann was very well informed, followed events closely and had a sharp and correct analysis and understanding of the depth and breadth of U.S. imperialism. She understood that capitalism was the root of U.S. wars at home and abroad. Her response to the injustices, oppression and violence perpetrated on both individuals as well as countries in the crosshairs of U.S. militarism was swift and strong which led her to immediate action.

She gave and organized support to countless people. Sara Olson, a current WAMM board member, recalls, “Once, while incarcerated, I requested what is called an ‘Olson Review.’ My so-called ‘counselor,’ a former Los Angeles County sheriff, a former member of a corrupt bunch if there ever was one, had to wait while I read my entire C file [criminal file]. I recall a letter Polly's husband wrote to the California attorney general, telling him he should see to it that the judge on my case in Los Angeles be disbarred and why he, Walter, thought so. Next, there was Polly's letter. As my counselor twisted and turned with frustration in his seat, I read her beautiful, well-turned phrases of support, tears streaming down my cheeks. While there are rarely good days in prison, for me, Polly's letter made it one of the best.”

Kim DeFranco, WAMM member and former organizer with the Welfare Rights Committee, said, “Polly Mann was a fierce supporter of the Welfare Rights Committee. Throughout her lifetime and when fighting for economic and social justice, she knew the importance of women having a better economic status in society. She knew women are the economic and social backbone and needed to be better supported by the government and society.” Mann made every effort to promote the Welfare Rights Committee while in WAMM, either by writing articles, joining the group at rallies, demonstrations and legislative committee hearings. When she could, she would encourage the Minnesota legislature to pass important bills that would improve the lives of poor and working families and women and their children. Polly Mann will be missed but her legacy will carry on for another century.”

One of WAMM and Mann’s first actions was to organize buses to New York state for the 1983 Seneca Women’s Encampment for Peace and Justice, to stop the scheduled deployment of cruise and Pershing II missiles from the Seneca Army Base to Europe.

Mann went on delegations to many countries including Cuba, Libya and the Philippines to see and hear firsthand the effects of U.S. foreign policy. She ran a spirited campaign for the Senate in 1988 with the slogan “Speak Truth to Power.” She helped initiate an ongoing weekly vigil in Saint Paul, Minnesota for justice in Palestine during the first Intifada in 1988. She joined the picket line at the Hormel strike in Austin, Minnesota and, as Susan Giesen recounts, “Guardsmen were blocking the street. She marched right up to the line, approached each guardsman, touched him gently on the shoulder and said, ‘I know you don’t want to be sent to Central America. I will do all I can to not let them send you there.’”

She was an excellent and prolific writer and not only wrote columns for the WAMM newsletter, Southside Pride and the Women’s Press for years but also plays including, Victoria Reincarnated, which was about Victoria Woodhull and her candidacy – even before women could vote – for the office of U.S. president.

She was a popular speaker at innumerable programs and rallies including at the Minnesota State Capitol for the March on the RNC in 2008.

Mann was a beloved, respected and dynamic leader. Erica Bouza said on the occasion of her 90th birthday, “Greatness is rare. Not many of us have encountered it; the courage to stand up for what you believe and the skill to lead and persuade others to pursue the dreams of social, racial, economic and gender justice are isolated virtues, given to the very few. She is gutsy, scholarly, practical and effective, a devoted friend and an inspiration to those who dream of freedom, equality and justice.”

Polly Mann Presente!

#MinneapolisMN #Remembrances #WomenAgainstMilitaryMadnessWAMM

First, we’d like to recognize the people that Fight Back! wrote about who passed away in 2022 and say in their honor: ¡presente!

• LAPD kills 2 inside of crowded store, 14-year-old dead
• Community leader Mel Reeves remembered in Minneapolis
• Minnesota: Protests follow police killing of Amir Locke
• FRSO leader condemns white supremacist murders in Buffalo, NY
• Grand Rapids cop executes youth from Congo
• Minnesota: Remembering Marie Braun’s commitment to peace and justice
• Twin Cities organizers memorialize 53 migrants who died in south Texas, press Senator Smith for immigrant rights action
• Minneapolis police murder Tekle Sundberg
• Colorado Springs demands justice for Dezarae Archuleta
• Padre José Landaverde: Presente!
• Freedom Road Socialist Organization mourns the passing of Jean Pestieau, of the Workers Party of Belgium
• FRSO: The contributions of Comrade Jose Ma. Sison will live forever!
• Among the first to lead this struggle: The legacy of Charlene Mitchell

And here are the exclusive interviews that Fight Back! published in 2022:

• Interview with Frank Chapman, of National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) as we start 2022
• Day 1 of Colorado King Soopers strike: Interview with a striker
• Activist explains why anti-war movement wants U.S. out of Ukraine
• Interview with Starbucks union organizer in New Orleans
• Interview with William Camacaro on the Workers’ Summit of the Americas
• Denver: Interview with wrongfully fired Chicano high school teacher Tim Hernández
• Interview with Venezuelan trade union leader Jacobo Torres de Leon
• Hope for Colombia: An interview with James Jordan about the election of Petro
• Interview with FRSO leader Masao Suzuki: The fight against national oppression and the struggle for socialism

In 2022, Fight Back! launched our own podcast! Here’s the article announcing the launch of the new podcast on International Workers Day, which incidentally was the most viewed article on fightbacknews.org all year! You can find links to the podcast on the main podcast platforms here - be sure to subscribe and check out all the episodes from 2022.

Also in 2022, Fight Back! printed a series of ‘red theory’ articles on the basics of Marxism-Leninism. Here is the article introducing the series. You can browse all the articles in the series here. There are plans to compile the articles into a book – watch for that in the new year!

Fight Back! reported on the 9th Congress of Freedom Road Socialist Organization this year, as well as the Workers and Communist Parties around the world that sent greetings to FRSO's 9th Congress.

Since there were so many Fight Back! articles covering important struggles this year, there’s no way we can include everything that was important in this review. So we’ll do the best we can by highlighting five of the most popular articles from each month of 2022.

January

• Florida Gov. DeSantis spreads lies, Jax community members disrupt his press conference
• Reflections on the 30th anniversary of the end of the Soviet socialist project
• Chicago: Community and labor organizations mobilize for voting rights
• WAMM still saying ‘No to war’ – 40th anniversary celebration
• Florida students protest anti-abortion bill at state capitol, disrupt House subcommittee meeting

February

• UPS Teamsters fight against wage cuts
• No U.S. war with Russia, end U.S. intervention in Ukraine
• Bigger than bomb threats: The political violence of national oppression
• Activists arrested at Florida state capitol for opposing abortion ban law
• Chicanos confront an LA Sheriff Department community meeting

March

• No to NATO
• Transgender rights: China advances while U.S. backslides
• PSUV 5th Congress held in Venezuela: Resistance, Rebirth, Revolution!
• Protest against torture in Illinois prisons
• Minneapolis teachers and education support professionals ratify contract after 20-day strike

April

• 2022 election in the Philippines: Repression and resistance
• 1000 rally, march: U.S. and Israel: Hands off Jerusalem!
• Students fight back against Florida’s ‘Don’t say gay bill’
• Celebrate International Workers Day, May 1, 2022
• Tampa’s housing crisis and the fight for rent control

May

• Keep abortion legal! Defend women’s and reproductive rights!
• The full story of how Louisianans defeated the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill
• ‘Ban off our bodies’ protest ended in Homeland Security, LAPD attack
• How frame-ups work: The Antony Gay trial
• Los Angeles victory: One step closer to winning community control over LA County Sheriff’s Department

June

• Young Lords pass the torch, honor Jose “Cha Cha” Jimenez
• Prepare for mass action to keep abortion legal!
• Final Declaration of the Workers’ Summit of the Americas
• Cryptocurrency meltdown topples digital asset businesses
• Poor People's Campaign protests at Capitol in DC

July

• FRSO: Resolution Against the U.S./NATO-Provoked War in Ukraine
• A Marxist view of the Asian American National Questions
• Number of people collecting unemployment benefits jumps by 51,000
• Red Theory: Against Sakai on settler colonialism and the national question in the U.S.
• Condemn the FBI raids in St Louis, MO and St Petersburg, FL!

August

• Chicago: Movement forces the release of Chicago police torture survivors
• No, the economy is not in a recession (yet)
• UPS Teamsters kick off 2023 contract fight with national week of action
• Saint Paul rallies to demand Minnesota divest from Israel
• East LA commemorates the 52nd Chicano Moratorium

September

• Chicago: Election season begins for Police Accountability Councils
• Red Theory: Imperialism, or monopoly capitalism
• A revolutionary view of the 2022 midterm elections
• Minnesota Abortion Action Coalition demands no state funding for ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
• Cuba accepts new Families Code, approves same-sex marriage, women’s rights

October

• Philippines: Intensify mass struggles amid peso devaluation and rising prices
• Join the effort to promote the political program of FRSO
• Scabby the rat tours U of MN campus, Teamsters ready to strike
• Red Theory: Bourgeois democracy and fascism
• Students for a Democratic Society 16th Annual Convention say, ‘Not another step back!’

November

• Chicago: Electing candidates to hold the police accountable
• Rally in support of DACA and ‘Legalization for All’
• Oslo is long dead. Time to revive the PLO
• 2022 midterm results and the coming struggle
• Biden: Hands off rail workers and their right to strike!

December

• USF students protest at university president’s mansion over declining Black enrollment
• COP27 Recap and response: Green capitalism as class warfare
• Protests call to “Free Alex Saab,” jailed in Miami
• Some in the shadow, some in the sun: A roundup of the semi-finals of the soccer World Cup
• Milwaukee rally to save labor and delivery department at St. Francis Hospital

#UnitedStates #Remembrances #FightBack #YearInReview

In the last week or so, I've read thousands of words on Charlene’s passing and becoming part of the pantheon of revolutionaries who have gone before her.

A lot of things have been said about her particular political contributions: her rise to leadership in the Communist Party; her being the first Black woman to run for president; and the tremendous contributions she made in defense of democracy and the freeing of hundreds of political prisoners during the 1970s and 80s. But I'm afraid that what has been written so far, as deserving and fitting as it is, misses one very critical point about Charlene's life and her legacy. I would say she was first among those in the 20th century – along with Angela Davis, Henry Winston and William Patterson, also Black communists – who created one of the most powerful and inspiring movements in the campaign to “Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners.”

It is amazing to think of what that movement accomplished: in over 60 different countries and over 1000 cities in the United States, the call went out to free all political prisoners at the time. The call included those who had gone to jail for political reasons, but also those who had gone to jail for other reasons – in the main, being trapped in ghettos and the constant cycles of crime – but who later on became political prisoners by their fight for their rights as human beings while they were in prison, like the Attica brothers and George Jackson. Like myself.

I was languishing in a dungeon called the Missouri State Pen and fighting an uphill battle to overturn a sentence of life plus 50 years when the National Alliance was founded by Charlene, Angela, Anne Braden, and 700 other brave souls in Chicago in 1973. In 1976, I came home from prison because of the Alliance, and in 1981 I was granted an executive clemency by the governor of Missouri because of the unspeakable power of the movement led by Charlene Mitchell. Charlene organized and fought not only for Angela Davis, but she also helped to free many more from the hellholes of America’s prisons.

Because of the accomplishments of the movement she led, I believe Charlene’s legacy has a far deeper meaning for Black liberation than what is expressed in anything I’ve read thus far.

This is the legacy that I want to bring attention to. This is the legacy which I think has fueled more than anything else the fires that we still see burning in the struggle for Black liberation to date. This fueled the fires of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor rebellion. The fact that the Alliance was engaged in this rebellion in a leadership role is no small tribute to Charlene's historic leadership in the founding of this organization almost 50 years ago. The Chicago Alliance winning the enactment of the ordinance Empowering Communities for Public Safety is a tribute to her, as well.

That's the legacy that she left us. She left us a legacy of struggle. She used to say, “Organization plus unity plus struggle equals victory.” We still have that in our literature. And every time we put that in our literature, we honor Charlene Mitchell because she's the one that gave us that.

She said, “Lead our people not in their frustration, but lead them out of it.” Every time we organize the fight to free a political prisoner; every time we organize a fight against police crimes and police brutality and murder; every time we work with families who have lost loved ones; with families who still have loved ones that are languishing in prison; every time we do this here and now, we pay tribute to Charlene Mitchell, who started this fight for us almost five decades ago.

Charlene was the architect and the strategic leader of the most massive defense campaign in history – defending the Black Liberation movement, the democratic rights of workers and oppressed people, and the rights of revolutionaries, be they communists, the nationally oppressed, or both.

We in the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression dip our banners of struggle saluting Charlene Alexander Mitchell while we proudly continue as the torch carriers of her living legacy.

Frank Chapman is the executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

#ChicagoIL #Remembrances #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #BlackLivesMatter

Chicago, IL – Chicago lost a well-known fighter for immigrant rights on December 11. José Sigfredo Landaverde was a priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Anglican Catholic Church in Little Village. Padre Landaverde was also a friend of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. He died after a long battle with illness.

Born in Chalatenango, El Salvador in 1971, he was orphaned when the Salvadoran military killed his family. At 17 years of age, and at great risk to himself, José became a scout for the FMLN (Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional, or Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front). His job was to camp out next to a stream by a road and provide early warning to guerrilla fighters when the U.S.-backed death squads were approaching.

We first met José as a refugee from El Salvador in the early 1990s. At the time, we were working against the U.S. counterinsurgency war with the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES). Over the years, José became a constant feature of all struggles that affected the Latino community, but especially the struggle for immigrant rights.

FRSO fought alongside José in worker and immigrant rights fights; in the struggle against the U.S. war in Colombia; and we joined together to march against the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016. Padre Landaverde organized a march that covered the 360 miles from Chicago to oppose the hate that the Republican Party was bringing against Mexicans and other immigrants.

Tom Burke, a lead organizer in the March on the RNC in Cleveland, shared these memories of José:

“Always a man of deep faith in the people, Father José was able to connect with those suffering the most, and bring them some relief from their difficulties, or make them feel powerful to overcome the oppression they faced from bosses or police. He was constantly organizing groups to provide food, clothes and blankets for those devastated by earthquakes and mudslides and trucking it thousands of miles to where it needed to be through Mexico or Central America.

“José brought his personal struggle with alcohol addiction to aid others with classes and prayer and healing power. Padre Jose’s spirit will burn inside all those who seek justice and to make revolution in the U.S., Mexico and Central America. His selfless dedication to the people who immigrated to Chicago for jobs and a better life will stand as an example for others.

“We remember with fondness his wicked sense of humor and giggling that always turned to loud laughter! His spirit will continue with us as we fight to make revolution and climb to a socialist future.”

Padre Jose Landaverde: Presente!

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #Remembrances #PeoplesStruggles #ChicanoLatino #obituary

Minneapolis, MN – Marie Braun, 87, a longtime activist and beloved and respected leader in the peace and justice movement in the Twin Cities, died on June 27 after a very brief illness.

The response of Dave Logsdon, President of Veterans for Peace Chapter 27, reflects the reaction of so many, “Such a shock. She is so strong it's hard to believe this news. What a giant in our peace and justice movement.”

Marie Braun was a member of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) nearly from its inception 40 years ago. After her retirement in 1997 from the psychology practice that she ran with her husband John, she turned her full attention, incomparable work ethic, legendary organizational skills, boundless energy and warmth and humor to anti-war work.

She traveled to Iraq with Ramsey Clark, Jess Sundin and others on an International Action Center delegation in 1998 at the height of the brutal U.S. sanctions against that country. Sundin gave this remembrance to Fight Back!:

“I was just 25 years old when I traveled with Marie to Iraq for a solidarity delegation to challenge the U.S. and UN sanctions that caused so much death and hardship. It was a life-changing journey for me, one made possible in many ways by Marie.

“Marie helped organize the fundraisers that paid my way, and she and her husband John made a substantial contribution themselves. The 1998 delegation was the first of its kind to Iraq, and I'm not sure I would've had the confidence to make that trip with 100 strangers from across the country, if I wasn't traveling with a veteran of the Minneapolis peace movement.

“Marie took myself and another younger traveler under her wing, and her mentorship didn't stop at the airport. Visits to a pediatric hospital and Al Amiriyah bomb shelter, dinner with the Iraqi family of friends from Minnesota or dancing with students at an art school. We would stay up late at night talking about our days, and Marie was the rock that I leaned on to process the horrors of war carried out against the loving and generous Iraqi people. She got me through.

“Back home, Marie set the standard for what international solidarity looks like. At the same time, she never forgot her family, she never stopped finding joy and cause to laugh, and she always encouraged young people like me to make a home for ourselves in the movement,” Sundin said.

Marie began the weekly vigil at the Lake Street bridge which has not missed a single Wednesday in its 23 years of anti-war presence, from the U.S./NATO bombing of Yugoslavia until today with the U.S./NATO provoked conflict in Ukraine. For many years she and John were the ones to bring the signs, often newly made that week, reflecting whatever country the U.S. was bombing, sanctioning or occupying.

In the runup to Desert Storm, she and John organized a campaign for WAMM members to distribute thousands of lawn signs which said “Call your congressperson. Say no to war on Iraq.” These signs were not only pervasive across the lawns in our city but were also requested by other communities across the country.

For many years Marie organized a service at their church, Saint Joan of Arc, on the feast of the Holy Innocents. She transformed this remembrance of the slaughter of the children in Palestine by Herod, to a memorial for the children of Iraq killed by U.S. bombing and sanctions.

Marie organized days-long occupations at U.S. Senators’ Wellstone, Dayton and Coleman’s offices. She brought to town national leaders like Cindy Sheehan, Kathy Kelly and Denis Halliday, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, and made sure they spoke to standing-room-only crowds. She developed a statewide network of anti-war activists to host speaking tours and to pressure elected officials. She left no stone unturned in her work against U.S. imperialism in Iraq, a tenacity she applied to whatever she undertook.

Alan Dale, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition founder tells the story, “Marie was the most consistent activist, working with a wide range of people from many backgrounds, always keeping true to her own principles. Marie often took on the role of peacekeeper coordinator or lead marshal for protests. At one of the Iraq war anniversary protests starting at Loring Park, hundreds of people had gathered to march. Then the police arrived. The lead cop seemed beside himself that all these people planned to march without their permission. The lead cop demanded someone's drivers' license so he knew where to send a summons to, Marie said, ‘You can have my drivers license, but we are still going to march.’ By then, there were 1000 to 2000 people gathered. The cops just gave up and left.”

In 2010, anti-war activists in Minneapolis and around the Midwest were targeted by the FBI for their peace and international solidarity activism. Both these writers were included in those subpoenaed to a grand jury and targeted by the FBI. Marie helped us organize our resistance through the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Joe Iosbaker, an activist from Chicago who was also subpoenaed, remembered her solidarity, “I remember her best from her efforts with congresspersons and senators on behalf of the Antiwar 23. Getting those elected officials to speak out in our defense seemed unimaginable to me, but not to Marie and the veteran peace activists in the Twin Cities! And they were right.”

For the past several years Marie chaired the WAMM End War Committee. Mary Slobig said, “I can't imagine the End War Committee without her sending out the agenda, holding us to task, and taking notes. She's our rock!”

Kristin Dooley, the director of WAMM told Fight Back!, “Marie has been my friend, my mentor, and my partner in activism for decades. She was an incredibly capable activist. She could handle finances, personnel, membership renewals, fundraising, press and writing. She willingly interacted with religious, political, civil and police authorities. Marie let me know she had my back and I became a better activist because she believed in me.”

Marie inspired us by her commitment and wasn’t afraid to ask for involvement or money. Most of us have said, “You can’t say no to Marie.” She was a pillar of the peace movement and a key motivator for actions and effective change. She also was a skilled mentor and teacher and leaves behind strong organizations and individuals to carry on the struggle. She brought out the best in us, and we and the peace movement will miss her beyond words.

¡Marie Braun Presente!

Memorials can be sent to Women Against Military Madness at 4200 Cedar Avenue South, Suite 1, Minneapolis, MN 55407.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Remembrances #obituary #WomenAgainstMilitaryMadnessWAMM

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 people gathered here to honor Mel Reeves, a community leader who died January 6 at age 64. Organized by Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, the event was a space for those who worked alongside him in community to share memories of a man who put in decades of work in struggles against racism and police violence, economic injustice and war and militarism. Reeves was a father and grandfather, and a journalist for the Black newspaper, the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

Toshira Garraway Allen emceed the event and spoke about Reeves’ work supporting her organizing with families who have lost loved ones at the hands of police. Other speakers included Minnesota State Representative John Thompson, Mary Moriarty (former Hennepin County chief public defender now candidate for county attorney), activists who’ve worked with Reeves as far back as the 1990s, and countless young people who spoke about the time Reeves invested in youth, sharing history and political lessons, encouraging them to both study and organize. People praised Reeves’ optimism, his eloquence and his genuine love for people. Reeves’ son Kellen and daughter-in-law Michelle thanked community members for sharing these reflections.

Just a week before Reeves died from COVID complications, he was interviewed from his hospital bed, imploring community members to set aside their fears and get vaccinated. Because of complicating health concerns, Reeves had not been vaccinated against COVID. Even from his hospital bed, Reeves was writing. His final article was the cover story on the day he died, urging community members to protect themselves from COVID.

Reeves engaged in many struggles for social and economic justice in his life, but the fight for Black liberation was always at the forefront. Reflecting on 2021, he wrote, “The year felt long and stressful as yet again the problem of America’s color line aroused rancor and resentment across the land. This country’s continued refusal to grant its Black population the right to live fully as citizens in the land of their birth and the absolutely unconditional, unalienable right to life, liberty, and justice remains an obstacle to every American’s peace of mind. Yes, the year was long, but we endured, and with the spirit of our ancestors we look ahead, never satisfied to just endure but to endure until we overcome.”

A Celebration of Life service will take place on Thursday, January 13 at 4 p.m. at Shiloh Temple International Ministries, located at 1201 W Broadway Avenue in North Minneapolis, with a visitation at 3 p.m.

#MinneapolisMN #Remembrances #PeoplesStruggles #MelReeves

Tucson, AZ – It is with heavy heart that the news of the passing of longtime anti-imperialist organizer Chuck Kaufman reached communities on December 28. Born in a small Indiana town, Chuck’s life saw travels to numerous countries, most notably in the Latin American countries most firmly in the crosshairs of U.S. imperialism.

In 1987, as Reagan’s illegal Contra War against Nicaragua ravaged the country in an attempt to kill the successful Sandinista Revolution, Chuck answered the call for solidarity. He gave up his advertising business and joined thousands of other U.S. solidarity activists to help in the coffee brigades in Nicaragua aimed at helping the country produce commodities that could help fund the new government projects for the poor and working class. Later that year Chuck joined the U.S.-based Nicaragua Network on its national staff and served as co-coordinator for decades.

It is in that role that I first met Chuck in Nicaragua in 2007. I attended a conference hosted by Nicaragua Network and I was impressed by Chuck’s knowledge and seriousness of commitment to the Sandinista Revolution. One could easily see the internal flame lit inside him when he spoke of the Nicaraguan people and their struggle for national liberation.

Two years later, I joined a Nicaragua Network delegation with Chuck and others. It is there I got to know him a little better as we spent time hearing from coffee collectives and campesinas who received free cows and seeds from the Sandinista government’s Zero Usury program. During that delegation in January 2009, Israel had once again been bombing Palestine and there was an Israeli professor with us, and Chuck led the charge in defending the Palestinian struggle and silencing the Zionist claims that supported their genocidal apartheid.

Another unforgettable moment on that trip gave me chills: Chuck had recently returned from a delegation to Venezuela and he gleamed telling us that he was on the updated Caracas public transit system when a couple of anti-Chavistas were overheard by the crowd and were immediately drown out by deafening chants of: “Ooh aah, Chavez no se va!” As someone who had been interested in Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, that’s all I needed to hear to make sure I visited to feel that revolutionary power.

That awakening in 1987 cemented a lifelong commitment not only to Nicaragua but later other revolutionary movements in Latin America. As mentioned above, Chuck’s international solidarity, largely through his role as national co-coordinator of the Alliance for Global Justice, as well as with the ANSWER Coalition, extended to Venezuela, as well as Colombia and later, after the U.S.-supported coup, Honduras. It is there in Honduras where Chuck, like tens of thousands of Hondurans, was gassed by the U.S.-backed military dictatorship that ran the country with criminal cartels. Chuck’s work in the Honduras Solidarity Network allowed activists and organizers in the U.S. hear the voices of on-the-ground Hondurans battling the regime there. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the Honduran masses and their organizations, Xiomara Zelaya, was elected the past November – a truly meaningful moment for Chuck.

One would think all this national and international organizing meant Chuck did not have time to participate in local organizing. On the contrary, Chuck was a valued member of the organizing circles involved in anti-war and immigrant rights. As previously mentioned, even though Chuck had a warm spirit and could joke frequently, he had a serious commitment to transforming this world from injustice to justice and from oppression to liberation. Most notably, in October 2013, Chuck and twelve others used dragon-arms to lock themselves around the wheels of the bus carrying detained immigrants awaiting the sham trial called “Operation Streamline.” The activists stopped proceedings that day and the buses blocked erupted in cheers at the bravery of the act. After a few court appearances, all charges were dropped.

Chuck also showed us younger organizers how to chair and conduct meeting – he exhibited the best traits of criticism but also worked tirelessly toward a principled unity. I will miss talking with Chuck on the picket lines outside the Federal Courthouse. And as someone who studied Nicaraguan history and fell in love with the Sandinista Revolution, it was truly a treasure to share space with someone like Chuck Kaufman who will always be wearing their bandera, La RojiNegra. Chuck also made sure we remembered our fallen comrades and led the call for: Presente! Unfortunately, from now we have to include his name: Chuck Kaufman, Presente!

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