Salt Lake City, UT – On May 1, 100 people gathered at the Salt Lake City and County Building to celebrate, table and rally for International Workers Day. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) hosted the event, joined by Students for a Democratic Society, Utah Against Police Brutality, Utah Anti-war Committee, Workers World Party, and Socialist Alternative.

Speeches by local activists and shop floor union leaders focused on labor and immigration rights. Joey Brandin performed songs such as There is Power in a Union and Solidarity Forever.

“As a Mexican immigrant, I can tell you that it is almost impossible to find a job in the state of Utah if you're undocumented. It means that many of these people will find themselves homeless, exploited under the table, or resorting to unconventional means of survival. In Utah, laws like SB 81 are denying undocumented queer people a chance at an affordable post-secondary education and a better future,” said Adrian Romero from Stand for Queer Lives.

Connor Richards from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), spoke about student solidarity with workers around the world. Then Richards shifted to immigrant rights at home saying, “We need you to support the SDS campaign Education for All, and the cutting of lines 36 through 42 of Senate Bill 81 that prevents state-funded scholarships from being granted to undocumented people.”

Erica Cole, union steward of the American Postal Workers Union, spoke about racist discrimination in employment, “It is ridiculous that if one of my daughters says she is white on a job application the outcome will be vastly different than if she says she is Black.”

Samantha Stott from Utah Against Police Brutality and Cop Watch explained to the crowd, “Speaking not only of the working class, but also those who are not working, those who are dealing with addiction and mental illness who are on the streets. They don’t have the help that they need.”

Carly Haldeman of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization was the final speaker, “I’m calling out to the working class to stand against the fraudulent system we call capitalism. We have to do the hard work! We have to organize!”

Ian Decker, also a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and emcee for the rally, thanked the people who attended the event, and invited them to a Marxism-Leninism Day School on Saturday, July 9.

Joey Brandin then sang the Internationale in solidarity with the workers and oppressed peoples of the world.

#SaltLakeCityUtah #AntiwarMovement #LGBTQ #MayDay #PeoplesStruggles #Utah #SLC

Salt Lake City, UT – A protest against presidential hopeful Donald Trump is taking place this evening, Mach 18, in Salt Lake City. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is participating in the demonstration.

Trump, an open advocate of racism and reaction, has been met by a growing tide of protests while on the campaign trail.

#SaltLakeCityUtah #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #SDS #US #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #DonaldTrump #DumpTrump

“We gather here today to demand that Mayor Jackie Bukuspski and the Salt Lake City Council replace the city’s current inept police civilian review board with a democratic, independent, Community Controlled Police Review Board,” said Michael Christensen of UAPB. “This is the beginning of a fight for a properly-funded board of paid civilians with the power to investigate and subpoena police offers for misconduct, create and amend guidelines that regulate how the police are to behave, and can take action without being influenced by the police or the district attorney’s office.”

Attendees of the rally heard from community members who’d lost loved ones to police violence. Among them was Gina Thayne, whose nephew Dylan Taylor was murdered by police in front of his two cousins – her sons.

“Cops protect and serve, but they should be protecting and serving us, not each other,” said Thayne. The officer who murdered Dylan Taylor was cleared of any wrongdoing by the DA, despite footage from the officer’s body camera showing an unarmed Taylor complying with the officers’ demands. “They [the police] stuck up for each other in every single report I read, so why should we trust them to hold each other responsible?” Thayne asked.

UAPB announced further plans to continue their campaign, including a call-in to Mayor Biskupski’s office and mass attendance to the city council meeting’s open session on March 15.

“It is not enough to protest and rally for each individual murder,” said Gregory Lucero of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. “We have to build a campaign demanding a community controlled, democratically elected review board of people just like us, who can say ‘enough is enough.’”

#SaltLakeCityUtah #PoliceBrutality #PeoplesStruggles #Utah #Antiracism #UtahAgainstPoliceBrutality

Salt Lake City, Utah—On May 2, more than 100 people rallied in celebration of International Workers Day. The event, put on by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, drew a large crowd to the steps of the city and county buildings. The people gathered to show solidarity with workers, immigrants, national and international movements.

Casey Wardell, president of the United Steel Workers Local 12-578, opened with a solidarity message for the USW locals on strike. “These locals going on strike for health and safety concerns. The same people who work in the refineries are the same people who live in the communities and get affected by the refineries’ pollution.”

Wardell sharply criticized the oil companies saying, “They make enough profit off these people, they can afford to make refineries with safety and environmental protections.”

Carly Haldeman spoke next from the Revolutionary Students Union, saying, “Students! You need to organize. Ask for cheaper tuition. Ask for free tuition! Ask for education for all undocumented students. Look to Baltimore and follow after their example. When systems of oppression are in place, you need to demand your humanity back.”

Lex Scott of Utah Against Police Brutality spoke about how to stop police killings, “In 2014 they killed Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Darren Hunt, Dillon Taylor and too many more to count. In 2014 we saw no justice. But we're still here, and in 2015 we see six police officers indicted. Only we can win justice.”

Ella Mendoza, with Utah's Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, tugged on heartstrings while speaking about the difficulties facing undocumented families, “When I was 12, I had to leave Mexico and I haven't seen my mother since.”

Adrian Romero, of Stand for Queer Lives, spoke in English and Spanish explaining why people immigrate, “NAFTA has been a complete disaster for Mexico. The promised growth has never arrived and Mexico still continues to have only a small amount of growth.”

Britt Miller, the business agent for Teamsters Local 222, touched on the importance of unions for gaining equality, “If we trust the 'free market' to fix income inequality we'll be waiting until nearly 2080. They won't raise women's wages to be equal with men's, but lower everyone's wages down to the level of women's.”

Miller continued, “The first law Obama signed when he was elected was a law that was supposed to allow people to sue companies paying different wages to men and women. However, the government hasn't enforced this. And so it's said it solved the problem, but hasn't done anything. They only real solution is to do it yourself and that means having a good union contract that demands pay equality.”

Gregory Lucero from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization gave the keynote speech. He spoke both about the struggles nationally and internationally. He called for solidarity with Venezuela, Palestine and the Middle East.

Ultimately, Lucero’s message was, “It's easy to lose track of what we're fighting for by getting overly focused on individual struggles. What I fight for is socialism.” He continued, “People say all sorts of things about communism, but at the end of the day I'm fighting for a system run by the workers, farmers, teachers and truck drivers. Not for this system for the bosses, bankers and politicians.”

#SaltLakeCityUtah #SaltLakeCityUT #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #PeoplesStruggles

Salt Lake City, Utah – 100 people who came out to support the police were met with a counter-protest organized by Utah Against Police Brutality. In Utah, police murders are outpacing murders committed by drug dealers, gang members and child abusers. The pro-police rally was organized in the middle of the work day by well-off whites who had Utah District Attorney Sean Reyes come to address them.

30 counter-protesters set up on the steps of the county building, using their chants to shut down the pro-police rally. They chanted “Serve and protect, that’s a lie, you don’t care when Black kids die,” and “Good cop bad cop, police violence gotta stop.”

The supporters of police carried signs reading “Police don’t shoot to kill, they shoot to stay alive.” Three days after Mike Brown was killed in Ferguson, unarmed Dillon Taylor was shot at a 7-Eleven store by Officer Bron Cruz. Darrien Hunt was a Black man shot in an overwhelming white city running for his life.

The pro-police crowd chanted “We love police,” but soon stopped when Gregory Lucero of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization spoke at the protest. Lucero said, “We are out here against police brutality. That other rally is for police brutality. We will stand against all forms of racism and police brutality.”

The pro-police people marched over and attempted to engage with counter-protesters, but counter-protesters disregarded them and continued chanting until the pro-police rally disbanded.

Val Brown, who attended the counter-protest, said, “I saw a big action in Milwaukee on the media, seeing my friends standing up and fighting back got me inspired to come out here today.”

Protester Fubuki Abe said “I think the protest was extremely important today to show people who are in favor of cops, that there are people in the community who stand up against police injustice.”

Utah Against Police Brutality will hold an event on New Year’s Eve at the Federal Building in Salt Lake City. People can follow protests and other events using #utahprotests.

#SaltLakeCityUtah #SaltLakeCityUT #PoliceBrutality #UtahAgainstPoliceBrutality #counterProtest #propoliceRally #utahprotests

Salt Lake City, UT—The streets of Salt Lake City become yet another site of struggle for Palestinian freedom. Over 200 people rallied at the Wallace Bennett Federal Building to denounce Israel’s collective punishment of Gaza. The message was loud and clear: the Israeli occupation of Palestine must end.

Israel launched Operation Protective Edge, a belligerent bombing campaign of the Gaza strip, which has now claimed the lives of over 200 Palestinians. The U.S. continues to assert Israel’s right to defend itself, while going so far as to blame Palestinian deaths on Hamas. The U.S. spends $3.1 billion on Israel every year, much of it military aid.

Speaking at the rally was Gregory Lucero, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization: “Israel says it wants peace, but the Israeli Defense Forces continue to occupy Palestinian land and demolish homes for new settlements. What kind of peace does Israel really want?”

Organizers of the rally passed out information on the Sept. 8 trial in Detroit, Michigan of longtime Palestinian activist Rasmea Odeh. Odeh was tortured and imprisoned by the Israeli military in 1969. Now the U.S. government is putting her on trial, 20 years after she came to the U.S. and 10 years after she was granted citizenship.

Lucero said, “The oppression of Palestinians happens right here in the U.S. everyday. People can take concrete actions to defend Rasmea Odeh. Odeh is a hero to many. Anybody can visit www.stopFBI.net and learn more about the outrageous charges Rasmea Odeh faces.”

The crowd of 200 marched through the streets of downtown Salt Lake City, carrying signs and Palestinian flags. Voices filled the air with chants of “Shame on Israel,” and “Free Palestine!”

Organizer Sarah Simmons of the SLCC Revolutionary Students Union vows to continue the struggle in Salt Lake City for the Palestinian cause and in defense of Rasmea Odeh.

#SaltLakeCityUtah #SaltLakeCityUT #Palestine #PeoplesStruggles #IsraelsOccupationOfPalestinianTerritories #Utah #RasmeaOdeh #MiddleEast

Sethunya entered the courtroom with a new lawyer and rows of supporters. This time Judge William Nixon, who previously tried to throw out her case, granted a continuance.

Sethunya is engaged in a years-long legal battle with the complicated and corrupt U.S. immigration system. She is trying to show that she never broke any immigration rules and does not deserve deportation.

“This is a woman who is having to suffer the consequences of a clerical error, all after she fled violence in her home country,” said Henia Belalia of the group Peaceful Uprising.

Sethunya said she left Lesotho and came to the U.S. due to abuse and violence at the hands of her ex-husband. She studied English and chemistry at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. She maintained a good GPA and attended classes uninterrupted, but everything changed in 2006.

“I was told by Weber State that I had lost my immigration status due to what they called a computer error,” Sethunya said. “At some point they changed the story from a computer error to a clerical mis-accounting.”

Then Sethunya’s enrollment was revoked and her F1 foreign student immigration status lapsed. She was thrust into the court system, from which she has yet to escape. Nevertheless, Sethunya re-enrolled in school and earned a Master's degree in 2007.

Tragically, deportation threatens Sethunya with separation from her teenage daughter and her nephew, who she adopted as her son when her sister died. If deported back to Lesotho, she may have to face her violent ex-husband.

After appeals, lawsuits to correct the error, petitioning politicians and organizing supporters, Sethunya finally caught a break this year. A court said her appeal had merit and ordered Judge Nixon to hear her case again. She has until late May to produce an application for asylum.

“One big problem we have is that the law says you have to file [for asylum] within a year of arriving in the States, unless there are some extraordinary circumstances,” said attorney Mark Williams, who represents Sethunya.

Proving those extraordinary circumstances was impossible because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confiscated her passport, leaving Sethunya without identification and unable to obtain any other form of identification. Without that, she had no access to the evidence held by her now-disbarred former lawyer. Her current attorney Mark Williams said the system was forcing her to “go around in circles.”

However, a supporter from a local police agency convinced ICE agents to return her passport. Sethunya can now gather the evidence needed to apply for asylum and remain connected to her children in Utah.

Along with the Revolutionary Student Union, the Salt Lake Dream Team, a student group fighting for immigrant rights, came out to support Sethunya after she told them her story. Dream Team Vice President Itza Hernandez said, “It is important to show solidarity with everyone who is undocumented and faces deportation. We want to make sure the Obama administration keeps its word. We are holding people accountable when they've made certain promises to our community.”

#SaltLakeCityUtah #SaltLakeCityUT #Utah #Immigration