Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

TallahasseeFL

By staff

Tallahassee, FL – As the Florida legislative session comes to a close, workers racked up a couple of major victories at the capitol. After months of protest by labor unions and progressive groups, the Florida Senate defeated two bills that would have attacked pensions for public workers and allowed corporations to privatize public schools.

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By staff

Students demand access to courtroom.

Tallahassee, FL – Nearly 30 community members and Tallahassee Dream Defenders attended a public hearing on April 12 in support of Antonio and Rodrizgus Richardson, two African-American brothers in Tallahassee. The brothers were wrongly convicted of first-degree murder and are facing 25 years to life in prison.

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By Jess Schwartz

Florida State University (FSU) students speak out against rape culture, April 1

Tallahassee, FL – Over 30 Florida State University (FSU) students and Tallahassee community members gathered on campus to speak out and march against rape culture on April 12. The F-Word (a feminist campus organization), Students for a Democratic Society and Dream Defenders organized the rally.

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By staff

Tallahassee, FL – More than 30 student activists from Florida State University (FSU) packed into a room in the Oglesby Student Union to hear Noor Elashi and other organizers speak about government repression, March 25. Holy Land 5 attorney John Cline joined Elashi on the panel, along with Mick Kelly, who was one of the 23 anti-war activists raided by the FBI in September, 2010.

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By staff

Florida Dream Defenders at the first day of legislative session.

Tallahassee, FL – On the morning of March 5, over 150 Black and brown Dream Defenders from across the state converged onto the state capitol here to deliver one important message to Florida Legislators and Governor Rick Scott on the first day of legislative session: the start of the “Dream Era.”

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By staff

Tallahassee protest demands, “Free the Richardson brothers”

Tallahassee, FL – About 15 people waved signs and chanted outside the Leon County Courthouse, March 1, to protest the wrongful conviction of Antonio and Rodrizgus Richardson, two brothers recently sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder.

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By staff

Tallahassee students demand justice for Trayvon Martin.

Tallahassee, FL – On Feb. 26, 2012, African-American high school student Trayvon Martin was gunned down in Sanford, Florida. His murderer is George Zimmerman, a 29-year-old man who maliciously stalked the 17-year-old Martin under the grounds of his ‘looking suspicious.’

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By Cecelia O’ Brien

FSU students protest sweatshops

Tallahassee, FL – 25 students at Florida State University (FSU) picked up their picket signs to protest a pro-sweatshop economist who spoke on campus here, Feb. 7. The FSU Economics Department brought Ben Powell, a right-wing libertarian economist, to speak in favor of sweatshops and exploitative working conditions.

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By staff

Tallahassee, FL – On Thursday, February 17, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 decision that a bill cutting public workers' wages by 3% was constitutional. The so-called pension reform bill requires Florida's public workers to pay 3% of their wage into the Florida Retirement System (FRS). The bill was passed by the Republican-dominated Florida state legislature and signed into law by Governor Rick Scott in 2011 as a part of their larger assault on the rights of public workers and the right to collectively bargain.

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By staff

Protest at Republican Congressman Steve Southerland’s office demanding no cuts t

Tallahassee, FL – The afternoon clouds were dark, but even the threat of rain couldn't stop students, retirees, and union members from taking a stand against federal budget cuts. About 35 people rallied outside of Republican Congressman Steve Southerland’s office here, Dec.10, demanding no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security.

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By staff

Candles spell out justice at vigil for Jordan Davis

Tallahassee, FL – On Dec. 1, just after sunset, Black student organizations from Florida State University (FSU) and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) held a candlelight vigil for Jordan Davis. Davis, a 17-year-old Black teen was violently gunned down in Jacksonville while in the backseat of a friend's car by a middle-aged white male bigot, supposedly over the volume of the car's music.

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By staff

Tallahassee protest demands remembrance of Trayvon Martin.

Tallahassee, FL – Around 15 activists from Tallahassee Dream Defenders, joined by other protesters including immigrant rights leaders, assembled on the fourth floor of the Florida Capitol building here, Nov. 20, showing politicians that Florida brown and Black groups are visible and demanding they remember Trayvon Martin.

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By staff

Tallahassee students hang banner against occupation of Palestine.

Tallahassee, FL – The Palestinian national flag waved high above Integration Statue in the afternoon breeze, Nov. 19. Below it, about 50 people gathered at Florida State University (FSU) for a protest demanding an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza. Students from FSU and Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University (FAMU) joined community activists in a march through the busiest parts of campus to stand with the Palestinian people.

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By staff

Tallahassee, FL – The people of Florida dealt a decisive blow to the right-wing agenda of Governor Rick Scott and the Republican legislature on Nov. 6. Voters defeated eight of the eleven constitutional amendments on the Florida ballot. Had they passed, it would have set the stage for more devastating budget cuts and anti-woman laws in the 2013 legislative session.

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By Dave Schneider

Tallahassee, FL – Florida is once again making election headlines as voters struggle to cast their ballots. From Pensacola to Miami and everywhere in between, Floridians have reported prohibitively long lines at their early voting locations. A number of irregularities have many voters concerned that their ballots may not be counted.

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By Cecelia O’ Brien

Students hang a banner near the center of campus slamming the war in Afghanistan

Tallahassee, FL – On Oct. 5, about 50 students and community members rallied at Florida State University (FSU) to protest on the 11th anniversary of the war on Afghanistan.

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By staff

FSU students confront President Barron.

Tallahassee, FL – On Oct. 2, dozens of students from the Florida State University (FSU) Progress Coalition rallied on campus to protest FSU President Eric Barron's tuition hike policies. Students marched from the student union to the FSU administration's Westcott building, where they stormed into the president's office. Students demanded that Barron meet with students to address record student debt and his pursuance of the pre-eminence legislation, a bill that, if passed, could lead to possible record high tuition prices at Florida State University.

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By staff

Florida protest against voter suppression.

Tallahassee, FL – Students at Florida colleges are making the issue of voter suppression a top priority this fall. On Sept. 4, a student civil rights group, Dream Defenders, protested Florida’s racist voter suppression laws. Students from Florida State University (FSU) and FAMU (Florida A&M University) organized a campus rally with dozens of student activists chanting, “Hey hey, ho, ho, the new Jim Crow has got to go!”

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By staff

FSU student Michael Sampson leads a militant march against the murder of Trayvon

Tallahassee, FL – More than 200 students from Florida State University (FSU) marched on the streets here, March 26, to demand justice for Trayvon Martin. The marched started off at the FSU Integration Statue with organizer of the march, Michael Sampson, reflecting on “why we are marching for justice.”

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By Michael L. Sampson II

Tallahassee, FL – 70 students from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) and Florida State University (FSU) gathered at FAMU campus to hold a rally and demand justice for Trayvon Martin on March 19. Led by African American student leaders, the students denounced the racist murder of teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida. Killer George Zimmerman racially profiled and then murdered the African-American youth vigilante style.

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