Tampa FL – A dozen Tampa Bay activists gathered on May Day weekend to commemorate International Workers Day. Members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) held a Fight Back! fundraiser. They explained the history of International Workers Day, discussed strategy for revolution and explained the importance of having a newspaper that favored the people’s movements.
Tampa, FL – Over 30 students protested to change the name of the C.W. “Bill” Young building at the University of South Florida on April 19. Young was a Florida senator who participated in the Johns Committee from 1962 to 1964. The Johns Committee conducted witch-hunts, initially targeting communists during McCarthy’s red scare. However by the time Young joined the Johns Committee in 1962, it was zeroing in on gay people, driving hundreds of professors and students out of Florida universities and the teaching profession across the state.
Tampa, FL – Over 30 students gathered for a vigil, March 29, in remembrance of the LGBTQIA+ people murdered by U.S. militarism. The event was held in response to the University of South Florida (USF) administration’s defense of LGBT-phobic and militaristic C.W. “Bill” Young. Young was a senator and member of the Johns Committee in Florida, which persecuted hundreds of LGBTQIA+ people across the Florida university system.
Tampa, FL – Over a dozen students from Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held signs and chanted on March 22 to mark the 13th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In 2003, the U.S. launched an illegal invasion of Iraq in order to destabilize the region and secure its own interests. Meanwhile, the people of Iraq continue to suffer from U.S. intervention. Since 1991, the U.S. has been responsible for the death of an estimated 1 million Iraqis due to sanctions and invasions.
Tampa, FL – Over 40 Tampa community members gathered March 6 to celebrate International Women’s Day. Hosted by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, with several other organizations being represented through their speakers, the event took place in the Marshall Student Center on the Campus of the University of South Florida (USF).
Tampa, FL – Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of South Florida (USF) held a lecture and then a protest as part of Black History Month.
Tampa, FL – Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) protested Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the University of South Florida on Feb. 12. Over 150 students and activists rallied outside the USF Sun Dome against Trump’s racist, anti-immigrant and anti-refugee agenda.
Tampa, FL – Tampa anti-war activist Jessica Schwartz says a family member handed her an FBI agent’s card. The card was stuck in the front door of the family home and belonged to FBI Special Agent A. Brett Fears.
Tampa, FL – The University of South Florida (USF) student government passed a resolution to divest from Israel Jan. 19. The vote was 32 to 12, with 5 abstentions. Palestine solidarity activists packed the chamber in the Marshall Student Center at USF to support the resolution, which includes divestment from corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid.
Tampa, FL – Two-dozen people rallied here, Jan. 13, to end violence against Muslims and refugees in Tampa. The Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR)-Tampa organized the rally against Islamophobic violence in Tampa.
Tampa, FL – On Dec. 3, a dozen University of South Florida students gave out hundreds of flyers and dropped a banner in support of affirmative action for African American and Latino students. As part of the National Day to Demand Affirmative Action called by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), chapters held events calling for increased African American enrollment, a defense of affirmative action and an end to racist admissions policies.
Tampa, FL – Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized a speak-out against the Minneapolis police murder of Jamar Clark, an African American man shot in the head while lying face down on the ground. The students also spoke in solidarity with the five African American protesters in Minneapolis shot by white supremacists.
Tampa, FL – Anti-war activists and students from Florida are mobilizing to protest the School of the Americas (SOA), Nov. 20-22. The SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) a few years ago, but it is still widely known as the SOA meaning “School of Assassins.” It is based at Fort Benning, near Columbus, Georgia.
Tampa, FL – Over 100 University of South Florida (USF) students and faculty members gathered on the steps of the Martin Luther King Plaza, Nov. 12, linking arms and holding a banner that declared “USF stands with Mizzou.”
Tampa, FL – A group of 20 University of South Florida (USF) students rallied at Cooper Hall, Nov. 12, to demand the name change of the C. W. Bill Young building. Students are upset that USF administrators named the building after a Republican politician who worked to ruin the careers of college professors and schoolteachers.
Tampa, FL – On Nov. 6, Raices en Tampa rallied on a busy street corner in solidarity with the immigrant families being held, without due process, in a Texas detention center. The Legalization for All Network called for a national day of action demanding the U.S. government release the children, end family detention and halt deportations.
Tampa, FL – Tampa Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) disrupted a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruiting event at the University of South Florida on Oct. 21. The CIA spoke to 250 students in the Marshall Student Center, hoping to recruit students for their projects. The CIA spies on, destabilizes and even overthrows governments and movements opposed to Wall Street domination of their economies.
Tampa. FL – Around 20 activists gathered in front of the Sam M. Gibbons Federal courthouse, Oct. 15 carrying a Palestinian flag and holding signs reading, “Justice for Rasmea.”
Tampa, FL – On Sept. 26, Raices en Tampa hosted a vigil and rally on the anniversary on the kidnapping and disappearance of 43 Mexican students. Approximately 20 activists gathered holding signs that read, “Activism is not a crime!” and “They thought they could bury us, but they didn’t realize that we were seeds.”
Tampa, FL – On Sept. 15, a dozen students rallied at the University of South Florida (USF) in support of the Iran nuclear deal. Tampa Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and other USF students gave speeches and held signs that promoted peace with Iran. The signs condemned the sanctions and upheld the deal as a blow against U.S. political and economic domination.