Tampa, FL – Part-time Teamsters working for United Parcel Service (UPS) are angry because the starting pay has not changed in over 15 years. It is back breaking work, yet the starting wage rate is only $8.50 per hour. Part-time Teamsters are demanding their union fight for a substantial wage increase in its current contract negotiations with UPS. T-shirts reading, “End part time poverty” are springing up in UPS hubs around the country.

Tampa, FL – Around midnight Jan. 10, the home of well-known Arizona immigrant rights activist Erika Andiola was raided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE agents asked Andiola who the other people in the home were. One of them was her mother. During the raid, Erika's brother, who had been staying at neighbors for the night, came over and was asked if he was related to the Andiolas. Both Erika's brother and mother are undocumented immigrants from Mexico and both have lived in the U.S. for many years. Shortly after the questions, ICE handcuffed and transported Erika's brother and mother to the Florence Detention Center.

Tampa, FL – 287(g) is a racist law that was created on Sept. 30, 1996. For 17 years this law has been terrorizing, racially profiling, oppressing and breaking our immigrant families apart. 287(g) gives permission and training to regular police officers to do Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) work whenever ICE is unable to be around. Specifically 287(g) gives permission to local police to ask people in our neighborhoods and on the streets about their immigration status. Since 1996, 287(g) has been responsible for the arrests, abuses and deportations of over 400,000 of our hard-working and exploited immigrants in the U.S.

Tampa, FL – 30 students gathered outside of the University of South Florida's Marshall Student Center, Dec. 1, to mourn the murder of 17-year-old Jordan Davis. On Nov. 23, Jordan Davis was racially targeted by a 45 year-old bigot named Michael Dunn in a Jacksonville gas station. Dunn shot eight or nine times at the vehicle Davis was in, with the excuse that Davis and his friends had been playing their music too loud. Dunn claims he saw a shotgun and feared for his life. This fear Dunn claims, drove him to not only shoot at these four high school students' vehicle and murder Jordan Davis, but to also flee the scene of the crime. When authorities searched the vehicle Jordan Davis was shot in, there were no signs of a weapon.

Tampa, FL – On Nov. 17, nearly 100 people stood against Israel's ongoing bloodbath in Gaza. Students for Justice in Palestine organized the demonstration. Black-clad protesters waved Palestinian flags, held signs and stretched banners as thousands of cars drove through the intersection separating Tampa from Temple Terrace – a city with a large Palestinian community. The large contingents on all four corners of Fowler Avenue and 56th Street rotated when the lights changed, making sure that motorists got a long look at banners adorned with statistics on the brutality of occupation and its financial dependence on the U.S. government.

Tampa, FL – On Oct. 25, the Tampa Committee to Stop FBI Repression held a solidarity event to support the Holy Land Five on the corner of Fowler Avenue and 56th Street, which is within the heart of the Muslim community here. Members of the local chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) were also there to show their support, as well as other members of the community. People waved signs reading, “Charity is not a crime!” as the busy rush hour traffic slowed down and drivers showed their support.

Tampa, FL – At the University of South Florida, Oct. 8, about 30 students gathered outside of Cooper Hall to protest on the 11th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. Six speakers from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) spoke to the crowd about the impact this war has had on the students across the United States, and on the targets of U.S. wars abroad. After the protesters listened to the speeches made by the students and various community members, they marched to the C.W. Bill Young Building, which houses the ROTC program on campus. The building is named after Congressman Bill Young, whose anti-worker and anti-student policies sent many young people from poor communities to fight wars for members of the 1% – such as him.

Tampa, FL – About a dozen activists gathered outside of Sam M. Gibbons United States Courthouse here, Sept. 24, to mark the second year anniversary of the FBI raids against anti-war activists in 2010. These events and the subsequent grand jury investigation amount to nothing more than a witch hunt, with the aim of interfering with the anti-war movement. The protest demanded an end to the federal investigation of the peace activists.

Tampa, FL – On Sept. 11, members of various student and community groups gathered at the University of South Florida (USF) to commemorate the millions of victims affected by the conflicts sparked by the U.S. after the attacks on this day eleven years ago. The gathering was organized by Tampa Against the War on Terror and was supported by the campus chapter of Students for a Democratic Society. It came before a counter-protest in downtown Tampa, against a hate group that was seeking to ban the Council on America-Islamic Relations from speaking in Hillsborough County Public Schools.

Tampa, FL – Over 1000 people rallied and marched in the streets of Tampa, August 27, to demand good jobs, affordable education, healthcare, equality and peace. Although the Republicans canceled the first day of their convention due to Tropical Storm Isaac, organizers with the Coalition to March on the RNC went through with their promise to march to the site of the convention to show their opposition to the agenda of the 1%.

Tampa, FL – Members of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) from the Eastern and Western wings of the Southern Tour met up in Tampa, Florida after completing their tour of campuses in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia.

Tampa, FL- Though the weather has delayed the opening of the Republican National Convention, the organizers for the Coalition to March on the RNC have stated that they will go forward with their plans to rally Monday morning for good jobs, healthcare, affordable education, equality, and peace. Coalition leaders urge everyone to join the march at Perry Harvey, Sr. Park at 10 am.

Tampa, FL – Final build up is underway for the upcoming August 27 march on the RNC.

Tampa, FL – Members of the Student Labor Action Project will be among the many campus activists who join the massive march that will coincide with the August 27 opening of the Republican National Convention.

Tampa, FL – Joe Iosbaker, a spokesperson for the largest anti-war coalition in the U.S., the United National Antiwar Coalition, spoke at a press conference here, August 24, stating that the peace movement will be joining the mass march on the Republican National Convention. “The Republicans have never met a war they didn’t like,” said Iosbaker. “They support all the wars the U.S. government is waging right now. We are going to march on the RNC and say no to the wars being waged on behalf of the 1%.”

Tampa, FL – Organizers for the Coalition to March on the RNC gathered for a press conference here, at Perry Harvey Senior Park, August 22 to give an update on their preparations for the August 27 march on the Republican National Convention. The press conference included speakers from organizations participating in the protest, along with several dozen members of local and international media.

We are ready for the RNC. We’re taking on the 1%

Fight Back!: What are the Coalition’s plans for the rally against the RNC?

Tampa, FL – Student got together here, August 18, to make some of the thousands of signs that will be carried at the August 27 march on the Republican National Convention. The protest will demand good jobs, health-care, affordable education, equality and peace.

Tampa, FL – Immigrant rights organizations will join the massive August 27 march organized by the Coalition to March on the RNC. On August 27, Students Working for Equal Rights and the Student Farmworker Alliance will be joined by other immigrant rights groups to say, no to the bigotry of the Republican agenda and the parties of the 1%. The protest also has the backing of Proyecto Dignidad (Gainesville) and the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Acton Committee.

Tampa, FL – Standing in front of a wall of TV cameras and reporters, organizers from Coalition to March on the RNC spoke at a press conference here, August 14, giving important updates on the plans for the massive August 27 march that will coincide with the opening day of the Republican National Convention.