The Student Commission of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) recently met and made plans to build the movement on campuses around the U.S.

On January 1, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 257-167 to pass the Senate compromise tax bill to stop the so-called “fiscal cliff” of tax increases and spending cuts. While Democratic politicians are portraying this deal as a victory as “98% of Americans will not see their taxes increase,” the reality is that 77% of Americans, including about two-thirds of the working class, will see tax increases.

As 2012 comes to an end, we pause to look back at some of the most important Fight Back! stories of the past year. 2012 has been a year full of struggle – and Fight Back! News has been there on the front lines with on-the-spot reporting and timely analysis.

The United States and other western powers are intervening on a large scale in Syria with the aim of overthrowing Syria’s progressive government. Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the United National Antiwar Coalition:

Almost ten years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, it's déjà vu all over again.

Red Dawn movie review

About 160 years ago, Karl Marx wrote that history repeats itself, “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” And speaking to his statement in 2012, it’s hard to think of any modern example better than the remake of the 1984 film, Red Dawn.

Steff Yorek is a member of Cooks for a Cause – a group of cooks who do labor-donated fundraising dinners for progressive causes such as Palestine solidarity and immigrants rights. This article was published last year and due to popular demand, Fight Back! is reposting it.

Once again, Israel is launching a criminal attack on the people of Gaza. On Nov.14, Israeli warplanes and drones began a ferocious bombardment, killing little kids and a prominent Palestinian freedom fighter, Ahmed Al-Jaabari. Buildings are burning in Gaza City. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with other Israeli officials, say this is just the beginning. And, it needs to be said, the White House has the blood of Palestine on its hands.

If you don’t think 007 films are political, you’re out of your mind.

President Obama’s second term will mean more wars, cutbacks at home and attacks on our civil liberties. Obama has expanded U.S. military intervention in the Middle East – with the ongoing war and occupation of Afghanistan, merciless drone attacks killing thousands in Pakistan and Yemen, aggression against Syria and war threats against Iran. U.S. Special Forces and U.S. military advisors have a growing presence from Mexico to Africa, and worryingly there is a ‘pivot’ towards Asia that aims to bolster U.S. military power there.

Leaders of the anti-war and Palestine solidarity movements, joined by civil liberties advocates, are planning protests across the U.S. and Gaza, Palestine to demand justice for the Holy Land 5 on October 25.

Free them now!

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression stands in solidarity with Northwest activists Katherine Olejnik and Matt Duran, who are currently being imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with a secret grand jury in Seattle. Leah-Lynn Plante was also unjustly jailed for refusing to testify before the grand jury and has been released.

In its original format, Alabama’s Beason-Hammon Act granted school resource officers the right to badger fifth-graders on the basis of their immigration status. The state of Alabama, which passed the Beason-Hammon Act (or HB 56) in June of 2011, was the only state in the country requiring public school administrators to verify immigration data for new K-12 students. However, just two months ago in August of this year, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the student provision of HB 56, declaring it unconstitutional and a legal breach of Plyer vs. Doe, which mandates that states provide an education to all children, regardless of their immigration status. The 11th Circuit also struck down Georgia’s HB 87, a state proposal to criminalize the “transporting and harboring of illegal immigrants,” a statute with anti-Latino written all over it, a proposal with no parallel within the U.S. system of federal law.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

The advances of the Cuban revolution have brought real improvements to people’s lives. A report made by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), titled “Progress for Children: A Report Card on Nutrition,” gave the resilient island country a nod for being the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean to have eliminated malnutrition for children. The report also noted that the Cuban government has vowed to eliminate poverty and reach complete environmental sustainability by 2015, a year which approaches with great strides toward this end already taking place. This is a huge victory for Cubans, as they have faced over five decades of unjust blockade by the U.S. government and constant threats from hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Millones de personas se encuentran sin trabajo. Aquellos que dieron de baja están siendo evacuados de sus hogares porque sus hipotecas están siendo ejecutadas, perdieron seguros de salud y luchan cada vez mas duro para sobrevivir. El desempleo entre la juventud esta muy alto. Incluso los graduados universitarios se ven forzados a vivir en la casa de sus padres. Muchos no pueden hacer mensualidades a los préstamos universitarios. Millones de inmigrantes, ambos documentados e indocumentados, son dados de baja y sin poder trabajar, se ven obligados a abandonar el país después de haber trabajado años en los EU.

Right wing hypes fear of a ‘fiscal cliff’ to extend tax cuts for the rich

The federal government is on course for large spending cuts and tax increases starting January of 2013. This comes from a combination of three things: the end of some of the Obama administration stimulus that began in 2009; the end of large tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, done under the Bush administration; and automatic spending cuts designed to reduce the federal budget deficit. While some of the tax increases would not fully take effect until April 2014, and others could be reversed, the right wing is using fears of a ‘fiscal cliff’ to try to extend tax cuts for the rich and block planned cutbacks in military spending.

Millions of people are out of work. Those who are laid off are being foreclosed out of their homes, losing health care, and finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. Youth unemployment is particularly high. Even recent college graduates are forced to live in their parents’ homes. Many are unable to make payments on their college loan debt. Being laid off and unable to find work, millions of immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are forced to leave after years of working in the U.S.

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.