Brooklyn, NY — On February 3, dozens of people gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center to mark the one-month anniversary since the United States attacked Venezuela and kidnapped President Maduro and First Lady Flores.

The rally was called by the Venezuela Solidarity Network, and several important anti-war organization endorsed and attended, such as Workers World Party, Black Alliance for Peace, Palaver Collective and Brooklyn Against War.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, a current political prisoner, called into the protest via phone to give a speech in solidarity for Maduro and Flores, stating, “An empire attacks a poor, weaker state, and demands the lion’s share of its richest raw material – oil. Why is it not a stick up?”

Members of several organizations gave powerful speeches, urging the crowd to fight for Venezuela, President Maduro and First Lady Flores.

The rally ended with a recorded message by Nicolás Maduro Guerra, President Maduro’s son, who urged the people of the United States to keep fighting and that Venezuelans are fighting with them.

#BrooklynNY #NY #AntiWarMovement #International #Venezuela #Maduro #BAW #VSN #WWP #BAP

Caracas, Venezuela – Nearly 1000 people from over 70 countries attended a videoconference with the Ministry of Popular Power and Foreign Affairs of Venezuela in the morning of January 5. A continuation of the Assembly of the Peoples of Our America for Peace and Sovereignty that met in Caracas on December 9 and 10, participants expressed their solidarity with Venezuela in the face of the brutal military aggression of the United States and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.

The assembly heard first from Blanca Eekout, director of the Instituto Simón Bolívar for Peace and Solidarity Among Peoples (ISB). Eekout said the reasons for the attack on Venezuela and the targeting of President Maduro were to steal the oil that belongs to the people and because Maduro is not a banker or business owner but a worker from the streets of Caracas.

“The resources in the ground belong to the people of Venezuela, not the elites of the foreign corporations. You will not steal one ounce of our oil!” Eekout declared, adding, “We will defeat this imperialism that is in decline and only knows war and genocide!”

After honoring the 80 victims of Trump’s bombing of the capital of Caracas and the states of Aragua, La Guaira, and Miranda, Eekout delivered a message to the international activists: mobilize actions to demand “Free President Maduro and Cilia Flores!”

The call to continue actions in these streets comes as cities all over Venezuela mobilized to defend their democratically-elected President Maduro and their Bolivarian Revolution. Close to 100 cities in the U.S. held actions to demand an end to the U.S. war on Venezuela and the return of President Maduro and his wife.

On the morning of January 5 in New York City, many organizations, including Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) , Anti War Action Network (AWAN), Workers World Party (WWP), United National AntiWar Coalition and many other organizations, gathered outside the court building for the arraignment of President Maduro.

#CaracasVenezuela #Venezuela #International #AntiWarMovement #ISB #FRSO #AWAN #WWP #UNAC

Philadelphia, PA – Dozens of people confronted Philadelphia Department of Prisons Commissioner Michael Resnick on September 17 about the deaths of Amanda Cahill and Michael McKinnis, who died in jail the week before. The protest, at the Parkway Central Free Library, was led by community organizations and members of the family of Amanda Cahill to demand an end to mass incarceration and the criminalization of houselessness in Philadelphia.

Commissioner Resnick was just about to speak at a panel on mass incarceration when protesters disrupted the proceedings with chants and pointed to his share of guilt for the deaths of people in his custody.

Kayden Hujak, Amanda Cahill’s cousin, pointed out that the family holds the commissioner, the correction officers, and the nurse responsible for Cahill’s death but “number one, I think, we have to point to Mayor Cherelle Parker for this because of the police sweeps she is having done in Kensington. If it were not for the sweeps, I believe she would still be here.”

Mayor Parker’s police sweeps target unhoused people as part of her war on the poor. As for the conditions within the jail, Cahill’s fellow inmates banged on the doors and yelled for hours through the night in an attempt to get her medical attention. Despite the jail announcing that it was prepared to accept those arrested in the sweep, staff provided clearly inadequate care to protect the life of Amanda Cahill.

“I know how to take care of people that use substances and going through withdrawal and what they were doing in that prison was definitely going to get people hurt,” said Hujak. Michael McKinnis, a 61-year-old Black man, was the fifth person to die in a Philadelphia jail this year.

“I want to connect with other families this has happened to and I want to protest and continue this,” said Hujak. Amanda’s family is calling on those able to join them on Thursday, September 25 at city hall in supporting a Philadelphia city council resolution condemning the Supreme Court's decision to allow civil and criminal penalties for houselessness. Amanda is named in a section of the resolution and public comment in support is encouraged.

Organizations that participated in the protest included the Community Action Relief Project (CAARP), PSL Philly, Workers World Party, and Abolitionist Law Center.

#PhiladelphiaPA #InJusticeSystem #CommunityActionReliefProject #PSL #WWP #AbolitionistLawCenter