Colorado Springs, CO – On March 8, International Women's Day, the Colorado Springs People’s Coalition (CSPC) organized a demonstration at the Pioneer's Museum to protest Trump's reactionary agenda that attacks women and LGBTQ people and their rights. About 300 people gathered, many chanted, “Women are unstoppable, a better world is possible!”

By the early afternoon, the front of Pioneers Museum was full of signs supporting women and LGBTQ people. Palestinian flags were flown for the martyrs and survivors in Gaza, where women have had to use tent scraps and other scavenged materials as tampons. The protest emphasized justice for mothers of victims of police crimes.

Rhiannon Moon from Voces Unidas talked about how the mass incarceration system takes money from much-needed social services, stating, “The police budget has doubled over ten years, and what are the results? We wait 17 minutes for emergency vehicles and police kill our neighbors.” The march was led by a banner calling for community control of the police.

The group then marched to Jeff Crank's office. Crank is a Republican senator who has called for attacks on any group thatdoesn’t support Trump's massive ICE raids. A speaker from No Small Act gave a speech on the generational fight for women's liberation, stating, “Our grandmothers fought for our reproductive health as a constitutional right. Roe was overturned in 2022 and since then maternal mortality rates have risen in states that have anti-choice litigation.”

The group marched back to the Pioneers Museum where speeches and chants resumed into the early evening.

#ColoradoSpringsCO #IWD #ICE #Trump #WomensRights #LGBTQ

By staff

San José, CA – On MLK Day, upwards of 600 San José residents came out to protest Trump's inauguration and fight back against his anti-immigrant agenda.

The protest mobilized a broad array of progressive organizations in the South Bay, all united against Trump. The Silicon Valley Immigration Committee and Papeles Para Todos coordinated the rally and march.

The rally began at 4 p.m. at the intersection of Stevens Creek and Winchester Boulevard, a commercial center where many gather to shop. Before the protest started, a mass of people had already gathered on the sidewalks with Mexican flags, pickets featuring the Virgin Mary, and Huelga flags. Together the crowd chanted, “¡El Pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” meaning “The people united, will never be defeated!”

Sebastian Salinas, a community organizer with the Silicon Valley Immigration Committee, kicked off the protest with a series of chants shoulder to shoulder with SEIU 2015 union members. Together they chanted, “Who’s got the power? We got the power! What kind of power? Union power!”, alternating the final phrase with chants of “people power” as well.

The program began with the Raging Grannies Action League’s anti-Trump song reaffirming civil rights in the United States. Shortly after, José Rubén from the Comité de Solidaridad con la Lucha de los Inmigrantes Detenidos shared his experience of participating in a labor and hunger strike while being detained in a for-profit prison.

“On the 18th day of the hunger strike, we had a visit from ICE and GEO dressed in military gear, in riot gear, with deadly weapons,” Rubén recalled. Rubén asked to speak to his lawyers,but ICE officials responded by dragging Rubén and throwing him on to the ground. In 2023, Rubén gained his freedom. “It was possible because of the support of the community that I was able to be liberated,” he stated.

The program included moments that reflected on what MLK Day is about and Martin Luther King Jr.’s radical legacy. Allie Yixuan from San José Against War spoke about MLK Jr.’s opposition to the Vietnam War. Yixuan stated, “It is clear that if Dr. King were around today, he would agree that spending enormous amounts of our tax dollars on military aid to bomb civilians and children in occupied Palestine is unacceptable!”

A community organizer with Papeles Para Todos, Verónica Avendano Ibáñez, soon followed, stating, “I have spent 25 years here and have spent more than a decade organizing my community here.” Ibáñez continued, “I learned that it is important that our community is united and that we fight for our solidarity to achieve our goals,” adding, “Everyone has a right to visit their countries of origin and return to their home in the United States of America, because we have grown roots in this community.”

Uriel Magdaleno of the Silicon Valley Immigration stated, “As President Trump is sworn in, many sanctuary cities are wavering on their support for their immigrant communities and pledge to work with ICE, which is why it is important for San José to reaffirm as a sanctuary city, and it will not cooperate with ICE.”

Magdaleno closed by reading an excerpt of the Legalization for All Network’s statement, “It is through the peoples’ struggle and the peoples’ movements that we will resist Trump and the racist institutions that he will try to use to attack us. Our rights and our place in these lands were not given to us, but won through protracted and sharp struggle. Whether we were born here or if we came here as immigrants, we have every right to exist here.”

After the speeches, Sebastian Salinas prepared the crowd to march into the streets. The attendees followed, with SEIU union members leading with their banner and chants. As the march started, cars passing by honked in support. The crowd chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets!” After a block, the march headed directly into the center of Santana Row, one of San José’s busiest shopping centers. The crowd continued to chant, “What do we want? Justice! How are we gonna get it? People power! If we don't get it? Shut it down!”

The march included a number of different contingents including a Filipino contingent made up of Malaya South Bay, PAWIS South Bay and the League of Filipino Students at San José State University.

After the march, Misrayn Mendoza with Amigos de Guadalupe continued the program, stating, “As you have seen during the last couple of weeks, months and years, we have been under attack by the presidency administration that will be entering today.” Mendoza continued, “Beyond the fear that they want us to feel, there's an unbreakable resiliency, courage and valor to continue in community with one another without fear we'll walk together and change the fear for love and justice.”

Tarentz Charite, of the San José State University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, told the crowd, “Dare to struggle, dare to win!” Charite described their experience as a student activist on campus “constantly in battle of reactionary ideology on campus.” They condemned the university's tolerance of the reactionary group Turning Point USA on campus.

After Charite, Héctor Rincón from La Voz de los Trabajadoresbegan by saying, “Long live the working class struggle, long live the women's rights struggle, long live the trans rights struggle and long live the struggle of all oppressed peoples!”

John Duroyan from the San José district of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization ended the program, saying, “Today marks a moment of vital importance, for many reasons. Firstly, on this day, we honor the memory of a titan, and a hero in this nation’s long legacy of activism.” Duroyan continued, “What better representation of those evils exists than the wretched reactionary Donald Trump, and his gang of bigots and greedy businessmen! Today, Trump was sworn in, an insult to the legacy of Dr. King! Let every organization here, no matter their personal mission, stand united in declaring that the far right’s hatred and greed is not welcome here! And that so long as we have anything to say about it, Trump’s administration will not lay so much as a hand on the people without us fighting back with all our rage and fury!”

#SanJoseCA #Trump #Inauguration #FRSO #MLK #MLKday #TransRights #WomensRights #SDS #SJSU #TurningPointUSA #TurningPOint #SJSUSDS #MALAYA #ImmigrantRights #Legalization4All #SEIU #UnionPower #SiliconValleyImmigrationCommittee #PapelesParaTodos

“This year has seen the movements for justice rise to the center of the country's political conversation. Women are at the front and in the background of these struggles. Liberation cannot be achieved if half of the world’s people are oppressed, for that reason I say that the liberation of women is part of the centerpiece of the liberation of working people,” states FRSO Political Secretary Steff Yorek.

“We urge people to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8, to mark the struggles of women for women and all oppressed people,” continued Yorek.

Building to the fight to get Justice for Rasmea Odeh will be a theme of many of the International Women’s Day events. Odeh, who has made many contributions to the struggles for justice and liberation, is veteran Chicago Palestinian American leader who is facing jail and deportation on a trumped up immigration charge.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #InternationalWomensDay #PoliticalRepression #WomensRights #RasmeaOdeh

Detroit, MI – The Committee to Stop FBI Repression and United States Palestinian Community Network will gather in Detroit to support Rasmea Odeh, a 65-year-old women's rights activist who faces 10 years in prison and deportation on trumped-up immigration charges.

Rasmea Odeh is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, on Nov.13, for arraignment at 1 pm, and organizers are planning a support rally in front of the courthouse at noon. Odeh was arrested on Oct. 22 at her home in Evergreen Park, a suburb of Chicago, and charged with Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization, for allegedly untruthfully answering questions on her immigration application to the U.S. The court hearing is taking place in Detroit because it is her original city of U.S. residence.

A statement by rally organizers says, “The charge brought against her is another example of the escalation of federal law enforcement repression against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims in this country.”

Odeh is a well-known and respected activist in the Palestinian American community of Chicago who has been honored for her social services and women’s empowerment work by the Chicago Cultural Alliance. Scores of organizations across the U.S. rallied to her cause after the arrest, and the media in the Arab world have also covered the news.

Supporters, including members of civil rights groups, faith-based institutions and Arab and Muslim organizations, as well as women's rights activists and civil liberties attorneys, are preparing to gather in Detroit, pack the courtroom and rally in her support. Solidarity activities are also being organized in Oakland, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Washington D.C. and New York.

“There has been a massive outpouring of love and support for Rasmea across the U.S. and the world,” says Rasmea’s friend and colleague Hatem Abudayyeh. “There is no justification for this political attack on a 65-year-old woman who has dedicated her life to progress and social justice. We will stand with her to fight these charges.”

#DetroitMI #PalestineSolidarity #HomelandSecurity #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #InjusticeSystem #UnitedStatesPalestinianCommunityNetwork #WomensRights #RasmeaOdeh

Asheville, NC – On Aug. 8, protesters gathered in downtown here, to rally for an end to the attacks against women and against abortion restrictions in North Carolina. The event was organized by WORD (Women Organized to Resist and Defend).

Protesters chanted, “When women's rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!” referencing the latest abortion restrictions in North Carolina that were first snuck into an Anti-Sharia Law bill, then ultimately added to a Motorcycle Safety Bill.

Emily Parker, an organizer with WORD, spoke saying, “The war on women is apparent. Right now in North Carolina you cannot receive an abortion procedure. Although it is not technically illegal, there are no clinics for one to go to. Femcare in Asheville is being pushed around by right-wing bullies who don't want women to have the right to choose.”

Protesters rallied in support of Femcare, the only abortion provider in western North Carolina which was recently shut down for nearly 24 health and safety violations. This was a clear politically-motivated attack against women. Several protesters noted that the violations don't seem to be serious and that it was very suspicious that they should be inspected and closed right after this bill was passed.

“Femcare has been safely serving this city since 1985. Their staff is nothing but kind and helpful. Their facilities are nothing but safe and sanitary. Femcare has never had an infection since it has opened. Thanks to the new restrictive abortion bill, they are being forced to temporarily shut their doors even though they would've been the last remaining clinic in the state. The North Carolina government says these new laws will ensure women's safety but in reality they are causing women physical harm and hardship,” Parker said.

Protesters marched through downtown Asheville carrying signs that read “End the war on women,” and “We won't go back, we'll fight back!”

#AshevilleNC #PeoplesStruggles #abortion #NorthCarolina #feminism #WomensRights #AbortionBan #Rally #WomensLiberation

Hundreds of people held signs saying “Justice for Trayvon!” and “Stop the war on Black America!” One young woman gave a passionate speech, “All of us here are resisting a system of white supremacy that killed Trayvon Martin. This system – that demands no remorse or empathy from racist murders, that kills and incarcerates and brutalizes bodies of color – is in action in our state right now. We can see it in the repeal of the Racial Justice Act, the racists’ redistricting plans, in the voter ID laws and the end of unemployment benefits.”

Holly Jorden, a high school teacher from Durham declared, “I teach hundreds of kids like Trayvon every day, and the message about themselves that this verdict sends absolutely breaks my heart. Now society is not just sending a negative message to Black boys – it’s doing the same thing to Latina girls, Native girls, Asian girls, white girls and the many Black girls that I teach. These young women are being told who they are and are not – what they can and cannot become. When the legislature takes away a woman’s freedom to control her own body, when they limit her vote, when they take away unemployment benefits and her access to health care when they take money away from her schools, they are telling that woman she is unworthy. They are telling her that her needs and voice do not matter.”

The July 15 rally came on the heels of a devastating week for women’s rights in North Carolina, where the legislature snuck anti-abortion language at the last minute into an anti-sharia law bill (HB 695 http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/House/PDF/H695v4.pdf) and then onto a motorcycle safety bill (SB 353 http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2013/Bills/Senate/PDF/S353v3.pdf). This will result in only one clinic, located in Asheville, that would meet the proposed guidelines for the entire state of North Carolina.

Leading up to 7:00 p.m. session, when the House legislators convened to continue their agenda against workers, women, African Americans, Latinos and others, the crowd marched out into the street behind the radical drum line, Cakalak Thunder, shouting “Whose house? Our house!” Those entering the General Assembly risked arrest.

According to the General Assembly’s police chief, 101 new protesters were arrested for acts of civil disobedience, bringing the total to over 850 since the first Moral Monday. The 12th Moral Monday on July 22 will focus on the extreme attacks on voting rights by the leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly.

#RaleighNC #WomensMovement #OppressedNationalities #AntiRacism #TrayvonMartin #GeorgeZimmerman #InjusticeSystem #abortion #WomensRights

This legislation was created and passed by the right wing. The law mandates trans-vaginal ultrasounds for any woman who seeks to terminate a pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. In addition, the law places restrictions on doctor-patient confidentiality and even allows for relatives of the woman who underwent an abortion to take legal action against the doctor or even the woman herself.

When the activists – mostly women – tried to enter the Senate floor, the group was met with attempts to physically restrain them. Some of the women were tackled to the ground. Eight women made it into the foyer area of the legislature before being arrested by capitol police. One male protester made it onto the Senate floor.

An organizer of this truly grassroots event, Jennifer Epps-Addison, stated in reference to the struggle, “People have to break out of their comfort zone and begin talking about women's rights – to their family, friends, co-workers and neighbors. This isn't just about the control of women's bodies by the state legislature, but about women's ability to participate equally in our democracy. We need to speak out loudly and often on these issues. We need to participate in informal organizing structures. Most importantly, we need to make it difficult for those who want to dismantle our Wisconsin way of life.”

#MadisonWisconsin #MadisonWI #WomensRights #SophiesLaw #SB206