Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Frank Chapman, Executive Director, of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR).

Leonard Peltier, renowned Spirit-Warrior of the Dakota people, symbolizes the courageous centuries long resistance of the Indigenous peoples against racism, genocide and national oppression. In the spirit of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, Leonard has maintained his innocence and fought for his freedom for five decades.

The National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression has stood in unconditional solidarity with Leonard Peltier, the oldest and one of the longest held political prisoners in U.S. history.

The reason the federal government held Leonard in captivity and behind bars for half a century is not because he was guilty of any crime but because the FBI agents who were killed were white men. Leonard himself said “When a white is killed, even if he brought it on himself, all Indians are guilty. Isn’t that the way it’s always been?”

Yes, that is the way it’s always been. However, with Leonard the situation is even more aggravated by the fact that he is a freedom fighter for his oppressed people.

Decades ago, Leonard’s lawyer, Ramsey Clark (former Attorney General of the United States) said, “I think I can explain beyond serious doubt that Leonard Peltier committed no crime whatsoever.”

We now know that the government knew what Ramsey Clark knew, yet they refused to release Leonard.

Leonard was accused of murder in 1975 and in 1985 the government prosecution admitted, “We did not know who shot the agents...” he was accused of killing. Forty-nine years later a government prosecutor repeated this admitted truth to President Biden. Apparently, Biden listened, and in response to the demands of the people, at the age of 80 and after 50 years of torturous imprisonment, Leonard is coming home.

It’s definitely a people’s victory and we celebrate it as such. It is not “Justice at Last.”

We acknowledge and salute the Indigenous people’s movement, Leonard Peltier’s family, and his decades long standing Defense Committee. It was the mass movement of the people demanding justice that moved President Biden to issue an order of Executive Clemency.

Based on the evidence, Leonard deserved an apology and a pardon of innocence. The sober reality is that the U.S. government continues its genocidal policies against the Dakota people and all the Indigenous people of America.

We stand in unconditional solidarity with the first nations indemanding their sovereign rights and their struggles for freedom.

#LeonardPeltier #Clemency #ExecutiveOrder #Biden #IndigenousSovereignty #Dakota #RamseyClark #NAARPR

New Orleans, LA – On August 13, pro-Palestine activists rallied to protest President Biden as he visited Tulane University. About 50 people came together outside Tulane’s campus, including locals and university students. Many stayed home out of fear of the dozens of local and federal police cars that were watching the area.

The protest was organized by students and their allies in less than 48 hours. Tulane tried to prevent a response to the visit by slyly calling it a “scheduled event” in communications with students. The protest focused on Biden’s support for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. It is estimated that more than 186,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since October 2023.

Protesters also pointed out the hypocrisy of Biden’s support for cancer research while expanding oil and gas usage in the U.S. “My great-grandfather died of cancer. My grandfather died of cancer. My uncle is dying from his fourth time with cancer. I will die of cancer someday, because we live in Cancer Alley, a toxic region of Louisiana created by the oil industry that Biden supports,” said Jack Saucier, speaking for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

LGBTQ liberation activists also came out to protest Biden. “We will not see trans and queer liberation here while our president is eradicating our queer siblings in Palestine,” said Blu DiMarco, speaking for the Queer and Trans Community Action Project. Protesters wore shirts that read “Queers for Palestine” and held signs with slogans like “End U.S. aid to Israel.” Security volunteers handed out water to keep people safe in the 100-plus degree heat.

Before Biden arrived, police officers made metal barricades two rows deep. When people saw Biden’s car, the crowd burst out with energy, booing and chanting, “Genocide Joe has got to go!”

After about an hour of chanting and making noise while Biden was on campus, the action ended with a collective shaming. The crowd shouted “Shame!” in unison three times. The cry was audible a block away, while the president was in a building less than 150 feet away.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Biden #FRSO #QTCAP #

Atlanta, GA – Hundreds of community members gathered June 27 to protest the presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in Midtown Atlanta. The event was sponsored by a broad coalition of Atlanta and Georgia-based activist groups united around the demand for a free Palestine.

The protest began shortly after 7 p.m. and ran at the same time as the presidential debate. The event featured reps from a large number of organizations who spoke against the bipartisan support for Israel and its genocide of the Palestinian people, the need for divestment and an end of all U.S. aid to Israel. They tied the local people’s struggles in Atlanta to the fight against U.S. imperialism.

“What we all know is that neither Trump nor Biden is going to resolve the issues that have brought us out into the street. Neither of them can even fake empathy for the ongoing genocide in Palestine, much less do anything to stop it,” said Erica Schneider, a member of the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. “Neither of them has any interest in putting a stop to mass incarceration and closing the Atlanta jails where we've seen dozens of preventable deaths in the last few years.”

The Atlanta Alliance is currently running a campaign to shut down the Fulton County Jail, stop the construction of a new $2 billion jail, and grant immediate compassionate release of inmates to prevent further deaths. The Fulton County Jail at Rice Street has gained national notoriety in recent years as inmates continue to suffer from inhumane conditions. Over a dozen inmates have died at the jail in the past year alone.

“We're here protesting because we want a ceasefire now. We want a ceasefire now” said Geovani Serrano, a community organizer from Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights. “But at the same time, we're here because there is so many connections between what is taking place in Palestine and what is taking place at the border.”

Serrano continued, “When I say ‘take back tech’ I say ‘take back’ for a reason, because the U.S. currently is taking all this technology that has been used to surveil Palestinian people and they're using it to surveil immigrants here in the United States. They’re using it to create profiles to criminalize them. And not only just that but profiles also for entire families. It is a close connection that we have.”

Immigration has become a hot-button issue during the 2024 presidential election as racist right wing rhetoric against undocumented people continues to escalate. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp recently signed HB 1105 into effect, a state law requiring local and state police to identify, arrest and detain undocumented persons.

Alex Carson, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and one of the recently arrested Emory University protesters, spoke about the need for solidarity in the fight against political repression, stating, “The monopoly capitalist class and their police happily tear gassed, brutalized and jailed us for resisting their genocide of Palestinians at the Emory encampment. Our solidarity is always stronger than their repression. Instead of scaring people they have awoken a strong tide of internationalism in Atlanta and the whole country.”

#AtlantaGA #GA #PeoplesStruggles #RNC #DNC #Biden #Trump

Fight Back! is circulating the following statement by the Legalization for All Network (L4A).

Legalization for All Network Statement on Biden Executive Order

The June 17 Biden Administration Executive Order to facilitate the legalization of spouses of U.S. citizens affects up to 500,000 undocumented people. The Legalization for All (L4A) network considers the order a positive step towards the goal of legalization for all of the undocumented.

At the same time, this positive action does not absolve the Biden administration of adopting a Trump-like policy on the U.S.-Mexico border. On June 4, 2024, Biden issued an effective ban on those seeking asylum. The ban goes into effect when the daily average of border arrests tops 2,500.

This spring, the average daily number of border arrests was 4,300. In other words, as many as 1,800 people a day attempting to cross the U.S./Mexico border now face quick deportation or being turned back to Mexico without starting an asylum claim.

Shortly following the ban, immigrant rights groups took to the streets around the country and in Washington D.C. demanding that Biden remove the ban and expand Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Undocumented immigrants need much more concrete and secure immigration policies that are not at the mercy of an upcoming election. The newly announced executive order does the following:

• Allows undocumented people married to US citizen for ten years to legalize their status while remaining in the United States. This would benefit about 500,000 undocumented.
• Gives temporary status to undocumented children of US citizen parents, aiding about 50,000.

While L4A views this as a victory for our movement, Biden’s executive order applies to less than 5% of the undocumented.

President Biden and the Democrats have lost a considerable amount of voter and public support due to their role in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. At the same time, the Republican Party has made it clear that anti-immigrant measures are a centerpiece of their political agenda. Trump continues calling for mass deportations, more detention centers, and for other bigots, like Texas Governor Greg Abbott, to buildemergency facilities to further militarize the Rio Grande.

Rather than fall for the Biden administration's cynical political moves, L4A has endorsed both the march against the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention. We ask all people and organizations who are part of our network or follow our work, to do the same and march with us in our immigrant rights contingents.

Send us a message now to notify us about your attendance at either the march on the RNC or DNC: Legalization for All on X, Instagram, Facebook or https://legalizationforall.wordpress.com/

#LegalizationForAll #Legalization4All #MarchOnTheRNC #MarchOnTheDNC #Biden #ExecutiveOrder #ImmigrantRights #Immigration #UndocumentedRights

Philadelphia, PA – During the North American SEIU convention on May 21, around 50 union members and staff led a walkout against Vice President Kamala Harris. The International hosted around 4000 people including delegates, guests and staff.

About ten minutes into Harris’ speech, about 50 delegates, guests and staff stood up and started chanting “Free Palestine!” Harris paused and stuttered for a moment, and some delegates broke out into “Four more years.” Protesters soon overshadowed them. They walked to the entrance and pulled out hidden cloth signs, reading “Workers of the world unite” and “Free Gaza.” They chanted “Harris, Harris you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” and sang the union anthem Which side are you on? .

Chants continued for five minutes during the Harris speech. Members left singing Solidarity Forever before joining a rally outside.

“As members of Starbucks Workers United, we have made our stance on Palestine clear, and we did not feel comfortable sitting through a speech from the current administration. Kamala and Biden are directly responsible for the deaths of over 35,000 people, this is an emergency, and working people have a responsibility, and power, to make sure not a single cent more goes to genocide,” said Abbey Lodwig, a SBWU organizer and member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

“As a collective, we passed a resolution essentially saying, ‘No to genocide,’ but our union continues to endorse an administration, with $200 million, that has denied the existence of the genocide and continues to provide arms money to Israel. It is hypocritical,” said a delegate with the committee of interns and residents.

On Monday, a resolution was passed in support of Palestine, but some felt it did not go far enough.

Local 1000 member Sam Lieu, who helped organize the interruption of Harris, stated, “The principled and accurate resolution on Palestine submitted by SEIU Local 1021 was blocked by the ossified IU leadership and a watered down version was adopted through less than democratic means on May 20, 2024. A small but class-conscious group of delegates and attendees met afterwards to organize a demonstration that not only spoke to the inefficient resolution but also to heighten the contradiction of the IU adopting a resolution on Palestine and then the very next day to invite Genocide Joe’s second-in-command to speak to the delegation.”

#PhiladelphiaPA #PA #Labor #Biden #Harris #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #SEIU #SBWU #Feature

Jacksonville, FL – More than 200 community members rallied alongside Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network (JPSN) to protest the visit of Vice President Harris, May 1, who had come to campaign the same day the Republican-led state began enforcing the six-week abortion ban.

The Democratic party is using this ban as an opportunity to shore up support for Democratic candidates that will appear on the November ballot alongside Florida Amendment 4, which would codify reproductive rights in the state's constitution.

“We won't allow Harris to coopt the hard work of grassroots organizers,” said Sara Mahmoud of JPSN. “The Biden-Harris administration has no leg to stand on in coming to our city to virtue signal support for reproductive rights when they are the butchers of Gaza, where miscarriages have tripled since October and the U.S.-backed siege has forced Palestinians to use tent fabric to substitute menstrual products.”

JPSN organizers led the crowd in chants against the vice president and her guests as they arrived at the speaking venue, along with segments of political education. At one point, a Christian faith leader who was among Harris' invited guests approached the crowd, exclaiming “I wanted to come get a picture with you all. Because I want everyone to know we support you!”

“I need everyone here to understand,” shouted Ryan Delaney of JPSN and FRSO through a bullhorn, “that we are stronger together. We are here making an impact because we are organized. We must be strong because our strength is the strength of the Palestinian people. When we strike a powerful blow against the empire, it brings those in Gaza hope to keep going, which is why you see them writing messages of gratitude to the Columbia students on the tents in their refugee camps. It's our duty to be as strong as we can be for their sake, and to do that we must organize!”

The Harris campaign fled the venue from the opposite end of the building. JPSN says they will continue to fight for a free Palestine no matter who wins in November or how long it takes.

#JacksonvilleFL #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #JPSN #FRSO #Biden #Harris

Tampa, FL – Protesters converged in solidarity with the struggle in Gaza to denounce Joe Biden’s visit to the Hillsborough Community College Dale Mabry campus on April 23. Nearly 400 protesters thronged the sidewalks surrounding the entrance, chanting and waving Palestinian flags.

Biden’s visit was ostensibly to speak in support of women’s rights in the face of the Florida abortion ban, a ban Biden and the Democratic Party essentially allowed to happen. Many protesters were quick to point out the hypocrisy of Biden claiming to champion women’s rights while he continues to sell weapons to Israel who have used them to murder tens of thousands of women in Gaza. One major focus of the protest was showing Joe Biden that his adamant support for Israel will cost him the upcoming presidential election in November.

The protest was organized by several groups including the Tampa Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression, and the Bay Area Dream Defenders, and drew together mainly college students and Arab American community members.

The event was a major success, with only 24-hour notice as to the location of Joe Biden’s speaking event. The local coalition of organizations working to provide solidarity to the Palestinian resistance is on the move and continuing to put pressure on politicians to end the support the United States is providing to Israel.

#TampaFL #FL #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Biden #DNC2024 #NAARPR #DreamDefenders

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following April 3 statement from the Wisconsin District of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Palestine solidarity activists are celebrating the success of a protest vote campaign in the Wisconsin Presidential Primary. 48,000 people voted “uninstructed” in the April 2 primary, Wisconsin’s version of “uncommitted,” that has found success in several state primaries.

The Wisconsin campaign more than doubled its goal of 20,682 votes, representing Biden’s margin of victory over Trump in Wisconsin in the 2020 election. The “uninstructed” campaign was led by Listen to Wisconsin, and supported by 60 pro-Palestine, progressive, and left organizations across the state, including Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s Wisconsin District.

The success of the “uninstructed” campaign demonstrates the growing popular support for the Palestinian people in their just struggle for liberation from U.S.-backed Israeli occupation and genocide. Since October 7, mass protests in support of Palestine have reached historic levels, along with the development of a strong state-wide Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine.

The Democratic Party has tried to downplay the huge number of protest votes in several critical swing states, dismissing concerns over Biden’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, but the numbers are undeniable. In nine states that have an uncommitted/uninstructed option, the campaign has already garnered over 415,000 votes, with more states to come. After six months of marches, disruptions, and boycotts, Biden continues to send billions of dollars of weapons to re-arm Israel’s occupation forces, who have killed over 33,000 Palestinians. Many voters see the protest vote as one of the few options to force Biden and the Democratic Party to face political consequences for continuing to support the genocide in Gaza.

With a Biden vs. Trump rematch on the horizon, the two-party system doesn't offer any solutions for oppressed people. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have been relentless in their support of Israel’s racist, settler-colonial occupation of Palestine for over 75 years. Israel serves an important role for Western imperialist domination of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The two capitalist parties want Israel to continue its role as an outpost of U.S. capitalist interests. But the Palestinian people are waging a fight that has the potential to end the Zionist project and limit the influence of U.S. imperialism in the Middle East, and we want them to win.

Over the past six months, millions of people across the U.S. have joined actions in solidarity with Palestine. Hundreds of thousands of protest votes against Biden are one manifestation of the power of the growing movement for Palestine. The movements that are being built have real potential to stifle U.S. support for the occupation of Palestine.

We encourage supporters of Palestinian liberation to continue bringing the demands of the movement to the doorstep of the Democratic and Republican parties by participating in the March on the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15, 2024, and the March on the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, August 19 – 22, 2024.

#WI #PeoplesStruggles #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #Biden #Elections #DNC2024 #RNC2024

Milwaukee, WI – Another visit to Milwaukee by President Biden resulted in a protest by the Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine (WCJP) to denounce him. On Wednesday, March 13, Biden made multiple stops across Milwaukee, issuing promises to improve the living conditions for Black residents and visit the new Democratic Party headquarters.

The WCJP called for an emergency rally at Dontre Hamilton (Red Arrow) Park and led a crowd of hundreds within sight and sound of the Democratic Party headquarters. Chants of “Free Palestine” and “Genocide Joe” reverberated throughout downtown Milwaukee while the crowd waited for Biden to arrive. The crowd, proudly lifting Palestinian flags and displaying signs demanding an end to the genocide, was met by dozens of cops and members of the Secret Service.

For over two hours, the crowd led chants and sent a clear message to Biden and the rest of the Democratic Party – end U.S. aid to Israel and end the genocide now. Khaled Abukhamireh of the US Palestinian Community Network stated, “Rafah stands as the final sanctuary for the people of Gaza. There is an imminent threat as the genocidal Israeli army prepares to advance, posing a great danger to this beautiful city.”

Channeling the unified energy of the crowd, Audari Tamayo of Students for a Democratic Society at UW-Milwaukee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization said, “Today we’re here to tell Genocide Joe that he’s not welcome here, that he’s not welcome anywhere, and that there’s people here with a conscience. Just as the revolutionary socialist leader Hugo Chavez said, ‘Fuera de aquí yanqui que aquí hay un pueblo unido!’”

The WCJP brought together multiple movements that have become increasingly angrier with the ineptitude of the Biden administration, including the immigrant rights movement. Executive director of Voces de la Frontera, Cristine Neumann-Ortiz, stated, “We’re calling on President Biden to support a ceasefire in Gaza and to use executive action to fulfill campaign promises he made to the Latinos and immigrants here in Wisconsin – to end 287g that makes our communities less safe by deputizing local law enforcement to act as immigration and to expand access to work visas for essential workers and their families and asylum seekers, including Palestinians.”

Biden’s team made it clear that Wednesday’s visit is the first of many he plans to make to Wisconsin in the coming months. As proven by the WCJP’s action, no matter where Biden goes in Wisconsin, there will be a crowd there to confront him.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #WCJP #SDS #SDSUWM #USPCN #VDF #Biden

#DetroitMI #AntiWarMovement #International #Palestine #Biden #UAW