Brooklyn, NY – On September 14, Brooklyn Against War hosted a documentary screening and letter-writing event in support of its campaign to free Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.

At a local Brooklyn bar and community space, the activist group showed Oliver Stone’s 2009 documentary South of the Border. The film centers around interviews with then-Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, alongside many other progressive and left-wing contemporary Latin American leaders, such as Evo Morales. The film challenges the mainstream American media narratives, which vilified these leaders for standing up for their people’s interests against American imperialist exploitation.

Attendees at the screening reflected on how the United States propaganda of the 2000s mirrors the propaganda deployed against kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores, who are imprisoned at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), just a few miles from where the screening took place.

Briony Smith of Brooklyn Against War spoke about Cilia Flores’s health, saying “This is a woman who has spent her career fighting for the social and economic rights of her people, and now she is having heart attacks in a Brooklyn jail. It’s crucial we fight to show people the truth about Cilia, Maduro and Venezuela.”

The night finished with participants writing to Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to demand an end to the sanctions on Venezuela and freedom for Maduro and Flores.

BAW further called on all attendees to join the organization in protesting at the MDC on October 3, as part of the Anti-War Action Network National Day of Action to free Maduro and Flores and say no to U.S. intervention in Venezuela.

#NYC NewYorkCity #Antiwar #Southoftheborder #Maduro #Brooklyn #Antiwarmovement #Venezuela

New York, NY – Almost 100 activists and community members gathered in Brooklyn on July 29 to mourn the murders of Black women. The vigil was held after the murder of Nia Wilson, who was recently stabbed to death by a white man in Oakland, California. The vigil also brought attention to the violence that Black trans women face.

Various speakers came up to talk about different issues relating to violence against Black women and gender non-conforming people. Zila Renfro from Gabriela NY addressed imperialism as the root of Black women’s and gender non-conforming people’s oppression in the U.S.

“Imperialism was built on the backs of our enslaved ancestors. We are being violently displaced, impoverished, murdered, just for being so that the dominance of those wealthy few at the top can continue,” said Renfro.

Along with speeches, the event also included singing and altar offerings. The emcees read off the names of Black women wo have been killed, with the crowd chanting back “Say her name!” The night ended with an Assata Shakur chant.

The vigil was organized by the Audre Lorde Project, Gabriela NY, Black Youth Project 100, and Sige.

#NewYorkNY #NewYork #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #womensMovement #Antiracism #Brooklyn