Organizers announced that they will be launching an all-out campaign to force the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) to drop their anti-trans policy and to restore the ability of Floridians to change the gender markers on their IDs to reflect who they are.

More than a dozen community organizations including HOPE Community Center, Orlando for Gender Equality and Dream Defenders were united behind a banner which read, “DeSantis DMV. Drop the policy. IDs for all.” Florida Representative Anna Eskamani also attended and pledged solidarity with the growing campaign. As reporters gathered to hear the announcement outside the prominent LGBTQ health center, activists chanted “We won’t go back. Not one step back!” and “We will not go back in time, being trans is not a crime.”

Jacob Muldoon, lead organizer with Orlando for Gender Equality spoke first and outlined the context for DeSantis’ latest attack on the LGBTQ community. He explained that community groups organized and mobilized in great numbers during the past legislative session. Through actions like protests, letter-writings, die-ins, and more, activists defeated 21 out of 22 anti-LGBTQ bills attempting to move through the Florida legislature. But now, facing defeat, the GOP is pivoting to an undemocratic, administrative rule change.

Muldoon went on to say, “These political moves by DeSantis and the GOP are unconstitutional and follow a trend of Florida violating federal laws like Real ID and Title IX. DeSantis and the GOP are rogue actors, dead set on their unpopular and hate-filled agenda. We must defend Orlando from Tallahassee.”

Well-known community organizer Shea Cutliff delivered a powerful speech, stating, “As someone who transitioned very early, my ID was like a black American Express card. It was a ticket to so many things. It put a stop to being discriminated against before I even had the chance to interview for a job. It was my chance to stand up for myself in a place as simple as a grocery store by presenting my ID with the proper gender marker reflected on it.”

Joey Knoll, founder and president of SPEKTRUM Health also spoke out against DeSantis’ attempts to erase Florida’s trans population from public life. Knoll rebuked the right-wing governor, “regardless of what Ron DeSantis says, thinks or does: trans people have existed, trans people exist now, and trans people will continue to exist long into the future. Nobody is asking for his permission.”

The coalition ended the conference with a call to action, promising to mobilize and protest at DMVs around the state of Florida in the coming weeks.

#OrlandoFL #LGBTQrights #TransRights #TransLiberation #GayRights #RealID #TitleIX #Desantis #

Tampa, FL – On Tuesday, February 27, a group of around 15 students joined together in front of the Marshall Student Center at the University of South Florida to demand that the university defend diversity.

The event was organized by Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society as part of their campaign titled “Defend Diversity.” The student protesters demanded USF take action to protect Women’s and Gender Studies, expand Africana Studies, and fund multicultural organizations. Students chanted “DEI is welcome here” and “Ron DeSantis go away.”

The rally was a cry for USF to take action to protect DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs from being restricted. This student group blames higher administration officials for the lack of protections for diversity. Tampa Bay SDS member Allie Enriquez states, “USF presidents like Rhea Law continue to ignore the demands of students and follow DeSantis’ agenda.”

In Florida, this backward legislation has mainly been pushed through by Governor Ron DeSantis. The most dire and far reaching of these bills is HB 999/SB 266 which prohibits funding to any DEI-related office or program, including student groups.

Tampa Bay SDS continues to fight for diversity on their campus by building up their campaign to Defend Diversity and having direct actions against their administration’s complacency on this issue.

#TampaFL #StudentMovement #DEI #DeSantis #SDS #TampaBaySDS

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR).

The National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) condemns attacks by Governor Ron DeSantis and the right wing dominated legislature in Florida. During this current legislative session, the Florida Legislature is poised to pass legislation targeting the movements for police accountability, the labor movement, the movement to end white supremacy and remove confederate monuments, attacks on the right to organize for a free Palestine, as well as continued attacks on LGBTQ students, and a continued onslaught on the immigrant community and all oppressed peoples.

NAARPR and all our branches and affiliate organizations call for national solidarity with all the progressive forces in Florida fighting back in this political climate, including the numerous NAARPR branches and affiliate organizations who are fighting on the frontlines against these repressive forces.

One especially dangerous bill for the national movement against police crimes is Senate Bill 576/ House Bill 601. This bill, the first of its kind nationally, seeks to ban all methods of civilian oversight from local cities and counties, concentrating even more power into the hands of police chiefs, sheriffs and police unions. We understand that what racist and bigoted forces are seeking to do in Florida seeks to serve as a model for their efforts nationally.

As a national mass defense organization, we pledge to stand with those in Florida fighting against these attacks on our movements and our right to organize. We call for every section of the people’s movement to do the same.

Dump DeSantis!

Stop the attacks on the people’s movements!

Kill the bill! Defeat SB 576/HB 601!

Community Oversight and Community Control of the Police Now!!

#Florida #InJusticeSystem #NAARPR #CommunityControlOfPolice #HB576 #HB601 #DeSantis

Tampa, FL – On Wednesday February 14, as part of National Students for a Democratic Society’s Day of Action against Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s attacks on immigrants, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society held a banner drop in the University of South Florida’s Student Center.

The banner read: “Down with Abbott and DeSantis: Stop attacks on immigrants,” marking a clear similarity between Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s agenda against immigrants. DeSantis in fact pledged to send military aid to Abbott if wanted to fight the federal government, echoing Florida and Texas’s Confederate past. DeSantis has also criminalized contact with undocumented immigrants, putting thousands of students with undocumented family members at risk.

Students chanted “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, Ron DeSantis go away!” and for “Money for schools and education, not for mass deportation,” disrupting rush hour in their university. Ending with a march through the Student Center, the protesters were received with applauses, cheers and raised fists in solidarity.

#TampaFL #StudentMovement #ImmigrantRights #SDS #DeSantis

On Tuesday, December 12, at 8pm Eastern (7pm Central, 6pm Mountain, 5pm Pacific), the Emergency Committee to Defend the Tampa 5 will host a webinar on the lessons of their victorious struggle to get their charges dropped. Laura Rodriguez and Lauren Pineiro will speak on behalf of the Tampa 5. They will be joined by Frank Chapman, Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, as well as a speaker representing Students for a Democratic Society.

The Tampa 5 are an example of how to fight back against repression of free speech in the era of DeSantis. After being attacked by police on March 6, 2023, for holding a rally against DeSantis' attacks on diversity programs and ethnic studies in higher education, the Tampa 5 faced serious felony charges from the unelected, DeSantis-appointed state attorney Susan Lopez.

The Tampa 5 responded by building a nation-wide movement for justice and against DeSantis: they built a local coalition of students, unions and community organizations; mobilized students across the country to hold solidarity demonstrations and call-in days; and build nation-wide support through a speaking tour that visited 30 cities.

On December 5, as a serious pre-trial mobilization was underway, the Tampa 5 announced victory: their misdemeanor and felony charges would be dropped. This was made possible by months of mass mobilization and organizing, as well as a bold legal strategy. There is much that other activists and movements facing increased repression can learn from the Tampa 5.

You can register for the webinar here: https://www.tinyurl.com/tampa5win

#InjusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #Tampa5 #StudentMovement #SDS #DeSantis #Feature

Milwaukee, WI – A spirited group of more two dozen student protesters gathered outside the Golda Meir Library on the afternoon of November 15 for a rally called by UW-Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The assembled group chanted and heard speeches before beginning a march throughout campus.

The march took them to the campus administration building where additional speeches were given. The march, which grew in size as it wound through the buildings and residential halls, ended back at the library with a call for those who attended to get involved.

The aim of the protest originally was to speak out against recent proposed changes to laws regulating financial aid to underserved student populations that were put forward by Wisconsin Republicans. The changes were proposed and subsequently approved by the Republican-dominated State Assembly in an effort to make higher education “color blind.”

“Do-nothings in the Wisconsin State Assembly have fought hard to cut funding for DEI in Wisconsin. DEI stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion, if you didn’t know, and if you spend enough time on campus, you know we could use a little more diversity. SDS sees it; we see the 6% Black student population here, in a city that is 40% Black. We should fix that right?” asked Kayla Patterson from UWM SDS.

Patterson continued, “Republicans say no. To them, DEI is a threat. Such a threat that pay raises are being withheld until DEI is thrown out system-wide. 34,000 employees’ money is at stake, just so Speaker Robin Vos can throw these temper tantrums. This is a petty war being waged and it is costing all of us opportunities – students and staff.”

But the scope of the action was expanded when National SDS made a call for a National Day of Action for Palestine as the genocide continues and the politicians in the U.S. continue to abet it. 11,000 Palestinians have been killed since the recent flare up in the on-going 75 year occupation.

Pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide student protesters and groups in the U.S. have also come under attack since October 7, chief among them being the Students for Justice in Palestine organization. Republican presidential candidate and current Florida governor Ron DeSantis shut down all chapters across Florida, and administrators at Columbia University in New York followed suit. Activists around the country have been targeted by law enforcement officers and violent Zionist counter-demonstrators.

“This discussion is not threatening. When we say ‘Free Palestine’ or ‘We charge you with genocide,’ these are not threats of violence. At worst, they are pleas and accusations. We are holding people accountable,” Patterson said. “And if our elected officials and UW administration find accountability scary, they need to take a good look in the mirror and reflect on what they see.”

UWM SDS was joined at the protest by members and leaders of the Muslim Student Association. They reaffirmed their commitment to both struggling for the rights of oppressed nationality students and also in combating the genocide that is being committed in Palestine and the repression faced by those who are standing on the right side of history.

#MilwaukeeWI #Palestine #International #StudentMovement #DEI #DeSantis

Orange County, CA – On Friday, October 27, over 30 students and community members gathered across two events to listen to Gia Davila of the Tampa 5 on her stop of the Justice for the Tampa 5 speaking tour. The Tampa 5 are a group of students, workers, and community activists who were violently arrested while protesting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ racist attacks on education at the University of South Florida. They are facing up to ten years in prison and are on a speaking tour to call for these unjust charges to be dropped.

Gia Davila, a member of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), gave context to the current political climate in Florida. She spoke on legislation being proposed that attacks LGBTQ, reproductive, immigrant, union and education rights. She described the bill that Tampa Bay SDS were protesting on the day of the arrests, HB 999, “which effectively banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs from universities. It also had nasty rhetoric about tenure for professors, it attacked Black history, it attacked ethnic studies and multicultural groups.”

Davila continued, “Not only are we innocent, we were doing something good. More students should be protesting on campus to retain these programs and expand these programs of diversity on our campuses.”

The prosecution is threatening them with consequences if they talk to the press, but Davila confidently said, “Of course we are not going to listen to them, that is why I am here.”

The events were put on by CSO Orange County and were co-sponsored by the MEChA de UCI chapter and the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department of CSUF.

Sol Márquez, a member of Centro CSO in Boyle Heights, stated, “The Tampa 5 is much more than specifically people in Tampa, it transcends to all of us who are fighting for what is right.”

Michelle Sanchez, co-chair of MEChA at UCI, highlighted the political repression experienced by students at UCI by saying if they had collaborated with the university to put on this panel, they “would have had to strike some things off of the conversation,” otherwise it would not be approved. She encouraged attendees to get organized in order to fight this repression.

Dr. Marlén Ríos-Hernández, a Chicana studies professor, urged people to take action in this time of heightened political repression, stating, “There will be a time where you have to make up your mind about what you want for the liberation of others, for the liberation of your own people, and decide what it will take for you to be unafraid.”

#OrangeCountyCA #PoliticalRepression #Tampa5 #DeSantis #StudentMovement #SDS #CSO #MECHA

Tampa, FL – Tampa protesters rallied in a big way on Wednesday, October 25, one day after Ron DeSantis announced his ban on Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters at Florida universities. Over 200 students and community members rallied at the corner of 56th Street and Fowler Avenue, before marching over a mile to the entrance of the University of South Florida. USF is one of the universities in Florida with an SJP chapter.

The demonstrators chanted, “Hey DeSantis you will see, Palestine will be free!” and “Hey USF you can’t hide, you’re funding genocide” as they marched in front of the university. Members of a variety of student groups were there including SJP and Students for a Democratic Society.

DeSantis’s attacks on SJP are only the latest in a series of political repression on university student groups which includes the case of the Tampa 5 who were arrested and charged with felonies after police attacked a student protest in March.

#TampaFL #Palestine #SJP #DeSantis

Atlanta, GA – On Saturday, October 21, the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression held a panel speaking event at Adams Park Library hosting Laura Rodriguez of the Tampa 5 and building the struggle against political repression.

The Tampa 5 are five women who attended a Students for a Democratic Society protest at the University of South Florida (USF) in response to Governor DeSantis ending funding for diversity programs and cultural groups at state universities and banning the teaching of vital parts of Black history. USF police brutalized the protestors and arrested four people that day and put out a warrant for the fifth. They are now facing up to ten years in prison.

Guest panelists spoke on behalf of Dissenters at Georgia State University, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at GSU, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Panelists connected the struggles each of them are involved in, including the struggle against Cop City, student activism for Palestine, and the fight against DeSantis’s racist laws. They spoke of the 61 Stop Cop City activists in a RICO indictment, GSU administration’s attacks on SJP and other student groups, the 23 anti-war activists who beat their grand jury repression, and the case of the Tampa 5.

“We organize and we know that the only way out of this is to continue to organize because at every step of the way they have tried to silence us,” said Laura Rodriguez, one of the Tampa 5, “I see the light at the end of the tunnel and the way through it is to organize and organize with people who will show and give solidarity. Not just in words but by our actions.”

Taylor Cook, a member of the FRSO stated, “I know for a fact that just like the Anti-War 23, the Tally 19, the 60 people here in Atlanta with RICO charges, the ASF 3, and so many others that the Tampa 5 will see their charges dropped. Despite how badly Ron DeSantis wants it, the Tampa 5 will not be spending a second in jail, they will be found not guilty, and it will be a victory to them, but also a victory to the people’s movements across the country.”

The panel ended with solidarity speeches with the Tampa 5 from groups attending, vowing to continue the fight to get the charges dropped. Laura Rodriguez urged those attending to send letters to State Attorney Suzan Lopez demanding that she drop the bogus charges on the Tampa 5, and to organize here in Georgia against attacks on diversity in higher education and student activists.

#AtlantaGA #PoliticalRepression #Tampa5 #SDS #NAARPR #SJP #StopCopCity #DeSantis

New Orleans, LA – On Monday evening, October 23, close to 100 people gathered in a lecture hall at Loyola University of New Orleans to listen to Laura Rodriguez of the Tampa 5. The Tampa 5 are three student organizers, a community leader, and a union member facing up to ten years’ imprisonment on felony charges. The charges came after their brutalization and the arrests of four of them, while they participated in a protest against DeSantis’ attacks on education at the University of South Florida. The state later charged a fifth. Members of the Tampa 5 are touring the U.S. to raise support for their case.

“These organizers are up against trumped-up charges, simply for standing up to DeSantis’ racism and the university administration. The police came out of nowhere to attack, shove, punch and grope them in an attempt to silence dissent,” said Carson Cruse of Loyola Students for a Democratic Society.

“We’re not gonna cower, we’re not gonna hide. We’re gonna get these charges dropped because we’re a part of a national student organization waging a national defense campaign,” said Rodriguez. “This is about more than just me. DeSantis and the Republicans are attacking anti-racist education, LGBTQ people, faculty tenure, and all kinds of rights. They know that we have the power to resist them through protesting, so they’re trying to shut us up out of fear,” she added.

Participants chanted “Not guilty, not sorry!” and “Protesting is not a crime, drop the charges now!”

Many organizations sent representatives to speak at the event and endorse the Tampa 5. These included the United Teachers of New Orleans, French Truck Coffee’s Teamsters union, New Orleans for Palestine, Students United at the University of New Orleans, the Real Name Campaign, the Tulane Office of Gender and Sexual Diversity, New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

During her stay, Rodriguez also spoke in front of several classrooms, interviewed with journalists and professors, spoke at a protest against Louisiana’s far-right governor-elect Jeff Landry, and delivered presentations at Tulane and the University of New Orleans.

This tour stop raised over $8600 for the Tampa 5’s legal funds. The Loyola event ended with a surprise announcement that Starbucks Workers United, representing nearly 10,000 workers nationally, resolved to stand in solidarity with the Tampa 5.

#NewOrleansLA #PoliticalRepression #Tampa5 #StudentMovement #SDS #DeSantis

Chicago, IL – On October 14 and 15, roughly 180 members and affiliates of the New Students for a Democratic Society(SDS) from over 20 campuses met for their annual National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

The students came from all over the U.S. to unite under the slogan of “Students Defend Education, Unions Strike Back!” to highlight both the attacks of education, especially ethnic studies such as Black studies and American Indian studies, and the increased level of union activity in 2023. Attendees listened to panels and gave workshops over a variety of topics, sharing strategy and tactics with SDS chapters from across the country.

One highlight came from the Student-Labor solidarity panel, from Dr. Scott Heath, an advisor to Loyola New Orleans NAACP and an advocate for an African American Studies program at Loyola University. Heath was also the only Black tenure-track English professor at the university. Heath read out loud to a transfixed crowd a letter he'd written to students that detailed how he was effectively fired from Loyola University without due process and on racist grounds.

“By fueling a culture of distraction and obstruction, the administration there is threatening my livelihood and reputation in a way that is stigmatizing and humiliating,” Heath remarked. Just after Dr. Heath got the notice that his contract with Loyola University would not be renewed, SDS members at Loyola University jumped into action to organize a protest to demand his retention.

On the same panel, Dr. Aaron Krall, president of UIC United Faculty, Local 6456 shared his views on the labor movement and student-labor solidarity. In response to questions of what students can do, Krall said, “We need workers to band together, and we need all of you and all of your student colleagues to help us fight for the things we need.”

On the “Fight for Ethnic Studies and Defend Diversity” panel, student organizers from across the country shared their experiences fighting against the increased attacks on ethnic studies and diversity programs Panelists highlighted that these programs were fought for and won by a previous generation of student activists, and that students today must fight to defend them.

“It's easy to say I would have fought against discrimination and segregation back in the days of Jim Crow. But let's not just talk about it: let's be about it! History isn't over!” said Angel Naranjo of UIC SDS.

The final panel of the day, “Drop the Charges on the Tampa 5, Defend the Right to Protest” included Gia Davila of the Tampa 5. The Tampa 5 are students and workers who were brutalized by campus police at the University of South Florida on March 6. The police violence was in response to a student protest to demand that USF’s president take stand against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s egregious attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). All five are facing felony charges and between five and ten years in prison. Since March 6, a nationwi