With anger and passion, protests hit the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. For days, thousands of demonstrators put a people's agenda in the face of Democratic Party politicians.

On May 1, hundreds of millions of working people will stand up and say NO to exploitation, poverty, and oppression. In every country on the globe, women and men, employed and unemployed, will come together to celebrate May Day, International Workers Day.

In February of 1999, four New York City cops murdered an innocent, unarmed man, named Amadou Diallo. The cops shot him with 41 bullets in the entryway of his Bronx apartment building. One year later a jury in upstate New York acquitted those same cops of his murder.

Protesters who converged on Seattle for the meeting of the World Trade Organization did something really great, for the people of this country and peoples of the world.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson recently put Decatur, Illinois, back on the front line of struggle. In the early 1990s, Jesse rallied to support the heroic fight of locked-out Staley workers. Decatur had been war zone headquarters for the working class with big strikes by Caterpillar and Firestone workers. This time racism in education was the issue.

A shortage of affordable housing has turned the lives of millions into a nightmare. Emergency shelters are occupied by an army of the homeless. Many more people are living on the streets. In New York City, the wait for public housing is 8 years.

Across the U.S.A., the sharp rise in police attacks has caused an outpouring of rage against police departments and mayors. There have been ongoing protests in Chicago, following the huge protests and mass arrests in New York this past Spring.

With this issue of Fight Back!, we begin our second year of publication. In our very first issue, we said; “this paper exists to build the people's struggle.” We have done everything in our power to make that commitment a reality.

During the first week of May, hundreds of millions of working people around the world will celebrate May Day – the international holiday of the working class. It is a day for working people to say Enough is Enough!

A critical moment has arrived in the battle to stop the murder of a freedom fighter, Mumia Abu Jamal. Mumia sits on death row in Pennsylvania, convicted of a crime he never committed. The government wants to kill him, to silence a voice that thunders against injustice and speaks the language of liberation. Every effort must be made to build and attend the Millions for Mumia demonstration in Philadel-phia on April 24. Now is the time to stay the hand of the executioner and bring a new trial for Mumia Abu Jamal.