fightbacknews — Fight Back! News

Fight Back! launches new website, logo

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 16:02:58 +0000

Fight Back! is excited to announce the launching of a new website, along with a new logo. It features improved security, a streamlined interface, modern search and tag functionality, and a much improved mobile experience. The entire archive of Fight Back! articles is still available through our new site.

Fight Back! exists to build the people's struggle. We provide coverage and analysis of some of the key battles facing working and oppressed people that you won't see in the billionaire-owned corporate media. In 2022, Fight Back! published over 1,000 articles, averaging three per day, covering the movement against police crimes, worker organizing, immigrant rights, the fight against right-wing anti-LGBTQ attacks, and much more.

This past year, Fight Back! brought you in-depth coverage the victorious UPS Teamsters contract struggle. We published exclusive coverage on the Tampa 5, campus activists facing 10-plus years for protesting DeSantis’ attacks on higher education; and Chicano organizing in Los Angeles; and many other vibrant struggles. Fight Back! brought you revolutionary theory on topics ranging from the Marxist-Leninist approach to organizing through the mass line, to Marxist critiques of postmodernism and conspiracy theories.

Fight Back! writers and staff are activists and organizers – in the trade unions, oppressed nationality movements, on the campuses, and in other people's movements. We are not “neutral” or “even-handed” in our coverage. We are opposed to exploitation, discrimination, and oppression. We hold that the rich class of people who run the economy and government of this country are unfit to rule. We support all movements that challenge their power and privilege.

Our new site will help us to better fulfill our purpose of building the people's struggle. The future is bright!

#FightBackNews

Minneapolis Fight Back! fundraiser massive success

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 20:27:57 +0000

Minneapolis, MN – Nearly 100 people joined together January 28 to celebrate the newspaper Fight Back! and to raise funds for the paper. Emcees Autumn Lake and Robyn Harbison led the night with toasts from Twin Cities movements that Fight Back! has covered over the last year and getting the crowd excited to aim to raise enough for one print edition of the paper.

Charlie Berg from the Climate Justice Committee started off the toasts, thanking the paper for publishing articles about the East Phillips struggle against pollution and the ongoing work of the CJC. Akhilesh Menawat from the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee also spoke to the importance of Fight Back! publishing coverage of the struggles for DACA, municipal ID and drivers licenses in Minnesota. Olivia Crull from the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee talked about the political importance of Fight Back! reporting correct numbers of our protests after a post-Roe protest in Minneapolis had 10,000 people in the streets.

Mick Kelly, Fight Back! editor, ended the speeches talking about how important Fight Back! News is. “Fight Back! News doesn't claim to be objective like mainstream media. Fight Back! News has picked a side and it's the side of the people's struggles.”

The fundraiser saw activists and groups from across the Twin Cities pledge to hit not only our goal of funding one print edition of the paper but more than two print editions – over $4000, a new high for this annual event in the Twin Cities and ensuring the continued print edition of Fight Back!

#MinneapolisMN #FightBackNews

Top Fight Back! articles of 2018: Deepening the struggle in the era of Trump

Sat, 29 Dec 2018 20:17:37 +0000

St. Paul, MN – There was a high tide of struggle on many fronts in 2018. With so much going on, it can be easy to forget some of the things our movements have accomplished. That makes it all the more important to look back and review the lessons from this year’s resistance so we can move forward stronger.

Since there were so many Fight Back! articles covering important struggles this year, there’s no way we can include everything that was important in this review. So we’ll do the best we can by highlighting five of the most popular articles from each month.

There were many excellent Fight Back! articles that aren’t listed here — you can see them all at the archive. (Also see the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017 retrospectives).

If there were other Fight Back! articles you liked this year that aren’t listed here, let us know which ones in the comments!

First, we’d like to recognize the people that Fight Back! wrote about who passed away in 2018 and say in their honor: ¡presente!

And here are the exclusive interviews that Fight Back! published in 2018:

Now, here are some of the top Fight Back! articles for each month of 2018.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

#UnitedStates #Remembrances #FightBackNews #YearInReview

Minnesota Fight Back! fundraiser nets $2600

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 18:40:05 +0000

Minneapolis, MN – About 100 supporters of Fight Back! attended a very successful fundraising party, Jan. 20, that netted more than $2600 for the newspaper that “builds the people’s struggle.” Leaders of unions, groups opposing police terror, student, anti-war and immigrant rights organizations gave short toasts praising the paper's accomplishments.

Fight Back! editor Mick Kelly told the crowd, “Capitalism is a system serves the oppressor, where the enemy has a boot on our necks. We aim to demolish that system and our revolutionary press, Fight Back!, has a role to play in that effort. Every contribution you make and every article you write, helps to build a movement for real change, and helps to build the collective organization, and struggle, that will sweep the monopoly capitalists from power.”

#MinneapolisMN #FightBackNews

Minneapolis Fight Back! fundraising event a success

Mon, 15 Feb 2016 01:26:39 +0000

Minneapolis, MN – More than 40 activists in the people’s struggle came together here, Feb. 12, for a Fight Back! fundraising event that netted over $1400. Local trade union, immigrant rights, anti-police crimes, student and anti-war leaders gave toasts praising the newspaper.

Mick Kelly, a Fight Back! editor told the crowd, “The role of our newspaper, the revolutionary press, is to expose and oppose our enemies and help build a fight that will ultimate destroy capitalism – the system of exploitation and oppression that we live under.”

Kelly also stated that Fight Back! will continue to publish daily on the web and that the print edition will come out more often.

#MinneapolisMN #FightBackNews

Fight Back! fundraising event builds the newspaper that builds the struggle

Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:29:34 +0000

Minneapolis, MN – About 50 people came together here, Jan. 25, for an event that raised more than $1500 for Fight Back!

Leaders in the labor, immigrant rights, student, anti-war and welfare rights movements gave short toasts stressing the importance of Fight Back! to the struggles they are building.

Fight Back! editor Mick Kelly stated that the role of revolutionary press is to build the struggle, help people understand that we have an enemy – the capitalists and their system – that can and will be destroyed and to advocate for socialism, a system where the working class holds political power.

Kelly also reported that the online edition of Fight Back! had about 1 million page views this past year and that the next print edition of the paper would be out in late February.

#MinneapolisMN #MickKelly #FightBackNews

Twin Cities Fight Back! fundraising event major success

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 03:52:27 +0000

Minneapolis, MN – More than 40 people came together here, Jan. 25 for an event to raise funds for Fight Back! newspaper. The house party netted close to $2000. Steff Yorek, who helped organize the fundraiser, stated, “The event exceeded our expectations. It’s clear that people want to help build a revolutionary newspaper that builds the people’s struggle.”

The event included brief toasts from leaders in the trade union, anti-war, low-income and student movements, who stressed the accomplishments of the paper and the commitment to build Fight Back! in the coming year. Linden Gawboy, an event organizer and member of the Welfare Rights Committee, stated, “We need the print edition of Fight Back!. We use it during our outreach at the welfare offices and in the community. Most of our folks don’t have the internet. A lot of people don’t even have phones for half the month. We need a printed paper that tells the truth and clearly states what needs to be done.”

Also speaking at the event was Fight Back! editor Mick Kelly who said that the real heroes who have made the newspaper a success are those who in the thick of building the people’s struggle. Kelly urged attendees to read the internet edition of Fight Back! every day and to forward the articles in social media. He also said that the next print edition would be distributed in many workplaces and communities across the U.S.

“ Fight Back! is a tool for change. It is tools to help us in our collective effort to get rid of, to destroy capitalism and replace it with socialism,” said Kelly.

#MinneapolisMN #MickKelly #FightBackNews

People’s Thanksgiving event to be held in Chicago

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 02:28:30 +0000

Chicago, IL – The 20th Anniversary People’s Thanksgiving will be held here Saturday, Dec. 1. Sponsored by Fight Back! newspaper, the event honors fighters in the people’s struggle. This year, awards will go to:

Sarah Chambers, Chicago Teachers Union. Sarah is a member of the CTU bargaining committee and was strike captain at Saucedo Academy where she teaches.

Pat Hunt, Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda. Pat was one of the initiators of the protests against NATO, a spokesperson for the coalition and one of the main leaders of the massive march to McCormick Place.

Magda Castaneda, Committee Against Political Repression. Magda played a leading role in rallying the Chicano community in Chicago in the victorious fight to defend Carlos Montes.

Warehouse Workers for Justice. An organizing committee of workers in Walmart and other multinational corporate warehouses who organized, fought the boss and won.

The event is a fundraiser for Fight Back!/¡Lucha y Resiste! newspaper. It will run from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m., with dinner at 5:00 pm, at Trinity Episcopal Church, 125 E. 26th Street. Tickets are $30, but only $5 for children and the unemployed.

Emcees for the night will be Hatem Abudayyeh of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network and Kait McIntyre of the Anti War Committee in Chicago. Abudayyeh will speak about the recent victory by Palestinians in Gaza in their resistance to the murderous assault by the Israeli military. McIntyre will talk about the continued work of the Anti War Committee in opposing U.S. wars – wars in Afghanistan and Syria, the Drone War in Pakistan and the U.S.-backed assault on Gaza.

Joe Iosbaker, a Chicago leader of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, which helps to produce Fight Back!, said, “From the march on NATO to the teacher’s strike, this was another incredible year in Chicago.” In explaining the history of this event, he stated, “We started an alternative to the traditional Thanksgiving celebration 20 years ago on the 500th anniversary of the European conquest of the Americas. The leaders we are honoring – coming from the protest movements, union struggles and victories like Carlos Montes defeating the FBI and Los Angeles District Attorney attack on him – these are what we’re giving thanks for.”

Go to the People’s Thanksgiving Facebook page for tickets and more information: http://www.facebook.com/events/476580712373165/

#ChicagoIL #HatemAbudayyeh #PeoplesThanksgiving #CarlosMontes #FightBackNews

Episcopal Church takes stand for civil liberties

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:11:30 +0000

Fight Back! interviewed Newland Smith, a member of the Committee Against Political Repression in Chicago, the local affiliate of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Smith led a campaign within the national convention of the Episcopal Church to take a stand for civil liberties in the face of repression of Arabs, Muslims, Palestinians and peace activists. The convention adopted a resolution expressing concern, which will become part of the Episcopalian legislative agenda. There are 30 to 40 members of U.S. Congress who are practicing Episcopalians.

As the first national religious denomination to adopt such a resolution, this is a very important development and sends a strong message to President Obama and Attorney General Holder that opposition to political repression is spreading.

Fight Back!: You’ve been involved in the peace movement for a while. Tell us about your history.

Newland Smith: I became involved in the peace movement in the 1980s when I became an active member of the Chicago chapter of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship. One of the members was Michael Yasutake, a Japanese American Episcopal priest who was very active in a ministry to political prisoners. I also am one of the founding members of the Episcopal Diocese’s Anti-Racism team which came together in 1999 in the struggle to dismantle structures of institutional racism. And as a Deputy to the Episcopal Church’s General Convention since 1988, I have served on the National and International Affairs Legislative Committee a number of times and have entered into the debates on social justice resolutions.

Fight Back!: You are also very active in Palestine solidarity work. How did you get involved?

Smith: In 1983 I was invited to serve as a library consultant for Saint George’s College in East Jerusalem. Seven years later, during the week of events celebrating the new college building, 60 of the participants went to Gaza City to the Anglican Ahli Arab Hospital and saw wounded Palestinians being brought into that 60-bed hospital. We were shown a bullet taken from a wounded Palestinian and saw that the bullet had been made in Pennsylvania. A director of one of the NGOs in Gaza Strip charged those of us from the United States to return home and as members of a democracy work to change our country’s policy on Israel/Palestine.

Fight Back!: You presented a resolution at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church held in Indianapolis this month. Could you talk about what happened?

Smith: As a member of the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Social Justice and Public Policy, I brought up the attacks on American civil liberties at the Commission’s meeting in the Fall of 2010 and a year later drafted a resolution with suggestions from several of the other members. The resolution with explanation was incorporated into the Commission’s report which appeared in the “Blue Book,” a compilation of reports with resolutions from the Commissions and Boards of the Episcopal Church for action by General Convention which meets every three years. The resolution, “American Civil Liberties,” (A079) was assigned to the National and International Affairs Legislative Committee, of which I was a member even though I was not a member of the sub-committee that worked on this resolution. As the originator of the resolution, I spoke to it at the hearing at one of the committee’s meetings. It had already been made clear to me that the Episcopal Church through its General Convention would not get into a Grand Jury proceeding. So I took the high road, i.e., attacks on American civil liberties, which was eventually heard by the subcommittee working on this resolution. The substitute resolution, which made no mention of the FBI raids on the 23 anti-war and peace activists, was approved by the Committee, was placed on the daily Consent Calendar in the House of Deputies which meant there would be no debate on the floor of that House, passed, and the next day the House of Bishops concurred. The resolution is now in the hands of the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations, the Church’s lobbying group in Washington.

Fight Back!: What was the message of the resolution that you submitted?

Smith: The message of the original resolution was that General Convention express its concern of the use of the two acts and Supreme Court decision which allowed a federal district court to issue Grand Jury subpoenas and the chilling effect these subpoenas have on God’s call to peacemaking as well as their impact on Arab, Palestinian and Muslim communities of the United States. The resolution is to be sent to President Obama and Attorney General Holder.

Fight Back!: Did you find support from other delegates?

Smith: I had the support of the three Bishops and 10 Deputies who were members of the Standing Commission. One Deputy who is a lawyer for a legal aid organization in the South Bronx also spoke at the hearing on the resolution. But because the resolution was not debated on the floor of the House of Deputies, it is difficult to judge how much support this resolution had in the House of Deputies, although the Bishops did vote to concur with the resolution.

Fight Back!: The resolution was amended through the convention process. Could you tell us about that?

Smith: I addressed this earlier. In short, instead of citing the Grand Jury subpoenas to the 23 anti-war and peace activists, the resolution cites the use of the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the Patriot Act, and the Supreme Court decision, “Holder vs. Humanitarian Law Project,” to chill God’s call to peacemaking.

Fight Back!: What lessons should people resisting repression take from your experience?

Smith: To change institutional policy, one must work through the structures of the institution. In the case of the Episcopal Church, this is the General Convention. In other words, organizing is essential. I was fortunate in that I was a long time Deputy, a member of one of the Standing Commissions and was assigned to the legislative committee that considered the resolution.

#ChicagoIL #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #CommitteeAgainstPoliticalRepression #FightBackNews #TrinityEpiscopalChurch

FBI harassing North Carolina activists

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 02:51:44 +0000

Asheville, NC – The FBI is harassing anti-war and international solidarity activists in North Carolina again, this time in Asheville. The last time was on Sept. 24, 2010 when the FBI visited a Durham anti-war activist at the same time they were raiding seven homes and the Anti-War Committee office in Minneapolis and Chicago. Back on that day the FBI delivered 14 subpoenas to a grand jury in Chicago, which all the activists refused to participate in.

This time the FBI knocked at an activist’s door in Asheville at 5:00 p.m. on May 30. Her boyfriend answered. He woke her up to tell her the FBI wanted to talk with her. The FBI agent asked to enter her home and she said, “No you cannot come in.”

The FBI agent had a number of print outs of Fight Back! news articles. The top one in the pile was Colombia: Eyewitness Report from Solidarity Delegation, from September 2009.

The FBI agent talked about the Democratic National Convention coming soon to Charlotte. The agent also talked about the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – the most powerful left-wing rebel movement in Latin America – saying, “the FARC is getting a lot of press right now in Colombia.” He asked for a promise that she would let him know if something violent was going to happen. He gave her his card.

The FBI agent then asked about solidarity activists mentioned in the Fight Back! article. The agent also mentioned Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

“Do not let the FBI in your home. They are there to intimidate you,” said Jeremy Miller, a North Carolinian who has been told that the FBI wanted to ‘talk to him.’ “In this case they pretended to be concerned about the upcoming DNC protests, but they are really trying to gather information to put anti-war activists on trial, claiming ‘material support for terrorism’. They are lying to you. Their presence is intimidating and scary, but the best thing is to give them your lawyer’s phone number and not talk to them.”

#AshevilleNC #FARCEP #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #September24FBIRaids #FightBackNews

People’s Thanksgiving event to benefit Fight Back!, Committee to Stop FBI Repression

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:36:21 +0000

Chicago, IL – Activists here will gather for the 20th annual People’s Thanksgiving, Dec. 3. Every year, Fight Back! hosts this event to give thanks for advances in the people’s struggle. One of the organizers, Stephanie Weiner states, “We join together friends, co-workers and family with fighters from many movements because these are what we’re grateful for.”

The fundraiser will feature a video appearance by Carlos Montes, a victim of FBI repression who has been targeted because of his years of political work.

The event will take place at Trinity Church, 125 E 26th St., between 4:00 to 8:00 pm. To RSVP, email joeiosbaker@gmail.com Click here to view leaflet for People’s Thanksgiving.

#ChicagoIL #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #CarlosMontes #PeoplesThanksgiving #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #FightBackNews