News and Views from the People's Struggle
Chicago, IL – Chicago se está preparando para el Primero de Mayo, que de nuevo va a ser otro día nacional de protesta contra la agenda racista de Trump. Una coalición amplia de organizaciones de los derechos de los inmigrantes; la liberación Negra, los obreros, jóvenes y estudiantes se están preparando para manifestarse y marchar el 1º de mayo, el Día Internacional de los Trabajadores.
Chicago, IL – On Thursday, April 30, over a dozen students gathered in the Rafael Cintrón Ortiz Latino Cultural Center at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) for a screening of the War on Democracy, and a guided discussion led by members of the Chicago district of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO).
Chicago, IL – On Friday, May 1, students at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) walked out of class at 10:30 in the morning to demand an end to the deportations, legalization for all undocumented immigrants, and that the university administration take immediate steps to make the UIC a sanctuary campus. Over 100 protesters, a mix of undergraduate students and striking members of the university’s Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) Local 6297, gathered in the UIC quad.
Chicago, IL – Over 8000 people gathered in Union Park on May 1 to celebrate International Workers’ Day and march demanding protection for workers and immigrant rights.
Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, April 14 students gathered in the UIC Latino Cultural Center to watch and discuss the film The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (2003). The film was directed by Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain and details the events of the US attempt to coup Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez in April of 2002.
Chicago, IL – On Wednesday April 22, a crowd of about 50 people gathered in an emergency rally in front of the Chicago Philippines Consulate. They were protesting both the mistreatment and deportation of Kuya J., a Filipino immigrant, and the annual joint military exercises taking place in the Philippines, known as the Balikatan exercises.
Chicago, IL – On Tax Day, April 15, a crowd of protesters gathered in Chicago to oppose Google’s complicity in Israel’s genocide and occupation of Palestinians and ICE’s attacks on immigrant communities. Protesters demanded no taxes for war or for ICE, legalization for all, U.S. out of the Middle East, no war with Iran, and the end to U.S. aid to Israel.
Chicago, IL -Chicago is preparing for May Day, which is again a national day of protest against Trump’s racist agenda. A broad coalition of immigrant rights, Black liberation, workers, youth and student organizations are preparing to rally and march on May 1, International Workers Day.
Normal, IL- On Wednesday, March 25, student activists from New Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Illinois at Chicago made the three-hour car trip to Normal, Illinois to table at Illinois State University.
Oak Lawn, IL – On Wednesday, March 30, the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) led a disruption of the Oak Lawn Fire & Police Commission meeting to demand justice for Murod Kurdi, a young Arab man struck and killed outside his home in June 2023 by white drunk driver Leanne Cusack.
Chicago, IL – On Thursday, March 26, the Anti-War Committee – Chicago (AWC) held an online rally in support of Venezuela’s l President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores to coincide with their second court date in New York City.
Chicago IL – A group of 50 residents protested outside the Illinois State Board of Investment (ISBI) quarterly meeting in downtown Chicago, Friday March 27. The action was organized by the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Anti-War Committee Chicago (AWC), BDS Chicago, and the Illinois Divest from Genocide Network, a group of 60 organizations. Protesters demand that ISBI divest from all companies complicit in Israeli, U.S. wars, as well companies materially supporting ICE and other federal immigration enforcement here in the U.S.
Chicago, IL – On Tuesday, March 10, over two dozen students gathered at the University of Illinois Chicago east campus’s quad to demand that UIC administration set a precedent for a true sanctuary campus now.
The rally was organized by Mexican Students of Aztlan’s (MeSA) Educación, Resistencia y Activismo (ERA) committee and was a part of a broader week of action events that commemorated the 20th anniversary of the first megamarches that occurred on March 10, 2006 in Chicago.
The rally included speakers from New Students for a Democratic Society, the Immigrants’ Rights Working Committee of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and Mexican Students of Aztlan.
Ileanne Cecilio, a member of MeSA and the emcee of the rally began by sharing the importance of the day which signifies 20 years since the megamarches and how the struggles for immigrant rights is far from over, especially at UIC. Cecilio elevates the work of the many immigrant rights activists who have built up the movement where it is today and UIC’s history of student activism to get the resources that exist for students now such as the Latin American Recruitment and Educational Services (LARES) and the Latino Cultural Center. They also raise the demands of MeSA’s current sanctuary campus campaign in needing the current administration to take a stand for their students and not continue the capitulation to Trump's racist agenda.
“We are living during interesting times of uncertainty and oppression by the U.S. government,” began Ikzael Hernandez, ERA’s committee lead. “We need to stand together and be on the same page, not only within the boundaries of this UIC institution but beyond.”
Another student and member of MeSA, Briseida Buitron, shared a powerful poem, “Our people keep fighting. We’re here and they don’t like it! Kick us all out, but we come back marching.”
Gianna Escareno from the Immigrant Rights Working Committee stated, “We must continue to show solidarity from Chicano liberation to Black liberation, Palestinian liberation, workers’ rights, women and LGBTQ rights and of course immigrants’ rights because we know that the attack on our communities won’t end until we fight back, resist and until all of us are free!”
Students then marched across campus and to University Hall as they chanted “No ban, no wall, sanctuary for all!” and “Sanctuary campus now!”
Student organizers encouraged those present to join one of the many progressive student organizations like MeSA, New Students for a Democratic Society or Anakbayan who are all fighting for various struggles on campus.
They encourage people to support Mexican Students of Aztlan as they continue to build their campaign for a sanctuary campus at UIC and stay tuned for future actions. They are on Instagram @mesaatuic.
#ChicagoIL #IL #StudentMovement #ImmigrantRights #MESA #SDS #SDSatUIC #UIC
Chicago, IL – On Monday, March 16, UIC students gathered in the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center to learn about and discuss women’s and LGBTQ liberation and socialism.
Chicago, IL – On March 19, New Students for a Democratic Society (New SDS) held a campus town hall meeting to demand campus administrators increase funding for cultural centers, protect DEI, and declare a sanctuary campus. A crowd of around 50 students faced the three administrators who were seated next to a podium to hear students’ testimony.
By Grace Patino and Gabriel Miller
Chicago, IL- 50 survivors of wrongful convictions and police torture, family members and community packed into a small South Side church for a town hall meeting on police torture and wrongful conviction on the evening of March 21.
Chicago, IL – On Friday March 13, about 500 people gathered in front of the Israeli consulate in a protest led by People United Against Oppression (PUAO), US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Anti War Committee – Chicago (AWC) and many other organizations. This day is known as Al-Quds day within the Shia Muslim community and coincides with the last Friday of Ramadan.
Chicago, IL – On Sunday, March 8, hundreds of Chicagoans marched downtown from Daley Plaza to the Trump tower in support of International Women’s Day. Chicagoans gathered to protest against Trump’s attacks on women’s rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, the racist attacks by ICE, and the attacks on working-class and oppressed people.
By Sathvika Gowda and Ángel Naranjos
Chicago, IL – On Monday, March 9, members of Mexican Students de Aztlán (MeSA) at the University of Illinois at Chicago gathered in the Latin American and Latino Studies Conference Room in UIC’s University Hall to watch the documentary La Primavera de Immigrante (2006). This documentary screening kicked off the beginning of MeSA’s Sanctuary Campus Week of Action.
Chicago, IL – On Monday, March 2, students rallied on the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) quad to condemn the attacks on the city of Tehran by the apartheid state of Israel and the United States. Students demanded no war on Iran.