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News and Views from the People's Struggle

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By staff

Chicago, IL – On July 25, the U.S. Secret Service laid out maps for its security perimeter at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in August. In response, Hatem Abudayyeh, one of the spokespeople for the Coalition to March on the DNC, said, “Now that the perimeter is finalized, we still demand that the city of Chicago must provide a march route for tens of thousands of people who will be protesting the convention on the week of August 19.”

Abudayyeh continued, “The route offered to us by the city’s Law Department is inadequate. With the ongoing U.S.-funded genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, which has already killed 40,000 people, and all the other grievances that people have with the Democrats in DC, the city knows that it can’t accommodate all the protesters that will be here if it puts us on side streets and insists on a one-mile-long route.”

Organizers know that the crowd will stretch out over at least two miles, and the city’s route will cause bottlenecks and other problems that are easily resolved.

“The ball is in the city’s court,” concluded Abudayyeh. “It just needs to give us a longer route with wider streets, that is, all the way up Washington Boulevard, and we’ll immediately sign on the dotted line.”

In addition, the Coalition is concerned about DNC security plans after the experience of the March on the RNC in Milwaukee, when a Black man, Samuel Sharpe, Jr., was killed by a cop from Columbus, Ohio. The Coalition to March on the DNC is demanding that all officers from outside Chicago must be limited to duties inside the security perimeter and must stay out of public parks.

The Coalition will also launch a campaign this week to ask supporters to call the city of Chicago Law Department and urge Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry to grant the longer march route on Washington Boulevard.

#ChicagoIL #IL #PeoplesStruggles #DNC #AntiWarMovement #Palestine

By Eliza Schultz

Illinois Amazon drivers strike against union busting.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Skokie, IL – Amazon workers are striking the Skokie delivery center known as DIL7, because of the company’s union-busting tactics which violate federal laws. The drivers have faced Amazon’s unfair labor practices, a response to the workers’ efforts to organize with Teamsters Local 705.

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By Gabriel Miller

Meeting of the newly appointed Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – Chicagoans demanded action to stop police crimes on Thursday, June 30, at the first official meeting of the newly appointed Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), a citywide body charged with holding the Chicago Police Department accountable.

50 community members, organizers, police district councilors and family members of those lost to police violence showed up at Saint Sabina Church on the Southside to demand an end to pretextual traffic stops and so-called “tactical teams.” Nine of the ten speakers who gave public comments raised the demand to end these racist police practices which have caused the murders of Dexter Reed and Reginald Clay Jr among many others, as well as the daily harassment of Black and brown people.

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By staff

Leaders of Chicago Teachers Union blast layoffs.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago IL – On June 7, the last day of the Chicago Public Schools 2023-24 calendar, over 300 paraprofessionals and school related personnel and teachers were laid off due to budget cuts.

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By Kobi Guillory

Campus police raid University of Chicago Palestine solidarity encampment.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago IL – Students at the University of Chicago set up an encampment in solidarity with Gaza on Monday, April 29. After a week of threats from the university administration, the University of Chicago Police Department (UCPD) raided the encampment before dawn on Tuesday, May 7.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Faayani Aboma Mijana speaks at press conference about a move in federal court for a preliminary injunction to march on the Democratic National Convention.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – At an April 30 press conference, speakers announced that a motion for a preliminary injunction has been filed in federal court by the Coalition to March on the DNC. They are asking a federal judge to block the city of Chicago from enforcing its ordinance regulating parade permits, as it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Speakers at the press conference included Chris Williams, Attorney; Hatem Abudayyeh, US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN); Faayani Aboma Mijana, Coalition to March on the DNC; and Liz Rathburn, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) – University of Illinois at Chicago.

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By Gabe Miller

Chicago Palestine solidarity movement stands up to repression. | Fight Back! News/Alec Ozawa

Chicago, IL – Thousands of protesters took Michigan Avenue, Saturday afternoon, April 20 and marched to demand an end to U.S. funding for Israeli genocide in Palestine.

Led by the Coalition for Justice in Palestine, this was the 32nd mass mobilization since October 7 and demonstrated that people of Chicago are not intimidated by recent police escalation and repression in Chicago and across the country.

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By staff

Chicago protest demands justice for Dexter Reed. | Fight Back! News/Alec Ozawa

Chicago, IL – On April 18, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, alongside other organizations in the Black liberation movement, called a rally at Chicago Police Department Headquarters ahead of the police board meeting to demand that the five officers who fired 96 shots and murdered Dexter Reed, Jr. be fired, indicted and convicted.

200 activists and supporters from all corners of the movement in Chicago, from torture survivors to family members of those killed by police violence, as well as those from the Palestinian liberation movement, converged on CPD HQ to make clear to the powers that be that Chicagoans will no longer stand for police terror.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Hatem Abudayyeh announcing plans to march for Palestine at the Democratic National Convention. | Fight Back! News/Alec Ozawa

Chicago, IL – The Coalition to March on the Democratic National Convention (DNC) met in Chicago the weekend of April 13. Speaker after speaker testified with fire in their eyes about the need to march against the genocide in Gaza. Along with the speeches, people got down to the tasks needed to bring tens of thousands to Chicago in August to protest the DNC.

The 450 in attendance were overwhelmingly youth. Many are brand new to protest movements, having been thrown into motion by the anti-war and Palestine solidarity movement.

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By Louise Carhart

Members of United Legal Workers picket in Chicago.  | Fight Back! News/Joseph Garcia

Chicago, IL – On April 17, around 60 members of the United Legal Workers (ULW) picketed in front of the downtown offices of Legal Aid Chicago in an effort to get management back to the table. During the past three months bargaining, workers have advocated for livable wages, cost of living increases, workload relief, and more paid time off.

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By staff

Chicago conference making plans to march on the DNC. | Fight Back! News/Alec Ozawa

Chicago, IL – More than 450 people representing 75 organizations gathered in Chicago, April 13, to plan a massive march at the Democratic National Convention, which will stand with Palestine and promote a people’s agenda.

Kobi Guillory of the National Alliance Against Racist and Pollical Repression told conference participants, “We will counterprotest the DNC starting on August 19 to demand an immediate end to the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide, and that no more of our tax dollars are used to fund the massacres of Palestinians.” Guillory also talked about the fight to get permits for a large-family friendly protest, but said that organizers were going to march to within sight and sound of the convention, permits or not.

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By Kobi Guillory

Naledi Pandor, second from left, meets with Chicago activists. | USPCN

Chicago, IL – “We are busy building a new nation out of the embers of apartheid, and if we had sanctions and American companies withdrawing from South Africa it would devastate our country and create a total disaster,” said Naledi Pandor, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Coalition to March on the DNC demands permits for protest at Democratic National Convention.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – Groups supporting Palestine are suing Chicago to ensure that Joe Biden “can hear us and see us” at the Democratic National Convention in August, sats Kobi Guillory, spokesperson for the Coalition to March on the DNC.

When the convention opens at the United Center, August 19, the coalition is adamant that they get the attention they deserve.

Guillory states, “As the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza continues unabated – with over 32,000 killed, almost all by U.S. bombs and missiles – we must march. This is the party in power, the party of Genocide Joe Biden. Biden could stop the war with one phone call. He refuses to take action, and so we must protest.”

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By staff

Progressive organizations speak out at press conference demanding permits for Palestine march at Democratic National Convention. | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – The fight to get permits to march on the Democratic National Convention is heating up. On August 19 to the 22, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) comes Chicago. The massive movement against the genocide in Gaza is preparing to march to the United Center where the convention will be held.

The Coalition to March on the DNC has raised the slogans, “Stand with Palestine! End U.S. aid to Israel!”

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By staff

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Chicago, IL – Hundreds marched in Chicago to demand Justice for George Floyd, March 8, as part of a national day of solidarity with Minneapolis on the opening day of the trial of killer cop Derek Chauvin. Led by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the protest also called for community control of the police. After rallying at Federal Plaza, the marchers went to the State of Illinois Building to demand that Governor Pritzker pardon Gerald Reed and other prisoners who are survivors of torture at the hands of the Chicago police.

#ChicagoIL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #IL #GeorgeFloyd #DerekChauvin

By staff

Demonstrate 5 pm, Daley Plaza

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Chicago is responding to the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression call for protest the day after the November presidential election. After the election, the people’s mandate for change must be carried out.

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By staff

“The combination driver will create animosity in the work place” —Teamster Central Region International VP Robert Kopystynsky

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Chicago, IL – Teamster Chief Negotiator Dennis Taylor and UPS shook hands on a tentative agreement, June 22, which will include a new driving position called Full-Time Combination Drivers (Combo Driver). Full details were released July 10. UPS Teamsters across the country are calling the new position a two-tiered concession that spells doom for future package car drivers.

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By Joe Iosbaker

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Chicago, IL – Maya Arcilla was angry as she opened the protest rally at the Federal Plaza in Chicago. A human rights activist from the Philippines, Jerome Succor Aba, had been held by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and then subject to psychological torture during a 28-hour period inside the San Francisco airport.

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