Madison, WI – On April 5, graduate workers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison occupied Bascom Hall for three hours, organized by the Teaching Assistants Association (TAA). The primary demands were that segregated fees be waived for graduate workers, that the international student fee also be waived, and that the university respect the collective bargaining process. Over 400 graduate workers and supporters, including undergraduates, the faculty and staff union, and community members, turned out in the TAA’s largest action in roughly a decade.

For graduate workers, for whom a typical yearly income from the University is about $13,500, segregated fees constitute an enormous tax on earnings, coming to over $1200 per year. These fees are ostensibly used to fund student services, but what graduate workers produce greatly exceeds this sum; graduate workers do the vast majority of teaching labor at the university, and the institution rakes in over half a billion dollars in tuition alone every year. Even factoring in the free tuition that many graduate workers receive, graduate workers are highly-skilled and hyper-exploited, and the remission of fees would only be the first step in moving towards adequate compensation.

The executive compensation of the UW’s top 20 highest-paid employees, many of whom were offered raises of nearly 30% by the Board of Regents the very same day of the sit-in, greatly exceeds the amount needed to waive segregated fees if added together. By contrast, the raise for all UW system workers was a miserable 3%, barely keeping pace with rising inflation.

The international student fee, though smaller in amount, is even more loathsome, constituting an explicitly racist tax on international students for no purpose. The TAA and its allies previously beat back a similar such tax which was passed by the racist Bush II administration, as its proceeds were used to surveil students. This second iteration of the fee has a nominally more humane purpose of ‘aiding’ international students, but it is a tax levied specifically on international students for a service that is provided free to domestic students – and therefore racist and unconscionable.

Rounding out the list of demands was the achievement a fair graduate worker handbook. After the disgraced far-right ex-Governor Scott Walker rammed through Act 10 in 2011, UW-Madison graduate workers’ union contract was nullified, along with the contracts of many other public-sector workers. Since 2017, graduate workers and the administration have haggled over terms in what is known as the Graduate Assistant Policies and Procedures process, which should (theoretically) produce a handbook to replace the previous contract. Despite the fact that this handbook is merely a set of guidelines, which the university can choose to violate at will with no legal repercussions, administrators have nevertheless endlessly pushed back deadlines while failing to carry out what should have been a simple process.

The TAA voted April 10 to endorse an exploratory strike committee at its well-attended April membership meeting. Graduate workers, like education workers across the country, are on the march, whether or not the capitalist state recognizes their right to form trade unions or not. The Teaching Assistants Association, founded in 1966, is the oldest graduate worker union in the United States. Its volunteer leadership – the executive board – is elected each year by the 500-plus membership. The TAA stands in the best tradition of the fighting workers’ movement and in solidarity with workers all over the world.

#MadisonWI #Occupation #PeoplesStruggles #PublicSectorUnions #TeachersUnions #TeachingAssistantsAssociationTAA #UniversityOfWisconsinMadison

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) condemned the decision of the European Court of Justice to keep the Hamas movement on the European Union’s “terrorist” list.

The Front emphasized that the Hamas movement is part of the Palestinian national liberation movement and like other Palestinian movements exercises its legitimate right to resist the occupation, as underlined by international law and conventions.

The Front added that the Zionist enemy is the main center of terrorism in the region and deserves the terror label as it continues to occupy Palestinian land and commit real war crimes against the Palestinian people on a constant basis.

#Palestine #AntiwarMovement #Occupation #PeoplesStruggles #Israel #PFLP #MiddleEast

New York, NY – On Sept. 18, around 40 activists and community members gathered in front of the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue to rally against the Jewish National Fund.

On the weekend of Sept. 16-19, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) was hosting a conference to discuss its future plans, programs and partnerships to continue its agenda of stealing Palestinian land and giving it to Jewish-only settlers. The JNF has worked with impunity for decades to fund the ever-growing state of Israel. It is a fund raising, non-profit charity whose whole purpose and goal is the forced removal of Palestinians from their land. In their mission statement it explicitly states that any land they acquire cannot be rented, leased, sold or worked by non-Jews. Every year, the JNF raises $60 million in the U.S. for its cause.

Protesters were barred off on the other side of the street, while Zionist counter-protesters jeered and danced with an Israeli flag, unhindered by the police, in front of the hotel’s entrance. However, the pro-Palestine protesters were loud and militant with their Palestine flags and signs that read “Stealing land is not charity.” Chants ranged from, “There is only one solution! Intifada! Revolution!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!”

The protest turned into a march and went around the block. The numbers that were there protesting the JNF vastly outnumbered the meager handful of Zionist supporters.

At the end of the event, one of the organizers announced that there was going to be another protest later that week as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was going to be in the city receiving an award. This is mere days after a $38 billion dollar military aid package, the largest in U.S. history, to Israel. The protest is going to be Thursday, Sept. 22 at the Plaza Hotel at 6 p.m.

The organizers and endorsers of the anti-JNF protest were the Stop the JNF campaign, the US Palestinian Community Network, American Muslims for Palestine, the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, the National Lawyers Guild – Palestine Sub-Committee, Students for Justice in Palestine, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, Labor for Palestine and Al-Awda NY.

#NewYorkNY #NewYorkCityNY #AntiwarMovement #Occupation #Palestine #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Antiracism #PalestineJewishNationalFund

“The free Yemeni people with all its tribes, popular committees and army refuse the presence of foreign forces on its territory, as it consider the U.S. presence a clear colonization,” the statement said.

“Once again we affirm that the presence of U.S., UAE and other forces is an occupation aimed at spoiling our country and wealth,” the statement added, stressing that this occupation will be met with resistance by all means.

The U.S. Defense Department is stating the number of troops sent is small; but the U.S. is rushing arms to the Saudis, refueling their aircraft and supplying intelligence. Thousands of Yemenis have been killed by the Saudi bombing campaign.

The U.S., Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and others began a war on Yemen in March, 2015, with the aim of dominating the country.

#WashingtonDC #Occupation #MiddleEast #PeoplesStruggles #Yemen #UnitedStates #SaudiArabia

Milwaukee, WI – Palestine solidarity activists rallied against Israeli settlement construction in response to an awards banquet held by the Jewish National Fund Aug. 28. The annual awards banquet celebrated local bankrollers of the Israeli occupation for “their support in reclaiming the land to help secure the State of Israel.”

The Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition released a statement in opposition to the banquet and the 1200 new illegal settlement homes recently announced by Israel, saying, “settlements are the #1 roadblock to peace.”

During the rally, some members of the coalition presented a proposal to a local business asking them to endorse the global movement to boycott, divest and sanction apartheid Israel. The coalition has had multiple victories over the summer as local businesses sign on to the boycott of Israeli products, as well as the cultural and academic boycott.

“We can't wait for the politicians to stop funding Israeli occupation. We need to start in our communities by encouraging our friends, organizations and local businesses to stand in solidarity with Palestinians by withdrawing their financial support for the occupation. We also have to confront the local supporters of apartheid, occupation and illegal settlements,” said coalition member Jacob Flom.

#Milwaukee #MilwaukeeWI #Occupation #Palestine #Israel #JusticeForPalestine #IsraeliSettlements #MiddleEast

Minneapolis, MN – On Sept. 19, activists with the Minnesota Coalition for Palestinian Rights will return to the downtown Minneapolis Target store, urging shoppers not to buy products from SodaStream. This will follow a successful Aug. 15 mobilization, where 30 people held signs, chanted and passed out informational flyers to hundreds of pedestrians.

Sold at Minnesota-based Target stores, SodaStream is a company that manufactures home carbonation systems at a plant in the largest Israeli Jewish settlement on the West Bank. The construction of hundreds of settlements in the West Bank has been condemned by numerous human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, for violating international law and Palestinian human rights.

“We met with a positive response from the hundreds of people walking on Nicollet Mall at rush hour,” said Meredith Aby of the Anti-War Committee. “Minnesotans don’t support a company that makes its profits from stolen Palestinian land and the system of Israeli apartheid.”

The Minnesota campaign opened a few months ago with a letter initiated by Jewish Voices for Peace, which called on Target to discontinue sales of SodaStream products because the company is in violation of international law and in violation of Target’s ethical standards and Social Compliance Program.

This is effort is part of an international campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international law and Palestinian rights. A truly global movement against Israeli Apartheid is rapidly emerging.

#Minneapolis #MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Occupation #Palestine #MinneapolisAntiwarMovement #Apartheid #SodaStream #AntiIsraeliApartheid #JusticeForPalestine #MiddleEast

On Thursday, anti-war activists protested at Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office to demonstrate against the Obama administration’s escalating war in Afghanistan. The Anti-War Committee of Minneapolis-St. Paul organized the protest.

With the deployment of 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan last December, civilian casualties increased dramatically. Rhetoric from the Obama administration expresses concern for civilian deaths, but the violence continues. Last month, Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry reported that civilian casualties jumped by 33% in a recent month-long period. Afghan officials reported 173 civilian deaths from March 21-April 21 of this year and stated, “An increasing number are at the hands of U.S. and foreign forces.” On May 10, the New York Times reported that shootings of Afghan civilians by U.S. and NATO convoys at military checkpoints have spiked sharply. At least 28 Afghans were killed and 43 wounded in convoy and checkpoint shootings this year. Despite widespread opposition from the people of Afghanistan, the U.S. is considering a large-scale military offensive in Kandahar, a city of half a million people.

Anti-War Committee member Katrina Plotz explains, “The presence of U.S. troops is an unjust foreign occupation that is actually causing, rather than solving the problems of violence, displacement, and poverty in Afghanistan. The Afghan people deserve the right to determine the future of their country for themselves. The U.S. has no business attacking Kandahar or continuing to occupy Afghan soil for another day.”

On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that U.S. geologists discovered $1 trillion in untapped mineral reserves in Afghanistan, including large deposits of gold, copper, cobalt, and lithium – a key mineral in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and cell phones. American geologists began studying the potential for mining in Afghanistan in 2004. The Pentagon already hired international accounting firms with mining expertise and is preparing to turn over technical data to multinational mining companies and American investors.

“It has recently surfaced that Afghanistan is rich in mineral reserves and I cringe to think of the fresh exploitation that promises to come of this. Because as loudly as we proclaim “No Blood for Oil” we must also demand “No Blood for Lithium” either,” said Misty Rowan of the Anti-War Committee to the crowd. “Do not make the citizens of Kandahar pay with their lives, and do not make the citizens of this country pay with the tax dollars we desperately need here at home!”

Ray Camper from Iraq Veterans Against War also spoke at the demonstration, “As a Veteran, I am using my voice for those who cannot. I am speaking not just on behalf of myself, but for all those who have seen enough war, enough death, and enough of our human and monetary capital being diverted away from where it is needed the most. Bring our men and women home and provide them with jobs. Keep our money here, and provide schools and an education for our children. Let’s build houses and communities here, instead of tearing down and destroying them abroad.”

The Twin Cities Anti-War Committee is planning more public outreach and protests in the coming months.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Occupation #Afghanistan #AntiWarCommittee #SenatorAmyKlobuchar