Pittsburgh, PA – In a partial victory for students, Carnegie Mellon University dropped its case against eight students charged with discrimination and harassment. The students were charged after painting a series of anti-Zionist messages on the university’s designated “free speech fence.”

While the exonerated students and other activists recognize this as a step towards victory, a ninth student involved in the original case, Rosalyn Tosh, is now facing additional charges, including the threat of expulsion.

Aster Lufkin, one of the exonerated students, said, “Our free speech victory is important, but we still have work ahead of us. The university is still persecuting Rosalyn. And, ultimately, securing our right to speak out about Palestine is step zero to organize for divestment and other truly impactful ways of supporting Palestinian liberation.”

Tosh spoke with Fight Back! News about her ongoing struggle with university administration. “CMU is trying to break me. It unilaterally cut my housing contract a week before move-in, which has put me in an unstable housing situation, citing a third charge it added on a whim. It denied my request for permission to schedule times for dining on campus property, preventing me from using financial aid to afford food, after months of documentation of my limited access. I can barely study and my physical health is deteriorating. It is using those as bargaining chips to pressure me to take their deal.”

The exoneration of eight students comes after activists around the city rallied behind the fence painters, with the support of the groups Palestine Legal and Jewish Voice for Peace. Shortly after the charges were levied against the students, a joint letter from activist organizations, including the American Association of University Professors, Coalition for Higher Education, Concerned Jewish Faculty and Staff, Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, Palestine Legal, the Sunrise Movement, and Jewish Voice for Peace, called on the university to clear the students from all charges.

In August, the charged students worked with the International Solidarity Committee of Pittsburgh (ISCPIT) to lead a call-in action during move-in week. ISCPIT leader Dot Bodwell spoke about her experience tabling near CMU campus during the call-in, “We managed to speak face-to-face with over 120 CMU students and quickly found out the student body does care about this; they don’t want to face repercussions for political speech in these moments when they are first learning and figuring out their politics.”

Marigold Cameron, chair of ISCPIT’s actions subcommittee, went into further detail about the significance of the recent development. “This decision from the administration shows the value of raising our voices to confront repression. The targeted students didn’t hide or go for a quiet legal defense; they showed up at activist meetings, spoke at protests, and helped us organize our call-in where students and community members alike flooded CMU’s voicemail with messages of discontent. It is thanks to pursuing this activist work alongside the defense by Palestine Legal that nearly all of the students are free.”

“The decision also shows the absurd arbitrariness of CMU’s position, by letting only some of the students off the hook despite the original charges being the same,” Cameron added. “Administration is in for a rude awakening if they think we are leaving Rosalyn behind.”

In July of this year, Carnegie Mellon began investigations into the students, barring many of them from campus on the grounds that their anti-Zionist, pro-Palestine statements painted on the fence constituted “threatening,” and “antisemitic” speech, and therefore violated campus anti-discrimination rules.

An earlier Fight Back! News article reported that ten students were facing repression. At this time, one of the original fence painters is no longer being represented within the same defense as the nine others and does not wish for any aspects of their case to be made public.

#PittsburghPA #PA #StudentMovement #PoliticalRepression #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #FreeSpeech

Philadelphia, PA – On Wednesday evening, August 26, over 80 protesters gathered outside the entrance of the Pennsylvania Convention Center to protest the war profiteers attending the Defense Industrial Base Accelerator, a convention centered around building the U.S. industrial base for greater war production.

It is not surprising that Philadelphia would be chosen to host such a convention. There has recently been a bipartisan push at local and national levels to bolster the position of the defense industry in Philadelphia.

Just last August, Trump cooked up a deal with Republic of Korea President Lee Jae Myung which entailed a direct investment of $5 billion into shipbuilding venture Hanwha Philly Shipyard Inc. so that it may expand its facilities and workforce to take on U.S. military contracts. This July, Trump announced a $10 billion investment for new defense industry jobs at the first ever Pennsylvania Defense and & Innovation Summit. At the same conference, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency awarded a $2 billion contract to Hanwha Philly Shipyard Inc. for new missile instrumentation ships. Rhoads Industries, right next door to the shipyard, also secured a $24 million investment from JPMorgan Chase for skilled workforce training and the development of nuclear sub facilities.

Protesters lined up along the road with banners reading “Hanwha out of Philly – no war profiteers in our city!” and “Smash U.S. imperialism.” Some carried effigies of IDF soldiers and ICE agents hanging from nooses.

A member of Koreans for Decolonization, representing the Philly Alliance Against Imperialism, spoke out against Hanwha’s presence at the convention, stating, “The Korean people do not want war and division. But these money-hungry companies are willing to cash checks into the U.S. war economy while exploiting Korean and American workers. Hanwha is an arm of U.S. imperialism, from its partnerships with the IOF to the UAE, and until the U.S. imperialist project is destroyed, Hanwha will continue to contribute to the violence and genocide it benefits from.”

Members of Philadelphia Students for Justice in Palestine also highlighted the presence of Philly-headquartered Day and Zimmerman, an artillery manufacturing company and IDF supplier, at the convention.

After an hour of speeches, protesters entered Broad Street, marched around the convention center and dispersed.

#PhiladephiaPA #PA #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Hanwha #WarIndustry #BDS

Pittsburg, PA – Ten students at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are facing repression from campus authorities, after displaying messages in solidarity with Palestine on the campus's so-called “free speech fence.”

The Fence is a landmark of CMU's campus, which the university describes as “a student-centered space for free expression and community.” According to school policy, students are permitted to paint the Fence however they like, yet this past summer a cohort of anti-Zionist students discovered a very specific boundary around what speech the administration deems free.

Between June 9 and July 4 this summer, a series of anti-Zionist messages painted on the Fence provoked escalating censorship by campus administration. These paintings included slogans like: “75 years of apartheid, 56 years of occupation, 16 years of blockade,” “Forcing ideological conformity (Zionism) on Jews is antisemitic – free Palestine,” “Anti-Zionism ≠ antisemitism” and “Death to Zionism” (written in Yiddish)

Most telling was the July 3 painting, which read “Multiple choice: which will they censor? Death to: fascism, apartheid, Zionism, colonialism, racism.” A question which the administration answered by covering only the word “Zionism” the following day.

In an attempt to silence anti-Zionist sentiments among the student body, the CMU opened Title VI investigations into ten of the students believed to have been responsible for the series of paintings. This grossly stretches the definition of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which protects against discrimination “on the ground of race, color, or national origin,” not adherence to genocidal political ideologies.

Rather than accepting this repression, the suspected students are working with Palestine Legal to challenge the administration's actions, as well as activist groups like Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the International Solidarity Committee of Pittsburgh (ISCPIT) to build popular support within the city.

In response to this blatant attack on free speech, ISCPIT Chair Dot Bodwell addressed administration, saying, “Like it or not, you have an obligation to these students. Plenty of them are paying an arm and a leg to attend CMU, and they get a voice on campus. You can't get in the way of that.”

At time of writing, JVP is circulating a petition calling on the university to drop the Title VI investigations against these ten students and end the censorship of pro-Palestinian messaging.

Rosalyn Tosh, one of the students under disciplinary investigation, defended the paintings, saying, “In censoring our fence paintings, Carnegie Mellon is showing it is more concerned about the possibility people find the language we use offensive than the reality of Zionism’s genocidal violence. We won’t stop drawing attention to this reality and protesting CMU's complicity in it.”

CMU administration released a statement attempting to justify their actions, in which they baselessly liken anti-Zionist fence painting to the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue, where 11 people were murdered in an antisemitic hate crime. The statement claims that the fence painters, some of whom are themselves Jewish, “threatened to create a hostile environment for members of our Jewish community, and increasingly undermined, rather than promoted, constructive dialogue.”

Incidentally, the final Fence painting, in response to which the administration launched its Title VI investigations, read, “21,000+ children murdered due to Zionism – who are the ones inciting violence here?”

CMU is thoroughly complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people, as the university regularly hosts “defense” industry companies, which recruit engineering students directly into the military industrial complex. This complicity has long been the target of protest from students, such as when CMU hosted defense and ICE contractor Palantir in February this past year.

#PittsburghPA #PA #StudentMovement #AntiWarMovement

Braddock, PA – On Sunday, July 26, the International Solidarity Committee of Pittsburgh (ISCPIT) gathered outside John Fetterman's home in Braddock, Pennsylvania to protest the Senator's support of the Trump administration's increased sanctions on Cuba. This protest was held as part of the Anti-War Action Network's week of action marking Cuba’s National Rebellion Day.

Organizers and attendees chanted, held signs and spoke on a variety of issues that Senator Fetterman has been on the wrong side of, focusing on his vote in April to uphold the Trump administration's ramping up sanctions on Cuba. “Let the people of Cuba live” was shouted by attendees, as passersby joined in or honked in approval.

Since April, Fetterman has increased his violent political rhetoric. Last week, the Senator went on Fox News to say he “will always be the last man standing within the Democratic caucus in the Senate that's unapologetically standing for Israel.”

This week, faced with criticism from those he represents, Senator Fetterman posted to Twitter “Israel keeps killing Hamas members. @DemSocialists, cry harder.” This mirrors his in-person bravado quite well, as he briefly locked eyes with a chanting organizer from behind his curtains before quickly disappearing from sight and calling his private security team, who arrived within minutes to ensure protesters stayed on the “correct” part of the public sidewalk.

Recent polling shows that fewer than one in five Pennsylvania Democrats hold a positive view of Senator Fetterman's job performance.

Protest organizer Marigold Cameron of ISCPIT and FRSO stated, “Fetterman won't fight for us, so it's up to us to fight for ourselves, to say no to blockade on Cuba, no to war in Iran.”

The messaging of the day was clear: The people of the world have a right to live outside the whims of United States demagogues. Cuba is under attack by the U.S.and if politicians won't end the violence, activists will step in to fight for freedom and justice.

#PittsburghPA #PA #AntiWarMovement #Cuba #AntiWarActionNetwork

Pittsburgh, PA – On Saturday July 4, anti-war activists disrupted the Brentwood, Pennsylvania Independence Day parade. While the parade messaging called the U.S. “the land of the free,” protesters rejected this notion, bringing attention to the many ongoing crimes of Donald Trump and the U.S. government.

The protest was organized by the International Solidarity Committee of Pittsburgh (ISCPIT), with the support of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). Protesters held a banner reading, “No more endless war!” and signs with slogans including “U.S. out of everywhere!” and “No ICE! Stop the deportations!”

“They’re calling this ‘250 years of freedom’ and we are here to say that there is no freedom in genocide!” said FRSO organizer Marigold Cameron. “There is no freedom in endless war, in deportations, in police crimes. For 250 years, and longer, the people of this land have been struggling to achieve really the freedom that they claim to have given us 250 years ago. Right now, Donald Trump and his billionaire friends have been wreaking havoc across this country, leading a campaign of terror against the people who actually built this country. We want to fight Trump’s agenda and make the U.S. ungovernable.”

Over the course of two hours, only two people tried to speak out against the protest, whilst nearly a dozen attendees as well as some parade participants stopped to offer the group encouragement.

ISCPIT chair Dot Bodwell stated, “While you’re waving your flag and celebrating here, we’re still at war in Iran and Lebanon; we’re still throwing billions of dollars to the wholesale slaughter of children and families; we still have ICE officers arresting people in their homes and their workplaces: and we don’t think that’s something to celebrate.”

ISCPIT is currently in the process of launching a new campaign against Palantir, a major defense company that processes data for the U.S. military as well as ICE, helping billionaires and their armed forces spy on the working-class from Palestine to Minneapolis. As Pittsburgh’s capitalist class tries to establish the city as a hub for tech investors, ISCPIT wants to draw a clear line to keep Palantir and their bloody business out.

The biggest foothold Palantir currently has in the city is on Carnegie Mellon University’s campus, where the capitalist administration regularly invites recruiters to court graduates of the U.S.’s number one machine-learning programs for genocide.

#PittsburghPA #PA #AntiWarMovement #Palantir #Iran #July4th

Philadelphia, PA – Around 100 people gathered in Love Park on May 1, before joining a rally of thousands organized by the Philadelphia AFL-CIO at City Hall. Among these groups were Philadelphia Anti War (PAW), Philadelphia Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (PAARPR), Anakbayan, Marxist Education Group, Industrial Workers of the World, Workers World Party and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

At the rally, speakers condemned Trump’s actions, U.S. wars, ICE detention and the continued exploitation of workers. A brass band provided entertainment and volunteers offered pretzels and water to those standing in the sun along the crowded John F Kennedy Boulevard.

Around 6 p.m., demonstrators marched northwest, stopping at hotels and other businesses, where union groups demanded higher wages and improved working conditions.

Demonstrators with megaphones led constant chants during this contingent's march. Despite traffic and police flanking the roads, demonstrators showed their commitment to liberation movements with such chants as, “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido,” “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go,” “Luchando, creando poder popular,” “Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, brick by brick, wall by wall” and “La migra, la policia, la misma porquería.”

The revolutionary contingent left the march and went to the offices of Day and Zimmerman, the weapons company that produced the munitions that killed Palestinian child Hind Rajab. Members of these progressive groups stood firm as police gathered at either end of the crowd. There, a speaker denounced the imperial violence of U.S. military contractors. The contingent then rejoined the main march, which ended at 7 p.m.

May 1 is an international holiday. It is important that progressive and socialist movements build internationalism. Since the 19th century, the day has celebrated the working class. The day honors their fight against the capitalist systems and their desire to end the oppression of all peoples.

#PhiladelphiaPA #PA #Labor #ImmigrantRights #MayDay #FRSO

Philadelphia, PA – On Friday February 27, the Philadelphia Alliance against Racist and Political Repression held a movie showing to commemorate Black History Month. The movie, Judas and the Black Messiah, is about the iconic Black Panther leader Fred Hampton and William O’Neal, who the FBI used to infiltrate the Black Panther’s and helped the Chicago Police department kill Fred Hampton.

The event was held at the LavaSpace in West Philadelphia and was attended by dozens of people from the neighborhood who were interested not only in learning more about Fred Hampton and the Black Panther Party, but in getting to know all about the Philadelphia Alliance against Racist and Political Repression (PAARPR), its campaigns and its mission.

PAARPR chair Musa Bey had conversations with many of the attendees about the work PAARPR is doing in Philadelphia and the families it is working with, including the families of Robert Jones, Aaron Rainey and Amanda Cahill.

The movie event began at 5 p.m. with a short speech made by PAARPR Co-Chair Olujimi Alade which delved into Fred Hampton as a revolutionary and his impact on the Black Panther Party and the struggle for socialism and liberation.

PAARPR was able to establish a connection with the neighborhood residents, which is a foundation in building a presence in the West Philadelphia area, an important section of the city where many people have either experienced police brutality or know a loved one who did. By holding similar events, PAARPR aims to advance its aim of fighting for the community control of the police.

#PhiladelphiaPA #PA #InJusticeSystem #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican #BlackHistoryMonth #NAARPR #PAARPR

Pittsburgh, PA – On March 8, the International Solidarity Committee of Pittsburgh (ISCPIT) celebrated International Women’s Day on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh with a rally to end “End the War on Women!”

ISCPIT speaker Marigold Cameron told the crowd, “Although Western media likes to portray the Islamic Republic as an ultimate oppressor of women, it should be noted that since the revolution, literacy among women has jumped from 67 to 97%, with women now constituting a majority of university students, especially in STEM fields. This marks Iran as the country in the region with the highest participation of women in academia – and yes, that is even counting Israel.”

Cameron continued, “When the U.S. and Israel launched their joint attack on Iran eight days ago, one of their first targets was a school for girls, where over 150 students and teachers were murdered!”

A representative of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) stated, “Here in Pittsburgh, the healthcare providers for trans youth, namely UPMC, Central Outreach, and Metro Community Health, have all pre-complied with Trump's lies and cut off this care entirely. Planned Parenthood has also shut down three of its Pittsburgh-area family planning offices, and unionized workers at Allegheny Reproductive Health Center have been repeatedly fired or locked out of their jobs.”

Another speaker from ISCPIT, Kate Hagerty said, “Hatred of women, violence against women, and the sexual abuse of children are symptoms of patriarchy, capitalism and colonialism visited on the weakest and most defenseless people in our society. When the identity of your country is rooted in dominance, theft, exploitation and dehumanization, sexual violence becomes an obvious and unavoidable consequence.”

Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s (FRSO) Ed Gallo stated, “Even within the already exploited working class, women’s work is even more undervalued, underpaid and rendered invisible. When women's labor is treated as worthless, it lowers the floor for everyone. Capitalists use the devaluation of women's work to justify cutting wages, slashing benefits and demanding more from all workers.”

Gallo continued, “The struggles of women, workers and oppressed nationalities are not separate fights. They are all fronts in the battle against our common enemy – monopoly capitalism and the ruling class that profits from exploitation at home and abroad. When we can build an alliance between the labor movement and the liberation movements of oppressed people, we will have the power to win.”

#PittsburghPA #PA #InternationalWomensDay #WomensMovement

Pittsburgh, PA – On February 20, the International Solidarity Committee of Pittsburgh (ISCPIT) rallied outside of the headquarters of Howmet Aerospace – a company that produces essential F-35 jet components for Lockheed Martin which are used against Palestine

The demonstration took place in coordination with the Anti-War Action Network’s week of action. Protesters chanted, “No more violence, no more threats, no more parts for bomber jets!” Volunteers read selections of poetry by Palestinian authors, and members of local organizations delivered speeches bringing attention to the many facets of U.S. imperialism facing the world today.

ISCPIT’s Dot Bodwell stated, “The genocide did not begin when it hit U.S. headlines, and it will not end once it's out of the spotlight. Pittsburgh needs a consistent voice against war.”

Pittsburgh’s branch of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) has long been leading the campaign against Howmet Aerospace. The Howmet Accountability Project is one of many efforts by local organizers to end Pittsburgh’s complicity in genocide and war crimes.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s (FRSO) Marigold Cameron stated, “During the renegotiations between Howmet and Lockheed Martin, Lockheed's representatives argued that if Howmet dropped the contract, it would take 18 months to resume F-35 production.”

Cameron continued, “The work done in this building forces laborers to work in unsafe conditions around the country; it consumes all other titanium manufacturers, forcing whole industries to do business on its terms; it contributes to the gentrification of our city, pricing our poorest neighbors out of their own homes; and it drops bombs on Palestine, Venezuela, and perhaps soon Iran. Here is our enemy!”

A member of ISCPIT told the crowd, “This oil-obsessed imperialism is the same mindset that darkened Pittsburgh’s sky with coal dust, and set fire to the Cuyahoga River. They are seeking profit at the expense of our world, our home, and our children.”

Other demonstrators drew attention to the idea of the “imperial boomerang,” which refers to the phenomenon where the repression and violence used overseas in imperialist aggression is eventually turned back on the people of the imperialist nation itself.

The rally’s call to action emphasized the important role of the labor movement in disrupting the military industrial complex’s supply chain.

Ed Gallo, a local union worker, said, “The trade unions in Italy swiftly and repeatedly mobilized the workers. They seriously threatened the economic interests of those in power – what is it going to take for U.S. labor leaders to acknowledge that there is no safety, or secure institutions, nothing is sacred in a world where people are murdered by the thousands with impunity? It’s up to us, the rank-and-file, the workers of the United States, to be brave and make our voices heard.”

A strong anti-war movement will be vitally necessary as the Trump administration continues to boldly stoke conflict with Cuba and Iran.

#PittsburghPA #PA #AntiWarMovement #ISCPIT #Palestine