St. Paul, MN – “In 2017, the Trump administration awarded Elbit a contract to work on the expansion of the Mexico border wall. Elbit System’s CEO has said that the company’s current growth can be attributed to increased U.S. border spending,” said Sarah Martin of Women Against Military Madness. “This last decade has seen the international community divesting from Elbit, including the Norwegian State Pension Fund, Danske Bank. Governor Walz, we Minnesotans refuse to continue to profit from pain, injustice and tragedy at the hands of Elbit. We want you to do what Norway and Denmark did. Divest now!”

Caracas, Venezuela – President Nicolás Maduro spoke to labor delegates from 25 countries August 31. They were gathered at the 1st International Meeting of Workers in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, its Government and its People. The conference consists of labor union delegations from nearly all of Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition, Jared Hamil and Gabriella Killpack, trade unionists and members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), are participating.

Chicago, IL – On the afternoon of August 28, members of Students for a Democratic Society and AnakBayan Chicago, at the University of Illinois at Chicago, passed out flyers on the quad to oppose the partnership that the university has with the CIA. SDS members held a banner reading “CIA off campus,” the slogan that has been used in past decades by student activists around the country in similar campaigns. Protesters held signs each detailing a different CIA operation and the number of deaths it caused.

In a video released on August 29, 2019, Iván Márquez, former lead peace negotiator for the FARC-EP in the peace talks in Havana, Cuba, announced that a sector of the FARC party (name of the successor party to the FARC-EP that was founded after the signing of the peace agreement in 2016) were returning to the armed struggle under the banner of the revolutionary guerrilla organization the FARC-EP (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia- Ejército del Pueblo). Iván Márquez read the FARC-EP’s new manifesto dressed in military fatigues surrounded by armed companions, including the famous FARC-EP commanders El Paisa and Jesús Santrich. The manifesto was read by Márquez with large, colorful FARC-EP banners in the background, and was filmed in the Inírida forest that is in a remote area of Colombia that borders both Brazil and Venezuela.

Caracas, Venezuela – The Freedom Road Socialist Organization's trade union delegation arrived in Caracas, Venezuela for the “1st International Meeting of Workers in Solidarity with the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, its Government and Its People,” starting on August 29.

Washington, DC – Israel launched a drone attack in Beirut’s southern suburb, Dahiyeh, August 24, targeting the media offices of the national democratic political party Hezbollah. Lebanese politicians denounced the attacks as “acts of war,” and Hezbollah stated it will respond.

Los Angeles, CA – A commemoration event honoring the 1970 Chicano moratorium will take place in Boyle Heights, Thursday, August 29, 6 to 9 p.m., at Self Help Graphics, 1300 E. First Street, Los Angeles.

St. Paul, MN – On August 24, protesters shut down a light rail train, blocked traffic and shut down the main entrance to the Minnesota State Fair. The protesters demanded justice for victims of killer cops, an end to ICE raids, concentration camps and family separation, and an end to deadly U.S. interventions and blockades against foreign countries. Trump supporters and racists heckled, filmed and attacked the protesters, but failed to block the protesters’ message, and no serious injuries occurred.

Washington, DC – Five instances of company discipline and unjust terminations of International Association of Machinists (IAM) members at Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner manufacturing facility in North Charleston, South Carolina have been found to be acts of unlawful retaliation against employees for their support of the union, a regional director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) informed the IAM, on August 19.

Los Angeles, CA – On August 23, over 70 people, including the family of Paul Rea, gathered for a memorial. 18-year-old Rea was shot and killed by East Los Angeles Sheriffs on June 27, after a minor traffic infraction. The East LA sheriff's station is currently under FBI investigation. Since 2014, there have been lawsuits against and reports that there is a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department gang called Los Bandidos. Additionally, East LA sheriffs have a long history of brutalizing and murdering Chicanos.

San José, CA – On Friday, August 23, the U.S. stock market opened lower, on the news that China was retaliating to Trump's latest round of tariffs. It then recovered after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole economic conference. Then Trump tweeted that he was “ordering” U.S. companies to leave China, and stocks dived, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending with a loss of more than 600 points or almost 2.5% lower. The broader S&P 500 average fell a bit more than 2.5% percent and the NASDAQ composite, which is heavily weighted towards technology companies, fell 3%.

St. Paul, MN – On August 22, immigrant rights and Palestine solidarity activists presented over 1000 signatures of Minnesota residents petitioning the State Board of Investments (SBI) to divest state pension funds from the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems. Elbit sells cluster bombs and weaponized white phosphorus to the Israel Defense Forces, whose indiscriminate use on besieged Gaza has been widely condemned by international organizations. Elbit also manufactures surveillance equipment for the Israeli apartheid wall, and drones used in targeted assassinations of Palestinian political leaders.

St. Paul, MN – On August 19, Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) held a press conference in the State Capitol in Saint Paul to a packed room, with an overflow of 100 people, on the human cost of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and travel restrictions.

As the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) find itself locked in tough contract negotiations and faces the possibility of a strike, corporate and right-wing media like the Chicago Tribune, Breitbart and others have launched a bizarre attack that seems like it is straight out of the 1950s red scare. Rather than addressing the real problems impacting teachers and students in Chicago schools, these reactionary pundits have decided the rant and rave about – of all things – a delegation of teachers that traveled to Venezuela earlier this summer.

Chicago, IL – Venezuela is a country where the dreams of the conscious workers of the world are being made real. It is a nation of 30 million people where, every day, the working class is becoming more conscious of its historic role in building socialism and taking steps to achieve it in the not so distant future. And in the face of an imperialist offensive that threatens them with starvation, where the threat of military invasion hangs over their heads like a storm cloud, they continue their struggle undeterred.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following August 15 statement from the Twin Cities based Anti-War Committee.

Milwaukee, WI – Fifty Veterans Affairs workers and supporters rallied outside the Zablocki VA hospital August 12 to protest union-busting, attacks on high-quality public veteran healthcare, and bad faith bargaining by the VA administration.

There’s a tendency among progressives in the United States to support big crowds of people protesting in other countries. No doubt, the corporate media assists in this process by labelling certain movements ‘pro-democracy’ or ‘freedom fighters.’

Pittsburgh, PA – Workers at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh voted overwhelmingly to join the United Steelworkers (USW) union, August 14, after launching their organizing campaign in June. They are seeking a collective bargaining agreement that would cover employees across 19 branches and the library support center.

Recession fears make Trump backtrack in trade war with China

San José, CA – On Wednesday, August 14, the U.S. stock market tanked, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 800 points, or 3%. The technology-heavy NASDAQ index also fell 3% and the S&P 500 fell just shy of 3%. This is the third day in a row of major market moves: Down more than 450 points on Monday, up 375 points on Tuesday, and now down again.