Santa Ana, CA – El sábado 21 de marzo, los residentes del parque de casas móviles Coach Royal protestaron en la entrada del parque. La protesta surgió en respuesta a años de abusos a manos de los administradores del parque, a los desalojos y al robo de casas móviles por parte la corporación Kingsley. Recientemente se produjo el suicidio de una residente, María Pedraza, a consecuencia de dichos abusos. La mayoría de los residentes de Coach Royal son inmigrantes de clase trabajadora.

La protesta comenzó con fuerza, con residentes y miembros de la Organización de Servicio Comunitario Orange County (CSO OC) manifestándose frente a la entrada de Coach Royal. Los manifestantes coreaban consignas y portaban pancartas, haciéndose visibles ante los residentes que entraban y salían del parque.

“¡Kingsley mata!”, “¡Manos fuera de nuestros hogares!” y “¡Justicia para Maria Pedraza!”, gritaban los manifestantes.

Luis Pedraza, hijo de la difunta Maria Pedraza, hablo primero. “Mi madre se suicidó el 20 de febrero de 2026 debido al abuso que sufría por parte del parque de casas móviles Coach Royal, que es propiedad y está administrado por la corporación Kingsley. Trabajó toda su vida para ser dueña de esa casa. Era su orgullo y su alegría. Compró esa vivienda con el fruto de todo nuestro trabajo”.

Los manifestantes se acercaron con atención mientras Pedraza relataba historias sobre su difunta madre: “Vivimos en todo tipo de condiciones: en una sola habitación, en un garaje diminuto. No pasé la Navidad ni el Año Nuevo con mi madre porque ella estaba trabajando. Desearía haber tenido eso. Pero sí tenemos esa casa, y Kingsley está intentando robársela.” Los manifestantes corearon al unísono: “¡Qué vergüenza!”.

“No es justo que hagan esto aquí, ni en ningún otro lugar del país. Esto está ocurriendo en todas partes, pero tiene que parar y tiene que cambiar. Así es como suceden las cosas en este condado: nos movilizamos, actuamos, nos unimos, nos convertimos en un solo movimiento y, entonces, las cosas cambian”, concluyó Pedraza.

Victor Fuentes es otro residente de Coach Royal que enfrenta el desalojo. Se quitó el sombrero para el sol antes de hablar, revelando una gran cicatriz con puntos de sutura que le recorría todo el cuero cabelludo. “Todos estamos aquí para poner fin a las represalias, la represión y el acoso. Mi familia y yo estamos desalojados ya. Todos hacemos cosas de las que nos arrepentimos y, para desestresarme, comencé a beber. Tuve una gran caída y no recomiendo usar la bebida para ahogar los pensamientos y las preocupaciones. Soy el proveedor de mi familia y ahorita no puedo mantener un techo sobre mi familia.”

Fuentes continuó: “Vine a dar este testimonio porque ya basta. Ya basta de que nos pisen el cuello. Están tratando de callarnos. Esto debe parar. ¿Qué más tenemos que perder? Para todos los que estamos aquí, les costó mucho tener sus casas. Nos están robando nuestras casas descaradamente. No es justo. Exigimos justicia. ¡Tenemos que luchar porque si solo uno de nosotros se niega a luchar, ellos seguirán pisoteándonos!

Los manifestantes estallaron en cánticos: “¡Detengan los desalojos! ¡Detengan el acoso! ¡Detengan las amenazas!”.

La última oradora fue Karla García, quien fue desalojada de su hogar por ayudar a otros residentes de Coach Royal a luchar por los títulos de propiedad de sus casas. “Intenté ayudar a otros residentes y fui castigada por eso. La corporación volvió a presentarse en mi casa y me advirtió que, si seguía ayudando a los demás, terminaría en la calle. Comenzaron a acosarme, intimidarme y amenazarme. Fui atacada día tras día hasta que me arrebataron todo”.

La protesta concluyó con Guadalupe Barragán recorriendo los vecindarios de Coach Royal con un megáfono, instando a los residentes a levantarse y luchar. Más tarde esa misma noche, se tuvo una reunión entre los residentes y los miembros de CSO para trazar la estrategia de los próximos pasos en la lucha por la justicia para los habitantes de Coach Royal.

#SantaAnaCA #CA #PeoplesStruggles

Santa Ana, CA – La tensión fue palpable el martes 17 de marzo, cuando residentes de Santa Ana, junto con la Organización de Servicios Comunitarios del Condado de Orange (CSO OC), asistieron a la sesión del Concejo Municipal. Exigieron que los policías asesinos Luis Casillas e Isaac Ibarra fueran despedidos del Departamento de Policía de Santa Ana (SAPD).

El 1 de diciembre de 2024, Noe Rodríguez fue asesinado por la Policía de Santa Ana. Jocelyn Pacheco, de CSO OC, declaró: “Noe Rodríguez estaba desarmado y atravesando una crisis de salud mental. Fue entonces cuando los agentes del SAPD, Luis Casillas e Isaac Ibarra, le dispararon 29 veces. Las imágenes de las cámaras corporales muestran que abrieron fuego apenas 30 segundos después de la llegada de los agentes”.

Hacia el final de la intervención de Pacheco, le cortaron el micrófono, a pesar de que solo se había pasado por 17 segundos del tiempo asignado. Los asistentes a la reunión gritaron: “¡Déjenla hablar!” y “¡Qué vergüenza!”.

Matthew Compton relató un incidente ocurrido con el agente Ibarra el 18 de febrero, afirmando: “Miembros de CSO, junto con la familia de Noe Rodríguez, se encontraban fuera del Departamento de Policía de Santa Ana grabando videos. Isaac Ibarra salió deliberadamente del departamento, justo hacia donde estábamos parados, en un intento de intimidarnos”.

Compton continuó: “Isaac nos dio un codazo tanto a mí como a otro miembro de CSO; más tarde me golpeó con el hombro y lanzó un golpe falso a otro miembro de CSO. Isaac es una persona sumamente inestable mentalmente y no se le debería permitir formar parte de la fuerza policial, y mucho menos portar armas letales”.

En respuesta a otros comentarios que expresaban inquietudes sobre el comportamiento del agente Ibarra, la alcaldesa Valerie Amezcua—quien recibe fondos de campaña de la Asociación de Agentes de Policía de Santa Ana—declaró lo siguiente: “Le pedí a mi esposo que viera ese video con el agente Ibarra, y sentí mucha pena por él”. Y continuó: “Creo que se comportó de una manera que me hizo exclamar: ‘¡Vaya!’. Es una situación difícil; él simplemente iba caminando hacia su auto”.

Familiares de víctimas de la violencia policial estuvieron presentes en la sesión, incluyendo a la familia de Noe Rodríguez y a la familia de Albert Arzola. Tenía solo 19 años cuando fue asesinado por agentes de la policía de Anaheim el 6 de diciembre de 2025.

Grace Arzola reprendió al concejo, declarando: “Valerie y Phil, el lenguaje corporal es todo. Ustedes están más preocupados por una carta constitutiva y por postes de luz que no reparan que por personas que están perdiendo la vida.” Arzola señaló que el alcalde no estaba prestando atención y permanecía encorvado durante los comentarios del público.

David Pulido, miembro de CSO OC, mencionó: “Luis Casillas mató a dos personas en el lapso de un mes. A Noe Rodríguez el 1 de diciembre de 2024 y a Henry González Jr. el 1 de enero de 2025. Casillas también estuvo involucrado en una brutal paliza a un menor de 15 años, Mario Díaz. A pesar de todos sus crímenes, SAPD no ha despedido a Luis Casillas; en su lugar, lo trasladaron de la patrulla a la división de crímenes contra las personas.”

Pulido concluyó: “¡Exigimos que Luis Casillas e Isaac Ibarra sean despedidos antes de que puedan volver a matar! Si no hacen nada, la sangre estará en sus manos. La sangre está en las manos del jefe de policía Robert Rodríguez. La sangre estará en sus manos, administrador de la ciudad Álvaro Núñez. La sangre estará en las manos de cualquier concejal que se oponga a la rendición de cuentas. ¡Ese será su legado, y nunca permitiremos que nadie lo olvide!” El público aplaudió y gritó porras.

Al finalizar la sesión, algunos concejales—como Jonathan Hernández—mostraron su apoyo al despido de Luis Casillas e Isaac Ibarra. Otros mostraron su desdén hacia los residentes de Santa Ana.

La familia de Noe Rodríguez, junto con CSO OC y residentes de Santa Ana, llevan más de un año luchando para obtener justicia para Noe Rodríguez. Los miembros de CSO declararon que no se detendrán hasta que Luis Casillas e Isaac Ibarra sean despedidos y encarcelados por sus crímenes.

#SantaAnaCA #CA #InJusticeSystem #CSOOC

Salt Lake City, UT – On Wednesday evening, April 8, an emergency protest was held at the Wallace F. Bennett Federal Building in Salt Lake City, showing opposition to the genocidal rhetoric from the White House the previous day.

Banners reading “End all U.S. aid to Israel!” and “Hands off Iran!” joined the Palestinian and Iranian flags in front of the federal building, as the crowd chanted for over an hour. The protest received much support from passing pedestrians and motorists. Protesters persisted despite attempts at intimidation by the police.

“Do we really want this done in our name?” asked Sebastian Miscenich, from the Utah Anti-War Committee, in a speech. “We must hold the government accountable for these war crimes.” Protesters chanted “No boots on the ground, no bombs in the air, U.S. out of everywhere!” and “Money for jobs, not for war!

Carson Bybee, with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization told the crowd, “Imperialists do not sign ceasefires in good faith. They violate them in letter and in spirit whenever material interests demand it.”

“Stand firm in the streets,” Bybee declared in closing. “Link arms with the global anti-imperialist front. Build the revolutionary organization capable of challenging the war machine at its root. Victory belongs to the people who refuse to kneel.”

The action was called by the Utah Anti-War Committee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization – Salt Lake City District.

All Utahns opposed to wars are encouraged to rally on Tax Day, April 15 at 6:30 p.m. in front of the federal building to demand “Tax dollars for housing, healthcare and jobs, not for war!”

#SaltLakeCityUT #UT #AntiWarMovement #Iran

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.

Cusack was released by Oak Lawn Police Department (OLPD) officers without a breathalyzer or blood test despite telling officers that she was driving drunk, leaving only with a traffic ticket that she nevertheless contested in court. After three years of monthly protests by Kurdi’s family, AAAN and other organizations and community members, the Oak Lawn Fire & Police Commissioners still refuse to hold Cusack truly accountable for killing Kurdi, or the OLPD officers for neglecting their duty.

As with past meetings, OLPD officers surrounded meeting attendees, ready to contain and remove anyone challenging the commission. The commissioners did not mention Kurdi or acknowledge those present and began to move the unusually short meeting to a close – despite the entirety of the non-commissioner participants were there to call for justice and police accountability.

In response, several meeting attendees stood up to reveal their shirts, each with the name of a commissioner, and put on pig masks. The protesters called out the racist practices and history of Oak Lawn towards the Arab community and other oppressed nationality residents until OLPD officers removed them from the building. One of the protesters repeatedly mocked one of the commissioners, saying, “My name is Jim Baker and I am a racist! I don’t care about what happens to the Arab residents in Oak Lawn.”

Another incident of racist violence involved three OLPD officers ganging up on 17-year-old teenager Hadi Abuatelah in 2022, breaking several of his ribs and putting him in a coma for weeks. Only in 2025, after consistent mobilization to commission meetings, did the Abuatelah family finally secure a partial victory in their struggle in the form of a settlement from Oak Lawn.

The family’s demand to charge the three officers with aggravated battery and official misconduct was denied when Cook County Prosecutor Eileen Burke dropped the charges a single day into taking office, signaling her intention to operate in political alignment with Oak Lawn in tolerating or encouraging police crimes directed at its nationally oppressed residents.

Burke has since become more infamous for her refusal to criminally charge Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, especially after their brutal attacks on immigrants in the Chicagoland area, such as the vicious murder of beloved community member Silverio Villegas Gonzales, and revenge shooting of Marimar Martinez for speaking out against ICE.

After the meeting, AAAN organizer Rania Salem called on attendees to continue showing up at the Oak Lawn Fire & Police Commission meetings on the first Wednesday of every month at 9446 Raymond Avenue, Oak Lawn, 60453, with the next one on Wednesday, May 6 at 5 p.m.

Salem said, “We will keep coming, month after month, to every Fire & Police Commission meeting until we get the justice Murod’s beloved family and our community deserves. So next month, it’ll hopefully be warm out again, bring your family and your friends, and we will see you soon again!”

In addition to organizing monthly protests, AAAN is gathering organizational and individual signatures calling on Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to launch an investigation into the racist practices of Oak Lawn. Please sign on to the letter and its demands here.

#OakLawnIL #IL #AAAN #MurodKurdi #OppressedNationalities #InjusticeSystem

Compatriots-NDFP, the revolutionary organization of Filipinos overseas, condemns the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for spewing lies in an attempt to slander the revolutionary movement, cover-up the realities of Philippine society and deter overseas Filipinos from joining the people’s struggle.

A few days ago, social media accounts related to the AFP posted a “Wanted” poster with the name and picture of Cristina Pasion – a Filipino-American who grew up in the United States – making the baseless allegation that she is a recruiter of the New People’s Army. In a change of tact, the 2nd Infantry Division of the AFP released a statement on April 9 calling on the New People’s Army to “release” Cristina purportedly on “humanitarian” grounds. Their “concern” that she is “emotionally distressed” is a brazen lie. It is just the latest example of psychological warfare meant to deceive the people.

According to the NPA, it has no one to “release.”

Pasion decided to go back home to our motherland and integrate among the most exploited and oppressed masses in Mindoro. Her consciousness was awakened through her own experiences growing up separated from her own country, through integration with Filipino workers in the U.S. who were forced to leave their families just to be super-exploited overseas, and through taking up the issues and campaigns of the toiling masses being violently repressed under the tyrant Duterte and now Marcos regimes.

She, along with an ever growing number of Filipinos abroad, are choosing to witness the realities of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal Philippine society first hand in order to change it. They are in effect defying the government’s policy of forced migration that pushes people out of the country, telling us that the solution to our problems lies in toiling overseas rather than in struggling to address the roots of poverty back home.

The military has no right to call on Filipinos abroad to turn our backs on our fellow compatriot masses in the countryside. They have no right to speak about “upholding humanitarian principles” and “safeguarding the welfare of individuals” when it is state institutions like the AFP, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and others who are responsible for torture, starvation, mass displacement, illegal bombings, and mass murder. The AFP is nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing. In fact, it is the very violence perpetrated by the state that pushes more and more people to join the revolutionary mass movement.

#International #Philippines #NDFP

Denver, CO — On April 3, about 60 protesters gathered outside the Colorado State Capitol to oppose the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy in an 8-1 vote. The action was organized by the Denver Coalition Against Trump and Bread and Roses Legal Center.

Conversion therapy, widely regarded as a pseudoscience, is the practice of attempting to change a person’s gender or sexuality to cisgender or heterosexual norms. This often happens against the subject’s will and it has been shown to be highly ineffective, often causing psychological harm and effects such as significantly higher mental health disorder rates and higher suicide rates. Conversion therapy practices range from the seemingly innocuous, like talk therapy, to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, including treatment many experts would consider to be torture.

More than 20 U.S. states have banned conversion therapy for minors, and Colorado banned the practice as a whole in 2019.

Kacey Hicks of Denver Students for a Democratic Society, who emceed the action at the capitol, told the crowd, “This attack is just one of many carried out by the Trump administration and its allies on queer and trans people. It is one of many attacks used to try to make trans and queer people afraid while our rights keep getting stripped away.”

The crowd outside the capitol chanted “Donald Trump, let’s be clear, trans folks are welcome here!” and “Donald Trump, go away, trans folks are here to stay!”

After hearing speeches, the crowd took the streets of Denver. The protest leaders got on the back of a truck to continue chants throughout Capitol Hill, a neighborhood considered Denver’s main LGBTQ hub. Throughout the march, the crowd was cheered on by passersby in the local queer-owned businesses as they halted Friday night traffic.

After the protesters marched back to the capitol, Katherine Draken, a member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union gave a speech. Draken said, “It deserves to be repeated that conversion therapy has been thoroughly discredited! Doing conversion therapy on transgender children is child abuse!”

The protest closed out with more speeches, closing remarks, and chants calling for trans liberation.

#DenverCO #CO #LGBTQ #SupremeCourt #SCOTUS

New Orleans, LA – The Democratic National Committee met in New Orleans this week at the Hilton Riverside for their annual spring meeting. The conference rang in its second day on April 10, and blue leaders went red in the face when members confronted them on Palestine.

The spring meeting is a strategy session and networking opportunity for candidates and other members. It gives members a chance to lobby for cities to hold the 2028 Democratic National Convention. But the rising opposition to Israel drove the agenda. Several nonbinding anti-war resolutions were on the docket, although none passed. Among other causes, these resolutions condemned AIPAC, demanded an independent investigation into Trump’s massacre at a girls’ school in Minab, and set conditions for U.S. aid to Israel. Activists inside and outside the conference made their solidarity with Palestine known.

During a general session, Democratic activist and nurse India Walton stood up and interrupted the speakers. “Why are you afraid of AIPAC? Be afraid of voters!” she shouted. Walton ran a credible challenge to the incumbent Buffalo mayor in 2021. She previously served as a representative with the Service Employees International Union and was a leader in the George Floyd uprising.

Activists from New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports (NOSHIP) spoke up alongside Walton. “Free, free Palestine!” Charlie Marcotte chanted.

Outside the hotel, about 30 people protested the DNC’s lack of opposition to Israeli and U.S. wars.

“We will fight every single day, we will introduce these resolutions, we will protest, we will do everything we damn can to stop this genocide,” speaker Cameron Landin addressed the crowd. Landin is the Political Affairs Director for College Democrats of America, and served as a delegate for Georgia at the 2024 DNC. He sponsored the spring meeting’s resolution against AIPAC.

A mobile billboard truck showed a display reading “Release the autopsy!” It referred to an internal report that allegedly identifies the genocide in Gaza as an important reason for Harris’s failed 2024 presidential bid.

Protesters chanted “No boots on the ground, no jets in the air – U.S. out of everywhere!” and “They tell lies and then they bomb, first Iraq and now Iran!”

Organizers of the protest included NOSHIP, Democratic Socialists of America, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

#NewOrleansLA #LA #Palestine #Iran #AntiWarMovement #NOSHIP #DNC

Oakland, CA – Más de 20,000 personas llenaron las calles de Oakland el sábado 28 de marzo en la tercera manifestación “No Kings” para protestar contra la agenda de Trump.

La manifestación comenzó al mediodía en la Plaza Oscar Grant, en el centro de Oakland, donde los asistentes escucharon a oradores de organizaciones laborales, religiosas, de justicia ambiental y de derechos de los inmigrantes. A la 1 p.m., la multitud marchó hacia el lago Merritt para escuchar más discursos enfocados en generar impulso para las próximas acciones del Primero de Mayo en el Área de la Bahía.

Organizadores trabajaron durante semanas para movilizar para el evento. El capítulo de Oakland de la Organización de Servicio Comunitario (CSO Oakland), miembro de la Red Legalización para Todos, lideró múltiples talleres de arte junto con organizaciones aliadas de derechos de los inmigrantes como Mujeres Unidas y Activas y Pangea Legal Services, grupos también involucrados en las próximas acciones del Primero de Mayo en Oakland y en la campaña por Justicia para Guillermo. También participaron grupos revolucionarios como la Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad (OSCL).

El evento contó con más de 40 organizaciones y sindicatos, incluyendo Indivisible East Bay, East Bay DSA, SEIU 1021, el Alameda Labor Council, Bay Resistance, Berkeley Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine, CAIR-SFBA, Friends of La Peña Immigrant Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area, la Oakland Education Association, Sunrise Movement Bay Area, y Tsuru for Solidarity.

“Hoy el pueblo de Oakland hizo oír su voz: la creciente atrocidad del gobierno de Trump debe terminar”, dijo Noah Teller de la Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad. “Estamos construyendo una alianza estratégica para proteger a las personas oprimidas y desarrollar el poder de la clase trabajadora. ¡Exigimos legalización para todos y ninguna guerra en nuestro nombre!”

La protesta reflejó la creciente frustración entre los residentes de clase trabajadora por las políticas del gobierno de Trump, incluyendo su persecución contra los inmigrantes, los ataques a los derechos LGBTQ, las órdenes ejecutivas que militarizan aún más a la policía, y las escaladas de Estados Unidos e Israel en el Medio Oriente, particularmente sus ataques contra Irán, todo mientras gente en todo el país enfrenta dificultades por el aumento en el costo de vida.

Organización contra Trump en Oakland sigue creciendo El año pasado, después de que la administración amenazara con enviar más de 100 agentes de ICE al Área de la Bahía de San Francisco, CSO Oakland, OSCL y el capítulo de Oakland de la Alianza Nacional en Contra de la Represión Política y Racista organizaron una protesta de emergencia desde Fruitvale hasta el puente de la Isla Coast Guard, donde ICE planeaba establecer su sede. Los organizadores también se han movilizado contra una propuesta de centro de detención de ICE en Dublín, California, y para detener la deportación del activista del Área de la Bahía, Guillermo Medina Reyes.

“Mientras más intenta Trump dañar a nuestras comunidades, más nuestras comunidades lucharán”, dijo Danny Celaya, de CSO Oakland. “Lo hemos visto desde los estudiantes que han salido de clases para protestar contra las deportaciones masivas, las almas valientes que han mantenido seguras a nuestras comunidades, como Alex Pretti y Renee Nicole Good, cuyas vidas les fueron arrebatadas por ICE, hasta los millones que han salido a las calles en todo el país desde ciudades como Los Ángeles, Chicago y Minneapolis hasta pueblos como Billings, Montana; Charleston, Carolina del Sur, y Decorah, Iowa. Todos ellos tienen una organización miembro de la Red Legalization for All. En resumen, la gente se está organizando, detendremos la agenda racista de Trump, y vamos a ganar.”

CSO Oakland también distribuyó volantes en la marcha para una colecta en apoyo a la familia de Guillermo Medina Reyes, mientras una coalición de organizaciones del Área de la Bahía, de la cual CSO Oakland forma parte, sigue luchando por su liberación de un centro de detención con fines de lucro en California City, propiedad de CoreCivic, uno de los más de 40 centros de detención privados que opera la empresa. Las donaciones se pueden hacer aquí.

Empresas privadas operan aproximadamente el 90% de los centros de detención de inmigrantes en todo el país.

#OaklandCA #CA #ImmigrantRights #DerechosDeLosInmigrantes #Trump #NoKings

The rise in prices was led by gasoline, up 21.2% in March. While the prices for consumer goods and services other than food and energy, or the so-called “core inflation rate” only ticked up 0.2% in March, the rise in fuel prices started to spill over into other goods and services. Airline fares, where jet fuel is a major cost, rose 2.7% in the month of March, and 14.9% from a year earlier.

This increase in prices and the rate of inflation follows the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, launched in the last days of February. In response to the massive U.S.-Israeli bombings, with well over 10,000 targets, Iran has retaliated against U.S. bases and businesses in the Persian Gulf and Israel itself. In addition, Iran has taken control of the Straits of Hormuz, through which flowed about 30% of the world’s exported oil, and large amounts of natural gas, urea (used to make fertilizer), and helium, used in chip manufacturing and other high-tech goods like MRI machines.

With a relative ceasefire, Trump administration negotiators led by Vice President Vance are meeting with Iranian representatives for talks hosted by Pakistan. The flow of oil, fuels and chemicals is still just a trickle, mainly ships holding Iranian oil, which now fetch almost twice as much as before the war started because of the rise in the price of oil and the fact that the Trump administration lifted sanctions on their oil. Even though oil futures have dropped back down below $100 a barrel, this is still 50% higher than their pre-war prices. The purchase price of actual, or physical oil, is another $30 a barrel higher. Even worse, with the last shiploads of oil that made it out of the Persian Gulf unloading their oil at their destinations, the soaring price of oil will soon become a physical shortage of oil in more countries.

Not surprisingly, this surge in prices weighed on consumers’ confidence. The University of Michigan’s Sentiment Index fell to a record low of 47.6. This is the lowest in the survey’s 74-year history, lower than the 2008 financial crisis and the oil-price shock of 1979 after the revolution in Iran that ended the reign of the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran and the beginning of today’s Islamic Republic.

With prices soaring, more and more Americans who were living paycheck to paycheck are falling behind. One of the businesses benefitting from hard times are pawn shops, which reported more business in March. There are now corporate chains of pawn shops, whose stocks are at multi-year highs, in effect profiting from economic problems.

#SanJoseCA #CA #CapitalismAndEconomy #Inflation

Jacksonville, FL – Dozens of people gathered on the steps of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Memorial Building Tuesday, April 7, marking one year since Charles Faggart was killed inside the Duval County Jail.

Faggart's family stood alongside the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC), demanding answers.

It's been a full year since Faggart, a 31-year-old food truck owner, was arrested on misdemeanor charges. His bond was set at $8500. On April 7, 2025, he was rushed from the jail to UF Health with critical injuries. The next day, Sheriff T.K. Waters held a news briefing about an injured inmate. On April 10, Faggart was declared brain dead.

Twelve months later, his family still doesn't know what actually happened to him.

No charges have been filed against any of the nine corrections officers involved. The FBI investigation Waters requested is still open, with no updates for the public. And JSO (the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office) keeps pointing to that “ongoing investigation” as the reason they won't release anything.

“We came here today because one year ago, my son was taken from us, and we still know nothing,” said Tracey Karpas, Faggart's mother.

Karpas has sued Sheriff Waters and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office to force them to turn over records, including any video footage of what happened that day. That case is still pending.

The only real window into Faggart's death has come from his medical records.

Family attorneys obtained records from UF Health that tell a very different story than what JSO initially put out. Doctors who treated Faggart found:

-– No fentanyl in his system, contradicting the heavily redacted JSO report that claimed Faggart told officers he had done fentanyl.

-– No seizure, even though JSO listed a seizure as the reason for the medical emergency.

-– Taser barbs removed from his back. That detail never showed up in the redacted JSO report.

-– Multiple broken bones: nasal bone fractures, facial fractures, rib fractures.

-– Significant damage to his kidneys and liver.

-– Lung damage and signs of pepper spray exposure.

Amelia Moss, an organizer with JCAC, tied Faggart's case to the broader fight over a proposed $1 billion new jail. She argued that building a new facility won't fix the problems inside the current one; those problems will just move to a new building. The money, she said, would be better spent elsewhere in the community.

JCAC has pledged to keep standing with Faggart's family and friends until they get the answers they've been waiting for.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #CharlesFaggart #InjusticeSystem #JCAC

The great labor leader and former General Secretary and Chairman of the CPUSA, William Z. Foster, wrote hundreds of articles and pamphlets, giving a Marxist-Leninist analysis to the events and struggles of the day. He also wrote a number of longer books, especially in his later years. 

Foster wrote three major books summing up his experience as a revolutionary organizer in the trade union movement, From Bryan to Stalin (1937), Pages From a Worker’s Life (1939), and American Trade Unionism (1947). These are essential works on the labor movement that every revolutionary should study.

Foster also wrote five major histories, where he looked at particular aspects of history from a distinctly Marxist-Leninist, historical materialist perspective. These important works are Outline Political History of the Americas (1951), History of the Communist Party of the United States (1952), The Negro People in American History (1954), History of the Three Internationals (1955), and Outline History of the World Trade Union Movement (1956). 

All of these books are tremendously valuable works of Marxist-Leninist analysis, but here we’re going to focus on his book on the history of the Black liberation struggle in the U.S., The Negro People in American History.

Foster’s analysis

Foster sets out the purpose of his book clearly. He writes

“The general purpose of the present book, written from the standpoint of Marxism-Leninism, is to outline the growth of the American Negro people in relation to the historical development of the American nation. Concretely, the book also aims to stimulate further the present struggle of the Negro people for the fullest freedom along with their white allies, to analyze the factors making for the historical growth into ‘a nation within a nation,’ and to indicate the main lines of the young nation’s perspective of further social development.”

From this standpoint, Foster looks at the history African Americans going back to Africa and its colonization, through the international slave trade, slavery in the American colonies, the role of African Americans in the American Revolution of 1776, the rise of the Abolition movement, Republicanism, and the Civil War, Reconstruction and the counter-revolution against it, up through the Jim Crow period. 

The scope of The Negro People in American History is enormous, so for our purposes we’ll only zero in on a few points of particular interest so that we can get a look at how Foster puts Marxism-Leninism to work in analyzing the contradictions in motion in the history of the Black liberation struggle.

Let’s look at how Foster addresses the African American National Question, the central point of the “nation within a nation,” as he put it. This central question runs throughout the book, especially the chapters on Reconstruction, and the chapters on “The Communist Party and Negro Question” and “The Negro People As an Oppressed Nation.” 

Foster, first of all, recognizes the revolutionary character of the Civil War and Reconstruction. Foster says “The Civil War was a revolution, the second in United States history. It was a bourgeois-democratic revolution… because it brought about ‘a transference of power from one class to another.’” 

Indeed, the Civil War deposed the Southern Planter class that had until then “dominated the Federal Government” and put “the Northern industrialists firmly in the political saddle.” Foster notes that “The general effect of the war was to clear away barriers in the path of capitalism and to stimulate that system into tremendous expansion.” The main barrier in question was the outmoded and archaic system of chattel slavery in the South, which acted as a fetter, holding back industrial capitalist development, then centered in the North. 

Foster also astutely points out that the revolutionary demands of the African American people aimed “straight at the heart of the Confederacy.” These were the demands for “(a) the emancipation of the the slaves; (b) the arming of Negro slaves and freedmen; © the enfranchisement of the Negro people; (d) the abolition of Jim Crow and social inequality; and (e) the redistribution of land in the South.” Foster goes on to explain,

“The degree of revolutionary content in the Federal Government’s policy was always measured by the extent to which it adopted and was enforcing the national demands of the Negro people. The sequel showed that the Government never really made the Negro people’s demands its own. It always considered them something alien, to be picked up or dropped as political or military expediency dictated…” 

Foster explains that “The revolution, despite its final betrayal [toppling Reconstruction in 1877], brought basic advancement to the Negro people, achieving some of their major demands. Most important of all, it freed them from the terrible, centuries-old bondage of chattel slavery. It also won for them the legal right to vote, the right to education and to bear arms in the national defense.” 

But the betrayal of Reconstruction led to counter-revolution, disenfranchisement, lynch-terror and all of the other horrors of the Jim Crow system, including robbing African Americans in the South of political power, stripping them of their land, and thrusting them back onto the plantations under peonage and sharecropping. This period, coinciding with the rise of monopoly capitalism in the United States and its compulsion towards the super-exploitation of the African American people, marks the origin of the African American oppressed nation in the Black Belt South. 

Foster writes,

“Joseph Stalin, the greatest of all authorities on the national question, formulated the following classical Marxist definition of a nation: ‘a nation is an historically evolved stable community of language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a community of culture.’ … On the basis of this scientific definition, clearly the Negro people in the Black Belt of the South comprise a nation, and those in the North and West constitute a national minority.” 

Foster then proceeds to look at each of these aspects of nationhood and explain exactly how they apply to the African American people of the Black Belt. He therefore raises the Leninist demand for self-determination. “It is right which must be conceded to the Negro nation in the Black Belt of the United States, to be used under such concrete forms as it so resolves.” This means it is up to the African American people of the Black Belt South to decide how they want to relate to the United States, whether that means secession, federation, or some other relationship. 

Foster’s The Negro People in American History today

The key role of the Black liberation struggle within the revolutionary movement as a whole has been on sharp display, especially since the uprisings that swept the country after the police murder of George Floyd. Clarity on the African American national question is therefore more important than ever. Foster’s book on the history of the Black liberation struggle in the United States is a key work of Marxist-Leninist historical analysis. It casts a bright light on the revolutionary currents and material contradictions that have propelled the Black liberation movement forward. 

As Frank Chapman said in his excellent book Marxist-Leninist Perspectives On Black Liberation and Socialism, regarding the strategic alliance between the Black liberation movement and the multinational working class struggle at the heart of the united front against monopoly capitalism, “...a key to building such an alliance is the recognition of the centrality of the struggle for Black Liberation in the struggle for socialism in the United States of America.” Understanding the material forces at work, not only the current balance of forces, but the historical trajectory of those contradictions, is absolutely essential for revolutionaries to grasp as we move forward.

J. Sykes is the author of the book “The Revolutionary Science of Marxism-Leninism”. The book can be purchased by visiting frso.org/books

#RevolutionaryTheory #RedReviews #WZFoster #OppressedNationalities #AfricanAmerican

Detroit, MI – On Sunday, April 5, around 100 people joined Detroit Anti-War Committee at the Spirit of Detroit statue to begin weekly protests against Trump’s war on Iran. Daanyal Syed, speaking on behalf of the committee, explained why the organization began these protests, saying that while the U.S. and Israel continue to ramp up their violence, “we must ramp up our opposition.”

These protests began in collaboration with U.S. Palestinian Community Network, CodePink-Detroit, Engineers Against Apartheid, Wayne State Students for a Democratic Society, Love & Liberation, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

The organizers chose to begin the protests on Easter Sunday, partially in response to Israel’s recent death penalty law that targets heroes of the Palestinian liberation movement, such as Marwan Barghouti and Dr. Abu Safiya. However, the protest also highlighted the U.S. and Israel’s terror on the region as a whole, protesting the Zionist state’s continuous attacks on Lebanon and the threats from Trump to bomb Iran “into the Stone Age.”

People rallied with Iran flags, and many came with signs highlighting all three issues, some holding signs of Palestinian prisoners, others holding signs demanding an end to the attacks on their families in Lebanon, and more.

After the rally, the crowd marched through Campus Martius, chanting, “Money for Detroit, not for war!” Upon returning to the Spirit of Detroit, people continued to hold space despite the march being over. Several people came up to the organizers and promised to come back the following week.

While Iran and the U.S. came to a ceasefire agreement as of April 7, the Detroit Anti-War Committee plans to continue its weekly protests.

Protesters demanded an end to the U.S. and Israel’s terror on the region, from occupied Palestine to Lebanon to Iran. The committee remains steadfast to the demand that Trump and his allies cease all hostilities on Iran and honor Iran’s 10-point ceasefire plan.

#DetroitMI #MI #AntiWarMovement #Iran

Jacksonville, FL – On April 4, the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance (JIRA) hosted a vigil with approximately 30 people in attendance, at Memorial Park. This vigil is in respect to and mourning for the individuals who have been killed at the hands of ICE, especially those who have been killed within the detention camps that are located throughout the U.S.

This comes after news that this year's detention center deathrates are the highest of the last 20 years. Hand in hand with the Legalization For All Network, JIRA highlighted some of the following deaths in particular: Ruben Ray Martinez, a Chicano who was shot by the Department of Homeland Security; Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Myanmar refugee who suffered abuse and neglect from Border Patrol; Alberto Gutierrez-Reyes, who died of medical neglect while within ICE custody, and Daphy Michel, a Haitian asylum seeker who died of medical complications after being detained by ICE.

“No man should have the power to make the decision of whether you belong based on legal status, let alone a city cop,” said a member of the Jacksonville Immigrant Rights Alliance. This was said in direct reference to the way these death rates are exacerbated by the establishment of 287(g) agreements, which are legal programs in the U.S. that allow local law enforcement to act in place of ICE. This is something that JIRA says they're fighting to see removed entirely.

#JacksonvilleFL #FL #ImmigrantRights #JIRA #ICE

Tampa, FL – On Tuesday, April 6, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a rally near the University of South Florida (USF) to demand “No ICE on campus” in response to USF and Department of Homeland Security signing onto a 287(g) agreement and the recent pause on H-1B visas passed by the Florida Board of Governors.

The 287(g) agreement allows USF police to train and act as ICE agents on USF campuses, putting international and immigrant students and faculty in direct harm’s way of racial profiling and being detained.

“A university is supposed to be a place of growth and safety, not a place where students feel watched and targeted by their own administrators, and most definitely not a place where their education could be interrupted by their own detention,” said Jayce Solis of Tampa Bay SDS in a speech demanding USF become a sanctuary campus immediately.

As protesters held signs with slogans like, “End 287(g)” and “No ICE on campus,” cars passed by honking in support.

The protest also demanded the reinstatement of H-1B visas, which universities commonly use to hire skilled foreign professionals in specialized fields that require advanced knowledge and education. Universities frequently use H-1B visas to recruit professors, scientists, engineers and researchers from around the world.

During the rally, attendees chanted “We want justice, you say, how? Sanctuary campus now!” and “Money for jobs and education, not for war and deportations!”

Tampa Bay SDS will continue to organize against this 287(g) agreement and the pause on H-1B visas.

#TampaFL #FL #StudentMovement #ImmigrantRights #SDS

Washington, DC – On April 8, hundreds of people gathered outside the White House to join the emergency protest against Trump’s war crimes threats to Iran and Netanyahu’s terrorist bombing campaign on Lebanon. Calls for regime change in Washington, DC echoed through the White House barricades. This action came after Trump’s statement “a whole civilization will die tonight.”

Hundreds of people in DC had plenty of energy and spirit, so they protested the war on Iran two days in a row.

Even though news broke of the temporary ceasefire won by Iran the day before, organizers ensured the day of protest would continue, since many people wanted to express their anger and frustration over Trump’s warmongering in Iran, as well as to demand an immediate end to U.S. aid to Israel in the wake of its genocidal bombing in Lebanon.

Merawi Gerima, a member of the DC Against the Trump Agenda Coalition, started the program by rallying the crowd chanting, “It is right to rebel! Trump and Bibi go to hell!”

An organizer with Palestine Youth Movement DMV stated, “As people who live in the heart of empire, we have a unique obligation to end Zionist-U.S. violence. We have to ensure that death and destruction are not profitable, and we must stop the war machine in its very tracks.”

After the short program, the protesters took the streets disrupting traffic and marching down to Dupont Circle. On the way, chant leaders made sure to point out the racist Metropolitan Police Department officers who were trying to curtail the crowd. One MPD officer, Mendez, was identified as a racist cop who was previously seen harassing Black people for no reason. When DCAARPR members had questioned him on why he was harassing Black people, he said he, “can’t be racist because he has a Black girlfriend.” This encounter was pointed out to the crowd as they shouted at Mendez to quit his job and go get a real one.

Another MPD officer, Jason Bagshaw, a racist and killer cop, was pointed out and angry protesters started hurling insults at him and telling him to go to hell.

The protesters shut down one of the busiest traffic circles in the city before finishing out the program inside the circle itself. An organizer with FRSO DC stated, “Y’know, Donald Trump is very good at one thing: he is good at making an enemy out of everyone. He makes enemies everywhere he goes. He sends troops into DC. He sends ICE all across the country. He funds Israel’s bombs in Palestine, and then he bombs Iran. He kidnapped President Maduro from Venezuela. Now he has all the peoples of the world looking at him as an enemy. That’s where we find our unity.”

DC Against the Trump Agenda Coalition (DCATA), 50501DC, Palestinian Youth Movement DMV, the Party for Socialism and Liberation DC, Codepink DC, the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (DCAARPR), the Anti-War Committee DMV, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization – DC, and many others rallied around the central demand “U.S. out of Iran now!”

#WashingtonDC #AntiWarMovement #Iran

Los Angeles, CA – In the early morning hours of April 1, East Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputies shot and killed 29-year-old Erik Torres while he was going through a mental health crisis. Although Torres was unarmed and needed help, deputies murdered him.

Local media outlets incorrectly reported that an exchange of gunfire occurred between Torres and deputies, resulting in an hours-long standoff. However, this initial report that Torres was armed, and that an exchange of gunfire occurred with deputies has been proven false.

The case is now being investigated by the California Department of Justice and Attorney General Rob Bonta, pursuant under California Assembly Bill 1506 (AB 1506), which requires the department to investigate, “all incidents of an officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of an unarmed civilian in the state,” per the Office of the Attorney General website.

The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department deputies have even had to admit this: Eric Torres did not have a gun when he was shot and killed, and there was no “exchange of gunfire.” The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department murdered Erick Torres in cold blood.

In the aftermath of the fatal shooting, members of Centro CSO made contact with the family, who immediately dismissed the narrative being pushed by the media and the department. Torres’ brother made it known that deputies from the Sheriff's Department had routinely responded to calls at the Torres residence, and were aware of his brother’s mental health struggles. The night of the incident, the family made it known to deputies that Torres was unarmed, but deputies disregarded this information and killed him anyway.

Chicanos on the Eastside know all too well that the East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station – home of the Banditos gang – is infamous for officers’ aggressive, violent behavior and long history of killing young Chicano men. Deputies out of the East LA Station have killed those experiencing mental health crises in the past, instead of getting them the help they deserve.

#LosAngelesCA #CA #EastLA #InjusticeSystem #LASD #OppressedNationalities #Featured

Minneapolis, MN – On April 7 over 50 anti-war protesters held Iranian, Palestinian and Lebanese flags and anti-war on Iran signs and banners over Interstate-35W in downtown Minneapolis to denounce Trump’s latest threats against Iran and demand an end to the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The emergency response demonstration was called by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC).

On April 7, Trump stated that “a whole civilization will die” if his escalation against Iran goes forward, while he and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have repeatedly threatened to send Iran “back to the Stone Age.” Trump announced an 8 p.m. Eastern time deadline for Iran to capitulate to a list of maximalist U.S. demands or face destruction of its critical civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges.

Bombing civilian infrastructure is considered a war crime under international law. Moreover, all attacks launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran beginning February 28 are widely understood as unprovoked, making them a war of aggression that violates the United Nations Charter.

Ahead of Trump’s deadline, Iranians have been holding large demonstrations on bridges and near power plants and other critical infrastructure in Iran threatened by Trump, in the hopes of preventing them from being bombed. The MN Anti-War Committee organized the action to show solidarity with Iranians of all backgrounds and beliefs who are standing up against Trump’s war.

Near the end of the action Trump announced that he would back down from his threat on Iran and agree to a two-week ceasefire.

Wyatt Miller, member of the AWC, explained the intent behind the protest, “This bridge is close to the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi that collapsed in 2007. Here in Minneapolis, we know that the destruction of critical infrastructure is no joke. U.S-Israeli bombings are a war crime.”

Miller continued, “Trump seems to have backed down from his genocidal threats for now. But we know he can’t be trusted. It’s more clear than ever that we need to dismantle this whole system of U.S. war and empire once and for all, no matter who’s in charge of it.”

The MN Peace Action Coalition has called for supporters to join Women Against Military Madness’ protest on Wednesday, April 8 from 4 to 5 p.m. to continue to say no to the U.S. war on Iran.

#MinneapolisMN #MN #Iran #AntiWarMovement #AWC

Tacoma, WA – On Saturday, April 4, members of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and the general public gathered at Wheelock Branch library to learn about and discuss the U.S. war on Iran and the growing anti-imperialist movement.

FRSO hosted the interactive seminar to discuss the destructive conflict with Iran and the oppressive sanctions imposed by the United States.

Speakers from Seattle and Tacoma fielded questions from the audience concerning the war on Iran and the region as a whole, emphasizing the resistance of oppressed and working-class people. The presentation discussed global and local anti-war efforts, with the audience of 40 chanting between sections, “Money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation!”

The presenters led an activity where the audience identified over 25 politicians and groups involved in the conflict as being either “friendly,” “enemy,” or “vacillating” in the fight against imperialism. The group identified “The Department of War” and “Netanyahu” among the enemies, and “The government of Iran” and “Ansar Allah (Houthis)” among the friendly forces.

“Iran is an anti-imperialist force in the world,” said Gloria Baughman, one of the four presenters.

#TacomaWA #WA #AntiWarMovement #Iran

Although the Tuesday, April 7th, ceasefire announced after 40 days of U.S. / Israeli war on Iran has gripped us all, the criminal U.S. and Israel can never be trusted to uphold ceasefires or good-faith negotiations. This morning, April 8th, USPCN and the entire world were awakened to the horrific news that Israel has carried out a massive bombing raid in Lebanon, killing over 300 people, according to the Lebanese Red Cross. The number will undoubtedly rise as the raid continues and the emergency responders report.

In response to this massacre, a senior Iranian official said to Al-Jazeera, “We will punish Israel in response to the crime it committed in Lebanon…The ceasefire includes the region, and Israel is knowingly breaking its promises.”

According to Fars News Agency, Iran has halted the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz over Israel's strikes in Lebanon, even though unblocking the strait was one of the stipulations of the ceasefire. And Tasnim News Agency reported that if ceasefire violations “persist,” Iran will cancel the two-week agreement and not attend the planned talks in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The New York Times broke news this morning that Netanyahu said in a statement that “the cease-fire did not include Lebanon,” and just hours later, Israel carried out the aforementioned large-scale bombing raid across Beirut, the Bekaa, and southern Lebanon, targeting over 100 sites it claims belong to the Lebanese resistance. The Israelis are doing what they do, massacring more and more people and destroying more and more of our homelands, with early reports stating that this raid is the worst Lebanon has seen since the vicious 1982 war. That means this war is not over, and it means that we cannot and will not celebrate even a temporary victory!

But we can discuss and analyze the past 40 days. Only hours after the war criminal Donald Trump announced on social media that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran did not unblock the Strait of Hormuz, the announcement of this two-week-long ceasefire in the U.S. / Israeli war against Iran is an historic moment for the Islamic Republic and its brave and resilient people, especially considering that it was prompted by a 10-point peace plan proposed by Iran itself, which presumably will be the basis for these two weeks of negotiations.

The plan includes the lifting of sanctions, the imposition of a $2 million fee per ship transiting Hormuz, an end to Israeli strikes in Lebanon (violated already), and an end to all regional fighting against Iranian allies, with the understanding that the “Iranian allies” include the Unified Palestinian Resistance in Gaza and the rest of Palestine. It is a victory for the Axis of Resistance, and for all the people of the world, especially those in the Global South.

Conversely, no matter how much the increasingly unhinged Trump wants to declare that U.S. pressure forced the pause, this is a huge defeat for his administration and for U.S. imperialism. Trump was forced to move the goalposts continuously, to amend his objectives and back down numerous times, and to ultimately fail in accomplishing his primary goals, which included the destruction of Iran’s ballistic missiles and nuclear program.

The ceasefire is also a major defeat for Israel, which again was not able to accomplish its own goal of restricting Iran’s support for the other resistance forces in the region, especially in Palestine, Yemen, and Lebanon. Even with big brother U.S. jumping in as always to support the vassal state by attacking Iran and together killing over 1,600 Iranians (including the almost 180 schoolgirls killed by U.S. missiles early in the war) while Israel killed nearly 1,500 Lebanese, Israel was again exposed as conquerable like it has been since the Gaza Genocide. Seventy-two thousand Palestinians and counting have been killed, but neither the Palestinian nor Lebanese resistance has been defeated.

And as we are witnessing in Lebanon now, in a barbaric response to not being able to impose its will even after two and a half years of genocide in Gaza and indiscriminate attacks in Lebanon, Israel just continues to bomb neighborhoods and infrastructure and kill civilians. The racist, zionist, white supremacist, settler-colonialist state is out of control, and is supported unequivocally by the out of control Trump and the entire U.S. government, regardless of political party.

In addition, Israel’s Iron Dome, the defense system that U.S. taxpayers spent 1.6 billion dollars on, was not able to stop the strategic Iranian missile program developed for five decades under intense, U.S.-imposed sanctions. Israel's racist, genocide-apologist society has also been shaken to its core, as even the Occupation Forces’ chief of staff, only two weeks ago, said that the “[IOF] is going to collapse in on itself.”

For 40 days, the Israeli public lived in their shelters – reminding us of the mass flight of Israelis from the north of Occupied Palestine as the Lebanese resistance defended Gaza during the genocide – while the brave people of Iran marched daily in the streets defending themselves, their lands, and their sovereignty against this illegal war.

The U.S. / Israeli project is failing. And this moment cannot be understood without also recognizing the role played by the steadfast Unified Palestinian Resistance in Gaza. Since October 2023, Gaza has endured unimaginable violence while continuing to resist, exposing the limits of military power and helping to reshape the political landscape of the region. The resilience of the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, and others has not only challenged narratives of dominance, but has also galvanized broader regional and global movements, making clear that struggles for liberation are interconnected.

We salute the courageous Iranians who are standing firm in supporting their people, their revolution, and their sovereignty, as well as the entire Axis of Resistance. Despite all U.S. and Israeli attempts to destabilize the Iranian government, including mass assassinations by both, and machinations by the Mossad to promote uprisings in the streets of Tehran and beyond, Iran stayed united and rejected the contemptible plans of the zionists, the U.S. imperialists, the Arab reactionaries, and the monarchists who want to reinstate a new Shah.

Iran’s strategic control of the Strait of Hormuz delivered an economic shock to the whole world, forcing the west to recognize that the U.S. is not the world's peace keeper, but rather one of its most dangerous liabilities. Even most of the other imperialist European states would not support this U.S. venture, and the corresponding economic blow will leave an impact on U.S. markets for years to come.

In just over four weeks – with the blocking of the Strait and the unstoppable attacks on U.S. bases in the Gulf states, which are essentially U.S. protectorates – Iran may accomplish militarily what 47 years of diplomacy could not, the possibility that sanctions against its people could be lifted. Under a constant, strategic barrage from Iran, the U.S. abandoned those bases and those Arab regimes “in a day and a night,” as the old Arab adage goes, making it clear that it was never there to accomplish anything but secure the economic interests of U.S. imperialism.

The bravery of the people of Iran and the rest of the Axis of Resistance – plus supporters that reject and resist U.S. hegemony, like China, which has provided technology and materials to help Iran’s missile program and has bought close to 80% of Iran’s oil to lessen the impact of sanctions – have inspired the entire globe to recognize what anti-imperialists and those fighting for national liberation and economic independence have always believed, that the U.S. empire is a paper tiger prone to wild attempts to control the entire world, and that this overextension may eventually lead it to collapse and defeat.

But even with these new developments and the slight change in the regional game, Israel commits another war crime with impunity, and the U.S. again allows it. Our movement must continue to be in the streets to stop the bombing in Lebanon, and we must also recognize that a genocide in Gaza; ethnic cleansing, settler attacks, and land expropriation in Al-Quds and the West Bank; and racist death penalty laws targeting Palestinian political prisoners all continue unabated, so our struggle continues as well.

Iran’s defense of its nation and solidarity with the people of Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria has set a new standard in resisting empire in this world. It has proven, similar to Palestine and Lebanon, that no matter how powerful and well-funded Israel and the U.S. are, the people’s resistance will never be broken.

Long live international solidarity! Long live the struggle for a free and just world! Hands off Iran, Lebanon, and Palestine! End all U.S. sanctions and wars now!

U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

#USPCN #Palestine #Iran #Leabanon #AntiWarMovement

Colorado Springs, CO – On April 1, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) was joined by Colorado Springs faith leaders and community organizations outside of anti-LGBTQ counselor Kaley Chiles’ office to condemn her litigation against Colorado’s “conversion therapy” ban and the 8-1 Supreme Court ruling.

Faith leaders included Reverend Josh Rumple of First Congregational and Pastor Amanda Udis-Kessler of Vista Grande United Church of Christ, both progressive churches in Colorado Springs respectively.

The Supreme Court ruling overturning Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” came on Trans Day of Visibility and is a continued escalation from the Trump administration against LGBTQ rights and protections. The case's primary litigant, Kaley Chiles, is a known bigot who works at Deeper Stories Counseling in Colorado Springs and worked with conservative law firm Alliance Defending Freedom”

Several community members shared speeches to a crowd of about 50 that condemned the Supreme Court's decision. “Claiming that conversion therapy is free speech is like calling a noose neckwear,” said Genevieve Richard of the FRSO. Lenny Lorenz, a college student and organizer with New Era Colorado College said, “The Supreme Court’s decision sets an alarming precedent that leaves queer youth open to dangerous and discredited practices.”

The crowd stayed strong despite rain and light hail. Chants rang loud through Cascade Avenue, “We won’t go back! These queers bash back!” and “We’re here! We’re queer! We won’t disappear.” Anger and a determination to fight back filled the air and everyone’s faces.

#ColoradoSpringsCO #CO #LGBTQ #SupremeCourt