Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

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By Robby Knapp

Two students stand on a bridge over a highway and drape a banner over the side of the bridge that says, "All Out Against Trump! Fight the Backward Agenda!"

Milwaukee, WI – On Wednesday, September 3, students gathered at the Maryland Street Bridge on the UWM campus, demanding an end to the Trump administration’s attacks on students, DEI initiatives and educational funding. The event was part of an SDS national day of action.

Led by members of the UW-Milwaukee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (UWM SDS), the banner drop was a response to the ongoing cuts to education, cuts to multicultural and inclusivity programs, and constant student repression by the UWM administration.

As students were about to unfurl the banner around noon, they were confronted by a known administrative agitator part of the Dean of Students Office. Despite her insistence that the students and SDS members were breaking so-called “campus free speech regulations,” the students stood their ground against the intimidation.

SDS chair Chris Van Valkenberg demanded to see what rules they were actually breaking, stating that “unless you can prove we broke any rules, we will continue with the banner drop whether you like it or not.” While debating with the administrator about the legality of the banner drop, students discovered many of these campus freedom of speech policies were added recently by the university administration without notifying the student body. After the brief stand-off, the official could not find any rules that the students were breaking and retreated, and the banner drop continued successfully.

UWM SDS has been fighting consistent attacks on and harassment of its members by the university administration. Students pushing for university acknowledgement of the genocide in Palestine, and who are calling to fix the imbalance of power the university holds over its students, have been suspended, banned from campus, put on disciplinary probation, stalked by administrative officials, and harassed daily by those same officials.

As the Trump administration’s attacks on students continue to grow, students have felt the pressure of this through a losses of educational funding, satellite campuses, research funds, DEI programs, and overall student safety. These losses, combined with an increase in campus police presence and intimidation, strict campus free speech laws targeting student activism, and purposefully deregistering and suspending any detracting student organizations, are a call to action for all students on UWM’s campus to call for its administration to end its complicity with Trump’s anti-education and anti-student policies.

#MilwaukeeWI #WI #StudentMovement #Trump #SDS

By staff

Milwaukee banner drop demands end to genocide in Gaza.

Milwaukee, WI – On Tuesday, August 19, around 25 people held a banner drop at the Locust Street overpass in Milwaukee, demanding an end to the destruction and starvation of Gaza, an end to U.S. aid to Israel, and calling for a free Palestine.

Led by the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC) and co-sponsored by the statewide Wisconsin Coalition for Justice in Palestine, the banner drop was in response to an emergency call to action by the Anti-War Action Network, a national network of anti-war organizations.

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By staff

A group of protesters holding Palestinian flags.

Milwaukee, WI – On Tuesday, July 29, the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee held an Emergency Hands Off the West Bank protest condemning the Israeli parliament for its symbolic vote to illegally annex the West Bank. This vote was indicative of the escalation of Israeli aggression and expansion, and another step on their nearly century-long genocidal mission of theft of Palestinian land.

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By Mitchell Erikson

A group of protesters holding banners on a pedestrian walkway above a highway.

Appleton WI – On July 26, in a protest against ICE and the Trump administration, simultaneous banner drops took place across northeast Wisconsin, including several locations in Appleton, as well as Green Bay, Neenah, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac.

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By staff

Protesters holding signs.

Milwaukee, WI – On the afternoon of July 21, activists gathered for a picket outside of a vacant building on the outskirts of West Allis.

“Milwaukee, open your eyes! Fake clinics spread lies!” protesters chanted, as they lined themselves up in front of the building where Alliance Women’s Services was set to have its grand opening.

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By staff

Protesters hold a banner as a fighter jet flies above.

Milwaukee, WI – On July 19, more than 40 people rallied alongside the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC) for their third annual protest of the Milwaukee Air & Water Show.

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By staff

A tent with a banner demanded the arrest of police who murdered a man.

Milwaukee, WI – In July, 2024 the racist and reactionary Republican Party descended on Milwaukee to hold its national convention and select a nominee for president. For years, community organizers had demanded that the city of Milwaukee give guarantees and concrete plans to stop the thousands of out-of-town police that came for the convention from committing crimes in the city with no accountability or oversight. City leaders dismissed these concerns, but on July 16, 2024, five officers from Columbus, Ohio murdered Samuel “Jah” Sharpe Jr.

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By staff

A protester speaking into a megaphone in front of a banner.

Milwaukee, WI – Around 30 people gathered for a press conference and rally Wednesday, July 2 celebrating a landmark Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that effectively restored abortion access in the state. The court ruled 4-3 in favor that Wisconsin's 1849 law is not an abortion ban. This clarification removes the legal threat the ambiguous law posed to abortion providers since the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

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By staff

Appleton WI – On Friday, June 27, 100 community members gathered at Houdini Plaza in bustling downtown Appleton for Hate Free Outagamie’s rally to commemorate the 56th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.

This action, cosponsored by Diverse and Resilient, the Green Bay Anti-War Committee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization, focused on the significance of the uprising, and the lessons it teaches us about the present moment.

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By Chris Van Valkenberg

Milwaukee, WI – On Saturday, June 28, more than 60 people gathered at Cathedral Square Park in the light of downtown Milwaukee, to commemorate the Stonewall Uprisings and the Black Nite Brawl.

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By staff

Milwaukee, WI – On Tuesday, June 25, 100 people gathered in Milwaukee for an emergency “Hands Off Iran” action, the second led by the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC) this month, and the third held in the city that same week.

The event came a few days after the Trump administration bombed three Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday, June 21. Up to this point, the U.S. government had been funding and supporting Israel as it bombed Iran, but had not itself launched an attack. Saturday’s news caused concern among people in the U.S. that it would spark a wider war in the region.

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By staff

A crowd of people holding signs in front of a building.

Milwaukee, WI – More than 50 people gathered in the sweltering heat on Sunday, June 15, at the North Point Water Tower in Milwaukee, demanding restoration of abortion access after the three-year anniversary of the Dobbs vs. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization decision. This extreme Supreme Court ruling in 2022 removed all federal protections for abortion, leaving the precedent for legality on a state-by-state basis. In turn, the rights to healthcare access are in a gray area everywhere, including Wisconsin.

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By staff

Milwaukee, WI – On Sunday, June 15, more than 50 community members gathered at Red Arrow Park for an emergency “Hands Off Iran” rally, led by the Milwaukee Anti-war Committee (MAC).

The event began with a community member proudly playing her violin before transitioning to speeches from several organizations, including the U.S. Palestinian Community Network – Milwaukee Chapter, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression (MAARPR), Milwaukee 4 Yemen, and Peace Action.

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By staff

Milwaukee, WI – On May 20, Milwaukee Reproductive Rights organizers were back out on the sidewalks picketing and shutting down another anti-abortion clinic or “crisis pregnancy center” (CPC). This so-called clinic, Women’s Care Center, is notorious for its location right across from where a real abortion clinic used to be housed.

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By staff

Milwaukee march on the anniversary of George Floyd murder.

Milwaukee, WI – March 25 marked the five-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Derek Chauvin and the Minneapolis Police Department. In 2020 Floyd’s murder sparked the largest uprising against police in decades in the United States, and even five years later his life brought together 250 Milwaukeeans to rally, march and eat as a community to honor his memory.

The Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (MAARPR) and All People’s Gathering Church (APGC) cohosted the afternoon events in order to commemorate Floyd as a person, give voice to the lives of the many Milwaukeeans murdered by police and jails, and recommit to the struggle to end police crimes.

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By staff

Milwaukee, WI – On Sunday May 4, hundreds of Milwaukee area trade unionists and community members took to the streets to commemorate the 139th anniversary of the Bay View Massacre—one of the bloodiest moments in Wisconsin labor history. Over 14,000 Milwaukee workers, about 5000 of them immigrants from Poland, participated in the 1886 general strike wave demanding the enforcement of an eight-hour workday.

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By staff

Die-in at the Wisconsin Defense Industry Council \[WDIC\]’s conference in Pewaukee, Wisconsin.

Pewaukee, WI – On the afternoon of May 13, dozens of anti-war and pro-Palestine activists held a rally outside the Wisconsin Defense Industry Council (WDIC)’s inaugural conference at the Ingleside Hotel in Pewaukee, a suburb of Milwaukee. The rally spoke out against the WDIC’s stated mission, to increase the influence of defense manufacturing in Wisconsin.

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By staff

Milwaukee protest at fake clinic defends reproductive rights. 

Milwaukee, WI – On May 10, dozens of people picketed outside the Women’s Care Center on Milwaukee’s South Side, demanding an end to the deceptive “care” it provides. This facility is one of nine crisis pregnancy centers located in Milwaukee. Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are fake clinics that masquerade as facilities offering “all-option” pregnancy counseling, free ultrasounds, and pregnancy testing. However, they often lack trained medical staff and do not adhere to confidentiality regulations.

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By Lana Ksionek

Green Bay  Palestine solidarity action at NFL Draft.

Green Bay, WI – Undeterred by road closures and brisk evening temperatures, a dedicated group of around one dozen Green Bay, WI, activists arrived near Entrance 2 for the NFL Draft. It was April 24, the first day of the Draft, and a section of South Ridge Road at the western corner of Lambeau Field was closed to traffic; making it perfect for a banner drop. The action was organized by the Green Bay Anti-War Committee (GBAC), the small city organization that could.

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By staff

May Day march in Appleton, Wisconsin.

Appleton, WI – Hundreds of workers, queer activists and community members flooded Houdini Plaza in Appleton, Wisconsin, on May 1, International Workers Day, kicking off a march that would face police repression before triumphantly returning to cheers of public support.

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