Minneapolis, MN – It was standing room only, as more than people 55 came together here, May 6, to celebrate International Workers Day. Leaders from labor, the fight for Native land at Highway 55, welfare rights, anti-war, and student movements spoke of their struggles and victories over the past year. Some traveled over 100 miles, from Duluth MN, to attend.

Protesters who converged on Seattle for the meeting of the World Trade Organization did something really great, for the people of this country and peoples of the world.

A shortage of affordable housing has turned the lives of millions into a nightmare. Emergency shelters are occupied by an army of the homeless. Many more people are living on the streets. In New York City, the wait for public housing is 8 years.

Minneapolis, MN – More than fifty poor and working people came together to celebrate May Day, international workers day, May 6. The event, organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization stressed the victories won by the peoples struggle in the past year, the fights that lie ahead, and the need for unity between employed and unemployed workers. Half the people attending the event were from the low income community and engaged the fight against welfare cuts.

During the first week of May, hundreds of millions of working people around the world will celebrate May Day – the international holiday of the working class. It is a day for working people to say Enough is Enough!

_Make The Rich Pay For Their Crisis! _

Nearly one third of the world has fallen into economic depression. Asian countries like Korea, once hailed by U.S. policy makers, face a rising tide of unemployment, as everything from steel mills to hospitals close down. The Japanese economy is shrinking as its government casts about for ways to prop up the country's banks. Now, the crisis is spreading to Latin America.

¡Que viva la lucha popular!

El primero de mayo, el día internacional de los trabajadores, es un día de lucha. Alrededor del mundo, trabajadores marcharán en contra de la guerra imperialista, para defender los derechos de los inmigrantes en su lucha para proteger sus trabajos y comunidades. Aquí en los Estados Unidos, el 1ro de mayo renació cuando millones de chicanos, mexicanos y centroamericanos junto a otros inmigrantes y sus aliados, llenaron las calles para exigir la legalización, un fin de las redadas y deportaciones y el paro de la militarización de la frontera.

Mientras los medios capitalistas halagan a Ronald Reagan por haber “restaurado la confianza a América,” milones de estadounidenses y milones más en el resto del mundo han sido forzados  a enfrentar la pobreza y guerra como resultado de las políticas de Reagan.

While the corporate-controlled media is singing praises of Ronald Reagan for “restoring confidence to America,” millions of Americans and millions more around the world have been forced into poverty and war as a result of his policies.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following greeting from Freedom Road Socialist Organization to demonstrators at the Republican National Convention.

St. Paul, MN – Members of the Twin Cities based Welfare Rights Committee picketed at the governors mansion, Nov. 20 to, “put Governor Pawlenty on notice that, in the 2008 legislative session, we will fight his every attempt to take poor families’ money.” The protest had a Thanksgiving theme. A huge banner reading, “Hey Pawlenty! Stop gobbling up poor people’s money!” was fastened to the mansion’s wrought iron fence.

St. Paul, MN – The Welfare Rights Committee, Minnesota Welfare Rights Coalition and supporters gathered in front of the Capitol here, Feb.12 to unfurl a banner too large to hold, cascading down the steps reading, “Tax the Rich! Stop the cuts to poor and working people.” They came for their annual protest at the start of the 2008 legislative session.

Live from Death Row

The following is one in a regular series of commentaries by Mumia Abu Jamal from SCI Greene Prison

The following is a special editorial from Fight Back! that's being distributed as a leaflet among the evacuees in Houston, Texas.

St. Paul, MN – Welfare recipients and low income people chanted and held signs in the state capitol building here, Nov. 29, while government officials delivered their state budget forecast.

Minneapolis, MN – Low-income tenants of the Rodeway Inn won a victory! On March 31, Hennepin County Housing Court ruled that homeless families living in the building could stay for another 30 days. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is buying the building and plans to turn it into a parking lot for museum patrons.

As the rich grab up every piece of land they can on Chicago’s South side, thousands of low-income people are being pushed out of the neighborhoods they call home. Powerful institutions like the University of Chicago and its local partner The Woodlawn Organization are colluding with Mayor Daley to subject neighborhoods like Woodlawn to a feeding frenzy by greedy developers – a nightmare for families who can no longer afford skyrocketing rents and property taxes. But as the tenants of the Kimbark Tenants Association are showing, you don't have to just pack up – you can fight back.

Chicago, IL – “Ain’t no power like the power of the people ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop!” echoed up and down Cottage Grove, Aug. 25, during the Hands Around Grove Parc demonstration. Tenants and supporters linked hands and held signs saying “Urban renewal = black removal” and “I live in Grove Parc, I want to stay, not gonna go no way!” as passing cars honked and cheered the demonstrators on.

Chicago, IL – “Homeland security arrests us ‘cause we are trying to stay in our homes. We told them, ‘Housing is a human right and we wasn’t goin’ without a fight!’” said Grove Parc tenant and Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP) organizer Lonnie Richardson amidst cheers of tenants and supporters gathered on a cold November day outside the offices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in downtown Chicago.

Editors note: Since this article was written, Minnesota Governor Pawlenty has announced there will be no special secession of the legislature this year and, in an unprecedented move, he states he will use the line item veto and his power to unallot to carry out massive budget cuts.