Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

In-Justice System

By staff

Josh Teitelbaum, of Jewish Voices for Peace demands charges be dropped against pro Palestine protesters at courthouse rally.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following resolution in solidarity with New Orleans’ pro-Palestine protesters.

WHEREAS, the undersigned organizations stand in complete solidarity with New Orleans’ pro-Palestine protesters, and denounce Tulane University for pursuing unjust charges and tacitly endorsing police brutality against these activists, simply because they protested this institution’s ties with Israel;

WHEREAS, Tulane emeritus board member Walter Isaacson grabbed and shoved Tulane student Rory MacDonald on video at a protest on March 13, without facing repercussions;

WHEREAS, Toni Jones, organizer with New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police (NOCOP), was arrested by TUPD on March 16 at a protest for MacDonald’s and other students’ rights to free speech;

WHEREAS, Brenna Byrne, Sruly Heller, Quest Riggs, Serena Sojic-Borne, and three other protesters, were arrested by TUPD on April 29 on the first day of Students for a Democratic Society’s (SDS) peaceful encampment for Gaza, several suffering injuries from police horses or officer misconduct;

WHEREAS, Rory MacDonald, Carson Cruse, Juleea Berthelot, Shreyas Vasudevan, Vonne Crandell and nine other protesters were arrested by Louisiana State Police on May 1, the third day of SDS’s peaceful encampment for Gaza, over one hundred state troopers used tear gas, a BearCat armored vehicle, and rifles aimed at students to arrest fourteen people, including one just passing by for a walk that evening; and

WHEREAS the TUPD targeted and arrested a student days after the encampment ended, unjustly charging them with a felony;

BE IT RESOLVED, the undersigned demand that District Attorney Jason Williams and City Attorney Donesia Turner drop the trumped-up charges against these protesters;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the undersigned call upon the administration of Tulane University to end their witch-hunt of these protesters.

In signing this resolution, our organizations commit to doing everything we can to make this gross injustice known, and to organize a powerful solidarity movement to defend these protesters, who courageously stood against aid for Israel’s genocide.

Voice of the Experienced

Masjid Omar

Jewish Voices for Peace – New Orleans

First Grace Community Alliance

Hagar’s House, shelter

Project Ishmael, immigration law

Louisiana InterFaith for Human Rights

Friends of Sabeel – New Orleans

Palestinian Youth Movement New Orleans

William Quigley, Emeritus Professor of Law, Loyola University

American Federation of Musicians – New Orleans

Starbucks Workers United NOLA

Louisiana National Lawyers’ Guild

Queer Trans Community Action Project

New Orleans for Community Oversight of Police

Sunrise Movement NOLA

Reproductive Justice Action Collective

Harvey Mudd College Dissenters

NOLA Healthcare Workers for Palestine

Southern Solidarity

New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports

Muslims for Just Futures – Gulf South

NOLA Musicians for Palestine

Freedom Road Socialist Organization NOLA

Laveau Contraire, drag artist

Students Organizing Against Racism TU

Feminist Alliance of Students at Tulane

Rev. Gregory Manning

Justice and Beyond

Muslim Students Association – Loyola

NOLA Democratic Socialists of America

NOLA Freedom Forum

Miss Anne’s Maypop Herb Shop

LifeCity Impact Management Firm

End Jim Crow Louisiana

SPORTS DRINK

Trans Income Project

Mo Munchies LLC

Fight Covid NOLA

Fred Hampton Free Store

Chicken’s Kitchen

Tulane Students for a Democratic Society

Loyola Students for a Democratic Society

LSU Students for a Democratic Society

#NewOrleansLA #LA #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #FreeSpeech #NOCOP

By staff

Tampa, FL press conference demands justice for pastor injured by deputy sheriff.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Tampa, FL – On September 13, around a dozen community members came to a press conference, demanding justice for Pastor Carl Soto. A local pastor, activist, and co-founder of Black Lives Matter Restoration Inc., Soto was followed and brutalized by Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Alex Almaguer. He was falsely charged with resisting arrest without violence.

Deputy Almaguer brutalized Soto on August 29, 2024. As Soto was on his way to pick up his kids from school, the deputy tailed him for approximately three miles before pulling him over. With his hand on his weapon, Almaguer approached the vehicle and made the unfounded claim that Soto was driving with an illegal license plate.

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By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

On September 12, 2024, three leaders of the African Peoples' Socialist Party (APSP) and the Uhuru Movement were convicted on the charge of conspiring to act “as agents of the Russian government within the United States without prior notification.” The charge carries up to five years in prison. The jury found them not guilty of the charge of already acting as unregistered foreign agents.

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By staff

Brooklyn community meeting builds opposition to police on subways.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Brooklyn, NY – On Saturday, September 7, the New York Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NYAARPR) and a dozen community members gathered for an honest discussion of the role of the NYPD on the New York City subway system.

The event, held at the Macon branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, marked the launch of NYAARPR’s Cops off the Subway campaign.

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By staff

Tampa, FL – On September 10, the sixth day of the trial of the Uhuru 3, members of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) and Uhuru Solidarity Movement charged with “acting as agents of a foreign government,” both the prosecution and defense finished presenting their arguments. The courtroom was packed full of supporters of the defendants.

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By staff

Black August event in Jacksonville, Florida. | Fight Back! News/staff

Jacksonville, FL – On Saturday, August 24, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) held its annual Black August event, remembering the tradition of what Black August means to the struggle for Black liberation, along with spotlighting various struggles happening in the community. Around 70 community members attended the event, which took place at Cafe Resistance off Soutel Road, one of the centers of the Black community in Jacksonville.

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By Gage Lacharite

Tampa, FL – The trial of the Uhuru 3 entered its second week on Monday, September 9. The 17th floor courtroom of the Sam Gibbons Federal Courthouse in downtown Tampa was packed with observers from across the country and across social movements, there to support the defendants.

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By Diana Terreros

Protest against police crimes in Fullerton, California.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Fullerton, CA – On Friday, September 6, over 30 family members, community members and activists joined a vigil to demand justice for Alejandro Campos Rios. The vigil was held outside of a McDonald’s restaurant where Rios was murdered by Fullerton Police Department on March 6 while experiencing a mental health crisis.

Connor Atwood with Dare to Struggle kicked off the vigil by stating, “For six months the killer cops have gotten away with it. For six months, they have not released the names of the officers that pulled the triggers. For six months they have not been fired from FPD. And for six months, while we should have been getting justice ,these killer cops have continued to walk the streets. We’re here to say no, we’re here to demand justice for Alejandro!”

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By staff

Tampa, FL – As the trial of the Uhuru 3 enters its second day, the prosecution calls its first witnesses. The Uhuru 3 are members of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) and the Uhuru Movement who are charged with conspiracy and “acting as agents of the Russian government within the United States without prior notification.” The courtroom was packed with supporters of the defendants. Many had traveled from all across the country to be there.

The prosecution first called Professor Brian Taylor, a professor of political science, to the stand as a witness. Taylor’s role in the trial was to provide background information on the Russian intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB). When other witnesses were questioned, it was revealed that there was no proof of any of the defendants or the Russian nationals being agents of the FSB.

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By Chrisley Carpio

Tampa, FL – On September 3, at the Sam Gibbons Federal Courthouse in downtown Tampa, the trial of the Uhuru 3 began. At 8 a.m., over 50 supporters of the defendants gathered across the street for a press conference and then a rally.

“We will beat these charges and we will put be the ones to put the state on trial,” said Mwezi Odom of the Hands Off Uhuru Defense Campaign.

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