“Demand the pullout of American troops”

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by Jorge ‘Ka Oris’ Madlos, spokesperson for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines-Mindanao. U.S. troops are now fighting the New People’s Army. The New People’s Army, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines, is fighting to free the Philippines from foreign domination and local exploiters.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was scheduled to speak at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy about “peace and prosperity” in the Middle East. However, on Oct. 15, over 200 community members, students and Palestine solidarity activists gathered outside of the event, decrying the university for hosting the notorious war criminal. Meanwhile, around 30 activists inside, mainly from Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, DePaul University, Loyola University and Northwestern University, disrupted Olmert's speech every 20 minutes for two and a half hours.

Bogotá, Colombia – Liliany Obando es poderosa. Ella es una de los miles de prisioneros políticos de Colombia. Ya por un año, le conozco por carta. Por fin, nos conocimos en persona en tres ocasiones, durante una delegación patrocinada por la Campaña de Derechos Laborales (basado en los EEUU) y el Red de Acción Colombiana. Yo representé el Red Internacional en Solidaridad con los Prisioneros Políticos Colombianos.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa'adat:

A spirited picket line protested outside the Colombian consulate in Chicago Oct. 1. 30 students, solidarity and labor activists chanted in support of political prisoners held by the Colombian government of President Uribe. Passersby stopped to read leaflets and listen to chants of, “Free Lily Obando,” “No to U.S. bases,” and “The people of Colombia are under attack! What do we do? Stand up! Fight back!” Chicagoans were joined on Michigan Avenue by activists from Arizona, Minnesota, Ohio, California, Florida and Washington D.C. for this international day of action.

Fight Back News Service is reprinting the following statement for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine , an organization that helps lead the fight to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The statement condemns the Palestinian Authority for requesting the postponement of consideration of the report by Judge Richard Goldstone on war crimes in Gaza at the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following letter from the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) urging support for the victims of tropical storm Ondoy/Ketsana.

Bogotá, Colombia – Liliany Obando is powerful. She is one thousands of Colombian political prisoners. For a year now, I have known Liliany through letters. We finally met face-to-face on three occasions, during a delegation sponsored by the U.S.-based Campaign for Labor Rights and the Colombia Action Network. I represented the International Network in Solidarity with Colombia’s Political Prisoners.

In August, a delegation of U.S. students, trade unionists and anti-war activists traveled to Colombia to meet with leaders in the struggle there. The Colombian Action Network and the Campaign for Labor Rights, two grassroots organizations here in the United States fighting against U.S. intervention in Colombia, hosted the trip.

'un mensaje al pueblo estadounidense'

Esta es una entrevista con Raul Reyes, hecho en julio 2000. Fue grabado por Jess Sundin, una activista en solidaridad con Colombia, un miembro de Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Bogotá, Colombia – En julio de este año, un grupo de activistas anti-guerra viajó a Colombia en una delegación de derechos humanos organizada por la Red de Acción de Colombia. La delegación se reunió con sindicatos, asociaciones de granjeros y organizaciones estudiantiles. FENSUAGRO, la Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria de Colombia, hospedó a los activistas estadounidenses. La delegación visitó regiones rurales y fue testigo de las condiciones de vida de los campesinos colombianos.

Bogotá, Colombia – U.S. anti-war activists traveled to Colombia in July on a human rights delegation organized by the Colombia Action Network. The delegation met with trade unions, peasant farmer associations and student organizations. FENSUAGRO (Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria, or the National Federation of Agricultural Farming Unions), Colombia’s national federation of peasants, hosted the U.S. activists. The delegation visited rural regions and documented the living conditions of Colombian peasants.

El lunes, 1 de agosto, 500 personas manifestaron en Plaza Venezuela, en Caracas, para protestar los ataques de Israel contra Líbano y Gaza, y para protestar el apoyo estadounidense frente la agresión israelí. Oradores, poetas y cantantes denunciaron el imperialismo estadounidense y el sionismo que están manejando este conflicto.

El mismo día que George W. Bush declaró, “He ganado capital político en la campaña electoral, y voy a gastarlo,” oficiales de alto rango dijeron que en el segundo mandato de su presidencia Bush reenfoquaría su energía en América Latina. En el primer año de su segundo mandato, Bush quiere aprobar el Tratado de Libre Comercio con los países centroamericanos y la República Dominicana (TLC – conocido como “CAFTA” en inglés), como primer paso para lograr el Área de Libre Comercio de las Américas (ALCA) para toda Latinoamérica en 2006.

Madison, WI – La Red de Acción Sobre Colombia (Colombia Action Network en ingles) se reunió en esta ciudad en marzo 8, para desarrollar la campana de defensa de los trabajadores sindicalizados de la Coca Cola a través del boicot a esta bebida. Luis Adolfo Cardona, el compañero sindicalista que escapo del intento de secuestro, tortura y asesinato por parte de los escuadrones de la muerte al servicio de la Coca Cola, dio una charla sobre la grave situación de Derechos Humanos que sufren los compañeros trabajadores en Colombia.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the Colombia Action Network to cut off all aid to Colombia’s death squad government.

Washington, D.C. – Advocates for the families of 173 people murdered in the banana-growing regions of Colombia filed suit, June 7, against Chiquita Brands International, in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. The families allege that Chiquita paid millions of dollars and tried to ship thousands of machine guns to the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, or AUC. The AUC is a violent, right-wing paramilitary organization supported by the Colombian army. Its units are often described as ‘death squads.’

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel on the passing of former President Corazon Aquino.

Colombian revolutionary proclaims innocence

Washington, D.C. – Anayibe Rojas Valderama, a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) also know as ‘Sonia’, was sentenced here, July 2 by Judge James Robertson to nearly 17 years in federal prison on charges of shipping cocaine to the United States.