Every December, I put together my list of top 10 movies for the year. Usually I've missed a couple that would probably make the list, and this year is no different – The Birth of a Nation; Snowden and Weiner, to name three. Nevertheless, here's my Top 10 of 2016:

To mark the Nov. 28, 1820 birthday of the revolutionary Frederick Engels, Fight Back News Service is circulating the one of his writings – the third chapter of his work Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

Una vida dedicada a la revolución, el internacionalismo proletario y al Marxismo-Leninismo

El 25 de noviembre del 2016 los trabajadores y pueblos oprimidos de todo el mundo perdieron a un gigante con el fallecimiento de Fidel Castro Ruz. La vida de Fidel debe ser honrada, estudiada y emulada. Fidel fue un líder crucial tanto para la Revolución Cubana de 1959, como para la construcción del socialismo en Cuba en las últimas cinco décadas y sus ejemplares actos de solidaridad internacional.

A life dedicated to revolution, proletarian internationalism and Marxism-Leninism

On Nov. 25, 2016 workers and oppressed peoples of the entire world lost a giant with the passing of Fidel Castro Ruz. Fidel lived a life worth honoring, studying and emulating. He was a key leader in the 1959 Cuban revolution, in building socialism in Cuba for more than five decades to the present day, and in exemplary acts of international solidarity.

Chicago, IL – The Free State of Jones is a movie, now playing in Chicago, that portrays the story of how poor white farmers and slaves rebelled against the Confederacy during the Civil War of 1861-65. This movie was directed by Gary Ross and written by Leonard Hartman and Gary Ross. It’s about two and a half hours long.

Baltimore, MD – “Afeni Shakur Davis,” otherwise known as Afeni Shakur, passed away late Monday night, May 2, at the age of 69. The mother of the late great artist Tupac Shakur, she was a revolutionary leader in her own right, serving as the Harlem Section Leader of the Black Panther Party during the 1960s and 70s. She joined the party as a teen in 1968.

Minneapolis musical legend, Black movement supporter, gender-bending pioneer

“His songs were musical arguments to live free.” -Boots Riley

Minneapolis, MN – Donald Trump’s ascendance to international political notoriety has sent shockwaves through the Western world’s political powers. Trump’s rejection of the establishment’s norms of behavior and of what he terms “political correctness” is unbalancing bourgeoisie democratic values. On the international scene, Trump is recognized as a simple schoolyard bully who teases and assaults those who have any semblance of creative or individual thought. In Trump’s vision for America you better kneel before the god of ‘businessman’ bravado, hyper-patriotism, bigotry, and triumphalism or you’re not worthy of access to the playground.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from FENSUAGRO, the largest agricultural workers union in Colombia. Nidia Quintero the Secretary General of FENSUAGRO is attending the Labor Notes Conference in Chicago starting on April 1, the same day as the large teachers union protests in Chicago. DECLARATION OF SOLIDARITY WITH THE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF CHICAGO

Minneapolis, MN – Wayne Wittman, age 86, a longtime activist in the labor and peace movements in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, died Feb. 23. Wayne suffered a heart attack while on a bus coming home from a labor meeting where he introduced a resolution that was passed. His wife Joan said, “He died doing what he loved to do.”

It is with great sorrow that we in Freedom Road Socialist Organization learned of the passing of the outstanding revolutionary, Nelson Peery. We extend our deepest condolences to his comrades, family and friends.

Minneapolis, MN – On August 9, hundreds of activists and intellectuals gathered at Northrop mall on the University of Minnesota -Twin Cities campus for a memorial rally and march in honor of Jesús Estrada-Pérez, who passed away earlier that week.

La noche del 17 de Junio en la iglesia Emanuel AME de Carolina del Sur, el supremacista blanco Dylann Storm Roof de 21 años de edad abrió fuego sobre un grupo de oración. Este acto de violencia racista acabó con la vida de nueve Afro Americanos, incluyendo la de un Senador de Carolina del Sur que era pastor de la Iglesia.

On the night of June 17, at the Emanuel AME church, a 21-year-old white supremacist named Dylann Storm Roof shot up a prayer meeting in Charleston, South Carolina. This act of racist violence resulted in the deaths of nine African American people, including a South Carolina State Senator who was the pastor of the church.

Minneapolis, MN – Sharon Rice Vaughan, a longtime and respected member of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) and the Twin Cities peace and justice movements, died in a car crash in Havana, Cuba on March 24. Her sudden and untimely death leaves a big hole in our community.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 200 people gathered January 30 to celebrate the life of Twin Cities activist Gabriel Johnson-Ortiz, who passed away Jan. 17 at age 34 after a four-and-a-half-year struggle with brain cancer. His passing is a great loss to his family, friends and comrades from a variety of progressive political and cultural movements.

Author’s note: Leslie Feinberg preferred the pronouns ze (vs. she) and hir (vs. her) so I use those in this piece.

Berkeley, CA – I just heard about the passing of Yuri Kochiyama from my father, another Nisei (second generation Japanese American) political activist, who lives in Berkeley about a mile from where Yuri was living. I didn’t know Yuri well, having only met her once when we were both attending the same program in the Asian American community. Nevertheless, she was the single most prominent individual Asian American activist of the 20th century and her life and politics pioneered the Asian American movement born in the late 1960s.

It fills us with great sadness to hear of the all too sudden passing of Mayor Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, Mississippi. The Freedom Road Socialist Organization sends our heartfelt condolences and solidarity to the family and friends of Chokwe Lumumba, the members of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and to the people of Jackson, Mississippi.

Do I remember when I met Pete Camarata? Yeah, I remember. It was in Pittsburgh in the late 1980s before the national convention of our reform caucus, Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). All the Teamster reformers were there.