Just last year, the halls of power in Minnesota shook when people answered the murder of George Floyd by rising up. We marched on the State Capitol, the county attorney, the state attorney general, the police federation and the interstate highways. Day and night, for weeks on end, we faced riot police, tear gas, National Guard troops and white supremacists. The Third Precinct police station was burned, as were hundreds of other buildings. And fires here sparked protests across the world and transformed the political landscape.
College Station, TX – On September 16, Students for a Democratic Society at Texas A&M University held a protest against the continued presence of a Confederate statue on their campus, racial profiling in the surrounding community, and how TAMU continually fails to meet the needs of Black students on campus.
¡Lucha y Resiste! entrevista al organizador del Centro CSO y activista chicano de derechos humanos Carlos Montes y Marisol Márquez, miembra chicana de la Organización Socialista Camino a Libertad sobre el próximo 51 aniversario de la Moratoria Chicana.
Los Angeles, CA – Hundreds took to the streets on August 29 to commemorate the 1970 Chicano Moratorium that took place 51 years ago. The Chicano Moratorium demanded an end to the war in Vietnam and an end to discrimination against Chicanos.
New Orleans, LA – On August 29, at 11:55 a.m., Hurricane Ida made landfall on the Louisiana coast. The storm arrived on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Like then, working class, Black, and indigenous Louisianans are least able to evacuate and suffer the most damages.
St. Paul, MN – Over 2000 people came to the Minnesota State Capitol building, Wednesday, August 25, occupying the capitol grounds in protest of the Line 3 oil pipeline. Over 40 people walked 256 miles from the headwaters of the Mississippi to the capitol building to demand that Governor Tim Walz stop the pipeline’s construction. Over 200 people met the water protectors about a mile and a half away to march through the streets for the final stretch with them towards the capitol grounds.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization urges all progressive activists to take action to support the Ojibwe people in their fight against the Line 3 oil pipeline. Line 3, just like the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects before it, tramples on the sovereign rights of the indigenous peoples whose traditional lands and waters it crosses – in this case the Ojibwe, who are part of the broader Anishinaabe peoples. In FRSO, we see the struggle against pipelines not just as an environmental issue but also one of the most important and militant struggles for indigenous sovereignty.
Minneapolis, MN – Some 80 people gathered at North Regional Library on August 22 to hear Frank Chapman speak about his book Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism. This event was the final meeting of a book club that had been meeting over the summer to read the book together with Freedom Road Socialist Organization. After outlining the book for attendees, Chapman took questions and signed books. Like his book, the discussion focused on both the fundamental revolutionary content of Marxism and the significance of what Chapman calls the George Floyd Rebellion. As he writes in his book, “We think it is deeper, we think it is the youth sounding the death knell of the racist police repression that stands like a blockade in the road to Black liberation. It is a call for mass resistance to the police terror that has stalked our communities and denied us the organizing space we need as a nationally oppressed people to wage the struggle for Black Liberation, to finish the unfinished revolution.”
East Los Angeles, CA – The family of Anthony Daniel Vargas held a teach-in outside of the East LA Sheriff’s Station on August 14 to commemorate his three-year angelversary. The Vargas family not only honored Anthony, who was murdered by sheriff's deputies Nikolis Perez and Jonathan Rojas on August 12, 2018, but also used the event to educate about the history of deputy gangs like the Bandidos and the ongoing violence the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) perpetuates in East LA. Around a dozen families and friends of loved ones killed by police from across Southern California as well as allied organizations like Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and Centro CSO spoke in support.
East Los Angeles, CA – The family of Anthony Daniel Vargas held a teach-in outside of the East LA Sheriff’s Station on August 14 to commemorate his three-year angelversary. The Vargas family not only honored Anthony, who was murdered by sheriff's deputies Nikolis Perez and Jonathan Rojas on August 12, 2018, but also used the event to educate about the history of deputy gangs like the Bandidos and the ongoing violence the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) perpetuates in East LA. Around a dozen families and friends of loved ones killed by police from across Southern California as well as allied organizations like Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles and Centro CSO spoke in support.
Caracas, Venezuela – Images of men sitting in prison, looking down at their shoes, awaiting court for violating and committing acts of violence against women appear on the TV screen. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen are the words, “The most people in prison in Venezuela are men who have committed gender violence.”
Los Angeles, CA – Local activists with the Chicanx Moratorium Committee and families who have lost loved ones to LA Sheriff's killings held a press conference on August 5, to denounce Sheriff Villanueva, call for his ouster and urge participation in a protest on August 29.
Caracas, Venezuela – Groups of women, wearing blue hardhats, stand proudly in front of a five-floor building, surrounded by lush mountains. The community members are building 93 apartments for families in the area. 80% of the workers are women.
St. Paul, MN – Twin Cities activists stood in solidarity with indigenous water protectors, July 29, and led a coordinated banner drop around Saint Paul and Minneapolis to pressure the Canadian oil company Enbridge to stop its Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.
St. Paul, MN – Twin Cities activists stood in solidarity with indigenous water protectors, July 29, and led a coordinated banner drop around Saint Paul and Minneapolis to pressure the Canadian oil company Enbridge to stop its Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.
St. Paul, MN – Twin Cities activists stood in solidarity with indigenous water protectors, July 29, and led a coordinated banner drop around Saint Paul and Minneapolis to pressure the Canadian oil company Enbridge to stop its Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.
St. Paul, MN – Twin Cities activists stood in solidarity with indigenous water protectors, July 29, and led a coordinated banner drop around Saint Paul and Minneapolis to pressure the Canadian oil company Enbridge to stop its Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.
St. Paul, MN – Twin Cities activists stood in solidarity with indigenous water protectors, July 29, and led a coordinated banner drop around Saint Paul and Minneapolis to pressure the Canadian oil company Enbridge to stop its Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.
St. Paul, MN – Twin Cities activists stood in solidarity with indigenous water protectors, July 29, and led a coordinated banner drop around Saint Paul and Minneapolis to pressure the Canadian oil company Enbridge to stop its Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline.
Jacksonville, FL – Around 40 community members, led by the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) came out to Jacksonville City Hall July 27 to rally and demand a People’s Budget before the city council meeting started.