Minneapolis, MN – Progressive activists from all over the country will attend an organizing conference here Feb. 9-10 to prepare for a national anti-war rally and march set for Sept. 1 – the first day of the Republican National Convention. The conference is hosted by the Coalition to March on the RNC and Stop the War.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call for an important conference that will help prepare for the protests at the Republican National Convention.

Students at University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill made national headlines last week when they confronted the racist ex-congressman Tom Tancredo. 200 students marched, shouted down, or silently protested Tancredo. When 60 students chanted in the lobby of the building where he was to speak, police attacked the demonstration with pepper spray. Two women were thrown to the floor, another protester had her hair pulled by a cop and several people were pushed into the walls. The police drove the students out by threatening them with tasers. Shortly after we were pushed out, a window was broken and the event was shut down.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call for demonstrations at the Republican National Convention. We urge all anti-war and progressive organizations to endorse the protest.

Chicago, IL – Juan and Henry Johnson spent almost their entire adult lives in prison, fighting charges for a murder they didn’t commit.

“Todo el mundo está viendo”

The People's Organization for Progress help a protest here, Feb. 21 at Broad and Market Streets against a racist cartoon published by the New York Post. The cartoon showed two cops with smoking guns standing over a dead ape. One cop is saying, “They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

'Don’t balance the budget on the backs of the poor!'

Raleigh, NC – Over 4000 people, the majority African American, marched in downtown Raleigh, Feb. 14, in a show of force organized by the North Carolina NAACP. This is the third year that “HK on J” (Historic Thousands on Jones Street) has taken place, bringing together over 85 grassroots organizations, trade unions, coalitions and churches around a 14-point program for change. The 14-point program is centered around addressing the needs of the African American community, low-income people, immigrants rights and ending the war.

2009 began with an important reminder for young African-American males: Your life cannot be taken for granted.