Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

People's Struggles

By Daniel Ginsberg

Teachers and supporters rally at Saucedo School during one day CTU walk out.

Chicago, IL – Reminiscent of four years ago, the streets of Chicago may again turn red as tens of thousands of Chicago teachers prepare to strike over a concessionary contract when negotiations end on Oct. 11.

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By staff

Participants in Cultura Nights event.

Tucson, AZ – On Sept. 30, Tucson’s immigrant rights action committee L.U.P.E (Spanish acronym for United Struggle of Parents and Students) held its monthly Cultura Nights event.

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By staff

Striking nurses on the picket line.

Minneapolis, MN – A majority of the striking nurses represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association voted Oct. 3 to reject the latest contract by Allina Health. Nurses from Abbott Northwestern, Mercy, Phillips Eye Institute, United, and Unity hospitals will continue their open-ended Unfair Labor Practice strike.

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By staff

Striking nurses on the picket line.

Minneapolis, MN – A majority of the striking nurses represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association voted Oct. 3 to reject the latest contract by Allina Health. Nurses from Abbott Northwestern, Mercy, Phillips Eye Institute, United, and Unity hospitals will continue their open-ended Unfair Labor Practice strike.

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By staff

_Interview with the General Union of Palestinian Students _

On April 6, students at San Francisco State University (SFSU) protested the Israeli mayor of occupied Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, who came to speak on campus. For nearly five months, the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) was under investigation by the SFSU administration after the protest. SFSU released the investigator’s report on Sept. 1.

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By staff

_Interview with the General Union of Palestinian Students _

On April 6, students at San Francisco State University (SFSU) protested the Israeli mayor of occupied Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, who came to speak on campus. For nearly five months, the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) was under investigation by the SFSU administration after the protest. SFSU released the investigator’s report on Sept. 1.

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By Michela

New York, NY – The struggle is building to get justice for long time Palestinian American leader Rasmea Odeh as her defense attorneys and supports push back against new legal attacks.Odeh’s case began on Oct. 17, 2013 when federal agents arrested her on a trumped-up immigration charge, alleging she failed to disclose her arrest 40-plus years ago in Israel. When Odeh and her defense team headed to trial in November 2014, they presented the presiding federal judge, Gershwin A. Drain, with solid evidence that Odeh didn’t disclose her arrest on the 20-year-old immigration form because she was suffering from PTSD as a direct result of torture by the hands of the Israeli military. However, Judge Drain deemed the evidence inadmissible and Odeh was convicted on these charges.Odeh and her legal team didn’t give up. They pushed for an appeal and Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Judge Drain should have accepted the expert testimony concerning Odeh’s mental state.This Nov. 29, Judge Drain will assess arguments on whether Dr. Mary Fabri’s expert testimony is valid and scientifically sound to accept for the case. Dr. Fabri is a renowned psychologist who has worked closely with torture survivors.Prosecutors are making motions to “examine” Odeh before the Nov. 29 hearing. This move is an attempt to intimidate Odeh. A statement from the Rasmea Defense Committee notes, “Such an examination is irrelevant as to whether Dr. Fabri’s testimony is reliable and applicable. Nothing asked of Rasmea would change Dr. Fabri’s credentials as an internationally recognized expert on PTSD, or her ability to opine on how Rasmea’s PTSD affected her mental state during any of the dates in question.”The Rasmea Defense Committee is carrying out a major mobilization for the Nov. 29 hearing which will take place at the courthouse at 231 W. Lafayette Boulevard, in downtown Detroit, Michigan,

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By Daniel Ginsberg

Chicago, IL – Los trabajadores que luchan contra la desigualdad económica pueden tener esperanza. Uno de los sindicatos más grandes y más poderosos del país, los Teamsters, comenzarán a enviar por correo las papeletas a principios de octubre a sus miembros para que voten por el próximo presidente del sindicato. Los que luchan contra las concesiones de los empresarios y que quieren un movimiento obrero más fuerte están uniéndose junto a Fred Zuckerman y la lista de los Teamsters Unidos, con la esperanza de desbancar al actual presidente del sindicato James P. Hoffa, Jr.

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By Fabian Van Onzin

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Houston, TX – The neo-Nazi White Knights of America staged a “White Lives Matter” rally outside the Anti-Defamation League office in Houston on Oct. 1. This small hate group also protested outside of the NAACP headquarters with shotguns a few weeks ago. Over 50 people counter-protested the white-supremacist hate group and demanded that they leave.

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By staff

Cherrene Horazuk of Workers United for Nurses and president of AFSCME Local 3800

Minneapolis, MN – More than 200 union members and striking nurses rallied across from Abbot Northwestern hospital, Sept. 30, and then marched on the corporate headquarters of Allina Health to press the demand for a decent contract. The march was organized by the strike support committee called Workers United for Nurses.

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By Tori Stratis

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Tampa, FL – On Sept. 26 over fifty students and faculty gathered to protest racist, sexist, LGBT hate mongering journalist Milo Yiannopoulos. The protest rallied in front of the Marshall Student Center at the University of South Florida (USF) where Milo was speaking.

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By staff

Minneapolis, MN – On the morning of Sept. 27, 400 striking Allina nurses from Abbott, United, Unity and Mercy hospitals, along with members of many unions and community supporters, rallied in the street in downtown Minneapolis, tying up early morning rush hour traffic. The rally was held in front of the hotel where General Mills was having its annual shareholder meeting.

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By Michela

New York activists demand freedom for Leonard Peltier.

New York, NY – On Sept. 24, around 50 activist gathered in a Chinatown loft to organize, stand in solidarity and celebrate Chippewa activist and political prisoner, Leonard Peltier.

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By staff

San Jose, CA – After the police killing of two more Black men in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Charlotte, North Carolina, on Sept. 21, Masao Suzuki, chair of the Joint Nationalities Commission of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, condemned the epidemic of police crimes and urged people to build the movement.

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By Angelica Hernandez

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Houston, TX – Donald Trump faced a spirited protest outside the Omni Hotel in Houston on Sept. 17. Trump was speaking to a hate based anti-immigrant group called the Remembrance Project.

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By Michela

NYC rally against the Jewish National Fund.

New York, NY – On Sept. 18, around 40 activists and community members gathered in front of the Hilton Hotel on Sixth Avenue to rally against the Jewish National Fund.

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By International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS)

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Sept. 19 statement from the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS).

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By staff

Minneapolis protest against deportation of Cambodian refugees.

Minneapolis, MN – A hundred people rallied in Minneapolis Sept. 14, calling for a stop to the deportation of several Twin Cities-area Cambodian (Khmer) refugees who have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

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By Ian Cox

Students making signs for Black Lives Matter rally at Angelina College.

Lufkin, TX – On Sept. 14, students at Angelina College painted a banner for a Black Lives Matter rally being organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

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By staff

Striking MNA members on picket line.

Minneapolis, MN – Nearly 5000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association walked off the job at Allina hospitals, Sept. 5, Labor Day, in an open-ended unfair labor practices strike. Allina is pressing for concessions on the health care plans that would shift more costs to the nurses.

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