Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

AntiWarMovement

By staff

Tampa, FL – On Tuesday, September 3, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (Tampa Bay SDS), along with 20 other students and community members, held a pro-Palestine rally at the Marshall Student Center Bull Fountain to demand that the University of South Florida (USF) administration reverse the expulsion of Victoria Hinckley and suspension of Joseph Charry, disclose and divest investments to Israel, and stop attacks on the student movement.

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By Audari Tamayo

Milwaukee students stand up for Palestine and resist repression.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Milwaukee, WI – On Wednesday, September 4, the UWM Students for a Democratic Society led a protest of 70 students endorsed by the UWM Popular University for Palestine Coalition. The student organizations rallied defiantly in the face of their wrongful suspensions in front of the library named for Israeli war criminal Golda Meir.

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By Carson Cruse

Pro-Palestine students hold banner outside Tulane campus.  | Lucas Harrell/Fight Back! News

New Orleans, LA – On September 4, 40 students and community members rallied outside of Tulane and Loyola Universities demanding the Tulane and Loyola drop the disciplinary sanctions against students involved in the Popular University for Palestine encampment. They also pushed the demands of each university’s Students for a Democratic Society chapter – disclosure of university investments and divestment from apartheid Israel.

Despite the rainy weather, they chanted “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “The students, united, will never be defeated!” and caught the attention of passersby.

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By staff

Milwaukee trade unionists stand with Palestine.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Milwaukee, WI – On Monday, September 2, the Milwaukee Area Labor Council (MALC) and other unions such as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association (MTEA) hosted LaborFest, an annual celebration held in commemoration of Labor Day. Hundreds of workers and union supporters turned out for the occasion.

The first portion of the day’s events saw the traditional mass march featuring rank-and-file workers mobilized by unions spanning the spectrum of organized labor, from trades workers to letter carriers to communications workers and everything in between.

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By Merlin Van Alstine

Minneapolis, MN – In the evening of September 5, 100 students, staff, faculty and community members, led by the University of Minnesota chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, gathered at McNamara plaza to demand the University of Minnesota divest from Israel and all entities complicit in war crimes and human rights violations.

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By staff

Aisha Ezgi.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The English translation and photo appeared on the Resistance News Network on Telegram.

The martyrdom of the Turkish-American activist, Aisha Noor Ezgi, after being shot in the head by occupation forces near Mount Sbeih in the town of Beita, south of occupied Nablus, is yet another Zionist crime added to the occupation’s black record of targeting foreign activists in solidarity with our people.

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By Kim DeFranco

Cuba solidarity action at Minnesota State Fair.  | Kim DeFranco/Fight Back! News

Falcon Heights, MN – On Sunday, September 1, Cuban solidarity activists bannered at the Minnesota State Fair demanding the United States government remove Cuba from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list and to end the 62-year blockade against the country.

Fairgoers heading toward the main gate of the “Great Minnesota Get Together” could see the Cuban flag propped up and waving in the wind. Closer to the main gate, they were greeted by three banners demanding: “U.S.A. people say, Cuba sí, bloqueo no!, No U.S. blockade of Cuba, U.S. out of Guantanamo,” and two banners in English and Spanish, “Take Cuba off the U.S. Terrorist List/Llevar a Cuba de la lista de terroristas.”

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By staff

Chicago student protest demands hands off Lebanon.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – On Thursday, August 29, New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) started the week strong with a demonstration on campus, with about 90 students, demanding U.S. hands off Lebanon, an end of U.S. aid to Israel and to stand strong with Palestine.

Speakers from other progressive student organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UIC, and Anakbayan at UIC, also spoke. The rally strengthened the students’ message of funding for education – such as cultural centers and student resources – not for genocide, war and occupation in Palestine.

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By Merlin Van Alstine

University of Minnesota students continue to press for divestment from apartheid Israel.  | Annie R-P. /Fight Back! News

Minneapolis, MN – On August 30, 150 University of Minnesota students, staff, faculty and community members rallied and marched from Morrill Hall to McNamara Plaza in response to the Board of Regents vote that happened earlier this week.

The Board voted on a resolution that would impose political and institutional neutrality on the university’s endowment fund. This vote was pushed by new University of Minnesota President Rebecca Cunningham. It effectively makes any sort of divestment from Israel, or weapon manufacturers and other entities complicit in war crimes and human rights violations, impossible. It takes away any accountability that administration has to its students, to its staff, or to its faculty.

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By staff

Utah student activists launch divestment campaign for Palestine.  | Quasar Smith/Fight Back! News

Salt Lake City, UT – Over a dozen students and youth gathered on August 30 to launch a campaign against the University of Utah’s affiliation with the University of Haifa, an Israeli university with deep ties to the Israeli military and the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

Utah Students for a Democratic Society hosted the event, which was itself a victory in the aftermath of arrests, intimidation and repression of the student and Palestinian movement in Utah during the last academic year.

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By staff

Dever pro-Palestine protest challenges Representative Brittany Pettersen's support for genocide.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Lakewood, CO – Around 10 a.m., August 26, Denver Anti-War Action (DAWA) rallied outside Representative Brittany Pettersen’s Lakewood District office on Wadsworth. Around 35 protesters showed up from various Colorado Palestine Coalition organizations in a continuation of DAWA's fight against Israel’s genocide, Lockheed Martin and war profiteering politicians.

Pettersen, the U.S. representative from Colorado’s 7th Congressional District, is beyond complicit in the Israel’s genocide against Palestinians. Indeed, she actively profits from and endorses it.

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By staff

Portland protest against company that makes weapons for apartheid Israel.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Portland, OR – On Monday, August 26, the organization Portland for Palestine (P4P) held a protest at the Leupold and Stevens manufacturing facility in Beaverton, Oregon. About a dozen protesters showed up to expose Leupold’s involvement in supplying the Israeli occupation with rifle scopes and other telescopic technology.

The protesters were met with hostility. Beaverton police department vehicles were spotted making the rounds. Leupold stationed armed private security guards at both driveways leading to their main facility.

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By staff

Pro-Palestine rally at NYU Tandon.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Brooklyn, NY – The NYU Students for a Democratic Society held a pro-Palestine rally on August 26, during welcome week for the incoming freshman class at New York University Tandon School of Engineering (NYU Tandon).

The goal of the rally was to make sure the incoming freshman class was aware of the ties that NYU Tandon had to the ongoing genocide in Gaza through the school’s partnerships, sponsorships, research funding, and investments with military companies and companies aiding apartheid Israel.

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By staff

Denver students demand divestment from apartheid Israel.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Denver, CO – On Thursday, August 22, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Colorado Denver kicked off the semester with a pro-Palestine rally and march on the Auraria campus. The 40-person rally was addressed by members of SDS and a speaker from Denver Anti-War Action.

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By Jon Abraham

Demonstration against repression on the GWU campus.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Washington, DC – On Thursday, August 22, over 300 people gathered at James Monroe Park in downtown DC to support the student intifada. Last semester, students and community members from across the DMV set up an encampment at The George Washington University (GWU), called “Shohada’ Square.” Those involved have been facing charges from the courts, repression from the university, and brutalization by the police.

August 22 marked the first day of classes for the 2024 fall semester at GWU, and student organizers planned a protest to remind administration that they will not back down.

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By staff

Chicago, IL – More than 11,000 people marched for Palestine on the final evening of the Democratic National Convention, August 22. While Kamala Harris was giving her presidential nominee acceptance speech inside, the protesters outside chanted against the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza. Delegates inside the convention report hearing demonstrators on the streets inside the convention hall.

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By staff

Tallahassee, FL – On Sunday, August 18, about 30 community members gathered at the Florida Capitol building to protest Kamala Harris and her policies regarding the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Protesters held signs within sight of the busy intersection in front of the capitol complex stating, “We won’t vote for genocide” and “Arms embargo now!”

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By staff

Lead banner at the August 19 march on the DNC.  | Kim DeFranco/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – On August 19, over 20,000 people marched on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel and an end to the genocide in Gaza. The march was the result of over a year of work by the Coalition to March on the DNC. Marchers came within sight and sound of the Democratic National Convention, putting heat on United States government as it facilitates a genocide.

Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, told the crowd, “Black liberation, immigrant rights, reproductive rights, women's rights, workers’ rights, the right to strike, the right to unionize. The rank-and-file workers are here, the Black community members are here, the documented and undocumented immigrants are here, how powerful this is to be together here, all of us.”

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By staff

August 19 march on the Democratic National Convention.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Chicago, IL – About 17,000 people joined a massive march for Palestine, August 19, the opening day of the Democratic National Convention. Gathering at Union Park protesters marched on the United Center, the site of the DNC, challenging the U.S. backed genocide in Gaza.

Organized by the Coalition to March on the DNC, the protest drew attendees from across the U.S., including buses from Minnesota, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids and Detroit.

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By staff

NYC protest demands the U.S. get out of Korea.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

New York, NY - On Sunday, August 18, hundreds of New Yorkers gathered to attend Nodutdol’s “No to Nuclear War Games: U.S. Out of Korea” rally. Held in Greeley Square in the Koreatown neighborhood, the event was one of several held across the country over the past week to protest the U.S. and South Korea’s conducting of nuclear war game exercises that rehearse aggressive scenarios, including launching a nuclear strike against North Korea.

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