Chicago, IL – 500 people gathered in Federal Plaza today with a banner reading, “End the Trump era” and “End white supremacy!” Organizers including the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, and Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. Also joining were SEIU Local 73 and other unions as well as Black, Latino and other organizations.

Chicago, IL – Karl Marx observed over a 150 years ago that “the biggest thing happening in the world today are on the one hand the movement of the slaves in America started by the death of John Brown and on the other the movement of the serfs in Russia.”

Chicago, IL – Prominent Argentinian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel and 43 other human rights activists from 18 countries have written to President Donald Trump asking him to free Colombian revolutionary Simon Trinidad.

Chicago, IL – Thousands of Chicago Public Schools teachers, clinicians and staff returning to school buildings last Monday found conditions far below the standards and promises touted by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools in preparation for opening doors to students on January 11. Throughout the week, educators submitted photos, video and detailed reports of their findings, which included no masks available upon arrival, empty hand sanitizer dispensers, hallways filled with debris from locker installation and brown water in bathroom sinks.

Chicago, IL – Thousands of rank-and-file educators, clinicians and support staff want the right to continue working remotely because they or a family member are at higher risk of illness and death should they contract COVID-19. Chicago Public Schools’ response has been to refuse to allow educators to ask for an accommodation if family members at risk and to deny members with serious personal health risks like brain cancer the right to work remotely.

Chicago, IL – On December 28, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot declined to participate in a public forum organized by Anjanette Young and her attorney, Keenan Saulter, to discuss transparency, accountability and justice for Young in the wake of the botched police raid and coverup perpetrated against her.

Chicago, IL – On December 17, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board (IELRB), on a split 2-1 vote, denied the union’s request to seek a preliminary injunction against Chicago Public Schools’ unilaterally-developed plan to resume in-person learning on January 4.

Chicago, IL – More than 100 teachers, parents and community members participated in a car caravan, December 12 for safety, equality and trust. Chicago Public Schools has rejected the union’s safety concerns at every turn, refused to bargain to consensus on safety needs, rejected improving its inhumane remote learning program despite months of pleas from parents, students and educators, and fallen woefully short on safety promises they’ve made.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the speech that was delivered by Kobi Guillory of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, December 5, at the annual People’s Thanksgiving event. The event raised more than $3000 for Fight Back!

Chicago, IL – Over 500 people tuned in online to the annual People's Thanksgiving awards ceremony, December 5, held by Freedom Road Socialist Organization in Chicago. The event is a fundraiser for Fight Back! and brought in more than $3000.

Fight Back! Interview with Frank Chapman, the Executive Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. Fight Back!: Could you say a few words about the refounding of NAARPR last year?

Chicago, IL – It is so befitting that Trump, the self-made tyrant, with his latest political stroke to upend the elections, has in fact opened a new era of struggle – an era that will be characterized by the desire of the ruling class to return to normal, to return to the norms of bankrupt neo-liberal policies which will portray itself as the only path to political stability and economic growth.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

Demonstrate 5 pm, Daley Plaza

Chicago is responding to the National Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression call for protest the day after the November presidential election. After the election, the people’s mandate for change must be carried out.

Movement prepares for post-election protests

Chicago, IL – A wave of early voting is underway. Mostly, these are “no” votes in the referendum on the Trump presidency. Of course, Trump knows this and has openly declared his intention to refuse to count all the votes.

Chicago, IL – On November 10, 2019, a hastily-assembled coalition of generals, middle class liberals and fascist paramilitaries overthrew the democratic government of Evo Morales in Bolivia. Coming on the heels of a coup attempt in Venezuela and the vicious repression of a people’s uprising in Chile, it seemed to many that the continental struggle against U.S. imperialism had reached a tipping point in the empire's favor.

Chicago, IL – During the October 20 meeting of the City Council Public Safety Committee, it was announced that Mayor Lori Lightfoot will introduce her own legislation on ‘civilian police oversight.’ This will mark the absurd yet predictable culmination to Lightfoot’s journey as a ‘police reformer.’ It is absurd because Lightfoot’s legislation on ‘community oversight’ comes on the heels of her thorough rejection of any and all community-based demands for police reform and will undoubtedly include no substantive role for communities whatsoever. Predictable because as a former prosecutor, member and defender of the Chicago Police Department, Lightfoot has never shown any real interest in reforming the police, despite leveraging her role as head of the Police Board for her 2019 mayoral run.

_ Now is the time for CPAC!_

Chicago, IL – Mayor Lori Lightfoot has made it official: she will not support any form of police reform that takes any power from her office. She declared the “negotiations have broken down” with aldermen who supported a proposal called the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) because they insisted on giving it the power to set policy for the Chicago Police Department. The CCPSA would add a convoluted layer of bureaucracy over the already broken system of ‘oversight.’