Chicago, IL – More than a 1200 joined together November 22, at the hall of the Chicago Teachers Union, to refound the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The newly refounded Alliance will center its efforts on building the fight against police crimes and for community control of the police, and it will campaign for the release of political prisoners and the wrongfully convicted.
Fight Back! interviews Frank Chapman on the November 22-24 Chicago conference to refound the National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression.
Entrevista con Frank Chapman sobre la Conferencia Nacional para la Refundación de la NAARPR este 22 al 24 de noviembre, 2019.Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Pudiera compartir unas palabras sobre cómo se lucirá la conferencia para relanzar la Alianza Nacional en Contra de la Represión Política y Racista?
Chicago, IL – Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) members voted November 15 to accept the tentative agreement they won in the wake of their historic eleven-day strike.
Chicago, IL – Events have not gone well for the coalition of generals and reactionaries that overthrew Evo Morales on November 10. Far from consolidating their control over the government and the country, the right-wing forces now stand on the back foot, facing the full force of an organized and enraged mass movement ready to defend their constitution and their elected government.
Chicago, IL – Frontrunning candidate for the next general president of the Teamsters, Sean O’Brien, addressed the convention of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), November 2. O’Brien, who currently leads Local 25, spoke about the future of the Teamsters. The election will take place in 2021.
Chicago, IL – Tonight, October 30, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) suspended its ten-day strike in the public schools, pending a back-to-work agreement. The House of Delegates (HOD) voted to accept the tentative agreement with the PSRP’s (Paraprofessional and School Related Personnel) providing lead-ership. These clerks and teacher aides are among the lower paid workers in the schools.
Chicago, IL – Members of the Chicago Teachers Union members and SEIU Local 73 are in the seventh day of their joint striking. As of Friday, October 25, this strike under Mayor Lori Lightfoot is now equal in length to the strike under Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012.
Chicago, IL – Last year, Brazil emerged from its greatest political crisis since the dictatorship to find that Jair Bolsonaro, an extreme right winger, was now president. His victory marked the high point of the so-called ‘roll-back’ of the Pink Tide, a political phenomenon that saw left-wing governments elected across Latin America, on platforms of sovereignty and freedom from U.S. interference. Bolsonaro’s election was a moment openly celebrated in the halls of the White House, as many hoped that the few isolated governments left standing from the Pink Tide movement would soon be snuffed out.
Chicago, IL – The joint strike by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and SEIU Local 73 continued October 18 and through the weekend as the office of Mayor Lori Lightfoot continued to refuse to meet the strikers' demands.
Chicago, IL – Picket lines went up at hundreds of schools across Chicago at 6:30 a.m., October 17. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) walked out for their third strike since 2012. For the more than 7000 members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 73, this is an historic first strike, and the first against the new mayor, Lori Lightfoot.
Chicago, IL – Unions are on the march in defense of their members across the country, with the autoworker strike against GM and strike authorization votes by teachers and other city employees in Chicago. Unions are also defending their members when they leave work and find their lives in danger from the very people paid to protect them: the police.
Chicago, IL – A standing room only crowd filled the Holy Covenant United Methodist Church on September 29 to commemorate Reverend Bruce Johnson and Eugenia Johnson. The reverend and his wife Eugenia were remembered for supporting the Young Lords and their role in the struggle against poverty, war and oppression. They were savagely murdered in their own home 50 years ago, stabbed to death, during a U.S. government campaign of repression known as COINTELPRO or the Counterintelligence Program.
Chicago, IL – The Chicago Teachers Union released totals of the September 24-26 strike authorization vote, on September 26. The CTU Rules and Election Committee reported that as of 9:30 p.m., the union passed the 75% threshold of members voting “yes.” 94% of teachers, clinicians, PSRPs, nurses and librarians voted to authorize a strike to win the schools Chicago’s students deserve.
Nine years ago, on September 24, 2010, the FBI raided and subpoenaed Midwest anti-war and international solidarity activists in a bogus attempt to discover “material support of terrorism.” The FBI’s campaign of repression ordered more than 70 FBI agents to raid seven homes and two offices of leading activists in Minneapolis and Chicago. The FBI subpoenaed those raided, and that same morning subpoenaed others in those cities as well as Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Chicago, IL – On September 13, SEIU Local 73 demanded an end to the city of Chicago spending $33 million from the budget of the public schools, and $12 million from the Parks Department, for police officers. The union, which represents 7000 school workers and 3000 workers in the parks, called for more money for the students and community members. The union was joined by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Black Lives Matter and progressive alderpersons.
Chicago, IL – On Monday September 16, the leaders of several opposition parties arrived at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Caracas to participate in the Roundtable of National Dialogue organized by the elected government of Nicolás Maduro. The Roundtable was established in the aftermath of the fascist violence in 2017, which was a response to the Supreme Court's decision to strip the National Assembly of its powers after its refusal to adhere to the country's constitution.
Chicago, IL – On September 16, community, civil rights, faith-based and peace activists will join 35th Ward Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 33rd Ward Alderman Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez and State Representative Jaime Andrade (40th District) in a delegation to the Consulate General of the Philippines, 11:00 a.m.,122 S. Michigan Avenue.
