Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

ChicagoIL

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Chicago Black History Month event organized by FRSO

Chicago, IL – 75 people gathered at a Black History Month event sponsored by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Feb. 3. They chanted, clapped and sang along to the Black National Anthem, Lift Every Voice as the program began.

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Chicago, IL – More than three years after the death of Laquan McDonald in Chicago, his killer, Jason Van Dyke, will be going on trial in the coming weeks or months. In preparation, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression has issued the following statement announcing their plan to protest outside the court house on that day. The Alliance is asking for endorsers, for activists in the region to travel to Chicago that day, and for activists in cities further away to hold solidarity rallies.

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Anabel Perez (left), mother of Jaime Hauad

Chicago, IL – In 1997, a corrupt police detective in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, Joseph Miedzianowski, arrested 17-year-old Jaime Hauad. After torturing Hauad into making statements that were used to incriminate him, he was charged with murder, wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Years later, Miedzianowski and Gang Crimes Unit head, Reynaldo Guevara, were exposed for having wrongfully convicted 51 young men, mainly Puerto Rican and Chicanos/Latinos. Hauad’s mother, Anabel Perez, has fought for freedom for her son since then, joining the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and working in the movement against police crimes. On Friday, Jan. 19, Hauad finally walked free from prison. Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression issued the following statement to mark this important victory: Welcome home Jaime Hauad!!! All power to the people!!! Now let’s free Gerald Reed and all the torture victims!

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Chicago, IL – On Jan. 20, over 200,000 people marched through downtown Chicago on the anniversary of Trump’s inauguration as part of nationwide Women’s Marches.

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By Eric Struch

48th anniversary of assassination of Fred Hamption & Mark Clark

Chicago, IL – Dec. 4 marked the 48th anniversary of the assassination of Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, and Defense Captain Mark Clark. They died in a predawn raid by a joint operation of the Chicago Police Department, Cook County State's Attorney's Office and the FBI.

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Friends and fellow peace activists posed for a group photo in honor of Pat.

Chicago, IL – The People’s Thanksgiving dinner is held each year as an anti-racist holiday event by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) in Chicago. Usually a festive affair, this year included a note of sadness because local peace activist Pat Hunt had died only days earlier.

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By staff

Frank Chapman

We are circulating the text of Frank Chapman’s Dec. 3 speech at Chicago’s 26th annual People’s Thanksgiving event. Frank Chapman is a veteran of the Black Liberation Movement and a leading member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Thousands march in Chicago to oppose Trump’s move on Jerusalem

Chicago, IL – “This is unacceptable – Jerusalem is our capital!” was the chant led by Muhammad Sankari of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), as over 500 people protested in the Federal Plaza in Chicago’s Loop, Dec. 7. An hour later, by the time the crowd arrived at the Israeli Consulate, the march had swelled to 2000 people – in a sea of Palestinian flags and keffiyehs, the traditional Palestinian scarves.

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By Danya Zituni

Chicago, IL – The corporate media has only now begun reporting the atrocities committed against black Libyans and African migrant workers by racist CIA-backed proxy forces since they ravaged the country and overthrew the Libyan government in a 2011. CNN reports that African migrants are currently being sold for as little as $400 each to perform excruciating labor. The racist proxy forces engaged in the slave trade would not exist without NATO.

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By staff

Alderman Carlos Rosa, main sponsor of the CPAC legislation in Chicago

Chicago, IL – More than 200 people took part in a protest against killings by police, Nov. 24, boycotting Black Friday on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. This is the third year in a row that marchers came out to demand justice for Laquan McDonald, murdered by a Chicago cop in 2014. The protest also demanded freedom for torture victims of the Chicago police, and an elected civilian police accountability council (CPAC). The march was organized by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

#ChicagoIL #PoliceBrutality #BlackFriday #ChicagoAllianceAgainstRacistAndPoliticalRepression #CPAC

By staff

Getting ready for Boycott Black Friday to protest Chicago police crimes.

Chicago, IL- Hundreds of activists will take to the streets on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile to interrupt business on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year.

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By staff

Memorial meeting for Josephine Wyatt

Chicago, IL – A memorial was held, Nov. 11, where friends, family, and comrades of Josephine Wyatt gathered to remember her 95 years of life and struggle.

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Por: Redacción

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By staff

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The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR) has been organizing against police crimes for decades. Since 2012, they’ve led a five-year campaign for community control of the police. They have also organized several protests against Donald Trump since he was elected. Fight Back! interviewed Frank Chapman, Field Organizer of the Alliance, about the situation in the U.S., after Charlottesville, Virginia was the scene of the racist ‘Unite the Right’ rally and assault on counter-protesters.

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By Eric Struch

Participants in event marking the life of Fred Hampton, Sr.

Chicago, IL – Every year on August 30, the Black Panther Party Cubs and Chairman Fred Hampton, Jr. (the son of martyred Illinois Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton, Sr.) throw the Chairman Fred Streetz Party, a commemoration of his father's 1948 birthday. Chairman Fred, Sr. was assassinated on Dec. 4, 1969 in a 4 a.m. Gestapo-style raid carried out by the Chicago Police Department, Illinois State's Attorney’s Office and the FBI.

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By Eric Struch

This film is a must watch.

Chicago, IL – All progressives, anti-imperialists and socialists should see the film A Taxi Driver. This Jang Hoon movie, starring Song Kang-ho as Kim Man-seob and Thomas Kretschmann as Jürgen Hinzpeter, tells the story of the May, 1980 uprising in Gwangju against the extreme right-wing military coup led by General Chun Doo-hwan.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Chicago, IL – Today, Sept. 24, is the seventh anniversary of the 2010 FBI raids targeting 7 homes of anti-war, international solidarity and Palestinian-American activists. Subsequent grand jury subpoenas were served to nine additional activists in December of that same year.

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By Jess Sundin

Palestinian American hero  Rasmea Odeh speaking shortly before her deportation.

Chicago, IL — About 150 people gathered outside the international terminal, Sept. 19, at Chicago's O'Hare airport in support of Rasmea Odeh. The send-off rally was the last chance for supporters to say goodbye, as Rasmea was forced to depart the U.S. after an almost four-year legal and political struggle. Speakers applauded Rasmea and a defense campaign that put Israel on trial for its crimes, and lifted up the cause of Palestinian liberation.

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By Joe Iosbaker

Alderman Carlos Rosa at 2016 press conference with the CAARPR.

Chicago, IL – Carlos Ramirez-Rosa is a member of the Chicago City Council who is well known to every progressive activist in Chicago. Brought to office in a 2015 wave of insurgent candidates opposing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s pro-business agenda, the 28-year-old Rosa has become a fixture at labor rallies, protests against Trump’s attack on the undocumented Dreamers, as well as community meetings fighting gentrification.

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By staff

Nataki Rhodes and Tyrone Williams.

Chicago, IL — 1000 protesters gathered in Chicago to protest the murder of Heather Heyer and the injuring of 19 others by American Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12.

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