Chicago, IL – On Wednesday, March 22, seven Starbucks stores in Illinois joined around 115 others across the country on strike, demanding an end to the ruthless and illegal union busting campaign being waged by the company against its workers. Five stores in Chicago as well as one in Rockford and one in Carbondale joined their coworkers nationwide in their demand for Starbucks to sit down and bargain in good faith.

Chicago, IL – On Tuesday April 4, Brandon Johnson won 51.4% of vote in the Chicago mayoral runoff election. Johnson's victory is also a victory for working and oppressed people, as demonstrated by the range of organizations and individuals who celebrated with Johnson and his family at the Marriott Marquis on election night.

By Destiny Spruill and Jacob Buckner

Chicago, IL – Two factors have made public safety a lynchpin issue in the upcoming mayoral election between Brandon Johnson, former teacher supported by the Chicago Teacher’s Union, and Paul Vallas, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, backed by the Fraternal Order of the Police (FOP). First is the rise in the crime rate in the city in recent years. The second, and principal, reason is the law-and-order backlash that followed the historic protests of the George Floyd Rebellion.

Chicago, IL – On April 4, Chicago faces its most crucial mayoral election since Harold Washington ran in 1983. Brandon Johnson, Cook County commissioner, union organizer, and former public school teacher, won enough votes in the February 28 primary to move into the runoff election against Paul Vallas, an administrator with a record of privatizing school systems in Chicago, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Bridgeport. Unions, community organizations and other progressive groups have formed a coalition behind Brandon Johnson to ensure better working, living and organizing conditions for the next four years.

Chicago, IL – On Thursday, March 30 Brandon Johnson and Bernie Sanders held a joint “Chicago for All of Us” rally at the Credit Union 1 Arena, drawing a crowd of more than 4000 supporters. The event comes after Sanders’ endorsement of Johnson for the April 4 mayoral runoff election. The event included speeches from Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa; Representatives Jonathan Jackson and Delia Ramirez; president of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten; Martin Luther King III, and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Chicago, IL – Brandon Johnson’s campaign for mayor of Chicago held an event at Saint James Community Church on Chicago’s South Side on Thursday, March 16. The event was organized by United Working Families, a movement group behind Johnson.

Chicago, IL – After celebrating their victories in the Chicago municipal elections on February 28, 36 of the 66 newly elected Police District Councilors voiced their support of the Brandon Johnson mayoral campaign. At a press conference with Johnson outside City Hall on Monday, March 13, many councilors explained why they would rather work under a Johnson administration than a Vallas one.

Chicago, IL – On March 15, protesters rallied at the University of Illinois at Chicago to commemorate International Women’s Month. Over a dozen students and activists listened to speakers from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Students for a Democratic Society. Speakers denounced both the recent attacks on women’s and reproductive rights nationwide, and rampant sexual violence on college campuses.

Chicago, IL – Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) held its annual International Working Women's Day celebration on Sunday, March 5. The program honored the women's liberation movement, as well as the women leading working-class struggles and fights for national liberation in the U.S., Palestine and the Philippines, among other places.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Executive Director Frank Chapman of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, on the results of the Police District Council elections in Chicago.

Chicago, IL – The Chicago Transit Authority fired trans bus operator and Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 member Russia T. Brown for waging a struggle for his right to healthcare while refusing to address rampant transphobia that culminated in death threats.

Chicago, IL – 300 Chicagoans braced against the cold night, January 30, to protest the brutal police slayings of Tyre Nichols, Keenan Anderson and Manuel “Tortuguita” Teron. The eight-degree weather did not deter the crowd as they clustered together to stand in solidarity with protests that have broken out across the country in the wake of the release of the video footage that depicted multiple officers beating Nichols to death.

Chicago, IL – 60 people observed the latest meeting of the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA), January 26 at Olive Harvey College. The agenda included a proposed policy stopping the Chicago Police Department from creating a new gang database; selecting members for the Non-citizens Advisory Council established by the Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance; and setting goals for the Chicago PD, the Police Board, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability.

Chicago, IL – 200 people filled up the main hall of the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters on January 22 for a political forum in preparation for the local police District Council elections. There were over 50 District Council candidates in attendance, and other participants included alderpersons, union leaders and community organizers. Over 40 people of various ages, genders, and nationalities spoke at the forum, and they were all united behind the need to use the February 28 elections to create a base of power from which the working and oppressed people of Chicago can hold the police accountable.

Chicago, IL – On January 22, the United Faculty Union of the University of Illinois at Chicago ended a four-day strike, winning major improvements for the 1500 full time, tenured and non-tenured faculty represented by the union. The strike has brought more than 300 days of negotiations to a close.

Chicago IL -The United Faculty union at the University of Illinois at Chicago went out on strike, January 17. United Faculty (UF) represents the 1500 full-time tenured and non-tenured faculty at the university. The strike announcement comes after nearly 300 days of negotiations between the administration and UF.

Chicago, IL- 2022 was a banner year for the Venezuelan economy. The Venezuelan Central Bank recorded a 19% growth rate, while the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America put it at 12%. While inflation of food and gas prices ate at workers' income in the U.S. and much of the world this past year, Venezuela inflation was low compared with previous years. This is due to booms in both food and oil sectors in Venezuela owing to the ability of the Bolivarian Revolution to overcome U.S. sanctions.

Chicago, IL – This is the first day of 2023, after a year that has tested our movement like nothing in the last half century. We have a tradition to ring in the New Year with a review of what we accomplished in 2022.

I want all the revolutionaries and young freedom fighters who are members of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression to join us as we dip our banners of struggle for our dear comrade, Charlene Alexander Mitchell, who was born June 8, 1930, and died on December 14.

Chicago, IL – Chicago lost a well-known fighter for immigrant rights on December 11. José Sigfredo Landaverde was a priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Anglican Catholic Church in Little Village. Padre Landaverde was also a friend of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. He died after a long battle with illness.