Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

Palestine

By staff

Orlando, FL – On Monday, Nov 4, despite the rain, ten students gathered in front of the Ferrell Commons building on the University of Central Florida campus to demand UCF’s Office of Student Conduct & Academic Integrity (SCAI) drop their conduct charges against Chris Gibson, a UCF student, a member of Students for a Democratic Society and the Divestment Coalition.

Read more...

By staff

Minneapolis protest against repression aimed at campus pro Palestine activists.  | Meredith Aby/Fight Back! News

Minneapolis, MN – On November 8, the Twin Cities-based Free Palestine Coalition rallied outside Hennepin County Government Center in support of student arrestees who face both university disciplinary action and potential criminal charges for protest action.

Read more...

By Tracey Schwerdtfeger

Milwaukee marches against Trump.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Milwaukee, WI – 500 people took to the streets of downtown Milwaukee, November 6, to protest another Trump presidency that will surely launch an all-out assault on workers and oppressed people for the next four years. Rather than giving into despair, the people of Milwaukee, representing various progressive movements, showed they are ready to fight back against Trump’s racist and reactionary agenda.

Read more...

By Mick Kelly

Minneapolis post-election protest. | Ashley Taylor-Gouge/Watch Me Rise MPLS

Minneapolis, MN – More than 300 people rallied and marched in Minneapolis’s West Bank neighborhood, November 6, in the wake of Trump’s election. The protest was in solidarity with Palestine and opposed the ever-widening U.S./Israel war in the Middle East. In addition, demonstrators were united behind a broad, progressive agenda that defends the rights of immigrants, workers, LGBTQ people, women’s and reproductive rights, and African Americans and other oppressed peoples.

Read more...

By staff

Denver SDS demands divestment from apartheid Israel.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Denver, CO – On October 31, the Denver chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held a rally outside of the Metropolitan State University (MSU) Presidential Cabinet Meeting, calling on the university to divest from genocide and end its partnerships with war profiteers.

Read more...

By staff

San Jose students stand in solidarity with Palestine.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

San Jose, CA – On Tuesday, October 1, San Jose Students for a Democratic Society, Students for Justice in Palestine, and other organizations gathered in a speakout against the ongoing genocide as well as presenting their political demands to San Jose State University administration. Approximately 40 or 50 students attended.

Read more...

By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

FRSO urges our members and supporters to take to the streets and organize the broadest possible protests the day after the November 5 elections. No matter what the outcome, we must continue to stand with Palestine and oppose the ever-widening U.S./Israel war in the Middle East. And we must advance a progressive agenda that defends the rights of immigrants, workers, LGBTQ people, women’s and reproductive rights.

Read more...

By Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad

Las próximas elecciones presidenciales son un referéndum sobre el genocidio patrocinado por los Estados Unidos en Palestina y la guerra más amplia que los Estados Unidos e Israel están librando en el Medio Oriente. La administración Biden/Harris está coordinando el ataque a Irán, y los Estados Unidos ha enviado tropas y misiles a Israel. Hay un mínimo de 44.000 muertos en Gaza, e Israel está lanzando bombas de 2.000 libras sobre las ciudades del Líbano. Aunque debería ser obvio que un reaccionario racista como Trump no merece un voto, Kamala Harris tampoco lo merece.

Read more...

By staff

Grand Rapids, MI – En una poderosa muestra de solidaridad, los manifestantes pro-Palestina se reunieron en las dos ciudades más grandes del oeste de Michigan la semana pasada para condenar el apoyo de la vicepresidenta Kamala Harris al genocidio estadounidense/israelí.

Read more...

By Yossi Aharoni

Saint Paul  protest against weapons maker Lockheed Martin.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

St. Paul, MN – At 5 p.m., October 30, on a chilly autumn afternoon, over 60 Twin Cities community members showed up at the corner of Raymond Avenue and Energy Park Drive in Saint Paul to demand that ForwardEdge ASIC, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, get out of the residential neighborhood and that the state of Minnesota divests all public funds out of Lockheed Martin. This demonstration was called by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition.

Read more...

By staff

Sheikh Naim Qassem.

Atlanta, GA – On October 29, Hezbollah announced the election of Sheikh Naim Qassem as the party’s new secretary-general. Qassem is the successor to Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israeli forces in an airstrike last month.

In a public statement, Hezbollah’s leading body, the Shura Council, recognized that the election of Sheikh Qassem represents a reaffirmation of the group’s long-standing commitment to defending Lebanon’s national sovereignty and the cause of Palestinian liberation.

Read more...

By staff

Pro-Palestine protest slams VP Harris.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Grand Rapids, MI – In a powerful display of solidarity, pro-Palestine protesters gathered across West Michigan’s two largest cities this past week to condemn Vice President Kamala Harris's support of the U.S./Israeli genocide.

Read more...

By Nick Tolliver

Willy Massay speaking about his experiences with healthcare in Gaza.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Minneapolis, MN – On Sunday, October 27, over 100 people gathered at the New City Center to listen to a presentation given by Willy Massay, a critical care ICU nurse who was one of the few American healthcare workers to go to Gaza since the start of the war last year. The presentation was hosted by the Minnesota Anti War Committee.

Read more...

By Drake Myers

St. Paul, MN – MAPE, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, is an independent union representing approximately 15,000 employees of the State of Minnesota. At their October 26 delegate assembly, MAPE approved a resolution titled “Supporting a Ceasefire and Divestment in Israel-Palestine.” It included strong steps towards divesting both MAPE and Minnesota’s State Board of Investments (SBI) from apartheid Israel. The MAPE Ceasefire Caucus organizing team had conversations with nearly every delegate over the last six weeks in preparation for the vote, which ended up with 82 for, 49 against, with 17 abstaining.

Read more...

By Andrew Josefchak

Minneapolis rally against repression  of pro Palestine students.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Minneapolis, MN – On Saturday, October 26, the Free Palestine Coalition organized a rally that drew out 75 community members and students to send a message to University of Minnesota administration that the repression of student Palestine solidarity protesters on campus is unacceptable and will not be allowed to stand. The protesters rallied near a UMN football game during homecoming week, and were seen by thousands of students and alumni, many of whom joined in pro-Palestine chants and raised fists in support as they passed the demonstration.

Read more...

By Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad

La Organización Socialista Camino de la Libertad condena enérgicamente los ataques del Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos y las autoridades canadienses contra la Red de Solidaridad con los Prisioneros Palestinos Samidoun (Samidoun). La Oficina de Control de Activos Extranjeros (OFAC) del Departamento del Tesoro alega que Samidoun es una “caridad vergonzosa”, una acusación que está diseñada para criminalizar la solidaridad con Palestina. Instamos a todos los progresistas o a quienes están preocupados por las libertades civiles a solidarizarse con Samidoun contra la represión política.

Read more...

By staff

Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

Philadelphia PA – On October 16, over the objections of students, Temple University Beasley School of Law adopted anti-protest policies mandated by the American Bar Association. In the spring of 2024, the American Bar Association (ABA) adopted a mandate forcing all law schools to adopt policies designed to prevent the student protests that have taken place since October 7, 2023.

Read more...

By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

Freedom Road Socialist organization strongly condemns the attacks by the U.S. Treasury Department and Canadian authorities on Samidoun: Palestinian Political Prisoner Network. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) claims that Samidoun is a “sham charity,” an allegation that is designed to criminalize solidarity with Palestine. We urge everyone who is progressive or concerned about civil liberties to stand with Samidoun against political repression.

The U.S government has devised a host of laws that treat movements for national liberation, be they in Palestine or the Philippines or points in between, as “terrorism.” As a result, almost every group that is fighting to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine is on the U.S. State Department’s list of designated terrorist organizations. And it gets worse. Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, folks can face long prison terms for “material support of terrorism.” It’s a legal framework that tries to make solidarity a crime. These laws should be scrapped.

Read more...

By Sarah Martin

Presidential candidate Jill Stein \[right\] at protest against the U.S./Israel war on Palestine.  | Staff/Fight Back! News

St. Paul, MN – On October 19, Jill Stein, presidential candidate for the Green Party, stopped by the weekly Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) Solidarity Palestine bannering. Stein stopped by to show support for the Palestine solidarity movement on the way to her Green Party fundraiser.

For over a year, every Friday, community activists have steadfastly came to the busy intersection of Summit and Snelling Avenues in Saint Paul to call for an end to the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza and for a free Palestine.

Read more...

By Vince Olson

Dr. Nadia Ahmad. | Staff/Fight Back! News

Chicago, IL – On Monday, August 19, the Democratic National Convention (DNC) came to Chicago. As the Coalition to March on the DNC was marching with tens of thousands of protesters in the streets surrounding the United Center, Dr. Nadia Ahmad was being attacked inside.

Read more...