Workers Resistance

Author: Fight Back

  • Tallahassee students speak out against John Thrasher

    Tallahassee, FL – On May 21, at a meeting of the Florida State University Presidential Search Advisory Committee, Tallahassee Dream Defenders spoke out against the nomination of Senator John Thrasher as the new Florida State University (FSU) president. Students from Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), FSU Progress Coalition and Graduate Assistants United joined them.

    At the committee meeting a motion passed naming Florida Senator John Thrasher as the sole nominee of the presidential search. The committee’s vote of 15-9 in support of this controversial motion, despite the overwhelming opposition by students and faculty who all voted no, raises several red flags. The process for choosing the nominee is being criticized for its undemocratic nature. In addition, John Thrasher made many statements alluding to wanting the job, but failed to apply like other candidates. Thrasher is being given special treatment and students say it is because he is rich and politically powerful. They also say Thrasher is racist and anti-worker.

    As reported previously by Fight Back!, John Thrasher has a history of opposing the interests of African American students in Tallahassee. Earlier this year, Thrasher proposed an amendment at the Florida State Capitol to split the FAMU-FSU engineering school, treating the historically Black college students at FAMU like second-class citizens. However, due to duplication laws, the proposed split faces legal issues. FSU’s Engineering College would be forced to relocate, similar to the displacement of FAMU’s law school, from Tallahassee to Orlando.

    As the president of FSU Dream Defenders, Brian Marshall is concerned, “Thrasher has ignored the voices of students. For example, in his support of the engineering school split.”

    There is also John Thrasher’s support for harsher sentencing policies that feed mass incarceration of African American, Latino and working class youth in the state of Florida. Thrasher accepts political contributions from private prison corporations like CCA and GEO Group. These companies take taxpayer dollars and are repeat human rights violators. Politicians like Thrasher vote to give them more contracts and money.

    Thrasher’s record of criminalizing African American and Latino communities does not end here. Thrasher supported bringing racist Arizona-style immigration laws to Florida. With Florida students recently winning in-state tuition for undocumented students, will FSU be a safe place for the undocumented under Thrasher? Students are raising concerns that Thrasher will use his position as FSU President to perpetuate racist discrimination and national oppression against African Americans and Latinos in Florida.

    As well, students and faculty question the motives of the hiring firm, R. William Funk and Associates. This is the same company responsible for the current Purdue University president Mitch Daniels, the reactionary former Governor of Indiana. Funk and Associates is currently under a non-competitive contract, meaning that Funk cannot pursue other work until this is settled. Members of the faculty claimed that William Funk is rushing the process in order to pursue more profitable jobs for other universities.

    Students are upset with the lack of transparency in this search process. Dream Defenders and Students for a Democratic Society protested and spoke out during previous meetings of the Presidential Search Committee. In addition, members of FSU faculty are advocating for an academic, not a right-wing politician like Thrasher, to become the next FSU president. However it was not until May 21 that Thrasher was even confirmed as a nominee, while the voices of students and faculty are being completely ignored. Now the faculty union representing 1600 educators opposes the process and wants Funk and Associates replaced.

    Jerry Funt, co-president of the FSU Progress Coalition, expressed that the students were prepared to resist John Thrasher. “The search committee, the search firm, the FSU Board of Trustees and John Thrasher all must take note; nothing that happens here will go unnoticed. We’ve been vocal, we’ve been consistent and we’ve been watching this process. Whoever the new president is, they will answer to us first and foremost; the decision as to who the president is should reflect that.”

    Regina Joseph, vice-president of FSU Dream Defenders vows that if the Search Committee continues with its nomination, students will march against John Thrasher.

  • Monsanto makes war in Colombia

    Grand Rapids, MI – Many are out marching and protesting Monsanto this spring, demanding food be healthy and safe, that Monsanto products be labeled as GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and insisting that one corporation should not control the entire seed supply or corner the market. Unions and immigrant rights groups are demanding protections and decent pay for farm workers who use Monsanto products in the fields.

    It is also important to know that Monsanto makes war in Colombia and it needs to stop. Monsanto is making the lives of poor peasant farmers in Colombia miserable, forcing hundreds of thousands to abandon their small plots of land by killing the crops on which they survive. Monsanto participates directly in the U.S. war on Colombia’s poor peasant farmers by providing the deadly “Ultra” versions of Roundup that is used to destroy their crops.

    The U.S. government is conducting a war in Colombia and has spent over $8 billion on it since year 2000. Started under Clinton and Gore, the U.S. Southern Command directs the war against left-wing rebel groups and is in charge of the Colombian Armed Forces. However the involvement of Monsanto is less well known. The U.S. counterinsurgency war includes chemical warfare, in the form of private military companies like DynCorp International flying over and spraying the crops and fields of poor peasant farmers in areas where the rebel insurgency is strongest. Farmers living in areas where the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia are well organized are way more likely to have their crops sprayed with Monsanto products than the areas under the control of large landowners, narco-traffickers, or multi-national mineral corporations.

    Monsanto is a war profiteer. Monsanto is the company contracted by the U.S. military for the glyphosate sprayed on Colombian peasants’ crops. It is the same chemical as Roundup in much, much stronger concentrations. Monsanto makes huge profits from these U.S. military contracts. It has been going on since at least 1978.

    The Roundup is sprayed from planes, often drifts wide of its target, kills all sorts of crops and pollutes the ponds, lakes and rivers of Colombia. The first plants to grow back are the hardy coca plants – the original excuse for spraying, but food crops and fruit trees are ruined and do not return so easily. Thousands of people suffer skin and respiratory problems, there are reports of asthmatic children dying and animals poisoned and killed. The lives of tens of thousands are ruined on a yearly basis.

    The U.S. ‘war on drugs’ in Colombia is a lie. There is no change in drug production after decades. The aerial spraying is part of U.S. war strategy. Monsanto’s Roundup being sprayed targets and hurts the poor peasant farmers in rebellion. It harms the base of support of the rebels and gives Colombia the largest displaced person population in the world – more than in Iraq during most of the U.S. war and occupation. It also harms the ‘lungs of the world’ – the Amazon forests are being poisoned and forests are being cut down as farmers move to new land. Here at home, the phony war on drugs imprisons hundreds of thousands of African American, Chicano and working class youth, punishing instead of treating or rehabilitating, and making them second-class citizens for life.

    Monsanto delivers nothing but poverty, misery, and death to Colombian farmers, children and their animals. We need to oppose Monsanto selling Roundup to be sprayed on a mass scale in Colombia. Currently, the Colombian government wants to end the program, because it does not work. The U.S. government demands it continue. We need to support Colombian farmers and say: “No more Monsanto fumigations! No to U.S. war in Colombia!”

  • Rasmea Odeh pleading “NOT guilty,” going to trial

    Detroit, MI – Contrary to erroneous press reports, Rasmea Odeh is not pleading guilty. Today in the U.S. District Court here she requested a change of counsel and reported to Judge Paul Borman that she is going to trial.

    Hatem Abudayyeh of her defense committee said, “She has committed no crime and the government has no case. She has been in this country for 20 years, a citizen for 10 of them, and an upstanding one at that. Rasmea supports the empowerment of immigrant women through leadership development programming she leads in Chicago. She works closely with Black, Latino, Asian, white and other communities in Chicago, to promote multiculturalism, racial and social justice. She is supported so broadly by colleagues in Chicago that she was awarded an Outstanding Community Leader award by the Chicago Cultural Alliance in 2013.”

    Abudayyeh added, “The charge brought against her is just a pretext for the continuation of federal law enforcement repression against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims in this country. This policy attempts to scapegoat and intimidate our community into staying silent and not raising its voice against injustice.”

    Mick Kelly, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, states, “Hundreds of people are being mobilized right now to travel to Detroit to fill the courtroom during Rasmea’s trial and provide support. We will be here every day, showing the world that she will not be alone.”

    Kelly added, “There has already been a massive outpouring of love and support for Rasmea across the U.S. and the world, because people see this prosecution for what it is – a political attack on a 66-year-old Palestinian woman who has dedicated her life to progress and social justice for her people and all people. We will stand with her to fight these charges.”

  • House Republicans delay efforts to restore Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC)

    Washington, DC – House speaker John Boehner (R-OH) still refuses to allow a vote on legislation to restore unemployment compensation to the long-term jobless. In a May 21 statement on job training, Boehner failed to address the predicament of the nearly 3 million workers who have been hit by the failure of Congress to restore Extended Unemployment Benefits.

    After a protracted fight, legislation to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless passed the Senate, April 7, with a handful of Republican votes. The Senate bill would extend the benefits until June 1 and provide for retroactive unemployment compensation payments. The House is unlikely to hold a vote on the proposed measure before June 1, which means the legislation will be back to square one.

    Given the outrage that exists around this issue – many unemployed workers are losing their homes, cars and the ability to help their families – most expect that legislative efforts to bring back long term jobless benefits will continue after June 1.

    Republicans gained effective veto power over extended unemployment benefits when the Congressional Democratic leadership did not insist on the inclusion of Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) in the December 2013 budget compromise.

  • China slams hacking charges, says U.S. “the biggest cyber bully”

    Washington, DC – In response to U.S. espionage charges claiming five officers of China’s People’s Liberation Army were carrying out cyber spying on U.S. corporations, in a May 21 article the New China News Agency (Xinhua) stated, “It is really amazing to see that the biggest cyber bully, which has virtually no credibility left in the cyber world, could still stand at the moral high ground to accuse others.”

    The article also stated, “The unfounded charge against Chinese officers amounts to the same hypocrisy as a bandit calling for justice.”

    Documents released by NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden revealed that agency has carried out extensive cyber operations against corporations based in the People’s Republic of China. On March 22, the New York Times reported that an NSA operation, going by the codename “Shotgiant,” involved hacking into the servers of Huawei – a large Chinese telecommunications company.

    Snowden’s revelations also show that NSA is building the capacity to monitor all internet traffic.

     

  • South Florida commemorates Al Nakba, supports Rasmea Odeh

    Miami, FL – Anti-war activists, students and Palestinian Americans gathered here to commemorate Al Nakba, which means “the catastrophe.” Al Nakba refers to the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians when they were violently forced off their land by Zionist militia groups in May 1948.

    Organizers planned three days of remembering Al Nakba. The first occurred May 15, at Saint Jude Melkite Catholic Church in downtown Miami. 40 people gathered to give personal and historical presentations, share food provided by Al-Awda ( the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition) and read stories of those who experienced forced removal from their homes and land. It was very moving. As one Palestinian speaker explained, “That night I cried too, as I tried to sleep alongside thousands on the ground. Would I ever see my home again?”

    The next day, organizers posted on social media sites to defend Rasmea Odeh, an Arab American activist in Chicago being politically targeted by the U.S. government. Although Odeh is charged with immigration fraud, activists around the U.S. say she is being targeted because of her powerful activism for Palestinian liberation, especially concerning women and girls. Across the country, mobilizations are under way for her June 10 court date in Detroit. Supporters can learn more and sign the petition at www.stopfbi.net.

    On May 17, Palestinian solidarity activists met again to watch the Oscar nominated documentary Five Broken Cameras. The documentary is told from the perspective of a Palestinian participating in non-violent resistance to the partition wall being built through the land. The U.S. government funds Israel with more than $3 billion per year, while Israel ignores the Obama administration calls to stop building new settlements.

    Organizer Cassia Laham, from People’s Opposition to War, Imperialism, and Racism (POWIR) said, “It is important to remember that Al Nakba is not just an historical event. It is still ongoing as illegal settlements are continuously being built on Palestinian land. The U.S. government should stop sending our tax dollars to Israeli.”

    Activists discussed the current struggle of the Palestinian people, including the growing international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Muhammed Malik, local Palestinian American organizer and former member of Students for Justice in Palestine at Florida International University, said, “Although the mainstream media doesn’t cover it, activists are constantly winning victories. I am hopeful that we will see justice for the Palestinian people.”

     

  • PFLP condemns Israeli killings at Nakba day commemoration

    Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

    Occupation crimes on Nakba Day at Ofer will spark increased resistance

    The occupation’s crimes at Ofer on Nakba day open the door to the escalation of yet more crimes against the Palestinian people, said Comrade Khalida Jarrar, a leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. She expressed the condolences of the PFLP for the martyrs, Mohammad Odeh Abu Zaher and Nadeem Nawara, who were killed by occupation forces during a demonstration marching towards Ofer commemorating the Nakba and in support of the administrative detainees engaged in an open hunger strike.

    She wished a speedy recovery for the wounded injured in the confrontation. “It is clear that the terror of the occupation is increasing and expanding against the Palestinian people. Today a demonstration at Ofer was attacked, directly targeting Palestinian boys and shooting them with live fire at close range in cold blood, assassinating them, killing these two young men and injuring more,” said Jarrar. She called for the broadest participation in the martyrs’ funeral on Friday to make it clear that the young men who fall as martyrs are not alone. “The relationship between the occupation and the Palestinian people is that the occupation is a killer tyranny, and the Palestinian people defend themselves and resist this terror,” she said.

    She noted that ongoing escalation by Zionist forces is expected, but that the Palestinian people will not be silent in the face of these crimes, confirmed by the confrontations throughout the West Bank and Jerusalem, especially in Ramallah, al-Khalil and entrances to Jerusalem city. Jarrar noted that this crime reinforces the Front’s conviction of the need to build a unified national resistance front of all factions to organize the strategy of the resistance in all of its forms.

    “Popular resistance is a comprehensive concept which includes resistance in all forms to the occupation. It therefore should not exclude any form of resistance, as we are facing a settler colonial military occupation. As an occupied people we struggle in multiple fronts, at the head, armed resistance, civil disobedience and protests such as those against the wall. The struggle waged by the prisoners of freedom inside the occupation prisons is a form of resistance, as is anti-normalization with the occupation, and the political and economic boycott, as well as diplomatic and legal resistance, such as going to the International Criminal Court to put the occupation on trial for its crimes against the Palestinian people,” Jarrar said.

    On the anniversary of the Nakba, she emphasized that the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their land from which they were expelled is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people and is not subject to limitation. In fact, she noted that this is at the core of the conflict between the Zionist entity and our Palestinian people, stressing the need to uphold this right and reject any initiative that could affect this right.

    Jarrar noted that the occupation and the Zionist movement have a clear strategy to make Palestine “the Jewish state,” which is no new strategy yet is repeatedly posed at the negotiating table with the blessing of the United States. “We reaffirm that the right of return is the essence of the struggle and that any demand for recognition of the Jewishness of the state or a national home for the Jewish people means the abolition of the historical fact that Palestinians were removed from their land. This is an attempt to liquidate the right of return. We must remain in open struggle with this occupation until it is swept entirely from our land,” she said.

  • Minneapolis protests says: “Stop the wars – ground the drones”

    Minneapolis, MN – A highly visible anti-war protest was held in Minneapolis May 17, with over 120 people joining the demonstration.

    The protest was called to be part of a national round of local anti-war and anti-drone protests during the months of April and May. The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC) initiated planning for the event.

    The May 17 protest was organized under the call of ‘Stop the wars – Ground the drones’, with the additional slogans of: Zero troops in Afghanistan; ground all military and surveillance drones; end drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia; for a full employment peace economy, not more war; no new wars – hot or cold; and U.S. hands off Syria, Ukraine, Korea, Venezuela, Palestine and everywhere.

    In the final days before the protest, as the crisis in Ukraine reached a new and dangerous level, the International Action Center, United National Antiwar Coalition and other organizations issued a call for local protests May 9 – 26 against U.S. intervention in Ukraine.

    MPAC, which in the initial call for the protest included the anti-intervention demand on Ukraine, endorsed the national call for anti-war actions on Ukraine and listed the May 17 event as one of the actions being held around the country to speak out against the danger of yet another war.

    Signs and speakers at the protest spoke to the demand against intervention in Ukraine and against a new cold war with Russia.

    The Minneapolis protest gathered at the very busy corner of Hiawatha Avenue and Lake Street. After 45 minutes of holding signs and banners, there was a march to Walker Community Church for an indoor rally.

    A statement issued by organizers said in part, “Since 2004, over 2500 people have been killed by U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan. In Afghanistan, drone attacks are increasing and the U.S. government plans to keep thousands of troops and drones in Afghanistan for years to come. U.S. drone strikes are commonplace in Yemen and elsewhere.”

    The statement goes on to say, “The endless series of U.S. wars and interventions continues, including increasing military aid, expanding U.S. bases around the world and internal meddling in other countries through economic pressures overseen by agencies such as International Monetary Fund and World Bank.”

    At the rally a member of MPAC also warned that the U.S. was preparing military intervention in Nigeria in the name of saving kidnapped schoolgirls.

    “The U.S. military does not intervene to help people, the U.S. military intervenes in the interests of corporations and profits, not people,” said the MPAC member.

    The planning for the May 17 protest was initiated by MPAC and endorsed by a broad range of organizations, including, AFSCME Local 3800, Alliant Action, Anti-War Committee, Coalition for Palestinian Rights, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Mayday Books, Military Families Speak Out (MN chapter), Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Peace and Justice Committee of Sacred Heart Church (St. Paul), Peacemakers of Carondelet Village, PeaceMakers of Macalester Plymouth United Church, St. Joan of Arc Church, Socialist Action, Students for a Democratic Society (UMN), Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Workers International League and others.

  • Milwaukee vigil remembers Al Nakba, calls for solidarity with Rasmea Odeh

    Milwaukee, WI – Dozens of Palestine solidarity activists gathered on the lakefront here, May 15, during rush hour to commemorate Nakba Day.

    Al-Nakba or “The Catastrophe” refers to May 15, 1948, the day after Israeli “Independence Day.” In 1948, 700,000 Palestinians were expelled by Zionist troops under the pretext of establishing a Jewish state of Israel on Palestinian land. 400 Palestinian villages were depopulated and taken over or destroyed by the Israelis, laying the foundation for the continuing occupation of Palestine.

    In response to continuing occupation and oppression of Palestinian people by the U.S. and Israel, activists held signs demanding “End U.S. aid to Israel,” and “Drop the charges against Rasmea Odeh!”

    Members of the Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition responded to the national call to action to support Rasmea Odeh, a veteran Palestinian activist. Odeh is a 66-year-old community organizer who has dedicated her life to the empowerment of Palestinians, especially Palestinian women. She is the victim of a U.S. government attack which is intended to jail or deport her for allegedly lying on a 20-year old immigration form. Her trial is set to begin on June 10 in Detroit.

    As the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel grows more successful by the day, activists are facing repression from the U.S. government. Activists in Milwaukee say they will continue to win victories for the BDS movement while defending Palestinian community leaders like Rasmea Odeh from political attacks.

  • Utah Protest of U.S. aid to Israel on Al Nakba

    Salt Lake City, Utah – Students and international solidarity activists held a protest, May 15, to mark the 66th anniversary of Al Nakba. The students called for an end to U.S. aid to Israel and demanded justice for Palestinian American activist Rasmea Odeh. Protesters stood on the corner of the William Bennett Federal Building during rush hour waving signs and holding Palestinian flags. The protest featured speeches by local anti-war, Palestine solidarity and Palestinian activists. The rally, organized by the Utah Valley University Revolutionary Student Union, united groups that want to cut U.S. taxpayer money that goes to war and occupation.

    May 1948 marks the Zionist establishment of Israel. For Israelis, it’s a time of celebration. For Palestinians and Arabs it commemorates a time they call Al Nakba – Arabic for “the Catastrophe.” During the 1948 war, at least 750,000 Palestinian men, women and children were ruthlessly attacked, massacred and driven from their homes into refugee camps by Zionist terror groups. In a gross violation of international law, Palestinians continue to be denied the right to return to their own land. At the same time, the establishment of Israeli settlements steals more Palestinian land every day. The U.S. government does nothing to stop it.

    Bill VanWagenen, representing The Mormon Worker explains, “Though the Israeli government constantly demands that Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, we must of course wonder when Israel will recognize the crimes which allowed the Jewish state to come into existence. Also the crimes Israel has committed since that time to keep the Jewish state in existence that allows it to continue to confiscate and colonize more and more Palestinian land each year.”

    After outlining possible ‘solutions’ to the conflict, Utahns for a Just Peace in the Holy Land member Mahan Khalsa said, “Israel will be an apartheid state until 100% of the people have access to 100% of the land. Apartheid is a legal crime against humanity.”

    Protesters also demanded justice for Rasmea Odeh, a leader of Chicago’s Arab community who faces serious charges in a case that is part of a long-standing campaign of repression against Palestinians and those who work in solidarity with them. Her case is tied to the FBI and grand jury investigation of the Antiwar 23 and others. Rasmea Odeh’s case is set to come to trial in Detroit on June 10.

    Freedom Road Socialist Organization member Chris Manor said, “It’s outrageous that the U.S. government arrested and is prosecuting Rasmea Odeh for refusing to recognize the military occupation of her country. It’s important that people understand what she’s facing. We need to stand in solidarity with Rasmea Odeh as she goes to trial. We need to stop U.S. taxpayer funding of Israeli apartheid.”