Immigrant rights activists protest

Saint Paul, MN – Immigrant rights activists protested outside Senator Franken's campaign office Sept. 11, to send the message, “No more deportations, no more delays, no more excuses.” After demonstrating outside, they marched into the office and presented their demands to three Franken campaign staff members. Several community members spoke passionately to the Franken representatives. They said Franken should make a public statement reversing himself and calling for Obama to take executive action now to stop deportations. The Franken staff members said they would pass what people said on to the senator.

Provo, UT- Facing disaster in Iraq, President Obama addressed the rapidly developing conflict in a June 19 address. President Obama claimed, “American troops are not going to be fighting in Iraq again.” However, in the next breath Obama also laid out his plans to expand U.S. intervention.

Minneapolis, MN – President Obama announced May 27, that by 2015 the U.S. will have 9,800 troops in Afghanistan and that by the end of 2016 the U.S. will leave troops to guard the U.S. embassy in Kabul. The next day when Secretary of State John Kerry was interviewed by Chuck Todd on MSNBC, Todd pointed out that “there’s eight more years of that agreement, and the next president, without the authorization of Congress, without seeking new permission from Afghanistan, could end up sending more troops back in” and Kerry agreed that it is possible that the U.S. could send in more troops. He was quick to point out that that decision would be made under a different administration though.

San José, CA – On Nov. 19, President Obama stated in an interview at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council that he was willing to go along with the piecemeal approach to immigration reform advocated by Republicans in the House of Representatives. Obama said that he wanted all the parts put forward by the Senate bill, which include legalization, more militarization of the border, expansion of temporary worker programs, expansion of workplace enforcement and shifting legal immigration from family reunification to employment and education-based visas to meet the needs of business.

Minneapolis, MN – Twin Cities anti-war activists gathered on the evening of Sept. 10 to listen to the speech by President Obama justifying U.S. plans for military intervention in Syria.

In response to President Obama’s Feb. 12 announcement in his State of the Union address that about 34,000 troops will be pulled out of Afghanistan, the Afghan resistance responded on Feb. 13 saying that all foreign troops must leave the country.

Tres años después del fin oficial de la recesión, los tiempos difíciles económicos siguen. La ruina fiscal amenaza a muchos trabajadores. Uno de cada tres niños vive en una familia en que ninguno de los dos padres tiene trabajo de tiempo completo todo el año. Escandalosamente, los banqueros siguen aprovechándose de bonos después del rescate de los bancos financiado por el pueblo. Los ricos — el 1% — están viviendo vidas de lujo mientras los trabajadores tienen que luchar solo para sobrevivir y encontrar trabajo. La economía estadounidense está estancada y amenazada por la creciente crisis económica en Europa. La gente está frustrada por la crisis económica y legítimamente enojada con los políticos de los dos partidos.

Three years after the recession officially ended, economic hard times continue. Financial ruin haunts many working people. One in three children live in families where neither parent has full-time year round employment. Outrageously, bankers are still taking bonuses after taxpayer-financed bailouts. The wealthy 1% are living in luxury, while working people struggle to make ends meet, find work, and survive. The U.S. economy is stagnant at best and threatened by the growing economic crisis in Europe. People are frustrated by the economic crisis and rightfully angry with politicians of both parties.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 75 people gathered here Feb 4 to demonstrate against the growing danger of U.S. war on Iran. The Minneapolis event was a part of an international day of protest that included anti-war actions in over 50 cities in the U.S. and around the world.

Los Angeles, CA – On Sept. 26, President Obama visited Los Angeles to dip into the pockets of the Hollywood elite for his re-election campaign. His first stop was the famous House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard, where over 100 anti-war activists lined the sidewalks to demand Obama end the wars in Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan, “Money for jobs and education! Not for war and occupation!” the crowd chanted. “We are sick of mounting tuition, rising unemployment and most of all the ever-increasing war deficit of this country,” said a student activist from Pasadena Community College.

Minneapolis, MN – Responding to President Obama’s June 22 national televised speech on Afghanistan, Meredith Aby of the Twin Cites based Anti War Committee stated, “The U.S. needs to get out of Afghanistan now.” Aby was one of the main organizers of the massive anti-war march on the opening day of the 2008 Republican National Convention and she is one of the 23 peace and international solidarity activists who have been subpoenaed to appear in front of the Chicago grand jury investigating ‘material support for terrorism.’ The grand jury, headed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, is attempting to criminalize anti-war activism.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.

On Nov. 10, former Colorado Republican Senator Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, investment banker and Morgan Stanley board member, released a draft report on deficit reduction. Both are co-chairs of the bipartisan deficit reduction commission appointed by President Obama. Their recommendations have been widely slammed by labor union and other progressives for good reason: The recommendations open the doors to even more austerity for working people while proposing lower tax rates for the well-to-do.

Seattle, WA – The newly formed Seattle United Against FBI Repression organized a protest to coincide with the visit of President Obama, Sept. 21. Groups participating included Veterans for Peace, Voices of Palestine, Raging Grannies, Fellowship of Reconciliation, SNOW, International Socialist Organization, Freedom Socialist Party, Radical Women and many trade unionists.

Minneapolis, MN – On Oct. 23, anti-war and free speech activists made their presence felt outside of President Obama's speech at the University of Minnesota. A group of activists held banners on University Avenue, while others handed out more than 6000 flyers and got hundreds of signatures on postcards calling on President Obama to stop the FBI and Grand Jury attacks on the anti-war movement.

Minneapolis, MN – Activists in the Twin Cities anti-war movement responded to President Obama’s Aug. 31 nationally televised speech on the U.S. war in Iraq at a press conference immediate following his address. Representatives from Military Families Speak Out, Women Against Military Madness, the Anti-War Committee, the Twin Cities Peace Campaign and others said that the U.S. occupation will continue and that the anti-war movement needs to continue the effort to get U.S. troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

When I heard that the Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded to President Barack Obama, I was shocked. I know that most of my friends and family had voted for Obama in hope of a change from Bush. But what had President Obama done to deserve a peace prize? The United States is still occupying Iraq with more than one hundred thousand troops. Obama is increasing the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and his escalation of the war is taking a growing toll on the lives of the Afghan people and U.S. troops. In 2002 in awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the committee noted the contrast with the Bush administration's war in Afghanistan and build-up to invade Iraq. So how can they now award the peace prize to a President who is fighting the same two wars?

The anti-war movement and a wide array of progressive people’s forces is set to protest outside the Sept. 1 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Organizers are predicting more than 50,000 will fill the streets on Labor Day 2008. Protesters will confront the war-makers, racists and reactionaries who just a few years ago were bragging that Republican rule would last forever.