2 Durham Events: Free CeCe/End Transphobia Friday, Pastors for Peace/Cuba Caravan on Tuesday‏

Friday, July 6 at 6pm: Free CeCe! The Fight to End Transphobia & the Criminalization of LGBTQ People! w/ guest speaker Imani Henry

Tuesday, July 10 at 7pm: Defend the Cuban Revolution! Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan Comes to Durham!

Free CeCe! The Fight to End Transphobia & the Criminalization of LGBTQ People w/ Imani Henry

Friday, July 6 at the Durham Solidarity Center (331 W Main St, Durham)

Potluck @ 6pm
Forum @ 7pm

Fight to End Transphobia & The Criminilization of LGBTQ People!
Overturn North Carolina’s Anti-LGBTQ Marriage Amendment 1 Now!
Free our LGBTQ political prisoners CeCe McDonald & Bradley Manning!

Join FIST and Workers World Party as we discuss the case of CeCe McDonald and the LGBTQ movement in North Carolina and the US South. We’ve invited prominent New York City-based LGBTQ activist, organizer, and performer Imani Henry to speak on the nationwide movement for equality. LGBTQ people are targeted for violence, discriminated against in housing searches, and paid less as workers. We’ll hear from local activists about the movement in North Carolina, and its ties to the continuing fight against racism, xenophobia, and sexism.

CeCe McDonald is a young African-American transgender woman from Minnesota. After defending herself against unprovoked racist and transphobic slurs and violent street harassment from white onlookers, she has sustained injuries and also been falsely accused of murder. Cece had been into solitary confinement at a Minnesota prison for men, and had to wait almost two months for a much-needed follow up appointment with a doctor. Her supporters are calling for the Minnesota District Attorney to label the case as a hate crime, reducing the charges against Cece.

FIST will join over 70 other organizations in a March on Wall Street South in Charlotte, NC during the Democratic National Convention on Sat. Sept 2. Brief discussion about how to build an LGBTQ and international solidarity contingents in the march. This June marks the 43rd anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, which was also led by trans women of color. Workers World Party joins together to celebrate the struggles that women like Cece have led for decades.

RSVP on Facebook!

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Defend the Cuban Revolution! Pastors for Peace Caravan comes to Durham!

Tuesday, July 10 at 7pm

Shephard’s House United Methodist Church (107 N Driver St, Durham)

Defend the Cuban Revolution! The IFCO/Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan will be challenging US laws and attacks on Cuba.

Potluck dinner and discussion! Bring some food!

This year we will be commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Friendshipment caravans to Cuba. We will also continue to lift up the life of Rev Lucius Walker, Jr., the founding director of IFCO/Pastors for Peace, who for 18 years gave prophetic and visionary leadership to our caravans to Cuba in defiance of the US blockade, and who died peacefully in September 2010.

Despite some steps taken by President Obama to allow Cuban-Americans to more freely visit their families, and to allow colleges, churches and others to more easily get licenses to go to Cuba, the travel ban remains for most US citizens and the economic blockade remains in full vigor. The work started by Rev Walker must therefore continue!

So in July we will visit cities across the US and Canada, challenging the US government to revoke the blockade and establish a foreign policy based on mutual respect between the two countries. Over 100 people will travel to Cuba with construction, medical, school and other supplies collected from groups across the US, refusing US Treasury Department licenses, as a collective challenge to the blockade and travel ban.

Hear the voices of these young folks talk about why they are traveling to Cuba!

FIST will join over 70 other organizations in a March on Wall Street South in Charlotte, NC during the Democratic National Convention on Sat. Sept 2. Brief discussion about how to build an international solidarity contingent in the march. See http://wallstsouth.org for more info

Bring your questions about the Cuban revolution!

RSVP on Facebook

People’s Victory in Charlotte as March on Wall Street South Wins Permits

The Coalition to March on Wall Street South announced a major victory on May 29. The city of Charlotte granted conditional approval for permits for the Sept. 2 March on Wall Street South — after more than eight months of march and parks permit requests, a national petition campaign and threats of legal action. The march will take place one day prior to the Democratic National Convention.

While coalition organizers must still meet and negotiate with officials, the march route passes the major targets in uptown Charlotte: Bank of America’s world headquarters, Wells Fargo’s eastern headquarters, the Bank of America Stadium and the Time Warner Cable Arena, site of the DNC.

With permits won, the stage is now set for the Sept. 2 demonstration. Thousands of activists are expected to flood the streets of Charlotte to raise a people’s agenda to the big banks and Democratic Party delegates. Their program calls for jobs, human needs, workers’ rights, justice and equality for Black, Latino/a and Native peoples, women, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities. The Call to Action also raises the need to fight for economic and environmental justice, while opposing wars, anti-immigrant repression, racial and political profiling, incarcerations and foreclosures.

Mass campaign key to victory

The coalition launched a national petition campaign in May, after numerous delays and administrative runarounds, unreturned phone calls and being put through bureaucratic hoops. Petitions demanded that the city grant the permits, repeal newly passed repressive protest ordinances and immediately make public the permitting process for actions during the DNC.

More than 1,500 people across the country signed the petition, including prominent leaders from unions and community organizations. Every signature triggered emails to city, county and national officials.

Coalition organizers planned to deliver the petitions to the May 29 Charlotte City Council meeting. Just two hours before the meeting was to start, officials called coalition organizers to inform them that the permits had been granted. Even with this major victory, plans to pack the meeting and speak out moved forward. More than three dozen activists from Occupy Charlotte; Occupy Winston-Salem; United Electrical Workers Local 150; Raleigh Fight Imperialism, Stand Together; Students for a Democratic Society; and other organizations turned out.

“This is a huge victory for democracy,” said Scottie Wingfield, of Occupy Charlotte. “We want to thank the more than 1,500 people from across the country who signed the petition. The eyes of the world are on Charlotte and on how the city will treat those who do not have lobbyists to represent their interests. Our work goes on, and we will continue to call on the city of Charlotte to repeal the repressive protest ordinances they passed earlier this year that grant police extreme power and endanger people’s rights to freely demonstrate.”

The coalition was also preparing to take legal action to secure the permits for the right to demonstrate in Charlotte. Affidavits had been collected from nearly two dozen leaders of organizations from across the U.S., including Marilyn Levin, co-coordinator of the United National Antiwar Coalition; John Parker of the Southern California Immigration Coalition; George Friday of Move to Amend; the Rev. Cortly C.D. Witherspoon, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Baltimore chapter; Steve Gillis, vice president of Steelworkers Local 8751, the Boston School Bus Drivers Union; and Sara Flounders, International Action Center co-director.

Alissa Elliss of Occupy Durham stressed: “This is a great success. We want to thank the legal team for the amount of work they put in, not only in preparation for the petitions, but also all the preparation that went into facing likely litigation. It was only through the legal team’s hard work and the mass support of petition signers that we were finally able to make the city and county of Charlotte recognize the power of the 99% and give us our right to protest.”

Stage set for March on Wall Street South

March organizers have issued an all-out call for this major demonstration and others during the DNC:

“We welcome all working people who have suffered during this economic crisis to come down to Charlotte on Sunday, September 2,” said Matt Hickson of University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society. He emphasized: “Bank of America and Wells Fargo are responsible for kicking people out of their homes, plunging students and families deep into debt, funding the prison-industrial complex and destroying the environment.

“The Democrats and the Republicans have not addressed the dire situation faced by working people and families in this country. We need jobs, an end to deportations and money for housing, education, health care and people’s needs, not for wars and jails. These are some of the issues we’ll be raising at the March on Wall Street South on September 2 and throughout the week of actions during the DNC.”

For information, see wallstsouth.org, Twitter: @wallstsouth or call 1-704-266-0362.

Video of Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan in Durham!

Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan comes to Durham Tuesday, July 12!

Come learn about Cuba, support international solidarity, and share food with

Pastors for Peace Cuba Caravan

Join Pastors for Peace at Shepherd’s House Church!
WHEN: Tuesday, July 12, 6pm
WHERE: Shepherd’s House UMC, 107 N. Driver St, Durham, NC
WHAT: A community educational event, a potluck, and fundraiser!

What is Pastors for Peace?

• A faith-based organization that sends a caravan of school buses, trucks, and cars across the USA, stopping in communities along the way, to educate communities about the blockade of Cuba, and to gather humanitarian supplies to deliver to Cuba.
• From 1992 to 2006, Pastors for Peace has delivered seventeen “Friendshipments” to Cuba; some encountered resistance from U.S. officials, but arrived safely in Cuba after these officials backed down.
• Speaking truth to power and standing firm in the face of injustice are central to the work of Pastors for Peace.

The US embargo of Cuba causes shortages of food, medicine, and other important supplies for eleven million people. The embargo is an immoral policy that uses hunger and disease as political weapons.

Dr. Bill Sales, a veteran of the Civil Rights and Student Power Movements, will be speaking on behalf of Pastors for Peace. Speakers representing co-sponsoring organizations Raleigh FIST and Black Workers for Justice will round out the evening.

Sponsored by Raleigh FIST (https://raleighfist.wordpress.com/) and Black Workers for Justice (http://blackworkersforjustice.org/)

For questions, call 919-749-2532 or email andyok@gmail.com

RSVP on Facebook by clicking here!

Bring a dish to share and donations!

Youth say: We deserve a better system

By LeiLani Dowell
What are some reactions of youth to the global economic crisis?

Michael Steinman, a teacher at Village Academy High School in Pomona, Calif., recently asked his students how they were being affected by the economic crisis. Their responses—filled with grief and worry—led to the creation of a video interview, produced by Steinman and the students and featured at youtube.com.

Student Yvonne Bojorquez said: “We’ve all been affected by this economic crisis. I mean, we’re all college-bound students, right? But the way things are going, we’re not gonna be able to make it.”

Evelyn Aguilar described her situation: “We lived in a home for three years, and we lost it about, almost a year ago. It was the first ‘American Dream’ my parents could have accomplished, but they did not know interest would rise. … So we moved with our aunt. There are currently 12 of us in a one-room house.”

In tears, Jennifer said: “It makes me really mad because the people we trusted the most with all our money and with everything ended up making things worse for us. So I can’t imagine what’s gonna happen for our generation.”

BBC News received similar responses of despair when it interviewed students from three different countries on the eve of the London summit of the G20—The Group of Twenty finance ministers and central bank governors.

Latin American Unionist Forum, Tues. Oct 7th, Raleigh

Open Forum with visiting Latin American Trade Unionists 

Tuesday, Oct 7th at 7:30pm
Fruit of Labor World Cultural Center

4200 Lake Ridge Road, Raleigh

Pot-luck reception starts at 6:30pm

Guest speakers include:

*NICARAGUA:* Fredy Jose Franco, Sec. General, Federation of Professional
Teachers of Higher Education of Nicaragua (FEPDES).

*COLOMBIA:* Pedro Manuel Urrea Pinzon, Sec. General, SINTRATELÉFONOS

On his 80th birthiday Che’s legacy lives

By Caleb T. Maupin

FIST, Cleveland and Detroit chapters

In his death, Ernesto “Che” Guevara—whose 80th birthday would have been June 14—has become even more powerful than he was in his truly revolutionary life. In modern times, images of Guevara are found across the globe wherever oppressed people are fighting back.

FIST delegation in Cuba calls for Justice for the Cuban Five in the spirit of Che. WW photo: Monica Moorehead

As Lebanon was being rebuilt following the ruthless Israeli bombing campaigns, Che’s defiant glare found its way onto the walls of newly rebuilt homes. The oppressed communities of the part of Ireland still occupied by British imperialism are filled with murals of Guevara’s face, next to other heroes like Nelson Mandela and James Connolly. In China, plays depicting Che’s life are performed in theatres.

Across Eastern Europe, youth defying the “new Europe” of economic suppression bear Che’s face upon their chests. In Vietnam, Belarus, North Korea, Venezuela and Bolivia, Che persists in the memory of millions who hope to build a socialist future.

Three sentences overturned, Cuban 5 convictions upheld by appellate court

By Julie Fry

FIST, NYC chapter

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdicts of guilt against each of the five Cuban heroes on June 4. This was the second round of appeals for the Five, all of whom have been in prison for almost a decade for trying to prevent U.S.-backed terrorist organizations in Miami from engaging in violent attacks on Cuba.

New York protest, June 6. WW photo: John Catalinotto

In a 99-page opinion, the court held in its majority decision, written by Judge William Pryor, that the 1998 trial of the Five in Miami was lawful and fair, despite the lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case, the numerous flawed procedural and evidentiary rulings by the trial judge, and the shocking examples of gross prosecutorial misconduct referenced in the panel’s decision. One judge, Phyllis Kravitch, issued a dissenting opinion in which she found that the conviction of Gerardo Hernández for conspiracy to commit murder should be overturned because the prosecutor’s evidence was insufficient to prove the charge. But the third judge, Stanley Birch, while referring to this decision as a “very close case,” nevertheless voted with Judge Pryor to uphold all of the convictions.

WWP conference draws activists from all over

By Jaimeson Champion and Brenda Ryan
New York

The Workers World Party national conference held here on Nov. 17-18 drew hundreds of people from all over the country, many of whom had never been to a party conference before. They were moved by the party’s linkage of the immigrant struggle to the economic crisis and rising racism and its commitment to the unity of the class struggle.

Namibia Donadio with LeiLani Dowell and Tyneisha Bowens of FIST.

“The over-riding theme of the conference is for people to unite,” said Sandra Hines, an African American from Detroit. “This is a people’s fight to unite against capitalism, imperialism and racism. As an activist I have to pass this message along, to bring people into the movement. It’s our job to enlighten other people.” The experiences of others at the conference “fired me up to be an activist,” she said.

Hines engaged in a fierce battle this year, running for Detroit’s public school board in the Fifth District against Joyce Hayes-Giles. Hayes-Giles is vice president of the school board and vice president of Detroit’s gas and light company, DTE Energy. As part of her grassroots campaign, Hines successfully fought to keep one of the neighborhood schools from closing. Of the 15,000 votes cast, Hines got more than 5,000 to some 6,000 votes for Hayes-Giles. She is now fighting for the right of students to take schoolbooks home to study.

Many young activists and students attended the conference, sharing their experiences in the struggle and discussing ways to build class solidarity for a socialist future.

FIST and Workers World Party National Conference, NYC, Nov 16-18

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