Arizona passed its discriminatory immigration law SB 1070 in April, and 20 days later banned ethnic studies in schools. Since then all hell has broken loose. Senate Bill 1070 requires police to determine the immigration status of anyone they “suspect” lacks legal standing. This guarantees that people of color and those with Spanish accents will… Read more »
anti-fascism
Massive Los Angeles protest drowns out Nazis
A small band of swastika-bedecked Nazis announced they would rally on April 17 in downtown Los Angeles to celebrate Hitler’s birthday. Their party was a bust, however, when they were greeted by a rainbow of over 2,000 taunting and chanting protesters. Los Angelinos of all races and nationalities showed up with banners and picket signs…. Read more »
Anti-immigrant laws — and opposition to them — spread across the country
Economic crisis fuels racist scapgoating. Arizona’s legislative broadside against immigrants triggered a nationwide tsunami of similar proposals. A network of xenophobes churned out legislation and called for constitutional change — accompanied by racist stereotypes of Latino immigrants — aimed at marginalizing over 12 million working people. But, in defiance of racist apartheid, massive opposition from… Read more »
What to do if the FBI comes knocking
Residents of the U.S. have the right to freedom of association and to organize without government interference. But the FBI routinely stomps on the Constitution in its rush to intimidate and harass activists. Being prepared to assert your rights is half the battle when facing down agents of government repression. The other half is to… Read more »
United resistance pushes back against FBI raids and grand jury
Update:War on terror? Nope, it’s a war on dissent, as the feds raid anti-war groups’ offices and homes and open a grand jury witch hunt. And, since the FS went to press, the government has delivered subpoenas to nine additional Midwest activists – bringing the total to 23. For more information see: Committee to Stop… Read more »
Editorial: Video game McCarthyism
Apparently, there’s nothing like long winter nights (and the prospect of holiday sales!) to make video game developers dream of reviving the Cold War. A new game — “Call of Duty: Black Ops” — is set on military battlegrounds in Cuba, Vietnam and the Soviet Union. At one point, the player joins the Bay of… Read more »
Sit down and shut up: the Patriot Act renewed
By now it should be clear to all thinking people that the U.S. Patriot Act has nothing to do with protecting the public from terrorists, and everything to do with protecting this nation’s ruling elite from we the people. When Obama signed the renewal of the act for four more years on May 26, it… Read more »
Why the united front is the best weapon against modern-day Nazis
Earlier this year, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks the radical right, noted that extremist groups have “expanded explosively.” Since 2008 they’ve increased 62 percent! This development is to be expected in times of economic crisis. But how do we fight this alarming trend? What can we learn from past efforts? In 1988, the… Read more »
Greece: a gutted economy fuels fascist threat; Freedom Socialist Party envoys meet in Athens with organizers against Golden Dawn
Tension was high in Greece in October 2013 when two comrades and I — Los Angeles Freedom Socialist Party (FSP) Organizer Muffy Sunde and San Francisco poet Nellie Wong — traveled to Athens to meet with socialists active in the anti-fascist movement. A few weeks earlier, anti-racist rapper Pavlos Fissas had been stabbed to death… Read more »
Europe: austerity breeds electoral advances by the far right
Seventy years after millions perished in the war against Hitler, fascism is on the rise, as witnessed by the results of the May election for the European Union Parliament. France’s National Front (FN), a neo-Nazi party, beat all other French parties and gained 20 seats, for a total of 23. It now rivals England’s Independent… Read more »
