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Chicago

A SWANA Space To Exist

October 6, 2024 Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel, In These Times. , , , , ,
In August 2022, I received an Instagram message that radically changed my life: ​“Hey cutie, I’m gonna try to organize a queer SWANA comedy night in October [and] wanted to see if you would be interested in this since you are hilarious.” We met organizing jail support for a comrade who was arrested protesting a Zionist speaker, and I soon found myself in a group chat with dozens of others in Chicago’s Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) diaspora. (SWANA is a decolonial term for what’s often called the Middle East and North Africa region, or MENA.) In this bustling WhatsApp group of personalities I would come to know, I was met with warmth. I shared my amateur cooking photos and was invited for dinners.

Fighting Privatization Is Good For Mental Health

September 19, 2024 Elena Gormley, In These Times. , , ,
This spring, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson announced a dramatic change in the city’s mental health policy, promising to reopen public clinics shuttered for more than a decade. Today, my administration is taking extraordinary steps to reverse the course and expand our city’s systems of mental health,” Johnson said May 30, outside the Roseland Mental Health Center. ​“We are standing here on the Far South Side to make it clear that we are prioritizing those who have been left behind and discarded by previous administrations.” In addition to Roseland, the city plans to reopen two more public clinics, in the Pilsen and West Garfield Park neighborhoods.

Chicago Students Start Strong With ‘Hands Off Lebanon’ Demonstration

September 5, 2024 Fight Back News!. , , , , , ,
Chicago, IL – On Thursday, August 29, New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) started the week strong with a demonstration on campus, with about 90 students, demanding U.S. hands off Lebanon, an end of U.S. aid to Israel and to stand strong with Palestine. Speakers from other progressive student organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at UIC, and Anakbayan at UIC, also spoke. The rally strengthened the students’ message of funding for education – such as cultural centers and student resources – not for genocide, war and occupation in Palestine.

Nurses End Seven-Day Strike In Chicago

August 27, 2024 Richard Berg, Fight Back! News. , , , , ,
Chicago, Illinois – Working as a nurse in a large university hospital is a hard job. Large numbers of patients roll through. Vulnerable people look for hope, remedy and help. Despite this persistent pressure, hospital administrators ask for quick patient turnover. Supervisors ask overstressed nurses to do the work of housekeepers, food service, technical staff and others, who are often in short supply. Some doctors are nice, while others boss nurses around. This is the case at the University of Illinois Health (UIH) as well as healthcare facilities across the country. One difference is that the nurses at UIH have a labor union and decided to take a stand.

11,000 March For Palestine On Final Day Of Democratic National Convention

August 24, 2024 Fight Back! News. , , ,
Chicago, IL – More than 11,000 people marched for Palestine on the final evening of the Democratic National Convention, August 22. While Kamala Harris was giving her presidential nominee acceptance speech inside, the protesters outside chanted against the U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza. Delegates inside the convention report hearing demonstrators on the streets inside the convention hall. Despite pressure from police (hundreds of them clad in riot gear), demonstrators remained in the streets after the 8 p.m. permit deadline expired. The protest was organized by the Coalition to March on the DNC, which includes more than 270 organizations.

Palestinian Rights Advocates Hold Sit-In After DNC Refuses Speaking Slot

August 23, 2024 Jake Johnson, Scheer Post. , , , ,
Delegates from the “uncommitted” movement led a sit-in outside of the Democratic National Convention and refused to accept no for an answer late Wednesday after the party reportedly declined their request to provide a mere five minutes of onstage speaking time for a Palestinian American to speak to the horrors unfolding in the Gaza Strip, which Israel has been bombing relentlessly with U.S. support for more than 10 months. DNC organizers did not say publicly why they are refusing to allow a Palestinian American to speak at the event at Chicago’s United Center, which is located in the county with the largest Palestinian American population in the U.S.

Final Day Of Chicago DNC Convention Protests

August 23, 2024 Unicorn Riot. , , ,
Chicago, IL — On the last day of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, protests are continuing at Union Park to oppose the DNC and shed light on the U.S.-funded ongoing violent occupation of Palestine by Israel.

Palestine Supporters Protest At Israeli Consulate On Day Two Of DNC

August 22, 2024 Dan Feidt, Unicorn Riot. , , ,
Chicago, IL – Demonstrators demanding the U.S. end support for mass killings of Palestinians in Gaza gathered outside the Israeli consulate in the Accenture Tower at 500 West Madison St. Groups calling for the protest included Behind Enemy Lines, Palestine Action US, and the Palestinian prisoner support network Samidoun. After an attempted snake march around several blocks, police arrested more than 70 participants and several journalists. Later that night a couple dozen people ran a noise demo outside a large DNC delegate party at the Salt Shed venue, more on that below. Happening near a heavily police-guarded West Loop Gate-area building as the Democratic National Convention at the United Center entered its second night; Chicago Police shut down the Madison St. entrances of the Ogilvie Transportation Center adjacent to the Accenture Tower.

Police Arrest Several Journalists While Cracking Down On DNC Protest

August 21, 2024 Kevin Gosztola, The Dissenter. , , , , ,
During the Democratic National Convention, Chicago police aggressively cracked down on a protest outside of the Israeli consulate. Officers carried out a mass arrest that included multiple members of the press, according to several independent reporters that were on the ground. Josh Pacheco, a photojournalist from New York City, and Olya Fedorova, a freelance photojournalist, were singled out by police and arrested and charged with “disorderly conduct.” Police reportedly damaged Pacheco and Fedorova’s camera equipment during their arrests, and they were released from the Area 3 police station in the early morning after being held in police custody for nearly 10 hours.

DNC Swarms With Police As Activists March For Palestine, Abortion Rights

August 21, 2024 Mike Ludwig, Truthout. , , , , , , ,
Protests against the Democratic National Convention DNC) kicked off on Sunday night with hundreds of people marching for Palestinian liberation and reproductive justice under a notably heavy police presence in downtown Chicago. The Bodies Outside of Unjust Laws march showcased the palpable anger greeting Democrats in the streets as they arrive in Chicago for three days of celebrations ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’s official nomination for president. The protest was organized by a coalition of Palestine solidarity, LGBTQ and reproductive rights groups that are frustrated with the Democratic Party’s failure to halt U.S. support for Israel’s war on Gaza and protect abortion rights in the decades before the Supreme Court threw out Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Chicago Firefighters Protest For New Contract During 2024 DNC

August 21, 2024 Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot. , , , , , ,
Chicago, IL — Just blocks away from the United Center, where the 2024 Democratic National Convention is being held, Chicago firefighters are protesting for a new contract. Patrick Cleary, President of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, said they’ve “been without a contract with the city for over three years” and are “trying to turn up the heat” by protesting during four days of the DNC. Cleary said the main issues are manning variances, Battalion chief aides the need for 20 more ambulances. “The city has neither accepted nor rejected our proposals. They’ve been dragging their feet for three years and we’re trying to turn up the heat.”

Chicago DNC Met With Thousands Of Pro-Palestine Protesters

August 20, 2024 Unicorn Riot. , , , , , ,
Chicago, IL — The 2024 Democratic National Convention begins Monday morning in the United States, and tens of thousands of protesters — as part of the “March on the DNC 2024” coalition — are rallying and marching through the city to demand the U.S. ends aid to Israel. The more than 200 groups making up the coalition say they’re also fighting “for the rights and liberation of oppressed people and against the exploitation of workers.” “We recognize the Democratic Party as a tool of billionaires and corporations. Their actions, such as financing genocide in Palestine and war in multiple countries; continuing the mass incarceration of Black and brown people; deporting millions of immigrants; and neglecting campaign promises made to the oppressed communities who represent their voting base, show that the Democratic Party only serves the agenda of the rich and powerful.”

Police Must Respect Journalists’ Rights To Freely Report On DNC Protests

August 19, 2024 Seth Stern and Jimena Pinzon, Chicago Sun-Times. , , , , , , , ,
Hundreds of journalists are expected to converge on Chicago to cover the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 19-22 – and they must be allowed to do their jobs unimpeded. The city’s plan to “streamline” mass arrests during the convention, by processing arrestees at a makeshift court at the Area 3 police station at Belmont and Western, does nothing to alleviate the threat mass arrests pose to journalists. The plan, reported by the Sun-Times last week, is supposedly for the arrestees’ convenience: It’ll be easier for them to get home on public transportation that way. But “catch and release” arrests are never convenient for journalists, or their readers.

Nurses Strike At University Of Illinois Health Close To The DNC

August 19, 2024 Kristen Schorsch, WBEZ Chicago. , , , ,
UI Health nurses allege they’ve been assaulted by patients for years: shoved — one while she was pregnant — and lunged at by a patient’s relative, and otherwise at risk of getting hurt. “One of the reasons we’re striking is the security here is awful,” Emma Stone, a nurse in the intensive care unit at the Near West Side hospital, said Monday in a field with dozens of other unionized nurses, as their colleagues picketed around the hospital across the street. “It’s very scary as a nurse to think like I could get shot or stabbed.” Stone is among more than 1,000 nurses at UI Health who went on strike Monday over safety, staffing and better pay, as the Democratic National Convention kicked off blocks away at the United Center.

March On DNC: Coalition Vows To Win Fight For Right To March

August 14, 2024 Joe Iosbaker, Fight Back! News. , , , , , ,
Chicago, IL – On Monday, August 19, the Democratic National Convention comes to Chicago. The Coalition to March on the DNC, consisting of more than 200 organizations, will bring tens of thousands of protesters to the streets surrounding the United Center. The front banner in the street will read, “Stand with Palestine! End U.S. aid to Israel!” Because this is mainly a march for Palestine, the Democratic Party powerbrokers are scared. On Monday, August 12, U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood ruled against the coalition’s lawsuit, which sought a longer march route than the city of Chicago had offered. The coalition argued the need for a longer route because the short one-mile route offered by the city would have most of the marchers still in the park when the front marchers return.
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