ARTICLE: http://tinyurl.com/kr6wmgv

http://transgenderwarrior.org/

Leslie Feinberg, who identified as an anti-racist white, working-class, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian, female, revolutionary communist, died on November 15. She succumbed to complications from multiple tick-borne co-infections, including Lyme disease, babeisiosis, and protomyxzoa rheumatica, after decades of illness.

She died at home in Syracuse, NY, with her partner and spouse of 22 years, Minnie Bruce Pratt, at her side. Her last words were: “Remember me as a revolutionary communist.”

Feinberg was the first theorist to advance a Marxist concept of “transgender liberation,” and her work impacted popular culture, academic research, and political organizing.

NOTE FROM WI BOPM: Leslie Feinberg was a strong supporter of the progressive and revolutionary forces in Wisconsin for decades speaking and participating at events in Milwaukee and elsewhere. Leslie was a devout member of the National Writers Union, UAW and as such supported worker’s struggles internationally such as the 2011 people’s occupation of the state capitol in Madison. Leslie was also a staunch defender of the Black Freedom Movement in all its forms of resistance against the capitalist-imperialist system. And of course Leslie upheld the banner of socialism internationally. We send our condolences to her partner Minnie Bruce Pratt and her comrades in Workers World Party and her numerous comrades and friends worldwide in the LGBTQ diaspora and in the occupied territories especially Palestine. Her numerous contributions to the people’s class struggle will live forever!  Long live the Rainbow! Leslie Feinberg presente!

Transgender Warrior Leslie Feinberg [Photo: http://transgenderwarrior.org/%5D

VIDEO: http://vimeo.com/111938224

Milwaukee, August 17, 2014

EVENT: http://tinyurl.com/lbdgobq

6 p.m., All Peoples Church, 2600 N 2nd., Milwaukee, WI

The Coalition for Justice will be hosting our third Mass Meeting on Wednesday, November 19th to discuss the Dontre Hamilton case and our commitment toward pursuing Justice for Dontre and for all other community members who have been brutalized and victimized by the Milwaukee Police Department.

We will convene this mass meet at All Peoples Church (2600 N 2nd St, Milwaukee, WI) where we will hear directly from the family and the Coalition for Justice, our community members who want to share their voices, and discuss our upcoming goals and actions.

We would love to get as many community members in this space as possible so please invite your friends, family, and colleagues. Students and children are also welcomed. The meeting will last approximately two hours (6:00-8:00). Please join us, and let your voice be heard. We are going to continue the fight for Justice, and we know that we are stronger together.

Spread the word!

Hundreds rally at Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee August 22, 2014 to demand justice for Michael Brown, Dontre Hamilton & other Victims of police terror. [Photo: WI BOPM]

http://wicuba.wordpress.com/

From November 15 to 18, 2014, Afro-Cuban filmmaker Gloria Rolando will be in Milwaukee to present several of her movies at the UW-Milwaukee Union Theater and around town. Ms. Rolando is a prolific celebrated producer/director from Havana whose career in film spans over 35 years within the Cuban National Film Institute and with focus on the African diaspora in the Caribbean. Below are the dates and times of her film screenings, in addition to a few special events in which she will hosting a discussion on them. 

Saturday, November 15, 2014 at 7:00 PM
Eyes of the Rainbow (47 min.)
Oggun: An Eternal Presence (52 min.)
My Footsteps in Baragua (53 min.)

Sunday, November 16, 2014 at 5:00 PM
Roots of my Heart (51 min.)
Re-embark/Reshipment (53 min.)
*** Ms. Rolando will be at this event hosting a discussion ***

Monday, November 17 at 7:00 PM
Passages of the Heart (59 min.)
Breaking the Silence – Chapters 1 & 2 (90 min.)

Tuesday, November 18 at 7:00 PM
1912, Breaking the Silence – Chapter 3 (40 min.)
Re-embark/Reshipment (51 min.)
*** Ms. Rolando will be at this event hosting a discussion ***

In addition, Ms. Rolando will be featured on the MATC Campus in downtown Milwaukee for the program “Bridging Cultures with Gloria Rolando, Cuban Filmmaker“. The event is scheduled from 10 AM to 12 noon on Monday, November 17, at the MATC Main Building (700 W. State Street), Room M616. This event is free and open to the public.

Ms. Gloria Rolando

Oakland Rallies Against Conviction of Palestinian Organizer

Press Contact: Lara Kiswani: 530.220.2842 (Oakland), Hatem Abudayyeh 773.301.4108 (Detroit)

Where: Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building
When: 7am – Wednesday, Nov 12

Oakland – Activists with the Bay Area Rasmea Defense Committee have chained themselves to doors of the federal courthouse in Oakland to protest the conviction and imprisonment of 67 year-old Palestinian community organizer, Rasmea Odeh. Supporters are also rallying in front of the federal building, condemning what they call a politically motivated trial targeting Odeh because of her role as an outspoken Palestinian leader and activist. Odeh was convicted on Monday, November 10 in a Detroit federal court of knowingly lying on her immigration application, even though she maintains that she did not understand the questions on the application.
The main basis for Odeh’s conviction was that she had allegedly falsely answered “No” to a question asking whether she had ever been arrested or imprisoned. The government claimed that Odeh failed to disclose that she had been convicted by the Israeli government of participating in “terrorism,” even though this conviction in a military court lacked due process and was the result of a forced confession made after she was repeatedly tortured and raped by Israeli military authorities.
“The only reason Rasmea was imprisoned in Israel was because she was tortured, sexually assaulted, threatened with death and ultimately forced to confess to charges she didn’t commit,” says Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesman for the Rasmea Defense Committee. “Now, more than 40 years later, and after 9 years of living here with US citizenship, she’s being made to re-live her trauma and is wrongly imprisoned once again.” Although the judge in the case allowed the Israeli conviction of Odeh to be used as evidence against her, the torture and rape she suffered – which the judge admitted was credible – was not allowed as evidence, a move that brought widespread condemnation from supporters and human rights activist alike.
“The targeting of Rasmea is purely to criminalize Palestinians who are outspoken and critical of Israel’s oppression and occupation of Palestine,” says Lara Kiswani, Executive Director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center. The case against Odeh was originally part of a larger federal investigation in Chicago and Minneapolis where the government has to this day unsuccessfully tried to convict 23 anti-war and Palestinian activists on trumped up terrorism charges.
Hundreds were present in court to support Odeh over the course of her trial in Detroit, and many more across the country have held solidarity demonstrations demanding that she be freed. Activists in the Bay Area will continue to protest, and vow to intensify their efforts until Odeh is released.

###

Rasmea Yousef Odeh

Activists lock themselves to the doors of a federal building in Oakland, CA November 12, 2014 to demand the immediate freedom of Rasmea Odeh. [Photo: Workers World]

http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/

From California to Florida, from the Philippines to Ireland, 100,000 registered nurses are expected to join a wave of actions to call attention to eroding patient care standards in the U.S. and globally that are symbolized by inadequate preparedness for fighting the Ebola virus.

Major actions, sponsored by National Nurses United, will include a vigil outside the White House in Washington, DC, and a rally of thousands of California nurses outside the Federal Building in downtown Oakland, Ca.

Actions – including RN strikes, candlelight vigils, hospital pickets, and rallies at federal offices – will be held in California, Washington DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas.

In addition, nurses and healthcare worker unions are holding similar actions in Australia (where nurses are pressing a heightened response on Ebola and other global health concerns at a meeting of G-20 leaders), Canada, Ireland, the Philippines, and Spain.

“The lack of concern for nurses and patients in a world where corporations have taken over our community health care has been magnified during this deadly Ebola crisis,” said NNU Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro

“If nurses had not taken to the air waves, to the streets and to the legislatures, there would have been inaction on Ebola.  Everyone passed the buck.  The Centers for Disease Control had no power, and Ebola is the latest in health threats, there will be more to come.  Nurses are demanding patient safety.  They are heroes.  Hospitals should be forced to spend the money on patient safety that they spend on public relations,” DeMoro said…

Nurse speaks out against eroding patient care standards. [Photo: NNU].

EVENT: http://tinyurl.com/kyp89tu

The Right to Education Campaign is currently on tour in the United States with a couple of students from Birzeit University. The tour aims to raise awareness regarding the Israeli occupation and its effects on education in Palestine. This is giving us a rare and important opportunity for Palestinians living under occupation to directly speak to Marquette, & UWM students and community members.

We will be hosting two students from Palestine to share their experiences living under occupation as youth and students. Please join us in this exciting opportunity to learn from these individuals and welcome them to Milwaukee!

Co-sponsored by SJP Alverno, SJP UWM, Friends of Palestine, Progressive Students of Milwaukee (at UWM) and the Milwaukee Palestine Solidarity Coalition

http://www.stopfbi.net/

http://sjpnational.org/

#‎Justice4Rasmea‬

November 12 protest: 4:30 – 6:00 p.m., Federal Plaza, 50 W Adams, Chicago, IL

Rasmea Odeh was unjustly found guilty for allegedly lying on her immigration form because she didn’t mention her time in prison in Israel. Along with 500 or so others in 1969, Rasmea was arrested, tortured, and raped until she confessed to a crime she did not commit. After ten years of being in the US, when she filled out her immigration form and it asked if she had been arrested or convicted, Rasmea said no, because she thought it was referring to her time in the US. Rasmea Odeh was not allowed to talk about the injustice of her arrest in Israel and the jury based its decision on biased and unfair information. She was not only found guilty, but handcuffed and put in prison as she awaits her sentencing in March 2015.

We cannot sit silently as our friend, family member, and cornerstone of our community, Rasmea Odeh, once again is imprisoned unfairly. Let’s protest and stand in solidarity with Rasmea.

Write letters of support to Rasmea.
Rasmieh Odeh #144979
St. Clair County Jail
1170 Michigan
Port Huron, MI. 48060

#‎Justice4Rasmea‬

http://www.stopfbi.net/

In a travesty of justice, Rasmea Odeh today was found guilty of one count of Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization. For over a year, Rasmea, her supporters, and her legal team have been battling this unjust government prosecution, saying from the start that the immigration charge was nothing but a pretext to attack this icon of the Palestine liberation movement. And although there is real anger and disappointment in the jury’s verdict, it was known as early as October 27th that she would not get a full and fair trial..

…Just like our people in Palestine and across the world will never rest until every inch of historical Palestine is free, we will never rest in our defense and support of Rasmea as she moves forward to challenge this conviction. As Deutsch said in his closing statement to the jury, “It has been one of the great privileges of my long legal career to represent this extraordinary woman of great passion and dignity.” Rasmea’s story is the story of millions of Palestinians, and of millions of freedom-loving defenders of justice everywhere. Her eventual victory will be a victory for Palestine and for all the people’s movements across the world.

Today, we thank everyone who stood with Rasmea this past year, and ask you to continue fighting with us until we achieve that victory.

#‎Justice4Rasmea‬

Ms. Rasmea Yousef Odeh