Philosophy and Revolution book group, hybrid meeting in Chicago
Chicago
Learning about Marxist-Humanism: Philosophy and Revolution book group
July 14, 2026Philosophy and Revolution book group, inaugural hybrid meeting in Chicago
No Kings rallies cover the U.S. for the third time
April 1, 2026In-person reports of the March 28 No Kings demonstrations in Chicago, Evanston, the San Francisco Bay Area, Detroit and Washington, D.C. The events were held in 3,300 locations in the U.S., plus several more in other countries. Eight million people took part.
El fascismo ya está aquí
February 21, 2026Spanish translation of the article “Don’t wait to demonstrate against ICE/CBP” by Terry Moon.
Chicagoans rally for Minnesota
February 7, 2026Participant’s report on the Jan. 30 protest in Chicago against ICE and fascism and in solidarity with immigrants, people of color and activists in Minnesota.
Eyes on education👀: Education 2025–Creating resistance for 2026
February 5, 2026In Oklahoma, Maine, Florida and Chicago, Van Gelder gives us a view of battles in defense of public and higher education. The rightist moves against state and local K-12 school districts and even individual teachers, staff, parents and students attempts to instill fascism and Christian Nationalism from the cradle.
Don’t wait to demonstrate against ICE/CBP
November 3, 2025On Nov. 1, over 1,000 people rallied in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, to protest the inhumanity and brutality of Trump and Kristy Noem’s ICE and Customs and Border Patrol. Fascism is here and now is the time for us all to step forward and be antifa.
No Kings Day 2
October 26, 2025A roundup of participant reports: an estimated 7 million rallied for No Kings Day 2 in 2,700 locations on Oct. 18, 2025. The joy of collective revolt mixed with oppressive awareness of the paramilitary occupation of cities like Chicago. But hardly a day goes by without new episodes of self-organized resistance.
Chicagoans—old and young—fight back against ICE
October 7, 2025Participant’s report of a Community Defense Workshop on Oct. 4 at a Chicago school. Responding to the feds’ ongoing attacks on immigrants, our goal: “to keep our city’s people safe and supported as well as to manifest that we, the people, have the power to resist and organize against our increasingly fascist federal government.”
The ‘Resistance’ speaks: ‘No to Trump’
June 24, 2025Reports from participants in the June 14, 2025, “No Kings” demonstrations across the nation. Thousands took to the streets, plazas and sidewalks, not only in every state and every significant sized city, but in tiny towns and suburbs. No one wanted to miss the opportunity to oppose Trump’s cruel, inhuman, destructive policies.
Lead article: Women fighting fascist rulers–from Iran to the USA
March 27, 2025In many countries misogyny is state policy, be that in the U.S. where abortion bans are killing women or Iran where the new hijab law has draconian punishments. It’s doubtful if Trump et al comprehend the rage and power that opposes their deadly drive for power and riches.
Queer Notes: February 2025
February 20, 2025Takes up: Transgender Day of Remembrance in Chicago; Russian LGBTQ+ activist Andrei Kotov; filmmaker of ‘Crossing’ not showing it in home country, Georgia; and the Constitutional Court of Lithuania striking down “anti-LGBT propaganda” law.
Immigration deadlock reveals inhumanity
January 6, 2024While immigrants suffer as winter settles in North America, the new year arrived without a Congressional bargain on immigration. Republicans not only demand harshly restrictive immigration measures but want to make Biden look bad by blocking accomplishments.
Guatemalans rally against attacks on newly elected president
October 23, 2023A Guatemalan speaks, interviewed at an Oct. 19 demonstration in Chicago protesting the corrupt forces attempting a judicial coup against President-elect Bernardo Arévalo.
Climate activists march in Chicago
September 21, 2023In-person report of the Sept. 15 mobilization in Chicago to protest political inaction in the face of climate emergency.
Teachers Union on ballot in mayoral race
March 19, 2023The race for mayor of Chicago is now between Brandon Johnson, a teacher endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), and Paul Vallas, a former boss of the Chicago Public Schools who trashes the CTU at every opportunity. The runoff election on April 4 will be in part a referendum on rank-and-file unionism.
Queer Notes: November-December 2022
November 11, 2022The Ohio LGBTQ+ community protested a meeting of the Ohio State Board of Education delaying a vote on a “don’t say gay” bill; Israeli playwright Yochai Greenfeld’s autobiographical play about conversion therapy opened in Israel; there was a memorial on Chicago’s south side for several LGBTQ+ people killed by a hit-and-run driver; and murdered Palestinian Gay man Ahmad Abu Marhia’s body was found in Hebron in the West Bank, and a suspect has been arrested.
Queer Notes: October 5, 2022
October 5, 2022Rainbow Migration demanded the UK Prime Minister “end immigration detention for all LGBTQ+ people,” “scrap the Rwanda plan” and “reverse changes to the standard of proof for LGBTQ+ people’s asylum claims”; Twelve Republican-led states banned Transgender girls and women from competing in sports; and a long awaited center serving LGBTQ+ people opened on Chicago’s South Side.
Youth in Action: September-October 2022
September 24, 2022A high school protest in Denton, Texas; a demonstration in Lindblom Academy in Chicago; a protest in Oklahoma against dress codes; a students’ occupation at Marquette University, and the creation of a woman-friendly, LGBTQ+ inclusive skate crew in Chicago.
Women, youth fight back as horror of abortion bans unfolds
September 6, 2022Now that the Supreme Court of the United States has overturned women’s right to abortion, the profound ramifications of that unprecedented decision are becoming known. Women are fighting back, from the Women’s March, to Black women, to Teens for Reproductive Rights, women will reclaim the right to control our own bodies.
Nationwide marches for abortion rights
July 5, 2022March participants report on the thousands of women, men and gender diverse people who demonstrated across the U.S., including Chicago and the Bay Area. They were protesting the Supreme Court decision that decimated women’s right to an abortion and thus to control over their own bodies.
Chicago marches for abortion rights
June 25, 2022Well over 3,000 women and men overran downtown Federal Plaza in Chicago, spilling into the streets demanding abortion rights and castigating a U.S. Supreme Court whose legitimacy is no longer recognized by the citizens it oppresses.
Youth in Action: January-February 2022
February 7, 2022Youth in Action on militant demonstrations against the military in Myanmar; students walked out of class at Chicago high school over racism; and the marking of the ninth anniversary of the gruesome murders in Paris of three Kurdish women activists.
Queer Notes: January-February 2022
Queer Notes on Nobody’s Darling, a new Queer bar in Chicago; the death of Rebecca Juro, radio host and advocate for Trans rights; LGBTQ+ reaction to the election of Gabriel Boric in Chile; and LGBTQ+ discrimination in South Korea.
Nationwide marches for reproductive justice
November 11, 2021In Chicago, four to five thousand rallied and marched downtown to make it clear that women in the U.S. are continuing to fight back against the inhuman anti-abortion legislation that has been surging across Republican-dominated statehouses for years.
Chicago climate strike
November 10, 2021Participant report of the Fridays for Future climate strike in Chicago on September 24, 2021.
Tens of thousands march for reproductive justice nationwide
October 3, 2021In Chicago, four to five thousand rallied and marched downtown to make it clear that women in the U.S. are continuing to fight back against the inhuman anti-abortion legislation that has been surging across Republican-dominated statehouses for years—this, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chicago climate strike
September 29, 2021Participant report of the Fridays for Future climate strike in Chicago on September 24, 2021.
Ed Negron: In Memoriam
September 22, 2021Elise Barclay remembers Ed Negron, a Chicago activist for Latinx, LGBTQ+ and especially Bisexual rights.
Queer Notes: September-October 2021
September 21, 2021A roundup of Pride events around the world: Pride Afrique; Budapest, Hungary, Pride March; Equality Pride in Warsaw, Poland; Sulong Vaklash in Manila, the Philippines; Pride Parade in Bogotá, Colombia; Resiste Bebita in Lima, Peru; Boston Pride/BP; Chicago Drag March for Change, Pride Without Prejudice and West Side Pride.
Nationwide walkout of Nabisco workers
September 12, 2021Nabisco workers nationwide struck over horrendous hours and shifts.
Readers’ Views: July-August 2021, part one
July 2, 2021Readers’ Views on: What Is Socialism?; What Is Marxist-Humanism?; Nuclear Socialism?; Nuclear Capitalism; Flat Earth Society; Indigenous Genocide; Indigenous Liberation; Racism Takes its Toll; Rape Culture; Coming Out in Sports; Colonialism and Liberation
Queer notes, March-April 2021
March 11, 2021Ohio assailed for refusing to recognize Jack Henning-Sepkoski’s gender identity; Chicago Black Drag Council holds town hall over racism against performers of color in Gay bars; children of same-sex mixed nationality couples in Europe struggle for citizenship.
Karen Lewis, 1953-2021
The City of Chicago lost a powerful voice for teachers, and for workers in general, with the death of Karen Lewis, former President of the Chicago Teachers Union.
Review: ‘Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements’
February 2, 2021A feminist review of “Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.” The author, Charlene Carruthers, sees it as “a book for all people who are curious about and committed to the struggle for Black liberation.”
Readers’ views, November-December 2020: part one
November 28, 2020Election battles, reaching for the future, and the pull of the past; Sabotage of the post office; Food recycling workers strike; Anti-labor statue downed; Oil and biden; COVID-19: where’s the vision?; Racism and fascism; Polish women’s revolutionary moment; News & Letters is back in print!
Queer Notes: November-December 2020
Thailand’s LGBTQ Pride Parade demanded resignation of Prime Minister and limitations on King; Black and Brown Trans, non-binary and gender nonconforming people on the South and West Sides of Chicago have a new mutual aid organization; Nigerian Queer rights activist Pamela Adie’s Lesbian love story film “Ife”; and Trans Sistas of Color Project locked out of their venue for their awards brunch.
Readers’ views: July-August 2020, part 1
July 1, 2020Readers’ views on American civilization on trial, coast to coast; Cops in schools; Police and power; Style and meaning; Sports fans speak; Revolt: where to now? and Health workers speak
Anti-racist protests across the U.S.
Protests of George Floyd’s murder and police brutality in general have erupted all over the U.S. Here are in-person reports of demonstrations in Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Meatpacking workers sacrificed
May 1, 2020Workers in meatpacking plants across the country are being sacrificed to what Karl Marx called capital’s “werewolf hunger for surplus labor” as packing companies try to reap the benefits of the prevailing level of automation—but substituting intensified sweated labor for the capital investment of automation. If workers die from COVID-19, the capitalist doesn’t care.
Voices from Chicago climate strike–December 2019
January 2, 2020News & Letters interviews some of the Global Climate Strike participants.
Queer Notes, November-December 2019
November 17, 2019Stabbing of a Palestinian Transgender teenager; vandalization of the Women and Children First bookstore in Chicago; a Shoreline, Wash. Christian school’s new policy stating the Bible is inerrant, and rainbow crosswalks in Ames, Iowa.
Handicap this, November-December 2019
Domino’s Pizza inaccessible website; disability rights advocate Marca Bristo dies; Orange County, California, residential care homes owing over $1 million in back wages, and British rock climber Jesse Dufton leading the ascent of the Old Man of Hoy.
Illinois NOW Meets
Report on a conference by the Illinois National Organization for Women, and on the status of the Violence Against Women Act.
Voices of young and old from the Global Climate Strike
November 4, 2019On the first day of the third Global Climate Strike, Sept. 20, 2019, millions of people, mostly teenagers, marched across the world—the biggest climate action ever. Hear the voices of youth and adults in Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco.
Global Climate Strike–Chicago
September 21, 2019Participant report on the Sept. 20, 2019, Global Climate Strike event in Chicago.
Mexican and U.S. teachers’ dialogue
September 2, 2019A U.S. teacher reflects on the article “Teachers debate how to oppose ‘reform’” in Mexico and its connections with the world-historic movement of an education for freedom.
Readers’ Views: May-June 2019
May 6, 2019Readers’ Views on: Socialism and a philosophy of revolution; Sudan in revolt; Iran vs. Iranians; Flint, Mich., play captures voices; Notre-Dame and fracking on native land; gun control debate; labor strikes; debate on fascism; Trump and DeVos; and voices from behind bars.
Chicago vigil for Syria, Yemen and Crimea
April 27, 2019Participant report of a Chicago vigil in solidarity with the people of Syria, Yemen, Crimea, and other lands.
Chicago vigil for Syria
March 26, 2019Participant report of a Chicago vigil in solidarity with the Syrian people against Assad.