Los Angeles activist Basho tells of the electoral defeat of District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who protected killer cops, and the years of demonstrations and pain that led to her welcomed defeat.

Los Angeles activist Basho tells of the electoral defeat of District Attorney Jackie Lacey, who protected killer cops, and the years of demonstrations and pain that led to her welcomed defeat.
Uber, Lyft, and Amazon workers struggle to hold their employers to account and demand protection from COVID-19 as well as a living wage and sick days.
Uber, Lyft, and Amazon workers struggle to hold their employers to account and demand protection from COVID-19 as well as a living wage and sick days.
The battle against the COVID-19 pandemic is a battle over how society will change, mirroring the battle over how to confront and adapt to the climate and extinction crisis. Strikes are erupting across the world.
Participant report on the Nov. 12 students’ march protesting Trump’s repeal of DACA, which allowed undocumented migrants brought to this country as children the human right to work, to go to school and to live free of deportation.
Dangers of refineries to nearby inhabited areas. .
Over 30 Lyft drivers and their supporters rallied at the Lyft office in Los Angeles for their labor rights and to reverse pay cuts forced by the company.
Homelessness shot up in Los Angeles. A major reason is unemployment. Homeless people are harassed and criminalized, while an area near Skid Row is gentrified.
Uber and Lyft drivers held a 25-hour strike in Los Angeles to protest pay cuts.
A Marxist-Humanist analysis of the state of the U.S. economy and the revolt of labor in the wake of country-wide teachers’ strikes, an historically long government shutdown, and an unsteady, uncertain worldwide economy.
Readers’ Views takes up: women’s liberation, youth in the battle, Blacks vs. racism, border cop thugs, Middle East struggles, and voices from behind bars.
In-person report of the demonstration of women street vendors in Los Angeles on International Women’s Day fighting for their jobs and for dignity.
Women’s Marches took place around the U.S. and the world in 2017 AND 2018, once again showing that the opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump is alive, thriving, militant and exuberant.
The dialectic and the meaning of the Russian Revolution.
About 50 graduate students at Caltech walked out of classes to protest Trump’s tax bill in November as each has around $50,000 in tuition covered by non-taxable waivers. Under the new bill, the tuition waiver would be treated as taxable income.
In Memoriam for Judy Tanzawa who was a radical union organizer, Los Angeles Local Organizer for News and Letters Committees, fighter for human liberation in all its dimensions. .
A participant reports on a series of protests, rallies and marches of thousands taking place in September in Los Angeles against President Donald Trump’s attacks on youthful immigrants called Dreamers by ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival Program.
Readers’ Views: facing far right’s threat; don’t scapegoat; Canadian strike; Transgender troops; women’s liberation; homeless in Los Angeles; defend dissidents; why read N&L.
In-person reports of demonstrations in Chicago, Memphis, Oregon, Los Angeles and Halifax in Canada in solidarity with activists in Charlottesville, Va., fighting against neo-fascism and demanding to take down Confederate statues. .
Readers’ Views on Philosophy and Revolt vs. Trumpism; Trump and the Left; Injustice to Immigrants; Anti-Woman, Anti-Labor Uber; ACT UP; From Iran; To Mexico; Why Read News & Letters?
Report on the the 25th Anniversary of the 1992 Los Angeles Rebellion on April 29, 2017.
Participant report of the April 15, 2017, thousands strong protest in Los Angeles demanding that Donald Trump release his tax returns.
Report on the resistance against eviction and “development” in the Bay View/Hunters Point (BVHP) area in San Francisco, California.
Los Angeles youth march against the xenophobic deportations of Mexicans, Muslims and undocumented workers by Trump.
Reports from the huge Women’s March from participants in Chicago, Ill., Detroit, Mich., Oakland, Calif., Nashville, Tenn., Memphis, Tenn., Los Angeles, Calif., and New York City.
Readers’ Views on Election Stirs Battles in Thought and in Life; Deep Racism in the USA; Women Fight Back; Indigenous Struggles; Global (In)Humanity; Why Read N&L?
Readers’ Views on: Environment, Labor, Race and Philosophy; Queer Liberation; Black Lives Matter; Bolivian Social Movements; Trumpery’s Fascism & Racism.
A look at women’s activity and thought worldwide including women comics acting against harassment in their industry; the Toronto Newsgirls Boxing Club coming out strongly against violence against women; and Filipina women used as sexual slaves by Japan in WWII demanding that government acknowledge and apologize for what they had done.
Demonstrations in Chicago, Oakland, Calif., and Los Angeles show the ongoing militant character of the Black Lives Matter movement as mostly young Black protesters take their anger and demands to the streets.
Several hundred people of all races marched from the Union Rescue Mission in Skid Row, where a homeless Black man with mental problems known as Africa, was killed by six Los Angeles police officers.
About 500 people, mostly Black and Latino youth, gathered in Los Angeles. Anti-police brutality and anti-ever growing surveillance society has radicalized youth as well as concerned people from all walks of life.
From the September-October 2014 issue of News & Letters
Los Angeles—On Aug. 1, 30 Los Angeles Community Action Network activists of all races, including many formerly homeless, protested in Skid Row and adjacent downtown. We were demanding that the homeless be housed in the largely vacant Cecil Hotel, which had been designated low-income housing. [=>]
From the September-October 2014 issue of News & Letters
Los Angeles—On Aug. 17 over 1,000 protesters gathered at the downtown LA Police Department (LAPD) headquarters. We were there not only in support of Michael Brown, but also to protest the many killings over the years of Black, Brown and even a few white youths [=>]
200 youths of all races gathered at the Norwalk Fusion Center on the First National Day of Protest. Protests were also held in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Boston, Dallas, San Francisco and Oakland.
Los Angeles—On Feb. 8, 50 activists of all races gathered at MacArthur Park to be part of freeing Leonard Peltier, who is starting his 38th year in a federal penitentiary for a crime he did not commit.
400 immigrant workers from Mexico and Central America and their U.S. supporters marched through downtown Los Angeles for “comprehensive and humane immigration reform now!”
THE SYRIAN REVOLUTION AS TEST OF WORLD POLITICS
I have been active in a number of student groups around labor and women’s issues. We always talk about “intersectionality” and recognizing different struggles. Somehow that didn’t seem to apply, though, when it came to the Syrian Revolution. Suddenly people didn’t want to talk about it. I [=>]
Garment workers and organizers from Bangladesh and Los Angeles discussed their labor conditions at the downtown L.A. Garment Center
Alex Sanchez, co-founder of Homies Unidos in Los Angeles, spoke in support of prisoners’ call to cease hostilities, backing the solutions arrived at by those who used to be part of the problem.
Demonstrators representing “Millions of Voices for Immigration Reform” marched through downtown Los Angeles demanding immediate immigration reform and a path to citizenship.
Over 100 activists held a “no new prison” press conference and rally to stop plans to spend over $2 billion to build two new Los Angeles County jails. Rather than caging people, grant the money to community-based organizations and alternative solutions.
Participant reports from Trayvon Martin demonstrations in Los Angeles, Oakland, Chicago, Raleigh, and New York.
40,000 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.–I drove from Memphis to Washington with three others and joined the 40,000-plus people there on Feb. 17 for the Forward on Climate Change rally, the biggest ever held on climate change in this country. Yes, the 15-hour drive was long. Yes, it was super cold. Yes, we stood for a [=>]
by Suzanne Rose
London, England—A disability campaigner who set up an e-petition to stop government benefit cuts has vowed to continue her fight, after gaining more than 62,000 signatures. E-petitions need 100,000 signatures for a debate in parliament. Though the petition has failed in this regard, it is not the end for the campaign. Pat [=>]
Los Angeles—On June 28, 75 people from the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN)—a Skid Row organization that agitates for the homeless—and Occupy LA demonstrated outside the downtown Sheraton Hotel where the Central City Association (CCA) was holding a conference. They chanted: “CCA, you won’t push us away!” and held a banner: “If you’re [=>]
You’re invited to a nationwide series of five Marxist-Humanist discussions on:
Global Crises, Global Rebellion, and the Needed Philosophy of Revolution
Central to today’s reality is the worldwide capitalist economic crisis, the deepest since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the context for occupations and revolutions across the globe. We will explore the meaning of this [=>]
Los Angeles—Carlos Montes was targeted by the FBI and charged with six felony counts in 2011 for his long history of anti-war and Chicano rights activism since the 1970s. He was facing 18 years. After over a year of struggle—demonstrating, organizing and court hearings—the district attorney offered a plea bargain in which Carlos was to [=>]
Los Angeles, Calif.—On April 28, people from the Black community, some from Occupy LA, and others gathered at the 71st and Normandie Ave. block party on the 20th anniversary of the 1992 LA Rebellion.
The event was moderated by Mollie Ball—long-time community activist and part of the LA-4-Plus Defense Committee. That committee was formed to support [=>]
Los Angeles—On Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day, 250 to 300 people, mostly youth, demonstrated against “Secure Communities” (SC), Sheriff Baca and President Obama’s attack on Mexican and Latino/a immigrants. SC forces local police to act as federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, supposedly against undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes here. Besides [=>]
Readers’ Views (part 2)
FROM FUKUSHIMA TO NEW YORK
Shut Down Indian Point Now! is calling a press conference immediately prior to a New York State Assembly hearing to determine energy alternatives to the Indian Point plant in January. As the Fukushima, Japan, meltdown shows, nuclear power can never be made safe.
People are becoming increasingly aware [=>]