Demonstrations against Team Israel-Premier Tech in cycling races have become common as people around the world reject Israel’s public relations attempts to smooth over genocide. 

The most disruptive demonstration occurred on Sept. 14 at La Vuelta a España in Madrid, Spain. The final stage of the 21-stage grand tour was set to finish with laps around a finishing circuit in Madrid, but over 100,000 pro-Palestinian protesters flooded the streets and broke through barriers, causing the race to be suspended approximately 56 kilometers from the finish with no stage winner. 

Demonstrators used the opportunity to call for a free Palestine, an end to U.S.-Israeli genocide, and for Israel-Premier Tech to be removed from all races. This was the culmination of widespread disruptions throughout the race, with seven of the final 11 stages being interrupted or altered due to protests targeting the Israeli-owned team’s participation.

Israel-Premier Tech, a UCI ProTeam, is registered as based in Israel and is owned by a pair of billionaires: Sylvan Adams, a Canadian-Israeli, and Ronald Baron, an American-Israeli.

The demonstrations against this team are justified not only by the fact that the team rides under the flag of genocide as an Israeli-based team, but by the comments made by Sylvan Adams and Benjamin Netanyahu, which irrevocably tie the team to apartheid. 

Sylvan Adams has described the cyclists on the team as ambassadors for Israel. The connection between Israel-Premier Tech and Israeli politics was made abundantly clear to the world when Benjamin Netanyahu stated in a social media post: “Great job to Sylvan and Israel’s cycling team for not giving in to hate and intimidation. You make Israel Proud!” on Sept. 5 in response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations against the team in Spain. 

The connection between team Israel-Premier Tech has caused cycling fans and activists to use their voices to call for a free Palestine and for the “sportswashing” of Israel’s genocide to cease. 

The final stage of this year’s La Vuelta was not the only stage that anti-apartheid activists disrupted. Protesters briefly slowed down the Israel-Premier Tech team on stage 5 during a team time trial, an event that allowed protesters to impact only the Israeli team. Stage 11 was neutralized with 3km to go as protesters gathered at the finish line, ending the stage prematurely without a winner. The race organizers also decided to stop the race on stage 16 with 8km to go due to demonstrations at the finishing line. 

The demonstrations at the race, including the neutralization of the final stage, have gained media attention around the world. This attention prompted Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to call for Israel to be barred from international sporting events. Banning of Israeli teams like Israel-Premier Tech would be similar to previous actions taken against other nations in conflict by the governing body of cycling, the International Cycling Union (UCI). 

Just days after Russian troops arrived in Ukraine in 2022, after eight years of NATO provocation in the Donbass, the UCI took immediate action against Russia. The UCI banned all Russian and Belarusian teams, revoked their team UCI licences, and banned the Russian and Belarusian country names, flags, anthems, and acronyms from all events. The UCI has the power to do the same by banning Israel, but refuses to do so. Basque professional cyclist, Pello Bilbao, has called the UCI’s hypocrisy. 

Demonstrations against Israel Premier-Tech have not been limited to Spain, a region with a history of political demonstrations intertwined with cycling. The roads along the Giro d’Italia, the grand tour of Italy, were lined with Palestinian flags and had the words “Free Gaza” written on the roads of the most famous climbs in cycling. 

A demonstrator wearing a shirt stating, “Israel out of the Tour,” disrupted stage 11 of the Tour de France. 

Recently, protesters called for the removal of Israel-Premier Tech from the Gran Prix Cycliste de Montréal and the Gran Prix Cycliste de Québec on Sept. 12 and Sept. 14. 

Activists with the Peoples Power Assembly in Baltimore joined the growing movement of protests against Israel-Premier Tech participating in cycling races by disrupting the team presentation of the Maryland Cycling Classic on Sept. 5, making it clear that genocide complicity is not welcome in cycling. 

The demonstrators in Baltimore were met with spectators saying that the team has nothing to do with politics. However, the team, and its ownership, are connected to politics and the genocide Israel is committing in Palestine. 

Activists will continue to pressure the UCI and race organizers to ban Israel Premier-Tech from races. O Gran Camiño, a UCI Europe Tour race in Galicia, Spain, is the first race to state that it will not be inviting Israel Premier-Tech to the race in 2026, indicating that public pressure to ban Israeli teams in support of Palestine is effective. 

As the U.S.-Israel genocide enters a critical phase in Gaza, these demonstrations of solidarity and resistance are more important than ever. The world must continue to make clear that genocide will not be welcome at international sporting events, or anywhere else. Free Free Palestine!

Washington, D.C., Sept. 17 — An exhibition of posters allegorical to the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, opened today at the Cuban Embassy in the United States with Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío in attendance.

The event, which is part of the program for Fidel’s centenary in 2026, was attended by representatives of the intellectual community, culture, political parties, social movements, solidarity organizations, and friends of Cuba in general.

Referring to the Cuban leader, Fernández de Cossío mentioned the “extraordinary characteristics concentrated in a single individual” and affirmed that he made a great contribution to the world for the better and “I believe that is something for which he will be remembered,” he emphasized

Earlier, the head of the Cuban Mission, Lianys Torres, welcomed participants to the event on Wednesday evening, where poet Nubia Kai recited one of her poems dedicated to the island, Fidel, and his Revolution.

Activist Mark Friedman, co-chair of the Los Angeles Hands Off Cuba Committee, also spoke, and the embassy thanked him for his dedication and efforts in bringing the exhibition to a successful conclusion.

Friedman announced that they will be organizing a similar event in Los Angeles on October 25, “when we will once again vehemently protest the U.S. blockade of Cuba in the run-up to the vote at the United Nations.”

Fidel Castro was born on August 13, 1926, in Birán, in what is now the eastern province of Holguín, and his departure into immortality on November 25, 2016, at the age of 90, caused an international stir.

Throughout his life, the island’s State Security services identified hundreds of plans in various stages of development to physically eliminate him. He emerged unscathed from 634 plots to assassinate him between 1958 and 2000.

Fidel asked that no statues or squares be erected in his memory, which is why the monolith where his ashes rest in the Santa Ifigenia cemetery in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba bears only the five letters of his name.

Source: Prensa Latina, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English

Struggle-La Lucha spoke with Andre Powell, a community organizer with the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly, about the Trump administration’s threats to deploy federal military forces in the city.

SLL: Like everyone, we have seen the back-and-forth between Trump, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, and Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott, with Trump threatening to send the National Guard to Baltimore City. How does the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly view this?

Andre Powell: We have to understand that Trump’s threats have nothing to do with addressing urban crime and everything to do with normalizing martial law as a tool of capitalist crisis management. What the billionaire ruling class fears isn’t street crime — it’s the growing solidarity among multinational working-class communities to unite against racist divisions and demand economic and political justice. We need to resist now. 

Trump’s threats to deploy the National Guard are racist. The pattern is unmistakable: He has exclusively threatened cities led by Black mayors. This is another key reason why everyone must fight to stop these plans.

It is costing one million dollars a day in Washington, D.C., to station the Guard. Let that sink in. This is millions of dollars that could be spent on affordable housing, healthcare, education, food and, of course, jobs.

SLL: What kind of organizing strategy is the Baltimore Peoples Power Assembly developing to counter this threat?

Andre Powell: That’s the most important question. We’re engaged in mass political education — distributing literature, posting flyers, and conducting outreach to build the kind of broad-based resistance that can stop a federal military occupation. Our approach draws from the civil rights movement’s model of sustained civil disobedience, including coordinated work stoppages and mass mobilization. 

Concretely, we’ve called for an outreach day and civil disobedience training.  We want to prepare people.  

SLL: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Andre Powell: Yes, we have also issued a special appeal to the National Guard troops, calling on them to refuse billionaire Trump’s illegal orders.  

Instead of deploying the National Guard to suppress working-class communities, these resources should be addressing the ongoing climate disasters that have devastated the Southeast and West. Months after Hurricane Helene, communities in western North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia are still rebuilding without adequate federal support. Meanwhile, Texas flood victims and California wildfire survivors remain in crisis.

Real security would involve preparing our most vulnerable communities for the next climate emergency: ensuring seniors and working-poor families have access to air conditioning before the next deadly heat wave strikes. 

We said, “Do the right thing — go home to your families, children, loved ones and community.  Don’t defend billionaires!  Stop the trillions spent on wars abroad and at home, fight poverty and racism.”  Those are the things we are saying.

Oakland, Calif., Sept. 18 — Several hundred San Francisco Bay area activists and Palestinian supporters gathered for a press conference here today at the Oakland International Airport bringing to light a new report that exposes the airport’s hidden and central role in shipping military cargo directly to the Israeli military. The, up to this point, clandestine shipments includes F-35 fighter jet components essential for the functioning of Israel’s fleet that are currently leveling Gaza as the world stands by.

The report entitled: “Exposing Oakland Airport’s Military Cargo Shipments to Israel” released by the Palestine Youth Movement (PYM) documented that these shipments sent from Oakland were not occasional but were sent multiple times a week throughout 2025, resulting in 280 military shipments so far this year. Most of these shipments went directly to Nevatim Airbase in Israel, home to its F-35 fleet and the location where they are repaired and maintained. Many of the items being shipped are precise mechanisms that enables the F-35 to flying precise bombing runs with lethal accuracy, including the bomb’s release units that are fitted to carry 2,000 pound bombs.

The Oakland People’s Arms Embargo

Following the release of the information disclosing the Oakland International Airport as a material conduit to genocide, a new coalition was quickly assembled by the PYM, Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC Action) and the US Palestinian Community Nework (USPCN) to launch a campaign entitled Oakland People’s Arms Embargo (OPAE).

In a press release from OPAE today the campaign has already received over 80 organizational endorsements and it joins, according to Amnesty International, over 230 other coalitions and groups that are calling for all F-35 program partners to halt arms transfers to Israel from around the world.

It should be remembered that the F-35’s are made right here in the US by Lockheed Martin and those killing machines combined with the Israeli military’s ground invasion has killed over 60,000 Palestinians based on the statistics from the Gaza Ministry of Health. We know those numbers are low and don’t included the thousands and thousands of children and families buried beneath the rubble of the F-35’s constant bombardment of Gaza.

Speakers and those present at today’s press conference at the Oakland International Airport included longtime supporters of Palestine and the Longshoremen who have blocked unloading Israeli goods at the Port of Oakland on numerous occasions over the years and it also included the new generation of committed activists and organizers determined to end the genocide. This new period will necessitate creative acts of resistance including as several speakers mentioned; direct action.

The press conference ended with a march through the drop off area of the Oakland International Airport.

for more information visit: oakland@armsembargonow.com

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English

Por Bill Hackwell, el 18 de septiembre de 2025, desde Oakland, California

Varios cientos de activistas del área de la Bahía de San Francisco y simpatizantes palestinos se reunieron hoy aquí, en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Oakland, para una conferencia de prensa en la que se dio a conocer un nuevo informe que expone el papel oculto y central del aeropuerto en el envío de carga militar directamente al ejército israelí. Los envíos, hasta ahora clandestinos, incluyen componentes de aviones de combate F-35 esenciales para el funcionamiento de la flota israelí que actualmente está arrasando Gaza mientras el mundo permanece impasible.

El informe titulado «Exponiendo los envíos de carga militar del aeropuerto de Oakland a Israel», publicado por el Grupo Juvenil Palestino (PYM), documenta que estos envíos desde Oakland no eran ocasionales, sino que se realizaron varias veces a la semana a lo largo de 2025, lo que ha dado lugar a 280 envíos militares en lo que va de año. La mayoría de estos envíos se dirigieron directamente a la base aérea de Nevatim en Israel, sede de su flota de F-35 y lugar donde se reparan y mantienen. Muchos de los artículos enviados son mecanismos de precisión que permiten al F-35 realizar bombardeos precisos con una precisión letal, incluidas las unidades de lanzamiento de bombas que están equipadas para transportar bombas de 2000 libras.

El embargo de armas del pueblo de Oakland

Tras la publicación de la información que revelaba que el Aeropuerto Internacional de Oakland era un conducto material para el genocidio, la PYM, el Centro Árabe de Recursos y Organización (AROC Action) y la Red de la Comunidad Palestina de Estados Unidos (USPCN) formaron rápidamente una nueva coalición para lanzar una campaña titulada «Embargo de armas del pueblo de Oakland» (OPAE).

En un comunicado de prensa de la OPAE publicado hoy, la campaña ya ha recibido el respaldo de más de 80 organizaciones y se une, según Amnistía Internacional, a otras 230 coaliciones y grupos que piden a todos los socios del programa F-35 que detengan las transferencias de armas a Israel desde todo el mundo.

Cabe recordar que los F-35 se fabrican aquí mismo, en Estados Unidos, por Lockheed Martin, y que esas máquinas de matar, combinadas con la invasión terrestre del ejército israelí, han causado la muerte de más de 60 000 personas, según las estadísticas del Ministerio de Salud de Gaza. Sabemos que esas cifras son bajas y no incluyen a los miles y miles de niños y familias enterrados bajo los escombros del constante bombardeo de Gaza por parte de los F-35.

Entre los ponentes y los asistentes a la rueda de prensa celebrada hoy en el Aeropuerto Internacional de Oakland se encontraban antiguos simpatizantes de Palestina y los estibadores que han bloqueado en numerosas ocasiones a lo largo de los años la descarga de mercancías israelíes en el puerto de Oakland, así como la nueva generación de activistas y organizadores comprometidos y decididos a poner fin al genocidio. Este nuevo periodo requerirá actos creativos de resistencia y acciones directas.

La rueda de prensa concluyó con una marcha por la zona de bajada del Aeropuerto Internacional de Oakland.

Fuente: Resumen Latinoamericano – EE. UU.

The ‘Bloquons tout’ mass movement precipitated the fall of French PM François Bayrou with its call to block everything on September 10.

On September 8, Bayrou raised the question of confidence at the National Assembly, that is, two days before ‘Bloquons tout’ had even gone into action.

As soon as Bayrou presented the 2026 intensified austerity budget in July, the ‘Bloquons tout’ mass movement erupted on social media. Over the summer, it gained incredible momentum.

Bayrou called for a parliamentary vote of confidence. He was defeated by 364 to 194. The defeat was a first stunning victory for a movement that had not even started, a movement which expresses the anger of the French people who, in the vast majority (87%), reject Bayrou’s austerity budget.

The September 10 ‘Bloquons tout’ movement was a success, with about half a million people joining a broad range of actions, demonstrations, pickets, and blockades all over France. ‘Bloquons tout’ has also planned to carry on.

The 2026 Budget and the So-Called French ‘Debt’

On July 15, the Prime Minister, Bayrou, announced the 2026 budget of €43.8 billion, which includes austerity measures. He recalled that France’s debt was €3300 billion. He drew a catastrophic picture, saying, “Every second the debt of France increases by 5000 euros… France has become the country in the world that spends the most public money.”

Among the measures announced by Bayrou that really shocked people were the abolition of two national holidays, a so-called ‘blank year’, that is, a freeze on social security, pension scales, and limiting the access to the health system of thirteen million patients with long-term conditions.

To justify these $44 billion cuts, Bayrou claimed France was near chaos due to debt, and they would have to resort to the IMF, that is, a disaster scenario in which the IMF was on the verge of taking control of the French economy.

In reality, France’s budget deficit is not out of control, and an IMF bailout is not needed. Supporters of austerity in France are engaged in scaremongering.

The Mobilizations of ‘Bloquons tout’

Bayrou’s blackmail about the debt did not convince people that they should once again submit to more austerity. They have had enough. In the eight years of the Macron presidency, the economic, social and ecological degradation have peaked. Inflation has drastically reduced living standards. Many workers have lost their jobs. Poverty has drastically increased [1.2 million more people since 2017], and now 15.4% of people live below the poverty line. In addition, 350,000 people are homeless, with 2000 children, including newborn babies, living on the streets. Public services have been under constant attack. All this while the wealthiest not only saw their taxes diminished or erased, they also received financial help from the state.

Even if the Macronists chose Bayrou’s fall to curb and disarm the growing mobilization for September 10, they failed.

When Bayrou announced his budget, a movement of angry citizens, on the model of the Gilets Jaunes, started to organize through the social networks. Through the whole summer, it spread and grew, with an unprecedented level of self-organization. Telegram groups were set up on a regional basis, but people soon realized they needed to meet physically in big general meetings to prevent the far right from joining in. The meetings established an antiracist prerequisite for joining, and by meeting in person, it was easier to identify who was who. Activists were also very aware that some information could not be given in the Telegram groups.

The aim of the movement is to block the economy. Strikes are one method, but some can’t afford to. But everybody can do something. ‘Bloquons tout’ envisages a long-term movement that does not stop after days of action. The proposals were to organize pickets, strikes or blockades, for example, not spending money on September 10, not using bank cards, blocking roads and trucks for merchandise, transportation or logistics like Amazon. And for others to organize support for activists, e.g., free meals.

‘Bloquons tout’ is a movement from the bottom, which, unlike the Gilets Jaunes, is open to everybody, including political or social activists and trade unionists who help with their experience, as long as they don’t take over the leadership.

Many lessons have been drawn from previous mass mobilizations, such as les Gilets Jaunes and also the 2023 movement against the raising of the state pension to age sixty-four. Despite those huge mobilizations, Macron is still there.

Another lesson is the experience of the high level of state repression. With the Gilets Jaunes, the police shot rubber bullets that resulted in forty yellow vests losing an eye, six losing one hand and many other serious injuries. Therefore, ‘Bloquons tout’ has been preparing legal teams to help with the predictable detentions and aid from paramedics in response to police violence.

Contrary to the government and the media predictions that September 10 would be a flop, it was a real success. Nearly 500,000 participated, while the government had estimated only 100,000. There were 849 actions – 596 were rallies and 253 were blockades. The university student protests were 80,000 strong, and 150 high schools were blockaded. On the evening of the 10th, general meetings were held all over France (including 5000 in Paris and 2000 in Lyon). They decided to carry on the movement through different actions and new blockades.

The media and the government predicted ultra-left violence from ‘Bloquons tout’. The latter deployed 80,000 police officers. But on the contrary, it was a very peaceful mobilization. The only violence came from the police, who attacked the demonstrators and the pickets and arrested many young people.

Some labor unions joined the call of ‘Bloquons tout’ on September 10, as did the political left. In the end, the alliance of all labor unions decided to call for a day of strike action on September 18, prompted by this big mobilization. Thursday, September 18, is the second national day of action. Meanwhile, ‘Bloquons tout’ is organizing and attempting to convince more people to join.

According to the communist newspaper l’Humanité, 74% of the population is in favor of strike action.

Macron Must Go

After Bayrou’s fall, Macron immediately nominated a new PM, Sébastien Lecornu. It is interesting to notice how fast this went compared to the nomination of the last two PMs, and it shows the degree to which the government is afraid. Not only will Lecornu pursue the same Macronist orientation, but as former defense minister, he has carried on Macron’s line – first on the sale of military armaments to the genocidal regime of Israel and secondly Lecornu was at the meeting which agreed that European military budgets should reach 5% of the GDP which means 195 billion euros, that is a total submission to Trump’s rule.

Fundamentally, Lecornu is in the same unstable position as Bayrou and Barnier were, who both had to resign. Therefore, he is expected to fall, whether it takes weeks or months. Already, two-thirds of the population are saying he should leave.

Macron is responsible for the chaos in France. He is hanging on to power, although he has lost legitimacy. In the 2017 presidential election, 33% voted for him in the first round; his support has now fallen to 15%.

Macron is also paving the way for the RN to take power. His Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau [leader of Les Républicains, the conservative party], has the same rotten and racist rhetoric as the RN, and has been implementing many attacks on migrants. Throughout this year, Macron and Retailleau have not stopped giving assurances to the RN, although the president has always presented himself as the last bulwark against the RN in order to win elections. But it has become evident that Macron’s main enemy is rather LFI. Lecornu, the new PM, is also close to the RN, as is a growing part of the Les Républicains conservative party.

Dissolution of the National Assembly in July 2024: Macron’s Big Mistake

The degradation of the political situation started in July 2024 when Macron decided to dissolve the National Assembly after his disastrous 15% result in the European elections. The RN came first with 31%, and the left were divided. The RN’s support has grown with their racist rhetoric by presenting migrants as the cause of the economic crisis. Much of the LR’s electoral base has shrunk and is moving to the RN.

Macron undoubtedly thought the division of the left was the right moment to have a coalition government with some RN members in it.

Unfortunately for Macron, his calculation went wrong. Under the impulse of La France Insoumise, the left very quickly united under the banner of the New Popular Front NPF, and against the far right. Therefore, despite all the polls that is 27, predicting they would lose, the NPF came first. This was a shock.

Macron decided to ignore the results of the vote and appointed Michel Barnier from the LR, the party that got the least votes at the elections, as PM.

Barnier proposed an austerity program of $40 billion cuts. LFI proposed instead a counter program to generate around $40 billion of new income for the state, which was broadcast everywhere. Barnier, in his budget, had refused to abolish the law imposing pension age increase to 64, which 92% of the working population were opposed to and which had unleashed huge mobilizations. Consequently, the RN had no choice but to vote for the no-confidence motion against him proposed by the left. Barnier fell. He was replaced by Bayrou.

The lesson Macron drew from this sequence was the absolute necessity to divide the NPF. Bayrou therefore attracted the Socialist Party into a trap of so-called ‘negotiations’ in exchange for the promise not to censure the government anymore. In so doing, the SP broke their commitment to the program of the NFP that allowed them to be elected as MPs in the previous election. It was the unity of the left in the NFP that rescued the SP from the disastrous position they were in after the 2022 presidential election. [LFI 22% – Greens 4.6% Communist Party 2.3% Socialist Party 1.7%]

LFI is adamant that what comes first is the program. The negotiations and little arrangements with Bayrou on an austerity plan are obviously in utter contradiction with the NFP program. Nevertheless, and despite six refusals to vote no-confidence against Bayrou each time he imposed his measures without a vote using Article 49.3, the SP had at last to face reality – Bayrou’s promises were just lies. After six months, the Socialist Party eventually proposed a no-confidence motion.

As regards the RN, which claims to be close to the people, they are more and more revealing their true nature as a prop of capital. They supported Bayrou in exchange for their racist agenda being promoted and implemented by Retailleau.

Thanks to the SP and RN, who did not vote for six no-confidence motions each time Bayrou used the 49.3 to impose his attacks on the population, the PM remained in office.

Consequently, six months were lost until ordinary people decided to fight back themselves.

Due to the undemocratic use of presidential decrees, the struggle in parliament was unable to defeat Macron’s policy of austerity. Finally, July saw an upsurge of mass national opposition outside of parliament. The first development was a petition against the Duplomb law allowing the use of pesticides in agriculture, which received in about two weeks more than two million signatures. It was launched by a young female student and got the support of another woman who has cancer and shouted in the National Assembly, ‘you are allies of cancer and we will make that known’. It was followed by the national ‘Bloquons tout’ movement erupting onto the national scene.

Crisis of the Regime

The issue at stake is more than short-term. Indeed, Macron is desperately and stubbornly hanging on to power. But what is at stake is more institutional: the 5th Republic is not working anymore.

The 5th Republic was set up in 1958 when decolonization was underway and in the midst of the Algerian War of Independence from French imperialism. De Gaulle used it to put an end to the parliamentary regime of the 4th Republic. Parliament could never establish a majority government, making it impossible to get a united and stable government. As many MPs were in favor of independence for Algeria, there was an attempted coup led by far-right army officers. They called on De Gaulle to come back to power. He agreed but asked for a new constitution. The latter reinforced the executive powers of the President, while a parliament still existed. It is thanks to the 1958 constitution that Macron and his government could endlessly bypass the National Assembly in recent years.

In one way, we are back to the 4th Republic: no political group has an absolute majority. And the 1958 Constitution, by giving a predominant role to the president, means that Macron can decide many things alone.

Macron has abused his constitutional rights as no president has done during the 5th Republic. He resorted more than forty times to Article 49.3, bypassing parliament and imposing his policies by decree. Now the people are fed up and have started to move. As Mélenchon said, Bayrou fell, and now it is Macron who is on the front line against the people.

What Next?

The discontent in France is general and has been building up for years. Small measures like keeping the national holidays or that PMs will not have a chauffeur for life but only for 10 years won’t quench it!

This is a historical moment, as Mélenchon said. Two-thirds of the National Assembly voting against a PM is unprecedented in the 5th Republic, and no dialogue with Macron, as the SP proposed, will work. The SP continues to be overwhelmed by an internal crisis after the Hollande presidency. The right wing of the party was reinforced thanks to the NPF, which allowed them to have more MPs. But as Hollande said, the role of social democracy in a time of turmoil is to ensure stability. Concretely, it has meant betraying its commitment against austerity in the NPF and preventing Macron and his government from being overthrown. After Bayrou fell, they hurriedly proposed to form a coalition cabinet, without LFI, with a plan of austerity of $22 billion rather than the $44 billion proposed by Bayrou. But Macron was not even interested.

LFI has repeatedly said that nothing will be improved by changing Prime Ministers – Macron is the problem. Only new presidential elections will break the deadlock.

As Jean-Luc Mélenchon recently explained, “We will not support any other government than our own. [The LFI]. We are not here to make a career, to be minister of this or that. Our goal is to decide what must be done: how do we develop the country? It is the program which matters. This is why we need a presidential election.”

Source

New Orleans, Sept. 16 – a crowd gathered across from Jackson Square Wednesday evening to protest Donald Trump’s threats to send troops into the Big Easy as well as the state capital, Baton Rouge.

This rally and march, organized by PSL, took place just one week after a similar one on Sept. 9. A half dozen other groups participated including Unión Migrante and Palestine Youth Movement. At both actions, the crowds were clear: They see through Trump and Landry’s lies.

A PSL organizer named Ed addressed the crowd before marching, saying:

“It’s an occupation by the billionaire class against the working class to further criminalize us. You want to solve crime in our communities?

“Give us universal health care. We haven’t seen a minimum wage raised in decades. Give us the right to form a union. Give us quality education. And until we have a people-powered, people-funded, people-organized economy, the criminalization of our people will only continue.”

He emphasized that even though Trump’s fascist movement is controlling the government right now, both ruling parties are for the rich and against the people. Trump did not create the oppression and injustice in our society, but he took the reins of a racist, capitalist system ready for him to exploit with his cronies. 

Ed continued:

“Who passed the 1994 crime bill that swelled up the prisons in the United States? Democratic President Bill Clinton.

“When we look at our own city in the ‘90s, who swelled up OPP [Orleans Parish Prison]? A Democratic DA, Harry Connick Sr., had OPP overflowing. … Democratic President Joe Biden is walking around our country a free man, and he’s a war criminal. …

“And ICE right now is running around empowered. The KKK took off the white sheets and now they’re wearing face masks, terrorizing our neighborhoods! …

“Right now, we have a cancer alley right here, and it’s creating the demise of southern Louisiana. If you’re going to send law enforcement down here, go ahead and arrest all these CEOs of these petrochemical companies. That’s who needs to be arrested.

“What crimes are being committed? The biggest crime in the city of New Orleans is wage theft. And it’s a crime being committed by all of these people in these office buildings and businesses all over the French Quarter. We want to talk about crime?

“Shame! Brothers and sisters, we need to recognize that we have a system that’s oppressing us, and we will continue to organize and resist. …

“There will not be freedom in this country until the capitalist system is abolished. …

“We’re living in a very dark hour right now. Fascism isn’t coming. Fascism is here. But our message to Congress, our message to the President and the Trump administration is that another world is possible, and we’re going to organize to bring it into being.”

Lee en español aquí

In September 1960, in the heart of Black America, Harlem’s Hotel Theresa became the stage for one of the world’s most monumental encounters.

When Malcolm X and Fidel Castro met there 65 years ago, Harlem itself was transformed into a crossroads of revolutionary fervor. The rendezvous would leave an indelible mark not only on New York City but on the entire world, becoming a watershed moment that helped shape the conscience of generations of freedom fighters and sped the rhythm for the struggle for liberation in the United States and across the globe.

The meeting between Fidel and Malcolm X at the Hotel Theresa was not a mere photo-op; it was a potent symbol of an era of revolution and national liberation struggles crystallized in an embrace between two young revolutionaries facing the wrath of the US empire and sending a powerful statement against US hegemony and racial oppression.

This event, born out of circumstance and defiance, continues to hold profound relevance today, particularly in the context of global debates on self-determination and the ongoing struggle for Palestinian liberation. Like the Cuban Revolution in 1960, which embodied the dreams and aspirations of oppressed people worldwide, the Palestinian cause and the people of Gaza today serve as a compass for those seeking to change the world. The unyielding spirit of resistance in Gaza has become a powerful symbol for a new generation of activists fighting for liberation everywhere.

US hostility and the Harlem welcome

Fidel’s visit to New York for the 15th session of the UN General Assembly was met with hostility from the US establishment. When he and the Cuban delegation were initially booked at the downtown Shelburne Hotel, the management demanded a hefty USD 20,000 cash deposit for “damages” and the US State Department restricted their movements. This was a clear political attack, part of the broader US campaign to isolate the young Cuban Revolution as the CIA’s sabotage and terror attacks on the island began to pick up steam.

It was in this moment of diplomatic tension that a group of Black leaders, including Malcolm X, stepped in. They extended an invitation for Fidel and the Cuban delegation to move to the Hotel Theresa, a beacon of African American cultural and political life in Harlem. Fidel accepted, turning a diplomatic insult into a powerful political statement against the Eisenhower Administration’s attempt to silence him. By moving to Harlem, Fidel would create a headache for Washington by intentionally highlighting the hypocrisy of a nation that claimed to be a champion of democracy and freedom abroad while its Black citizens faced systemic segregation and oppression at home.

The atmosphere in Harlem was electric. Thousands of people, defying the rain, gathered outside the Hotel Theresa to cheer the revolutionary leader, a testament to the popular support for Cuba’s struggle against US imperialism among African Americans. As Malcolm X himself later wrote in his autobiography, Fidel “achieved a psychological coup over the US State Department when it confined him to Manhattan, never dreaming that he’d stay uptown in Harlem and make such an impression among the Negroes.”

Rosemari Mealy, in her work “Fidel & Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting”, emphasizes the profound significance of this move. She notes that the meeting symbolized “the respect that both men expressed towards each other” and their shared struggle for self-determination and national liberation. To the thousands who gathered outside the hotel, “the idea began to build that Castro would come here to stay because he had found out, as most Negroes found out, the nasty ways the underdog was treated downtown.” Fidel was seen as a revolutionary who had “told White America to go to hell,” as a contemporary Black newspaper put it. This powerful sentiment resonated deeply within the community.

Anti-imperialist meeting in the heart of Harlem

The Hotel Theresa meeting was a crucial moment in the history of internationalism and anti-imperialist solidarity. It demonstrated a clear understanding that the struggle against racial oppression and for human rights in the US was inextricably linked to the struggle against colonialism and imperialism abroad. This is a central theme explored by scholars like Rosemari Mealy in her work, which compiles firsthand accounts and reflections, highlighting how the meeting symbolized an era of decolonization and human rights struggles among Black and Third World peoples globally. It was a powerful rejection of the Cold War narrative that sought to frame these movements as isolated and illegitimate.

The meeting exposed the hypocrisy of US claims of being a beacon of freedom while its own Black citizens faced systemic segregation and violence, not just in the US South under Jim Crow, but even in the urban centers of the US North. Fidel’s decision to move to Harlem and his subsequent meetings with world leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt from his “new headquarters” transformed him from a hemispheric figure into a global one. As Simon Hall writes in “Ten Days in Harlem”, Fidel’s actions highlighted that “the stain of segregation was alive and well in the urban north,” and placed the politics of anti-imperialism and racial equality at the center of the Cold War. The image of the Hotel Theresa, a Black-owned establishment, serving as a hub for global leaders challenging US power, was a tangible manifestation of the rise of the Third World project of sovereignty and independence in the making.

On September 24, the atmosphere in Fidel’s room at the Hotel Theresa was electric, a small room buzzing with the energy of a young revolution. It was cramped with Cuban guerrillas, youth who had descended from the Sierra Maestra mountains less than two years earlier. At 34, Fidel himself was a whirlwind of motion; his famous beard and olive-green fatigues radiated a restless energy. The room, cluttered with drafts of his upcoming UN speech and scattered news cables, served as a makeshift headquarters. Across from him sat Malcolm X, 35, who, in a sharp suit and with an equally commanding presence, embodied the increasingly militant Black liberation movement within the United States. The encounter was a profound, if brief, exchange between two men who recognized the mirror of their struggles in one another, a shared fight for what Fidel would later call, two days later, in his historic four-hour-long UN speech, “the full human dignity” of all oppressed people. Only a few Black journalists were permitted inside, where Fidel, speaking in English, expressed his admiration for the resilience of African Americans. “I admire this,” he said. “Your people live here and are faced with this propaganda all the time, and yet, they understand. This is very interesting.” Malcolm X’s reply was succinct and powerful: “There are twenty million of us, and we always understand.” As he left the hotel, facing a throng of hostile journalists asking about his sympathies for the Cubans, Malcolm X defiantly replied “Please don’t tell us who should be our friends, and who should be our enemies”.

Though Fidel and Malcolm X would never again meet in person, their lives became intertwined through a shared commitment to internationalism. Just a few years after their historic encounter, Malcolm X would travel to Gaza, where he met with the newly formed Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and wrote his powerful essay “Zionist Logic,” describing Zionism as “a new form of colonialism.” This solidarity mirrored that of the Cuban Revolution; earlier Cuban delegations, including Raúl Castro and Che Guevara, had also visited Gaza, and Cuba would become one of the first countries to recognize both the PLO and the Palestinian state.

From Harlem to Palestine

The echoes of the 1960 meeting resonate powerfully with the upcoming 80th high-level segment of the UN General Assembly. The core principles that defined the encounter between Fidel and Malcolm X, self-determination, anti-imperialism, and the full dignity of oppressed peoples, are being intensely contested today. This is most evident in the ongoing genocide in Palestine, where for nearly two years, Israel, with the unwavering support of the United States, has sought to eradicate the Palestinian people in Gaza through a brutal campaign of endless war, siege, and man-made famine.

Today the struggle of the Palestinians mirrors the oppressive blockade and genocidal siege Cuba has endured for decades. While Cuba’s fight against the US blockade and sanctions has been a protracted war of attrition, marked by a calculated erasure from the news cycle, the Palestinian experience has been one of constant, visceral carnage. US and Western media consistently delegitimize the realities of both peoples, yet they differ in their immediate, brutal visibility. The solidarity Malcolm X showed Cuba, seeing in Fidel a kindred spirit in the fight against a powerful US empire, is the same spirit that animates pro-Palestinian movements today. Just as Fidel and Malcolm X recognized their shared cause, a new generation of activists around the world is increasingly linking the Palestinian struggle to their own anti-colonial, anti-racists, and liberation movements. Across continents, the Palestinian flag and the keffiyeh have become inseparable from the fight for self-determination. Youth in their millions around the world today challenge the domination of US hegemony and re-center the debate on the fundamental human right of all oppressed peoples to live free from imperialism through the lens of the Palestinian struggle.

The dynamics of the 1960 meeting are mirrored in the current debates at the UN. The US government continues to use its power to stifle opposition and punish those who challenge its foreign policy agenda, particularly concerning Palestine. The unprecedented decision on August 29, 2025, by Secretary of State Marco Rubio to deny visas to the entire Palestinian delegation is a stark example of this. In a statement, Rubio made it clear that the US will use its visa authority to advance its political agenda, stating, “It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”

This act of diplomatic isolation, much like the treatment Fidel received in 1960, is designed to delegitimize the Palestinian cause and prevent it from continuing to gain traction on the world stage. Despite the contradictions raised by the Palestinian Authority’s role as the only representative of the Palestinian people at the UN, it’s important to recognize that it’s an attempt to silence a people whose very existence is under siege. However, the more burning issue is that the international community’s response to the genocide taking place in Gaza must move beyond simple expressions of sympathy. While several European countries and US allies are poised to recognize Palestinian statehood formally, this gesture alone will not be enough to end the genocide and the ongoing man-made famine. The UN must move beyond symbolic recognition and take concrete action. At a minimum, this must include sanctions against Israel and a concerted effort to end the blockade of Gaza. Furthermore, based on international law and accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, the presence of Netanyahu or any Israeli representatives at the UN General Assembly should be rejected. How can the UN credibly host individuals who have been found responsible for designing and executing mass atrocities?

The struggle for Palestine today, akin to the struggle for Cuba against the blockade, is a fight for self-determination. The lessons of the Fidel-Malcolm X meeting are clear: solidarity across movements is a powerful weapon against imperialism. Sixty-five years later, we are still drawing inspiration from that brief yet monumental meeting in Harlem, learning that solidarity is not a mere gesture but a vital tool in the fight for liberation.

Manolo De Los Santos is Executive Director of The People’s Forum and a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. His writing appears regularly in Monthly Review, Peoples Dispatch, CounterPunch, La Jornada, and other progressive media. He coedited, most recently, Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War (LeftWord, 2020), Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro (LeftWord, 2021), and Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez (LeftWord, 2023).

Read in English here

En septiembre de 1960, en el corazón de la América negra, el Hotel Theresa de Harlem se convirtió en el escenario de uno de los encuentros más monumentales del mundo.

Cuando Malcolm X y Fidel Castro se reunieron allí hace 65 años, el propio Harlem se transformó en una encrucijada de fervor revolucionario. La cita dejaría una huella indeleble no solo en la ciudad de Nueva York, sino en todo el mundo, convirtiéndose en un momento decisivo que ayudó a formar la conciencia de generaciones de luchadores por la libertad y aceleró el ritmo de la lucha por la liberación en los Estados Unidos y en todo el mundo.

El encuentro entre Fidel y Malcolm X en el Hotel Theresa no fue una mera sesión fotográfica, sino un potente símbolo de una era de revolución y luchas de liberación nacional cristalizada en un abrazo entre dos jóvenes revolucionarios que se enfrentaban a la ira del imperio estadounidense y enviaban un poderoso mensaje contra la hegemonía estadounidense y la opresión racial.

Este acontecimiento, nacido de las circunstancias y el desafío, sigue teniendo una profunda relevancia hoy en día, especialmente en el contexto de los debates globales sobre la autodeterminación y la lucha en curso por la liberación de Palestina. Al igual que la Revolución Cubana de 1960, que encarnó los sueños y aspiraciones de los pueblos oprimidos de todo el mundo, la causa palestina y el pueblo de Gaza sirven hoy en día de brújula para quienes buscan cambiar el mundo. El inquebrantable espíritu de resistencia de Gaza se ha convertido en un poderoso símbolo para una nueva generación de activistas que luchan por la liberación en todo el mundo.

La hostilidad de los Estados Unidos y la bienvenida de Harlem

La visita de Fidel a Nueva York para el 15º período de sesiones de la Asamblea General de la ONU fue recibida con hostilidad por parte de las élites estadounidenses. Cuando él y la delegación cubana fueron inicialmente alojados en el Hotel Shelburne, en el centro de la ciudad, la dirección exigió un cuantioso depósito en efectivo de 20.000 dólares por “daños y perjuicios” y el Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos restringió sus movimientos. Se trataba de un claro ataque político, parte de una campaña más amplia de los Estados Unidos para aislar a la joven Revolución Cubana, mientras los sabotajes y los atentados terroristas de la CIA en la isla comenzaban a cobrar impulso.

Fue en ese momento de tensión diplomática cuando un grupo de líderes negros, entre ellos Malcolm X, intervino. Invitaron a Fidel y a la delegación cubana a trasladarse al Hotel Theresa, un referente de la vida cultural y política afroamericana en Harlem. Fidel aceptó, convirtiendo una ofensa diplomática en una poderosa declaración política contra el intento de la Administración Eisenhower de silenciarlo. Al trasladarse a Harlem, Fidel causaría un dolor de cabeza a Washington al destacar intencionadamente la hipocresía de una nación que se proclamaba defensora de la democracia y la libertad en el extranjero, mientras que sus ciudadanos negros se enfrentaban a una segregación y opresión sistémicas en su propio país.

El ambiente en Harlem era electrizante. Miles de personas, desafiando la lluvia, se reunieron frente al Hotel Theresa para vitorear al líder revolucionario, lo que demostraba el apoyo popular de los afroamericanos a la lucha de Cuba contra el imperialismo estadounidense.

Como el propio Malcolm X escribió más tarde en su autobiografía, Fidel “logró un golpe psicológico sobre el Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos cuando lo confinó a Manhattan, sin imaginar que se quedaría en Harlem y causaría tal impresión entre los negros”. Rosemari Mealy, en su obra Fidel y Malcolm X: Recuerdos de un encuentro, destaca el profundo significado de esta medida.

Señala que el encuentro simbolizó “el respeto que ambos hombres se profesaban mutuamente” y su lucha compartida por la autodeterminación y la liberación nacional. Para los miles de personas que se reunieron fuera del hotel, “comenzó a gestarse la idea de que Castro vendría aquí para quedarse porque había descubierto, como la mayoría de los negros, el trato desagradable que se daba a los desfavorecidos en el centro de la ciudad”. Fidel era visto como un revolucionario que había “mandado al infierno a la América blanca”, como lo expresó un periódico negro contemporáneo. Este poderoso sentimiento resonó profundamente en la comunidad.

Encuentro antiimperialista en el corazón de Harlem

El encuentro en el Hotel Theresa fue un momento crucial en la historia del internacionalismo y la solidaridad antiimperialista. Demostró una clara comprensión de que la lucha contra la opresión racial y por los derechos humanos en los Estados Unidos estaba indisolublemente ligada a la lucha contra el colonialismo y el imperialismo en el extranjero. Este es un tema central explorado por académicos como Rosemari Mealy en su trabajo, que recopila relatos y reflexiones de primera mano, destacando cómo la reunión simbolizó una era de descolonización y luchas por los derechos humanos entre los pueblos negros y del Tercer Mundo a nivel mundial. Fue un poderoso rechazo a la narrativa de la Guerra Fría que trataba de presentar estos movimientos como aislados e ilegítimos.

La reunión puso de manifiesto la hipocresía de las afirmaciones de los Estados Unidos de ser un faro de libertad, mientras que sus propios ciudadanos negros se enfrentaban a una segregación y una violencia sistémicas, no solo en el sur de los Estados Unidos bajo Jim Crow, sino incluso en los centros urbanos del norte del país. La decisión de Fidel de trasladarse a Harlem y sus posteriores reuniones con líderes mundiales como Jawaharlal Nehru, de la India, y Gamal Abdel Nasser, de Egipto, desde su “nueva sede” lo transformaron de una figura hemisférica en una figura mundial. Como escribe Simon Hall en Ten Days in Harlem, las acciones de Fidel pusieron de relieve que “la mancha de la segregación seguía viva en el norte urbano” y situaron la política del antiimperialismo y la igualdad racial en el centro de la Guerra Fría. La imagen del Hotel Theresa, un establecimiento propiedad de negros, que servía de centro neurálgico para los líderes mundiales que desafiaban el poder de los Estados Unidos, era una manifestación tangible del auge del proyecto del Tercer Mundo de soberanía e independencia en ciernes.

El 24 de septiembre, el ambiente en la habitación de Fidel en el Hotel Theresa era eléctrico, una pequeña habitación rebosante de la energía de una joven revolución. Estaba abarrotada de guerrilleros cubanos, jóvenes que habían descendido de las montañas de la Sierra Maestra menos de dos años antes. A sus 34 años, el propio Fidel era un torbellino de movimiento; su famosa barba y su uniforme verde oliva irradiaban una energía inquieta. La habitación, abarrotada de borradores de su próximo discurso ante la ONU y cables de noticias esparcidos, servía de cuartel general improvisado. Frente a él se sentaba Malcolm X, de 35 años, quien, con un elegante traje y una presencia igualmente imponente, encarnaba el cada vez más militante movimiento de liberación negra dentro de los Estados Unidos. El encuentro fue un intercambio profundo, aunque breve, entre dos hombres que reconocían en el otro el reflejo de sus propias luchas, una lucha compartida por lo que Fidel llamaría dos días después, en su histórico discurso de cuatro horas ante la ONU, “la plena dignidad humana” de todos los pueblos oprimidos. Solo se permitió la entrada a unos pocos periodistas negros, ante los cuales Fidel, hablando en inglés, expresó su admiración por la resistencia de los afroamericanos. “Admiro esto”, dijo. “Su pueblo vive aquí y se enfrenta a esta propaganda todo el tiempo y, sin embargo, lo entiende. Esto es muy interesante”. La respuesta de Malcolm X fue sucinta y contundente: “Somos veinte millones y siempre lo entendemos”. Al salir del hotel, frente a una multitud de periodistas hostiles que le preguntaban por su simpatía hacia los cubanos, Malcolm X respondió desafiante: “Por favor, no nos digan quiénes deben ser nuestros amigos y quiénes nuestros enemigos”.

Aunque Fidel y Malcolm X nunca volverían a verse en persona, sus vidas se entrelazaron a través de un compromiso compartido con el internacionalismo. Solo unos años después de su histórico encuentro, Malcolm X viajaría a Gaza, donde se reunió con la recién formada Organización para la Liberación de Palestina (OLP) y escribió su impactante ensayo “La lógica sionista”, en el que describía el sionismo como “una nueva forma de colonialismo”. Esta solidaridad reflejaba la de la Revolución Cubana; delegaciones cubanas anteriores, entre las que se encontraban Raúl Castro y el Che Guevara, también habían visitado Gaza, y Cuba se convertiría en uno de los primeros países en reconocer tanto a la OLP como al Estado palestino.

De Harlem a Palestina

Los ecos del encuentro de 1960 resuenan con fuerza en el próximo 80º período de sesiones de alto nivel de la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas. Los principios fundamentales que definieron el encuentro entre Fidel y Malcolm X, la autodeterminación, el antiimperialismo y la plena dignidad de los pueblos oprimidos, están siendo hoy objeto de una intensa controversia. Esto es más evidente en el genocidio que se está produciendo en Palestina, donde durante casi dos años Israel, con el apoyo inquebrantable de los Estados Unidos, ha tratado de erradicar al pueblo palestino en Gaza mediante una brutal campaña de guerra sin fin, asedio y hambruna provocada por el hombre.

Hoy en día, la lucha de los palestinos refleja el bloqueo opresivo y el asedio genocida que Cuba ha soportado durante décadas. Mientras que la lucha de Cuba contra el bloqueo y las sanciones de los Estados Unidos ha sido una prolongada guerra de desgaste, marcada por una calculada desaparición del ciclo de noticias, la experiencia palestina ha sido una carnicería constante y visceral. Los medios de comunicación estadounidenses y occidentales deslegitiman constantemente la realidad de ambos pueblos, pero difieren en su visibilidad inmediata y brutal. La solidaridad que Malcolm X mostró hacia Cuba, al ver en Fidel un alma gemela en la lucha contra el poderoso imperio estadounidense, es el mismo espíritu que anima hoy a los movimientos pro palestinos. Al igual que Fidel y Malcolm X reconocieron su causa común, una nueva generación de activistas de todo el mundo vincula cada vez más la lucha palestina a sus propios movimientos anticolonialistas, antirracistas y de liberación. En todos los continentes, la bandera palestina y la keffiyeh se han vuelto inseparables de la lucha por la autodeterminación. Millones de jóvenes de todo el mundo desafían hoy en día el dominio de la hegemonía estadounidense y reorientan el debate sobre el derecho humano fundamental de todos los pueblos oprimidos a vivir libres del imperialismo a través del prisma de la lucha palestina.

La dinámica de la reunión de 1960 se refleja en los debates actuales en la ONU. El Gobierno de los Estados Unidos sigue utilizando su poder para reprimir a la oposición y castigar a quienes desafían su agenda de política exterior, en particular en lo que respecta a Palestina. La decisión sin precedentes tomada el 29 de agosto de 2025 por el secretario de Estado Marco Rubio de denegar visados a toda la delegación palestina es un claro ejemplo de ello. En una declaración, Rubio dejó claro que los Estados Unidos utilizará su autoridad en materia de visados para promover su agenda política, afirmando que “redunda en interés de nuestra seguridad nacional exigir responsabilidades a la OLP y a la Autoridad Palestina por no cumplir sus compromisos y por socavar las perspectivas de paz”.

Este acto de aislamiento diplomático, muy similar al trato que recibió Fidel en 1960, tiene por objeto deslegitimar la causa palestina e impedir que siga ganando terreno en la escena internacional. A pesar de las contradicciones que plantea el papel de la Autoridad Palestina como único representante del pueblo palestino en la ONU, es importante reconocer que se trata de un intento de silenciar a un pueblo cuya propia existencia está bajo asedio. Sin embargo, la cuestión más candente es que la respuesta de la comunidad internacional al genocidio que se está produciendo en Gaza debe ir más allá de simples expresiones de simpatía. Aunque varios países europeos y aliados de los Estados Unidos están dispuestos a reconocer formalmente la condición de Estado palestino, este gesto por sí solo no será suficiente para poner fin al genocidio y a la hambruna provocada por el hombre. La ONU debe ir más allá del reconocimiento simbólico y tomar medidas concretas. Como mínimo, esto debe incluir sanciones contra Israel y un esfuerzo concertado para poner fin al bloqueo de Gaza. Además, basándose en el derecho internacional y en las acusaciones de crímenes de guerra y crímenes contra la humanidad, se debe rechazar la presencia de Netanyahu o de cualquier representante israelí en la Asamblea General de la ONU. ¿Cómo puede la ONU acoger de forma creíble a personas que han sido declaradas responsables de diseñar y ejecutar atrocidades masivas?

La lucha por Palestina hoy en día, similar a la lucha de Cuba contra el bloqueo, es una lucha por la autodeterminación. Las lecciones de la reunión entre Fidel y Malcolm X son claras: la solidaridad entre movimientos es un arma poderosa contra el imperialismo. Sesenta y cinco años después, seguimos inspirándonos en esa breve pero monumental reunión en Harlem, aprendiendo que la solidaridad no es un mero gesto, sino una herramienta vital en la lucha por la liberación.

Manolo De Los Santos es director ejecutivo de The People’s Forum e investigador del Instituto Tricontinental de Investigación Social. Sus artículos aparecen regularmente en Monthly Review, Peoples Dispatch, CounterPunch, La Jornada y otros medios progresistas. Recientemente ha coeditado Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War (LeftWord, 2020), Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro (LeftWord, 2021) y Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez (LeftWord, 2023).

Charlie Kirk was a racist. Charlie Kirk was a transphobe. Charlie Kirk was a Nazi in every sense of the word. And this cultivator of hate is now dead. 

Since his death, U.S. presidents, news media, and even sports franchises have anointed Kirk as a martyr for the cause of free speech and open debate. All have strongly condemned Kirk’s assassination as an “act of political violence.” 

A bipartisan salute to fascism

It was unsurprising when Trump’s fascist Republican Party lionized Kirk as a hero and demanded swift, brutal justice for his killing. However, Trump and his fascist base have not been alone in their worship of Kirk. The entire ruling class has been united in their defense of Kirk in the wake of his death.

Joe Biden, former war criminal in chief, released a statement stating that “There is no place in our country for this kind of violence. It must end now. Jill and I are praying for Charlie Kirk’s family and loved ones.” 

President Biden notably lacked this empathy for the tens of thousands of Palestinians that his administration murdered via the apartheid state of Israel

Barack Obama referred to Kirk’s killing as “despicable violence that has no place in our democracy.” The irony is thick: a man responsible for drone strikes in Pakistan that killed thousands of people, including dozens of children, strongly condemns the assassination of a prominent Nazi. 

Praise of Kirk was not limited to U.S. capitalist politicians and demagogues. Benjamin Netanyahu described Kirk as a “lion-hearted friend of Israel.” Fascist Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declared Kirk’s death a “deep wound for democracy.” 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Party declared there is “no justification for political violence.” Yet, his government joined a U.S. military offensive against Yemen for its solidarity with Palestine. When an Israeli airstrike — using British and U.S. support — assassinated Yemeni Prime Minister Ahmed al-Rahawi in August, that act of “political violence” was apparently justified.

Along with the political sphere, the entire media and the entire ruling class establishment have crowned Kirk as a champion of open debate whose life was tragically cut short. Since Kirk’s death, the New York Yankees, several NFL teams, and even McDonald’s have held some sort of display in commemoration of the slain fascist organizer.  Donald Trump, Joe Biden, the New York Yankees, and McDonald’s would have us believe that Kirk was an innocent victim and a martyr for the cause of free speech. 

He was no such thing.

So, who was Charlie Kirk? Who was this hero for free expression being deified across mainstream society? Charlie Kirk was a hateful racist and fascist. Kirk’s actions and statements over the years have made this reality abundantly clear. 

Kirk’s role in the fascist movement was prominent and expansive. Understanding the current media campaign around Kirk’s fatal shooting requires an examination of his life and fascist beliefs. In 2019, Kirk founded “Turning Point USA,” an organization that has become the vanguard for the growth of Trumpism among Gen Z. Since then, Kirk has personally run and grown the organization into a national fascist mobilization operation. Turning Point USA’s core mission is the conversion of college students to MAGA ideology and Christian nationalism. 

In the buildup to the Jan. 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” march on Capitol Hill, Kirk announced that Turning Point USA would send 80 buses of young conservatives to the attempted Trump coup. Reports surfaced later that Turning Point USA also funneled significant funds to the organizers of the insurrection. 

A record of racism, transphobia, and hate

Kirk’s support of Jan. 6 is just the tip of the iceberg. Over the years, Kirk pushed vicious fascist views on a number of issues. Shortly before his death, Kirk openly denied that Israel was committing any violence against civilians or children in Gaza. At one point on his tour of college campuses, Kirk went as far as to assert that “Palestine doesn’t exist.” 

Kirk seemingly has an endless repertoire of violent, offensive statements. The Guardian newspaper compiled a list of Kirk’s positions on issues ranging from race to gender to immigration. On April 1, 2024, Kirk compared all gender-affirming health care clinics to German Nazi doctors, demanding that all gender affirming care providers be tried “Nuremberg style.” Later that year, Kirk implied that he would force his 10-year-old daughter to deliver a child conceived from rape. 

One of Kirk’s greatest concerns was the very existence of the Black community. He targeted Black people with vicious, racist lies again and again. In the world of Charlie Kirk, one of the biggest problems in the U.S. was “prowling Blacks [who] go around for fun to target white people.” 

Kirk often honed his attacks against Black women, declaring that Joy Reid, Michelle Obama, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Ketanji Brown Jackson “stole their slot” from a white person. All of these anti-Black statements are patently lies, but that never stopped Kirk. 

Anti-immigration also played a central role in Kirk’s ideology, as he was an explicit believer in “great replacement theory” – the idea that a Jewish and / or socialist conspiracy is underway in the U.S. to replace white people with Latine migrants. In 2024, Kirk boldly declared, “The great replacement strategy, which is well under way every single day on our southern border, is a strategy to replace white rural America with something different.” 

Open debate was supposedly Kirk’s calling card. He consistently advocated for his own right to speak freely, while always trying to intimidate and silence ideological opponents.

He viciously attacked all of those who spoke against MAGA fascism or U.S.-Israeli genocide in Gaza. When Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoral primary with popular demands around health care, education and against the genocide in Palestine, Kirk immediately unleashed his rage. Kirk tweeted, “24 years ago a group of Muslims killed 2,753 people on 9/11. Now, a Muslim Socialist is on pace to run New York City.” The comparison between Mamdani and the attack on the World Trade Center is as incorrect as it is racist. 

One unassailable conclusion is easily drawn from Kirk’s words and fascist activism. Charlie Kirk was an absolute and complete monster. Kirk held fascist values deeply in his soul and was a white nationalist preaching that white Western society was inherently superior to the rest of the world. This conception is foundational to Nazi ideology, dating back to Adolf Hitler. In Kirk’s own words: “Western civilization is the best that humanity has produced. It’s an outgrowth of the Bible.” 

Given the mountain of evidence that demonstrates Kirk’s political nature, a question must be posed. Why is this fascist maniac being lionized and commemorated?

When progressive activists or even Democratic Party politicians are attacked or assassinated, they do not receive nearly the mass exultation that Kirk has in the past week. Donald Trump insisted that there were “fine people” within the neo-Nazi crowd that marched on Charlottesville in 2017 and murdered DSA member and anti-fascist activist Heather Heyer. 

On June 14, 2025, Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, and her husband were murdered in their home by a MAGA terrorist, who also shot and seriously wounded Democratic State Senator John Hoffman and his wife.

The mainstream political world was relatively calm when compared to the circus around Kirk. There was no moment of silence at Yankee Stadium. JD Vance did not visit the Hortman or Hoffman families. McDonald’s kept its flags at full mast. 

Yet, the current reaction to Kirk’s death is reaching a complete fever pitch, with the right wing demanding retribution against the broad progressive movement. JD Vance hosted Charlie Kirk’s Monday podcast from the White House, promising there will be no unity with the “radical left.” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is firing any Department of War staffer who posts negative statements about Kirk on social media. The billionaire class and their political mouthpieces have made clear that Charlie Kirk is now a figure of national salvation, not to be questioned nor criticized. 

Widespread praise and outrage over Kirk’s death seem particularly ridiculous when analyzed in the context of current U.S. imperialist violence across the globe. Political hacks like Trump and Biden pour out tears for a Nazi agitator when their own policies murdered thousands upon thousands of children in Gaza. As these tears flow, the U.S.-backed project of Israel unleashes its ground offensive into Gaza City and renews the bombing of Yemen’s crucial Hodeidah port. These actions will directly or indirectly result in the deaths of thousands of innocent people. 

Even so, the billionaires and the politicians they bankroll cry no tears for the people of Palestine or Yemen. 

They cry no tears for Venezuela or Cuba, which they have starved through sanctions for decades. The billionaire oligarchs and their flunkies cry no tears for the thousands of dead soldiers scattered across Ukraine, who die only for the profits of defense conglomerates. When it comes to a hateful Nazi organizer, the billionaires and their minions suddenly have boundless empathy. 

The capitalist embrace of fascism

This unity of wealthy interests and political figures around Kirk is entirely based on capitalism’s current tendency to rely on fascist rhetoric and tactics to maintain control domestically and internationally. The last decade has seen several challenges to U.S. imperialism’s iron fist both at home and abroad. Russia has defied NATO aggression on its Western border. Yemen, Iran, and Gaza have refused to bow to the Zionist offensive. Burkina Faso expelled French and U.S. corporate interests. 

Domestically, the entire country rebelled against racist police terror after the murder of George Floyd. This was the peak of a Black Lives Matter social movement that began over a decade ago with the murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner. 

The U.S.-escalated genocide in Palestine also triggered a massive protest movement in the U.S. against imperialist war and genocide. College students built encampments. Pro-Palestinian organizations marched on D.C. The Jewish community showed its first sign of substantial internal division around Zionist apartheid for the first time since Israel’s founding. 

The first Amazon labor union was formed. “Striketober” rocked the halls of power with its displays of cross-industry worker unity in 2021. Starbucks workers united not just to form a union, but to fight for Palestine. 

Facing economic and political instability that threatens their profits, the capitalist class is once again looking at fascism. This is a historical tactic: In the 1920s, German and Italian industrialists supported Hitler and Mussolini to crush widespread strikes and suppress growing socialist movements, thereby maintaining their power and control.

Trump and Vance are playing that same role. The Trump era has seen the growth of fascist rhetoric. And as shown by the outpouring of love for this Nazi maniac, Charlie Kirk, the entire ruling class is united behind Trump’s fascist vision. This acceptance of fascism can be seen not just in Kirk’s anointment as national hero, but also in the Democratic Party’s response, or lack thereof, to Trump’s invasions of major cities. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass used the brutal LAPD and other local agencies against the anti-Trump rebellion that broke out after mass ICE raids. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has completely surrendered to Trump regarding the National Guard occupation of the capital city. 

The fight ahead

There is no doubt that Trump and Vance and others will use Kirk’s death as pretext for already planned repressions against left-wing organizing. Now, more than ever, the working class must reject the lionization of individuals like Kirk. To accept the view of Kirk as a national hero is to accept the normalization of fascism. 

Now is the time to reject the pernicious lies of Republicans and Democrats alike. Now is the time to fight for a better world, to fight for socialism.