In recent weeks, a series of prisoner swaps has unfolded between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel, stemming from the Jan. 19 ceasefire deal. While the media spotlight has primarily centered on the zionist captives, those held by Palestinian resistance are most accurately described as prisoners of war, not hostages. In stark contrast, over 9,000 Palestinians remain incarcerated in Zionist prisons, including many elders and minors. 

Since the ceasefire, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have been released from Zionist prisons. This is a major victory for the resistance and all the families who can finally welcome their loved ones home. 

High-profile leader released

Several newly released Palestinian prisoners were high-profile leaders in the various resistance groups. This includes Khalida Jarrar, a 62-year-old woman and leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Zionists held Jarrar in solitary confinement for six months under “administrative detention” — a legal mechanism that allows them to hold any Palestinian indefinitely without charge or trial. Jarrar was freed along with 69 other women and 21 teenage boys, some as young as 12. 

After six years in a maximum security prison, Al Aqsa Martyrs’ commander Zakaria Zubeidi was finally released as part of the ceasefire exchanges. Zubeidi was a crucial figure in the Second Intifada and was set to serve a life sentence before his release. 

Mohammed Abu Warda, a Hamas commander active in the Second Intifada, was serving 48 terms of lifetime imprisonment before his release. Prominent Fatah political activist Mohammed al-Tous was also released after 39 years in a Zionist prison. 

However, it is not only prominent fighters or political leaders who are finally free from Zionist detention. The vast majority of those held in Zionist prisons are everyday people detained solely because they are Palestinian.

For example, Ali Nazzal from Qalqilya finally returned home after 17 years to meet his teenage son for the first time. That’s right. Ali had been in a Zionist prison for so long that he had never met his son. However, due to the Palestinian people’s steadfast resistance, Ali is now reunited with his family. 

Another prisoner who will see the light of freedom after 20 years in a Zionist prison is Palestinian scholar Hussam Shahin. While incarcerated, Shahin wrote two novels about the occupation. Upon his release, he was immediately transferred to a hospital for emergency care as the Zionist occupiers had performed surgery on him without anesthesia while in jail. Shahin is currently resting in a local hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. 

Harsh conditions in Zionist prisons

It should be noted that the released Palestinian prisoners nearly universally described the horrific conditions they experienced in various Zionist prisons and detention centers — reports of starvation, torture, and psychological abuse were common. 

This stands in stark contrast to the accounts of the Zionist captives held by Hamas, who described being treated with respect and kindness. 

The return of the Palestinian prisoners has justifiably filled the people of Gaza with pride and joy. This has been on full display in recent weeks as resistance groups and Palestinian police have marched through the streets of Gaza City alongside the newly released prisoners. 

This pride did not go unnoticed by the fascist war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and his accomplices. After images of Al-Qassam Brigade fighters marching through the streets surfaced on social media, Netanyahu immediately took to the airwaves to spread hateful anti-Palestinian bile. Netanyahu denounced the Al-Qassam processions as “horrifying” and “shocking.” In fact, Netanyahu briefly halted the entire prisoner exchange, creating chaos and confusion among the ranks of the Red Cross and even the Zionist authorities. 

The enduring spirit of Palestinian resistance

One question for the war criminal: Is it common for a nation not to celebrate its victories in war and the return of its prisoners? Why should the Palestinian people cower in silence at the feet of occupiers and U.S. imperialists? For Netanyahu to attack the very spirit of the Palestinian people — while an individual cannot walk down the street anywhere in “Israel” without seeing IDF propaganda — is the height of colonial arrogance. 

In reality, Netanyahu is simply embarrassed because the prisoner exchanges demonstrate the falsehood of the Zionist assertion that the occupation forces destroyed Hamas. The fact remains that anti-colonial resistance cannot be destroyed, whatever its form. As long as U.S. imperialist-backed occupiers seek to steal Palestine, the people will fight to keep it. 

These prisoner exchanges represent a positive development for the Palestinian liberation struggle and are certainly a victory. With that said, any resistance group will say that the struggle is not over until every part of Palestine is returned to its people – from Gaza to the Jordan River. 

Long live Palestine. 

Lev Koufax is an anti-Zionist Jewish activist.

Feb. 2 —

“Thank you for so much beauty to fight cruelty”, was a phrase that slipped in, almost a whisper, very early on when the Plaza del Congreso began to fill up for an anti-fascist and anti-racist march in opposition to Milei, which was unexpected, spontaneous and multitudinous.

One million people mobilized in the City of Buenos Aires – according to the organizers – as a result of the fuse lit by the LGBT community. A multicolored ray of light illuminated a day that will not go unnoticed. Is it a turning point? Is it finally a standstill? It remains to be seen whether the summer heat, impregnated in thousands and thousands of bodies, will drop or continue to rise. What is certain is that the march on February 1st was a massive and distinct call that sprang from an anti-fascist and self-convened assembly, and that multiplied throughout the country and the world. February precipitated a weariness and a hunger for change.

“My first march”

At 4 in the afternoon, the march led by transvestites, trans people, gays, non-binary people and lesbians left San José and Avenida de Mayo, a riot of color, the starting point for a political event: “I had never been on a march before, but after the president’s speech I said ‘Enough!’ and I came.” Says Flor – 14 years old – looking at the 14-meter-wide head of the march. There are 50 of them holding the flag with their fingers tightly pressed together, fingers wrinkled with red and black nails. Fingers of trans kids and lesbians. Anti-fascist and anti-racist pride, a beautiful flag, painted the day before on the sidewalk of Bonaparte Hospital. That detail, evidence of what this march was, a confluence of struggles, an intersectoral vibration, a profound encounter to, as Flor said in her first march: “Say Enough”.

“It is vital to install anti-fascism,” says Violeta Alegre, trans activist and DJ. “Now we are certain that it was not installed before, regardless of the progress we have made in human and civil rights. It is important to understand that fascism is not like Mussolini’s, there are other tools that allow it to be reconfigured, through technology and social networks.” She says, just before getting on the truck located behind the head of the march. Music, a montage and voguers – ballroom dancers – applauded: “Unity of all queers, and those who don’t like it, fascist, fascist.We can’t cope, we can’t make ends meet, we defend life against the fascist project, against the fascist project,” they chanted. Behind them, LGBT organizations, feminists and a square full of trade unions, Peronists and leftists. The entire spectrum of the opposition was at the march.

The popular festival without police

The Archbishopric of the City of Buenos Aires asked that the cathedral not be fenced off for the march, Judge Ramos Padilla issued a preventive habeas corpus without anyone asking him to, with the aim of preventing the security forces from intercepting people or transport. The streets around Avenida de Mayo were closed from early on and the street was a popular celebration, with LGBTIQNB+ pride in the air. The march broke the repressive protocols that were applied by Minister Patricia Bullrich throughout 2024.

The call was overwhelming. During the week there was a rumor that it was going to be a march that a large sector of society was going to join, but no one could predict it would be this large. And it became a reality, as happened with the “University March” in 2024 or with the “2×1” march during the government of Mauricio Macri. “There are things that this society does not negotiate,“ says a woman who is holding a camera in one hand and a walking stick in the other. She is sweating and suffering from the heat of the mid-afternoon: ”I am a pensioner, my grandson is gay and he is 13 years old, I am not going to allow this government to do whatever it wants.” ‘Where is your grandson?’ the reporter asks her. “Dancing over there,“ she says.

Anti-fascism in the square

“I think the most interesting thing about this event is that it puts at the center of the debate a policy of profound humanization of the different ways of existing in the world,” says Lucia Portos, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Gender and Diversity of the Province of Buenos Aires. For her it is a commitment to solidarity and to the creation of networks of relationships that challenge the institutional framework and propose the creation of community, unmasking the group of people who use cruelty as a tool,” she explains, adding: ”I believe that today’s march is a turning point that should also lead to a questioning of the logic of democratic representation that is subject to an urgent demand, that of assimilating the priorities set by popular organization and communicate them in order to build a majority that can effectively put a stop to the violence. The governor, Axel Kicillof, also took part in the march with the column from the province of Buenos Aires.

“The joy of having together organized a political event full of tenderness and political determination,” said Marta Dillon, activist, lesbian and feminist. “These people say no to you, Milei, we are not willing to tolerate your policy of extermination. We are not going to let fascism in.”

An unforgettable march that marks a turning point

“Our anti-racist discussion in relation to today’s march, and to this government, seeks to denounce the cuts and the losses in public policies and reparation measures for our communities, historically marginalized and violated due to structural and institutional racism in Argentina,” says Alejandra Pretel, member of afroslgbtiq+ and co-founder of Afrocolectiva, who was part of the anti-fascist assembly:

“For the president’s message to be replicated in the country and in the world is very dangerous,” says Yokarta, a sex worker who marches with AMMAR (Sex Workers’ Union). “It enables them to rape us in the neighborhoods where we work, to bring back the police raids and to arrest me for whatever reason. With that discourse, it’s to see if the police like us or not and that can’t be,” she says. ‘If the president says we are dangerous, then the police are going to take reprisals against us, every time he sees me, because I am a sex worker, a migrant or trans,’ she explains.

Transversality was colored, from the specific problems of the LGBT community to poverty pensions, all in the same march: “It is essential to fight against the hollowing out of health policies, especially those that provide or allow abortion, access to comprehensive health care for LGBT people, HIV medication and hormone treatment,” says Cesar Bisutti, lawyer, anti-prison activist and worker in the gender equity department of the Ministry of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires.

The day was a necessary day of beauty responding to cruelty, in the form of murmurs and celebration, with skin in the sun and make-up far removed from the constant tear gases that repeatedly challenge social protest. A stop, a hindrance and a message replicated in the world against the far right. The day after, there will be some relief and now the fuse of fighting back will already be lit.

Source Pagina 12, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English

Despite even allowing U.S. law enforcement to operate in the country, thus undermining its own sovereignty, Mexico is still faced with the prospect of being attacked. If the new administration is already conducting a thorough investigation of the illegal activities of its predecessors, then it should look into the connections of the U.S. intelligence with the drug cartels.

Since seizing power in our homeland Syria on December 8, 2024, as a result of a military attack fully supported by colonial powers that are members of the aggressive NATO, the dark clique has begun to restrict the social rights of the people. Tens of thousands of workers in the state and public sector facilities have been laid off, with many of these facilities being liquidated, which has led to a worsening of the economic and social situation. In addition, discrimination between citizens on the basis of their beliefs and affiliations is escalating. Kidnappings and assassinations have taken place and are taking place, accompanied by theft, looting and extortion.

On January 29, 2025, the features of the political tyranny of these forces began to crystallize more clearly. On that day, an expanded meeting was held for the leaders of the armed groups who seized most of the country as a result of historical conjuncture, without having any qualifications other than the power of arms.

In this meeting, it was agreed to consolidate the authoritarian style of ruling the country. One person was given full executive and legislative powers in running the state. This means emphasizing a blatant dictatorial system of government under the Turkish mandate. It is worth noting that this dangerous step was preceded by numerous meetings with representatives of imperialist centers and reactionary Arab regimes, in addition to the permanent presence of the Turkish guardian, which indicates that this transformation took place with the blessing of these circles. All promises to establish democratic freedoms and take steps in this direction were thrown into the trash can. Syria became without a constitution for the country, controlled by the whims of the obscurantists and the interests of the powers behind them.

Note that in the 2012 constitution that was abolished, there is no reference to the ruling party, but it stipulates general social rights, so this constitution was considered an obstacle to the path of transforming our country into a haven for the reactionary, obscurantist forces and their masters. The Turkish colonizer wants to carry out transformations in Syria of an extremist, obscurantist nature, which it cannot carry out in its own country. The ill-fated meeting of January 29 also decided to dissolve many national parties, including the Syrian Communist Party. We see this measure as a first step, which will be followed by other steps to restrict all true national and democratic forces.

The Syrian Communist Party, which is over a hundred years old, during which it has fought in various circumstances, will not submit to this unjust decision to dissolve it. It will continue its struggle in defense of the rights of the popular masses and to restore the independence and sovereignty of the homeland. We, the Syrian Communists, do not fear oppression and persecution, and our history is a witness to that. The Syrian people know us for our steadfastness on principle and our integrity in serving the people.

In this difficult stage, we see one of our first tasks as working to unite the ranks of all the good forces in our country, regardless of their background, in order to confront tyranny and dark oppression.

Together in the struggle for a free homeland and a happy people!

January 30, 2025
Central Committee of the Syrian Communist Party

On Feb. 1, President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China, signaling the start of a potential global trade war. Dubbed “Tariffs to Protect Americans,” the policy sets a 25% tariff on most goods from Mexico and Canada and a 10% tariff on Chinese imports.

Tariffs have become a key part of Trump’s aggressive MAGA economic plan. On Jan. 27, he even called “tariff” the fourth-most beautiful word in the dictionary — after “God,” “love,” and “religion.” He often praises former President William McKinley, calling him “the tariff sheriff,” and claims that McKinley’s aggressive tariff policies sparked an era of “American prosperity.”

In truth, the booming U.S. economy of the late 19th century was driven by many factors, such as rapid industrialization, new technology, and the expansion of railroads. Yet the most significant factor was the flood of immigrants, who provided a large, low-wage labor force. Capitalist profits come from labor and require an expanding workforce to grow. These workers powered factories, built infrastructure, and boosted demand for goods and services.

McKinley believed high tariffs would shield U.S. industries from foreign competition and boost domestic growth. The McKinley Tariff of 1890 raised rates to record levels, especially on manufactured goods. Although some domestic manufacturers enjoyed short-term gains, the overall impact was harmful. U.S. companies paid more for imported materials, farmers lost export markets due to retaliatory tariffs, and consumers faced higher prices. In fact, the McKinley Tariff helped spark the Panic of 1893, a severe economic depression.

Trump’s tariffs could be just as disruptive. They will likely push up prices for everyday items like food and household goods, hit working families hard, and force companies that rely on foreign parts to cut jobs or even close plants. Manufacturing, shipping, and transportation jobs could be at risk as trade slows and companies shift production to dodge the tariffs. When production and shipping costs rise, the working class suffers.

How is Trump able to do this?

Trump’s broad use of tariffs is possible because power over trade has shifted from Congress to the executive branch over decades. Although the Constitution gives Congress the authority to regulate trade and set tariffs, presidents have slowly taken over these decisions.

Behind this is the growth and centralization of capital. The means of production have become centralized in ever smaller and more powerful groupings of financiers, industrialists, and military contractors, buttressed by huge mega-banks of transnational proportions, now popularly referred to as the oligarchy. 

Capitalist development has fueled the rise of a handful of massive financial institutions and shadow banks tightly linked to the executive branch. The president now serves as the most direct and powerful tool of finance capital, some might say, of the oligarchs.

Congress has ceded power to the president. This shift benefits a small group of wealthy business interests and financial institutions that prefer fast, centralized decision-making over lengthy Congressional debates.

The president can impose tariffs with little oversight using laws like the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, and Section 301 of the Trade Act. In short, Congress’s role has shrunk, allowing the executive branch to shape policy to favor an entrenched capitalist oligarchy.

Tariffs on Colombia 

Tariffs have become a modern weapon used by Wall Street and the Pentagon. U.S. imperialism has turned economic pressure into a powerful tool — one that can cause more harm than bombs or guns. This tactic, sometimes called “dollar weaponization,” works because the U.S. dollar is the world’s primary reserve currency.

Because most international trade (especially oil) is done in dollars, and most banking transactions go through the SWIFT system and U.S. banks, the U.S. can use its control over these systems to wage economic warfare. When “weaponized,” these tools can restrict access to dollar transactions, freeze the assets of other countries, block them from trade, and control banking transactions through the SWIFT system.

Trump has a history of using tariffs for economic coercion. On Jan. 26, he announced steep tariffs on Colombia for not accepting U.S. military planes carrying deportees. Just ten hours later, he backed off after Colombia reversed its decision. 

Tariffs on BRICS

Then, on Jan. 30, Trump warned that goods from BRICS nations would face 100% tariffs if they tried to move away from the U.S. dollar in international trade.

BRICS — initially founded by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and now joined by Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates — is a coalition mainly of Global South countries. It is a counter to the G7 and NATO that offers an alternative to U.S. imperialist policies.

Although BRICS does not directly challenge the capitalist system, it offers a way for countries to resist imperialism and colonialism. For the working class, Trump’s hardline approach against BRICS is a warning. Tariffs and trade wars disrupt global supply chains, threaten jobs, and increase prices.

Instead of attacking countries that want to break free from imperialist control, we should stand in solidarity with workers around the world who are fighting for fair wages, safe conditions, and economic justice. 

In a final act of clemency on Jan. 20, President Joe Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier.

Peltier, an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, was a prominent figure in the American Indian Movement (AIM), which gained national attention in the 1970s for its advocacy of Native American self-determination and resistance to government oppression.

On April 18, 1977, a jury found Peltier guilty on two counts of first-degree murder for his alleged participation in the killing of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for aiding and abetting murder. 

Three AIM members were charged; two, Robert Robideau and Dino Butler, were acquitted of the same charges in separate trials based on self-defense.

The late Federal Judge Gerald William Heaney, who wrote a decision denying a new trial based on suppressed evidence, later urged Leonard Peltier’s release, stating that the FBI used improper tactics to convict him.

The decision to commute Peltier’s sentence, made just hours before Biden left office on Jan. 20, marks a significant moment in the decades-long fight for freedom, justice, and the broader struggles for Indigenous rights in the United States. Peltier was denied parole in July 2024 and would not be eligible again until 2026.

In February 2022, Kevin Sharp, former Federal Judge, had this to say in his push for clemency for then 77-year-old Leonard Peltier in an interview on CBS News:

“This is really Leonard’s last hope because of his age, because of his health problems. Clemency is just a time-served reduction; this is what he deserves. Really, the next step in trying to heal the relationship with the federal government and the Native American community, context matters, and it is hard to understand what happened at Pine Ridge in ‘75 without understanding Wounded Knee in ’73 and Wounded Knee in 1890. To end all the misconduct and broken treaties before that. That’s what led to this conflict and the FBI’s involvement. It is the President’s sole power at this point to fix that.”

Why did Biden commute Peltier’s life sentence just before he left office?

Biden’s move was part of his record-setting number of pardons and commutations, including nearly 2,500 individuals convicted of nonviolent drug offenses and several other high-profile cases.

Joe Biden said in a statement that the decision to commute Peltier’s sentence was part of his broader efforts to address the injustices of the past.

Tribal Nations, Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, former law enforcement officials, (including the former U.S. Attorney whose office oversaw Mr. Peltier’s prosecution and appeal), dozens of lawmakers, and human rights organizations strongly support granting Leonard Peltier’s clemency, citing his advanced age, illness and his close ties to the leadership in the Native American community and the substantial length of time he has already spent in prison.

Biden said, “Leonard Peltier will now have the opportunity to spend his remaining years with family and loved ones.”

In the years since his conviction, Peltier’s story has become one of the most enduring symbols of Indigenous resistance and the fight for justice in the U.S. His case continues to generate debate about the intersection of race, justice, and the U.S. legal system.

Leonard is now 80 years old. President Biden’s commutation on Jan. 20 is a welcomed victory in the fight to bring Leonard Peltier home. Leonard’s health is deteriorating, yet his release date is not until Feb. 18. Why the delay?

Release Leonard Peltier!

Bring Leonard home today!

Gloria Verdieu is an activist in the San Diego Coalition to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal and All Political Prisoners.

Jan. 31 – The first 12 days of the new Trump administration have seen an avalanche of attacks on the working class and oppressed peoples of the United States and the whole world. Federal workers, reproductive rights, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, students opposed to genocide in Gaza, teachers, and AIDS prevention and treatment are just a few of the targets.

The most brutal executive orders have been directed at two especially vulnerable sections of the working class: migrants and transgender people. 

The Trump regime has openly and savagely declared its intent to bring home the genocidal policies carried out in Gaza under Biden.

The “shock and awe” of hundreds of executive orders is meant to overwhelm, demoralize, and disorganize workers and our communities, unions, and organizations to make it impossible for people to fight back.

But fighting back, in unity and with massive numbers, is the only way to push back the onslaught and organize a militant resistance to stop this government. 

When an executive order freezing all government funding for grants and loans caused state Medicaid and SNAP (food stamp) websites to shut down, the broad and immediate outcry forced the Trump government to temporarily walk back some portions of the freeze. This was a small but important victory.

It’s been pointed out that many of Trump’s executive orders hold no particular legal weight. Many of them are blatantly illegal and unconstitutional, such as the attempt to repeal birthright citizenship. All will be challenged in court. 

But government agencies, businesses, and institutions are rushing to implement these attacks anyway – either because they are eager to do so, or because they fear lawsuits, loss of funding, and repression if they do not. 

They all understand that the far-right U.S. Supreme Court has declared Trump and his oligarch allies like Elon Musk exempt from the rule of law.

The word has come down through Trump and his lackeys, IT billionaires who dominate social media, the heights of Corporate America, and the capitalist media: Fascism is what the ruling class wants now, and it’s what they shall have. 

Democrats in Congress have quietly acquiesced, and sometimes enthusiastically joined in – as Biden and Harris did during the 2024 presidential campaign by refusing to defend trans lives and promoting anti-immigrant measures.

But our power to fight fascism doesn’t rest on legalities. It depends on the struggle of class against class. Trump and the bosses understand this very well and will do everything in their power to continue pitting workers against each other to prevent a united resistance.

ICE raids and concentration camps

After Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were dispatched to several so-called sanctuary cities, where local laws were enacted under the first Trump term in office to prevent local police from collaborating in federal roundups of the undocumented, and others caught up in the web of repression.

On Jan. 29, Trump announced that a detention camp for 30,000 migrants would be opened in the U.S. Naval base that occupies Guantanamo in Cuba. This is where hundreds of illegally detained men were tortured and imprisoned as part of the U.S. “War on Terror.” Some spent more than two decades imprisoned there, and as of Jan. 6, at least 15 still remain.

Socialist Cuba, which has been fighting for the return of its rightful territory in Guantanamo, condemned Trump’s plan.

The ICE gestapo are supposedly going after migrants accused (not convicted) of crimes and offenses. Yet they have also targeted children in schools, patients in hospitals, and workers on the job. Some hospitals and school districts have issued guides for workers on how to resist these illegal ICE incursions.

Indigenous peoples, particularly in the Southwest, have reported a surge in detentions and threatened deportations of tribal members, despite being the original inhabitants of this land. Every person of color is considered fair game.

But there is resistance. In cities across the U.S., people are on the lookout for ICE vehicles and federal agents. Community defenders are patrolling vulnerable neighborhoods and distributing “Know Your Rights” information. People are posting photos and locations of suspicious movements on social media to warn their neighbors.

Is it effective? Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, went on CNN to complain about “well-educated” communities defying ICE: “They call it ‘Know Your Rights.’ I call it ‘how to escape arrest.’”

Trans genocide 

The forces backing Trump need and want to continue exploiting immigrant labor. They seek to terrorize immigrant communities with deportations in order to create even more brutal conditions and lower wages for those who remain.

In the case of trans people, though, the goal of the fascist right is outright extermination. Executive orders have come down daily attacking the ability of trans people to live their lives. 

Already, passports and other federal documents are being altered, nullified, and seized to hamper people’s ability to travel and, if necessary, escape the country. Trump has ordered an end to life-saving gender-affirming care for young people under the age of 19 while laying the groundwork for a ban on trans health care for adults, too. And some hospitals are rushing to comply.

A trans restroom ban in federal facilities goes into effect today, including in government offices, airports and much more. The administration will also push for a restroom ban in all private facilities and workplaces. Trans soldiers are being expelled from the U.S. military.

Trans women in federal prisons are to be transferred to men’s prisons to be tortured, raped, and murdered, as already happens in many states. Teachers are threatened with being prosecuted as “sex offenders” if they acknowledge the real names and genders of their trans students. 

These measures will further escalate anti-trans violence on the streets and in schools, as well as suicides, especially for youth. 

All of it is being couched in hypocritical language about “protecting” children and women.

No LGBTQIA+ people are safe from the storm. On Jan. 29, Idaho state representatives called on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide – a move the right-wing justices have already hinted they plan to make soon.

Every statement and executive order names trans people as one of the main causes of the country’s problems.

Make no mistake: Extermination of trans lives is the aim of the capitalist ruling class and the Trump regime. This community has been assigned the role of scapegoat. 

For trans people, the only option being presented is to go back into the closet. If we cannot or will not do so, we are to be criminalized, imprisoned and tortured, or eventually murdered outright.

Which side are you on?

Many of us learned about the prose poem “First They Came” in school. It was written after World War II by German pastor Martin Niemöller, who originally collaborated with the Nazi regime, then discovered he was not safe from the ravages of fascism himself. 

“First they came for the communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a communist

“Then they came for the socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a socialist

“Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

“Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

“Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.”

The poem was written as a warning to future generations: Ignore the plight of fascism’s first victims at your own peril, because your turn will come.

Some groups targeted by Hitler and his Nazis were left out of the poem, however – notably, the migratory Roma and Sinti peoples, and also queer people, who were shipped off to concentration camps marked with a pink triangle. This symbol was later famously reclaimed by ACT UP in the fight against government neglect of the AIDS epidemic.

One of the first targets of the Nazi regime in Germany was the Institute of Sexual Science in Berlin, led by Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld. Hirschfeld was a pioneer of gender-affirming health care for trans people. The institute was an advocate and safe haven for trans people in the Weimar era that preceded the Nazi takeover.

On the night of May 6, 1933, a few months after Hitler became chancellor, the Nazis swarmed the institute, destroying its library and records in one the first major book burnings. 

So reviled were trans lives that the post-war German capitalist government and many “experts” refused to acknowledge that trans people were victims of the Holocaust until a court case in 2022 finally forced a measure of recognition. 

(In the antifascist German Democratic Republic – socialist East Germany – pre-Hitler science on homosexuality and transgender was partially recovered, before the counterrevolution and German reunification in 1990. Notably, East German understanding of queer lives informed the development of Cuba’s policies, leading to the revolutionary new Families Code in 2022.)

Will working-class organizations be able to relearn history’s lesson in time to fight back in defense of its most vulnerable members? Or will these extinguished lives be relegated to the first line of a new “First They Came” decades in the future?

How these questions are answered will decide the fate of the working class in the U.S. and worldwide for many years to come.

A catastrophic mid-air collision on Jan. 29 sent a commercial jet and a military helicopter crashing into the Potomac River, killing all 67 people on the jet and in the helicopter. The disaster is now raising urgent concerns over the dangers of military aircraft operating in civilian airspace — a long-standing but often overlooked risk to both airline workers and passenger airlines.

At approximately 9:00 p.m. EST, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with American Airlines Flight 5342, which was arriving from Wichita, Kansas, with 60 passengers and four crew members. The commercial flight was attempting to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just outside the U.S. capital.

A disaster waiting to happen

While investigators are still piecing together the exact cause of the crash, early reports indicate that military aviation activity in congested airspace may have played a significant role.

The Black Hawk aircraft was allegedly at least 100 feet higher than permitted and was half a mile off its agreed flight path when the collision happened over the Potomac.

The Black Hawk helicopter was part of a Continuity of Government (COG) exercise, a military drill designed to simulate the evacuation of top officials in the event of a national emergency. Such exercises occur regularly and often without public knowledge, meaning military aircraft — often flying at low altitudes — share airspace with civilian airliners.

Compounding the danger, in 2019, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) quietly allowed military aircraft to turn off their tracking systems (ADS-B) during “sensitive operations.” This means that commercial air traffic controllers — already overburdened and understaffed — may not have had complete visibility of the Black Hawk’s flight path. It is unknown whether the helicopter had its tracking system disabled at the time of the crash.

Under the Biden administration, military spending and operations were expanded significantly. These military flights routinely occur in some of the country’s busiest and most complex civilian airspaces, increasing the risk of collisions. The Washington, D.C., area is practically a war zone, with all the military aircraft overlapping flight paths of commercial and private planes. Reagan National Airport, in particular, is in the heart of U.S. global military operations, close to the White House, the Capitol, the Pentagon, and the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

These factors make the region one of the most dangerous places in the U.S. for commercial air traffic.

Understaffing, deregulation, and military encroachment

The tragedy also shines a light on the chronic understaffing of air traffic controllers, which has created increasingly unsafe conditions.

A 2023 FAA report found that 77% of all U.S. air traffic control facilities are understaffed, with some operating at just 54% of necessary levels. Reagan National, where the crash occurred, had one controller handling both helicopters and commercial flights — despite procedures requiring two controllers for such operations.

This staffing crisis is a direct result of decades of union-busting and deregulation. The 1981 PATCO strike, in which President Ronald Reagan fired 13,000 air traffic controllers and broke their union, began a long decline in safety standards. Since then, air traffic controllers have been forced to work longer hours with fewer resources, while corporate-driven deregulation has placed profits over public safety.

CBS News reports that NASA safety data identified at least nine near-midair collisions at the ironically named Reagan Airport since 2005, including three involving helicopters.

Adding more military aircraft into this already overburdened system only increases the risk of disasters like this one.

An avoidable tragedy

History repeatedly shows that military aircraft operating in civilian airspace often lead to near misses and fatal accidents due to their unique flight patterns, operational secrecy, and lack of coordination with commercial aviation systems. 

Unlike commercial jets, which follow strict, standardized flight paths monitored by civilian air traffic controllers, military aircraft frequently conduct high-speed maneuvers, training exercises, and classified missions that may involve sudden altitude changes, restricted tracking, or communication blackouts. These factors create dangerous conditions where commercial pilots and controllers may have little warning before a conflict arises.

Over the years, numerous incidents—some resulting in catastrophic crashes — have demonstrated that allowing military and civilian flights to share the same airspace is a recipe for disaster that needs to be stopped now.

Blaming workers instead of addressing military risks

President Donald Trump used the tragedy to launch an attack on airline workers, falsely blaming diversity hiring policies at the FAA for the crash.

At a White House briefing, Trump blamed “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) policies — a baseless and bigoted claim. Vice President J.D. Vance went even further, falsely suggesting that qualified white air traffic controllers had been denied jobs due to affirmative action policies.

These statements are pure racism and bigotry, meant to be divisive and divert attention from the real issues. The actual cause of the tragedy was the combination of military flights, air traffic controller understaffing, and government inaction on safety concerns.

The tragic deaths of 67 people in this avoidable disaster must not be forgotten. This is not just an issue for aviation workers and airline passengers — it is a fight for the safety of all workers and the people against a government that continues to prioritize military interests over human lives.

Aquí en Puerto Rico estamos viviendo tiempos muy turbulentos.

La nueva gobernadora que apenas ocupó su puesto el pasado 2 de enero, ha demostrado ser lo que ya sabíamos:  una escoria, una verdadera basura humana. Una achichincle de Trump, derechista y corrupta como él. Y copiándose de él, ha asumido su papel de dictadora, al tratar de gobernar mediante decretos e imposiciones para beneficiar a su círculo familiar y sus allegados multimillonarios que le pagaron su costosa campaña electoral.

Su desdén por las vidas, tanto del pueblo boricua como de los miles de inmigrantes que conviven, producen y aportan al país, es inconcebible. 

En su campaña para ganar votos visitó comunidades de inmigrantes, que en Puerto Rico suman aproximadamente 200,000 personas.   

Sin embargo, no tardó en vacilar y obedecer los dictados de Trump cuando éste comenzó la cacería, la persecusión de inmigrantes. De la forma más ruin, luego que le había asegurado a la comunidad dominicana residente en la isla, la más numerosa del país, que la política de trump no les afectaría, se sumó a la defensa de las redadas por la Migra, la agencia estadounidense de Inmigración, que allanaron comunidades de clase trabajadora donde reside la mayor parte de la comunidad dominicana, llevándose a la fuerza y violentando los derechos civiles de esta comunidad inmigrante.

Pero también por este medio, queremos dejar saber nuestro profundo rechazo a esta agresión contra nuestros hermanos y hermanas inmigrantes dominicanos y haitianos sobre todo. En cada una de nuestras luchas, hemos estado alzando la voz en repudio de estas criminales acciones de los gobiernos estadounidense y su administración local colonial. Se ha compartido información sobre los derechos de la persona inmigrante, se han puesto abogados y abogadas a la disposición, además de manifestaciones frente al tribunal federal en San Juan. 

Y seguiremos defendiéndoles y denunciando este crimen inhumano contra nuestros hermanos y hermanas inmigrantes, porque inmigrante, somos todos y todas de este mundo.

Desde Puerto Rico, para Radio Clarín de Colombia, les habló, Berta Joubert-Ceci

Los Angeles activists remain a strong presence outside the Zionist consulate. Their signs pay tribute to 5-year-old Palestinian martyr Hind Rajab, who, along with her family, was murdered by the U.S.-backed Zionist military in Gaza on January 29, one year ago.