Fight Back! Radio

The streets of L.A. are on fire right now as the community goes toe to toe against ICE, the FBI, and even the US military as they fight to protect their immigrant friends and family. Sol Marquez of Centro CSO joins us today to give us a first-hand account on the struggles she and her fellow activists are waging in Boyle Heights. This includes the campaign to drop the charges of Alejandro Orellana,...

ALEJANDRO ORELLANA IS FREE! On Friday, June 13, Alejandro Orellana, an immigrant rights activist who was arrested by the FBI, was freed from federal custody. Read more on Fight Back! News. Check our call to action at the end of these show notes. Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids is planning a 70-mile March Against Genocide from Grand Rapids to Lansing, June 26 to 30, to bring the effects of genoci...

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis, MN at the age of 46 by Derek Chauvin. It's been 5 years since this moment that ignited the US on fire, and the people have not forgotten. Our guest today is Jae Yates, who is an executive board member of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) , and a member of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J), a...

On Thursday, April 24, Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organized a rally demanding the FSU administration stop allowing manifestations of white supremacy on campus. The protest was called in response to a mass shooting by a white supremacist on April 17 that resulted in the deaths of Robert Morales and Tiru Chabba, as well as the injury of six others. Towards the end of the pro...

Bill Chambers is the author of My Chicago Activist Life: From Ireland to Palestine 1968 - 2025 . In this memoir, Bill covers the major social justice movement that he was an active participant in, including the 1968 Democratic Convention Protests. stopping the Vietnam War, the Northwestern Student Strike, the Irish Republican Fight for United Ireland, Palestine Solidarity, Black Lives Matter, Comm...

From Masao Suzuki's latest article on Fight Back! News: On Wednesday, April 9, one week after President Trump declared a universal 10% tariff and for all the countries that the United States ran trade deficits with, he announced even higher tariffs of up to 50%. Even while members of his administrators were saying the tariffs were going to stick, Trump blinked and declared a 90-day pause for a...

We're 3 weeks deep into this Trump presidency, and we're seeing attacks on federal workers that are simply unprecedented. Beyond the damage being done to the lives of these workers, the attacks from Trump, Musk, and DOGE inflict direct harm to the physical planet we live on. Today on the show we have Loreen Targos, executive vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE)...

Since April of last year, starting with the fire lit by the student activists at Columbia university, students in the US have been fighting non-stop to show their solidarity to Palestine within the belly of the beast. Erin Boyle, vice president of the New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), joins us today to discuss the fights students are waging across their campuses, the repression they fac...

Trump and his cronies have taken aim at the federal workforce. Elon Musk has been leading a purge of federal workers, issuing sweeping terminations and policies that aim to harass any workers that are fighting to hold onto their jobs. Pat Kearns joins us today to give us an insider's perspective on these attacks. Pat is a 30+ year nurse, as well as the president of his local union, the America...

Trans rights have been under attack, and these attacks have only intensified under the second Trump presidency. Delilah Pierre, president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee , joins us today to discuss the nature of these attacks, the ways in which trans liberation ties into the liberation of all people, and how we're gonna fight back. You can find the Tallahassee Communication Actio...

Fight Back! Radio shares its condolences with the family, friends and comrades of Jose “Cha Cha” Jimenez, chairman of the Young Lords Organization. He died on January 10, 2025, at the age of 75 in Chicago. This episode is dedicated to him. Read Fight Back! New's in memoriam piece on Cha Cha. We're a month deep into a second Trump presidency, and it's critical that we stay grounded and...

For those fighting for a better world, the teachings of Mao Zedong are essential in understanding how to bring about revolution. To give us a crash course on Mao's teachings, we welcome back Josh Sykes, author of "The Revolutionary Science of Marxism-Leninism", and contributing author of "People's China at 75 - The Flag Stays Red" . In today's episode, Josh covers M...

From Masao Suzuki's latest article on Fight Back! News: "President-elect Trump is claiming that he can abolish birthright citizenship, seeking to strip citizenship from 7 million or more Americans who are children of undocumented immigrants." Masao is a retired professor of economics and lifelong activist who joins us today to breakdown the historical context of birthright citizenship, the histori...

As a second Trump presidency approaches, we're bracing for an onslaught of attacks from the GOP, especially attacks on our undocumented friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members. Marisol Marquez, a community activist in LA and member of Centro Community Service Organization (CSO) joins us to break down these nature of these attacks, how it's not just the Republicans we have to blame, and h...

Today on the show we're headed across campus to analyze the economic implications of another Trump presidency. Masao Suzuki is a recently retired professor who spent the last 35 years teaching and researching economics. When not in the classroom, Masao has been in the streets and fighting for change since the 70s. Read Masao's article on the current state of US unemployment on Fight Back! Radio. F...

The left often touts the importance of theory and practice, but what does that actually look like? Today on the show, we have Ryan Delaney to break down the dialectal relationship of theory and practice, and how to use them in the streets to bring about revolution. Ryan is a member of the F reedom Road Socialist Organization , and an activist in both the J acksonville Community Action Committee an...

Imperialism is not only exploiting the multinational working class, but is actively destroying the planet we live on. Charlie Berg, a climate justice activist in Minnesota Climate Justice Committee (CJC MN) , joins us today to dive into how the ruling class is doing nothing to stop climate change, and how it's up to the people to fight and win this critical battle. You can find the Minnesota Clima...

Fight Back! Radio is going down a different path for this episode's topic. Today's guest is Bill Conroy, an investigative journalist and author of Dispatches from the House of Death: A journey into the dark heart of the "war for drugs". Bill recounts his treacherous and horrific investigation into the international crimes and atrocities that occurred under the watch, and even at the hand of, US fe...

Our committed listeners will know that our recent episodes have been majorly focused on the Palestinian Liberation struggle. This is for good reason, as it is one of the most important struggles against imperialism the world has seen in recent history. In today's episode, we continue our analysis of this struggle, but also discuss the Middle East more broadly, socialist China, and the role U.S. Em...

Nearly one year ago, on October 7, the sound of freedom thundered across Palestine, and its echoes are still being heard around the world. The Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al Aqsa Flood, a mass breakout from the world’s largest open air prison, Gaza. And, in doing so, they took a historic step towards liberation. To discuss the events of the last year, as well as the most recent devel...

As we are fast approaching the one year anniversary of October 7th, as well as contentious US presidential election, there is a lot that needs to be said about the US's role in aiding Israel's genocide of Palestine. We'd be hard-pressed to find better guests to discuss this topic with than Frank Chapman and Hatem Abudayyeh. Frank is the executive director of ⁠National Alliance Against...

On August 19, over 20,000 people marched on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention, demanding an end to U.S. aid to Israel and an end to the genocide in Gaza. The march was the result of over a year of work by the Coalition to March on the DNC. Marchers came within sight and sound of the Democratic National Convention, putting heat on United States government as it facilitates a gen...

Next week is the Democratic National Convention, and thousands will be showing up to make the voices of the people heard. The entire Fight Back! Radio team is joining the coalition, leaving us with less time to produce an episode than usual. For this reason, we will be rebroadcasting the All Out for the March on the DNC online meeting call. 
 We hope to see you out there marching alongside us! 
 F...

Whether it's the unionizing campaign, or the uproar over their response to the "pin incident", Delta Airlines has been making headlines, and we're on the side of the workers. Our guest today is Rasaq Adeyemi, who is an airline attendant at Delta, as well as an organizing member of Delta AFA which is driving the unionizing campaign. We discuss the unique working conditions of airl...

In a surprising turn of events, Sean O'Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, spoke at the Republican National Convention. To unpack this bold choice, we are joined today by Jared Hamil, a UPS package car driver in LA and Teamsters Local 396 shop steward. Jared gives us his assessment of O'Brien's speech, the failure of both political parties to serve the worki...