The US president has threatened he may declare a “national security emergency” to subvert the fall midterm elections. If successful, this move would strike a crippling blow to democratic rights and would represent a giant step toward one-man rule.
“Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” released by the U.S. Department of State on July 20, 2026, is a monumental distortion of history. The same government that recently threatened to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, backs genocide in Gaza, and put militarized thugs on the streets to terrorize its own population labels Cuba the “Espionage Empire,” the global center of a new “red menace.” Under that rationale, it lays the groundwork for escalating government repression — reminiscent of McCarthyism during the Cold War — against perceived “domestic enemies,” in essence, targeting anyone who speaks out against U.S. policy. This is the second of two parts.
“Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism,” released by the U.S. Department of State on July 20, 2026, is a monumental distortion of history. The same government that recently threatened to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, backs genocide in Gaza, and put militarized thugs on the streets to terrorize its own population labels Cuba the “Espionage Empire,” the global center of a new “red menace.” Under that rationale, it lays the groundwork for escalating government repression — reminiscent of McCarthyism during the Cold War — against perceived “domestic enemies,” in essence, targeting anyone who speaks out against U.S. policy. This is the first of two parts.
In December 2024, Yeshitela, Penny Hess, and Jesse Nevel — the Uhuru 3, as they are known — were acquitted of charges that they had acted as agents of a foreign power, in this case Russia, and interfered in elections. However, the jury found them guilty of conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign power.Twisting political opinion and protest activities into an alleged conspiracy is the same method the federal government is using against those speaking out against genocide in Palestine and raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in order to quell dissent. And it is the same argument that Washington has most recently outlined in a July 27, 2026, state department document, Cuba: The Capital of 21st Century Communism, targeting those who oppose the U.S. blockade of the island nation. The following is a report on hearings held July 22, 2026, to overturn the conviction.
Justice Department Uses ‘Conspiracy’ Charges to Curtail Dissent. In one of the latest attacks on free speech and the right to protest, a federal grand jury in Minneapolis has indicted 15 people on felony charges related to protests against Operation Metro Surge last winter. The June 16, 2026, indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to criminalize its opponents. The case tests how far prosecutors can go to manufacture a criminal conspiracy based on group chats, social media posts, discussions of protest tactics, and efforts to protect privacy using anti-surveillance precautions.
In an important victory for free speech, a federal court has dismissed with prejudice all civil rights conspiracy claims brought against The People’s Forum and other individual defendants arising from the April 2024 occupation of Hamilton Hall — Hind’s Hall — at Columbia University. As political activists face more attempts by federal authorities — and the institutions that they have cowed — to curtail fundamental democratic rights, precedents like these will be a valuable part of the fightback. It is also important to note this example of the danger of the use of “conspiracy” charges by the government to criminalize free speech.
At the University of Michigan May 2, 2026, commencement ceremony, history professor Derek Peterson delivered a short speech in which he celebrated many of those who have fought for social justice at the school. At the end of his remarks, Peterson also praised the “pro-Palestinian student activists, who have over these past two years opened our hearts to the injustice and inhumanity of Israel’s war in Gaza.” The backlash was swift. U of M president Domenico Grasso apologized for Peterson’s remarks, and the speech was condemned by pro-Israel Jewish organizations and outlets. But leaders of the American Association of University Professors and American Federation of Teachers, as well as other academics and Jewish groups, quickly spoke out in defense of Peterson. Four of these responses are published in this post.
On March 14, 2025, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head Brendan Carr took another shot at the fundamental right of freedom of the press. Using the language with which the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump has answered every criticism of its policies, Carr wrote on his social media account: “Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news — have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up.” Carr’s threat is the latest volley in efforts by the Trump administration to undermine freedom of the press and free speech and censor the news. As Washington prosecutes its broadly unpopular war against Iran, these attempts to block access to facts and information are intensifying, providing more evidence of the march toward authoritarian rule that has characterized the course of this administration from day one.
The mass resistance to the Trump administration’s attempt to terrorize immigrants and other working people in Minnesota highlighted issues of strategy and tactics in the struggle to defend democratic rights and put the brakes on Trump’s march toward one-man rule. In the spirit of drawing on the lessons from working-class history to facilitate making disciplined and thoughtful decisions in today’s struggles, World-Outlook published the three-part series Strategy & Tactics in Fighting Racist, Fascist Attacks. As a follow-up, we publish the materials below from the Education for Socialists publication The Fight Against Fascism in the USA.
This is the third of three parts with excerpts from a May 6, 1975, discussion among socialists led by Farrell Dobbs on strategy and tactics in the struggle against fascism. The lessons from this chapter of working-class history are relevant to similar issues that emerged in the mass resistance to ICE terror in Minneapolis over the last two months (December 2025 – January 2026).
This is the second of three parts with excerpts from a May 6, 1975, discussion among socialists led by Farrell Dobbs on strategy and tactics in the struggle against fascism. The lessons from this chapter of working-class history are relevant to similar issues that emerged in the mass resistance to ICE terror in Minneapolis over the last two months (December 2025 – January 2026).
Excerpts from a May 6, 1975, discussion among socialists led by Farrell Dobbs on strategy and tactics in the struggle against fascism are relevant to similar issues that emerged in the mass resistance to ICE terror in Minnesota last month.
High school students have continued grassroots initiatives to organize walkouts and protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since their first nationwide protests on January 30. At the same time, school authorities, state and local politicians, and police are trying to intimidate these teenagers and their supporters with threats of investigations, suspensions, and even criminal charges. Student protesters are seeking to make use of legal precedents to defend their right to freedom of speech in face of such threats.
This article illustrates a good example of the widespread popular resistance to the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant crackdown in Minneapolis, its suburbs, and across Minnesota over the last two months. A resistance that forced the federal government to back down and announce on February 12 it is ending its “Operation Metro Surge” by beginning to withdraw most of the 3,000 ICE and Border Patrol agents it unleashed against the state’s working people.
On Friday, February 6, 2026, students at Bellaire High School in Houston, Texas, walked out as part of a coordinated regional effort involving several area schools to protest operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amid fears that its agents will be allowed onto school property to detain students and their families. The widespread high-school student walkouts on January 30 are now being followed by new and similar grassroots initiatives at schools around the country. At the same time, Texas governor Greg Abbott and other local authorities and school districts are threatening suspensions and even criminal charges against students and teachers accused of exercising such freedom of speech and assembly.
Ultra-rightist Jake Lang and about 10 supporters arrived at Minneapolis City Hall on January 17 for a planned “March Against Minnesota Fraud.” Rather than finding a crowd supportive of his call, he faced hundreds of counter-protesters carrying signs reading “ICE Out!” and “We Love our Somali Neighbors.” The decision to counter-mobilize against Jake Lang was spot on. But the physical attacks on Lang by a small number of protesters — whether carried out by genuine opponents of ICE terror or by provocateurs, who easily blend into such situations — undermined the political space and moral high ground that tens of thousands have carved out in the Twin Cities recently.
On September 10, 2025, Dr. Tom Alter, a tenured professor of history at Texas State University (TSU) in San Marcos, Texas, was fired for remarks made at an online socialist conference, speaking in his capacity as a private citizen. Alter was terminated by TSU President Kelly Damphousse without even a hearing. This denial of due process was a clear violation of both Texas State University policy and Texas state law. In addition to providing the facts of the case, this article explains what can be done to support the campaign to reinstate Alter and defend free speech.
The September 10 assassination of right-wing “influencer” Charlie Kirk was an attack on free speech of the most serious and dangerous kind. It should be unequivocally condemned. Kirk’s murder served up an excuse on a silver platter for the Trump administration and its allies to accelerate their assault on democratic rights. The White House is now using the horrendous killing to propel Trump’s drive toward autocratic rule.
On June 14, U.S. president Donald Trump watched over a military parade in Washington, D.C. The lackluster spectacle was designed to celebrate Trump’s birthday, which coincided with the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, and thus advance the process of establishing one-man rule in the United States. The same day, over 5 million people took part in “No Kings” rallies and marches across the country. These registered the growing opposition to intensifying workplace raids by heavily armed federal agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and to the danger that these — and other actions by the White House — pose to due process, civil liberties, and democratic rights. These protests followed a weeklong social explosion in Los Angeles in response to a spike of ICE raids.
In this essay, Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi describes how Columbia is gagging students and faculty who have opposed Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, as university officials are moving further to the right under pressure from the Trump administration. The university became the epicenter of student encampments and other protests that swept the country last spring opposing the U.S.-backed Israeli war in Gaza and demanding that schools divest from businesses benefiting the Israeli regime.
This article reports on the arrest on March 8 of Mahmoud Khalil by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents. Khalil just graduated from Columbia University in New York City. He is among the thousands of students who have protested the U.S.-backed Israeli war on the Palestinian people and have denounced the disciplinary measures — including suspensions and expulsions — university authorities have carried out against such students to clamp down on pro-Palestinian advocacy. Khalil is an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin and a legal immigrant to the United States. DHS agents reportedly told Khalil the government “had revoked his student visa,” even though he does not have a visa but a green card that gives him permanent resident status in the United States. Public protests and a letter writing campaign demanding Khalil’s immediate release are already underway.
In the wake of the October 7 Hamas-led attack and Israel’s brutal retaliatory invasion of Gaza, new challenges have been raised to the right to free speech. Across the United States, restrictions on the democratic right to express one’s views on the conflict in the Middle East center today on college campuses. But precedents set there will be extended, with dangerous consequences for free speech, if they are not answered and opposed.
On August 1, special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by the U.S. Justice Department, indicted former U.S. president Donald Trump on federal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Two days later Trump pled “not guilty” to all four counts in federal court in Washington, D.C.It is indisputable that Trump and his allies engaged in a concerted campaign to overturn the election results. To this day Trump peddles the bold-faced lie that the election was “stolen” from him. The new indictment, however, sets a dangerous precedent that the government can criminalize some political advocacy. If it prevails in this case, who will future administrations — liberal, conservative or extreme rightist — target in years to come? We stand with defense of democratic rights, not defense of Trump. This is the second of a two-part series.
On August 1, special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by the U.S. Justice Department, indicted former U.S. president Donald Trump on federal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Two days later Trump pled “not guilty” to all four counts in federal court in Washington, D.C.It is indisputable that Trump and his allies engaged in a concerted campaign to overturn the election results. To this day Trump peddles the bold-faced lie that the election was “stolen” from him. The new indictment, however, sets a dangerous precedent that the government can criminalize some political advocacy. If it prevails in this case, who will future administrations — liberal, conservative or extreme rightist — target in years to come? We stand with defense of democratic rights, not defense of Trump. This is the first of a two-part series.
The April 5 grand jury indictment of Donald Trump announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg marks the first time a former U.S. president has been charged with a felony. The decision, prosecutors claimed, reinforces the “rule of law.” Many who oppose Trump welcomed the charges, arguing Trump would finally be “held accountable” for some of his actions. Many hope it might derail Trump’s campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination for which he is the front runner. Yet for the moment it appears the indictment has put wind in the sails of the right wing in U.S. politics. In fact, Trump’s indictment threatens to undermine established constitutional protections. These include those related to statutes of limitations, the separation of powers between federal and state governments, and provisions of the Sixth Amendment.
Jan. 28, 2021—Following the Jan. 6 rightist mob attack on the U.S. Capitol, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media companies shut down former U.S. president Donald Trump’s accounts on their platforms. Trump had encouraged the assault on U.S. Congress at a Washington D.C. rally earlier that day in a culminating step to a two-month-long campaign to overturn the results of the November election.