Tag: Right to free speech

In Victory for Free Speech, Court Dismisses Conspiracy Claims Against Pro-Palestine Activists

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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.

The Fight Against Fascism and the Right to Free Speech

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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.

Minneapolis: Counter-protests Against Ultra-rightists and Defense of Free Speech

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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.