Didier Ortiz

Template:TOCnestleft Didier Ortiz is a Florida activist.

International Workers Day

About 50 people waving flags and banners gathered at the Torch of Friendship, May 1, to celebrate International Workers Day. Members of various South Florida progressive, socialist and anarchist organizations joined together for this event, which included speeches and a brief march down busy Biscayne Boulevard.

Activists from the Green Party USA and Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! were among the speakers who addressed the crowd.

Didier Ortiz, from Broward County Green Party, spoke out against capitalist corruption. "The rich capitalists, they are all united - they don't care about religion, or morals or politics. All they care about it getting more money. And they want to get it at the expense of all of us, our lives, and our labor. So we too need to be united and fight against them!"

"We stand here today in recognition that the system we are being forced to live in right now is rotten from the inside-out," said Cassia Laham of Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!. "We recognize that this same system is responsible for the slaughter of thousands abroad by the U.S. military machine. And we know the only way to defeat it is to struggle together in unity!"

The gathering was put on by One Struggle, Miami Autonomy and Solidarity and Broward Green Party. It was also meant to show solidarity with the NATO 3, three activists who have been sentenced to five to eight years in prison for protesting at the NATO summit in Chicago in 2012.

Palestine delegation members

• Dream Defenders May 2016 Palestine delegation;
• Florida State Senator Dwight Bullard
• Dream Defender and Green Party of Florida spokesperson Didier Ortiz
• Maria Castro, an organizer with Puente Arizona
• Steven Gilliam, Jr., an organizer with the Miami Dream Defenders
• Rachel Gilmer, the Dream Defenders’ chief of strategy
• A Dream Defenders staff member who focuses on criminalization, Jonel Edwards
• Minister, organizer and Princeton Ph.D. student Nyle Fort
• Black Lives Matter Toronto co-founder Janaya Khan
• Dream Defenders co-founder Ahmad Abuznaid

Activists from Dream Defenders Recount trip to Palestine

Friday, June 3 2016, Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ, Coral Gables, Florida.

The nationally known Dream Defenders will also talk on the intersectionality of the Palestinian freedom movement and the movement here at home for African-American justice.

State Senator Dwight Bullard will speak as will Rachel Gilmer, Ahmad Abuznaid, Steven Gilliam, Jr. and Didier Ortiz.

Commemorate Al Nakba

Anti-war activists, students and Palestinian Americans gathered in Miami. May 2014, to commemorate Al Nakba, which means “the catastrophe.” Al Nakba refers to the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians when they were violently forced off their land by Zionist militia groups in May 1948.

Organizers planned three days of remembering Al Nakba. The first occurred May 15, at Saint Jude Melkite Catholic Church in downtown Miami. 40 people gathered to give personal and historical presentations, share food provided by Al-Awda ( the Palestinian Right to Return Coalition) and read stories of those who experienced forced removal from their homes and land. It was very moving. As one Palestinian speaker explained, “That night I cried too, as I tried to sleep alongside thousands on the ground. Would I ever see my home again?”

Organizer Cassia Laham, from People’s Opposition to War, Imperialism, and Racism (POWIR) said, “It is important to remember that Al Nakba is not just an historical event. It is still ongoing as illegal settlements are continuously being built on Palestinian land. The U.S. government should stop sending our tax dollars to Israeli.”

Didier Ortiz of People’s Opposition to War, Imperialism, and Racism (POWIR) also spoke.

Syria protest

According to Fight Back News writer Didier Ortiz, April 16, 2018, as thousands mobilized throughout the country to denounce the April 13 missile attack on Syria by the U.S., France and the U.K., local anti-war activists organized a demonstration outside of MacDill Air Force base in Tampa. The demonstrators shouted anti-imperialist slogans for over two hours in front of traffic headed into the base. The slogans of “Hands off Syria!” and “No justice, no peace!” were prevalent in the rally. The event was candidly titled “Syrian Gas Attack = Iraqi WMD; We Don’t Buy the Lies!”

Dina Formentini, an organizer with St. Pete for Peace said, “We found it to be preposterous that Assad was being blamed for the gassing of his people.”

Among the various groups in attendance, members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! were present. Bill Aiman, of FRSO, said, “I came out to the protest because it is crucial that all peace-loving people oppose U.S. imperial aggression and support all nations in their fight against U.S. imperialism.” The event featured other activists who asserted that the U.S. should prioritize the funding of public education over the bombing of foreign countries.

References

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