Laith Abdel Hader

Laith Abdel Hader (Screenshot Captured by Canary Mission)

Laith Abdel Hader is a member of the Tampa Bay Community Action Committee, a front group for Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!.

Solidarity with Palestine

According to Taylor Cook, on October 8, nearly 200 community members gathered in front of the General Consulate of Israel to show solidarity with the resistance movement in Palestine. The protest came a day after Palestinian resistance fighters launched a massive operation against Israeli settlements and military bases to fight back against the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Bisan Amin from the Palestinian Youth Movement and a host of the protest, stated, “We showed up to send a message, first and foremost to the Palestinian resistance, that we stand in solidarity with them exercising their right to resist the ongoing Nakba, the ongoing occupation of Palestine and daily violence committed by the Zionist entity against the Palestinian people.”

Protesters marched in Midtown Atlanta, a busy downtown area of the city. When protesters attempted to take the streets, police pushed them back to the sidewalk, threatening arrests and taking pictures of protesters.

The protest featured speakers from the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Atlanta Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (AAARPR), Community Movement Builders, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at Georgia State University, and SJP at Emory University, as well as others.

“Israel and the U.S. work together, sharing tactics and weapons to oppress Black Americans and Palestinians. One of the ways they do this is through training police in the U.S. using Israeli occupation forces tactics,” Laith Abdel Hader of AAARPR stated in his speech. “The Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange [GILEE] program here in Atlanta works primarily with Israel, teaching police the most brutal repression tactics to use on Black and brown communities here.”

Atlanta Tampa 5 protest

According to Taylor Cook on August 9, the Tampa 5’s third court date, Atlanta community members gathered to protest in demand that charges be dropped on the Tampa 5.

The Tampa 5, members of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), were brutalized and arrested on March 6 for protesting against Florida governor Ron DeSantis and his cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Florida public universities. The activists were standing up for their rights, and now face up to ten years in prison for doing so.

The protest was hosted by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization - Atlanta as part of the SDS and National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR) day of action

In his speech for NAARPR, Laith Abdel Hader stated, “The law they were protesting, which is now in effect, cuts funding to diversity programs in universities with already declining Black enrollment and bans Black history and gender studies from classes.”

Speakers also highlighted the struggle in Atlanta against Cop City and the political repression against anti-Cop City activists. Cop City is a $90 million training facility for police that will be built over the Welaunee Forest in the southside of Atlanta.

Abdel Hader stated, “The struggle to drop the charges on the Tampa 5 is important for all social movements in the U.S. We are already seeing numerous attacks, especially in the South, against free speech and social movements.”

Tampa Five

The so-called Tampa Five are members of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society, the Tampa youth wing of Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! who were arrested in March, 2023 on charges ranging from "assault or battery of law enforcement officers, resisting an officer without violence to his or her person, and interrupting a school" while protesting for "increased Black enrollment" at the University of South Florida.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack! is aggressively supporting Gia Davila, Jeanie Kida, Chrisley Carpio, Laura Rodriguez and Lauren Pineiro, who were arrested stemming from a March 6, 2023 protest.

Simon Rowe of Fight Back! News cites Laith Abdel Hader of the Tampa Bay Community Action Committee in an article dated May 18, 2023 about the Tampa Five:

"In April, state attorney Susan Lopez offered a plea deal to the Tampa 5 to drop their charges if they wrote letters of apology to every officer at the scene. The Tampa 5 rejected this plea deal and pleaded not guilty as a group. Prosecutor Justin Diaz responded by upping the felony counts from four to eight and moving forward with the charges.

“We are not guilty, and we are not sorry. We have the people and the truth on our side,” said Laura Rodriguez, one of the Tampa 5 and member of Tampa Bay Community Action Committee.

The lawyer representing the Tampa 5, Michelle Lambo, spoke of the right to free speech on college campuses and how USFPD used excessive force. Lambo also called for USFPD Chief Chris Daniel to be fired for groping a student during the protest.

Lambo stated, “The case law is clear: if law enforcement uses excessive force, you can defend yourself with force. In this matter, law enforcement used excessive force on students, on young people in their early twenties, mid-twenties. People in a safe space in a university that is protected by state statute as a safe space for the right to assemble and the right to free speech. And justice will prevail.”

Lambo continued, “And I am calling for the firing of Chief Daniel, who molested and assaulted Ms. Davila and it was caught on camera with his hand groping her gluteus maximus down into her inner thigh and then takes a seat to her legs where he proceeds to take his camera out, his cell phone out, and take a photograph as a trophy. We will be subpoenaing all his cell phone records to see what exactly he was doing while he was sitting on top of her with his phone out. This is unacceptable, unprofessional, and he needs to be fired immediately,”

Attorney Lambo entered the courthouse for the arraignment at 11:00, SDS and TBCAC began their protest with chants of “Protesting is not a crime! Justice for the Tampa 5!” Speakers from many groups spoke in support and connected the case to the DeSantis administration’s attacks on social movements.

“The Tampa 5 continued to tell their story and stand up against DeSantis and his attacks on education time and time again because they know this is not only about their case but about the future of this state,” said Laith Abdel Hader, member of Tampa Bay Community Action Committee.

The protest at this arraignment was not the first action in support of the Tampa 5. Tampa Bay SDS raised thousands in a bail fund to release the four protesters arrested on March 6. Dozens of groups across the country wrote statements of support. Groups held solidarity protests in the following cities: Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Minneapolis, Minnesota; towns Michigan; New Orleans, Louisiana; Seattle, Washington; Tallahassee, Florida, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Thousands signed petitions in support of the Tampa 5.

“We can’t stop fighting and we can’t allow our fellow protesters to go to jail for standing up for what's right. Let's show DeSantis and the state attorney that we won't back down!” declared Eithne Silva, member of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society.

The next court date for the Tampa 5 is July 12. The case is likely to continue for months. Due to no USFPD officers from March 6 being present to be questioned during the student conduct hearings, the students plan to appeal their suspensions from the university for being denied due process. The fired USF worker filed a grievance against her termination. Her union AFSCME local 3342 is willing to take her case to arbitration.

Regardless of the outcome of the Tampa 5 case, the individuals charged along with SDS and TBCAC will continue to exercise their right to protest Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida’s attacks on freedom.

'Free speech protest'

According to Enya Silva on February 9 2020 students and community organizations gathered on the University of South Florida (USF) campus to protest recent acts by the university and the government to limit the free speech of progressive voices. Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) attended to demand that the university lift their suspension and drop their charges. USF placed a suspension on Tampa Bay SDS for protesting against the university’s budget cuts.

“Administration has been constantly getting in the way of protest and then suspended SDS until the fall semester on hypocritical charges,” says Laura Rodriguez, a member of Tampa Bay SDS, “I think it is so incredibly irresponsible for USF administration to try and disband an organization that has had such a vital role in the Tampa Bay area.”

Of the many speeches prepared for the event only one was given before USF administration told the police to arrest the protesters for trespassing. Five people, most of whom are students, were detained and held in police vehicles for over half an hour. Many of the police officers were not wearing masks when in the cars with the detained protesters.

“This was about intimidation and suppression,” Simon Rowe, a member of Tampa Bay SDS who was arrested, says of the actions. “The police walked me past the same place on campus where they escorted Kaitlyn Bennett's security away from her event in October. Bennett's team was given water, I and four other people were put in handcuffs.” Rowe was referencing last semester in which notorious right-wing internet personality Kaitlin Bennett filmed a video on campus at USF. Despite drawing a large crowd, she was allowed to leave of her own accord.

“USF and the police demonstrated another act against the voices of students,” stated Laith Abdel Hader of the USF chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). “I was there to give a speech about USF's record of suppressing voices of pro-Palestine activists. Many of those who speak out against the Israeli system of apartheid and genocide are being doxed, fired from their jobs, investigated or interrogated by the state, and are falsely framed as anti-Semitic, all while neo-Nazis and white supremacists are given their ‘free speech’ without any repercussions from the state or its institutions.”

Members from Tampa Bay Community Action Committee (TBCAC), Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), and Tampa People’s Protest were also in attendance to stand in solidarity with progressive students and raise awareness about HB1/SB484, a bill proposed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to severely limit the right to protest in the state. Members of TBCAC and PSL were among those arrested.

Many of the groups in attendance will join a statewide mobilization to Tallahassee, Florida’s state capital, on March 2 to protest against the bill.

Tampa Bay SDS stated they would continue fighting the charges against the protesters, the charges and suspension against their organization, and will continue fighting USF’s budget cuts.

“SDS has always brought issues to the table which USF admin have tried to keep hidden under the rug,” said Rodriguez.

Palestine protest

According to Taylor Cook on May 15 2021, 500 members of the Palestinian community and supporters from Tampa Bay rallied to demand an end to the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Lara Abu Ghannam, an organizer of the event, stated “We’re out here today to commemorate the 73rd Al Nakba, the exodus of my people, which displaced them and made them to flee the violence of Israeli colonizers. My own family, my own mother had fled when she was a few months old to Jordan.”

Hundreds of protesters crowded on the corner of 56th and Fowler to demand an end to the Israeli occupation. Many more honked in support while driving by, their cars decorated with flags and signs in support.

Laith Abdel Hader, member of Students for Justice in Palestine at USF, states, “The momentum that we got today is unprecedented. I haven’t seen this much support for the Palestinian cause in my years of organizing and this shows how the Palestinian cause has become a mainstream issue. This brings us one step closer to liberation.”

Erika Santana Melendez stated her reasoning for attending the protest, “I’m from Puerto Rico. We are absolutely connected with this issue of colonization, and if we allow the colonization of Palestinians, we allow the colonization of my people as well.”