Laura Rodriguez

Laura Rodriguez

Young Lords connection

According to Tyler Register on Saturday February 18 2023, Freedom Road Socialist Organization - Orlando hosted a panel on the Puerto Rican independence movement featuring speakers from the Young Lords, a revolutionary organization dedicated to uplifting the Puerto Rican community and fighting for independence since 1968. The panel speakers included David Rivera, a founding member of the Young Lords, and Gabe Marcano, a Florida leader in the New Era Young Lords, as well as Laura Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican member of FRSO.

David Rivera spoke of his lifelong history in the struggle and his experience organizing in the Rainbow Coalition, a multicultural movement that linked the Black Panther Party and the Young Patriots with the Young Lords in their fight against police terrorism, poverty and corruption. David, alongside Cha Cha Jimenez and others, created the Young Lords when they were all very young as a response to the oppression and attacks they faced in the U.S. as Puerto Ricans. Once a street gang, David recalled how Cha Cha, after finally being released from a jail sentence, showed him a copy of Quotations From Chairman Mao Zedong, which precipitated their transformation into a revolutionary organization.

Gabe Marcano spoke of the hurricane relief visits to Puerto Rico organized by the New Era Young Lords to assist the people living on the island.

Abortion protest

On June 25, over 300 people gathered on the corner of a busy intersection near the University of South Florida to protest the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. The crowd, led by Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society and the Tampa Bay Community Action Committee, march along the street and were met with strong support from commuters passing by.

“It terrified me that the right to bodily autonomy would no longer be a right,” said Laura Rodriguez of TBCAC. “Getting on birth control no longer felt like a choice.”

Florida has a trigger law, House Bill 5 (HB5), that will criminalize all abortions past 15 weeks. “People will have less than two missed periods to figure out that they’re pregnant,” said Rodriguez. “And cough up hundreds of dollars, get time off of work, and somehow still have enough money to pay a rising rent.”

“The government that is supposed to represent us is going against what the majority of people want,” said Victoria Hinckley of SDS, referring to the overwhelming popular support for legalized abortion in the U.S.

"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.

References

Freedom Road Socialist Organization - Orlando Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!