Tracy Molm

Tracy Molm

Template:TOCnestleft Tracy Molm is a 29-year-old socialist activist based in Minnesota.

Palestine Interview

Fight Back!January 1, 2005: You traveled to Palestine with a delegation of other people from the U.S. Why did you go?

Tracy Molm: I had the opportunity to hear a lot of firsthand accounts from visiting Palestinians who are fighting to free their country. The resistance of the Palestinian people to the apartheid policies of Israel is incredibly moving and I wanted to see the struggle for myself. So I decided to join the delegation of Internationals for Justice in Palestine, which was hosted by Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees and a student group at Birzeit University. We traveled to Jenin, Nabulus, Tulkarem, Ramallah, Haifa and a number of other towns and villages.

Fight Back!: ‘Suicide bombing’ or martyrdom operations have caused a lot of controversy in the West. What was the attitude of Palestinian people towards this?

Tracy Molm: Palestinians always refer to this type of action as martyrdom bombings, which is very telling for how it is viewed by the people. Because of the checkpoints and the wall, one of the few militant methods that continues to show results is martyrdom bombings.

In general, anyone who resists the occupation, especially militantly, is viewed as someone who is truly free by the Palestinian people.

Fight Back!: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is one of the most important organizations fighting to free Palestine. What kind of presence did you see from the PFLP?

Tracy Molm: The PFLP is a very dynamic group, and unlike any other group they have invested much of their work into the building of Palestinian civil society, so they work very hard to help Palestinians get educated and to develop social programs that will continue to develop the society. Thus I think their strength cannot just be measured in numbers but also must look at their integral role in Palestinian society and I think that is very strong right now.

I also was able to see that they had a marked presence at all of the hunger strike tents, with many of their members being imprisoned and much support for them as an important part of the Palestinian struggle. This presence could especially be seen at the three demonstrations that I was a part of. One was a memorial for the late PFLP leader Abu Ali Mustafa. Although the demonstration was a remembrance of that great leader’s assassination three years ago, the march included many people from many groups who were part of the hunger strike.

Fight Back!: Did people in Palestine talk about U.S. aid to Israel?

Tracy Molm: Oh yes, we were lucky to meet with refugees from the largest refugee camp in the West Bank - Balata. When asked what they would want us to bring home and tell people in the U.S. they told us overwhelmingly that they want us to work to end the foreign aid coming from the United States. Refugees are the people who have seen the effects of our aid, in the forced removal of Palestinians from villages and the continued violence and oppression that they face daily. And other Palestinians we met with also told us how we need to act against U.S. military aid that allows the occupation of Palestine to continue.

FRSO

In 2008 Kati Ketz, Tracy Molm and Kosta Harlan were members of the Student Commission of Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!.

Molm has written for the FRSO's newspaper, FightBack!

FRSO Freedom School

25 student and anti-war activists from Milwaukee, Madison, Chicago and Minneapolis attended the Freedom School, a one-day study hosted by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!.

The study was broken up into four sessions: U.S. Imperialism and Our Movement Against War and Occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan; Immigrant Rights and the Struggle for Chicano Liberation; Theory and Practice: the Mass Line; and The Need for Revolution: Why You Should Join the FRSO.

Tracy Molm, an organizer with University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), said the study was good at deepening an analysis on imperialism.

"The study stressed that imperialism is not a foreign policy, but rather a period that exists when advanced capitalist economies driven by monopolies divide up the entire world in seeking more profit. We talked about how we’re working to replace imperialism with a system that fosters peace and justice,” she commented.

The study on immigrant rights and Chicano liberation was co-chaired by student organizer Chance Zombor. Zombor presented FRSO’s views on the immigrant rights movement, and noted “The study was particularly helpful to the student organizers of Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán and Students for a Democratic Society who have been organizing against Arizona’s SB1070 and wanted greater understanding of how the fight for immigrant rights is part of the revolutionary struggle to liberate the Chicano nation from imperialism.”

September 24, 2010 FBI Raids

On September 24 the F.B.I. raided the homes of twelve leftist activists across the U.S.A. looking for links to foreign terrorist organizations. Molm was one of those whose home was raided and who is being investigated by the FBI.

FBI raids

The material that the FBI copied and returned comes from the homes of Twin Cities activists Jess Sundin, Steff Yorek, Mick Kelly, Meredith Aby, Anh Pham and Tracy Molm and the office of the Anti-War Committee. All of them are among the 23 anti-war and international solidarity activists summoned to appear in front of a Chicago grand jury headed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, investigating ‘material support for terrorism.’

Grand Jury

A showdown is in the making between the government and three Twin Cities anti-war activists targeted by the FBI. Tracy Molm, Anh Pham and Sarah Martin have received word from the U.S. Attorney’s Office that that they will be called to appear in front of a Chicago Grand Jury.

The three were among those targeted when the FBI raided their homes on Sept. 24 and handed out subpoenas to 14 activists in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan to testify before a federal grand jury. All of them submitted legal documents invoking their Fifth Amendment rights and did not appear before the Grand Jury. Now, Molm, Pham and Martin are being told that they will nevertheless have to appear in front of the Grand Jury.

International Women's Day

Minneapolis, MN, Waite House, March 8, 2011, the 10th anniversary of International Women's Day, sponsored by Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!.

The speakers were: Jess Sundin a leader of the Anti-War Committee and Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!. She is one of the anti-war and international solidarity activists targeted by the FBI and grand jury. Sarah Jane Olson Former political prisoner from involvement with revolutionary movement in the 1970s. Long-time Twin Cities resident and anti-apartheid activist Tracy Molm an organizer with Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota, she is one of the activists targeted by the FBI and grand jury. Luce Guillen Givins of the RNC 8, unjustly charged with felonies for protests at the Republican National Convention, 2008.

WAMM

In 2011, Sarah Martin, was co-chair of Women Against Military Madness. Tracy Molm and Anh Pham have worked with WAMM in the Iraq Peace Action Coalition and other coalitions to organize non-violent anti-war educational events and protests, including at the Republican National Convention, speaking out against the atrocities of war and injustice.

"Minneapolis: Celebrate May Day - International Workers Day 2015"

Sunday 26 April 2015, "Minneapolis: Celebrate May Day - International Workers Day 2015" organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization/FightBack!. Location TBA.

Those indicating attendance on Wherevent included Katherine Elizabeth, Jessica Schwartz, Steph Ross Taylor, Christina Field, Doug Jadzia Sembla, Mary Padilla Cristobal Aldana, Alisha Olson, Kim DeFranco, Jess Sundin, Cassandra Hendricks, Cherrene Horazuk, Julia Russ, Zandra Dee , Loretta VanPelt, Tracy Molm, Hannan Ayoub, Khin Oo, Tracey Plk, Kim Smith, Hoda Isak, Alexandra Vagac, Laura Hoffman, Meredith Aby-Keirstead, Jessie Gavilanes, Amy Selvius, Penelope Mace, Beatriz Hernandez, Sol Mar, Laye Kwamina-Barry, Cory Eggert, Lion Ras, Kuntal Chatterjee, Andy Carhart, Sean Orr, Rahul Choudhury Boro, Andrew McNally, Cleveland Savage, Jesus Estrada-Perez, Julio Alberto Martinez, Fern Figueroa, Ryan A. Smith, Joshua Cromarty, Brad Sigal, Tim Nolan, Edward Hahn, Cody Gilbert, Timmy McDonough, Mick Kelly, Jigme Ugen, Manuel Berduc.

FightBack! news supporter, 2016

References

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