Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks during a press conference in Chicago, Illinois, on August 25, 2025. (Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
“This is not about fighting crime,” said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. “This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city, in a blue state, to try and intimidate his political rivals.”
Progressive voices and Democratic leaders this week are letting it be known they will not take President Donald Trump’s threat to target the city of Chicago for his next federal takeover and deployment of federal troops lying down.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday, alongside Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and US Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), held a press conference to let Trump know that Chicago residents want no part of his plan to deploy the military into their city.
“The last thing that Chicagoans want is someone from the outside of our city, who doesn’t know our city, trying to dictate and tell us what our city needs,” said Johnson. “As the mayor of this city, I can tell you that Chicagoans are not calling for military occupation.”
Pritzker, meanwhile, bluntly warned Trump against sending troops to his state’s largest city.
“This is not about fighting crime,” Pritzker said of Trump’s plans to deploy the military in Chicago. “This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city, in a blue state, to try and intimidate his political rivals.”
Illinois politicians weren’t the only ones who are vowing to resist Trump’s designs on Chicago, as Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) warned that the president had ambitions to deploy troops to all major American cities.
“First it was LA, then DC, and now Chicago,” she wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “None of us are safe from Trump’s authoritarian rule. We must fight back against this takeover of our cities.”
Progressive organization Our Revolution, has started circulating a petition demanding that Congress vote against any Trump request to extend his control over the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department beyond the legally allowed period of 30 days.
Progressives’ vows of defiance come as The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting new details about Trump’s designs on the Windy City. According to the paper, the administration is planning to use a suburban naval base just outside the city to house federal immigration officials and potentially National Guard troops starting in September.
An email sent this week by US Navy Cpt. Stephen Yargosz obtained by The Chicago Sun-Times claimed that the deployment will be focused on “downtown Chicago,” despite the fact that the downtown area is not where most violent crimes in the city occur.
Yargosz also said in his email that there are “not many details” right now about deploying the National Guard in Chicago, but “mainly a lot of concerns and questions.”
The Chicago Sun-Times report also noted that all of these plans are being done without any input from or consultation with local officials, who have said that they are completely in the dark about what the president is plotting.
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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
A tow truck driver tries to attach a cable to a car submerged in flood waters on the bank of the Guadalupe River during a search and recovery mission on July 13, 2025 in Ingram, Texas. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
“Hurricane season has begun, yet FEMA continues to lack an appointed administrator with the mandated qualifications to fulfill this role,” the employees wrote in a letter to Congress.
More than 180 federal emergency relief workers have signed a letter warning that US President Donald Trump’s administration is severely harming their ability to respond to future disasters.
The letter, which was sent to members of Congress on Monday, painted a dire picture of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under Trump’s watch.
“Since January 2025, FEMA has been under the leadership of individuals lacking legal qualifications, Senate approval, and the demonstrated background required of a FEMA administrator,” the employees stated. “Decisions made by FEMA’s Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Administrator (SOPDA) David Richardson, former SOPDA Cameron Hamilton, and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem erode the capacity of FEMA… hinder the swift execution of our mission, and dismiss experienced staff whose institutional knowledge and relationships are vital to ensure effective emergency management.”
The employees then detailed several specific ways that the Trump administration has hamstrung the agency, which they said would be tantamount to “the effective dissolution of FEMA itself and the abandonment of the American people” if not corrected.
First, they faulted Noem for requiring personal review for all contracts, grants, and mission assignments costing more than $100,000, which they described as an improper impoundment of agency funds that “reduces FEMA’s authorities and capabilities to swiftly deliver our mission.”
They then took aim at Richardson, whom they lambasted as wholly unqualified for his position.
“Hurricane season has begun, yet FEMA continues to lack an appointed administrator with the mandated qualifications to fulfill this role,” they warned. “The dangers of unqualified leadership were a significant lesson learned from Hurricane Katrina.”
The FEMA workers noted that the Trump administration has flouted federal requirements demanding that FEMA administrators demonstrate “ability in and knowledge of emergency management.” According to The New York Times, Richardson told employees in June that he hadn’t been aware the US had a hurricane season.
“They’re breaking the law so they can hire mediocre people,” said US Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.). “And Americans will die as a result.”
The employees also slammed the administration for its “censorship of climate science, environmental protection, and efforts to ensure all communities have access to information, resources, and support.”
They also noted that the administration removed the Future Risk Index from FEMA’s website this past February, which they said would harm “the nation’s ability to properly prepare for and mitigate against the risks of tomorrow.”
Finally, the employees called attention to the massive workforce drain FEMA has experienced under Trump’s administration.
“FEMA’s current capacities have been significantly limited due to a loss of personnel through programs designed to incentivize our workforce to leave federal service, ongoing hiring freezes, and the cancellation of critical support contracts,” they wrote. “One-third of FEMA’s full-time staff have departed the agency this year, leading to the loss of irreplaceable institutional knowledge and long-built relationships.”
The employees also said that the damage done to FEMA was already visible this past summer during the agency’s response to deadly floods in central Texas that claimed the lives of more than 130 people.
“As that disaster unfolded, FEMA’s mission to provide critical support was obstructed by leadership who not only question the agency’s existence but place uninformed cost-cutting above serving the American people and the communities our oath compels us to serve,” they said.
A total of 181 FEMA employees signed the letter, although only 35 of them made their signatures a matter of public record.
Trump earlier this year said he’d like to see FEMA dismantled so that more responsibility for handling the aftermath of natural disasters would be pushed off to individual states. Meanwhile, the president has denied some states’ requests for disaster declarations, including Kentucky, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.
Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is a U.S. government agency under the Department of Homeland Security responsible for coordinating federal responses to disasters and emergencies.
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The Madleen before departure. Source: Tan Safi/Freedom Flotilla Coalition
Global Sumud Flotilla aims to break Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza, to deliver urgent humanitarian aid, and to expose the genocidal war waged on Palestinians.
In July 2025, a new international maritime initiative was launched: the Global Sumud Flotilla. It was formed by four major coalitions: the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Maghreb Sumud Convoy, and the Southeast Asian Nusantara Sumud Initiative. The Global Sumud Flotilla is set to depart on August 31, 2025. Its goal is clear: to break Israel’s illegal blockade on Gaza, to deliver urgent humanitarian aid, and to expose the genocidal war waged on Palestinians.
The flotilla is composed of dozens of small civilian vessels carrying activists, parliamentarians, doctors, and trade unionists, alongside humanitarian cargo. More than 39 national delegations have pledged participation, making this the largest people-led maritime effort in solidarity with Gaza since the 2010 “Mavi Marmara”.
Behind every flotilla passenger lies a story of conviction. Greek trade unionists brought banners pledging workers’ solidarity with Palestine. Doctors from Spain and Italy carried vital medicines banned from entering Gaza. Parliamentarians from South Africa and Norway insisted that breaking the siege is a moral and political duty.
This is not the first flotilla of its kind this year. The “Handala” and “Madleen”, two of the Freedom Flotilla’s flagship vessels, also set sail in an attempt to break the blockade of Gaza. However, they were attacked by drones and stormed by Israeli forces. Passengers were beaten, kidnapped, and deported. Phones were confiscated, activists were interrogated, and many went on hunger strike to protest their detention. The attack was not just on the Freedom Flotilla; it was an attack on the principle of global solidarity itself.
The Global Sumud Flotilla insists that its mission is entirely lawful under international maritime law. Civilian vessels carrying humanitarian aid in international waters are protected under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Israel’s interception of the “Handala” and “Madleen” constitutes nothing less than piracy and a war crime.
The flotilla’s organizers remind the world that Israel has maintained a land, air, and sea blockade on Gaza since 2007. As they prepared for upcoming missions, flotilla spokespeople declared:
“Our boats carry more than aid. They carry a message: the siege must end. The greater danger lies not in confronting Israel at sea, but in allowing genocide to continue with impunity.”
Criminalizing solidarity, violating international law
In recent months, Israel has escalated its campaign to silence international solidarity with Palestine by targeting civilian flotillas attempting to break the Gaza blockade. These ships, carrying activists, aid, and a message of defiance against siege, have become symbols of global resistance. Instead of engaging through diplomacy or respecting humanitarian principles, Israel has resorted to force on the high seas, treating peaceful civilian missions as military threats.
The assaults on the “Handala” and “Madleen” are more than acts of piracy, they are grave breaches of international law. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) guarantees freedom of navigation in international waters. By seizing vessels outside its territorial jurisdiction, Israel has acted as a rogue state.
International legal experts have consistently affirmed that the blockade of Gaza since 2007 constitutes collective punishment, violating the Fourth Geneva Convention. The International Criminal Court has received multiple submissions documenting Israel’s starvation siege, now exacerbated by open genocide. Yet governments that loudly invoke “rules-based order” remain silent when Palestinians, and their supporters, are the victims.
Instead of protecting citizens, western governments have facilitated Israel’s repression. Passengers aboard the flotillas were stripped of their phones, interrogated, and some were denied re-entry into the Schengen zone. Western states’ silence amounts to complicity.
Some detainees launched hunger strikes in Israeli prisons to protest their abduction. Others returned home to smear campaigns. Western right-wing media accused activists of “provocation” or of “endangering security”. Once-beloved Swedish activist Greta Thunberg who joined the “Madleen” flotilla, received attacks from mainstream media, on social media, and from influential political figures. Such tactics aim to delegitimize solidarity and sow fear among those who dare to act.
But these campaigns have failed to extinguish the moral clarity of the movement. From dockworkers in Barcelona refusing to load arms to Israel, to students occupying universities in the US and Britain, the flotilla has become a symbol: solidarity cannot be blockaded.
The human face of global resistance
The Global Sumud Flotilla represents a convergence of struggles across continents:
The Global Campaign to Return to Palestine mobilized thousands of activists worldwide.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, with roots going back to 2010, brings long experience of organizing maritime resistance.
The Maghreb Sumud Convoy, launched in June 2025, gathered over 1,000 participants from across North Africa under the banner of “coordinated action for Palestine”.
The Nusantara Sumud Initiative, launched from Malaysia and eight other Southeast Asian countries, embodies South–South solidarity inspired by Palestinian steadfastness.
Together, these four networks transformed the flotilla from a handful of ships into a people-powered humanitarian corridor. The first official mission is scheduled for August 31, 2025, from Spain, followed by a second launch from Tunisia on September 4, with more than 50 ships expected to participate.
At a press conference in Tunis, organizers emphasized that the flotilla is not merely logistical, it is symbolic:
“This will not only be a fleet. It will be a reminder that the world is watching, that Gaza is not alone, and that peoples will not remain silent.”
The Freedom Flotilla is part of a long lineage of resistance at sea. The 2010 assault on the “Mavi Marmara”, in which Israeli forces killed ten activists, shocked the world. But instead of stopping solidarity, it multiplied it.
The Global Sumud Flotilla marks a new stage. By linking Mediterranean ports, North African caravans, and Southeast Asian convoys, it builds a transnational infrastructure of resistance. Its Arabic name Sumud, steadfastness, reflects both Palestinian resilience and the determination of people across the world to act where governments have failed.
Breaking the siege, building the future
The choice is now clear. Israel will continue to attack peaceful ships in international waters, abduct activists, and suppress humanitarian efforts, because the siege is a cornerstone of its genocidal project. Western governments will continue to look away.
But ordinary people, from Greek dockworkers refusing to load weapons for Israel, to Tunisian unions welcoming flotilla missions, to students and parliamentarians raising their voices, are building a counter-power.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is both a lifeline and a warning: Gaza will not be starved into silence, and solidarity will not be blockaded.
As the flotilla prepares to set sail with more than 50 ships, its message resounds across seas and continents: The siege must fall. Gaza must live. Palestine must be free.
58 Palestinians injured in IOF raid on Central Ramallah. Photo: Andalou Agency
The offensive is considered a major escalation as it took place in Ramallah, the political and administrative hub of the Palestinian Authority.
Daily raids carried out by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have for decades been routine for Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank. However, Ramallah city center has been relatively safe compared to other areas, largely since the second intifada ended in 2005.
This isn’t to say that such relative calm extends to the entire governorate of Ramallah and Al-Bireh; it applies exclusively to the few square kilometers surrounding the Palestinian Authority (PA) headquarters near the center of the city.
Although this particular part of the city was previously subjected to IOF raids, such offensives happened rarely, for a brief time and usually not during daytime.
In a major escalation, the IOF stormed Ramallah city center on Tuesday, August 26, at rush hour in the afternoon, shooting at passersby and a journalist’s vehicle. Eyewitnesses and media workers reported the use of live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, and gas canisters during the raid.
Those taking part in a sit-in to commemorate the National Day for the Recovery of the Bodies of Slain Palestinians, a day when families demand the return of their martyrs’ bodies, 700-1500 of which are reportedly held by Israel, were also suppressed by Israeli military personnel when they raided the area.
At least 58 Palestinians were wounded in the assault, which lasted for hours, including a 13-year-old boy, who sustained an injury to his abdomen.
The IOF also arrested three people from a money exchange shop, and confiscated around 1.5 million Israeli Shekel (USD 447,000), over allegations that the shop was transferring money to Hamas.
The IOF continues its military operations across the West Bank
On Wednesday, August 27, the IOF raided the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank, and imposed a siege on its Old City.
Dozens of Palestinians were reported injured in the attack, which lasted 14 hours. Palestinian citizens also told Turkish news agency Anadolu that the IOF turned a number of houses in the city into military barracks.
The spokesperson for the Palestinian Presidency Nabil Abu Rudeineh condemned and rejected the IOF’s intensified military operations in cities, villages, and refugee camps across the West Bank on Wednesday.
Abu Rudeineh called the latest Israeli military actions in the West Bank a “dangerous escalation”. He also held the Israeli government responsible for the escalating assaults of the IOF, and the terrorist acts of illegal Israeli settlers against the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian official warned Netanyahu’s government that continuing with these policies will lead the region to further tension and instability.
He also reiterated his call for the US administration to pressure Israel to stop these dangerous policies, which violate the resolutions of international legitimacy and international law, and to oblige it to end the war and other acts of aggression.
Flooding in downtown New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina on August 31, 2005. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
As the people of New Orleans suffered from mass devastation and state neglect following Hurricane Katrina, Cuba’s offer of solidarity was rejected
Two decades ago, Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast of the United States, a Category 5 monster that exposed the raw nerves of inequality, racism, and governmental neglect in the United States. While the storm itself was a force of nature, the true disaster was the response – or lack thereof – from the world’s wealthiest nation. Yet, amidst the chaos and despair, a beacon of international solidarity shone brightly, emanating from an unexpected place: Cuba.
The images are seared into collective memory: rooftops submerged, desperate cries for help echoing through flooded streets, and the Superdome stadium transforming into a squalid shelter. New Orleans, a city with a majority Black population and a vibrant hub of Black culture, bore the brunt. As the levees broke, so too did the illusion of American exceptionalism. Over 1,800 people died, and millions were displaced. The federal government’s response was not only slow but also virtually nonexistent in the crucial initial days. President George W. Bush, vacationing at the time, seemed detached, famously remarking to his FEMA director, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job,” even as the crisis deepened.
Cuba’s hand of friendship
In New Orleans, as desperately overworked healthcare providers struggled with a critical lack of medicine, equipment, and personnel, the Cuban government made its formal offer on September 2. The Senate Majority Leader at the time, Bill Frist, a physician himself who was visiting the flooded city, acknowledged the crisis, stating, “The distribution of medical assistance continues to be a serious problem,” and confirmed reports that scores of people were dying as a result. As the US government faltered, a small island nation, blockaded and vilified by Washington for decades, extended an immediate and comprehensive offer of aid. Fidel Castro announced that Cuba was ready to send a medical brigade of 1,586 doctors, equipped with 36 tons of medical supplies, to assist the victims of Hurricane Katrina. This wasn’t a conditional offer, nor was it for profit. It was a gesture of unconditional solidarity, rooted in the values of the Cuban people, in offering help to those in need, whether suffering from natural disasters or colonialism.
“We would be honored to send our doctors,” Fidel declared. “We could move them by air in groups of 100, and they could arrive within 12 hours of permission being granted.” The doctors were prepared to work in the most challenging conditions, bringing not just medical expertise but field hospitals of their own and decades of experience in providing free and socialized healthcare to millions of people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. They were even willing to brave the dangerous waters to reach those stranded. This was the nascent stage of what would soon become the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade, a testament to Cuba’s unwavering commitment to global health.
The Henry Reeve Brigade
The Henry Reeve Brigade, named after a young American volunteer from Brooklyn, New York, who fought for Cuban independence in the 19th century, was officially formed shortly after Katrina. Its mission: to provide medical assistance in disaster situations and serious epidemics anywhere in the world. While the Bush administration ultimately rejected Cuba’s offer of aid for Katrina, citing “logistical challenges,” the reason given was a lack of full diplomatic relations with Cuba, a claim that rang hollow given the Bush administration had just accepted aid from Taiwan, with which the US also lacks full diplomatic relations. It was a thinly veiled excuse rooted in geopolitical animosity.
Still, the brigade went on to become a global force for good. From the devastating earthquake in Pakistan in 2005 to the cholera epidemic in Haiti, and most recently, the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Henry Reeve Brigade has been deployed to over 40 countries, treating millions and saving countless lives. These doctors often work in remote, dangerous, and impoverished areas, where most Western charities and aid organizations usually fear to stay. They embody the Cuban principle of prioritizing human well-being over profit or political gain. They are a living, breathing condemnation of the often generalized idea in the United States that healthcare is something to profit from.
The contrast between the US government’s response to Katrina and Cuba’s offer of aid couldn’t be starker. For decades, US foreign policy has been predicated on the idea that Cuba is a threat to US democracy, even landing on the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Yet, when its own citizens were drowning, Washington chose to maintain its Cold War attitude over the necessity of saving the lives of its own citizens. A Katrina survivor, recounting the harrowing days after the storm, once lamented, “Where was our government? We were left to die.” This sentiment encapsulates the raw betrayal felt by many of the city’s Black residents.
The rejection of Cuba’s aid wasn’t just a missed opportunity; it was a damning indictment of the US’s priorities. While ordinary Americans were suffering, the Bush administration was more concerned with maintaining its anti-Cuba stance than with saving lives. This is the inherent flaw of a system that prioritizes capital over human lives, that sees solidarity as a weakness rather than a strength.
From Katrina to today: the enduring relevance
Twenty years later, the lessons of Katrina and Cuba’s offer of aid remain profoundly relevant. In today’s political climate, the US continues its aggressive stance against Cuba, even attempting to discourage other countries in the Global South from accepting Cuban medical brigades. The Trump administration, for example, actively campaigned against countries receiving aid from Cuban doctors, labeling them as “human trafficking” – a cynical and baseless accusation designed to undermine Cuba’s international standing and maintain the brutal economic blockade.
Yet, despite these efforts, Cuba’s medical internationalism continues to inspire. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as wealthy nations hoarded vaccines and medical supplies, Cuba developed its own vaccines and continued to send its doctors to the most remote corners of the globe.
As people across the Gulf Coast commemorate the 20th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, may the example of the Henry Reeve Brigade be a powerful reminder of Cuba’s solidarity with the people of the United States.
Manolo De Los Santos is Executive Director of The People’s Forum and a researcher at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. His writing appears regularly in Monthly Review, Peoples Dispatch, CounterPunch, La Jornada, and other progressive media. He coedited, most recently, Viviremos: Venezuela vs. Hybrid War (LeftWord, 2020), Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro (LeftWord, 2021), and Our Own Path to Socialism: Selected Speeches of Hugo Chávez (LeftWord, 2023).
