prairie fire organizing committee

Our History

Prairie Fire Organizing Committee traces its roots to the student movement of the 1960s. The struggles of Black people to end racism and achieve liberation and the struggle of the Vietnamese people to build a more just society inspired us to action. These experiences led us to see the importance of supporting oppressed peoples in their struggles against injustice.

In 1974, the Weather Underground Organization published a book entitled "Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism." Discussion groups sprang up around the country to discuss the book. In response, Prairie Fire formed in cities across the U.S.

During the 1970s, Prairie Fire believed that the struggles of colonized peoples around the world and in the U.S. were leading the fight against U.S. imperialism. As a result, we worked in solidarity with the peoples of Africa, particularly Zimbabwe and Namibia, and Latin America, especially Nicaragua and Puerto Rico, as they fought to free their nations from foreign domination and dictatorship and build a more equitable society. We were also active in various support committees that worked to end racism and the brutality of prison life and supported Black people's and women's liberation.

The 1979 victory of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the FMLN-led people's war in El Salvador focused the hopes of people around the world on their efforts to build a more just society. In response to the U.S.'s massive military intervention in Central America, a large, dynamic solidarity movement developed in this country during the 1980s in which PFOC actively participated. We raised money for the peoples of Nicaragua and El Salvador, participated in civil disobedience and direct action to oppose U.S. intervention, and helped to build the Central American movement.

In 1980, the U.S. government arrested eleven Puerto Ricans, members of the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional (FALN, the Armed Forces of National Liberation), who fought to end U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico. Prairie Fire worked with the Puerto Rican independence movement to demand their release.

The spread of the AIDS epidemic and the absence of an adequate response from government and health-care institutions, helped bring about the reemergence of a lesbian and gay liberation movement. Our work with groups such as ACT-UP challenged us to understand the importance of lesbian and gay liberation and to increase our opposition to heterosexism in ourselves, our organization, and society. Today, the struggle has changed because poor people, people in prisons, people of color, particularly Africans, are suffering the most from AIDS.

We have joined with many other women to oppose the conservative backlash against women and to defend women's access to women's clinics against anti-abortion thugs.

Beginning in 1984 we have celebrated International Women's Day (March 8) in Chicago through marches and programs. In the 90s, we joined WAC, the Women's Action Coalition, to take direct action against sexism.

We also worked with thousands of people in this country to protest the U.S. war against Iraq and we continue to oppose the U.S. sanctions which kill thousands of Iraqi people.

In 1996 we initiated the Not On The Guest List Coalition that organized a large and dynamic demonstration at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. We demonstrated against the death penalty, the racism and classism of the criminal justice system and for the release of the over 100 political prisoners held in U.S. prisons.

In the new millennium, we are inspired by the struggles of the Zapatistas in Mexico, worldwide opposition to the IMF and World Bank, the growing anti-sweatshop movement and the movements against the U.S. military in Vieques, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Here in Chicago, we work closely with the Puerto Rican community to oppose gentrification and to support self-determination for the Puerto Rican nation. These struggles encourage us to continue our work until U.S. imperialism is defeated.