Family wants answers

Minneapolis, MN – The family of Khalil Ahmad Azad, a 24-year-old Black man who was found dead in Crystal Lake in Robbinsdale, Minnesota on July 5, 2022, still had many unanswered questions on March 10, after Robbinsdale police released some body camera footage. The footage was released months after Khalil’s family said they requested it in September of last year. Azad was chased on foot by police in July after he was pulled over, and his body was discovered in Crystal Lake two days later.

Minneapolis, MN – Minneapolis’ Mayor Frey and seven Minneapolis city council members are talking about how they feel personally threatened after the Roof Depot struggle has become national news – after years of ignoring the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, the group that has been spearheading the push to buy the building with the goal of creating a neighborhood space. As the neighborhood is mobilized and righteously angry about the pollution, Frey and his cronies in the Minneapolis city council try to demonize the neighborhood, attempting to paint activists, particularly indigenous activists, as violent.

Minneapolis, MN – 20 people gathered at a busy Dinkytown intersection for a rally organized by Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota to show solidarity with the Tampa 4 and demand that all charges against them be dropped.

Minneapolis, MN – On March 1, workers held pickets at three Allina Hospitals in the Twin Cities metro area. The pickets were held at Allina’s Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, and Unity Hospital in Fridley. Coon Rapids and Fridley are suburbs of Minneapolis. The pickets were part of a fight for first contracts for a large collection of groups who recently organized and joined the Service Employees International Union, Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa (SEIU HMNIA).

Minneapolis, MN – On Sunday, March 5, residents of the south Minneapolis neighborhood of East Phillips and supporters marched to celebrate community and fight against an environmentally racist project.

Minneapolis, MN – Over 30 protesters rallied in front of the newly opened First Care Pregnancy Center in the Phillips neighborhood on March 4 to demand an end to state funding for anti-abortion centers.

Minneapolis, MN – Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) joins forces nationally to call for a protest on Saturday, March 18 at 1 p.m. at the White House, Washington, D.C., coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the criminal U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Minneapolis, MN – February 26, the Solidarity Committee on the Americas (SCOTA) and MN Cuba Committee (MNCC) rounded out the month on the theme of “Show Love for Cuba,” with their monthly Cuba caravan. The crowd gathered at the South High School parking lot to rally together, demanding the U.S. Government take Cuba off the U.S. State Sponsor of Terrorism list (SSOT).

Minneapolis, MN – This week has been eventful in the East Phillips fight to stop the demolition of the arsenic-contaminated site of the Roof Depot building in south Minneapolis.

Minneapolis, MN – At dawn on Tuesday, February 21, a coalition of East Phillips residents and allies, spearheaded by indigenous elders and American Indian Movement (AIM) members from the Little Earth community, began a new phase in their defense of the abandoned Roof Depot building site by directly occupying the area. In a matter of hours, the neighborhood-led group established Camp Nenoocaasi, setting up more than a dozen tents and a supply distribution area. Throughout the day the camp continued to grow.

Minneapolis, MN – At dawn on Tuesday, February 21, a coalition of East Phillips residents and allies, spearheaded by indigenous elders and American Indian Movement (AIM) members from the Little Earth community, began a new phase in their defense of the abandoned Roof Depot building site by directly occupying the area. In a matter of hours, the neighborhood-led group established Camp Nenookaasi, setting up more than a dozen tents and a supply distribution area. Throughout the day the camp continued to grow.

Minneapolis MN – On February 19, around 100 protesters and community members gathered at the Roof Depot site in the East Phillips neighborhood to protest the impending demolition of the building. The Climate Justice Committee organized the protest as part of the week of action for the Defend the Atlanta Forest, connecting the struggles against environmental racism and police terror in Atlanta to the local struggle against the pollution of oppressed nationality and working-class communities like East Phillips. The Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar also joined the protest, demanding justice for Manuel “Tortuguita” Paez Teran, a forest defender murdered by Atlanta police.

Minneapolis, MN – On February 14, 20 people rallied at the office of Senator Klobuchar in the pouring rain. The action was a part of the ongoing campaign for the month of February, demanding that President Biden to take Cuba off the State Sponsor of Terrorism (SSOT) list. The rally’s objective was to send a Valentine’s message to Klobuchar from the WAMM Solidarity Committee of the Americas (SCOTA) and other Cuba solidarity activists.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the University of Minnesota chapter of Students for a Democratic Society

Minneapolis, MN – 15 University of Minnesota students and staff members gathered in the rain outside of UMN’s Morrill Hall on February 14 for a Valentine’s Day-themed rally hosted by Students for a Democratic Society and AFSCME demanding the expansion of abortion access across all University of Minnesota campuses.

Statement by the Climate Justice Committee, Minnesota

Adapted from a presentation given at a Solidarity Committee of the Americas event in Minneapolis, Minnesota on February 11.

Minneapolis, MN – Dozens of activists, students and community members packed Mayday Books on February 2 for an informational panel on the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and how it relates to Minnesota’s State Board of Investments (SBI). BDS is an international movement started by a coalition of Palestinian civil societies to put pressure on Israel to end apartheid and the occupation of Palestine. The panel focused attention on the SBI’s involvement in the funding of atrocities against Palestine and its people and the ways in which the masses abroad can engage in meaningful boycotts.

Minneapolis, MN – In late January, the Minneapolis city council sent a letter to the Biden administration requesting Cuba to be removed from the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism list and that the embargo against Cuba be lifted. This letter came after previous council resolutions that passed with unanimous support calling for an end to the U.S. blockade against Cuba.

Minneapolis MN – One hundred people rallied in front of the federal courthouse in Minneapolis on February 6 to demand freedom for Leonard Peltier. Peltier is the longest-held indigenous political prisoner in the U.S. Human rights activists worldwide have repeatedly called for his release.