News and Views from the People's Struggle
Minneapolis, MN – On September 16, thousands of rush-hour commuters on Interstate 94 saw banners with slogans like “Free Palestine,” “End apartheid” and “End ethnic cleansing” hung from the Loring Park footbridge, amid a sea of Palestinian flags. Activists from American Muslims for Palestine – Minnesota (AMP-MN), the Anti-War Committee (AWC) and Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) then rallied in the park with chants and speeches.
Minneapolis, MN – On Tuesday evening, September 14, around 100 union members who are part of AFSCME at Hennepin County in Minnesota rallied in front of the Hennepin County Government Center calling for real raises in this year’s contract negotiations.
Minneapolis, MN – On Thursday, August 26, window cleaners in Minneapolis reached a tentative agreement with their employers and ended their open-ended strike after ten days on the picket lines.
Minneapolis, MN – In Minneapolis and surrounding Hennepin County, AFSCME members are demanding that the county commissioners use some of the $246 million they county received from the American Rescue Plan to go to hazard pay for frontline workers as well as compensation in the form of stipends for remote employees for things like internet and cooling bills, to cover the increases in those utilities caused by working from home. Last year Hennepin County received $224 million in relief funds while offering nothing in the form of hazard pay at the same time as grocery store workers saw a $3 per hour increase.
Minneapolis, MN – Some 80 people gathered at North Regional Library on August 22 to hear Frank Chapman speak about his book Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism. This event was the final meeting of a book club that had been meeting over the summer to read the book together with Freedom Road Socialist Organization. After outlining the book for attendees, Chapman took questions and signed books. Like his book, the discussion focused on both the fundamental revolutionary content of Marxism and the significance of what Chapman calls the George Floyd Rebellion. As he writes in his book, “We think it is deeper, we think it is the youth sounding the death knell of the racist police repression that stands like a blockade in the road to Black liberation. It is a call for mass resistance to the police terror that has stalked our communities and denied us the organizing space we need as a nationally oppressed people to wage the struggle for Black Liberation, to finish the unfinished revolution.”
#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #AfricanAmerican #Socialism #FrankChapman
Minneapolis, MN – On August 20, the strike continued for around 50 SEIU Local 26 union members who clean the majority of the tall buildings in downtown Minneapolis and Saint Paul. Through their first five days of the strike the window cleaners picketed in locations all around downtown Minneapolis. They also held multiple larger events for members of other unions and the community to show their support for the workers and their strike over wages and safety.
Minneapolis, MN – On August 17 at 7 a.m. around 50 high rise window cleaners represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 26 in Minneapolis began a strike. The window cleaners are part of a master contract in which three companies bargain together for one large contract.
Minneapolis, MN – There have been some recent advances in the campaign to end cooperation between the largest county in Minnesota, Hennepin County, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The campaign has been organized by the Decriminalizing Communities Coalition, which brings together several local immigrant rights and social justice organizations.
Minneapolis, MN – On August 5, 60 people gathered alongside Washington Avenue near Senator Amy Klobuchar’s Minneapolis office to demand an end of U.S. aid to apartheid Israel. The protesters stretched down the block with signs and Palestinian flags, greeting the rush hour drivers, who were overwhelmingly supportive and honking wildly.
Minneapolis, MN – On August 4, over 30 people gathered on an Interstate 35W overpass, near the office of Biden ally Senator Amy Klobuchar. Via signage, song and chants, community members spread the message to thousands passing by in rush hour traffic: “Save our planet, not their profits” and “Love water, not oil.” Protesters urged commuters to contact President Biden directly to demand an end to Line 3, as the president could kill ‘the black snake’ with a stroke of his pen – but he continues to prioritize corporate profits over the health of people and the planet.