Minneapolis, MN – Protesters confronted President Obama during an electoral-season fundraising swing through Minneapolis on June 26-27. Immigrant rights, anti-war and environmental groups protested together outside a big-money fundraiser where Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared on the evening of June 26.

Obama’s handlers wanted the media to focus on public relations events that make him look folksy—like a man of the people, instead of Wall Street’s man. So Obama ate lunch at Matt’s Bar in South Minneapolis with a woman who previously wrote him a letter. Then Obama spoke at a tightly-controlled, invitation-only town hall meeting where he repeated key election-season talking points and took limited questions. But the main reason for Obama’s visit to Minneapolis was reportedly to raise half a million dollars in one night. Hosted by Democratic Party fundraiser and former Ambassador to Morocco Sam Kaplan, entrance ran between $10,000 and $32,000 per person and goes towards fall election campaigns.

Outside the fundraiser, Minnesotans gathered to confront President Obama for his policies of continuing wars in the Middle East, torture at Guantanamo, mass deportation of immigrants, and environmental destruction. Chants alternated between the themes, with all groups supporting each other.

As protesters gathered at 5:00 p.m. on West River Parkway and North 4th Avenue around the corner from the fundraiser, the police quickly penned them in and pushed them away from the street. Police were apparently under orders to get the protest out of eyesight or hearing range from where Obama’s caravan would drive by, and where the wealthy donors were arriving. The police surrounded protesters with yellow tape reading ‘police line – do not cross’, leaving no way out except into the Mississippi River. Some people trying to get to the protest were stopped two blocks away on North 2nd Street, as helicopters hovered menacingly overhead.

Yet as Sarah Martin of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) said, when the President’s caravan drove by to take him to the fundraiser, “Obama could clearly see and hear our message of ‘No more war on Iraq.’” Chants of “Money for housing not for war – hands off Iraq!” rang out loudly right as Obama’s caravan drove by. Minnesotans for Peace organized the anti-war presence, which included members of WAMM, the Anti-War Committee, and other groups.

Members of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) also protested, with a message of “No more deportations.” The Obama administration is responsible for deporting over 2 million immigrants – more than Bush or any other president in U.S. history. There is a humanitarian crisis on the U.S.-Mexico border as tens of thousands of children are fleeing rampant violence and severe poverty in Central America and México. Obama’s response is to speed up deportations of these children, sending them back to the uncertain and dangerous situations they are fleeing from. According to Julio Martinez of MIRAC, “We are marching because we need urgent action from President Obama. He has the capacity and the power to end the suffering of our families who have lost a member due to deportation.”

Environmental groups also protested, including MN350 and others, focusing on environmental dangers with the Keystone XL pipeline and Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper pipeline. A nine-year old girl inspired the crowd when she spoke about why it’s important for President Obama to stop the pipelines and support the environment.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #ImmigrantRights #EnvironmentalJustice #PresidentObama

Milwaukee, WI – As soon as President Obama's State of the Union address was over, debates around the speech's central theme of wealth inequality were distributed in carefully packaged arguments to all who would listen.

In tackling the issue, Former Republican Congresswoman Michelle Bachman from Minnesota claimed the problem was not one of income inequality, but of income opportunity. According to the free market capitalist, a lack of jobs are the fundamental problem and we haven't gone far enough yet in giving corporations freedom to grow as they see fit, and that this will create the jobs Americans need to heal our deeply divided society.

Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, the supposed “socialist” who works closely with the Democratic Party, towed the party line, claiming that solving the problem of soaring education costs will level the playing field and address the inequality gap. The Democrats say that in educating the population, they will provide Americans access to “better” jobs and make our corporations more dynamic, and thus, more profitable, making everyone wealthier along the way.

The problem with both arguments: neither deals with the issue.

When Democrats talk about the cost of education, they mean finding a way to help give middle class students access to getting a degree that leads to a “better” job. When Republicans talk about income opportunity, they mean to shift the blame for a bad economy back onto the poor themselves.

The gap between the 99% and the 1% cannot be solved with how many jobs there are, or what kind of job you have. Jobs themselves have nothing to do with the income gap. The income gap is a question of ownership and power in our society, with which group – working people or Wall Street has influence. The problem lies with who writes the paycheck.

The genius behind the Occupy Movement is that it places the issue in its right place: a problem of class. The working class in the U.S. is on the defensive, losing rights in the workplace, opportunities in school and society, and bargaining rights with the bosses—the 1%. The owners, on the other hand, are gaining more and more power, and seeing their wealth soar as a result.

President Obama's challenge to employers to raise wages on their own is an empty one. It is a ploy to keep the left-liberals in the Democratic Party happy, while not doing anything to threaten the profits of the super rich. Further, it flies in the face of the experience of the labor movement in the United States, which saw Americans workers organize and struggle for every penny increase in wages and benefits. If the President wanted to take a serious stand for working people, he would do well to remember the words of the great Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.”

Working people in the United States need more jobs and higher wages. In an age where one in five children deals with hunger, this cannot be any clearer. We need people to construct buildings, drive ambulances, and work on new technologies. What we do not need is the bankers and corporate heads of Wall Street who suck billions out of workers labor and give nothing back but foreclosures and outsourced jobs.

That said, simply creating more jobs inside the 99%, either the so-called “better” jobs the Democrats propose or just any-old-job we can create as the Republicans wish, does not address the issue of the power divide between the haves and have-nots. It only exposes the fact that both political parties are representatives of the haves, and as such they never will address the real issues workers face.

We won’t find our answers on Wall Street, in Congress, or in the White House. Only when working people, as a class, see through the smoke screen, recognize the problem, and organize to take power in their workplaces and communities will we be able to toss out Wall Street bankers and corporate boards and make a better world possible.

#MilwaukeeWI #Labor #PresidentObama #StateOfTheUnion #inequality

Milwaukee, WI – As soon as President Obama's State of the Union address was over, debates around the speech's central theme of wealth inequality were distributed in carefully packaged arguments to all who would listen.

In tackling the issue, Former Republican Congresswoman Michelle Bachman from Minnesota claimed the problem was not one of income inequality, but of income opportunity. According to the free market capitalist, a lack of jobs are the fundamental problem and we haven't gone far enough yet in giving corporations freedom to grow as they see fit, and that this will create the jobs Americans need to heal our deeply divided society.

Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, the supposed “socialist” who works closely with the Democratic Party, towed the party line, claiming that solving the problem of soaring education costs will level the playing field and address the inequality gap. The Democrats say that in educating the population, they will provide Americans access to “better” jobs and make our corporations more dynamic, and thus, more profitable, making everyone wealthier along the way.

The problem with both arguments: neither deals with the issue.

When Democrats talk about the cost of education, they mean finding a way to help give middle class students access to getting a degree that leads to a “better” job. When Republicans talk about income opportunity, they mean to shift the blame for a bad economy back onto the poor themselves.

The gap between the 99% and the 1% cannot be solved with how many jobs there are, or what kind of job you have. Jobs themselves have nothing to do with the income gap. The income gap is a question of ownership and power in our society, with which group – working people or Wall Street has influence. The problem lies with who writes the paycheck.

The genius behind the Occupy Movement is that it places the issue in its right place: a problem of class. The working class in the U.S. is on the defensive, losing rights in the workplace, opportunities in school and society, and bargaining rights with the bosses—the 1%. The owners, on the other hand, are gaining more and more power, and seeing their wealth soar as a result.

President Obama's challenge to employers to raise wages on their own is an empty one. It is a ploy to keep the left-liberals in the Democratic Party happy, while not doing anything to threaten the profits of the super rich. Further, it flies in the face of the experience of the labor movement in the United States, which saw Americans workers organize and struggle for every penny increase in wages and benefits. If the President wanted to take a serious stand for working people, he would do well to remember the words of the great Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.”

Working people in the United States need more jobs and higher wages. In an age where one in five children deals with hunger, this cannot be any clearer. We need people to construct buildings, drive ambulances, and work on new technologies. What we do not need is the bankers and corporate heads of Wall Street who suck billions out of workers labor and give nothing back but foreclosures and outsourced jobs.

That said, simply creating more jobs inside the 99%, either the so-called “better” jobs the Democrats propose or just any-old-job we can create as the Republicans wish, does not address the issue of the power divide between the haves and have-nots. It only exposes the fact that both political parties are representatives of the haves, and as such they never will address the real issues workers face.

We won’t find our answers on Wall Street, in Congress, or in the White House. Only when working people, as a class, see through the smoke screen, recognize the problem, and organize to take power in their workplaces and communities will we be able to toss out Wall Street bankers and corporate boards and make a better world possible.

#MilwaukeeWI #Labor #PresidentObama #StateOfTheUnion #inequality

San José, CA – On Jan. 29, one day after a group of eight U.S. Senators announced their bipartisan proposal for immigration reform, President Obama made his own proposal. While the President’s proposal was better than the bipartisan Senate proposal in several areas, in particular calling for recognition of same-sex partners of U.S. citizens or legal residents who are seeking legal residency; overall it offered the same approach of harsh treatment of the undocumented and a pro-business approach.

President Obama, like the eight senators, used language that called for more militarization of the border and suggesting that the undocumented are potential criminals and terrorists. One improvement is that the President’s proposal does not have an explicit “enforcement first” policy that could postpone legalization forever.

The president’s proposal, like the Senate's bipartisan proposal, also calls for more workplace enforcement. It also explicitly calls for a new Social Security card that comes close to being a national I.D. card.

In terms of legalization, the president and the senators are similar in terms of putting up many obstacles to legalization. One improvement is that the president’s proposal does not require employment to become a legal resident. However, the president’s proposal does require college or military service for faster legalization of undocumented who came as children. But with only about one of three Latino youth attending college, the other two-thirds will feel pressure to join the military in order to legalize and be forced into U.S. military intervention and wars abroad.

The president’s proposal does call for a temporary increase and more flexibility in family reunification visas to try to shorten the waiting lists. But he also calls for a permanent increase in employment visas and eliminating all country caps. Why not do the same for family visas, when it is clear that a long term reduction in undocumented immigration can only happen if there is a permanent increase in family reunification visas?

Last, but not least, there is no mention of stopping deportations now that a legalization proposal is under discussion. The president could have the power to slow or even stop the record levels of deportations that are breaking up families and sowing fear, especially in Chicano, Mexicano and Central American communities.

#SanJoséCA #ImmigrantsRights #militaryRecruitment #Deportation #PresidentObama #immigrationReform

Minneapolis, MN – More than 75 people rallied here, Feb. 3, as a part of the National Day of Protest against the provision of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that allows for indefinite detention without trial. The protest occurred outside the Obama campaign headquarters. President Obama signed this unconstitutional bill into law Dec. 31. According to Anh Pham of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression (CSFR), “This law allows the government to continue to oppress anyone who doesn’t agree with them.”

Sam Richards of Occupy Minneapolis stated, “The NDAA of 2012 is the largest assault on our rights since the Patriot Act. Obama ran as a champion of civil liberties. We demand an end to the attack on our civil rights.”

This demand rang clear as activists joined in chants, speeches, guerrilla theater and an occupation of the Obama headquarter building as part of the direct action. The message of the protest was apparent, with signs such as “No war on our rights: No NDAA,” and chants like “Hey Obama, pay attention! We say no to indefinite detention!”

After hearing representatives from organizations such as the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Occupy Minneapolis and the Anti-War Committee, protesters performed a skit to illustrate what the NDAA laws could look like. During speeches by activists, guerrilla actors dressed as military and FBI personnel attacked and hooded them, thus silencing the progressive voices. A member of the Anti-War Committee called out “I have a constitutional right to protest!” as an ‘FBI agent’ threatened her and led her out of the demonstration.

Then the crowd entered the Obama headquarters building, to press their demands for civil liberties. Many stayed to occupy the headquarters for over two hours and were successful in getting a future meeting set up with state director of the Obama campaign.

Jess Sundin of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, whose home was raided by the FBI on September 24, 2010 stated, “The government is already engaging in attacks on anti-war and international solidarity activists. While the U.S. government spends billions waging war on people of the world, they want to criminalize our right to speak out against their unjust wars.”

#MinneapolisMN #Minneapolis #PresidentObama #MinnesotaCommitteeToStopFBIRepression #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyMinneapolis #NDAA #NationalDefenseAuthorizationAct #indefiniteDetention #PoliticalRepression

Washington, DC – President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA), which includes provisions that allow for indefinite military detention without trial, on Dec.31. The timing of signing assured limited coverage by the corporate media.

Civil liberties organizations, including the Committee to Stop FBI Repression, had urged Obama to veto the NDAA.

A statement from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression noted, “We need to do everything in our power to push back against repression. Under the guise of preventing ‘terrorism’ our democratic rights are being taken away. We have seen this in the case of the 24 anti-war and international solidarity activists who were raided by the FBI and/or called to the grand jury investigating ‘material support for Foreign Terrorist Organizations.’ We have seen this in the prosecution of veteran Chicano activist Carlos Montes in Los Angeles.”

The NDAA, like laws that pertain to the ‘material support for terrorism’ are anti-democratic.

A statement from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) points out, “Under the Bush administration, similar claims of worldwide detention authority were used to hold even a U.S. citizen detained on U.S. soil in military custody, and many in Congress now assert that the NDAA should be used in the same way again. The ACLU believes that any military detention of American citizens or others within the United States is unconstitutional and illegal, including under the NDAA.”

#WashingtonDC #RacismInTheCriminalJusticeSystem #civilLiberties #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #PresidentObama #NDAA #NationalDefenseAuthorizationAct #indefiniteDetention

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 people jointed a Dec. 23 picket line here, at the Obama campaign headquarters, to demand the President veto the National Defense Authorization act, which contains provisions that allow indefinite detention without trial. The protest was organized by Occupy Minneapolis and local anti-war groups.

Critics of these provisions, which President Obama is expected to sign on Dec. 26, say the bill is a real threat to civil liberties and human rights. Several provisions in the NDAA give congressional authorization of indefinite military detentions without trial for people accused by the government of being terrorists. It codifies the powers claimed by both George Bush and Barack Obama based on the “2001 Authorization to Use Military Force” to declare people enemy combatants, indefinitely detain them without trial, gut habeas corpus and carry out assassinations.

Sam Richards of Occupy Minneapolis said, “The NDAA of 2012 is the largest assault on our rights since the Patriot Act. Obama ran as a champion of civil liberties, we are going to urge him to veto NDAA and protect our right to habeas corpus, among other things.”

Jess Sundin of the Anti-War Committee and Committee to Stop FBI Repression said, “We are protesting this effort by Congress to give the president the right to lock American citizens up indefinitely without trial. It's a way of declaring people enemy combatants. We in the anti-war movement know firsthand how the government feels about those who disagree with them. This would give the government permission to not only investigate me for ‘supporting terrorism’ because of my activism, but to detain me based of accusation alone, lock me up and throw away the key. President Obama needs to do the right thing and veto this now.”

Sundin was one of the activists raided by the FBI last year and summoned to a Chicago Grand Jury investigating ‘material support for terrorism.’

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #PresidentObama #OccupyWallStreet #OccupyMinneapolis #NDAA #NationalDefenseAuthorizationAct

Minneapolis, MN – More than 200 protesters met President Obama outside the Convention Center here, Aug. 30, where he spoke to a gathering of the American Legion. The demonstration was initiated by the Minnesota Committee to Stop FBI Repression and endorsed by a wide range of local progressive organizations.

Last fall, five Twin Cities homes and the offices of the Anti-War Committee were [raided by the FBI](/news/special-coverage/fbi-repression) as part of the Department of Justice attack on anti-war activists.

Jess Sundin, one of the raided activists, said, “In his address to the American Legion, the president sought support for his policies of war. Outside the hall, protesters, including organizations of veterans and military families whose voices exposed the human costs of these wars, not only on the people of Afghanistan or Iraq, but also on the troops sent to fight these wars.”

She added, “We are coming out to protest because Obama’s policies of endless war and Wall Street bail outs have failed to meet the needs of the majority of people at home, while costing countless lives abroad. We stand up together to support our community members who have been targeted with repression for speaking out against these policies. We demand an end to attacks on activists, an end to U.S. wars, occupations and bombings around the world and we demand funding of human needs here in our own country.”

Angel Buechner spoke for the Welfare Rights Committee: “Instead of beating down the doors of activists who are standing up against these criminal wars, Obama should be beating down the doors of these filthy rich people who are making profits from the war and getting richer at our expense! Instead of spending precious resources to try to shut up those who oppose the U.S. government's foreign policy, Obama should be creating jobs, providing health care and housing for everyone in need.”

Mike Perkins of the Minnesota chapter of Military Families Speak Out stated, “We are here in support of our courageous friends of the Anti-War Committee and to ask President Obama to step up and remove the cloud that hangs over those who are being unjustly persecuted by the FBI for the crime of demanding peace and justice for all people. Our son went to Baghdad in January 2004 to find Iraq's WMD and protect us from them. Almost immediately he realized, as did most of his buddies, that there were no WMD’s in Iraq and all they were doing there was making more people who wanted to attack us. This made him angry because his friends were dying for no good reason. He lost two very close friends there – who are but two of the more than 4790 who have died so far in an unjust war started by dishonest politicians.”

After rallying at the Convention Center plaza, protesters moved to a nearby street where Obama’s departing motorcade was expected to pass. Protesters chanting, “From Colombia to Palestine, solidarity is not a crime,” were pushed about half a block from where they had assembled, but were still visible when the motorcade went by.

Endorsers included: the Anti-War Committee, Alliant Action, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, MN Peace Action Coalition, MN Military Families Speak Out, MN Immigrant Right Action Committee, MN Iraq Vets Against War, Socialist Action, Socialist Alternative, Tackling Torture at the Top, TC Avengers, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, U of M Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Veterans for Peace Chapter 27, WAMM, Welfare Rights Committee and the Women’s Student Activist Collective (U of M).

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #PresidentObama #AmericanLegion #MinnesotaCommitteeToStopFBIRepression

Tonight, March 28, we urge our readers to join an online discussion of President Obama’s speech defending the decision to attack Libya.

Why do you think the U.S. is really at war? What can be done to build a more effective anti-war movement? You can address these questions or any others that come to mind.

Become a Fight Back! commentator and join the discussion by leaving a comment below.

You can also send your comments to @fightbacknews on Twitter.

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #Libya #LibyaWar #PresidentObama #Africa