Saint Paul, MN – On August 14, members and supporters of the MN Free Palestine Coalition packed every available seat at the quarterly Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) meeting to demand divestment of state-managed pension funds and other public monies from Israeli weapons manufacturers, banks and bonds, and other entities, complicit in Israel’s apartheid system that contribute to the genocide in Palestine.

The MN Anti-War Committee (AWC) has identified a total of nearly $4.3 billion in public Israeli entities and multinational corporations, some of which explicitly contribute to the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians, all of which profit from it, including Elbit Systems, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Dynamics.

The SBI meeting was chaired by State Auditor Julie Blaha because Governor Tim Walz, who usually chairs the meetings, was campaigning for the Harris/Walz Democratic presidential ticket.

The meeting had a significantly higher number of state patrol troopers than previous meetings and every attendee was given a purple ticket which informed them that disrupting the meeting would lead to gross misdemeanor charges. Multiple protesters were searched by cops and had their signs taken away. Despite these attempts to intimidate pro-Palestinian protesters, four banners and many pictures of murdered Palestinian children were snuck into the meeting and the protesters chanted loudly throughout the whole meeting.

16 union members and community activists testified at the SBI meeting asking for the state of Minnesota to divest from genocide. Stacey Gurian-Sherman, an anti-Zionist Jew and a former public employee who organizes with the Climate Justice Committee, was the first speaker. Her powerful speech kicked off the public comment section of the meeting, “This is painful to me because it is being perpetrated in my name as a Jew – and in violation of Geneva Convention protocols created as a direct result of Nazi atrocities during WWII that murdered 6 millionJews, and 5 million more Romanies, persons with disabilities and in the queer community. What Israel is today should be painful to all of us for being perpetrated in our names as Americans.”

Omari Hoover, a member of both the MN Anti-War Committee, the Free Palestine Coalition and executive board member of AFSCME Local 2822, gave the SBI the 3425 petition signatures the AWC collected this summer and their updated white paper on the board’s investments.

Hoover stated in his testimony, “Earlier this year, when the Palestinian death toll was just under 30,000, we passed a resolution for divestment in Israel. Since then, the death count has risen to almost 40,000 with an anticipated 186,000 for those unaccounted for. In April, I watched Governor Walz give an impassioned speech at the AFSCME Council 5 Day on the Hill about how he plans to stand in solidarity with laborers and would continue to put efforts into thriving unions. Since then, along with everyone on the Minnesota State Board of Investments, you have shown that the solidarity is only with organizations that build an economy in favor of infinite financial growth. You meet quarterly with no indication that there'll be any progress in Minnesota’s divestment of the ongoing atrocities that is the current genocide, happening daily in occupied Palestine, of which many labor organizations have put forth divestment and ceasefire resolutions for.”

Neil Radford, a member of MFT 52 and Minnesota Workers United, also has his pension invested by the SBI. He testified, “Divestment is not a request, it is a demand, and it does not stop with Palestinian liberation. The SBI needs to divest from Israeli apartheid and divert itself and this state from a future where increased militarism is our only answer.”

Michael Runyon, an organizer with Students For Palestine-Normandale and the MN Peace Action Coalition testified, “When you decide to invest in companies like General Dynamics you are choosing to fund the only company in the United States that produces that shell casings for the MK bomb series that was used by Israel to bomb a school in a so-called safe zone killing over 100 innocent men women and children who had gathered for morning prayer. You helped pay for the bombs that tore those people to shreds, so much so, that not one complete body could be recovered.” Runyon is also a part of organizing a protest on September 14 in Bloomington, Minnesota at General Dynamics.

Many protesters said goodbye to each other acknowledging that they will ride the Anti-War Committee’s buses to Chicago on Sunday to March on the DNC on August 19.

#SaintPaulMN #FreePalestine #Antiwarcommittee #Walz #MinnesotaWorkersUnited

St. Paul, MN – On Friday, May 17, a crowd gathered outside the annual GOP Lincoln Reagan Dinner to protest the attendance of former U.S. President Donald Trump, sending the messages to defend reproductive rights, no to a Muslim ban, and of legalization for all.

Trump is known for his reactionary politics that impact working-class people. During his presidential tenure, the Trump administration enacted 472 administrative changes to dismantle and reconstruct the U.S. immigration system, increasing barriers to legal immigration and diminishing humanitarian protections. A prominent campaign point during his 2016 presidential nomination was to build a border wall along the U.S./Mexico border, while perpetuating racist rhetoric about immigrants as “drug dealers, criminals and rapists”.

Manuel Pascual, a member of Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), spoke to the crowd about Trump’s dehumanization of immigrant communities, stating, “He promotes hate and violence against immigrants every chance he gets. We saw what happened during his first presidential term. We witnessed racists come out of hiding to brutalize immigrant communities all over the United States.”

MIRAC has been fighting for legalization for all, an end to immigration raids and deportations, an end to all anti-immigrant laws, and full equality in all areas of life. MIRAC is currently working on passing the North Star Act, a Minnesota bill that would prevent local police from enforcing immigration laws.

Trump’s reactionary immigration policies have also extended towards Muslim communities, further feeding into Islamophobia. In 2017 Trump issued a Muslim travel ban, which blocked refugees and travelers with passports from seven Muslim-majority countries. The executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN), Jaylani Hussein, spoke about the impacts Trump has had on the Muslim community within Minnesota.

Speakers throughout the protest highlighted the interconnected fights between the different struggles.

Alé Guzman Huaman, an organizer with Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC), stated, “I was a junior in high school, and after his election I remember the sense of deep, deep dread, fear and hopelessness. What is going to happen to my family? What is going to happen to my bodily autonomy?”

The Trump administration and the Republican party have campaigned around restricting abortion access for decades. During his presidential term, Trump put forward three Supreme Court justices with conservative political leanings, the last being Amy Coney Barret, who was instrumental in the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade.

MNAAC was formed in direct response to this Supreme Court case. Since then, MNAAC has been campaigning around crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which are fake abortion clinics funded by right-wing Christian evangelical organizations.

Jeff Giering, another organizer with MNAAC, told the crowd, “I believe the rights to life, to personal liberty, and to reproductive choice are under attack by Republicans nationwide. They are under attack by Donald Trump.''

Giering continued on to pinpoint the connections between the Republican and Democratic parties, noting capitalism as breeding grounds for creating opportunistic politicians who only value human life as long as it’s profitable.

Manuel Pascual stated, “Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric has pushed the Biden administration to further punish and endanger migrants seeking refuge in the United States. Let’s be clear- Biden is not our friend!”

Organizers faced some opposition from pro-Trump counter-protesters standing across the street. The counter-protesters yelled chants such as “Trump 2024” and simply repeating “U.S.A”, though their chants were thoroughly drowned out by the crowd starting chants such as “Sexist, racist, anti-gay! Donald Trump, go away!”

This collaborative action was coordinated by members of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

These groups are continuing the fight against Trump and his agenda as they’ll be joining the March on the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 15.

You can follow their work on social media:

• MNAAC: Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok, and Facebook at @MN_AAC.
• MIRAC: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @MIRACMN
• CAIR: Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @CAIRMN

#SaintPaulMN #MIRAC #MNAAC #CAIR #Trump #MNGOP #LincolnReaganDinner

Saint Paul, MN – On Monday, February 12, the opening day of the state legislative session, members of the North STAR Alliance and others gathered to support the North STAR Act at the Upper Mall of the Minnesota State Capitol. About 100 people attended holding blue signs with the new Minnesota state flag that read: “Stand with Immigrants, support the North STAR Act” while listening to speakers from the North STAR Alliance.

The North STAR Act is a bill being introduced into the Minnesota legislature that, if passed, would

prohibit state and local law enforcement from using state resources for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement. Key components of the bill include separation from federal immigration enforcement, protecting Minnesotans’ data, banning state government officials from immigration enforcement, and building trust and inclusion. Similar legislation has already passed in several other states.

The support rally was initiated by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) and the North STAR Alliance. The chief authors of the North STAR Act, Representative Sandra Feist (D-New Brighton) and Senator Omar Fateh (D-Minneapolis), as well as representatives from the North STAR Alliance, spoke to the importance of this transformative legislation, and to the urgent need for Minnesota to take steps to protect our immigrant communities. Aside from the chief authors, speakers included members from The MN Freedom Fund, COPAL MN, Interfaith Coalition on Immigration (ICOM), Minnesota 8, St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee.

Miguel Hernandez, a member of MIRAC, said: “This is just the beginning, we need to keep going, we need to keep pushing this bill all over the state, what is coming here this coming election year will bring a lot of fear, but we’re here to say no. We’re here to support the North STAR Act and here to say enough.”

After the program of speakers, chants and music came to a close, the group walked up the capitol steps and into the building for a spirited march around the capitol rotunda. “Say it loud, say it clear! Immigrants are welcome here!” was heard echoing through the capitol chambers. Some members of the group continued the march, ascending the stairs to chant and hold signs outside of the chambers where the House and Senate were meeting.

Immigrant rights supporters in Minnesota should stay tuned for further actions to support the North STAR Act as the legislative session continues.

#SaintPaulMN #MIRAC #NorthStarAct #immigrantrights #sanctuary

St. Paul, MN – On January 19, despite frigid 6-degree temperatures, 60 activists rallied at a busy intersection at the weekly Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) Free Palestine event.

This week it focused on the U.S. bombing attacks on Yemen. Motorists responded positively to the signs which said, “U.S. hands off Yemen” and the chants, “Yemen, Yemen make us proud, turn another ship around” and “Yemen, Yemen stand your ground turn another ship around.”

After chanting for a half hour, protesters listened to speakers representing several Twin Cities anti-war organizations.

Sorcha Lona, a member of the MN Anti War Committee, spoke of the heroic resistance of Yemen to the genocidal Zionist bombing of Gaza, “The Yemeni Armed Forces, the military of one of the most economically oppressed nations in the world, has brought global trade to its knees. They see the ships sailing in their backyards carrying weapons and supplies to the butchers occupying Palestine and have said ‘no more.’ They’ve stopped these ships and made it clear they will not end their blockade of Israeli ports until the genocide and occupation has been defeated.”

In response to Yemen’s Ansarallah being put to the terrorist list, Lona said, “The people of Yemen standing for the lives and rights of their Palestinian siblings are not terrorists; the United States are the real terrorists, the Zionist Israelis are the real terrorists. The people of Yemen are being killed for standing on the right side of history despite the consequences. There is no possible justification for a second front of aggression, and we must demand U.S. hands off Yemen.”

Molly Wilbur-Cohen, a member of WAMM, spoke as well, “How absurd that Biden hopes that Ansarallah will be nice and stop its activities in the Red Sea. Yesterday Biden was asked by reporters if the U.S. strikes on Yemen are doing anything. He said no, not yet, but we’ll continue until the Houthis stop their attacks on cargo ships. Then, unbelievably, Biden said the U.S. is acting in self-defense and doesn’t want a regional war. Number one, the U.S. is not under attack. Number two, the U.S. would rather bomb the people in Yemen than stop Israel’s genocide.”

The program concluded with a powerful and moving speech by Emily Chu, a member of the U of MN chapter of Students for a Democratic Society . She said, “My mom was raised in Long An, a province in rural southwest Vietnam. The Vietnam war, or the American war as it’s called in Vietnam, was marked by indiscriminate carpet bombing campaigns and deliberate targeting of civilians, primarily affecting the Vietnamese countryside. SDS was also started during the war.”

Chu added, “A popular tactic during the war was to bomb hospitals and afterwards claim that they were housing Viet Cong. The parallels between what happened then in Vietnam and what is happening now in Gaza are impossible to unsee. Just as Agent Orange once denuded the Vietnamese jungles and disabled generations of civilians, white phosphorus now scorches the children of Gaza with impunity.”

Next week, the Minneapolis city council will debate a resolution calling for a ceasefire for Gaza. Demonstrators vowed to do all they can to make sure a strong veto-proof resolution is passed.

#SaintPaulMN #WAMM #Yemen #Palestine

St. Paul, MN – 100 solidarity activists rallied at the October 27 weekly Friday WAMM (Women Against Military Madness) bannering to stand with the people of Palestine. They joined millions around the world who continue to march against this slaughter on a daily basis.

Demonstrators were outraged by Israel’s continued brutal and genocidal bombing of Gaza, Israel’s impending ground invasion of Gaza, the shutting down of electricity and the internet, and the refusal of any meaningful humanitarian aid resulting in 7000 martyred Gazans, with the numbers increasing steeply minute by minute.

Demonstrators were particularity enraged by the rabid support and funding of this war by officials ranging President Biden to Representative Betty McCullom, to Governor Tim Walz to the Edina high school and middle school principals.

Once again motorists showed their agreement to the messages of “Let Gaza live” and “End U.S. aid to Israel” by honking nonstop.

The program included speakers from WAMM, the Anti-War Committee, and Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota. A powerful and moving moment occurred when a college student from Gaza read a poem describing what his heroic people are going through once again.

Drake Myers from the Anti-War Committee stated, “I work with elementary school children, and in the past weeks I have seen, even without wanting to seek the footage out, videos of shell-shocked children, shaking with wide distant eyes. My coworker has too, and we were commiserating about how awful it is to be here, while our tax money and our government is backing the murder of kids that look just like the kids we work so hard with every day.”

Myers continued, “As public employees, our retirement pensions are invested by Walz and Ellison and the State Board of Investments in this exact violence and we don’t really get any say in that. But we’re fighting back and we’ll have a rally and be at the next State Board of Investments meeting in November at the capitol, so this will be a showdown. Now or never is the time to divest from apartheid Israel.” Myers was arrested at Representative Betty McCollom’s office on October 25.

Emily Chu from SDS, who joined the walkout of 300 students at the U of M on Wednesday along with hundreds of campuses across the country, also spoke at the rally, stating, “At this walkout, we voiced our demands to the government to cease all military aid to Israel, call for a ceasefire, and denounce the ongoing occupation of Palestine. We also called on the University of Minnesota to cut all ties with the Israeli government and military. As a CSE [College of Science and Engineering] student, I find the welcoming of recruiters for arms and military contractors like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, who develop and supply the bombs and weapons being deployed onto innocent civilians, onto our campus to be deplorable.”

The next major demonstration in the Twin Cities will be November 1 when President Biden comes to town. Thousands are expected. WAMM’s bannering will continue every Friday until Palestine is free.

#SaintPaulMN #WAMM #Palestine

By Sarah Martin and Kim DeFranco

St. Paul, MN – On October 20, over 150 people rallied at the weekly Palestine vigil of the Women Against Military Madness’s (WAMM) Middle East Committee. The people filled each part of the intersection of the busy streets of Snelling and Summit Avenues. The bannering called for an end to the genocidal Israeli bombing of Gaza, to let Gaza live and end U.S. aid to Israel. Protesters also came to stand with Palestinians in their struggle for liberation.

The crowd was almost double the number that demonstrated at the vigil last week. It represents the upsurge of pro-Palestine rallies in the Twin Cities and across the world. A diverse crowd representing all ages including a contingent from nearby Macalester College, members of the Palestinian and Somali communities and of organizations representing all parts of the people’s movements.

The honks and fist pumps from motorists passing by were constant as they responded to the chants, “Netanyahu you will see! Palestine will be free!” and “Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Israel’s crimes!” Signs and banners included, “Stop funding Israeli massacres” and “End the bombing of Gaza, let Gaza live.”

Robyn Harbison, an emcee and director of WAMM, welcomed the crowd, “I joined the movement in the Twin Cities two years ago and what motivated me was the attacks on Sheik Jarrah. When I found reliable information, I was justifiably fueled with anger. But I found I could use my anger for something worthwhile and join the working people of the world who are showing up by the millions. If not now when? We must not allow genocide funded by U.S. tax dollars to happen before our eyes.”

Harbison went on to talk about the Minnesota state money which is invested in Elbit system, Israel’s largest weapon manufacturer and Lockheed, the largest U.S. weapons maker which makes F-16s used in the horrific bombing of Gaza.

Sara Olson, member of WAMM, gave an opening fiery speech, said. “Israel, which did not exist 75 years ago, was established through one of the most violent acts of ethnic cleansing in modern history with the unwavering support of British imperialism at the time and later U.S. imperialism alongside French and other European imperialist forces,” adding the imperialists “proposed to address the issues of Jews in Europe by establishing the state of Israel and colonizing Palestinian land, displacing its people.”

Olson continued to explain, “This is similar to American history, particularly in terms of wiping out as efficiently as possible the indigenous inhabitants and by denying them their humanity, exactly as the Israelis have done to Palestinians.”

Kent Mori from the Climate Justice Committee rallied the people, “WAMM shows that with this vigil for the past 20 years when we fight, we win. Just as the Palestinians are showing us now. When we fight, we win!”

Liz McLister of the MN Anti-War Committee expressed, “At this juncture I invite you all to remember that the struggle for Palestinian liberation is not a fringe position – not by a long shot. In recent years cracks and grooves have appeared in the bunk ‘both sides, slash complicated, slash conflict’ narrative wall that once obscured the ugly truth about occupied Palestine from the eyes of the average American. Scaling back from the imperial core of the United States, the intersectional, transnational campaign for Palestinian liberation is stronger than ever before.”

Protesters were encouraged to attend the protest on October 22 at Loring Park in Minneapolis at 2 p.m. organized by American for Muslims in Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of MN and the MN Anti-War Committee.

#SaintPaulMN #WAMM #ClimateJusticeCommittee #AntiWarCommittee #Palestine

Saint Paul, MN – On July 7, 80 protesters gathered on the Marshall Avenue/Lake Street Bridge to demand the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) divest taxpayer money from Israeli bonds and companies.

Demonstrators spent time on the bridge chanting and holding signs, before marching to Eastcliff Mansion, where Governor Tim Walz temporarily resides. Speakers with the Anti-War Committee (AWC) and other grassroots groups highlighted Israel's recent attacks on Jenin in their calls for divestment.

Nick Tolliver of the AWC declared, “The violence of Israel's government's occupation was fully on display in the recent attacks on the Jenin refugee camps in the West Bank, where 12 Palestinians were murdered in a fruitless attempt to stamp out the resistance of the Palestine people.”

Tolliver was referring to Israel's July 3-5 siege-like offensive on the Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank town of Jenin. Occupation forces spent 48 hours unleashing drones, helicopters, bulldozers and over 1000 ground troops in the largest invasion of any West Bank city since 2002.

These aggressions resulted in at least 12 deaths, over 100 injuries, and the displacement of thousands of Jenin residents. During the attacks, critical infrastructure was lost, roads were demolished, emergency response vehicles were blocked, and 80% of homes in the Jenin refugee camp were destroyed.

Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine condemned U.S. silence in the face of the Jenin raids, saying, “The United States of America was quiet. This quiet was complicity. This quiet shows that the United States of America was observing what Israel was doing with every single penny that it provides for the purpose of ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”

The Biden administration has indeed remained quiet about recent assaults in Jenin, even as international human rights groups have sounded alarms.

Every year the U.S. sends $3.8 billion in taxpayer money to fund the Israeli occupation of Palestine. What's more, the United States routinely shields the Israeli government from having to answer for its criminal activities against the Palestinian people.

At the Saint Paul event, speakers highlighted specific ways the state of Minnesota fuels apartheid conditions in occupied Palestine. The Minnesota SBI has invested over $800 million in public funds in Israeli bonds, weapons manufacturers, and other companies complicit in Israel's aggressions.

As a result, many Minnesotans' pension funds are bound up in such entities as Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms dealer that boasts about testing lethal munitions on Palestinians and is actively constructing portions of the border wall infrastructure between the U.S. and Mexico.

Teacher Anne Keirstead asserted, “As a person who believes in social justice, I find it unacceptable that my pension dollars are supporting the oppression and ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government.”

Before the crowd dispersed, organizers urged the public to join them at the upcoming SBI meeting. That meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 23 in the G23 Senate Committee Room of the State Capitol building.

#SaintPaulMN #Palestine #AntiWarCommittee #MiddleEast

Saint Paul, MN – The 2023 Minnesota legislative session ended on May 22, and it’s one for the history books. A wide array of progressive measures that working class and oppressed peoples’ movements in Minnesota have demanded for years and even decades became law, as the Republicans howled from the sidelines but didn’t have the votes to stop it.

The stage was set for this when the Democrats bucked predictions of Republican gains in the November 2022 election, with Democratic Governor Tim Walz handily winning re-election, and the Democrats winning a slim majority in both the state House and Senate. This Democratic “trifecta” brought to an end to around a decade of divided government in Minnesota that bottled up any progressive policies and led to gridlock where little legislation of consequence passed. Add to the mix a $17 billion budget surplus, a new group of oppressed nationality legislators with histories in mass movements, the virtual disappearance of rural moderate Democrats due to political polarization, and pent up frustration with the extreme right wing turn of the federal courts and the Republican Party, and you have the ingredients for the most progressive legislative session in a generation.

This led to a legislative session unlike any in recent times.

The breadth of progressive policies that the state legislature passed this year surprised many observers. The last time the DFL had a trifecta of control over the governor’s office along with the state House and Senate a decade ago, they passed a small number of important progressive measures but overall chose caution and just maintained the status quo on most issues. This has matched the experience of Democrats in power at the federal level for our entire lifetimes; when they have won elections, the Democrats have not only failed to advance bold, new progressive policies — they've failed to even maintain the status quo of the gains won in the 1930s New Deal era and the 1960s freedom movement era as the Republicans have relentlessly attacked those gains.

The recent experience of a Democratic trifecta at the national level from 2020-2022 repeated this experience, with President Biden and the Democratic-controlled Congress failing to pass transformational legislation to advance people’s rights and even failed to defend abortion rights while Republicans in the courts and in state governments continued to methodically strip away the gains of previous struggles and have gone on the attack to further erode the basic democratic rights of working class and oppressed peoples.

The fact that the Democrats only had a one-vote majority in the Minnesota Senate led many people to expect something similar to what we saw at the federal level over the previous two years, where two of the Democrats’ most conservative U.S. Senators – Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema – blocked serious progressive legislation, negating the Democratic majority.

But that didn’t happen this year in Minnesota. The Democrats came out swinging from the start of the legislative session, passing progressive legislation on a range of issues quickly and not letting up until the session ended in May.

That said, there are some notable things the legislature didn't do, and things that Governor Walz vetoed after threats of blackmail by major corporations, which clearly demonstrate the limits of what's possible in this system even with total Democratic control.

What was passed?

Abortion rights

Given that the Democrats largely won the elections in Minnesota because of outrage about the overturning of Roe v. Wade nationally, they put a high priority on a range of bills to strengthen abortion rights in Minnesota. In the face of attacks on abortion rights in many Republican-controlled states, Minnesota went in the opposite direction and significantly expanded abortion rights.

While a state court ruling had previously protected abortion rights in Minnesota, the overturning of Roe v. Wade nationally made it clear that a court ruling is not strong enough protection for this basic right. So the legislature passed a law to put abortion rights into the Minnesota legal code as a “fundamental right”, making it harder for right wing judges to easily overturn it. They also overturned basically all the restrictions that had been placed on abortion over the years as part of the long-term Republican strategy to chip away at abortion rights bit-by-bit with things like waiting periods, extra unnecessary paperwork, etc.

They passed a law protecting people who come to Minnesota for an abortion from other states that might try to legally prosecute them because they’ve outlawed abortion. And finally, they cut all state funding to “crisis pregnancy centers,” which are misleading anti-abortion “fake clinics” littering the state. Many are religious institutions that try to talk vulnerable people out of seeking abortion as one of their health care options. Previously these centers received millions of dollars of state funding, but no more. The struggle to increase access to abortion continues, as even though it remains legal there are very few clinics that offer abortion services in the state.

Voting rights expansion

In the face of attacks on voting rights on the federal level with the effective end of the Voting Rights Act and attacks on voting rights in Republican-controlled states, this year’s Minnesota legislature passed several expansions of voting rights. One important one is restoring the vote to people convicted of felonies who are on felony probation or parole. This voting restriction has disproportionately impacted Black Minnesotans. This change restores the right to vote for around 50,000 Minnesotans. They also passed a law that will now automatically register eligible voters to vote, which is a significant expansion of voting access, and will automatically pre-register eligible 16 and 17-year-olds to vote. There will also now be a permanent absentee voter list, so people who want to vote by mail can automatically get a ballot sent to their home before each election.

Protecting trans and queer rights

In the face of attacks on transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary people in Republican-controlled states, the Minnesota legislature passed a series of bills to protect trans people. One bill protects people traveling to Minnesota for gender-affirming care from legal attacks in other states, including prohibiting the governor from extraditing someone for receiving gender-affirming care in Minnesota. Another bill bans “conversion therapy” statewide, which is a discredited practice of trying to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity to make them straight.

Drivers license for all and insurance for immigrants

The immigrant rights movement in Minnesota has fought to win back drivers license access for all regardless of immigration status since that right was taken away from undocumented residents in the anti-immigrant fervor after 9/11. After 20 years of struggle, this year the legislature quickly moved to pass the drivers license for all bill, and passed a clean version of the bill without special markings on the license that would expose people as being immigrants, like some previous versions of the bill would have done.

Another important measure passed that benefits immigrant communities is that now Minnesota’s immigrant residents will be eligible to enroll in MinnesotaCare, the state’s publicly-subsidized insurance program.

Police accountability

One of the biggest missing elements in the legislature’s otherwise progressive efforts has been around reigning in racist police violence with policies to increase police accountability. In the aftermath of the police murdering George Floyd, several organizations fighting for police accountability and families impacted by police violence proposed a series of new laws; they were almost entirely ignored. This year, one significant piece of legislation passed that addresses police brutality – new limits statewide on no-knock search warrants, like the kind that led to the Minneapolis police killing Amir Locke in January 2022. There are loopholes in the bill though that still allow no-knock warrants in some situations. But overall, the legislature failed to make significant strides toward reigning in racist police violence.

Health care

The legislature expanded MinnesotaCare to create a public option, an important step in the direction of health care for all.

The legislature also passed a statewide paid family and medical leave plan, expanding paid work leave to large numbers of workers who don’t currently have such benefits at their jobs. Eleven other states have similar programs. Additionally, the legislature passed a statewide sick leave program. Workers who don’t currently get sick leave at their jobs will now get an hour of sick leave per 30 hours of work.

Transportation

After decades of underfunding of transportation infrastructure, legislators passed a nearly $9 billion transportation bill, including new taxes and fees that will raise significant amounts of dedicated funding for transportation infrastructure as well as funding for public transit and funding for the ever-elusive passenger train line from the Twin Cities to Duluth, which now seems like it will become a reality. The legislature decriminalized fare evasion for all Twin Cities transit agencies, an important move in both curtailing racist enforcement of such laws as well as potentially a step toward free public transportation.

Housing

The state legislature passed $1 billion in spending on housing, and created the first-ever tax dedicated to affordable housing. While more should have been allocated to public housing, there is $10 million to retrofit public high-rise housing with sprinklers; a few years ago, several people died in a fire in a Minneapolis public housing fire. A new state program was also created that’s similar to the federal Section 8 program that could help 5,000 low-income renters.

Public education

For higher education, the North Star Promise Program creates a free college education for students with a family income under $80,000, and increased funding for Minnesota’s tribal colleges.

The K-12 public education budget is $23.2 billion. This is a significant increase over previous years, coming after decades of underfunding of public education. Importantly, future funding will be tied to inflation increases to not fall behind inflation. The bill includes a permanent expansion of pre-kindergarten education to 12,360 seats statewide, funds to increase the size and diversity of the teaching workforce, nearly doubling funding for American Indian education, $65.9 million to pay paraprofessionals and special education instructors for their work time outside of the classroom in addition to their classroom time, funding for a new mandate that schools have menstrual products available, funding for creating new gender-neutral bathrooms, and much more.

The legislature also passed free school lunch statewide, starting next school year. This continues something that was implemented on a temporary basis at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but was set to end.

Child care assistance

The legislature passed a large increase in funding for the Child Care Assistance Program.

Climate change

A new law set a statewide goal to have a carbon-free electric grid in Minnesota by 2040. While slower than climate activists want, it moves in the right direction in comparison to the reversals in Republican-controlled states. Hundreds of millions will also now be available for climate projects and rebates for electric vehicles, buses, bikes, air-source heat pumps, and more.

Roof Depot

Late in the session, legislators intervened in the struggle in the East Phillips neighborhood in Minneapolis over the future of the Roof Depot site. A years-long struggle came to a head this year as the largely indigenous and immigrant working-class neighborhood fought to stop the city of Minneapolis’s plan to demolish the Roof Depot site, releasing arsenic into the air from the polluted site, and then putting a public works site there that would bring more diesel traffic to the heavily polluted neighborhood. Instead the community wanted to create an urban farm on the site, but Minneapolis Mayor Frey and the majority of the city council pushed ahead with their own plan.

As the demolition of the site was looming, the state legislature budgeted money for the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute to purchase the site and brokered a deal that Mayor Frey agreed to accept for the community to take control of the site. This sealed a huge victory for the indigenous people and environmentalists who resisted the city’s plan for eight years.

New state flag

The legislature passed a measure that will likely result in a new Minnesota state flag to replace the current flag which is both aesthetically confusing as well as racist in portraying a Native American exiting the scene as a white farmer works the land. A commission will propose a new state flag design for the legislature to consider next year.

CROWN Act

The CROWN Act was passed this session, which changes the MN Human Rights Act to protect against discrimination in employment, housing and education based on hairstyle, something that has been particularly used against Black people.

Unprecedented budget increase and new revenue

The biggest financial thing that happens in a legislative session is passing the state’s budget for the next two years. The budget they passed this year smashed the previous record, with a 40% increase in spending. This means a significant increase in spending on social programs that benefit working people, which have been starved of funds in recent decades as neo-liberal cuts to social programs have been the norm under both Republican and Democrat administrations. There was also a large increase to local government aid, and a massive $2.6 billion bonding package of infrastructure projects. This is the largest bonding bill ever passed in Minnesota; no bonding bill for infrastructure was passed at all in the previous two years due to divided government gridlock. The legislature passed $100 million in funding for high-speed internet infrastructure, which will help in many parts of the state with inadequate internet access.

Marijuana legalization

One of the measures that got the most media attention was the legalization of recreational marijuana in Minnesota, which now becomes the 23rd state to do so. Decriminalization of simple possession and home growing of marijuana will go into effect in August. The bill also calls for expunging some low-level marijuana offenses from people’s criminal records; Black people in Minnesota have been arrested for marijuana possession at a much higher rate than white people.

Capitalists set limits

The fast pace and wide array of bills the legislature passed seemed to even catch many in the capitalist class off guard. But by the end of the legislative session, they regained their footing and stopped some important bills in their tracks. Under threats from large corporations, Governor Walz intervened to squash two bills that working class people and unions fought hard for. One was a bill supported by the nurses’ union, the Keep Nurses at the Bedside Act, which would have taken important measures to address the crisis of understaffing and overworking of nurses. This was set to pass until the Mayo Clinic, a hugely powerful corporation in Minnesota, sent a public letter to legislators and the governor threatening to move billions of dollars of future investments to other states if Minnesota passed this law. First the legislature tried to do a carveout for Mayo to exclude them from the bill, but then other hospital corporations got mad, and the whole bill fell apart.

Second was a bill that passed both the House and Senate and only needed the governor’s signature to pass. This bill would have created basic worker protections and a minimum wage for Uber and Lyft rideshare drivers, who are classified as “independent contractors,” and so most existing labor law, as inadequate as it is, doesn’t apply to them. The bill was pushed by the Minnesota Uber & Lyft Drivers Association (MULDA), representing the largely East African workers who are rideshare drivers.

After passing both houses of the legislature, Uber, learning from what Mayo Clinic did to tank the nursing bill, sent a threatening letter to the governor saying that if he signed it, Uber would end all operations in greater Minnesota and would only continue certain specialized services in the Twin Cities. The governor balked and issued the first veto of his time in office, leaving thousands of oppressed nationality workers still without a basic minimum wage or workers’ protections.

The killing of these two bills in particular show where the true power lies in a capitalist country. Even in a best case scenario of complete Democratic control in a state under the most ideal economic conditions of a massive budget surplus, the capitalist class can still override the will of the people and of the legislature and essentially veto bills they don’t like by issuing threats. This shows the need to not only fight to win what can be won under the current system, but to fight for a new system – socialism – where working class and oppressed people have the reins of power and can’t be bullied by large corporations into denying workers basic rights.

Angered but unbowed by the governor caving to capitalist threats, both the nurses’ union and MULDA have pledged to continue their struggle to pass these bills next year.

Increased polarization – two legal systems in one country

The results of this year’s legislative session in Minnesota paint a sharp contrast to the avalanche of reactionary laws passing in Republican-controlled states. This is a reflection of the growing political polarization in the U.S., and the consolidation of two very different legal systems in this country, with some states preserving and expanding democratic rights, and other states sharply attacking and curtailing them.

This situation of political polarization makes it possible to win some important advances for democratic rights in Democratic-controlled states if mass movements are well organized and prepared to place clear demands on the Democrats in power.

It also shows the need to strongly support movements and communities in Republican-controlled states that are under attack and fighting back and resisting the wave of reaction in their states. Winning more democratic rights in the states where it’s possible helps those fighting in other states through raising the bar of what’s possible, as well as offering sanctuary to people and communities in those states who come under increasing attack with the wave of reactionary laws.

#SaintPaulMN #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #Labor #WomensMovement #Healthcare #HousingStruggles #EnvironmentalJustice

Saint Paul, MN – In lively spirits backed by a score of endorsing car horns, over 50 Palestine solidarity and anti-war activists demonstrated in front of the Minnesota Governor’s Mansion on February 25, demanding that the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) divest from apartheid Israel, as it did from apartheid South Africa.

The action was initiated by the Anti-War Committee in the lead up to the SBI’s Thursday meeting, where the Anti-War Committee will deliver this demand to the Board, speaking on behalf of over a thousand Minnesotans who have signed onto their petition to divest.

The Minnesota State Board of Investment has put over $800 million in taxpayer money into entities recognized by the United Nations and watchdog groups as perpetrating or complicit in Israel’s brutal, illegal apartheid occupation of Palestine. These entities range from Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons company whose technology is used to terrorize Palestinians and migrants at the southern U.S. border; to Israeli state bonds, banks and businesses directly involved in their illegal land-grab settlements; to complicit multinational corporations.

Speakers at the rally highlighted the escalating violence of the Israeli regime, which killed 231 Palestinians in 2022, including 49 children. That was the highest death count since 2006, but 2023 is far outpacing it, with over 60 victims in two months. “Just this last Wednesday, the Israeli Army killed eleven Palestinians and injured over 100 during a raid on the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli army fired indiscriminately in a public space, killing and injuring bystanders of all ages,” Nick Williams of the Anti-War Committee said, noting the horrific scale of Israeli terror attacks.

“These are not just numbers, these are Palestinians who have names, who have faces, who had families who cared about them, who had hopes and dreams in life,” Ali Abu-Atieh of American Muslims for Palestine emphasized. Speaking of the death and dehumanization Israeli forces inflict on Palestinians, he stressed, “none of this is possible without our tax dollars.”

Williams expanded,“Our own State Board of Investments is using our taxes to fund this brutal apartheid state. The Minnesota SBI has invested the pensions and retirement plans of our teachers, nurses, fire fighters and other state employees in an occupation that is built on genocide and apartheid.”

The animating principle of the Zionist project is mass dispossession and ethnic cleansing. “Between 1947 and 1949 alone, entire Palestinian communities were murdered or expelled from 400 villages at least,” said Skyler Dorr of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, speaking of the Nakba, the homicidal birth of the Israeli state. “Around 750,000 people fled or were expelled from their homes.”

The same practice continues in Israel’s illegal West Bank settlements. The day after the protest, mobs of Israeli settlers killed a Palestinian and injured almost 400 others as they rampaged around the Nablus area, assaulting residents and setting fire to at least 30 homes. Eight settlers were arrested by Israeli forces and were all released within days.

“Standing with the Palestinian people to demand their right to return, their right to their nation from the river to the sea is not anti-semitic, it’s anti-imperialist,” Dorr explained, as a Jewish anti-Zionist. “Our liberation isn’t found in stealing land, homes and lives from other people. Our liberation is in standing beside them, fighting for a better world – the Israeli occupation of Palestine doesn’t represent us, and Elbit Systems certainly doesn’t represent us!”

Lucia Smith, a retired teacher whose pension is handled by the SBI, told the crowd about a young Palestinian boy whose emergency room surgeon she met when she visited Gaza. Recalling that the boy was shot by a bullet which the doctor handed to her, Lucia expressed the deep guilt she now feels as the pension fund she depends on includes dividends from an Israeli arms and ammunition company like Elbit Systems. “I don’t want to profit from the killing of Palestinians,” she said.

By its funding of Israel’s occupation, the SBI has tied the financial viability of state employee retirement systems to the solvency of a recognized apartheid regime. Not only has this made Minnesotans like Lucia Smith unwitting profiteers of war crimes and apartheid, it will also leave them holding the bag when justice comes for Israel, just as it came for South Africa. That is, if the Minnesota State Board of Investment does not divest.

The protest was endorsed by American Muslims for Palestine – MN, Jewish Voice for Peace – Twin Cities, MN BDS Community, MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, MN Peace Action Coalition, MN Workers United, Northfielders for Justice in Palestine/Israel, Students for a Democratic Society – UMN, Students for Justice in Palestine – UMN, Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar, Veterans for Peace – Chapter 27, Women Against Military Madness, and Youth for Palestine MN.

#SaintPaulMN #Palestine #FreePalestine #MiddleEast

Saint Paul, MN – Despite a snowstorm of historic proportions, hundreds of immigrants and supporters packed the State Capitol February 21 as the Senate debated Senate File 27, the Drivers Licenses for All bill which would allow Minnesotans to get a driver's license regardless of immigration status. After more than six hours of debating hostile Republican amendments, the Senate voted to pass the bill around 2:00 a.m. on a party-line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor and all Republicans voting against.

The bill previously passed the House, and Governor Tim Walz already indicated he will sign it, so the Senate vote seals the victory for this major priority for immigrant communities and the immigrant rights movement.

With Minnesota's extreme weather and inadequate public transportation, undocumented immigrants are often forced to drive to get to work or take kids to school or doctor's appointments, risking being stopped by the police and then put at risk for deportation. Now, that common path to deportation will be dramatically reduced.

The struggle for drivers license equality in Minnesota began after the last Republican governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, took away the right for immigrants to get a drivers license 20 years ago, in 2003. Bills for drivers license equality have been introduced in the state legislature regularly since 2008, but have always fallen short of passage, even during the previous Democratic Party trifecta of control over state government a decade ago. But this year the 20 years of organizing bore fruit as a legislative majority finally was willing to prioritize the issue and pass it in the face of shrill Republican fear mongering.

Community members rallied in the capitol for the entire time of the Senate debate, with young people taking the lead to keep up the energy. For six hours the Capitol rotunda was converted into a determined yet joyful Spanish-language community outpouring and celebration. There was chanting, speeches, testimonials from community members, singing, a live band and dancing, break dancers, and more. Then when the final vote happened, the capitol erupted in cheers of joy and tears after so many years of struggle.

Diana Hernández of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), who was one of the MCs during the rally at the Capitol, said, “It was awe-inspiring to witness our people rally and get one step closer to the finish line of a twenty-years-long battle that has caused trauma, separated families, and endangered the lives of our community. We transformed the Capitol into a space of joy, community, and celebration in the face of hateful rhetoric against our community. This is not just about licenses to drive—it is a stance for our humanity and existence in a land we call home.”

Many organizations mobilized to the Capitol repeatedly this year for committee hearings and votes including the Minnesota Immigrant Movement, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, COPAL, Asamblea de Derechos Civiles, Unidos MN, SEIU, Movimiento Obrero Latino, among others.

With the passage of the bill, undocumented Minnesotans will be able to apply for a driver's license this October. Significantly, the Minnesota legislature passed an unmarked license, so immigrants will be able to get the same license as anyone else, ensuring they won't be singled out as undocumented for having a differently-marked license.

With the passage of the drivers license for all bill, immigrant rights organizers will continue to push for the legislature to pass other bills that would also improve the lives of immigrants in Minnesota.

#SaintPaulMN #immigrantRights

Saint Paul, MN – Hundreds of immigrants and supporters rallied in the State Capitol for five hours outside the House of Representatives chamber January 30. They were demanding the House pass House File 4, the Drivers License for All bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to get a drivers license in Minnesota again, as they were able to before 2003 when then-Governor Pawlenty took away that right.

Inside the House chamber, Representatives debated the bill, as Republicans threw up a flurry of amendments to try to weaken or derail the bill. All hostile amendments were defeated. When the final vote came, HF4 passed on a party-line vote, 69-60. Importantly, they passed a clean version of the bill which doesn't create a “marked” license different than a regular license. This has been a debate within the immigrant rights movement for many years.

When the vote count was announced and the lead authors of the bill, Representatives Maria Isa and Aisha Gomez, rushed out to greet the people, and the gathered crowd burst into cheers and chants of “¡Si se puede!”

The Drivers License for All bill has languished at the capitol for about 15 years. It has come close to passing several times but was repeatedly sacrificed at the end of the legislative session for political expediency. This year is different. The years of work immigrant rights organizers have done to build a majority willing to pass the bill is finally bearing fruit.

The next step in the legislative process is for the Senate to finish the bill's committee process then vote on it in the full Senate. Governor Tim Walz has already pledged to sign the bill. While Democrats only have a slim one-vote majority in the Senate, activists and analysts are