Minneapolis, MN – On Friday, April 15, the Free Palestine Coalition led a protest of around 100 people outside of Education Minnesota’s Representative Convention. Education Minnesota (EDMN) is a large state-level educators union that announced only the day before that they would be delaying their entire program to host the opening event of First Lady Dr .Jill Biden’s “Educators for Biden-Harris” national tour.

Protesters outside the convention drew attention to the issues of recent attacks on academic freedom, with speakers like Dr Sima Shaksari from Educators for Justice in Palestine – UMN, Michael Runyon from Students for Palestine Normandale, and delegates Amelia Marquez and Meredith Aby. Marquez and Aby were refused entry to the first lady’s speech, presumably because of their political activism in support of Palestine.

Amelia Marquez, a rank-and-file member of MFT Local 59, told the crowd, “As an indigenous person you are there to represent me. All tomorrow when you try to do your land acknowledgement, I want you to remember that instead of standing with your indigenous educator you decided to send her out here in the cold after a long day of teaching our next generation.” The crowd responded with “shame!” Marquez continued, “All day I asked my classes what I should tell Jill Biden tonight and all of my students said tell her ‘Free Palestine!’”

The presidents of the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and EDMN campaigned for President Biden and introduced the first lady, who was then immediately interrupted by coalition members chanting “Money for schools, not for war!” After they were escorted out, many other conference delegates walked out in disgust as the first lady began to campaign for her husband.

The next day, EDMN Representative Convention delegates in the Palestine solidarity movement worked hard to introduce two resolutions: a ceasefire resolution and a resolution to divest educator pensions from apartheid Israel. The debate on the floor was contentious, but the convention passed a watered-down ceasefire resolution echoing the resolutions passed by AFT, NEA,and AFL-CIO. The divestment resolution was ultimately referred to committee after a vibrant debate. Throughout the day delegates from all over Minnesota discussed the topic of their public educator pensions being invested in weapons companies and the genocide in Gaza.

The Free Palestine Coalition continues organizing for Minnesota to divest from apartheid Israel as well as calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza, an end to U.S. aid to apartheid Israel, no U.S. war with Iran, and a free Palestine.

#MinneapolisMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #MNFreePalestineCoalition #MFT #JillBiden #Democrats #Feature

Minneapolis, MN – On April 20, on a brisk spring afternoon, over 350 pro-Palestine demonstrators rallied at Bryant Square Park in the Minneapolis Uptown neighborhood for the first large scale march initiated by the Minnesota chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Arab Student Association at the U of MN.

The event was titled “Sumud Across Generations.” Students and educators, young and old, all came out in a show of support with the cause of Palestinian resistance as the world enters its seventh month of the Israeli genocide in Gaza. Chanters and speakers, some who have never spoken publicly before, got on the mic with tears in their eyes and offered their heartfelt and heartbroken solidarity.

“Sumud” in Arabic means “steadfast perseverance.” It is both a cultural Palestinian value and a political strategy that emerged in the wake of the 1967 war as a consequence of the brutal Israeli occupation and the Palestinian resistance it inspired.

To date, Israel has killed some 35,000 people in Gaza since October 7, the vast majority civilians, with current estimates of 16,000 children killed by Israeli air strikes, and several thousand unaccounted-for civilians trapped in rubble and assumed dead. As the world reels from the news of the many Flour Massacres and the brutality of the Al Shifa Massacre, Minnesota students came to mourn the dead and pray for a better future and a free Palestine from the river to the sea.

The rally began with chants and two powerful speeches. The first speech was by a member of Law Students for a Free Palestine, who stated “As a Palestinian born and raised in Gaza, I’m here to say that we share and feel your pain. Growing up in Gaza, I lived through the massacres that took place during 2008, 2012 and 2014. Since then and throughout this ongoing genocide, the content we see on our screens doesn’t even begin to show one percent the pain and suffering the people of Gaza live on a daily. On behalf of all Palestinians, I’m here to see that we feel your pain.”

After a few more minutes of chants by the powerful Sabry Wazwaz, the march began to head west and eventually toward Lake Street, one of the busiest and most visible arteries in Uptown. Upon taking Lake Street many onlookers honked in support of the message while many many people going about their lives immediately stopped what they were doing to join the march. A family even opened their front window and began waving their Palestine flag for the march. The march stopped and held space at the Bryant and Lake Street intersection. This ground all eastbound traffic in Uptown, including public transit, to a dead halt, to tell the city of Minneapolis that as long as the genocide continues the people will not allow there to be business as usual.

At the Bryant/Lake intersection a young speaker from Students For Justice in Palestine got on the mic and stated, “At Columbia University this week, students created a Gaza Solidarity encampment inspired by a similar movement on campus in 1968 protesting the universities complicity in the Vietnam War and imminent construction of a segregated gymnasium. The demands included full transparency of the university’s financial investments and full divestment from all companies and institutions from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation in Palestine. After 34 hours, over 100 students were forcibly arrested by the NYPD. In response hundreds more students gathered on campus in solidarity, they are still there now! Bernard College has suspended multiple students for organizing this protest, including Ilhan Omar’s own daughter.”

The speaker continued, “As news of this protest spread, multiple other groups across the nation started their own Gaza Solidarity encampments on their own campuses, including Yale. As these events unfold across the nation we must stand in solidarity with these groups as they put their bodies on the line. It is student movements like these that multiple decades from now will be considered as critical watershed moments that turned the tide, we are living that moment now.”

#MinneapolisMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #StudentMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #SJP #SDS #MSA

This emergency rally was organized by the UMN chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.

Gillian Rath, a member of UMN SDS, stated, “I want to emphasize the term 'retaliated.’ These are not unprovoked attacks. Israel and the U.S. have been launching attacks on Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran throughout this genocide.”

Also speaking at the rally was Sima Shaksari, an Iranian faculty member at the university and a leading member of Educators for Justice in Palestine. Shaksari expanded upon the truth of the attacks on April 13 and the reasoning behind them, stating, “I want us to be clear that when we talk about Iran’s attack on Israel, it was provocation by Israel, exactly because Israel would definitely profit from a regional war.”

UMN SDS and other student groups on campus have been organizing for Palestine and against U.S. intervention since the resistance of October 7. Pro-Palestinian forces on campus won a major victory when a student referendum calling for the University of Minnesota to divest from Israel passed with 75% of the student body voting in favor. Despite this resoundingly statement from the students opposing continued UMN investment in Israeli apartheid, university administration and the board of regents have made no statement about the referendum, nor have they met with the organizers behind it.

Despite attempts at political repression from the University of Minnesota, the anti-war and pro-Palestine forces on campus have not been deterred. The students of the University of Minnesota stand in solidarity with Iran and Palestine.

#MinneapolisMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Iran #Palestine #StudentMovement #SDS #UMNSDS

St. Paul, MN – On April 12, at the weekly Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) protest for Palestine, 100 people the people of Gaza who have endured over 189 days of relentless, U.S.-funded and backed Israeli attacks.

Over 33,686 people have been slaughtered, mostly women and children, and those still alive face a deadly shortage of food, safe water, medicine and stand on the abyss of famine due to Israel’s total blockade, siege and bombing.

Ten speakers from multiple community organizations such as MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), MN Workers United, Black Lives Matter – MN (BLM-MN), and many others spoke to the engaged crowd and shared in their outrage.

Barry Reich of Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 informed the crowd of his participation in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in the coming weeks to journey to Gaza, along with Coleen Rowley of WAMM. The coalition aims to deliver up to 5500 tons of vital aid to Gaza and end Israel’s unlawful blockade and control over Gaza’s land and sovereignty. Reich stated, “We’re not compliant with Israel’s siege.”

Monique Cullars Doty of Black Lives Matter-MN emphasized, “As we fight for Black liberation, we stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people for their liberation as well and for the liberation of all oppressed people.” She announced that to express this solidarity, BLM-MN will demand a “Free Palestine” during their Juneteenth march for Black reparations on June 19.

Sarah Martin, a long-time member of WAMM, addressed the Deir Yassin massacre and its significance in the Palestinian fight for liberation. Martin stated, “April 9, 1948, just weeks before Israel became a state, the village of Deir Yassin, a small village on a hill just outside Jerusalem, was brutally attacked by Zionist forces. 150 to 200 Palestinians were slaughtered in the most barbaric ways.” This was one of countless massacres that led to the illegal occupation of Palestine by Israeli forces that year. The effects of this day on Palestine today are never-ending.

Martin concluded her speech by saying, “It’s natural and legal for people to resist occupation and oppression, but a huge price is paid. The Algerians who in their struggle for liberation from France lost a million lives, and the Vietnamese who lost 3 million people in their fight to free themselves from the U.S. empire. We know this would all end in a day if Biden cut off weapons and diplomatic support for Israel.”

Participants chanted “Victory to the resistance!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

WAMM holds a rally every Friday from 4 to 5 p.m. in Saint Paul on the intersection of Summit and Snelling Avenues.

#StPaulMN #TwinCitiesMN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #WAMM #BLM

The foundry is a major source of pollution in the neighborhood and is operating under long expired permits. Smith Foundry is a major source of lead pollution in Hennepin County, accounting for 70% of all lead pollution. Toya Lopez, from Health Care Professionals for a Healthy Climate pointed out, “There is no safe level of lead pollution.”

Rally organizers called on the governor and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to fulfill their duty to protect the people of Minnesota and shut down Smith Foundry.

“A foundry would never be allowed in an affluent white neighborhood,” said Climate Justice Committee (CJC) member CJ McCormick. “It’s blatant environmental racism that it’s been allowed to stay around this long.”

East Phillips is home to the Little Earth Native community, along with many other oppressed nationality and low-income families. The neighborhood also has some of the highest rates of asthma in the entire state.

Indigenous Protectors Movement founder Rachel Dionne-Thunder said “We are fighting for the next generation. We are fighting for our children. We all need clean water, clean air and a clean way of living. We call on Governor Walz to shut down Smith now.”E

A coalition of organizers, including CJC, has amplified the call since last year to shut the foundry down after public revelations about its harmful emissions. Some state representatives are currently working toward legislation that would pave the way for a buyout of the foundry, effectively forcing a shut down.

“The governor has the power to make that happen. He’s just avoiding stirring what he sees as controversy during an election year,” McCormick said.

#StPaulMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #Environment #SmithFoundry #CJC #EnvironmentalJustice

Minneapolis, MN – Roughly 300 protesters gathered outside U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office for an emergency protest on Monday, April 15 demanding no war with Iran and an end to U.S. support of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

The emergency protest was called by the Free Palestine Coalition and Minnesota Peace Action Coalition after the Islamic Republic of Iran launched a retaliatory missile and drone strike on Israel on April 13. The strike was a legal response to the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria on April 1, which killed 16 people, including two civilians. Resistance forces in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon launched solidarity strikes on Israel amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza and increased settler violence in the West Bank.

Protesters marched from Klobuchar’s office to the Federal Building in Minneapolis, where speakers demanded action be taken to avoid U.S. involvement in a regional war and drew connections to U.S. involvement in the Gaza genocide.

“We, as a country, have effectively spent the last six months telling civilians throughout the Middle East that they must face their deaths and mourn their losses silently with absolutely no show of opposition – for a reason no other than to ‘preserve the stability of the entire region,’” said Anti-War Committee member Lina Jebara.

Jebara also pointed to the continued funding of Israeli companies, including the deadly Elbit Systems, by the Minnesota State Board of Investment, stating, “We call on anti-war organizations to continue the call to end U.S. support for Israel and to demand the U.S. out of the Middle East.”

#MinneapolisMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #Palestine #MNFreePalestineCoalition #MNPeaceActionCoalition #Iran

St Paul, MN – Over 400 anti-war activists attended a three day conference organized by the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) from April 5-7. The conference was held in Saint Paul with the theme “Decolonization and the Fight against Imperialism.”

Topics of the panels ranged from the U.S./NATO war in Ukraine, climate justice, sanctions, the U.S. encirclement of China, the struggle against U.S. imperialism in Africa, and organizing in solidarity with Palestine and its heroic resistance to Zionist occupation.

Friday night’s opening plenary from the Twin Cities Free Palestine Coalition highlighted the diverse support for Palestine from local movements of immigrants’ rights, labor, students, community control of the police, anti-war and Muslim organizations.

Cassia Laham of the UNAC administrative committee explained, “It was so inspiring to hear from leaders of the grassroots movements on the ground. Hearing from their firsthand experience leading and organizing mass mobilizations on behalf of the Palestinian cause was inspiring for all aspiring and current activists. Their analysis of the present resistance to genocide and occupation and they're hopefulness for a free Palestine left the audience filled with hope as well.”

Saturday morning’s plenary saw Husam Marajda from U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) and Taher Herzallah from American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) condemn Israel's genocide in Gaza and its terror campaign throughout occupied Palestine.

Meredith Aby, an activist with the MN Anti-War Committee stated, “It was helpful to have Marajda and Herzallah give us their analysis about Israel’s attacks on Palestine and the tasks of the movement. Many of us in the room have been organizing protest after protest, week after week, so it was helpful to take the time to hear serious analysis of the regional and U.S. domestic impact of Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians.”

The conference hosted a special international guest, the Nicaraguan ambassador to the U.S., Lautaro Sandino. He spoke about the numerous gains in improved livelihood and economic development the Sandinista government and Nicaraguan people have achieved in the face of U.S. intervention and sanctions.

Audari Tamayo, co-chair of Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said after the panel, “Recalling his time as a guerrilla in the mountains, Lautaro Sandino, the Nicaraguan ambassador, urged us to resist and mobilize, and if we get tired, to mobilize again. Ambassador Sandino reminded us that creating change is no easy task and requires utmost effort, a sentiment shared by revolutionaries from around the world who dared to struggle and won. Nicaragua has stood proud in the fight against imperialism, and we will take the lessons learned by those who have been on the front lines and never get tired of mobilizing!”

Saturday afternoon's workshop on Palestine solidarity organizing across the U.S. shared stories from seven different cities. Organizers from Dallas-Fort Worth, New Orleans, Grand Rapids, Denver, Milwaukee, Tucson and Minneapolis discussed the successes and challenges in building mass movements in solidarity with Palestine.

“We are working to strengthen the Palestine solidarity movement by finding dynamic ways to organize in support for the united front of the Palestinian resistance,” explained Emerson Wolfe of Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids.

As other presenters covered topics on stopping Cop Cities, banning nuclear weapons, and explaining the U.S. imperial maneuvers to encircle and provoke a war with China, a plenary on defeating repression rounded out the program on Saturday.

From FBI entrapment of Muslims,to the FBI raids on the Anti-War 23, to the campaign to free Simon Trinidad, Hands Off Uhuru struggle and celebrating the victory of a freed Alex Saab, the crowd appreciated the sharing of experiences in defending our movements from repression in the final plenary of Saturday.

“As Dallas-Fort Worth Anti-War Committee members are facing charges for our work, it was very relevant to hear from people like the Anti-War 23 grand jury resisters and the Uhuru Movement members fighting back against political repression and to directly ask their advice,” explained Jo Hargis, of the Dallas-Fort Worth Anti-War Committee (DAWC).

The conference proved to be a consolidating moment for a movement that has seen a massive influx of young people from diverse backgrounds since October 2023, when Israel’s latest aggression on Gaza began. A unity resolution passed by the conference on its final day pledged to continue building protests in the streets for Palestine along with all countries targeted by U.S. imperialism and its proxies.

Conference attendees also unanimously agreed to support related progressive causes like immigrant rights, the fight against racist policing and militarized occupation inside U.S. borders, and freeing political prisoners.

#StPaulMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #UNAC #USPCN #SDS #MNAWC #AMPMN

The ballot question put forward by Students for Justice in Palestine at UMN stating, “Shall the University of Minnesota sever ties with companies complicit in war crimes and human rights violations, war-profiting companies that recruit students on campus, and study abroad programs in Israel?” passed with 75% of votes.

Divest UMN Coalition at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities consists of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Students for a Democratic Society, Young Democratic Socialists of America, and Students for Climate Justice.

During the voting period, some students who signed for the question to be on the ballot came up as unregistered to vote, despite meeting the criteria. This prevented some students from voting. Zionist propaganda truck ads appeared around campus and posters were passed around telling lies like “Hamas beheads babies” and “Hamas rapes women” urging people to vote no on the referendum. The win shows the support of students for the UMN divesting from Israel.

Another ballot referendum passed in 2018 calling for the board of regents to divest from apartheid Israel. This past ballot question faced similar opposition from Zionist forces, showing that the student body earnestly and strongly demands divestment of their tuition dollars from genocide.

The SJP co-president stated, “This is not the end of the road for our fight for Palestine. We will continue fighting until we receive total divestment and complete liberation for the Palestinian people.”

Divest UMN will bring this referendum victory to the board of regents and demand they listen to the voices of the students.

#MinneapolisMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #StudentMovement #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #DivestUMN #SDS #SJP #YDSA #SCJ #BDS

Minneapolis – On March 30, around 2500 protesters gathered along Lake Street where it crosses a narrow isthmus between Lake of the Isles and Bde Maka Ska in the Chain of Lakes. Organized by the local Free Palestine Coalition, the action marked Land Day, which commemorates the Palestinian struggle against Israeli occupation and land theft.

Despite intimidation attempts by Minneapolis police, protesters took the street and marched to the Lake Street/Excelsior Boulevard interchange, which forms a major bottleneck for traffic heading to and from the upscale western suburbs of the Twin Cities. The crowd took over and occupied the intersection. Some stranded motorists left their vehicles and joined the protest. Speeches by Palestinian activists and others took place before and after the march, as well as during the road shutdown.

Land Day began on March 30, 1976, when Israeli occupation forces, the IDF, murdered six Palestinian citizens of Israel who were protesting new confiscations of Palestinian land. Since then, the day has been commemorated by Palestinians and the solidarity movement as a time to reaffirm the right of Palestinians to return to their land stolen by the Zionist occupation.

In 2018, Land Day also marked the beginning of the Great March of Return protests in Gaza, which saw hundreds of unarmed Palestinians killed and thousands more injured by IDF snipers.

Taher Herzallah of American Muslims for Palestine explained, “For Palestinians, our land does not mean resource extraction. Our land does not mean numbers and spreadsheets, profits and margins. Our land is what gives us life, and we are what give our land life. This is something the Zionists will never understand.”

The event featured special guest Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American lawyer, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, and organizer of freedom flotillas that attempt to bypass Israel’s sea blockade of Gaza. “Israel has spent decades trying to tear us apart. And we still say no. They continue this apartheid, continually confiscating land, not only in the West Bank but inside ’48.”

Speakers also drew attention to the struggle for Land Back waged by indigenous peoples inside the United States borders. At the protest, nearby Bde Maka Ska served as a symbol of that struggle, having had its name changed in 2018 from Lake Calhoun – named for notorious American slaver John C. Calhoun – back to its original Dakota name.

Gabriela Diaz, alumni of the American Indian Studies program at the University of Minnesota, said, “Pacific Islanders, Palestinians and American Indians have many shared experiences as global indigenous First Peoples. We have suffered incommensurable loss under Western imperialism and colonization. Dispossession, environmental desecration, climate crises, land theft, nuclear testing, settler and other kinds of colonialisms, and the destruction of the things closest to our hearts, are just a few of the things that tie us together.”

Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg of Jewish Voice for Peace-Twin Cities spoke, “I wanted to learn my people’s history before Zionism,” she said. “I felt in my core that I had inherited a tradition that honored life and interconnectedness, and that Zionism was a manipulation of our trauma and oppression, and a system of supremacy that at its core was not Jewish.”

The protest came days after the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution ordering an immediate, unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. The United States, which abstained from voting on the resolution, characterized the resolution as “non-binding,” while Israel’s foreign minister declared, “Israel will not cease fire.” According to international law, a resolution of the Security Council is binding on all United Nations member states.

As of press time, over 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, have been killed by Israel since October, according to the health ministry. Recent weeks have seen famine taking hold in parts of Gaza as Israel’s siege on basic supplies continues, along with renewed IDF raids on several of Gaza’s hospital complexes.

“We know that a ceasefire is the bare minimum. We must continue to demand a total dismantling of the settler-colonial apartheid state,” Arraf told the protest. “Because Biden wants our vote, he tells us that he’s trying to protect civilians – while sending Israel bunker-buster bombs that demolish entire neighborhoods. We will not be fooled.”

Despite Israel’s ongoing genocide, Herzallah was optimistic of eventual victory for the Palestinian resistance, saying, “What we are doing today, and what Gaza is doing today, is showing the world that there is an alternative: that justice can be brought by the people.”

#MinneapolisMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #MNFreePalestineCoalition #JVP #MNAWC #LandDay #Feature

St. Paul, MN – On Saturday, March 23, the Twin Cities Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage, on a 22-mile walking journey, made a stop at the Minnesota governor’s residence. There, they joined a vigil organized by the Twin Cities-based Free Palestine Coalition for a rally and die-in in front of Governor Tim Walz’s home.

The pilgrims walked 22 miles in prayerful solidarity with the 1.4 million Palestinian people of Gaza who were forced to flee 22 miles from Gaza City to Rafah by Israel’s attacks. Gazans were given false promises of safety from bombardment and combat in the southern city of Rafah.

Demonstrators demanded that Walz divest Minnesota’s public money from apartheid Israel and call for an immediate ceasefire.

A crowd of about 200 gathered to greet the pilgrims and support the call for divestment and ceasefire outside Governor Walz's current residence. Over 100 pilgrims of many faiths made their way across the Marshall/Lake Street bridge holding signs, banners, flags, olive branches and palm fronds. They were welcomed to the rally with cheering, drumming and chants.

“One of the most powerful moments was when pilgrims were crossing the Lake Street Bridge and folks at the rally were holding space at the governor’s residence. We could see each other and know that we were coming together, folks from many faiths and walks of life, to demand justice. We have to model the kind of world we are trying to build, and that’s one in which we are all working together in solidarity, because we know our liberation is bound up together” stated Clara Sanders, a member of the Ceasefire Choir and Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage planning team.

The rally then continued with interfaith speakers including Jews, Christians and Muslims from organizations such as American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Anti-War Committee (AWC), Ceasefire Choir, and the Twin Cities Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage. They spoke about the crimes being committed by Israel and the genocide that Palestinians face, emphasizing that this includes not only Palestinians of Muslim faith but of Christian and Jewish faith too. Poems were recited and speakers shared experiences they and their loved ones have had in Palestine and at the hands of the Israeli occupation.

After the speakers, tarps and bloodied sheets were laid out on the lawn for attendees to join a die-in which represented martyrs murdered by Israel while a speaker intoned a list of the names of those murdered.

Sabry Wazwaz, a speaker at the vigil and an organizer with AMP and the Free Palestine Coalition, said the rally was “very powerful. Jews, Christians and Muslims plus other faiths and people of non-faith standing together in solidarity with one voice to strongly condemn the genocide taking place in Gaza by the Israeli government.”

Wazwaz continued, “We had anywhere between 80 and 100-plus people from different churches who braved freezing temps to walk 22 miles for Gaza. Witnessing that plus the die-in was not only emotional but inspiring. Speeches from Christians, Jews and Muslims reminded everyone this has nothing to do with Arabs vs. Jews and only to do with Israel’s continued apartheid and military occupation against the Palestinian people for 76 years. Those who showed up to the rally let it be known that they are frustrated with politicians like Governor Walz, Senator Klobuchar and others’ continued silence while women and children continue to be killed at an alarming rate. No civilians, no matter where they are across the globe, should have to endure daily bombings and forced starvation.”

The rally ended with Christian, Muslim and Jewish prayers. The pilgrims left for their final destination of Bdote, Minnesota to pay homage to the sacred and historically significant site to the Dakota people. According to Twin Cities Gaza Ceasefire Pilgrimage, stopping at Bdote is a reminder “that our pilgrimage takes place against a backdrop of violent colonialism perpetrated by European Americans in the United States.”

A member of the Ceasefire Choir led a song with lines including “We sing together, we walk together” to send off the pilgrims on their final leg of their journey. Sabry Wazwaz of the AWC said, “The people of Minnesota came out together and reiterated they will not stop until a permanent ceasefire is called and [there is] an end to this horrendous genocide.”

#StPaulMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #AMP #MNAWC

Minneapolis, MN – On March 20, over 30 people rallied across the street from Smith Foundry in East Phillips neighborhood in Minneapolis. A miniature factory replica named Little Smith Foundry stood in front of the “Shutdown Smith Foundry” banner. Community members expressed anger at impact of the foundry’s pollution on the community of East Phillips and Little Earth which is allowed by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).

The Climate Justice Committee (CJC) organizers Tracy Molm and Michael Wood gathered the crowd. Little Crow Bellecourt of the Crane Clan and director of Indigenous Protectors Movement, stated, “We’re all about our community, and our native people, and also our neighbors and our allies which is up here.” Then directed his disgust across the street, “Can you hear us out here, Smith Foundry? Goddammit! We’re sick and tired of you over here!”

Adjacent to the foundry is a neighborhood Day Care Center where Allison Lind sends her two-year-old son. Lind stated that her son “has significant respiratory issues.” Lind continued, “Like many of you I’ve frequently called the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and 311 and their response has been frustratingly inadequate.”

Speakers from the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute and other groups talked about the lead emissions from the foundry, and that no lead emissions are safe for humans.

Then Little Earth Protector Director Jolene Jones stated, “We have kids with asthma. We have kids missing school. All of that is going on because of this foundry. The governor can shut this place down with a signature. We need to make sure this happens. 'Cause this about our future! Our children! They’re sick all the time.”

The Climate Justice Committee is committed to continuing this fight and is going to put pressure on the Minnesota governor, who has the power to oversee the MPCA and also support legislation that would end permits that limit oversight on polluters like Smith Foundry.

The CJC will also continue to pressure the MPCA directly and Smith Foundry. Several days before the rally the asphalt manufacturer that is next door to Smith Foundry confirmed that they were shutting down permanently because of increased MPCA regulations. Organizers pointed out that closure of Bituminous Roadways, the asphalt manufacturer, was a direct result of pressure from the community.

#MinneapolisMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #Environment #MNCJC #SmithFoundry #LittleEarth #OppressedNationalities #IndigenousPeoples #EPNI #MPCA

Saint Paul, MN – On Friday, March 15 at the Saint Paul RiverCentre, the Free Palestine Coalition led a protest of hundreds inside and outside of the Humphrey-Mondale Dinner, the largest annual Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (the name of the Democratic Party in Minnesota) fundraiser.

Protesters drew attention to the fact that since October 2023, the leadership of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) has remained silent while over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in what has been acknowledged around the world as an unprecedented atrocity and a genocide – the gravest humanitarian crime of all.

Protesters lined up along both sides of a busy city street as people parked both for the dinner and a sold-out Olivia Rodrigo concert. The excited concert-goers took “Free Palestine” signs and chanted along as they waited to be let into the show.

“Our demands for a permanent ceasefire have been ignored by Minnesota senators for months. The DFL would rather avoid us altogether through racist exclusion instead of addressing the elephant in the room. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith have continued to make excuses for Israel, soften their language when criticism arises, and offer no real support to stop U.S. involvement in the genocide in Gaza. Minnesota residents have lost family members by the dozens in Gaza. The DFL labels themselves as a progressive group that stands for human rights, yet we see very well that this is merely a facade to hide personal interests,” said Maysoon Wazwaz with American Muslims for Palestine MN.

Speakers throughout the night demanded that congressional representatives of Minnesota such as Amy Klobuchar end support for U.S. aid to Israel. They also demanded that the Minnesota State Board of Investments divest its over $3 billion held in Israeli companies, weapons manufacturers and companies complicit in the occupation of Palestine.

“I’m here because I’m a proud Jewish anti-Zionist and I have spent years working for the DFL to elect the officials who are inside this building. We elected them because they promised to fight for Minnesotans’ education, healthcare and quality of life. They promised to defend our rights. Now, we’re watching as they send billions of our tax dollars to kill Palestinian families,” said Imogen Page, a former DFL campaign staff member and Jewish Voice for Peace-Action member.

Inside the dinner, the luminaries of the Minnesota DFL ate and gave speeches, including Governor Tim Walz, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, DFL Chairman Ken Martin, U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Representative Angie Craig, among others. The keynote speaker was the U.S. senator from Georgia, Raphael Warnock. As the party members sat and ate their dinner, catering staff gave thumbs up to an excited crowd of Palestine solidarity protesters outside.

During Senator Klobuchar’s speech at the dinner, Dan Engelhart, a member of the Twin Cities Ceasefire Choir, a group of practicing and nonpracticing Christian-heritage people in solidarity with Palestine, stood up and shouted, “Stop funding genocide in Palestine!” before being removed from the venue.

The Free Palestine Coalition continues organizing for Minnesota to divest from apartheid Israel as well as calling for an end to the siege of Gaza, an end to U.S. aid to apartheid Israel, and for a free Palestine.

#StPaulMN #TwinCitiesMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #MNFPC #MNAWC #AMP #DFL

Saint Paul, MN – On March 14, operating on short notice, organizers with the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC), workers from the reproductive justice movement and their supporters held an emergency protest outside a private event where Vice President Kamala Harris was set to speak on reproductive freedom.

Protesters gathered outside the venue with banners and signs, chanting to passersby in an effort to call attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, its particular impact on Palestinian women and girls, and Vice President Harris’s role in funding Israel’s military operations.

Over 31,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 7, 70% of them said to be women and children, with many more missing under rubble from destroyed buildings. These attacks have included strikes and raids on hospitals, aid centers, schools, places of worship, refugee camps and countless civilian homes. Due to the collapse of the medical system in Gaza, women are undergoing Cesarean sections without anesthesia, miscarriages have increased by 300%, and women and girls are struggling to manage their menstrual health with no access to period products. The World Health Organization agreed in November 2023 that women and children are bearing the brunt of Israel’s attacks on Gaza.

“I'm here today as a Jew and a worker in the reproductive justice movement because I'm devastated by the way that the current administration is touting their alleged support for abortion access while funding an urgent reproductive justice crisis in Palestine,” said Leah Soule, a reproductive health worker and a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. “My reproductive justice and Jewish values call me to stand up to oppose the U.S. funding of genocide in Gaza and build a liberated world where all people can have access to abortion, pregnancy care and also to safe and sustainable communities to raise their families in.”

Vice President Harris visited the Twin Cities as a part of her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour, during the course of which she has been met with consistent protests, including at her stop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in January.

The Biden-Harris administration has made abortion and contraception access part of their campaign platform but has been reluctant to embrace the demand of grassroots abortion rights activists, and avoid the use of the word “abortion” in their campaign speeches. Meanwhile, the United States under the Biden administration continues to send weapons and military aid to Israel, propping up their genocidal campaign in Gaza.

“I’m tired of having my right to an abortion held over my head while bombs continue to fall on Gaza,” said Kristen Bledsoe, an organizer with MNAAC. “As a result of the decisions of the Biden-Harris administration, Palestinian women and girls are experiencing horrific suffering, and we’re here to let Kamala Harris know that the reproductive rights movement stands with Palestine.”

While heavy police presence and Secret Service personnel created a barrier between protesters and the venue, participants were not deterred, loudly chanting “Bodily autonomy means Palestine will be free!” and “We want abortion on demand! Not genocide and stolen land!” to the support of honking cars.

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