Minneapolis, MN – On June 5, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) and allied organizations held a rally outside the Minneapolis Convention center to disrupt the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party’s (DFL) 2026 Humphrey-Mondale fundraising dinner. The dinner is the Minnesota Democratic Party’s annual fundraising event and a strategic rallying point for local Democrats ahead of key elections.

Braving the intense summer heat for a program of chanting and speeches, community members made their voices heard as they demanded an end to state funding of Israel’s genocide in Palestine, an end to the war on Iran and Lebanon, and a return to quarterly in-person State Board of Investment (SBI) meetings.

Cassidy Aickin, member of the AWC and co-emcee for the day, opened the event by saying, “In that building the DFL is hosting their annual Humphrey-Mondale dinner; their biggest fundraising event of the year. The people who have the most institutional power in our state, alongside their benefactors, are coming together to celebrate – another ‘great year’ of shutting out their constituents, ignoring people’s cries for divestment, and directly paying for the bombs that have martyred hundreds of thousands of Palestinian, Lebanese and Iranian people. Shame!”

Aickin continued, “The State Board of Investment, composed of Tim Walz, Keith Ellison, Julie Blaha and Steve Simon, chooses to invest hundreds of millions of Minnesota state employee pension dollars into weapons manufacturers, Israeli companies, and war profiteers like Palantir.”

The SBI had been scheduled to hold its second quarterly meeting of 2026 on Wednesday, June 3, but quietly removed the details from its schedule less than a month before. This effective cancellation continued the SBI’s over year-long trend of restricting community participation in what should be public meetings. But these cancellations have not deterred community involvement and have instead given way for powerful coalitions.

Representing the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Mira Altobell-Resendez reminded the crowd that, “The Minnesota Democratic Party spent all of winter ignoring the calls for protections for immigrants during Metro Surge. Tim Walz can sign an executive order at any time to ban 287(g) agreements that deputize county law enforcement into local ICE agents. The candidates for this year’s gubernatorial election like Amy Klobuchar could commit to creating ICE free zones as soon as they step into office.”

Alissa Washington, founder and executive director of the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-Sentenced Families Council of MN, gave an impassioned speech connecting the wrongful conviction of her fiancé, Cornelius Jackson, and the over-policing of communities here and abroad. Washington said, “We’re here tonight because while the DFL dines with donors, we’re out here struggling to survive. While politicians gather behind closed doors, families are torn apart by wrongful convictions and over-sentencing! While they celebrate fundraisers, our loved ones are deported, imprisoned, displaced, and forgotten.”

Washington continued, “The DFL loves to tell us they are the party of working people. Then prove it! Stop shutting the public out of SBI meetings. Stop making decisions that impact our communities without our communities present.”

“What they’re really doing is defining what it means to run as a Democrat: position yourself as the only alternative to the Republican Party when you support genocide, racist tough-on-crime policies, corporate profiteers, expansion of the police state, all at the expense of the same constituents you claim to represent,” said Maddy Schwartz, member of the MN AWC. “The SBI has ignored constant calls from public employees to address this disgusting complicity in human rights violations. This sends a clear message that if you stand against genocide, your voice doesn’t matter.”

Only two days after the SBI was scheduled to meet, workers and allies in the anti-war movement made their voices heard, questioning why DFL politicians have time for their donors but not the taxpayers who pay their salaries. One volunteer working at the dinner stepped out from his role inside the Convention Center and picked up a “Divest MN from Apartheid Israel” sign for a portion of the action, before returning to his duties inside. When asked why he chose to join the voices demanding divestment he said, “It is the right thing to do.”

#MinneapolisMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #DFL #Palestine #Divestment #BDS

Duluth, MN – On June 1, between 300 and 400 people from across the state protested the Minnesota DFL State Convention at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center (the DECC).

It was a show of broad geographic support for ending the U.S. support for Israel’s genocidal military campaign in Gaza, and against the stances of DFL (the name of the Democratic Party in Minnesota) politicians like U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar and Governor Tim Walz, who have shown strong support for Israel.

From the Twin Cities, the Free Palestine Coalition organized two busloads. The protest also included people from northern Minnesota’s Ely and the Iron Range, as well as Northfield, the home of Carleton and Saint Olaf Colleges, and other parts of the state.

The day began with a rally at Duluth City Hall. Over the course of a few hours, people trickled in for speeches and performances, joined by participants in the Palestine encampment next to the Saint Louis County Courthouse and the Federal Building. By the time the march began, from the Duluth City Hall to the DECC, it was a sea of Palestinian flags and signs and posters for divestment from Israel.

On arrival at the DECC there was a display of rubble, signifying what was left in the wake of Israel’s constant bombardment in Gaza. People placed body bags on top of the rubble and read the names of Palestinian child martyrs since October 7, 2023.

Inside the convention, where Klobuchar promised to work towards the federal codification of abortion rights and amending tax law, Palestine supporters in the hall urged her to acknowledge the role the United States and Minnesota have played in aiding Israel.

The few Free Palestine Coalition organizers who were able to get into the convention as delegates expressed contempt for the DFL’s overall avoidance of Palestinian genocide. From the rally outside, Free Palestine Coalition member Brooke Bartholomew said, “The idea of a rally at a DFL convention is because the Democrats at the state level are incredibly complicit. They are not unaware of the ongoing genocide. There are people who were previously with the DFL, and this was a way to show them that people are dissatisfied and disappointed. They have the power to repeal anti-BDS [boycott, divest, sanction] laws and divest from U.S. participation in weapons manufacturers.”

One of the delegates attending from Minneapolis, Kevin Aldwalk, after having attended multiple DFL conventions said, “I never in a million times would have expected this level of awareness and support to the Palestinian cause. The Uncommitted caucus managed to push through some significant resolutions and amendments. This couldn’t have happened without the support of multiple coalitions. From our progressive brothers and sisters, the anti-Zionist Jews, the amazing people at the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, to the wonderful people of Jewish Voice for Peace and many others. Centrists and old guards within the DFL didn’t know what hit them.”

Immediately outside of the doors of the convention center, next to a banner, reading “Divest Minnesota from apartheid Israel! No tax $$$ for genocide,” Meredith Aby, a public school teacher, told of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee targeting the State Board of Investment to pull public employees’ pensions and investments from companies that do business in apartheid Israel.

Aby stated, “Every state employee’s pension is forced into investments in Israel. I’m a public school teacher and I don’t know any other teacher that wants to invest in more weaponry.”

A Jewish Voice for Peace member who was also involved in the recent encampment at the University of Minnesota stated, “Nothing Israel does makes us safer. Muslims are not my enemies and 90% of Zionists are Christian. What Israel is doing makes things worse for Jews and causes a generalization of assumed Jewish participation.”

Aby encouraged participants to continue to pressure the DFL and to join the Minnesota Anti-War Committee in traveling to Chicago to protest “Genocide Joe” in person at the Democratic National Convention.

#DuluthMN #MN #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #MNAWC #MNFreePalestineCoalition #DFL #JVP #Feature

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