Minneapolis, MN – On Tuesday, October 16, a group of students and community members rallied on the steps of Northrop Hall at University of Minnesota. They were there to protest U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett at the annual donor-funded Law School public lecture.

The rally was covered by over a dozen local and national news outlets. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at UMN and the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC) jointly organized the rally, where at least 250 people mobilized in support of abortion access, affirmative action, and the rights of marginalized peoples.

Justice Barrett is a key figure in the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority and played an instrumental role in striking down Roe v. Wade (1973) in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022). Roe v. Wade was a longstanding precedent for the Supreme Court which protected the constitutional right to an abortion. Since the Dobbs decision, 13 states have banned abortions, and many others imposed client and/or provider restrictions on abortions, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Abortion rights movements in the Twin Cities, especially MNAAC, are currently in the struggle to expand legitimate abortion clinics and shut down the nearly 90 illegitimate “crisis pregnancy centers” across Minnesota.

Barrett also voted with conservative justices to strike down affirmative action in SFFA v. Harvard (2023) and SFFA v. UNC (2023). Student movements in the 1960s and ‘70s called for affirmative action in efforts to increase Black and brown enrollment in U.S. universities. Though legal decisions have debated what affirmative action can look like, affirmative action remains an important tool to increase diversity in higher education. Alongside attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion in states like Florida, Texas and Louisiana, where SDS chapters are currently engaging in struggles against university administrations, the SFFA decisions are certain to make higher education for Black and brown students even less accessible.

Florida members of SDS, the Tampa 5, were arrested on felony charges and are being put on trial for protesting similar attacks on education by Governor Ron DeSantis.

Rally speaker Maggie Moynihan of MNAAC spoke about the contradictions the UMN presents when they invite a Supreme Court justice with a track record of harming women and students of color. “As a white-majority school, the University of Minnesota has an especially important duty to provide its marginalized students with a diverse and inclusive educational experience,” said Moynihan. “Amy Coney Barrett is a threat to all working-class and marginalized people in the United States and the university administrators have invited this threat to spread her hateful ideology to students on this campus. The message this decision sends is clear. The university does not value the safety of the women, people of color, immigrants, or queer people on this campus.”

Speaker Bryce Riesner of SDS reminded the UMN administration that when they invited Barrett to campus, they had invited “a representative of bigotry.” Speaking against the fallacy of “free speech,’”Riesner pointed out that the university has the power to draw the line at hate and intolerance. “I have so many conservative family and friends who have no hatred in their heart for anyone. [Barrett] does not represent them,” said Riesner. “Her fundamentalist beliefs are not conservative. What she practices in her home is her business, but when she takes a seat as a Supreme Court justice, her beliefs affect all of us!”

During the rally, a handful of experienced UMN SDS members disrupted Barrett’s lecture inside Northrop Hall, where over 1500 attendees sat. Video of the interaction posted to the chapter’s @umnsds Instagram account shows protesters chanting “Not the court! Not the state! The people must decide their fate!” and “When affirmative action is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

In their rally speech, Sasmit Rahman recounted the experience of being removed from the lecture, stating that the removal was a cowardly act by Barrett, who apparently refused to acknowledge the protesters. “You’re so comfortable stripping us of our rights,” Rahman said of Barrett, “but too scared to face the consequences of your bigoted decisions! Shame on you Amy, you fucking coward!”

Over a dozen rally speakers represented progressive grassroots organizations across the Twin Cities. These organizations include the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Young Democratic Socialists of America, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar, Students for Climate Justice, Anti-War Committee, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and local trade unions.

Progressive organizations agree that giving Barrett a platform is a disgrace to the UMN and that we must fight back.

Abortion is a human right!

Defend affirmative action and queer rights!

No to Amy Coney Barrett!

#MinneapolisMN #Minneapolis #AmyConeyBarrett #SDS #MNAAC #UMN #ReproductiveJustice #Abortion #SupremeCourt #AffirmativeAction #RoevWade

The University of Minnesota is lying to the public about the cancellation of a speaking event featuring Nkosi Mandela – anti-apartheid activist, member of the South African National Assembly, tribal chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council, and grandson of Nelson Mandela. Chief Zwelivelile Mandela had been scheduled to speak at the Cowles Auditorium in the Humphrey School for Public Affairs on the UMN campus on May 16. Several grassroots activist organizations in the Twin Cities, including the Center for American-Islamic Relations, the Anti-War Committee, and the Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice for Jamar, had helped organize this event. This event was a part of a larger nationwide speaking tour – sponsored by the US Palestinian Community Network and NAARPR – on the occupation of Palestine and the oppression of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government.

The day before the event, University administration informed the organizers that it was canceled due to a violent threat from a white supremacist. Admin demanded that the organizers provide their own security for the event if they still wanted to host it at the Humphrey School, despite the immense security resources at the University’s disposal. The organizers, with little time to prepare, moved the event and Chief Mandela’s speech to a different venue, where the event occurred as planned. The University outright lied in a statement to the Star Tribune, placing the blame for the event’s cancellation at the feet of the organizers, claiming that they were the ones who canceled the event at the U. This is unequivocally false and a complete lie; the University abruptly canceled the event and made ridiculous demands of the organizers.

It is incredibly shameful that the University of Minnesota has lied to the press, the public, and the UMN community about this issue and attempted to shift the blame to grassroots Twin Cities organizations that form a valuable part of the city community and carry out important activist work. SDS demands that admin acknowledge and unequivocally apologize for lying about the event’s cancellation.

Free, Free, Palestine!

End Israeli Apartheid!

Solidarity Forever!

#MinneapolisMN #Minneapolis #Palestine #Apartheid #SouthAfrica

In our last article we looked at some of the core concepts of dialectical materialism. We broke down the meaning of contradiction, and we looked at how contradictions develop unevenly in complex processes, into principal and secondary contradictions. We also looked at how any given contradiction has its own principal and secondary aspects, with the principal aspect playing the dominant role. Now let's look more closely at identity in contradiction and the role of antagonism in resolving contradictions of different types.

In “On Contradiction” Mao Zedong writes, “In speaking of the identity of opposites in given conditions, what we are referring to is real and concrete opposites and the real and concrete transformations of opposites into one another.”

In one sense, identity means that the two aspects of a given contradiction are also conditions for each other's existence. The bourgeoisie cannot exist without the proletariat, and vice versa. The class of exploiters depends entirely on the existence of a class of exploited from whom they draw their wealth and over whom they wield their power. Without the class of exploiters, the exploited too would not exist as a class. In this contradiction, the capitalist class plays the dominant role. They control the means of production along with the superstructure of the state and its repressive and ideological apparatuses.

However, the two aspects of this contradiction can exchange places. As Mao puts it, “by means of revolution the proletariat, at one time the ruled, is transformed into the ruler, while the bourgeoisie, the erstwhile ruler, is transformed into the ruled and changes its position to that originally occupied by its opposite.” From this qualitatively new position, the proletariat can wield state power in the socialist transition to eliminate exploitation, thereby eliminating the conditions for the existence of both itself and the bourgeoisie as classes.

One way to think about this is to say that identity is what holds things together. In other words, identity represents the real, concrete relationships that bind these opposing forces to each other. In the case of the working class and capitalists, these are the real, concrete relations of production. The capitalists own the means of production, and workers have to sell their labor to the capitalists to survive. Nevertheless, Lenin makes an important point here. “The unity (coincidence, identity, equal action) of opposites is conditional, temporary, transitory, relative. The struggle of mutually exclusive opposites is absolute, just as development and motion are absolute.” This is crucial for revolutionaries to grasp. Struggle and change are both constant and necessary.

So, to sum up, identity is the concrete relationship between contradictory aspects. On the one hand, it means that the two aspects of a contradiction are interdependent. On the other hand, it means that they can exchange places between which aspect is principal and which is secondary.

But what role does antagonism play in the identity and struggle of opposites? Mao says that “antagonism is one form, but not the only form, of the struggle of opposites.” In his essay “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People,” Mao divides contradictions into two categories: those between the masses of the people and the enemy, and those among the people themselves. Contradictions between the people and the enemy are antagonistic. Contradictions among the people are non-antagonistic. For example, under capitalist society, the contradiction between the capitalists and the working class is an antagonistic contradiction. The capitalists derive their wealth through the exploitation of the workers. They get rich from the surplus value produced by workers, that is, the difference between the value added by living labor and the amount the capitalists pay the workers for that labor power. Over the long run, the more wealth the capitalists accumulate, the less the workers are able to take home in pay, and vice versa. This means the material interests of these two classes are directly and irreconcilably opposed to one another. One benefits only at the expense of the other.

But there also exist contradictions among the masses of the people themselves. These contradictions are not antagonistic, not irreconcilably opposed to one another. Non-antagonistic contradictions are resolved through a process of unity-criticism-unity. This is a peaceful and democratic method of resolving non-antagonistic contradictions that means “starting from the desire for unity, resolving contradictions through criticism or struggle, and arriving at a new unity on a new basis.” This is the way communists should seek to resolve contradictions among themselves and among the broad masses of the people.

This brings to a close our preliminary discussion of the primary law of dialectics, the law of contradiction, which Engels called the law of the interpenetration of opposites. It is one of our most powerful and important theoretical tools and deserves serious and ongoing study, well beyond the limitations of these short articles. From here we understand how contradiction operates well enough to proceed, and so in our next article we will look more closely at how contradiction operates in the transformation of quantity into quality.

See our full series of articles on Marxist-Leninist theory here.

#Minneapolis #MaoZedong #Marxism #Theory #MLTheory

Immediately after the vote count was finalized, Minneapolis Teachers Federation Presidents Greta Callahan and Shaun Laden spoke in front of a large banner covered with thousands of pictures of MFT members, held by an enthusiastic crowd of educators. They announced that over 96% of their total membership had voted in the strike vote, and that over 97% of those votes were to strike. After the announcement the crowd bust into chanting “The time is now!”

Around the same time, the Saint Paul Federation of Educators released a statement that their members had also authorized a strike by over 78% of ballots cast.

In recent days both unions have posted countless pictures from schools of the educators at those schools holding signs and wearing their red for SPFE and blue for MFT. Those pictures are only one of the many ways they have been clearly demonstrating that this strike prep is being widely participated in by the members and that they are organizing on the ground.

Both Minneapolis and Saint Paul educators are fighting for caps on class size, mental health supports for students, equity and racial justice in hiring and retention of staff as well as ways for oppressed nationality educators to move up within the system, and for wage increases.

No strike date has yet been announced but it is expected the strikes would occur simultaneously near the beginning of March.

#Minneapolis #strike #Strikes #TeachersUnions #MinneapolisTeachersFederationMFT #SaintPaulFederationOfEducatorsSPFE

Across the world, March 8th honors the contributions of women to the people’s struggle. This year,Freedom Road Socialist Organization will hold events to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD).

IWD was founded to honor the sacrifices of heroes named and unnamed. Some capitalists have triedto sanitize and co-opt International Women’s Day. The origins of this day are clearly anti-capitalist.Our celebrations will carry forward that spirit.

Long History, Global Reach

International Women’s Day originates in the struggle of working women in New York City. In 1908there was a determined battle by garment workers to improve their lot. There was also an intenseagitation for the right to vote. Inspired by this, the outstanding German revolutionary Clara Zetkinproposed to the socialist movement a worldwide celebration of International Women’s Day.

Women’s Rights are Bound to Reproductive Freedom for All

The main reason to celebrate International Women’s Day is not because it is 114 years. The mainreason to celebrate IWD is to build resistance against gender-based oppression. Sexual violence andintimate partner abuse continue to be tolerated and taken lightly by the U.S. legal system. It’s noaccident that the weight of these crimes falls most heavily on women, both cis and trans and alsonon-binary folks.

Systematic attacks on reproductive freedom being carried out in Texas and Mississippi are attacks onbodily autonomy. They are also an attack on democratic rights more broadly. The attempt to subjectthe people’s bodies to the control of a state, guided by a religious worldview, is not just oppressive topeople who bear children. The legal foundation of modern LGBTQ rights in the U.S. is the right toprivacy of the Fourth Amendment. The reversal of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court, which seemslikely, threatens four decades of progress for women, non-binary folks as well as LGBTQ people, nomatter our gender.

Oppressed nationality folks will be most impacted by abortion restrictions. In Mississippi, AfricanAmericans make up 80% of people having abortions but 44% of the population. The abortion rate isclosely linked to Mississippi’s level of poverty and access to health care. Mississippi has an infantmortality rate that is twice as high for Black infants. There are currently no proposals in theirlegislature to cut infant mortality, only to control people’s bodies.

Women Hold Up Half the Sky

On March 8, 2022, join Freedom Road comrades to celebrate, commemorate and continue to pullstruggles forward in celebration of International Women’s Day. Check social media pages for detailson local events. Get involved and join us.

#Minneapolis #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #reproductiveFreedom #InternationalWomensDayIWD

Minneapolis, MN – On February 5, 100 protesters gathered at Mayday plaza on the West Bank in Minneapolis to oppose U.S. war with Russia and further intervention in the Ukraine. Protesters held signs that read “No war with Russia,” “Fight COVID not Russia” and “Money for housing, not for war.”

The protest’s program began with a speech from Susan Banaszewski, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, who focused on the role of U.S. intervention and the role of the media in beating the drums for war, “So U.S. meddling has made everyday life worse for Ukrainians by making sure they have less money in their pockets and fewer social supports, armed the fascist elements in their country, created panic and destabilized the economy with this warmongering. The U.S. has escalated conflict with their neighbors and essentially caused a civil war, in which arms from the U.S. are used against fellow Ukrainians. All this fuels our war machine profits. and the U.S. wants the world's thanks for making the world safer?”

Sarah Martin, a longtime member of Women Against Military Madness, spoke and compared the situation to previous actions of U.S. intervention, “We have been down this all too familiar road of build up as the administration and compliant corporate media beat the drums of war with all the lies, demonization of the leader of the country in the crosshairs and false justifications like ‘honoring treaty obligations, our national interest, and security, human rights, women’s rights,’ and of course ‘democracy’. A prototype for these U.S. wars of the last 30 years is the U.S./NATO war on Yugoslavia which broke up that country. It also began the Western move of the U.S. and NATO toward Russia, and manufactured NATO’s continued existence.”

Martin, like Banaszewski, argued this conflict is being manufactured by the U.S., “But despite the incessant and relentless propaganda of the state and mainstream media, fewer than one in eight U.S. citizens want this war or want the U.S. anywhere near the Ukraine. People are war weary and life is hard for most especially in this time of COVID. People are struggling and need help.”

Other anti-war speakers included Dave Logsdon from Veterans for Peace and Mike Madden from the newly founded Twin Cities Julian Assange Defense Committee. Closing out the speakers was Tracy Molm, a founder of the Climate Justice Committee, who connected U.S. imperialism to the struggle against Line 3 in Minnesota, “As we stand here to oppose the current saber rattling around Russia – and China – all of this assumed need for military might obscures that the U.S. military is the number one institutional polluter in the world. The U.S. military has consistently been left out of pollution goals put into climate agreements. Real and lasting fixes to climate change need to start with ending U.S. military aggression and posturing – but also end fossil fuel infrastructure that helps enable and continue U.S. military endeavors. The Climate Justice Committee is focused on fighting Line 3 oil pipeline and will continue to stand with our friend in the anti-war movement making connections between the constant drumbeat of wars abroad that necessitate fossil fuel infrastructure.”

A repeated theme of the protest was to denounce in chants and speeches both U.S. intervention in Ukraine and the recent murder of Amir Locke by Minneapolis police. Originally the protest was scheduled to march to U.S. Senator Klobuchar’s office but after over an hour of protesting participants were encouraged to warm up and go to the Hennepin County Government Center to protest Amir Locke’s execution by police, and to demand the resignations of both Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and the interim police chief.

The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and others.

The protest was organized as a part of the United National Antiwar Coalition’s national day of action. Protests took place across the country including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Asheville NC, New Orleans, and many more cities.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #MNAntiWarCommittee #FightCOVIDNotRussia

Minneapolis, MN – On February 5, 100 protesters gathered at Mayday plaza on the West Bank in Minneapolis to oppose U.S. war with Russia and further intervention in the Ukraine. Protesters held signs that read “No war with Russia,” “Fight COVID not Russia” and “Money for housing, not for war.”

The protest’s program began with a speech from Susan Banaszewski, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, who focused on the role of U.S. intervention and the role of the media in beating the drums for war, “So U.S. meddling has made everyday life worse for Ukrainians by making sure they have less money in their pockets and fewer social supports, armed the fascist elements in their country, created panic and destabilized the economy with this warmongering. The U.S. has escalated conflict with their neighbors and essentially caused a civil war, in which arms from the U.S. are used against fellow Ukrainians. All this fuels our war machine profits. and the U.S. wants the world's thanks for making the world safer?”

Sarah Martin, a longtime member of Women Against Military Madness, spoke and compared the situation to previous actions of U.S. intervention, “We have been down this all too familiar road of build up as the administration and compliant corporate media beat the drums of war with all the lies, demonization of the leader of the country in the crosshairs and false justifications like ‘honoring treaty obligations, our national interest, and security, human rights, women’s rights,’ and of course ‘democracy’. A prototype for these U.S. wars of the last 30 years is the U.S./NATO war on Yugoslavia which broke up that country. It also began the Western move of the U.S. and NATO toward Russia, and manufactured NATO’s continued existence.”

Martin, like Banaszewski, argued this conflict is being manufactured by the U.S., “But despite the incessant and relentless propaganda of the state and mainstream media, fewer than one in eight U.S. citizens want this war or want the U.S. anywhere near the Ukraine. People are war weary and life is hard for most especially in this time of COVID. People are struggling and need help.”

Other anti-war speakers included Dave Logsdon from Veterans for Peace and Mike Madden from the newly founded Twin Cities Julian Assange Defense Committee. Closing out the speakers was Tracy Molm, a founder of the Climate Justice Committee, who connected U.S. imperialism to the struggle against Line 3 in Minnesota, “As we stand here to oppose the current saber rattling around Russia – and China – all of this assumed need for military might obscures that the U.S. military is the number one institutional polluter in the world. The U.S. military has consistently been left out of pollution goals put into climate agreements. Real and lasting fixes to climate change need to start with ending U.S. military aggression and posturing – but also end fossil fuel infrastructure that helps enable and continue U.S. military endeavors. The Climate Justice Committee is focused on fighting Line 3 oil pipeline and will continue to stand with our friend in the anti-war movement making connections between the constant drumbeat of wars abroad that necessitate fossil fuel infrastructure.”

A repeated theme of the protest was to denounce in chants and speeches both U.S. intervention in Ukraine and the recent murder of Amir Locke by Minneapolis police. Originally the protest was scheduled to march to U.S. Senator Klobuchar’s office but after over an hour of protesting participants were encouraged to warm up and go to the Hennepin County Government Center to protest Amir Locke’s execution by police, and to demand the resignations of both Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey and the interim police chief.

The protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and others.

The protest was organized as a part of the United National Antiwar Coalition’s national day of action. Protests took place across the country including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Asheville NC, New Orleans, and many more cities.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #MNAntiWarCommittee #FightCOVIDNotRussia

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “Following the Biden administration’s announcement that 3000 U.S. troops are being moved to Eastern Europe, people will be taking to the streets in the U.S. and around the world to raise the alarm about the dangers of a U.S.-Russia war.”

“Saturday, February 5 will be a global day of protest because the only sane course of actions the U.S. can take is a commitment to diplomacy with serious negotiations, not military escalation – which could easily spiral out of control to the point of pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war,” the statement continues.

The statement continues, “The roots of this crisis start with the failure of the U.S. government to live up to its promise made in 1990 by then-Secretary of State James Baker that NATO would expand not ‘one inch to the East.’ Since 1999, NATO has expanded to include numerous countries, including some that border Russia.”

“For the last 20 years the U.S. has been in a series of endless wars, interventions, drone strikes and bombings, the U.S. has occupied or bombed Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. The real threat to peace is the U.S. war machine. The people of the U.S. need an end to the endless war threats, people need housing, COVID relief, a real struggle against inequality and racism, not new wars and war threats,” the statement continues.

The Minneapolis protest was initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by: Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and others.

Protests are taking place during this weekend in cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Minneapolis, Asheville NC, New Orleans and many more.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #Biden #NoWarWithRussia

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “Following the Biden administration’s announcement that 3000 U.S. troops are being moved to Eastern Europe, people will be taking to the streets in the U.S. and around the world to raise the alarm about the dangers of a U.S.-Russia war.”

“Saturday, February 5 will be a global day of protest because the only sane course of actions the U.S. can take is a commitment to diplomacy with serious negotiations, not military escalation – which could easily spiral out of control to the point of pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war,” the statement continues.

The statement continues, “The roots of this crisis start with the failure of the U.S. government to live up to its promise made in 1990 by then-Secretary of State James Baker that NATO would expand not ‘one inch to the East.’ Since 1999, NATO has expanded to include numerous countries, including some that border Russia.”

“For the last 20 years the U.S. has been in a series of endless wars, interventions, drone strikes and bombings, the U.S. has occupied or bombed Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. The real threat to peace is the U.S. war machine. The people of the U.S. need an end to the endless war threats, people need housing, COVID relief, a real struggle against inequality and racism, not new wars and war threats,” the statement continues.

The Minneapolis protest was initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by: Anti-War Committee, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and others.

Protests are taking place during this weekend in cities such as Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Portland OR, Minneapolis, Asheville NC, New Orleans and many more.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #NATO #Ukraine #Biden #NoWarWithRussia

Feb. 2 marks the 79th anniversary of victory over fascism at Stalingrad

To mark the victory of the Soviet Union at Stalingrad, Fight Back News Service is reprinting the following article by Mao Zedong, that was first published October 12, 1942, in Liberation Daily.

The Turning point in World War 2

The Battle of Stalingrad has been compared by the British and American press to the Battle of Verdun, and the “Red Verdun” is now famous all over the world. This comparison is not altogether appropriate. The Battle of Stalingrad is different in nature from the Battle of Verdun in World War I. But they have this in common— now, as then, many people are misled by the German offensive into thinking that Germany can still win the war. In 1916 the German forces launched several attacks on the French fortress of Verdun, two years before World War I ended in the winter of 1918. The commander-in-chief at Verdun was the German Crown Prince and the forces thrown into the battle were the cream of the German army. The battle was of decisive significance. After the ferocious German assaults failed, the entire German-Austrian-Turkish-Bulgarian bloc had no future, and from then on its difficulties mounted, it was deserted by its followers, it disintegrated, and finally collapsed. But at the time, the Anglo-American-French bloc did not grasp this situation, believing that the German army was still very powerful, and they were unaware of their own approaching victory. Historically, all reactionary forces on the verge of extinction invariably conduct a last desperate struggle against the revolutionary forces, and some revolutionaries are apt to be deluded for a time by this phenomenon of outward strength but inner weakness, failing to grasp the essential fact that the enemy is nearing extinction while they themselves are approaching victory. The rise of the forces of fascism and the war of aggression they have been conducting for some years are precisely the expression of such a last desperate struggle; and in this present war the attack on Stalingrad is the expression of the last desperate struggle of fascism itself. At this turning point in history, too, many people in the world anti-fascist front have been deluded by the ferocious appearance of fascism and have failed to discern its essence. For forty-eight days there raged an unprecedentedly bitter battle, unparalleled in the history of mankind—from August 23, when the entire German force crossed the bend of the River Don and began the all-out attack on Stalingrad, through September 15, when some German units broke into the industrial district in the northwestern section of the city, and right up to October 9, when the Soviet Information Bureau announced that the Red Army had breached the German line of encirclement in that district. Ultimately this battle was won by the Soviet forces. During those forty-eight days, the news of each setback or triumph from that city gripped the hearts of countless millions of people, now bringing them anxiety, now stirring them to elation. This battle is not only the turning point of the Soviet-German war, or even of the present anti-fascist world war, it is the turning point in the history of all mankind. Throughout these forty-eight days, the people of the world watched Stalingrad with even greater concern than they watched Moscow last October.

Until his victory on the western front, Hitler seems to have been cautious. When he attacked Poland, when he attacked Norway, when he attacked Holland, Belgium, and France, and when he attacked the Balkans, he concentrated all his strength on one objective at a time, not daring to disperse his attention. After his victory on the western front, he became dizzy with success and attempted to defeat the Soviet Union in three months. He launched an offensive against this huge and powerful socialist country along the whole front stretching from Murmansk in the north to the Crimea in the south, and in so doing dispersed his forces. The failure of his Moscow campaign last October marked the end of the first stage of the Soviet-German war, and Hitler's first strategic plan failed. The Red Army halted the German offensive last year and launched a counteroffensive on all fronts in the winter, which constituted the second stage of the Soviet-German war, with Hitler turning to retreat and the defensive. In this period, after dismissing Brauchitsch, his commander-in-chief, and taking over the command himself, he decided to abandon the plan for an all-out offensive, combed Europe for all available forces and prepared a final offensive which, though limited to the southern front, would, he imagined, strike at the vitals of the Soviet Union. Because it was in the nature of a final offensive on which the fate of fascism hung, Hitler concentrated the greatest possible forces and even moved in part of his aircraft and tanks from the North African battle front. With the German attack on Kerch and Sevastopol in May this year, the war entered its third stage. Massing an army of over 1,500,000, which was supported by the bulk of his air and tank forces, Hitler launched an offensive of unprecedented fury on Stalingrad and the Caucasus. He endeavoured to capture these two objectives at great speed for the twofold purpose of cutting the Volga and seizing Baku, intending subsequently to drive against Moscow to the north and break through to the Persian Gulf in the south; at the same time he directed the Japanese fascists to mass their troops in Manchuria in preparation for an attack on Siberia after the fall of Stalingrad. Hitler vainly hoped to weaken the Soviet Union to such an extent that he would be able to release the main forces of the German army from the Soviet theatre of war for dealing with an Anglo-American attack on the western front, and for seizing the resources of the Near East and effecting a junction with the Japanese; at the same time this would allow the main forces of the Japanese to be released from the north and, with their rear secure, to move west against China and south against Britain and the United States. That was how Hitler reckoned on winning victory for the fascist camp. But how did things turn out in this stage? Hitler came up against the Soviet tactics which sealed his fate. The Soviet Union adopted the policy of first luring the enemy in deep and then putting up a stubborn resistance. In five months of fighting the German army has failed either to penetrate to the Caucasian oil-fields or to seize Stalingrad, so that Hitler has been forced to halt his troops before high mountains and outside an impregnable city, unable to advance and unable to retreat, suffering immense losses and getting into an impasse. October is already here and winter is approaching; soon the third stage of the war will end and the fourth stage will begin. Not one of Hitler's strategic plans of attack against the Soviet Union has succeeded. In this period, bearing in mind his failure in the summer of last year when his forces were divided, Hitler concentrated his strength on the southern front. But as he still wanted to achieve the twofold purpose of cutting the Volga in the east and seizing the Caucasus in the south at a single stroke, he again divided his forces. He did not recognize that his strength did not match his ambitions, and he is now doomed—“when the carrying pole is not secured at both ends, the loads slip off”. As for the Soviet Union, the more she fights the stronger she grows. Stalin's brilliant strategic direction has completely gained the initiative and is everywhere drawing Hitler towards destruction. The fourth stage of the war, beginning this winter, will mark the approach of Hitler's doom.

Comparing Hitler's position in the first and third stages of the war, we can see that he is on the threshold of final defeat. Both at Stalingrad and in the Caucasus the Red Army has now in fact stopped the German offensive; Hitler is now nearing exhaustion, having failed in his attacks on Stalingrad and the Caucasus. The forces which he managed to assemble throughout the winter, from last December to May of this year, have already been used up. In less than a month winter will set in on the Soviet-German front, and Hitler will have to turn hastily to the defensive. The whole belt west and south of the Don is his most vulnerable area, and the Red Army will go over to the counter-offensive there. This winter, goaded on by the fear of his impending doom, Hitler will once again reorganize his forces. To meet the dangers on both the eastern and western fronts, he may perhaps be able to scrape together the remnants of his forces, equip them and form them into a few new divisions and, in addition, he will turn for help to his three fascist partners, Italy, Rumania and Hungary, and extort some more cannon-fodder from them. However, he will have to face the enormous losses of a winter campaign in the east and be ready to deal with the second front in the west, while Italy, Rumania and Hungary, becoming pessimistic as they see that it is all up with Hitler, will increasingly fall away from him. In short, after October 9 there is only one road open to Hitler, the road to extinction.

The Red Army's defence of Stalingrad in these forty-eight days has a certain similarity to the defence of Moscow last year. That is to say, Hitler's plan for this year has been foiled just as was his plan for last year. The difference, however, is that, although the Soviet people followed up their defence of Moscow with a winter counter-offensive, they had yet to face the summer offensive of the German army this year, partly because Germany and her European accomplices still had some fight left in them and partly because Britain and the United States delayed the opening of the second front. But now, following the battle for the defence of Stalingrad, the situation will be totally different from that of last year. On the one hand, the Soviet Union will launch a second winter counteroffensive on a vast scale, Britain and the United States will no longer be able to delay the opening of the second front (though the exact date cannot yet be foretold), and the people of Europe will be ready to rise up in response. On the other hand, Germany and her European accomplices no longer have the strength to mount large-scale offensives, and Hitler will have no alternative but to change his whole line of policy to the strategic defensive. Once Hitler is compelled to go over to the strategic defensive, the fate of fascism is as good as sealed. From its birth, a fascist state like Hitler's builds its political and military life on taking the offensive, and once its offensive stops its very life stops too. The Battle of Stalingrad will stop the offensive of fascism and is therefore a decisive battle. It is decisive for the whole world war.

There are three powerful foes confronting Hitler, the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States, and the people in the German-occupied territories. On the eastern front stands the Red Army, firm as a rock, whose counter-offensives will continue through the whole of the second winter and beyond; it is this force which will decide the outcome of the whole war and the destiny of mankind. On the western front, even if Britain and the United States continue their policy of looking on and stalling, the second front will eventually be opened, when the time comes to belabour the slain tiger. Then there is the internal front against Hitler, the great uprising of the people which is brewing in Germany, in France and in other parts of Europe; they will respond with a third front the moment the Soviet Union launches an all-out counter-offensive and the guns roar on the second front. Thus, an attack from three fronts will converge on Hitler—such is the great historical process that will follow the Battle of Stalingrad.

Napoleon's political life ended at Waterloo, but the decisive turning point was his defeat at Moscow. Hitler today is treading Napoleon's road, and it is the Battle of Stalingrad that has sealed his doom.

These developments will have a direct impact on the Far East. The coming year will not be propitious for Japanese fascism either. As time goes on its headaches will grow, until it descends into its grave.

All those who take a pessimistic view of the world situation should change their point of view.

#Minneapolis #Socialism #MaoZedong #Stalingrad

Kim DeFranco’s stunning photographs taken on March 8, when more than 1000 people rallied and marched demanding justice for George Floyd and the conviction of Derek Chauvin, one of the cops who murdered him.

#Minneapolis #AfricanAmerican #PoliceCrimes #DerekChauvin #photoEssay

Kim DeFranco’s stunning photographs taken on March 8, when more than 1000 people rallied and marched demanding justice for George Floyd and the conviction of Derek Chauvin, one of the cops who murdered him.

#Minneapolis #AfricanAmerican #PoliceCrimes #DerekChauvin #photoEssay

Minneapolis, MN – Well over 50 people attended an emergency protest in Minneapolis on Saturday, February 27, to speak out against the Biden administration bombing of targets in Syria two days earlier.

The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition initiated the call for the protest, which was endorsed by other organizations including the Anti-War Committee, Climate Justice Committee, Veterans for Peace and Women Against Military Madness.

Participants lined Cedar Avenue on the West Bank in Minneapolis with anti-war signs and banners. Most passersby showed support for the anti-war message.

At a closing rally Meredith Aby of the Anti-War Committee said, “We are here to oppose the Biden administration's bombing strike on Syria. This is a blatant violation of Syrian sovereignty. It is an escalation against Iran – which is in direct violation of the campaign promises that he made. With this airstrike, Biden is continuing Trump's aggressive foreign policy against Syria and Iran, now cloaked in tones of supposed ‘reasonability.’”

Kristin Dooley, director of Women Against Military Madness said, “For Biden, war trumps human needs. The people need funds to fight COVID, for jobs and housing, not more wars.”

Minneapolis area peace groups will be continuing to call actions against the endless series of U.S. wars.

One member of MPAC, the group that initiated the protest said, “Biden has already indicated that the U.S. will not fully withdraw from Afghanistan by the deadline set in the agreement signed last year. Now the escalation of bombing targets in Syria and the endless wars are the wars of empire, not specific political figures. The process to end these wars will take a massive outpouring of anti-war sentiment.”

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #AntiWarCommittee #Syria #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition #Biden

Minneapolis, MN – On February 25, a coalition of more than 20 community organizations held a press conference at the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis to demand justice for George Floyd and to announce the intention to express their First Amendment right to protest on the opening day of the criminal trial of Derek Chauvin on March 8.

Coalition member organizations stand united in calling for the conviction of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd and pressing that Chauvin receive the maximum penalty for his crime. The coalition also made demands for government agencies to remove barricades, fences, razor wire and the threat of deploying the National Guard, all of which are seen as means to keep the people away from the center of trial activity and to interfere with the people’s right to assemble and exercise free speech.

The crowd responded passionately to the words of Toshira Garraway, of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, as she spoke of her 11 years as an activist since the murder of her fiancé by police. She said, “They, [the government] value their buildings and want to call out $35 million dollars to protect their buildings when human beings are losing their lives in the middle of the street in the middle of day.” She also declared, “They have stolen something from us that we can never get back.”

Angela Rose from the Minneapolis NAACP reminded reporters and supporters about the core message from the people: “We are here to deliver justice because what we need to see is transformation. We are calling for change. The only way we are going to get justice is for our legislative system, our government, to recognize our humanity. This is human rights issue – the murder of Black people in America.”

People chanted “This is what democracy looks like” and “No justice, no peace, prosecute the police” in between coalition spokespeople from Twin Cities Coalition Justice 4 Jamar, Communities United Against Police Brutality, CAIR-MN, Black Lives Matter Minnesota, Racial Justice Network, Native Lives Matter, Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, Minnesota Workers United, NAACP, Climate Justice Committee, the Anti-war Committee, and MIRAC.

Speakers carried messages that called for justice for all stolen lives, the conviction of all killer cops, dropping the charges against Amina McCaskill and all the MN-646 protesters, community control of the police, and the passage of nine community-supported bills currently at the legislature that would take the first steps toward police accountability in Minnesota.

The coalition plans to hold protests for all key stages of the trial. The Facebook event for the March 8 protest is at https://fb.me/e/3ie1T1oTo

#Minneapolis #AfricanAmerican #GeorgeFloyd #DerekChauvin #TwinCitiesCoalitionJustice4Jamar

Minneapolis, MN – About 40 protesters held signs reading “No war for the holidays” and “Stop endless wars” to engage with holiday shoppers at the busy intersection of Hennepin and Lagoon Avenues in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis, December 21.

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “Endless U.S. wars drag on around the world. From Afghanistan, to Iraq, to Syria, to Yemen, to Somalia, the endless wars continue. There is a danger of new U.S. wars, especially against Iran and north Korea.”

The statement points out, “Recently the Washington Post published The Afghanistan Papers, thousands of pages of government documents which showed that the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations misled the people of the U.S. about the war in Afghanistan. That war continues.”

“The Trump administration has sometimes given lip service to ending the endless wars, yet the wars go on. In Syria, the U.S. government said it would withdraw, but days later had relocated U.S. troops to seize the Syrian oil fields. These wars will only end when the people demand an end to the wars.”

Emma Fiala, a member of Women Against Military Madness, opened the protest, “As the U.S. military budget is increased to fund these endless wars, important social services are being threatened. Our tax dollars should be spent on health care, housing, education and other social programs. Not on war. The people are facing more cuts in social programs, like Food Stamps — cutting off tens of thousands from food.” She concluded, “We must continue to say no to more wars, bring all of the troops home, and fund human needs now!”

Other speakers included Kristin Dooley, the director of Women Against Military Madness and Mike Madden, a member of Veterans for Peace. The crowd sang anti-war songs to the tune of Christmas carols in between speakers.

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, was the last speaker. She concluded with, “We need to insist that there be real change in U.S. foreign policy! We need to not settle for just better than Trump. We don’t want bombs dropped by a president who has a vocabulary above the fourth grade but who happens to be a woman or gay. We want the bombs to stop being dropped!”

The protest was initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by the MN Anti-War Committee, Every Church A Peace Church, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Mayday Books, Minnesota War Tax Resistance, Party for Socialism and Liberation, St. Joan of Arc Peacemakers, Socialist Action, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, and Women Against Military Madness.

#Minneapolis #MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #MiddleEast #warOnTerror #TrumpAdministration #TheAfghanistanPapers #MNAntiWarCommittee

Minneapolis, MN – While the University of Minnesota top officials gathered for the opening of newly renovated Pioneer Hall, August 21, about 50 members of Teamsters Local 320 and other campus unions held an informational picket line to demand the year-round, full-time employment for workers in M Dining. The U of M has curtailed summer work opportunities for Teamsters and is trampling on seniority rights.

Mick Kelly, a member of the negotiating committee for U of M Teamsters told the crowd, “The university is plunging us into poverty, and this is something that we will never put up with. It is unacceptable, and the condition of dining service workers must be addressed in the new contract. We deserve better than this.”

Members of other Teamster locals, along with AFSCME 3800, also participated in the picket.

#Minneapolis #Teamsters #unions #AFSCME3800 #PublicSectorUnions #TeamstersLocal320 #picketLine

Minneapolis, MN – U.S. Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) have joined the ranks of thousands of human rights activists and millions of diaspora Palestinians who have been denied entry to Palestine by the occupying Israeli regime.

Reps. Omar and Tlaib had planned a congressional trip to the West Bank for next week, initially agreed to by the Israeli regime “out of respect for the U.S. Congress and the great alliance between Israel and America.” However, on August 15 Israel announced a reversal of its previous decision and banned the delegation’s entrance.

The announcement came immediately after President Trump wrote on Twitter, “It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!” [sic]

Since the Knesset’s March 2017 passage of the Amendment No. 28 to the Entry Into Israel Law, the Israeli state has denied entry to supporters of the worldwide Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israeli occupation of Palestine. Millions of Palestinian refugees who fled Israeli invasion during the Nakba of 1948 and the Six-Day War of 1967, as well as their descendants, have been continually denied a right to return to their homeland by the Israeli regime. Both Omar and Tlaib had stated publicly their support for BDS. Representative Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, had planned to visit family members in the West Bank during the trip.

Representative Omar released her own statement in response to Israel’s decision. “It is an affront that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, under pressure from President Trump, would deny entry to representatives of the U.S. government,” she stated. “Trump’s Muslim ban is what Israel is implementing, this time against two duly elected members of Congress. Denying entry into Israel not only limits our ability to learn from Israelis, but also to enter the Palestinian territories.” Last week, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) led a trip of 72 members of Congress, 41 of whom were also Democrats, sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, a branch of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). That delegation was allowed entry by Israel. Representative Tlaib’s delegation was organized as an alternative to the AIPAC trip, with a focus on meeting with human rights activists, including Hanan Ashrawi of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), as opposed to meeting with Israeli politicians.

The announcement of Israel’s ban on Representatives Tlaib and Omar was met by criticism from U.S. presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Jewish Voice for Peace released a statement connecting the ban to the treatment of Palestinians who try to return to their homeland, and to the BDS movement: “This morning’s announcement that Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar will be blocked from entry by Israel is consistent with their increasingly authoritarian policies toward Palestinians and all those who support Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). But for sitting Congresswomen to be prevented from entry is a new low that only serves to illustrate Israel’s racist and exclusionary practices. This is a situation all too familiar for Palestinians due to decades of exclusionary practices by Israel.”

International solidarity activist Sarah Martin told Fight Back!, “Trump chanted at rallies that Representatives Omar and Tlaib should ‘go back home’ and now he’s pressuring Israel not to let them in. And Tlaib, like Palestinians throughout the diaspora, is being denied the right to return. So many Americans are critical of Trump but then look the other way when we raise the reality of Israeli apartheid. We need to use this as an opportunity to draw attention to the $3.2 billion the U.S. sends in aid to Israel.”

Martin, a member of Women Against Military Madness, was denied entry into Israel in 2009 when she tried to participate in a human rights delegation to the West Bank. Martin met with Representative Omar on August 15, along with representatives from Arab arts organizations, religious groups and Palestinian solidarity groups in the Twin Cities to express solidarity.

Meredith Aby-Keirstead, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee, was also at the meeting with Representative Omar. She told Fight Back!, “It is outrageous that Omar – who is also on the House Foreign Affairs Committee – and Tlaib have been banned from entering Israel. They have the responsibility to investigate how U.S. tax dollars are spent. We need to increase our demands that the U.S. cut off aid to Israel. It is obvious that they want to hide the conditions they have created for Palestinians.”

A coalition of Minnesota Palestine solidarity and immigrant rights groups are planning to bring up the ban on Representatives Omar and Tlaib, along with Israel’s apartheid policies, at the Minnesota State Board of Investment meeting on August 22, where they will pressure the state of Minnesota to divest from Elbit Systems, an Israeli weapons technology company that profits from Israeli apartheid and has been contracted as part of the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border.

#Minneapolis #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #AntiWarCommittee #IlhanOmar #RashidaTlaib

Clark was murdered by Minneapolis police officers on November 15, 2015. According to witnesses, he was handcuffed when he was shot at point-blank range. His killing led to massive protests and a weeks-long winter encampment in front of the police precinct office near the scene of his death. Investigators ignored the input of 20 witnesses to the killing, forcibly seized all video of the shooting, and refused to release the video to the public. No charges were pressed against the officers, who both still work as Minneapolis cops.

The Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar (TCC4J) issued a statement that read, “Today’s settlement happened because the community has been in the streets defending itself, demanding that killer cops be held accountable, and confronting politicians on their inaction, and most importantly demanding a way forward via community control of the police!”

TCC4J has issued the following demands. Fire killer cops. Reopen the cases. $20 million for all families of police crimes. Community control of the Minneapolis police department and give us back our community center.

The TCC4J statement expands on the demands: “Fire and prosecute officers Ringgenberg and Schwarze. Send them to prison. Jamar Clark was killed in the era before cops were even remotely held accountable for anything. This city and this nation have changed. We are seeing the spiraling devastation, in the form of mass shootings, for example. These are encouraged, in part, by politicians and policymakers giving the quiet nod to racists and white supremacists, by those policymakers’ inaction when a member of our community is murdered by cop. Justine Damond’s family was awarded $20 million for her horrific murder. A chunk of the Damond settlement ($2 million) went to the Minneapolis Foundation, which is headed by former mayor of Minneapolis RT Rybak. Jamar Clark’s families got $200,000. That is a fraction of the $2 million cut that the white, smug establishment figures who run the Minneapolis Foundation playing with right now.”

A community center is a longtime demand of the Black community in North Minneapolis. The 2015 encampment was outside the Fourth Precinct, which used to house a community center that was erected after the Plymouth Avenue uprising of 1967. That was razed in 1988 to build a police precinct building.

On August 6, TCC4J and community members visited the mayor and city council members to advocate for a settlement, comparable to the one for Justine Damond. They also demanded the re-opening of the case and that the cops who murdered Jamar Clark be fired.

Today, August 8, multiple activist groups held a protest at the state capitol to demand Governor Tim Waltz follow through on his promises to meet with community members, review and reopen police shooting cases, and investigate the incompetent handling of police shooting cases by the Minnesota state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The governor refused to meet with the activists.

#Minneapolis #MN #PoliceBrutality #Antiracism #BlackLivesMatter #TCC4JJamarClark

Minneapolis, MN – More than 60 people gathered January 8, at 7:30 a.m., for the monthly vigil outside the Whipple Federal Building in solidarity with immigrants facing immigration court and deportation there.

The monthly vigil is organized by the Interfaith Coalition on Immigration (ICOM). This month’s vigil was co-sponsored with the Minnesota Caravan Solidarity coalition, focusing on solidarity with the caravan of refugees from Honduras seeking asylum at the U.S.-México border. The demands of the vigil were “Asylum is a human right! No troops at the border! Refugees are welcome here!”

#Minneapolis #ImmigrantRights #InterfaithCoalitionOnImmigrationICOM #refugeeCaravan #MinnesotaCaravanSolidarityCoalition

Minneapolis, MN – The week for #JusticeThruJamar kicked off with a news conference on November 12. Dozens of people gathered outside Minneapolis City Hall, in one of the first cold spells of winter, to announce a week of actions centered around the memory of Jamar Clark, who was murdered by Minneapolis police officers on November 15, 2015.

The week of actions, organized the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar Clark (TCC4J) is focused on the demands: Reopen the case surrounding the murder of Jamar and prosecute Minneapolis Police Department officers Dustin Schwarze and Mark Ringgenberg. Stop police terror in our communities – justice for all victims of police violence. Community Control of the Police – actual, community control, not the current rubber-stamp systems that exist.

Emcee Minister Toya Woodland read the statement from the TCC4J, “We demand that Mike Freeman go back and prosecute [officers] Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze for the death of Jamar Clark. But that’s not enough, we want justice for all victims of police violence. On Friday, we had two more local men die at the hands of police, which brings a grim sense of urgency to our work.”

Woodland was referring to the recent murders of Travis Jordan and James Hanchett. TCC4J and the other organizations are demanding that the officers who killed the men be prosecuted for murder.

Speakers included Tiffany Burns, sister of Jamar Clark; Trahern Crews, Black Lives Matter-MN; Gabriel Black Elk, Native Lives Matter; Katherine Hamberg, Justice for Justine Damond; Hani Ali, Black Visions Collective; Jan Nye, Communities United Against Police Brutality; and Nekima Levy Armstrong, civil rights attorney and founder of the Racial Justice Network.

On November 15, 2015, 24-year-old Jamar Clark was shot in the head within 61 seconds of the beginning of an encounter with Minneapolis Police Department officers Schwarze and Ringgenberg. In the 18 days that followed, community members occupied the Fourth Precinct police station in North Minneapolis.

James Clark said of his son, “There can never be justice for Jamar, but maybe we can win justice through Jamar.” A statement from TCC4J declares, “Our hearts go out to both sides of Jamar’s family, and all those who loved him. Thousands of people in Minneapolis and beyond have been forever changed.”

Some of the actions planned for the week include: a public speak out and banner hanging at the Hennepin County Government Center on Tuesday, Nov. 13, to get the message to County Attorney Freeman that he must re-open the case; a “61-seconds for Justice” a call-in day Nov. 14 to the county attorney (Jamar’s murderers killed him 61 seconds after they arrived on the scene); on Nov. 15, the three-year anniversary of Jamar Clark’s killing there will be an evening vigil at the site (Plymouth and James); and a community meeting on Saturday, Nov. 17 to talk about community control of the police.

#Minneapolis #AfricanAmerican #PoliceBrutality #NativeLivesMatter #JusticeThruJamar #MinneapolisCityHall #TravisJordan