Fight Back! News

News and Views from the People's Struggle

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By Ashley Taylor

Anti-War Committee press conference announcing billboard campaign against U.S support for genocide in Palestine. | Fight Back! News/Kim DeFranco

Minneapolis, MN – On December 18, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee held a press conference to proudly announce the installation of four billboards in Minneapolis and Saint Paul. These billboards will serve as a visual call to action, reinforcing the committee's demands: “Divest Minnesota from Israel” and “End U.S. aid to Israel.”

Strategically placed, these billboards will be a powerful tool to amplify the Anti-War Committee's demands that Minnesota divest from Israel and for the U.S. to end all support for Israel's apartheid regime.

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By Kim DeFranco

Minnesotans taking action in solidarity with Cuba. | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – On December 14 members of the Solidarity Committee on the Americas and the MN Cuba Committee rallied at Chicago and Lake Avenues to demand the U.S. government to take Cuba off the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism list and continued to pressure the U.S. to end the blockade of Cuba. The people who live in the neighborhood are multinational working-class families. The people passed by cheering and waving fits in the arm in support of the people. As the rally continued, cars and trucks drove past honking loudly and continuously approving the message.

#MinneapolisMN #International #Cuba

By Tracy Molm

Rally to support Nenookaasi Ikwe Healing Camp. | Fight Back! News/Aaron Johnson

Minneapolis, MN – The city of Minneapolis announced their intent to close down Nenookaasi Ikwe Healing Camp in the East Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis. Nenookaasi is an encampment of primarily indigenous people and has been a safe space for over three months.

Because of the steadfast support of local indigenous elders and other local volunteers, the camp has been home to up to 200 people. Because it provides a stable base, residents have been able to access government services, 74 people have gotten stable housing, and the camp has had zero overdose deaths.

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By Meredith Aby

Cars lining up for the Palestine caravan. | Fight Back! News/Samantha Alsadi

Minneapolis, MN – On December 14, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) led a caravan of over 40 cars with the Free Palestine Coalition to draw attention to the people of Palestine facing genocidal violence during evening rush hour.

Protesters decorated their cars with signs and Palestinian flags. Half of them drove slowly on Interstate-94 between Minneapolis and Saint Paul while the other half drove slowly south to Lake Street, then to Hennepin Avenue and to Franklin Avenue. At the same time, protesters held banners and Palestinian flags over I-94 on the 25th Avenue bridge near Augsburg University in Minneapolis and on the Lexington Avenue bridge in Saint Paul.

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By Drake Myers

Rally demanding release of the protesters from Hennepin County jail. | Fight Back! News/Sabry Wazwaz

Minneapolis, MN – On the evening of December 11, eight Palestine protesters were arrested by Minnesota State Patrol while driving on Interstate-94 in Minneapolis.

Out of the eight protesters, five were released overnight. The next afternoon, supporters with the Free Palestine Coalition gathered across from the jail where the rest were being held to demand their release and that all charges be dropped. The remaining three arrestees were released during that rally.

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By Charlie Berg

Minneapolis, MN – Residents of Minneapolis’ East Phillips neighborhood and members of community organizations from across the city rallied on Saturday outside of Smith Foundry, calling for its immediate shutdown.

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By Robyn Harbison

Crowd marches behind banner that says "Divest from genocide. Human rights for all."

Minneapolis, MN – On December 10, the MN Anti-War Committee (AWC) organized a rally and march of 2000 people on International Human Rights Day to draw attention to the U.S.-sponsored human rights abuses enacted by Israel on Palestinians. The AWC holds a protest every year to highlight the importance of International Human Rights Day.

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By Merlin Van Alstine

U of MN SDS disrupts regents meeting demanding divestment from Israel. | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – On December 8, students at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and members of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities chapter of Students for a Democratic Society attended the monthly Board of Regents meeting to demand that the University of Minnesota divest from Israel.

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By Sorcha Lona

 Early morning Minneapolis protest demands Senator Klobuchar oppose genocide in Palestine.  | Fight Back! News/Meredith Aby

Minneapolis, MN – At 6:30 a.m., November 30, nearly 100 protestors assembled outside of Minnesota U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar’s office to demand she stop enabling genocide. The crowd demanded that Senator Klobuchar call for a ceasefire, and push for an end to the siege of Gaza and the occupation of Palestine.

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By Mira Altobell-Resendez

University of Minnesota community members stand with Palestine. | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – On November 29, over 300 students, staff and faculty members at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities skipped class and work to participate in several events throughout the day as part of the Shut It Down for Palestine International Day of Solidarity.

These actions were called and led by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and several faculty members such as Sima Shakhsari of the Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies department.

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By staff

Protestors gather around as someone standing on the bed of a truck delivers a speech into a microphone. Protestors wave Palestinian flags.

Minneapolis, MN – On November 18, three University of Minnesota Twin Cities student organizations; (Students for a Democratic Society, Young Democratic Socialists of America, and Students for Justice in Palestine) held a rally and march starting in front of the Humphrey School of Public affairs on UMN campus.

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By Laci Gagliano

Minneapolis protest against environmental racism. | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – On Friday, November 10, community members gathered outside Smith Foundry in the Minneapolis East Phillips neighborhood to demand accountability following the EPA’s discovery of many violations of the Clean Air Act and other pollution control standards.

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By Mira Altobell-Resendez

U of MN Twin Cities student event honors the Palestinians killed in the Israeli genocide.  | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – Over 500 University of Minnesota community members gathered on the Northrop Mall and inside of Morrill Hall over the course of two days for a public reading of the known names of thousands of Palestinian civilians killed during the ongoing genocide in Gaza since October 7.

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By staff

Massive march in Minneapolis in conjunction with huge November 4 Palestine protest in Washington DC | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – On November 4, while hundreds of thousands marched in Washington DC for the largest Palestine solidarity march in U.S. history, over 4000 marched in the streets of Minneapolis in support. They were greeted by honks of support, victory signs and Palestine flags waved from the balconies of public housing high-rises in the diverse Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. The marchers demanded an immediate end to Israel’s brutal siege and bombing campaign of Gaza, and an end to U.S. aid to Israel.

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By Sarah Martin

Augsburg students hold die-in to protest the murder of Palestinian children by Israel. | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – On Wednesday, November 1, the day President Joe Biden visited Minnesota, students at Augsburg University in Minneapolis held a “die-in” to make conspicuous and visible the slaughter of 3500 Palestinian children – as of that day – during the ongoing bombing of Gaza by Israel. This was one of several Wednesday actions by Palestine solidarity activists confronting Biden from the moment he arrived in Minnesota until he left.

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By Whitney Wildman

Pro-Palestine protesters march on Biden appearance in Minneapolis. | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – On the evening of November 1, over 5000 rallied and marched in response to President Biden’s Minnesota visit. The protesters marched from the downtown Minneapolis Federal Building toward the location of an invite-only, closed-door fundraiser for Biden’s re-election campaign. Demonstrators hoped to be within view and earshot of the president in order to communicate their demand for an end to U.S. aid for Israel's ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

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By Anthony Taylor-Gouge

Group of students, some of whom are holding handwritten signs or wearing keffiyehs, congregate around a student with a microphone who is speaking.

Minneapolis, MN – On October 31, students at Washburn High School in south Minneapolis held a walk-out for Palestine. Around 50 students, primarily Muslim girls, walked out of class of the public high school at 1:30 p.m. After walking out the front doors with signs in hand they marched through the neighborhood chanting “Free free Palestine!” The march was met with honks of approval by cars driving by and eventually ended a few blocks away at Fuller Park.

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By Sophie Breen

Minneapolis protest against Biden's support of border wall

Minneapolis, MN – More than 50 protesters took the street Sunday afternoon, October 29, in response to the Biden administration’s recently-announced plan to waive 26 federal laws in order to extend the border wall further into southern Texas. Several organizations joined together to protest the “Trump-like” policies in response to immigration.

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By Freyja Wolfe

Die-in at the U of MN protest against the attack on GazaMinneapolis, MN – On Wednesday, October 24 at noon, 350 University of Minnesota students walked out of class to join a rally organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), in front of the Coffman Memorial Union. They gathered to demand an end to the siege on Gaza and U.S. aid to Israel’s genocidal actions. A die-in occurred during which Palestinian students read the names of Palestinian victims of Israel's violence and ended with a moment of silence.

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By Freedom Road Socialist Organization - Twin Cities

Aisha Chughtai speaking at a press conference announcing MIRAC's Immigrant Power Now campaign, 2022. | Fight Back! News/staff

Minneapolis, MN – Police accountability. Rent control. Ending cruel encampment evictions when no shelter is available. A minimum wage for Uber and Lyft drivers. A city council that doesn’t oppose community initiatives from communities like East Phillips, Little Earth and North Minneapolis.

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