Bloomington, MN – On March 16, protesters held a march to the Bloomington facility of weapons manufacturer General Dynamics, to demand that the Minnesota State Board of Investment divests public funds from General Dynamics for its weapons trade with apartheid Israel. Israel has relied heavily on General Dynamics’ weapons for decades, including during its ongoing genocide against Gaza over the last five months.

The protest of 400 people started near the Penn-Lake Library with a rally followed by a march to General Dynamics building in Bloomington. General Dynamics is the world’s fifth largest weapons manufacturer, with an annual revenue of $38.5 billion. General Dynamics manufactures and sells military weapons and equipment – including armored fighting and robotic combat vehicles, tanks, artillery systems, aircraft guns and cybersecurity systems – and is currently the only company that produces the 155mm artillery shells that have been used by Israel in Gaza. These weapons have repeatedly been fired against Palestinian civilians, resulting in numerous casualties as well as mass destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and water and electric systems.

Students for Palestine Normandale, Bloomington Students for Palestine, and the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition organized the protest.

Michael Runyon, the founder of Students for Palestine Normandale, explained the reasoning behind the protest to the crowd, “This location is called a ‘Mission Systems’ location. They develop the technology behind the killing machines. They brag that they are the ‘brains behind the brawn.’ What that means is they are the brains behind the genocide.”

Audrey, a ninth-grader at Kennedy High School in Bloomington and a member of Bloomington Students for Palestine spoke to the crowd before marching, “More children have been killed in Gaza in the past four months than have been killed worldwide in the past four years of wars. How can Biden ask us to vote for him when he’s responsible for this mass murder? How can General Dynamics sit here pretending to be just a tech company when they're responsible for the deaths of so many children? Walz was at the Democratic fundraiser last night. How can he ask for money and have a fancy dinner when he doesn't divest from this genocide?”

She continued, “It’s important that students speak out about this because this is a youth issue. If you were born in Palestine in 2006, you’ve already lived through five Israeli assaults. Kids in Gaza aren’t thinking about going to college, they’re thinking about surviving the next week. Hoping to not starve to death. Hoping to not be bombed. Hoping that their families will survive.”

According to its most recent asset listings, the Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) has invested over $31 million of the public pension funds it manages in General Dynamics. The MN Anti-War Committee is leading a campaign to get the SBI to divest its over $3 billion worth of investments from Israeli companies and weapons manufacturers.

Liz McLister, a member of the AWC, also spoke to the crowd, “What brings us to this particular site today? The SBI has funneled almost $37 million of Minnesotan taxpayer money into General Dynamics shares and securities.”

McLister continued, “Long before Israel's current gloves-off campaign, General Dynamics' weapons and equipment were terrorizing, maiming and killing Gazans. Shame! This company has spent years seeding death and destruction in occupied Palestine; along the U.S.-Mexico border; and elsewhere around the globe.”

The march went to General Dynamics’ “Mission Systems” facility on Queen Avenue to draw attention to their role in the rising death toll in Gaza.

#BloomingtonMN #GeneralDynamics #AntiWarCommittee #Palestine #StudentsforPalestineNormandale, #BloomingtonStudentsforPalestine #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition

Minneapolis, MN – A coalition of Twin Cities peace and anti-war organizations held an anti-war protest October 9 to mark 20 years since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. The protest, held at Mayday Plaza in Minneapolis, also called for an end all forms of U.S. aggression.

Kim DeFranco, representing Women Against Military Madness and the Climate Justice Committee, welcomed the 50-plus people and explained the focus for the action, “Now is the time to end the U.S. obsession for endless wars. We demand to end all wars and all types of warfare. Bring all the troops home from everywhere, end all sanctions and stop all blockades and fund human needs now!” All the speakers addressed one of the central demands of an end to warfare, intervention and sanctions, and for human needs to be prioritized.

Misty Rowan, an activist with the Anti-War Committee, explained the significance of the role of sanctions as an act of war, “Sanctions are an act of war, and they need to be treated as such. They are cruel, and they are intended to cause harm, but unlike a drone strike, the damage done is so much more insidious than outright violence, and for that reason, so much less likely to make the nightly news. Sanctions are used to strangle countries economically and to put pressure on governments, but it is the ordinary people who ultimately pay the price. It is well documented that sanctions can cause more death and more suffering than an actual hot war, but they are sold to us as being less cruel, and more cost-effective.”

U.S. weapons and aid are another form of U.S. warfare. Mnar Adley, an outspoken Palestinian-American and editor of Mint Press News, spoke about the situation in occupied Palestine. “Muna and Mohammed El-Kurd, standing up to Israeli apartheid and the ethnic cleansing of their neighborhoods, are the real heroes of 2021,” she said. “Where are the Muna and Mohammed El-Kurds here in America, standing up in Congress, in the House, in the Senate – where are they? They do not exist. That's why we have to hold our elected officials accountable and rely on the strength and courage of ourselves.”

Ruben Joanem of the Haiti Justice Committee held U.S. imperialism responsible for the Haitian refugee crisis, saying of the July assassination of President Jovenal Moïse that “nothing happens there without the consent of the U.S. embassy.” Joanem continued, “We need to ask our representatives to put a moratorium on deportation of refugees from Haiti because the nation has collapsed as we know it. There is no infrastructure, there is no leadership, there is no administration in Port-au-Prince or elsewhere in Haiti. The images that you've seen of officers chasing children and women refugees is no different from the image of the officer kneeling on the neck of George Floyd. All we are asking for: we want to breathe. The right to breathe is the right to live.”

Several speakers also made the connection between the wars abroad and the war on oppressed nationalities at home. Kelly Thomas, a member of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar, addressed the crowd to make this connection, “The people who are in the streets fighting for our lives, for our rights to freedom of speech, for literally clean drinking water, we are being attacked and targeted by police. We're being assaulted and arrested. Some of us were literally in court yesterday.”

Thomas continued, “Right now, the people with the most power are mostly people who have never experienced being traumatized by police. They don't know what being pepper sprayed or tear gassed feels like. They haven't seen the damage that rubber bullets do. They don't know the feeling of being jumpy at unexpected sounds, or watching traumatized community and loved ones spreading trauma because they don't have the safety they need to heal. They haven't had to try and sleep just feet away from police in order to hold ground. They are not interested in understanding the problem, they are not capable of understanding the problem, and they're not capable of caring about people with Black and brown skin.” Thomas encouraged participants to support their campaign for CPAC, a Civilian Police Accountability Council, in Minneapolis.

The Saturday protest was initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and was endorsed by the Anti-War Committee, Climate Justice Committee, Every Church a Peace Church, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Haiti Justice Committee of Minnesota, Mayday Books, Minnesota Cuba Committee, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Minnesota War Tax Resistance, Party for Socialism and Liberation, St. Joan of Arc/WAMM Peacemakers, St. Paul Eastside Neighbors for Peace, Socialist Action, Socialist Revolution, Students for a Democratic Society (UMN), Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Veterans for Peace, Welfare Rights Committee, and Women Against Military Madness.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Afghanistan #PeoplesStruggles #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition

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

The Minneapolis protesters will gather on Saturday, February 23 at 1 p.m. at Hennepin and Lagoon Avenues in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis. There will be signs and banners with the anti-intervention message.

The event is called under the themes: “U.S. Hands Off Venezuela – No Coup; No Sanctions – No U.S. War on Venezuela!”

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “The Trump administration is attempting to orchestrate a coup in Venezuela, including threats of direct U.S. military intervention. Venezuela has one of the largest oil reserves in the world and the second largest gold reserves, as well as diamonds and other minerals, resources that could make it the next target in the endless series of U.S. wars, interventions and 'regime change' operations.”

The statement continues, “Join the February 23 protest to say no to new wars and interventions.”

Planning for the Minneapolis event was initiated by Minnesota Peace Action Coalition and endorsed by a range of groups including: AFSCME Local 3800, Anti-War Committee, Every Church a Peace Church, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Haiti Justice Committee of Minnesota, Hands Off Honduras, Immigrant Movement for Justice, Mayday Books, Minnesota Caravan Solidarity / Minnesota en Solidaridad con la Caravana, Minnesota Cuba Committee, Minnesota War Tax Resistance, Party for Socialism and Liberation – Minneapolis, Progressive Coalition Minnesota, St. Joan of Arc Peacemakers, St. Paul Eastside Neighbors for Peace, Rise Up Times, Socialist Action, Students for a Democratic Society, Students for Revolutionary Socialism, Twin Cities Hands Off Venezuela, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Welfare Rights Committee, Women Against Military Madness, Workers World Party – Twin Cities, Workers International League, Veterans for Peace (Chapter 27).

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #Venezuela #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition #DonaldTrump #HandsOffVenezuela

Minneapolis, MN – More than 75 people rallied and marched through the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, October 21, as part of an demonstration organized by the MN Peace Action Coalition. The protest was a part of a nationally coordinated weekend of anti-war events in cities across the United States. The call for protests coincided with an anti-war protest to be held at the Pentagon that same day, organized by the Women's March on the Pentagon. The call for the Women's March on the Pentagon was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the October 1967 march against the U.S. war in Vietnam.

Stephanie Taylor, vice president of AFSCME 3800 and a member of the Anti-War Committee, addressed the rally, “Members of AFSCME 3800 are overwhelmingly women, and we’re glad the women’s movement and the anti-war movement are coming together in Washington this weekend. Working women and labor unions need to join together in demanding an end to war and U.S. imperialism. Women and children are the ones disproportionately impacted by overseas wars, and it’s our duty to stand with them in opposing imperialist aggression.”

Mike Madden, a longtime member of Veterans for Peace, spoke to what it means when people say “thank you for your service.” He said, “Please don’t thank me for my military service. The first year and a half of my enlistment coincide with the final year and a half of the American war in Vietnam. To the extent my service enabled or prolonged the war, it did more harm than good...Honoring a war hero has the effect of conferring the honor of the individual onto the war and its policy. But when a nation has committed an act of military aggression, it may lay not claim to military heroes. The honorable people are those who oppose the war, whether they wear the uniform or not.” He encouraged the crowd to continue their service and work for peace.

Other speakers included Gina VanArnam from the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar, Mary Beaudoin from Women Against Military Madness, Erika Zurawski from MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee, and Misty Rowan from the Anti-War Committee.

The group marched through the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, which is located next to the University of Minnesota and home to a large Somali population. Protesters chanted, “Refugees are welcome here” and demanded an end to U.S. attacks and war threats on Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, Venezuela and Iran.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition

The protest is organized under the call of “Stop the U.S. War in Afghanistan – Say NO to Endless War. Stop Endless U.S. Wars.”

The event will start on Friday, Oct. 5 at 5 p.m. in front of the offices of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, 1200 South Washington Avenue in Minneapolis.

The Minneapolis protest is organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition.

The U.S. war in Afghanistan is the longest foreign war in U.S. history. A statement issued by organizers points out that “In just a few years’ time, the U.S. troops fighting in Afghanistan may well have been born after the war started.”

The statement issued by organizers goes on to say, “After 17 years at war in Afghanistan the U.S. is now escalating the level of U.S. involvement once again, with thousands of additional troops having been sent over the last year and an increase in U.S. air strikes.”

The statement continues, “The U.S. military is at war in Afghanistan today, but it is also in combat using U.S. troops, air strikes and drones in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere.

“U.S. intervention, wars, air strikes and drone attacks, will do nothing to fight terrorism, or to make the word safer. The U.S. war machine does not intervene to protect people or to fight terrorism, but to serve U.S. economic interests,” the statement concludes.

The Minneapolis protest will also call for funds to be redirected from war and intervention around the world to meet human needs, jobs, housing and hurricane relief.

The MPAC coalition brings together representatives of several local organizations to plan anti-war activities.

Plans will also be announced at the protest for a march and rally in Minneapolis on Sunday, October 21 to be held in solidarity with the Women's March on the Pentagon, which will call for an end to endless U.S. wars.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #AfghanistanWar #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition

Minneapolis, MN – A Minneapolis protest on Sunday, April 15, called to coincide with national spring anti-war actions, brought out 70 people despite a heavy snow storm.

Over a foot of snow had fallen in the hours before the scheduled protest in the Uptown neighborhood. Many streets had become impassable, and service on many city bus lines had been suspended.

Organizers decided that with the U.S. bombing of Syria the day before, it was still important to have an anti-war statement. Plans were made to adjust the event to deal with the difficult weather environment.

Despite the conditions, 70 people attended the protest. One person attending said that after the bombing Syria, “I had to be here.”

Among the speakers were Meredith Aby-Keirstead of the Anti-War Committee who said, “We are here today to speak out against last night’s U.S. military attacks on Syria. We denounce Trump’s fake moral outrage and call this attack what it is: a pretext for more war. Trump claims to be defending civilian lives in Syria while banning Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. with his racist Muslim ban and ordering missile strikes on the most heavily populated part of the country.”

The protest was organized under the call of “Stop Endless U.S. Wars.”

The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition initiated planning and the protest was endorsed by a range of organizations.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition #Syria

The Minneapolis protest is being organized under the call of Stop Endless U.S. Wars. Demonstrators will gather April 15 at 1:30 p.m. at Lagoon and Hennepin Avenues. At 2:00 p.m. there will be a march that will conclude at the starting point.

Speakers from a variety of organizations will make remarks before and after the march. The April 15 protest has been initiated by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition.

A statement by organizers says, “The U.S. is at war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and is carrying out military interventions in Somalia, Libya and elsewhere. There are constant threats of new military interventions in other countries.”

“There is a danger of a U.S. war on north Korea, which could kill hundreds of thousands of people in a matter of days,” the statement says.

“The appointment of war hawks by the Trump administration to key national security positions, including John Bolton to be national security advisor and Mike Pompeo to be secretary of state is a clear sign that the wars may escalate and expand. All opposed to U.S. wars and interventions must speak out and call for an end to the wars and interventions,” the statement continues.

“Through these appointments Trump is assembling a ‘war cabinet’. Beleaguered by political crisis on the home front, Trump is now positioning himself to launch a major war drive against north Korea and Iran. The people must speak out against the war drive. The spring actions will be an opportunity for all opposed to the U.S. wars to speak out,” the statement says.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition

The Saturday protest is organized by the Minnesota Peace Action Coalition (MPAC).

A statement issued by MPAC says in part, “The Trump administration is carrying out a stealth escalation of U.S. wars and interventions around the world. More U.S. troops are being sent to Afghanistan, there are threats of a new Korean war, more drone strikes in Somalia and threats of escalations in Syria and Iraq.”

The call for the protest reads: “Stop U.S. wars and interventions,” and lists some of the countries the U.S. is involved in military actions, including, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Korea, Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen, Philippines and Venezuela.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition

The protest will be held Saturday, March 19 at 1:00 p.m., starting at the intersection of S. 3rd Street and Cedar Avenue in the West Bank neighborhood of Minneapolis. Participants will gather with signs and banners and listen to speakers. At 1:30 there will be a street march will end up back at the starting location at 3rd and Cedar.

The protest is being organized under the call of “Say No to Endless War: Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan – Stop U.S. War in Iraq and Syria – Stop the Bombing – Troops Out Now.”

A statement issued by organizers says in part, “13 years after the start of the Iraq war, the U.S. is still at war today. The Obama administration has sent 4000 troops to Iraq and is carrying out daily bombing missions in both Iraq and Syria. The U.S. war continues in Afghanistan and the U.S. has recently launched strikes in Libya.”

The statement continues, “After years of U.S. bombs, troops, weapons and meddling, does anyone believe more of the same will make things better?”

News accounts indicate that there is discussion within the Pentagon of sending additional U.S. military forces to Iraq.

The Minnesota Peace Action Coalition initiated the March 19 protest. Endorsers include a number of local peace and anti-war groups, including, Anti-War Committee, Twin Cities Peace Campaign, Veterans for Peace, Women Against Military Madness and others.

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #MinnesotaPeaceActionCoalition