News and Views from the People's Struggle
Minneapolis, MN – On Thursday, February 15, the University of Minnesota chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, in collaboration with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, held a panel in Nicholson Hall on the UMN campus discussing Marxist-Leninist perspectives on Palestinian liberation. Thirty people, both students and community members, were in attendance.
Minneapolis, MN – On January 28, over 60 protesters rallied in front of Abria Pregnancy Resources, a so-called “crisis pregnancy center,” or CPC, to demand its removal from the Northside neighborhood.
Protesters held signs and banners demanding an end to fake clinics, while chanting “Pass more bills, secure our pills!” and “Fund abortion, make it free, fuck the right and CPCs!” Passersby expressed their support vocally and by honking their car horns.
Abria, one of four anti-choice “crisis pregnancy centers'' located in Minneapolis, utilizes deceptive tactics and medically inaccurate information to pressure pregnant people out of getting an abortion. Most of the funding for CPCs comes directly from right-wing evangelical backers.
CPCs set up shop in low-income, predominantly Black neighborhoods like the Northside, knowing that pregnant people seeking abortion resources would have nowhere else to turn to.
Jae Yates, speaking for Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar (TCC4J), referring to Abria’s predatory practices, said, “This isn’t about human rights, it's about controlling people’s behavior and controlling their bodies and trying to force them to conform to a system of religion that they may or may not believe in.”
Samantha Alsadi, from the Anti-War Committee, spoke of her own personal experience with a CPC when she was seeking abortion resources. “I instantly felt unwelcomed,” Alsadi said, “but didn’t know what else to do. The staff assured me that everything I said to her would remain confidential and under no circumstances would anything I say to her be revealed to anyone else, but here she was telling someone else, getting the police involved, and calling my parents.”
Aldadi continued, “They manipulate people by portraying themselves as some resourceful place someone can go to for help, when all the while they’re only there to scare and coerce people into making decisions the facility wants them to make.”
“Black people have historically chosen abortion as a means to protect from material conditions. As early as when Black people were considered property Black mothers performed their own abortions in an attempt to protect unborn children from enslavement,” another speaker on behalf of TCC4J said. She told of her mother’s experience: “No one explained the health risks to her, the emotional responsibility, the vulnerability, no one explained abortion to her as anything more than a sinful option. She deserved more and that is another reason why I stand here today to fight.”
Alé Guzman, a member of the MN Abortion Action Committee, spoke to the way CPCs drain community resources, saying, “The physical space they use can be utilized a hundred times over for better capacities than a fake reproductive healthcare clinic. This could've been a community bodega, this could’ve been a family's source of income, future and dream. Yet Abria takes up space where they are not needed: shame on you!”
This protest against Abria Pregnancy Resources was organized by the MN Abortion Action Committee and the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar.
#MinneapolisMN #WomensMovement #ReproductiveRights #MNAAC #TCC4J
Minneapolis, MN – Amidst a frigid Saturday afternoon on January 20, over 750 Twin Cities pro-Palestine residents came out in the blistering cold to the Hennepin County Government Center to tell the Minneapolis City Council that their constituents demand they vote yes on a ceasefire resolution.
This week, on January 23 and 25, the Minneapolis City Council will be discussing and voting on a resolution that demands an immediate ceasefire of Israeli aggression against the civilians in Gaza.
![Car caravan in Saint Paul, Minnesota calls for solidarity with all oppressed peoples. | Fight Back! News/Photo credit: KingDemetrius Pendleton \[studio at the George Floyd Square 3730 Chicago Avenue Minneapolis Minnesota 55407\]](https://i.snap.as/xblzhhcl.jpg "Car caravan in Saint Paul, Minnesota calls for solidarity with all oppressed peoples. | Fight Back! News/Photo credit: KingDemetrius Pendleton [studio at the George Floyd Square 3730 Chicago Avenue Minneapolis Minnesota 55407]")
St. Paul, MN – On January 13, about 250 people gathered in below-zero temperatures to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. weekend by participating in a car caravan, followed by a rally at the State Capitol.
Near the Saint Paul Western District Police Department, surrounded by strip malls, protesters called for no business as usual during a genocide, as drivers and passengers decorated cars with signs carrying slogans like “Solidarity with all oppressed peoples” and “Justice for Marcus Golden! Murdered by SPPD nine years ago!”
Minneapolis, MN – 150 people gathered at Redeemer Lutheran Church in North Minneapolis on January 4 to listen to an in-depth discussion about the link of the Black liberation struggle and the struggle for liberation in Palestine.
Minneapolis, MN – On election day, November 2, voters in Minneapolis rejected a much-publicized and heavily-financed ballot initiative about policing, 56% to 44%. On the ballot, it was called “Question 2.”
Minneapolis, MN – On April 1, the Student Movement Activists of South High (SMASH), an affiliate of Students for a Democratic Society and the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J) held a bannering on the Martin Olav Sabo bridge. They unfurled two banners, one facing towards each side of oncoming traffic on Hiawatha Avenue. The banners read “Demand CPAC – Civilian Police Accountability Commission – community control of the police” and “Students demand justice 4 George Floyd – Black lives matter.” The bannering lasted for around an hour, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Minneapolis, MN – Hundreds of people protested on Monday, March 29, to demand justice for George Floyd and conviction of Derek Chauvin. The demonstration took place after opening statements, and the first witnesses testified in court. Many were still reeling from an emotional day in court, where videos of Floyd’s murder were replayed several times, and the proceedings were broadcast live.
Minneapolis, MN – About 50 people gathered for a noon press conference on the frontage road above Interstate 94 to demand that charges be dropped against the 646-plus protesters who were arrested there one month ago.
Minneapolis, MN – Over 600 people rallied and marched here, July 23, at the “Portland to Minneapolis: Protest Trump’s Goons Attacking Our Movement,” called by the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J.)