Minneapolis, MN – During the harsh winter conditions on January 11, the streets of Minneapolis were filled with the flags, signs, vehicles and chants of the pro-Palestine movement. 

Marking the one-year anniversary of the Great Ride of Return, an international cycling movement dedicated to raising awareness and funds to support aid efforts for the people of Gaza, a caravan was held to take the streets of the city in an effort to continue applying pressure to get Governor Tim Walz to divest the billions of Minnesota pension holder’s funds from modern day apartheid and genocidal efforts.

The caravan was initiated by the MN Anti-War Committee. It began at Minneapolis South High School, wove through one of Minneapolis’ busiest roads, Lake Street, crossed the Mississippi River, and ended in front of Governor Walz’s mansion in St. Paul.

Before the caravan, participants heard from several speakers. Liz Bolsoni of Minnesota’s Anti-War Committee praised the efforts of the Gaza Sunbirds, a paracycling team that has worked tirelessly to distribute aid throughout the Gaza Strip for the past year. Signifying Minnesota’s complicity with the ongoing genocide, Bolsoni told the crowd, “In a statement of the UN General Assembly in October 2024, the Office of Humanitarian Affairs reported that the besieged Gaza Strip is home to the largest cohort of child amputees in history. Each day, tenchildren are losing one or both legs.” 

Bolsoni continued, “Right now, the Minnesota State Board of Investment - chaired by Walz - has over $700 million invested in weapons manufacturers that are actively selling to Israel. This being only a fraction of the $5.4 billion invested in other corporations that kill, displace, and terrorize Palestinians.”

Brian Chval of Minnesota’s Anti-War Committee explained, “From weapons, tech, and heavy machinery companies, whose inventory marks Palestinian existence for death to demolition the banks, businesses, and government bonds of Israel itself, the SBI has put our tax money and the retirement funds of workers around the state to the service of genocide.” 

Naveen Borojerdi, a unionized public employee and member of the Minnesota Anti-War Committee, stated, “You would think after losing an election on the national stage, Tim Walz would start listening to his constituents. Time will tell if he, and the rest of the State Board of Investment, will start listening to us. Otherwise, it will be a repeat of what happened this past November.” 

Borojerdi also told how the State Board of Investments recently closed their public meetings to community members, by no longer allowing the public to participate in the meetings in person, limiting their participation to being able to watch the meeting as a live stream. 

After the powerful speeches, a caravan of 75 vehicles and cyclists took to the streets of Minneapolis to begin their journeytowards the mansion of Governor Walz. Slowly traversing the traffic of streets, the caravan continued to grow in size as it approached the mansion.

Cheers echoed, fists were raised, and pride in the continued fight against oppression was experienced by thousands who were witness to the action. Upon arriving at the Governor’s mansion, protesters exited their vehicles to plant and hang signs and messages to make it clear to Walz that his willing participation in genocide will not be forgotten.

#MinneapolisMN #Walz #TimWalz #FreePalestine #MNAWC #AntiWarCommittee

Meredith Aby, a member of the MN Anti-War Committee,explains, “While dropping Genocide Joe off the Democratic ticket is progress, we have yet to get action or even promises that Harris/Walz will commit to an arms embargo on Israel. Progressive forces from around the country are coming to Chicago to tell the Democratic Party that we don’t just want an alternative to Trump, we want an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

Aby continued, “In Minnesota we have been pressuring Governor Tim Walz, as the chair of the State Board of Investment, to divest Minnesota public worker pensions from Israeli companies and companies that are profiting from Israeli apartheid and genocide. Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten any movement from him. We are traveling to Chicago to keep up the pressure!”

Humberto Martin, an organizer with Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, added, “The national news media has been celebrating the progressive agenda of Governor Walz as a reason to vote for Harris/Walz, but we know that the progressive legislation he voted for, from drivers licenses for all to free public school lunches, are because of the organizing of grassroots groups here in Minnesota.”

Nearly 100 protesters will be leaving from Bethel Lutheran Church at 10:30 the evening of the 18th. Organizations marching on the DNC from Minnesota include the Anti War Committee (AWC), Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J),MN Free Palestine Coalition, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC), Climate Justice Committee (CJC), MN Workers United (MWU), Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), UMN Students for a Democratic Society (UMN SDS), Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP).

#MinneapolisMN #Kamala #MarchontheDNC #MarchOnDNC24 #HarrisWalz #Walz #Harris #MarchonDNC2024 #FreePalestine

Saint Paul, MN – On August 14, members and supporters of the MN Free Palestine Coalition packed every available seat at the quarterly Minnesota State Board of Investment (SBI) meeting to demand divestment of state-managed pension funds and other public monies from Israeli weapons manufacturers, banks and bonds, and other entities, complicit in Israel’s apartheid system that contribute to the genocide in Palestine.

The MN Anti-War Committee (AWC) has identified a total of nearly $4.3 billion in public Israeli entities and multinational corporations, some of which explicitly contribute to the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians, all of which profit from it, including Elbit Systems, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and General Dynamics.

The SBI meeting was chaired by State Auditor Julie Blaha because Governor Tim Walz, who usually chairs the meetings, was campaigning for the Harris/Walz Democratic presidential ticket.

The meeting had a significantly higher number of state patrol troopers than previous meetings and every attendee was given a purple ticket which informed them that disrupting the meeting would lead to gross misdemeanor charges. Multiple protesters were searched by cops and had their signs taken away. Despite these attempts to intimidate pro-Palestinian protesters, four banners and many pictures of murdered Palestinian children were snuck into the meeting and the protesters chanted loudly throughout the whole meeting.

16 union members and community activists testified at the SBI meeting asking for the state of Minnesota to divest from genocide. Stacey Gurian-Sherman, an anti-Zionist Jew and a former public employee who organizes with the Climate Justice Committee, was the first speaker. Her powerful speech kicked off the public comment section of the meeting, “This is painful to me because it is being perpetrated in my name as a Jew – and in violation of Geneva Convention protocols created as a direct result of Nazi atrocities during WWII that murdered 6 millionJews, and 5 million more Romanies, persons with disabilities and in the queer community. What Israel is today should be painful to all of us for being perpetrated in our names as Americans.”

Omari Hoover, a member of both the MN Anti-War Committee, the Free Palestine Coalition and executive board member of AFSCME Local 2822, gave the SBI the 3425 petition signatures the AWC collected this summer and their updated white paper on the board’s investments.

Hoover stated in his testimony, “Earlier this year, when the Palestinian death toll was just under 30,000, we passed a resolution for divestment in Israel. Since then, the death count has risen to almost 40,000 with an anticipated 186,000 for those unaccounted for. In April, I watched Governor Walz give an impassioned speech at the AFSCME Council 5 Day on the Hill about how he plans to stand in solidarity with laborers and would continue to put efforts into thriving unions. Since then, along with everyone on the Minnesota State Board of Investments, you have shown that the solidarity is only with organizations that build an economy in favor of infinite financial growth. You meet quarterly with no indication that there'll be any progress in Minnesota’s divestment of the ongoing atrocities that is the current genocide, happening daily in occupied Palestine, of which many labor organizations have put forth divestment and ceasefire resolutions for.”

Neil Radford, a member of MFT 52 and Minnesota Workers United, also has his pension invested by the SBI. He testified, “Divestment is not a request, it is a demand, and it does not stop with Palestinian liberation. The SBI needs to divest from Israeli apartheid and divert itself and this state from a future where increased militarism is our only answer.”

Michael Runyon, an organizer with Students For Palestine-Normandale and the MN Peace Action Coalition testified, “When you decide to invest in companies like General Dynamics you are choosing to fund the only company in the United States that produces that shell casings for the MK bomb series that was used by Israel to bomb a school in a so-called safe zone killing over 100 innocent men women and children who had gathered for morning prayer. You helped pay for the bombs that tore those people to shreds, so much so, that not one complete body could be recovered.” Runyon is also a part of organizing a protest on September 14 in Bloomington, Minnesota at General Dynamics.

Many protesters said goodbye to each other acknowledging that they will ride the Anti-War Committee’s buses to Chicago on Sunday to March on the DNC on August 19.

#SaintPaulMN #FreePalestine #Antiwarcommittee #Walz #MinnesotaWorkersUnited