Minnesota

The Culture Of Vehicular Attacks: On The Murder Of Deona Marie Erickson

June 19, 2021 CrimethInc, It's Going Down. Educate! Accountability, Minnesota, Vehicular Attacks, White Supremacy

On June 13, a driver attacked a demonstration in Minneapolis, killing Deona Marie Erickson. This is the result of years of right-wing efforts to normalize—and even legalize—vehicular attacks. Now the corporate media has ceased to prioritize covering them, paving the way for more killings. In dialogue with our comrades at It’s Going Down and on the ground in Minneapolis, we have prepared the following reflections on the implications of this. Shortly before midnight on June 13, while demonstrators gathered at Lake Street and Girard Avenue to protest the murder of Winston Smith by sheriff’s deputies and US Marshals, a man named Nicholas Kraus drove his SUV into the crowd at high speed, killing Deona Marie Erickson.

Unanswered Questions Fuel Protests Against Police In Minnesota

June 18, 2021 Sam Richards, Unicorn Riot. Resist! Minnesota, Police abuse, Surveillance, Transparency

Minneapolis, MN – Since Winston Smith was killed nearly two weeks ago in a secretive federal raid, no video evidence or any names of officers involved have been released. Minneapolis has seen another wave of protests not only because Smith was denied due process and executed while he sat in his car, but also due to the complete lack of accountability surrounding his death. Smith’s death, coupled with the murky narratives offered by authorities, has further eroded residents’ confidence in state and local police and their federal partners. This report covers new developments in Twin Cities surveillance, recent task forces like Operation Safety Net, FOIA stonewalling and the latest turns in law enforcement drone policy making.

A Native-Led Fight Against Pipeline Construction Has Begun In Minnesota

June 16, 2021 Sam Carliner, Left Voice. Resist! climate crisis, Indigenous Rights, Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota

A native-led battle for the environment is being waged in Minnesota. On June 7, water protectors from the territories of the Anishinaabe tribes — which include members of the Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Oji-Cree, Saulteaux, and Algonquin peoples — and their allies set up blockades to delay the construction of the Line 3 tar sands pipeline currently being built from Alberta, Canada to Superior, Wisconsin. These protesters are pitted against Enbridge, a multinational Canadian oil company with a long history of building pipelines that have caused environmental destruction with spills. The current pipeline construction cuts through native lands protected by treaties signed in the 1800s. Enbridge plans to use the pipeline to carry tar sands oil, one of the dirtiest types of fossil fuels.

Treaty People Gathering Draws Thousands

June 10, 2021 Darren Thompson, Native News Online. Resist! Enbridge, Indigenous Rights, Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota

Mahnomen, MN—Thousands swarmed northern Minnesota over the weekend for the Treaty People Gathering, an event organized to stand against the ongoing construction of the Enbridge Line 3 replacement project. Crowds of well over 2,000 people gathered on Monday morning at the headwaters of the Mississippi River for a treaty ceremony in the largest gathering yet against the pipeline since construction began in December 2020. Indigenous-led groups, communities of faith, and climate justice organizations organized the Treaty People Conference, which organizers say marks the beginning of a summer of resistance. “We have tried to stop this pipeline for the last seven years,” said Honor the Earth Executive Director and White Earth tribal citizen Winona LaDuke to Native News Online.

‘Treaty People Gathering’ Resists Line 3 Pipeline

June 8, 2021 Alex Binder and Chris Schiano, Unicorn Riot. Resist! Indigenous Rights, Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota, Pipelines, Treaty People Gathering

Northern Minnesota – As summer approaches, and the wet season moratorium is over, construction for the new Line 3 tar sands pipeline is ramping back up during early June. This increase in work was expected by water protectors, who made a call-out for activists to gather in Indigenous Anishinaabe territory to escalate protests against the pipeline project to transport diluted bitumen (tar sands + toxic diluent). The early June gathering is led by Indigenous women and two-spirit people who are highlighting how treaties “protect all of us.” “We are all treaty people. Non-native people are living on stolen land and continue to benefit from treaties while not honoring them. It is the responsibility of non-native people to know and respect the obligations included in federal and state treaties.”Treaty People Gathering We are covering the action happening on June 7 at the Two Inlets pumping station in Northern Minnesota. Around 4:30PM central time police started arresting participants in the action.

All We Have Now Is The People Versus The Pipelines

April 19, 2021 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast Indigenous Activism, Joe Biden, Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota

The northern portion of the Keystone XL Pipeline is stopped for now, but there is another pipeline, Enbridge's Line 3, that will also carry tar sands from Canada under construction. Resistance to the pipeline is widespread and escalating with direct actions to shut down construction and solidarity actions. Clearing the FOG speaks with Dawn Goodwin, co-founder of the RISE Coalition, about the history of the pipeline, the harm it will cause, and how people can take action to stop it.

After Daunte Wright’s Death, Pressure To Get Police Out Of Traffic Enforcement

April 17, 2021 Joshua Vaughn, The Appeal. Create! Minnesota, Police violence, Policing

After she heard that police had killed Daunte Wright during a traffic stop outside of Minneapolis, Eilanne Farhat said she first reacted with “deep exhaustion, heartbreak, and sadness.” Then she was disturbed. Farhat, executive director of Take Action Minnesota, told The Appeal she was struck by how frequently stories of police killings of unarmed people, often people of color, have made headlines in recent years. Since 2015, at least 135 unarmed Black men and women have been killed by police during traffic stops, according to a January investigation by NPR. Now, after Wright’s death and other recent violent encounters between Black people and police, experts and advocates say it’s past time for cities to move traffic enforcement away from law enforcement.

Union Members Expel National Guard From St Paul Minnesota Labor Center

April 15, 2021 We Do The Work, Popular Resistance. Resist! Militarization, Minnesota, National Guard, Police violence

Following several union meetings on Wednesday night, I was made aware that a National Guard unit was occupying the St. Paul Labor Center in downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. Other union members and I were sharply aware of the National Guard’s role in repressing protests during the trial of Derek Chauvin and the recent killing of Daunte Wright, and we concluded immediately that our union hall had no place in those militarized efforts against the Black community, activists, and working class people. Rank and file union members, community activists, and various union staff members assembled at the Labor Center Wednesday night and found more than 15 armored vehicles, and 50 National Guard troops had been given the keys to the central union facility. Workers from CWA, MNA, UBC and other locals informed the soldiers

Water Protectors Lock To Gate And Ascend Equipment To Stop Line 3

March 26, 2021 Resist Line 3, Popular Resistance. Resist! Blockade, Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota, Pipelines

Floodwood, MN - Early Thursday morning, several Water Protectors under Indigenous leadership took action to shut down two Enbridge construction sites on the Line 3 pipeline route. While two people locked themselves to a gate, blocking access to a worksite building a pump station, four more individuals (Sonja Birthisel, Julie Macuga, Cody Pajic, and Leif Taranta) ascended and chained themselves to the top of large machines attempting to lay pipe at an adjacent construction site in St. Louis County. Since construction began in December of 2020, the movement to stop the Line 3 pipeline has been steadily growing.

Enbridge Is ‘Funding And Incentivizing’ Police To Crack Down On Its Opponents

March 21, 2021 Emily Atkin, Heated World. Educate! Enbridge, Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota, Police abuse

Park Rapids, MN - Jane Fonda’s trip to Minnesota has not gone exactly as planned. She expected attention from the media. She did not expect attention from the police. The actress and climate activist told HEATED on Tuesday that her much-publicized press conference to oppose the Line 3 tar sands pipeline was delayed because of an extended interaction with the Minnesota State Patrol. On her way to the event, the vehicle leading her caravan was pulled over for failure to signal more than 100 feet before a turn. “We pulled over to wait for them, it took a long time to process their identification, and they ended up not being ticketed,” she said. “Then we drove 12 miles to the press conference and the police car followed us the whole way.”

Caravan Disrupts Line 3 Construction Routes

March 15, 2021 Alex Binder and Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot. Resist! Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota, Pipelines, Police

Carlton County, MN – On Friday, February 19, a family-friendly caravan disrupted traffic at several Line 3 construction routes. During the event, authorities announced a baseless bomb threat via FEMA’s Wireless Emergency Alerts system. The Carlton County Sheriff’s Office also made unsubstantiated connections between the water protectors and the “potential explosive hazard.” Around noon, before the caravan started, a dozen people protested near the pipeline construction just feet away from Camp Migizi on the Fond Du Lac Reservation. The caravan first drove to a choke-point of roads used for construction access, and then to the new Line 3 corridor, where the pipeline has yet to be laid.

College Students Hold Statewide Day Of Action To Stop Line 3

March 5, 2021 Priscilla Trinh, Popular Resistance. Resist! Fossil Fuels, Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota, Student Activism

Minnesota - Today, hundreds of Minnesota college and university students are staging demonstrations on their campuses to raise awareness of the Line 3 pipeline, and to call on their institutions to divest from fossil fuel industry projects. Students from the University of Minnesota Morris, UMD, UMN Twin Cities, Carleton College, St Olaf College, The College of St Benedict’s, Gustavus Adolphus College, and Macalester College have been collaborating to plan this day of action for months. Emily Wittkop, a junior at the University of Minnesota Morris said, “I'm fighting Line 3 for several reasons - the danger to our environment, the violation of Minnesota's treaties, the impact of oil on the world's political climate. I'm also pushing the University of Minnesota to begin fossil fuel divestment so that the financial investments of UMN matches their stated mission and the will of the student population that pay so much for their education here.”

‘Pipe Dream’: Enbridge Escalates Local Tensions

February 27, 2021 Mary Annette Pember, Indian Country Today. Resist! Enbridge, Free Speech and Assembly, Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota

Palisade, Minnesota – Even in the bitter cold, the pretty little park along the Mississippi River is inviting, a typical gathering spot for community events with its broad trees and public pavilion. But Berglund Park stood empty recently as families and community members huddled around warming fires in an open field nearby, listening to music and eating Indian tacos as they learned about the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline cutting through their community. A group of pipeline opponents known as water protectors from the nearby Honor the Earth camp organized the small winter carnival to provide information about the impact of dependence on fossil fuels and a future built on renewable energy.

Minnesota Returns Land To Lower Sioux Indian Community

February 22, 2021 Joseph Choi, The Hill. Create! Indigenous Rights, Land Reform, Minnesota

The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) officially returned 114 acres of land to the Lower Sioux Indian Community, four years after the transfer was approved by the state legislature. The Star Tribune reports the land transfer became official on Feb. 12, with the MNHS returning around half of its southern property along the Minnesota River back to the tribe. "I don't know if it's ever happened before, where a state gave land back to a tribe," Lower Sioux President Robert Larsen told the Tribune. "[Our ancestors] paid for this land over and over with their blood, with their lives. It's not a sale; it's been paid for by the ones that aren't here anymore." The decision was finalized when the MNHS board cast its votes in January.

Opposition To Line 3 Mounts

February 3, 2021 Niko Georgiades, Unicorn Riot. Resist! climate crisis, Fossil Fuels, Line 3 Pipeline, Minnesota

Saint Paul, MN – Around 600 people gathered in St. Paul, Minnesota, on January 29, calling on President Biden to revoke permits for the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline project. The protest billed as ‘Protect the Water, Revoke the Permits‘ started at Kellogg Park and marched into downtown to the local Army Corps of Engineers’ office to demand federal water crossing permits be rescinded. Direct actions halting construction of the new pipeline continue to take place as opposition Line 3 grows. Friday morning in Northern Minnesota, two water protectors locked down to each other between three concrete barrels blocking the road to a Line 3 construction site.

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