Community Self Defense

“My lungs strained, but not from the exertion of pushing the dumpster. It was light work with the four new companions I had made in the street, whose names I did not know and would not learn. It was the tear gas, clawing at my throat. I had already washed my eyes and mouth out two or three times, and my drenched scarf was now frozen to my icicle-laden beard, my cheeks numb but tingling with chemical irritants. We pushed through the smoke. We expected to catch up with the armored car and riot squad, which kept falling back.

After Border Patrol agents murdered our brother Alex Pretti on January 24, the tear gas had not yet cleared from Nicollet Ave when Governor Tim Walz called President Donald Trump to make a deal. The details of that phone call are unknowable to working class people like us. However, we can make some educated guesses. We know how the State behaved before and we can see how its behavior has changed since. We believe any concessions or cosmetic changes they are offering come not because they killed someone, but because the people fought back.

At 9 AM this morning, as the general strike settled across the Twin Cities, a group of some hundred community defenders took up positions around the Whipple building, the lair and headquarters of the Federal occupation of our metro. This band of defenders equipped themselves with shields and reinforced banners, marched to the Snelling light rail stop, and physically blocked the road for two and a half hours.

On January 17th, 2026, the Pentagon alerted 1,500 troops from the 11th Airborne Division about a potential deployment to Minnesota.  This new threat comes after a rapid series of escalations.  Homeland Security forces have occupied the Twin Cities for 50 days now. More than 2,400 of our Latino, Somali, Hmong, West African, and even Indigenous neighbors were disappeared by these fascists. Neighborhood patrollers have been attacked hundreds of times, and protestors and federal forces clash almost every night. ICE agent Jonathan Ross murdered our comrade Renee Good on January 7th.

Community defenders routed a poorly organized group of fascists in Minneapolis today, as pardoned January 6 attempted coup participant and Florida US Senate candidate Jake Lang attempted to lead a “March Against Islamification” from city hall to the Cedar Riverside neighborhood.