Trump and his gang chose the wrong target if they expected little resistance to their lawless ICE goon squads from the people of Minneapolis. Friday 23 January saw the first city-wide strike in the USA for eighty years. The Minnesota Federation of Labor backed the strike, 700 businesses shut up shop, and an estimated 75,000 citizens marched in -10ºC weather.
The marchers were particularly incensed by the 7 January murder of Renee Good as she drove away from a squad of ICE agents raiding her locality. The very next day, 24 January, ICE would commit another murder, pumping ten bullets into ICU nurse Alex Pretti after they’d pepper sprayed him and pummelled him on the ground.
As Bernie Sanders has said the only movement capable of stopping Trump will come from the streets. Minneapolis, with labour unions playing a key role, has shown the way to fight back. The follow-up nationwide “shutdown” on 30 January was organised at short notice, mainly by NGOs and such, and without unions, so mostly took the form of student walkouts, shops shutting for the day, etc. But these “shutdowns” are a promising development that can be built upon.
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