“Occupy MN, Tear Down the Wall of Wall Street”

In early November, Occupy MN and a host of Twin Cities activist organizations began occupying Monique White’s foreclosed home in North Minneapolis. The public relations department at U.S. Bank, which now owns the house, reached out to the activists to hear their concerns.

That emboldened Occupy MN, which this weekend occupied another home — this time in South Minneapolis, and this one owned by a Hungarian immigrant and University of Minnesota professor named Sára Kaiser. Her neighborhood and ethnic background is different from that of Monique White, but their foreclosed home stories are similar. For them, the American dream turned into the American nightmare.

“It’s almost the holidays, and (the banks) don’t care that we’re homeless,” White told a rally in front of Kaiser’s home. “They’re gonna have their Thanksgiving dinners and their families together for the holidays, but where does that leave us and our families?

“If we can occupy homes all over the world, then maybe we can stop the banks from taking people’s homes!”

The Minneapolis police department launched two raids on Kaiser’s home at 3334 25th Ave. South. On Saturday night, just hours after the occupation began, they succeeded in arresting two activists, but a reinforced team of 150 demonstrators locked arms and prevented the vastly outnumbered officers from entering the building. Then on Sunday, 22 hours after the rally outside Kaiser’s home that marked the beginning of the occupation, the police returned with over a dozen squad cars, a firetruck and a city bus in case they needed to make mass arrests. This time they caught the activists by surprise, kicked in the door, and succeeded in evicting the occupiers and boarding up Sára Kaiser’s foreclosed home.

According to Occupy MN activist Nick Espinosa, the police didn’t have a warrant and said they didn’t need one, before they kicked in the front door. Nevertheless, Espinosa added that if law enforcement learned anything from Oakland and Manhattan and other resilient occupations, “we’re going to come back stronger.”

The 150 Occupy MN demonstrators who locked arms to prevent the police raid on Saturday night chanted “You can’t evict us all!” They chanted the same words on Sunday as they stood passively on the sidewalk while police boarded up Kaiser’s home.

OccupyMN Can Stay on Plaza, Just Can’t Sleep

A solidarity rally convened on the People’s Plaza (Hennepin County Government Center) on the day the county issued new roles for the occupation. New rules prohibit sleeping. One speaker questioned how that was to be enforced. Do deputies have to tap everyone with eyes closed to see if they are sleeping? If they wake up as a result of the tap, they are no longer violating the rule.

The speaker went on to say, “We can’t allow ourselves to be distracted. The one percent would like nothing more than to shift the conversation away from what we have been doing to define the problem of income inequality in this country and have us focus on the sheriff tapping people to see if you are awake or not.”

Union representatives, community organizers, Women Against Military Madness all added their voices in support of the Occupy Movement. One speaker said, “They may take our toilets but they can’t take our ideas.”
The OccypyMN movement began on the Plaza on Oct 7, 2011, so they are now in the second month of occupation.

Police Evict Occupy MN From Foreclosed Home

Minneapolis police kicked in the door of a foreclosed home and evicted seven to eight Occupy MN protesters just after noon today. A dozen or so squad cars and the fire department were called to the home of an University of Minnesota professor in South Minneapolis who owned the home until U.S. Bank foreclosed on it. There were no arrests made today.

Today’s raid follows an unsuccessful attempt by police last night to evict the protesters. Two protesters were arrested during that failed eviction last night, one for trespassing another for resisting arrest. Police arrived at the home just three hours after protesters occupied it.

Last night police were thwarted as more than 100 activists linked arms around Sára Kaiser’s foreclosed home and successfully prevented Minneapolis police officers from boarding up the house and kicking them off the property, with chants of “You can’t evict them all.” Within minutes, the officers left the scene with their two arrested demonstrators in tow, and the demonstrators re-entered the house at 3334 25th Ave. South.

In the video provided by Occupy MN of Saturday’s failed eviction, police are asked why they are blocking entry into the house.
“We’re doing an investigation” says one of the officers “We’re making sure that no one can come in because it’s a numbers and it’s a safety issue right now….because you guys outnumber us right now by a lot.”

When police returned to the home today at 12:30pm, they were greeted by a much smaller crowd of seven to eight demonstrators. The demonstrators left peacefully and police began the process of boarding up the house. Occupy MN has called a 4:30pm meeting for it’s members to plan its next moves.

This is the second foreclosed home to be “occupied” … Continue Reading

Occupy Oakland Activist Calls for Annual Occupations At City Hall

Now that the Occupy Oakland encampment in front of City Hall — and other Occupy protests, notably the flagship one in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park — have been raided and removed by city police departments nationwide, the question lingers: what should the occupiers do next?

Oakland activist, artist, musician, poster collector and former boxer Manzel Roberson admits that they can’t stay here forever. He suggests that the activists gather every year and occupy the park in front of City Hall for one month, from Oct, 10 to Nov. 10. Roberson said that the occupiers need to build on their legacy, “because this is holy ground, right here.” Roberson, who invoked the name of Oscar Grant and displayed posters of the unarmed local resident who was killed by police in 2009, said he was part of the Occupy Oakland encampment since Day 1, and suffered a flesh wound on his left arm when he was hit by a police tear gas canister.

Obama Sells “Made In America” Overseas

In this week’s address, President Obama speaks from Indonesia and tells the American people that during his trip to the Asia Pacific, he has made progress opening up markets to support thousands of American jobs and keep us on track to double American exports by 2014. The President’s trip underscores his belief that our businesses will always be successful competing around the world and that he will continue to do everything possible to create jobs for the American people.

Transcript of President Obama’s weekly address … Continue Reading

11 Occupy MN Activists Arrested for Shutting Down Bridge

Video courtesy of Minnesotans for a Fair Economy

Eleven activists were arrested in Minneapolis yesterday for creating a human roadblock on the 10th Ave. Bridge during the evening rush hour to protest rising economic and labor inequality. Rev. Paul Slack, pastor of New Creation Church was among them.

Meanwhile, a crowd of 400-500 marchers, including clergy, unemployed workers and local residents marched to “Bridge the Jobs Gap” and demand government action to fix crumbling infrastructure, create good jobs and address Minnesota’s record racial disparity in employment. According to a press release from Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, “the marchers emphasized the need for Wall Street and the wealthy to pay their fair share to fund job creation and avoid devastating budget cuts.” … Continue Reading

OccupyMN Plays “Cat and Mouse ” with Hennepin County Sheriffs

On Nov. 11, OccupyMN activists challenged Hennepin County authorities with a tent-like structure displayed on chairs. They were reacting to the county’s new policy of not allowing tents on the plaza. Instead of letting the authorities seize their object, the group played a “cat and mouse” game with sheriff’s deputies and evaded capture.

When confronted, they recited the First Amendment using “Mic Check,” a tactic that originated in Zuccotti Park in New York when Occupy Wall Street’s first encampment was denied use of a sound system. The speaker’s words are repeated by waves of listeners to eliminate the need for sound augment. They stalled the deputies removal attempts. Three day slater the tent-like structure was rebuilt as a billboard facing Third Avenue.

OccupyMN Cleverly Defies Policy Aimed To Stifle It

OccupyMN organizers are working to get around a new Hennepin County policy aimed at pushing the group out of the plaza they have been occupying for more than a month. County Commissioners passed a new “procedure” to prevent “camping” on the plaza.

“We are not camping” reads the sign around the neck of of one of the organizers. “We are assembling peaceably to petition our Government for a redress of grievances. This is our permit”

So to challenge the county, a representational object looking like a tent, but not a tent was moved into The Plaza shortly after the vote.

“They said we couldn’t put it on the ground so we just put chairs under it and bypassed their policy”, said one woman who helped bring in the tent. “We’re going to let the county take it down and look like assholes.”

Organizers said if the county removed it, additional objects were available to replace it.

The new “procedure” goes into effect Monday. Organizers have scheduled a rally for 5pm on Monday and are asking people to bring sleeping bags and stay on the plaza in defiance of the County Commission vote.

Arctic Explorer Bancroft Helps OccupyMN Winterize

You can tell OccupyMN is serious about staying around through the winter months. Tonight they brought in arctic explorer Ann Bancroft to teach a winter survival course at The People’s Plaza (also known as the Hennepin County Government Center).

Bancroft is the only woman to sky to both the North and the South Poles. Her first pole trek was in 1986 with Will Steeger. Since then she’s been to the North Pole on skis and has skied three times to the South Pole. The first woman to ski across Greenland is also on her list of accomplishments. She’ll be leading another all female expedition of women from six continents to the South Pole during the 2012 Antarctic Summer, about a year from now.

“I get a little tired of people talking about the ‘focus of the message’ like we’re all marketers or something,” said Bancroft. “People are just ticked off. So isn’t that a good enough message?

She told the people attending that, “I hate being cold.” In addition to the usual advice about layering, she emphasized the need for protection from the ground or concrete, tarp underneath plus a pad. Shelter is very important and she suggested sleeping under the overhanging benches on the large plaza structures.

“I have been known to peel back a stick of butter and eat it like a Snickers bar,” she admitted as she discussed food needs in cold weather. The biggest problem for the occupiers will be staying dry as snow and slush accumulate.

OccupyMN may not get a real chance to put Bancroft’s advice into practice. On Friday Hennepin County Commissioners adopted new policies that will make it more difficult for the OccupyMN to remain in the plaza round the clock.

A rally is planned at 5pm Monday and people are being asked to bring sleeping bags and stay the night which would be in defiance of the new policy.

Are The Poor Represented At The World Economic Table?

The G-8 brings together the governments of the U.S., France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada, Russia and the U.K. The G-8 will hold a summit in Chicago in May 2012. At the same time a full summit of NATO will be held in Chicago.

Gary Prevost, Professor of Political Science, St. John’s University/College of St. Benedict leads a discussion of the G-8 and it’s role in world politics and the economy today: When this body of the largest economies meets, are the interests of working and poor people represented at the table? Do these governments plan and work for peace and justice? What does the G-8 represent in a world in economic crisis? What is the connection between the economic policies of the big powers in the G-8