Minneapolis on the Frontline in the Fight Against Empire
“Tons of normies who are furious...The real resistance is invisible, in the form of dozens of encrypted group chats that are coordinating food deliveries to families who can’t leave their houses.”
A friend of mine lives in Minneapolis and I asked him what things are like on the ground. In response, he sent me the following report, which is both nightmarish and brimming with more reasons than ever to keep fighting. But the situation is far worse than what the media is relaying. Below, I’m sharing his answer to my question basically unedited, with his permission.
I think what is missing from the conventional press is two elements.
First, things are worse than they are being portrayed, in terms of everyday violence. The level of fear among the community here is intense. It is all anyone is talking about. The fact that ICE has invaded elementary schools and high schools has everyone, children and parents, stressed the fuck out.
Second, there is so much more resistance happening here than what is being depicted. Yes, there are street protests and people functioning as legal observers and roaming groups trying to protect specific neighborhoods. And those people are extremely mainstream! Tons and tons of normies who are furious. But that is all just the tip of the iceberg. The real resistance is invisible, in the form of dozens of encrypted group chats that are coordinating food deliveries to families who can’t leave their houses. That invisible stuff is also very mainstream and happening in non-activist circles. It is also happening outside the city. My neighbors’ parents served as legal observers last weekend in a small town two hours away from Minneapolis.
The situation is scary here but there is also a palpable sense of city and community pride happening. The local radios stations are talking about the protests non-stop. The sense that Minneapolis will not put up with this shit—especially given the uprisings of 2020—is permeating lots of non-activist spaces. Every other store has a sign out from saying ICE are not welcome and will not be served.
The complexity of the mutual aid networks here is astounding. Beyond any anarchist theorist’s dreams. Like we’ve seen in other cities.
This is the best local reporting happening here:
As for the wider country, I am sure you are picking up on everything very easily from the media you consume, but I’ll just note—if I may—that we are seeing and feeling a real crystallization of the reality that this administration is weak, unpopular, and Trump himself is physically and mentally falling apart. We are seeing this due to the sheer number of funny videos circulating of people straight up clowning ICE officers (I don’t recall that ever happening to Brownshirts). The cartoonish transparency is on full display in this administration.
Lotta mainstream journalists using the term ‘cos play’ because they don’t have the language to label what is happening: these ICE dudes are performing their masculinity to such an obvious extent that it literally looks like a stage performance. And people are picking up on that on a very gut, vernacular level. This regime simply isn’t consolidating hegemony or manufacturing consent among regular people. And everyone I talk to here has half a dozen stories of people in their lives saying either “I went to my first protest yesterday” or “I voted for Trump but I didn’t know it would be like this.” It has almost become cliche.
I find it interesting when I see clips like this. I think this is a decent assessment of the past 12 months and it is notable that it is coming from a pretty normie, conventional, boomer historian. My (white, suburban) parents are beginning to articulate these exact points in a very natural, organic way. I think when ordinary, not-very-politicized folks start sounding verbatim like a Nation magazine columnist, it is worth noting.
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