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In some cases we even invited politicians to try to explain themselves at the meetings, though we made sure the working-class homeowners ran the show. In today’s crisis, landlords are already preparing to evict renters who can’t pay. Some are using manipulative gas-lighting tactics to try to force renters to pay. Others have adopted terrifying, vigilante style physical intimidation to force renters out. As the sheriffs and police tried to secure the property, Occupy Homes MN would organize mass, nonviolent civil disobedience to challenge the eviction. For example, in one such mobilization we linked arms and marched directly towards the police carrying out the eviction.
Her attorney successfully sued Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek for violating her constitutional rights. During that initial eviction attempt, protesters said they tied themselves to structures in the housing using bike locks. In that release, protesters said they had been occupying the house, which belongs to the family of David Cruz, for three weeks. Occupy protesters celebrated their stand Wednesday, saying in a press release that some 100 protesters had successfully defended the house from eviction. MINNEAPOLIS – Police arrested five Occupy Homes MN protesters early Friday morning after they chained themselves together in a "sleeping dragon" device inside a south Minneapolis house that officers were attempting to evict.
Workers Face Mass Evictions: 5 Lessons from Occupy Homes Minnesota
While it is laudable to work on housing issues, we cannot reconcile a working process with this commercialized group any further. Their happiness lies at the feet of the fascist state’s false god—terror in the name of national security. We acknowledge the existence of professional activists who work to make our world a better place.
She faced eviction after her home was foreclosed by US Bank and turned downed an offer of "cash for keys." On October 13, Occupy protester Melissa Lynn Hill was given a trespassing notice for writing messages in chalk in the Plaza. She was barred from entering the Government Center or the plaza for a year. Two days later, while acting as a legal observer for the National Lawyers Guild and standing on a sidewalk near the Plaza, Hill was arrested.
THE OCCUPATION OF MINNESOTA
Agree that sometimes a situation is important enough to stop a meeting immediately to address concerns. Participate in a conflict resolution process when asked to by the community, and develop transformative ways to address harm. Be aware of how prejudice and structures of oppression affect our speech and actions, including the ways power and privilege are related to race, gender, physical ability, immigration status, wealth, and/or sexuality, among other identities. Respect each person’s expressed name and identities and their choice of whether to share that information. We will do our best not to make assumptions about identity–race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, abilities, or class, among others–based on a person’s appearance.
"Occupy protesters in downtown Mpls. allege police brutality". After the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office indicated they would no longer allow signs in the Plaza, the General Assembly voted to allow the American Civil Liberties Union to represent them in a potential lawsuit against the County. On November 4, Hennepin County employees removed signs from the plaza over the objections of the occupiers, who later replaced the signs, risking arrest. The next week, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners drafted new rules forbidding people from sleeping in the plaza. Marches on October 17 included attendees from Minnesota for a Fair Economy, Students for a Democratic Society, and Socialist Alternative.
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On April 8, the Wall Street Journal reported nearly one-third of all apartment renters failed to make April rent. Most predict we’re entering a period like the Great Depression. 26 million Americans have filed for unemployment, with more expected as strategic sectors of U.S. capitalism like oil production face collapse. One president of a Federal Reserve Bank, whose job is to restore confidence in U.S. capitalism, predicts 30% quarterly unemployment, meaning an additional one-sixth of Americans would fall into poverty. According to Chris Gray, a teacher at Green Central, which offers Kindergarten through eighth grade, the families of roughly one in 10 students are homeless, and the home mortgage crisis has cost the school system $150 million. Diana Williamson of the Northside Community Reinvestment Coalition said that between 2008 and May 2011, the Minneapolis area saw 21,258 home foreclosures.
Occupy Minneapolis is allied with New York City's Occupy Wall Street and is part of the global Occupy movement. The main issues that organizers seek to address are social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the undue influence of corporations on government. Occupy Minneapolis protesters engage in direct action and use consensus decision-making in their general assemblies. All and asked that Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak condemn racial profiling and police brutality. Days later, Barb Johnson, President of the Minneapolis City Council, introduced a resolution to close the city’s public plazas at night.
We need to make the case that the way to win these is by organizing alongside those who can’t pay. Working people face unprecedented, life or death challenges while billionaires like Jeff Bezos are making additional billions off the crisis. To fight back we will need to organize, and to organize effectively we will need to learn the lessons of past struggles of working class people who faced similar obstacles. During the last Great Depression, revolutionaries and radicals played an instrumental role in fighting to keep people in their homes, to organize the unemployed, and led massive strikes that won historic gains for the working class.
Not use substances in our spaces that may attract the police and cause harm to our community. We are a diverse group of people and we find strength in that diversity. No one person or group speaks for all of us as a whole.
We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%. We are using the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic to achieve our ends and encourage the use of nonviolence to maximize the safety of all participants. The Minneapolis City Attorney is ramping up repression to try to stop the months-long campaign to resist the foreclosure of Alejandra and David Cruz’s family home at 4044 Cedar Avenue South. On Oct. 8, 150 neighbors and community supporters successfully prevented the scheduled eviction of Jaymie Kelly, a Powderhorn community homeowner who has lived in her home for 30 years.
While Minneapolis City Council member Gary Schiff joined a rally at City Hall in support of the Cruz family, the response from the Minneapolis Police Department was harsh and the Cruz home was raided four times. Local musician Brother Ali came out in support of the family and joined Occupy Homes activists in crossing police lines and being arrested. St. Paul homeowner Caylin Crawford worked with Occupy Homes activists and in November 2012 she was able to secure a rare deal from Freddie Mac that allowed her to stay in her home. Days later, Barb Johnson, President of the Minneapolis City Council, introduced a resolution to close the city's public plazas at night. Organizers from Occupy Minneapolis joined with Neighborhoods Organizing for Change to help ex-Marine and Vietnam veteran Bobby Hull save his home from foreclosure by Bank of America . While Hull owed $275,000 on his mortgage, his home only brought in $80,000 at auction.
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