From Queer Ultraviolence
At 4:00pm today a clandestine troupe of crusty radical Queers dropped a banner over I-94 in the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis.
The Queers Are Cumming 9-1-08 (A)
Let this be a warning to all anti-sex, heter/homo-normative fucks.
On September 1st, every intersection of Downtown St. Paul will be filled with AssFucking, CuntLicking FREAKS!
From The Struggle Is Our Inheritance
Despite the few successes the anti-war movement has had in the past few years, any means to real change has been hijacked by a shrill minority that wishes to impose permits, routes, parade marshals (e.g. peace police), zones of “protest” and other such nonsense, turning our rage and creativity into a well-ordered media spectacle, or worse, mass arrest. The constant and insincere calls for “solidarity” and “protecting others” have turned our once raucous resistance into an exercise of well-organized crowd control.
But it hasn’t always been like this…
University of Minnesota, May 10, 1972
At about 1 p.m., University police were watching paper fall from broken windows. It was windy and the papers blew every which way, just as the rocks being thrown by protestors. Protestors were tearing down an iron fence surrounding the Armory. An overturned 1962 Chevrolet burned in the streets as protestors chanted: “One. Two. Three. Four. We don’t want your fucking war.” A few blocks away, three 30-man squads of police in full riot gear were preparing to march towards the armory. The University Vice-President had gotten wind that protestors planned to burn down the armory. So he called in the police.
The preceding weeks had been filled with attempted occupations at an Air Force base and Morrill Hall. Then on May 8, Nixon announced the bombing of Haiphong Harbor. What followed has come to be called the “Eight Days of May” occurring between May 9 – 16, 1972. These were the largest and most violent protests at the University. Beginning with a May 9 protest against the opening of the Cedar-Riverside Housing development, the protests quickly spread to the East Bank where confrontations between police and protestors occurred.
More than 3,000 protesters overtook the campus to protest the bombing. It began as a planned march to the Air Force recruiting office in Dinkytown, but a group of individuals occupied the building and trashed the recruiter’s office. The protest quickly increased into a full-blown riot.
Rows of patrolmen moved toward the crossover bridge near the student union. Protesters standing on the crossing hurled bricks into the rows of police officers. One brick slammed a patrolman in the head, breaking the shield on his helmet. They were nearly in the midst of the crowd when they were ordered by their commander to retreat.
Windows had been broken at the recruiting station and Armory. Barricades were built at intersections along Washington. Teargas was dropped from helicopters throughout the Campus and surrounding Dinkytown since police could not get near the bands of protestors. With the growing hatred for the police and with no end in sight, the Vice-President of the University turned to the Governor for help. They called in the National Guard.
Over 550 guardsmen were called in the next day to patrol the campus. Yet, protestors continued to build barricades, and a group had gathered on I-94 and stopped traffic. A rally at the Coffman Union drew 6,500 people. Several explosions and fires occurred on the campus throughout the evening and night. There was an explosion in a Kolthoff Hall chemistry laboratory; a fire in the basement of Ford Hall; and a gasoline bomb thrown through a chemistry building window.
At 5 a.m., May 12, protestors confronted police and National Guardsmen who attempted to remove a barricade at University and Church St. After a rally at the Coffman Union at noon, protestors reoccupied Washington and eventually established a blockade at the bridge near Ford Hall. Occupations and blockades were seen as a way of stopping “business as usual” at places that contributed to the war effort, either directly or indirectly. One protestor had remarked, “Vietnam permeated everything. By stopping traffic, you could help stop the war.”
Teach-ins were called for May 17th and 18th. This was hosted by Communities for an Open and Peaceful Education, a group of students, faculty, and staff to communicate campus action towards Vietnam. “The feeling was that things had been taken too far,” recalled a COPE member. “We’d channel the energies people had in protesting the war towards positive things.” Meanwhile, Marv Davidov helped to lead an occupation of Johnston Hall. By the time of the teach-ins, campus tensions had died down.
U.S. military involvement in Vietnam ended in 1973 as a result of sustained guerilla warfare on behalf of the National Liberation Front and the Viet Cong. Student moods changed quickly after the war. One of the participants later noted, “By the late ‘70s, apathy set in, and it’s continued to this day.”
From The Struggle Is Our Inheritance
An interesting example of popular sabotage was born in Minnesota during the late 1970’s. It was here that a group of farmers in Western Minnesota perfected the art and science of toppling high-tension electrical towers. After federal agents began investigating these incidents, the farmers would only reply, “Hmpf…Must’ve been those bolt weevils.”
The trouble began when United Power Association and the Cooperative Power Association were looking to exploit coal reserves in North Dakota and needed a 453-mile transmission line through Minnesota farmland to the industrial center of the Twin Cities. As is typical, poor people were screwed so that rich corporations could benefit. Most of the electricity would be used by industry, not people. The utility corporations chose to plan power lines through land belonging to poor farmers rather than huge corporate farms.
What these corporations did not expect was opposition. And that is just what they received.
Virgil Fuchs, one of the farmers, became aware of what this would mean for the small farmers. The plans would require strips 160-feet wide cut through their fields, and 180-foot pylons erected to support the wires. The health problems associated with electromagnetic pollution (from the currents running through these power lines) were also a concern. It was already known that electrical lines lower conception rates and milk production in dairy cows. And the state’s own guidelines warned farmers against refueling their vehicles under the transmission lines and warned school bus drivers against picking up or discharging children under them.
Fuchs went knocking door-to-door at his neighbors’, informing them of the plans. Soon after, corporate representatives were on his tail trying to get farmers to sign agreements, but not one farmer signed.
Local townships soon passed resolutions disallowing the power lines, and county boards refused to give permits for the power line construction. The corporations planning the construction ignored the local concerns and turned to the state. The farmers also turned to the state looking for help from their “representatives.” The state’s Environmental Quality Council responded by holding public hearings. The public opinion at the meetings ran overwhelmingly against the power lines, but these unfavorable testimonies were left out of the transcripts.
Throughout the years 1974 to 1977, farmers tried lengthy and ineffectual legal channels such as these to block the construction. They were only permitted to request that the construction happen on someone else’s land, rather than their own.
Not surprisingly, the state granted the permit for the construction in 1977. One county attempted to sue, but the case was dismissed. At the very least, government representatives promised they would let the farmers know when construction was to begin. But again, they lied.
When surveyors showed up in Virgil Fuch’s fields, he fought back. He drove his tractor over the surveyors’ equipment and rammed their pickup truck. Farmers from across the counties began gathering and planned to fight the surveyors any way they could. Such tactics included getting permits to tear up roads, and running chainsaws or other loud equipment so that the surveyors couldn’t communicate. The network of farmers that had formed through legal battles helped to increase the resistance to the construction. When surveyors would show up to begin work, hundreds of farmers would block their way.
Even the local sheriff was sympathetic. “In my opinion this is a situation that began with the Environmental Quality Council, at the request of the power companies, and that’s where the problem should be remanded for resolution. I will not point a gun at either the farmer or the surveyor. To point a gun is to be prepared to shoot, and this situation certainly does not justify either. It does justify a review of the conditions that bring about such citizen resistance.”
It also seemed as if Philip Martin, the head of United Power Association, sympathized too. He had grown up on a farm and had even known Virgil’s mother. He had said of her: “She reminded me somewhat of my own mother.” But that did not stop his decision that would affect so many small family farmers.
It seems to make sense why Martin was so upset. In North Dakota, they had only faced one protester and dealt with him quickly. In Martin’s own words: “The law enforcement there initiated the action to put him in prison, or jail. And pretty soon he said, ‘I’ll be a good boy, I won’t do any more,’ and they let him out, and we built a transmission line.”
However, in Minnesota: “The law enforcement refused to enforce their own laws. We could go out and try to survey, and they would simply pull up all our stakes, they would destroy everything we had out there. And there was never anything done.”
The farmers continued to file lawsuits, which ended up going to the Minnesota Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court decided against them. This act radicalized many of the farmers.
More than 60 percent of Minnesotans supported the farmers against the power line. However, they were outmatched by the power companies’ lawyers and technical experts. In the end, state government and the courts took the companies’ side.
In the winter of 1978, the confrontations in the fields would span weeks, and governor Perpich sent in nearly half of the highway patrol. Many of the cops who had been sympathetic turned against the farmers and told them that they couldn’t assemble, couldn’t drive on county roads, couldn’t stop on township roads, etc. When confronted about this, cops stated, “We will do whatever we can to get that power line through.”
In August 1978, a 150-foot steel transmission tower came crashing to the ground. Upon inspection, authorities found that the bolts of the base had been loosened. Over the next few weeks, three more fell down. Guard poles had been cut in half, step bolts had been cut three-quarters through, bolts at the base were loosened or removed, and insulators were shot out.
Minnesota Public Radio reporter Greg Barron visited West Minnesota and described the situation as nothing short of “guerilla war.” Helicopter crews patrolled 170 miles of power lines, and squad cars combed the countryside. The governor eventually called out the FBI to help conduct heavy surveillance.
Seventy-two arrests were made in just one county. Six of these were for felony charges. Everyone refused to testify against the farmers arrested. The only information the cops got from farmers was the response, “Hmpf! Must be the bolt weevils.” And even though two farmers were eventually convicted of felonies, they were only sentenced to community service.
An interview with dairy farmer Tony Bartos revealed the sentiments of most the farmers:
“Yeah, I go along with it. I wish a few more would come down, and I think they will, as time goes on. They shouldn’t have did this to us in the first place. We’ve did everything we could lawfully. We went to Minneapolis, got lawyers, went through the courts. But either the judges are paid off, or they just don’t realize what’s going on out here. I think there’s a lot of different laws and ways you can look at it. There’s moral laws, too. I don’t know, I don’t figure it’s wrong what we’re doing out here. Sure people think you gotta stay with the law, but what is the law? Who makes it? We should have more of a say with what goes on in this state too, you know. They can’t just run over us like a bunch of dogs.”
The power line was constructed, and operations began in 1979. Despite this loss, an impressive wave of sabotage continued to hit the power line. Within only two years, fourteen towers were toppled, and over 10,000 insulators were shot out. The project could only continue after the energy corporations turned ownership over to the U.S. government. This was a direct result of the economic losses caused by sabotage and the costs of security. Even with this turnover to the State, a fifteenth tower was toppled on New Year’s Eve in 1981.
Many lessons can be drawn from the experiences of those who fought against this project. Legal channels only revealed that in the eyes of the State, industrial development would always take priority over the healthy and livelihood of its citizens. As a result, a social struggle manifested and directly attacked the source of the problem. Sabotage proved to be far more costly to the energy corporations, and direct action was a manifestation of public sentiments, especially the sentiments of those most ill-affected by the project.
The following guidelines on monkey wrenching power lines come from anonymous Bolt Weevil veterans:
Power lines are highly vulnerable to monkey wrenching from individuals or small groups. The best techniques are: 1) removing bolts from steel towers; 2) if tower bolts are welded to the nuts, steel towers can be cut with hacksaws, cutting wheels, or torches (be careful not to breathe the vapors of galvanized metal); 3) shooting out insulators (a shotgun works best) or shooting the electrical conductor itself (use a high-powered rifle) which frays it and reduces its ability to transmit electricity.
Chain saws (or crosscut saws work when noise is a problem) are appropriate for the large wooden towers. Otherwise, techniques that connect the conductors directly to each other are also effective (cable lifted by balloons or shot by harpoon guns). But be warned: these are more dangerous to ecoteurs. These techniques can completely baffle the opposition if used creatively. Most power line towers are attached to a concrete base by large bolts and nuts (with or without the addition of guy wires). Check the size of the nuts, get a socket set for that size nut, a cheater pipe for better torque, and remove the nuts. You may also want to tap out the bolts with a hammer. Wind will do the rest after you are safely away from the area.
The more vulnerable towers are those spanning a canyon, at corners, on long spans, going up or down mountains. Any place there is added stress or powerful wind. The “domino effect” can be achieved by monkey wrenching a series of towers leading up to a corner or otherwise stressed tower, and then monkey wrenching the stressed tower. Be prepared: a monkey wrenched, stressed tower will probably come down in your presence.
If the nuts are welded to the bolts to prevent removal, use a hacksaw to cut through the bolts or even through the supports. This is more difficult, but a night’s work can still prepare a good number of towers for toppling in the next storm.
A cutting torch can also be used for cutting through tower. Keep in mind that use of a cutting torch may result in additional arson charges. This has happened with a case in Arizona.
Another effective method, where noise is not much of a problem, is to shoot out the insulators holding the power cables themselves. A twelve-gauge shotgun loaded with double-ought shot is the best tool. Walk under the line until you are directly beneath the insulators on a tower. With your back to the wind, take two large steps backwards, aim at the insulators, and commence firing. Be prepared to dodge large chunks of falling glass.
Large power lines are suspended from strings of 20 or more insulators. Breaking 70 to 90 percent of them in one string is usually enough to ground out the conductor. This may take several rounds (the record is two), and will cause bright sparks. A team of three shotgunners, each taking a string of insulators for one conductor or conductor bundle, is best for a typical AC line. The lines are seldom shot through and fall, but stay alert for this possibility. Keep in mind that the use of firearms will result in additional charges if you are caught.
When insulators are shot out, the line quits carrying power and has to be shut down until the point of disruption is found and repaired. A helicopter may have to fly several hundred miles of power line to find where it has been monkey wrenched. Monkey wrenching at a number of locations on the same night compounds the utility company’s problems.
Because of the noise from the use of shotguns, extreme security measures are necessary and several escape routes should be planned. Furthermore, the use of firearms makes this a potentially dangerous activity. Do not leave any empty shotgun shells at the scene, since they can be positively traced to the gun that fired them.
Smaller power lines are vulnerable to having their insulators shot out by a .22 rifle from a car or a hiker. (“Power line? What power line? I’m just hunting rabbits.”) This is an effective way to discourage power companies from spraying rights-of-way with toxic herbicides if you let the power company know that the damage is being done because of herbicide spraying and that it will stop when they stop poisoning the area.
Field Notes
One item in Murphy’s Law states, “When loosening bolts, one of them is bound to be a roller (a bolt that will not simply spin off, but must be wrenched off millimeter by millimeter). It will either be the last bolt or the one most difficult to reach.
So, for the soloist, it is wise to carry a cheap 3” C-clamp (which can be bought at any hardware store) and a flat box-end wrench. Put the “fixed” head of the C-frame on the outside of the angle iron (the flat side) of the power tower and the floating head of the screw on the inside (sloped face). This gives you a brace to hold the box wrench so you can use both hands on the ratchet. This set- up will sometimes slip, so be careful to avoid skinned knuckles (wear gloves). An off-set wrench will only roll off the nut, adding to your frustrations.
Guy wires support some power line towers. It would be extremely dangerous to cut the guy wires. They are under great tension and the resulting snap could easily kill a nearby person. Also, the tower would be quite unstable after the last guy wire is cut – there is no telling where it would fall.
A safer method is to use a 4 foot long bar on the turnbuckle connecting the guy wire to ground and just unscrew the sucker most of the way. Let the wind do the rest-do not unscrew it all the way or you will be in the same danger as from cutting the wire.
Power lines are generally patrolled at least once a week at irregular times.
Any work near power lines or other sources of electricity must be done with extreme caution. The high voltage will kill you if you are careless. If you have the opportunity, watch a power company crew doing “Hot Stick” work. If you must work around live wires, use proper equipment.
According to a recent report from UPI, utility companies are warning the public that small, metallic balloons (such as those sold for birthday parties and Valentine’s Day) have been implicated in several recent power failures. “In the past couple of years these metallic balloons have come up from nowhere and have escalated into a major source of power outages,” said Harry Arnott, a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric, a major California utility.
The Mylar balloons have a 1000th-of-an-inch coating of aluminum, which is an excellent conductor of electricity. When a stray balloon gets caught between two power lines, it can cause electricity to arc between the lines, melting the lines and sometimes blowing up transformers and causing live wires to fall to the ground.
In 1987, PG&E blamed balloons for 140 power outages, while Southern California Edison reported 229 balloon-caused outages. An outage on Valentine’s Day in 1986 caused by a silvery heart balloon affected 20,000 customers. A balloon-caused outage in Antioch, California, in August 1987, affected 2750 customers and fried wires in microwaves, VCRs, and TV sets. The problem caused by holiday balloons has only been recognized recently, because the balloons usually disintegrate when they hit power lines, leaving no trace.
From The Struggle Is Our Inheritance
The University of Minnesota opened its West Bank campus in the early 1960s. By the end of the decade, the neighborhood had changed from one of mainly Scandinavian immigrants to one comprised largely of students and members of the white youth counterculture. During the same time, Keith Heller, a professor at the University, was quietly buying up land in the area. His plan was to raze the neighborhood and build ten high-rise apartment buildings in its place. This project was going to be called “New Town in Town.”
Needless to say, residents of Cedar-Riverside weren’t exactly thrilled with the looming prospect of their houses and community being replaced with a maze of intensely developed high rises. At a public hearing on the plan, 400 people showed up to oppose the plan. But despite their anger, the plan passed. Heller’s inside connections probably helped nudge HUD (Housing and Urban Development) to waive certain policies, and the development was approved and funded. The project was to be built in ten phases. Housing organizers, including the Minnesota Tenants Union, fought the Cedar-Riverside complex with both demonstrations and environmentally related lawsuits.
At the same time, residents were creating a community worth saving. A Community Union was formed, as well as a free clinic (the Cedar-Riverside People’s Center) and the collectively run New Riverside Café. Folks began publishing a community newspaper called, “Snooze News”. In the neighborhood, vacant lots were turned into parks and marked with hand painted signs. Multiple organizations fighting New Town were formed, some of which existed as fronts to navigate through the bureaucracy of the housing authority.
As the first stages of the plan were completed, producing several high rises, the community continued to mobilize. George Romney, the secretary of HUD, was invited to come up from Chicago for the opening ceremony. Heller’s corporation, Cedar- Riverside Associates (CRA), went around sprucing up the neighborhood, painting the fronts of houses and planting geraniums on the corners they knew Romney’d have to turn. New Riverside Café collective members held an impromptu stenciling extravaganza the night before, proclaiming, “This neighborhood is being ‘REDEVELOPED’ with no concern for the residents or environment.” The dedication that day was also the site of an anti-war demonstration, and a battle between the police and eggs, rocks, and marshmallows. Romney ended up deciding it was too dangerous a situation and that he’d be unable to attend the opening ceremony.
Opposition to the plan fermented in the mid-70s, when hundreds of tenants in the neighborhood simultaneously received a notice of rent increases. Cedar-Riverside Associates owned most of the houses in the area, and as opposition grew and the success of the New Town plan grew dim, CRA struck out with rent hikes of as much as 50%. A community meeting was called, which a few hundred people showed up for. There they decided to form a tenants’ union and begin a rent strike. The group formed a Negotiating Team, which was responsible for most of the organizing work. Frequent big meetings, in which decisions were made by discussion and debate, ensured that the team remained accountable to the residents.
The group, calling themselves the E ast-West Bank Tenants union drafted a response letter to the increase notices that stated, in part:
“We find it necessary to refuse to pay exorbitant rent increases or vacate our homes…We can not honestly state that we value your landlordship as you say you value our tenancy. It is we, after all, who are paying your bills. Should you see fit to carry out your threat of mass eviction contained in the ‘offer’ you gave us by evicting even one tenant, we will find it necessary to terminate your tenancy in our neighborhood.”
The strike ended a few months after it began, with most of the rents returning to their original levels, and written leases where previously there had only been oral agreements. Occasional rent strikes continued through the early 80’s. Tenants of the first high rises also went on strike over rent increases. The strikes and lawsuits eventually helped to bankrupt the development company, and most of the housing was either sold off as co-ops or received project-based Section 8 subsidies. Only the first stage of the development project—the few multi-colored high-rises that are a trademark of the West Bank scenery—was completed. Today these house primarily Somali immigrants.
From The Struggle Is Our Inheritance
Minnesota erupted in an armed conflict in 1862 between Dakota warriors and the United States. The conflict left in its wake between 300 and 800 settlers dead, an unknown number of Dakota dead, and the largest mass execution with 38 Dakota men hanged at Mankato. This was the first armed conflict between the Dakota and the United States, but it would not be the last.
This is a particularly important event for me as my ancestors and my relations were Dakota in Minnesota. Being both a descendant of the original people of this land and a person working against the imperialist culture occupying it, I find the history of this struggle to be extremely important for the work I am to do.
The Dakota Uprising of 1862, as it has come to be called, began with the Treaty of Traverse de Sioux and the Treaty of Mendota in 1851. These treaties, which were signed by a few Dakota men intoxicated by whiskey, ceded vast amounts of Dakota territory to the United States. The treaty guaranteed the Dakota money, food, goods, and a twenty-mile wide reservation along a 150-mile stretch of the Minnesota River. The treaty became null and void after promised compensation was either never given or stolen by officials in the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
When Minnesota was declared a state in 1858, representatives of several bands of Dakota, including Chief Taoyateduta, traveled to Washington, D.C. to make further negotiations. The negotiations resulted in the Dakota losing the northern half of the reservation along the Minnesota River along with rights and access to the sacred Pipestone quarry. The ceded land was quickly split up into several townships and farmland for settlers. This resulted in the wild prairies, forests, and wild lands, used for traditional lifeways, being destroyed. Traditional lifeways were so devastated by colonial settlement that Dakota people in south and western Minnesota had to sell fur pelts to make a living.
Payments guaranteed by treaties were never made. The populations that had supported Dakota communities were nearly wiped out. Land was being stolen by the United States government and occupied by settlers. Additionally, broken treaties, food shortages, and famine all added to growing tensions.
On August 8, 1862, representatives of the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of Dakota successfully negotiated for food in the Upper Sioux Agency. However, the Mdewakanton and Wahpekute Dakota turned to the Lower Sioux Agency with the same demands and were denied food. Indian Agent and Minnesota State Senator Thomas Galbraith would not distribute the food without payment, and lead trader Andrew Myrick responded to the Dakota by stating, “So far as I’m concerned, if they are hungry, let them eat grass.”
Three days later, Andrew Myrick was found dead, grass stuffed in his mouth. Chief Taoyateduta had led a band of warriors to attack settlers in the Lower Sioux Agency. Food stores were taken and several buildings were burnt to the ground. A militia that was sent to suppress the uprising ended up suffering 44 casualties and losing the Battle of Redwood Ferry. The Dakota band continued to attack the settlement and New Ulm and then mounted an attack against Fort Ridgley on August 22.
Raids on farms and settlements continued throughout south and central part of Minnesota. Counter-attacks by Minnesota troops resulted in heavy casualties of white soldiers at the Battle of Birch Coulee. Thirteen United States soldiers were killed and over 47 were injured. The Dakota only suffered two deaths.
In northwestern Minnesota, Dakota warriors attacked several trail stops and river crossings along the Red River Trail. This stopped trade along this route to forts further west. Mail carriers, stage drivers, and military transports were all attacked between Fort Snelling and St. Cloud. Abraham Lincoln was finally forced to assemble troops from the Third and Fourth Minnesota Regiments.
Governor Alexander Ramsey formulated a plan, carried out by Colonel Henry Sibley, to free settlers held captive and to “exterminate” or otherwise drive the Dakota “forever beyond the border of the state”. Sibley’s troops ranked in around 1,600 men, while the Dakota only had around 700 warriors.
The fighting lasted over six weeks. Most of the major fighting occurred at the Battle of Wood Lake in September, where Taoyateduta attempted to ambush soldiers of the Third Minnesota Regiment marching along the Minnesota River. The soldiers returned fire and were quickly aided by other soldiers from Sibley’s camp. The fight lasted two hours with the Dakota warriors suffering heavy losses. This would be the last major battle fought in the Dakota War of 1862.
Dakota warriors ended up surrendering at Camp Release on September 26. Six weeks later, 303 Dakota prisoners were convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to death. There is much reason to believe that these trials were heavily biased, most of them lasting only five minutes. Lincoln reviewed trial records and distinguished between those who fought and those who he believed had been part of the murders and rapes. Thirty-eight who had been part of the latter were hanged in Mankato on December 26, 1862. The remaining convicted Dakota stayed in prison that winter and were later transferred Rock Island, Illinois where they were imprisoned for four years. Over one third died of disease, and the remaining returned to their families that had been relocated to Nebraska, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas.
As a result of the conflict, the United States abolished the reservations, declared all treaties null and void, and expelled all Dakota from Minnesota. A bounty of $25 per scalp was placed on all Dakota men, women, and children within the state’s boundaries. The only exceptions were several groups of Dakota referred to as the “friendlies” who allied themselves with the white settlers and were allowed reservations, such as the Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota.
During the winter of 1862-63, around 1,700 Dakota were rounded up into concentration camps on Pike Island below Fort Snelling. Only 1,300 Dakota left the following spring, and were exiled to surrounding states. The others had died or been killed in the camp. It is believed there were mass graves located near this site and the site of the current Mall of America. It is also believed that four oaks were later planted in the contemporary Minnehaha Park to commemorate those who died. The four oaks were planted in each cardinal direction in the shape of a burial scaffold used to mourn the dead.
While many Dakota were exiled from Minnesota into the surrounding areas, many eventually returned and found their ancestral territories turned into settlements and townships. They reestablished several smaller reservations; however, many assimilated with the white settlers and attempted to obscure their identities while others braced themselves for the harsh realities of colonialism and attempted to maintain their traditions.
The Dakota War of 1862 was the beginning of a long period of resistance by the Dakota and Lakota nations against United States imperialism. It was followed by the Battle of Killdeer Mountain in 1864. Red Cloud’s War in 1866-68 resulted in a complete victory for the Oglala Lakota and the preservation of their control of the Powder River country. The Battle of Greasy Grass in 1876 was another victory for Lakota and Cheyenne, which saw the complete annihilation of a U.S. detachment led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The last major conflict was the Wounded Knee Massacre in which over 300 Lakota men, women, and children were gunned down by the brutal U.S. 7th Calvary.
For me, this story is filled with both honor and pain. While the conflict resulted in the removal of my ancestors from their territory, it makes me proud to know that my relations fought against this colonization. Many of the Dakota people assimilated, but there were some who held on to their traditions for a future generation who might reclaim their lifeways and territories. As for this story, it serves as a clear indication of where I am to stand in the struggle for this land.
From RNC Welcoming Committee
A collaborate project of the RNC Welcoming Committee—an anarchist collective that formed around resistance to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in 2008—The Struggle Is Our Inheritance is an awesome glimpse into Minnesota’s often forgotten radical past. 23 essays on topics such as the 1934 Teamsters Strike, the co-op wars of the 70s, Anti-Racist Action, The Minnehaha Free State, and many more.
From the Animal Liberation Front
To all those who refuse to give in,
In the early morning hours of April 29th, our small band of do-gooders made our way through muddy fields and wet forests to descend upon Latzig Mink Ranch in Howard Lake, MN.It has been ten years since the A.L.F. last visited this farm, and it has been too long since there has been a liberation.
Only the breeding animals were on the farm. After cutting several holes and opening gate in the surrounding fence, we entered the main breeding shed. All of the breeding information was removed and destroyed. Every cage was opened, releasing hundreds of mink into the surrounding countryside.
Imprisoned in fur factories, these solitary creatures are forced to endure the intensive confinement of only a few square feet of cage, compared to the miles of territory these animals would enjoy in the wild – their natural state. Even if these animals die after being released into the wild, it is better there than at the hands of those who would otherwise imprison them and cause them to suffer. It is better to die after a life of running free in the wild under starred skies while chasing their prey, as these animals are supposed to do, than to die a death brought about by gassing, anal electrocution, or snapping of the neck. How do you think these animals would prefer to die: after a lifetime running free in the wild under starry skies, or after a lifetime of confinement ended by a brutal murder of gassing, anal electrocution, or a snapped neck – a murder all for the profit and vanity of others.
Many of the mink scratched and paced in their cages, searching for ways to escape. We aided them by removing the nesting boxes and opening the cages. Initially, many of the mink had trouble walking because of the deplorable and cramped conditions of the cages. All cages contained at least two mink, but many contained several more. By the time we had finished, many had darted to the freedom that sat on the other side of a broken fence. We hope with all of our hearts that some of these beautiful creatures make it!
This is the second A.L.F. liberation in the midwest done in absolute solidarity with Peter Young, whose unparalleled bravery and determination serves as an inspiration to us all.
To all of those who smirk at the fate of Peter and other captured activists, remember this: we have broken, closed, and burnt down more of your farms, more or your labs, and more of your business than you have been able to capture activists. As in the case of Peter, for each year that one of us faces in prison, there will be an equal, if not greater, number of liberations in response. Your attempts at scaring us and making an example of our comrades will not work.
Finally, to all fur farmers, furriers, and profiteers of death, this is the last warning: close down your businesses, or with boltcutters, fire, and storm, we’ll do it for you. You can try to scare us, you can try to imprison us, and you can even try to kill us, but the day we stop will be the day that the last animal has been freed from its cage.
Let the third and final part of Operation Bite Back commence!
For Absolute Liberation,
the A.L.F.
P.S. Peter, I hope this helps raise your liberation to letter ratio.
From Daybreak 5
On September 5th, 72 inmates in the main housing unit of Olmsted County jail were told that more inmates were being brought in, creating a need for double bunking. Inmates were told that they only be let out of their cells in two groups in 90 minute shifts. Inmates were ordered to return to their cells so authorities could complete the changes. About 30 of the inmates refused to return to their cells. The three guards tried to control what was now an uprising but fled when their realized they were unable to do so leaving prisoners in control of the complex for more than seven hours. Inmates broke tables, smashed vending machines and damaged an electronic door in the common area causing $50,000 in damages. Power and water were cut off to that portion of the jail and the SWAT team moved in when only a handful of the objectors were still in the common area. There are no reports available for how brutal the repression was after the uprising.
The number of people incarcerated in Minnesota’s county jails has more than doubled since 1980 and is still growing at more than 10% a year. Severe overcrowding brought by harsh sentencing and sentence stacking (making a prisoner serve 3 one year sentences instead of 1 three year sentence) is allowing county bureaucrats to install harsh and stressful living arrangements. They are currently exploring the option of imprisoning people in Wisconsin.
From Daybreak 5
At about 10:45pm on June 6th, 2 police cars collided while running a red light at Arcade and Minnehaha in St. Paul. The 3 officers were laying on the ground dazed as a crowd of 150 gathered around them yelling and taunting. “I’ve never seen anything like this. This is about the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” one person told the reputable and not so sensational 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. “They were just grabbing any part they could get of them. And that’s when the people started saying, ‘grab his gun, grab his stuff.” Local people looted the cops belongings and badges and took humorous pictures until emergency vehicles took them to the hospital where the only confirmed injury was a broken wrist.
From Daybreak 4
Daybreak! has been criticized by some for not taking practical stances on the burning issues of today, things that ‘the people’ really care about. So we’re throwing our powerful editorial weight behind the Minnesota stadium question. For those who don’t know, in the late 70’s the city of Minneapolis built the monstrosity known as the Metrodome for the Vikings, Gophers, and Twins to play in. It’s consistently ranked one of the worst stadiums in the country, making fans and owners believe this is why their teams are losing. Although the team owners want a new stadium, they don’t necessarily like the idea of spending billions of their own money to build it. So they’ve tried putting pressure on politicians and the public but, so far, people have been divided on all the proposed schemes (which all somehow require government removing money from our pockets).
The solution for this complex problem is not to tear down the Metrodome and build yet another stadium in Minneapolis but to follow the example of the gentrifiers redoing warehouses and artists co-ops all over the Twin Cities—luxury lofts for yuppies! The benefits of this are manifold; there is nearby parking for thousands of Hummers (which also brings up the idea of housing yuppies in the parking ramps). The Metrodome trough bathrooms have a gritty urban aesthetic that appeals to the Young Professional. The Metrodome is “pre-packaged” with an inside lawn the size of a football field that will stay green forever—no need to mow that! In fact, downtown Minneapolis’ skyway tunnels could connect them to their office buildings, so Metrodome dwellers wouldn’t need to go outside at all. The stands currently selling popcorn or hotdogs in the stadium could be converted to Starbucks’ and “health food” restaurants, so nobody would have to go far to get their skinny cappuccino and “low or no carb” entrée. The luxury lofts at the Metrodome just might be the closest thing to paradise in the Twin Cities.
Since yuppies feel uncomfortable paying less than $5,000 a month for rent, we could make $300 million by filling “the Dome” to capacity. (We might want to buy another sports team or two. Maybe the Yankees.) Since the Twin Cities can’t hold any more stadiums, we could probably take over the Stillwater Penitentiary in the name of sports, freeing the prisoners, apologizing for their years of confinement, and convert the place into a stadium. Until then, the teams could probably just play in South Minneapolis’ Peavey Park. We’d pay them minimum wage (with the prospect of tips!).
Obviously these solutions will satisfy even the most persistent of critics of a new stadium. However, if, by some oddity, the owners are unhappy with our changes, we suggest that the teams exile them to the East Coast and declare themselves community owned like the Green Bay Packers.
This is only the first of our editorial solutions to complicated problems. Next time, watch for our argument that abortion is the only 100% effective form of birth control.
From Daybreak 3
The Jordan neighborhood on the North Side of Minneapolis exploded in rage on the night of Thursday August 22nd when Minneapolis Police shot an 11-year-old boy during an alleged drug raid. According to bystanders, the police rolled up to the house with weapons drawn and immediately opened fire with MP5 submachine guns (supposedly) at a dog that was being held by a leash near where the boy was standing.
“He [Julius] is a little kid, he was shocked,” Toney Powell said. “Then the dog just stood there barking and the cop just came up from the ground with the gun shooting, ‘bap-bap-bap-bap-bap!’ Then [Julius] fell and hit the ground shaking.”
The police began gathering at the scene of their crime but were confronted by hundreds of angry residents who taunted and attacked them with bottles and debris, forcing them to retreat outside the neighborhood. The crowd then began an assault on the abandoned corporate media, beating them and throwing rocks and bottles at reporters and their vehicles. At least five vehicles were damaged, including a torched news van, and 10 people were injured. The riots continued throughout the early morning. Four people were arrested.
The shooting came in the wake of 3 other high-profile police murders of black people during the month (as well as a number of other police killings in St Paul, most notably of 3 mentally handicapped people in the space of 3 weeks) and the constant harassment of residents by police, including beatings, threats, and ridiculous arrests. Jordan resident Marguerite Cannon complained that lesser examples of police misconduct in the Jordan neighborhood are commonplace. She said a teenage neighbor out past curfew ran from police, who chased him and gave him a black eye. It recalls similar situation to that of a 17-year-old Somali man who was shot in the back by police earlier this summer. Alice Lynch, executive director of the Black, Indian, Hispanic and Asian Women in Action group, said racial profiling and random stops of black residents by white cops has eroded the frail level of trust between some community members and police. “Many of them [the police] have military training and act with a mentality of being in a war,” she said.
In the aftermath of the riot many different groups with different interests sprouted up, from surreal speeches by rich politicians to landlord groups making statements about the necessity of police tactics. Later in the week it was revealed that Police Chief Olson struck a deal with professional community activist Spike Moss to give him about 20 temporary police badges and pay about 6,000 dollars to his ‘community’ policing groups who roamed North the rest of the weekend, supplementing the MPD presence that smothered the entire city.
Although the ‘raid’ was supposedly made for drugs related complaints, police found only six bags of marijuana worth about $10 each on one man. The complaints against the house were made by a loose group of primarily white homeowners calling themselves the Jordan Livability Committee. Tim Dolan, head of the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fourth Precinct, pointed out that “people in the suburbs don’t realize the reality is we have two communities of people up here, One that works, owns property and raises families, and a community of people that is selling drugs and committing crimes and would like to see the police leave the neighborhood.” There’s no doubt that what Dolan means is that there are rich homeowners and landlords and there are poor people, who are criminals because it’s criminal to be poor. The police are, as usual, not only vicious and irresponsible, but accessories to the war of the rich on the poor, enforcing the landlords and yuppies ‘street-cleaning’ by harassing and assaulting poor people, especially poor black male people.
Steve Wash, a south Minneapolis housing advocate was quoted in the Star Tribune as saying “To all those who say: ‘Let’s get these homegrown drug dealers off the street,’ I’m saying let’s look at what’s creating all these dope dealers. It’s the only viable economic opportunity for many of these young men. People don’t want to hear that, but the true problem is a solvable economic one. […] When a defeated community gets so angry it boils over, a team is brought in to quiet them down but not advocate for better conditions. We hear that it’s a time for peace and it might sound crazy, but why should all these poor people remain quiet and keep going along with a system that marginalizes them?”
Weeks have passed since the night of rioting but the only response of authorities has been to increase the police presence. Communities United Against Police Brutality are trying to bring in a Federal Mediator to help bring the conflict to resolution, but local politicians and the police chief are attempting to crush any possibility at creating a community oversight over police. As the fuse continues to burn low in the neighborhoods there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that the police will kill again. That’s what they do: The enforcers of the rich against people without power of all colors.
From Daybreak 3
Bowl a strike, not a spare—Revolution everywhere!– RABL slogan
The original Revolutionary Anarchist Bowling League, RABL, was founded in Minneapolis in the mid-1980s. I was one of the founding members of the organization, and in fact helped come up with the name at one of our meetings.
We were a revolutionary anarchist collective that participated in various actions locally and nationally. We were anarchists who believed in anti-authoritarian organization against racism, sexism, homophobia, and capitalism. We believed that an anarchist revolutionary insurrection was ultimately necessary to achieve a free and equalitarian society.
We were founded sometime after the 1986 Haymarket Centennial in Chicago. We periodically put out a paper in Minneapolis called The Rabble Rouser, hosted the North American Anarchist Gathering in 1989, and helped organize the now defunct Love and Rage newspaper, which was published monthly in New York. Over the years we organized many demonstrations, and worked and participated in dozens of other demonstrations and coalitions. Through our actions we obtained quite a bit of notoriety, both locally and to some degree nationally, and were considered to be one the most militant Anarchist organizations in North America.
We would often have meetings in bowling alleys, and put out a monthly paper locally called RABL Rouser, in which we used lots of campy bowling graphics. We also used the names of famous profession bowlers as pseudonyms for our articles. There was also a local anarchist bookstore, Backroom Books, which some of our members worked at, where we would have meetings.
In my opinion our most important action, of all the things we did, was throwing a bowling ball through the window of a recruiting center in Minneapolis. In a rarely remembered incident, the Reagan administration began telling the media that Nicaragua was “invading Honduras”, and that it might require actual U.S. troops to invade Nicaragua (as opposed to the U.S-proxy army of Contras operating out of Honduras, that it was then using). Because of this, there were large and militant demonstrations all across the country. Even small towns, such as Duluth or Mankato in Minnesota, to name a couple I know of first hand. Demonstrators blocked off the Golden Gate Bridge. The mainstream press, however, did not report the news. There was a news blackout about the demonstrations, similar to the kind of thing that happened later during the Gulf War. Attempts were made by the fledgling independent news media (such as Pacifica Radio) to spread this information.
In Minneapolis, there were barricades in the streets, and a major business and traffic intersections of the city were occupied for three days. It was during these mobilizations that a nearby recruiting center had a bowling ball thrown through its front window. We in RABL, while not taking direct responsibility, supported what had happened, but we were attacked by the liberals in the demonstration as being supporters of violence. Liberals lied and misrepresented us to the media just as bad as any conservative would have done.
We felt somewhat vindicated when we later found a quote in the NYTimes, by a Reagan administration official that one of the reasons they had backed off on sending US troops into Honduras was because of the damage to recruiting centers. While we had heard of militant actions in other cities, the recruiting center in Minneapolis was the only one that we heard had been damaged.
I like to think that that bowling ball actually helped stop a war.
RABL disbanded in ’91 shortly after the Gulf War, which, in the wake of the death, destruction, and the media’s self-censorship and prowar hysteria, severely demoralized much of the Left in this country.
From Twin Cities Indymedia
The May Day march began with labor, politicians, anarchists, and socialists together. Everyone marched and demonstrated outside the American Express building, where the radical cheerleaders gave us some cheers. A banner was dropped in a skyway that read “Hate has no home here”. Seven cops on horseback gathered at the opposite corner of the building. The march split into two—the anarchists continuing on an illegal march, everyone else staying on the permitted rally. For 45 minutes, the anarchists obstructed traffic while shouting “Happy International Worker’s Day!” to observers. In one intersection, the group ganged up on a corporate media reporter. But soon they started running through the streets, racing each other to the next intersection. The marchers finished the march by playing games on the lawn of a corporate building.
Throughout the demonstration, the police watched from behind, and did not confront the group. At one time, the police coned off a street for demonstrators. The anarchists cheered as the police waved them through.
From the Earth Liberation Front
For the end of capitalism and the mechanization of our lives,
Earth Liberation Front
From the Earth Liberation Front
Take Actions Against Globalization Now!!!
The Earth Liberation Front has very recently paid a visit to a Nike outlet in the town of Albertville, MN. This visit was in solidarity with all people of all nations to fight globalization, and to support the growing anti global sentiment. This is also a call for direct action against globalization in solidarity with all of the anti FTAA actions scheduled in Canada later this month.
After witnessing first hand the treacherous conditions that Nike workers experience daily in sweatshops around the world, it was decided that no NGO organization, could have the immediate impact necessary to end conditions that exist currently at any sweatshop.
Instead, direct action is more efficient tactic to stop Nike in their footsteps. Unfortunately, due to weather conditions, the visit was short, and although the plan was to destroy the roof, only minor damages were sustained.
Although the roof of this Nike outlet did not go up in flames as planned, this action is still a message to Nike they cannot ignore. In fact, there are only two options for Nike at this point. Option 1.- you can shut down all of your sweatshops immediately, and immediately place all assets into the communities that you have stolen from. Along with this, you must close down all Nike outlets, starting with the Albertville, MN location (you are especially not welcome in this town!!!)… Or, option 2.- people across the globe will individually attack Nike outlets, as well as retailers that sell Nike (including college campus shops) until Nike closes down, or adheres to demand #1.
It is important to point out to Nike that the violence they use against the poor, and especially those that do all the work for them will only be met with violence towards what they hold dearest… They’re pocket books. all E.L.F. actions are non violent towards humans and animals. But if a building exists which perpetrates, and sponsors violence towards people or animals (such as a Nike outlet, or a Gap outlet, etc.), then by god, it’s got to be burned to the ground!!! the E.L.F. wholeheartedly condones the use of violence towards inanimate objects to prevent oppression, violence, and most of all to protect freedom. Direct action is a wonderful tool to embrace on the road to liberation.