Hello Friends and Comrades,
This month, we are talking about “intersectionality” and “internationalism,” which are, essentially, the interconnectedness of struggles.
After last months regular episode, we started out with a special report called SNV Special Report: Delegation to Venezuela, which discussed, in part, the move towards a common Latin American currency (among Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina), the sanctions on Venezuela and Cuba, and unfreezing US blocked funds to use for humanitarian needs in Venezuela. The majority of the special was a report back from two members of the Anti-War Committee who had recently returned from Venezuela, where they had been part of a delegation to the country.
During the report back, Drake Myers and Andrew Josefchak of the Anti-War Committee spoke about the history of the country, as well as conversations and interviews they did with the Venezuelan people currently living under the shadow of massive US sanctions. According to Josefchak, “when the sanctions were implemented the revenue of the government shrank by 99 percent.” This has lead the Government of Venezuela and the Venezuelan people to rely more heavily on locally grown food. Food sovereignty intersects with self-determination. “A whole generation sort of taking up the task of farming and feeding their own country” is how Josefchak described it. Taking back the land in Venezuela inspired them to tell folks there about the Defend the Depot movement in Minneapolis.
The speakers were able to see two of the numerous communes in Venezuela. “The Socialists in Venezuela see these communes as planting the seeds of socialism throughout Venezuela,” said Andrew Josefchak. He also said local farmer activists have been reclaiming the land with the government’s support. At the report back the speakers also discussed a meeting with a feminist farming organization on one of the communes. Many men were involved in this group, and, to highlight how important and interconnected feminism is to the ongoing Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, one older man said during an interview, “I am a feminist because my comandante Chavez insisted I must be!”
Internationalism is crucial to successful social movements, and certainly necessary if we want to build socialism. During this report back, a big banner hung behind the speakers that read, “Free Alex Saab, End The U.S. Blockade of Venezuela.” According to Andrew Josefchak, Alex Saab is “a Venezuelan diplomat who was kidnapped in Cabo Verde off the coast of Africa.” Josefchak says this diplomat was taken by the United States because they fail to recognize the government of Venezuela as legitimate. Saab has been confined and tortured for daring to find other countries “willing to defy U.S. sanctions and provide Venezuela with needed supplies,” according to Josefchak, “he is a national hero” in Venezuela. To build international solidarity with the Venezuelan people, U.S. workers must oppose the U.S. blockade on Venezuela, the sanctions, and the continued detention of diplomats like Alex Saab.
In our second special in the past month, we spoke with Jehad Adwan about the situation of the Palestinian people. In SNV Special Interview: Free Palestine, Adwan said he came from Gaza to Minnesota on a Fulbright Scholarship in 1998. He also talked about the Palestinians who did not leave and still live in Israel, Palestinian refugees in the occupied territories, as well as Palestinian refugees across the world. We discussed what Amnesty International calls Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. Adwan talked about heavily armed soldiers coming into his high school, detaining and beating him and other students. He also spoke about the ongoing check points, blockade, and Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and said he agrees that Israel maintains an apartheid regime. “Palestinians can be treated as second, third, fourth tier citizens,” says Adwan. The United States Government has played a key role in supporting this system by providing Israel with weapons and failing to recognize governments elected by the Palestinian people.
Jehad Adwan said the movement for support for the Palestinian people is increasing, even in the U.S. Congress, but lobbyists for Israel are much more powerful. Ultimately, we must stake out a strong position in Solidarity with the Palestinian people and against Israel’s apartheid system that treats Palestinian’s as less than human. US activists in the belly of the beast must continue to raise the issue of a Free Palestine.
On The Left Bank was the title of our next SNV Special Interview, where we spoke with David Ackos. “Anarchist leaning” is how Ackos describes themself. Ackos is an activist with Twin Cities DSA (Democratic Socialists of America), doing work around rental and housing justice on the East Side of St. Paul, the Founder and one of the Editors/Curators of On the Left Bank (a poetry, short prose and visual art zine supported by Twin Cities DSA.) “As an organizer, storytelling, I think, is core to building a better future,” says Ackos. In October, Ackos wrote the article St. Paulites agree housing is a human right; city council needs to catch up. Operating at the intersection of art and activism, Ackos uses the ideas of sun and moon spaces by another local activist Ricardo Levins Morales to fight for renter justice, renters rights, and housing as a human right.
I asked Ackos about intersectionality and internationalism specifically, and they said “our focus on the zine primarily is to connect struggles that are going on right now as much as we can.” Ackos says, “I try to make sure to recruit authors of color, I try to make sure to recruit queer authors” and Ackos says they cover many topics including rent stabilization, racism, environmentalism, and history. One piece that ties in historical battles and struggles well, according to Ackos, is Edward Sheehy’s Empire Builder. Ackos says, though they studied international relations, they have been focused pretty locally. However, they were able to distribute some copies of the zine to anarchist squats in Amsterdam.
In keeping with the theme of intersectionality, I brought our regular episode for June back to our local Minneapolis community. Intersection and Inoculation: Socialist News and Views Episode # 47 featured a speech by Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT 59) First Vice President Marcia Howard. In addition to being a teacher, a union worker, and an environmental advocate, Howard has been at George Floyd Square at 38th and Chicago for over 1,000 days since “the lynching of George Floyd on that corner.” The speech comes from an event in February where teachers and education support professionals organized to show solidarity with the East Phillips Neighborhood and the Defend the Depot movement.
As a teacher and member of the ecojustice group, as well as “a person who is in the middle of a fight for the twenty four demands of Justice Resolution 001,” Howard said she was going to use the speech for something she was good at, which is inoculating. “I need to warn you about some stuff based on my experiences,” said Howard. As an example she says, “the powers that be,” people she had been negotiating with, called her and said “they are calling you a terrorist” on January 5th, 2021. On January 6th, she called them back and said, “you were saying?” Speaking on the Roof Depot movement, Howard said, “they are going to use words like ‘terrorist’ to aunties, to relatives, to our elders, to people who are parents and grandparents that are standing at a defunct roof depot just saying please stop poisoning on our people.”
The Residents of East Phillips and Little Earth did not want to increase pollution in their neighborhood, which is already one of the most polluted in the city of Minneapolis. The area know as the Roof Depot is known to have high levels of arsenic in the soil, so the demolition of the building would have been very likely to release this, and other chemicals, into the air. The city also wanted to put a diesel site and parking garage on the spot for city vehicles, which would also increase the environmental and health burden on an already overburdened community. But as Howard says, “if you’re messing with their money they don’t care about the arsenic, they don’t care about the asthma.”
“Urban Farm Not Toxic Harm” became the cry of the residents of this community who want the building to become an urban farm and community hub. At the time of the writing, it appears the community has won this battle for the Roof Depot site. But the struggle for justice, liberation, and the specific demands of Justice Resolution 001, continue. We can’t leave anyone behind. We must show solidarity with the local and international struggles of the people.
Marcia Howard says the city and developers have a plan for the future from which they are working backward to make the city of Minneapolis what they want to see. Activists need to be doing the same thing. As the residents of East Phillips and Little Earth are showing, another city is possible. Another world is possible! We can make it!
SOLIDARITY and HAPPY JUNETEENTH,
Nick Shillingford - Host - Socialist News and Views