‘Commentary’ Archives
The Resistance is Real
from the series Something I Said... By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes ICE, as of February, downshifted from Operation Metro Surge’s disastrous all out occupation of South Minneapolis to a sinister method no less meant to run roughshod over civil rights. Local media reports document that, after the withdrawal from the state, nearly a thousand agents remained to spy on the area, near businesses and agricultural locales, conduct suburban surveillance and operate drones in the airspace above Somali and Mexican and Mexican American homes. Health care workers said agents even camped out in hospital parking lots. The idea is to sneak up on men, women and children, catch them unaware and spirit them away, the intent being to put them behind bars. Despite desperate fear in the face of ruthless storm trooper tactics, the community rose up and stood strong during the outcry against the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. In response to ICE switching gears, still determined to [...]
On Defending Democracy
from the series Raise Your Voice... By PETER MOLENAAR Protestors in downtown Minneapolis. PHOTO: Peter Molenaar Peter Molenaar ‘Democracy’ is derived from the Greek words: demos (people) and kratos (rule). In short, democracy is a system of government where significant power is vested in the people. Imagine: political equality, voting rights and majority rule. Whereas ‘fascism’ (when fully fledged) is an open dictatorship of the most reactionary sector of monopoly-capital. Indeed, such dictatorships have historically emerged incrementally. Naturally then, we applaud our NO KINGS MOVEMENT for having mobilized hundreds of thousands in the here and now! Meanwhile, some from our community don’t even bother to vote… presumably because, under our existing economic system, democracy is distorted and diminished by the force of capital and the associated political opportunism. That said: a bourgeois-democratic republic is preferable to a fascist regime! Therefore, [...]
Pouring Gasoline on the Fire
from the series Something I Said... By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes ICE’s approach in South Minneapolis has been to douse the fire by pouring gasoline on it.In the aftermath of Renee Good’s murder by agent Jonathan Ross, instead of reining ICE in, more were dispatched. Just as prone to gunplay. Two of whom, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer Raymundo Gutierrez and Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa, assigned to Operation Metro Surge, killed Alex Pretti. To make things worse, both deaths were falsely accounted for. Department of Homeland Security Secretary DHS Secretary Kristi Noem claimed Renee Good “attempted to run a law enforcement officer over an act of domestic terrorism.” Video footage shows Good simply trying to wend her way through chaos as Ross shoots her through the driver’s window as he stands next to the car, in no danger of being hit at all, much less run over. Alex Pretti was helping a woman to her feet when an agent shoved them both to the [...]
