Milos M, Minneapolis, MN
On the eve of the January 23 strike, I joined 300 attendees at a neighborhood defense Zoom meeting. Most had never participated in a meeting of this kind.
The main speakers claimed that this was a leaderless group and not an organization. However, they did demand organizational discipline: members couldn’t speak to the press on behalf of the neighborhood defense group, they were expected to follow the guidelines of the Signal group chat, etc.
I spoke, raising the need for unions to hold organizing drives, and for extending the strike to the facilities that ICE relies on to operate—such as the airport, hotels, and restaurants—and strike indefinitely until all demands are met.
As the Zoom meeting was flooded with hearts and thumbs up reactions, I was cut off by one of the unelected “non-leaders,” who turned out to be a Democrat politician, Dan Engelhart. He said that, since a strike was already planned, we couldn’t put forward my ideas now. I answered that the day of action could act as the launching pad for a full, indefinite general strike to shut down all of Minneapolis. He cut me off again, telling me I wouldn’t be allowed to speak anymore.
He couldn’t outright oppose the idea of a general strike because of its mass appeal—he could only attempt to water it down. The need for class independence is making itself known in these neighborhood meetings as the Democrats try to co-opt the movement. Engelhart may have silenced me, but I was still able to make a handful of contacts!