Minnesota stands with immigrants and Palestinians two days before election day

Minneapolis, MN – On November 3, over 100 people gathered at Jackson Square Park in the Northeast neighborhood of Minneapolis to protest for immigrant rights and for Palestinian liberation. The action was initiated by the MN Anti-War Committee (AWC) and the MN Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) to draw attention to the way both the immigrant and Palestinian communities are being used by the Democratic and Republican parties as political footballs in this week’s presidential election.

After the rally, protesters marched through the neighborhood behind a banner that read, “No more lies. We won’t be dehumanized.” People bore Palestinian and Lebanese flags while they chanted “From Mexico to Palestine, border walls are a crime!”

At the rally, Julia Pearlstein-Levy, an anti-Zionist Jew and member of MIRAC, kicked off the rally. She addressed the joint concerns of both the immigrant rights and Palestinian solidarity movements. These included U.S. support for and contracting of Elbit Systems, the largest weapons manufacturer in Israel. Pearlstein-Levy stated, “Both parties funnel money into Elbit Systems. Elbit Systems is also Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, field tested on Palestinians then brought back home to terrorize immigrants.”

Michael Wood, an organizer with the Climate Justice Committee, addressed the crowd’s frustration with both major party presidential candidates in this week’s election, stating, “Even here at home we get hit by two hurricanes in two weeks, and while FEMA struggles to respond to North Carolina, Biden sends $8 billion in to Israel! We call them ‘crises’ like there isn’t a solution. But the so called ‘crises’ we face are facilitated by the U.S. and its capitalists who strip the Earth for profit and war. Whether Democrat or Republican, our representatives agree the response to the climate crisis is to bomb the crisis!”

Magdi Hazaa, a Yemeni member of the MN Anti-War Committee, was the last speaker before the community march. They told the crowd, “I’m tired of worrying and I feel betrayed. I feel so betrayed, as I’m sure many of you do. Betrayed as an Arab being told that the blood of my people is the necessary bargain for cheaper groceries, betrayed as an immigrant getting thrown under the bus, being told by both parties that I do not belong, that I am, at best and with the benefit of the doubt, the sum of my labor, and even that is conditional.”

Hazaa continued, “We are not enemy aliens and are not electoral liabilities. We are not cheap blood, and we are not sweat factories. From the river to the sea, from the cedar trees of Lebanon and the olive ones of Palestine, to the neighborhoods of Chicago and Michigan, we are life itself – five senses and heart, soul and body, deserving of the same dignities, the same graces, and the same safety as anyone.”

At the end of the march attendees were encouraged to protest on Wednesday, regardless of who is elected, at 5 p.m. at Mayday Plaza, 301 Cedar Avenue, in Minneapolis.

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