The Marxist-Leninist Weekly

The organization Twin Cities Coalition Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J) on June 11 issued the following press release calling to defund and dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD).

We know the mayor's and city council's response is rooted not in true justice and reconciliation for the police crimes committed against the people. It is an attempt to save their own heads from the chopping block. It is an attempt to ensure that the flames ignited by the power of the people over the injustice of the murder of George Floyd doesn't consume the mayor and city council at the ballot box.

Demands for Community Control of the Police, George,
Jamar & All Stolen Lives!

In spite of recent developments: TCC4J, and the community will continue the fight under the demands of:

- Stop covert tactics of the city to hide from community!
- Community control of MPD!
- Reopen the cases!
- Fire killer cops!
- Indite, Convict, Send the Killer Cops to Jail!
- Stop State & Police Repression via open terror on our communities!

Stop Covert Tactics of the City to Hide from Community!

The city council rushed to pass a fluffy resolution with no plan except to hide it from the community. During the city council meeting today Gordon asked the Bender, Cano, Jenkins, Frey alliance to be transparent with the community regarding their charter amendments. They refused. The current mayor and city council got elected on police reform after the murder of Jamar Clark. However, it wasn't until the city, country, and world burned that they thought police accountability was relevant. TCC4J was calling for community control of the police for the past four years. Working on draft legislation for 2+ years. The council and mayor didn't realize they had power over the police until the people and TCC4J brought it to their attention in 2018 after Thurman Blevins was killed. Their piecemeal reforms also don't take into account the long-term demands of the Black community for community control and police accountability for the past 55+ years. The mayor and city council have no clothes and the people of Minneapolis and they bear witness as they laugh at them!

Community Control of the Police NOW!

The community knows the racist policing system which protects the rich & politicians cannot be reformed by those who protect it. The epidemic of politicians twiddling thumbs while police kill with impunity can only be solved by the community taking back their power via community control of the police![1]

Reopen the Cases! Fire Killer Cops! Indite,
Convict, Send the Killer Cops to Jail!

The list is long of our community members lost to police terror in the era before cops were even remotely held accountable for anything. This city and this nation have changed. The recent inaction by politicians and policymakers giving the quiet nod to racists and white supremacists, by those policymakers' inaction when a member of our community is murdered by a cop.

Stop State and Police Repression via Open Terror
on Our Communities!

For five years the movement has warned the city, state and country of the dangers of inaction. The system did nothing to protect the community during an economic crisis, pandemic and open terror via white supremacist lynchings of Black people across the country. We demand justice! Bender, Cano and Jenkins have formed a coalition to repress the people's voices and actions via neo-liberal demands of identity politics.

Note

1. To see the fifth draft of Minneapolis CPAC legislation for community policing submitted on June 11, to the Minneapolis Mayor and City Council, click here.

University of Minnesota Clerical Workers

AFSCME 3800 participates in June 7, 2020 protest in Minneapolis.

This is another heartbreaking day in America. AFSCME 3800 stands in solidarity with the family, friends, and loved ones of George Floyd, with the Black community, and with everyone demanding police accountability and justice.

WHEREAS on May 25, 2020 a white Minneapolis police officer killed 46 year old George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for eight minutes while he pleaded to be allowed to breathe, and

WHEREAS three other police officers assisted in restraining George Floyd while he was being killed, or spewed anti-black and war-on-drugs rhetoric, or stood by and did nothing, and

WHEREAS the Black community repeatedly faces the deaths of loved ones at the hands of the police, and

WHEREAS the core principle of the labor movement -- "An Injury to One is An Injury to All" -- requires all working people of conscience to take a stand for justice;

THEREFOR BE IT RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 offers our deepest sympathy to, and stands in solidarity with, the family of George Floyd and the entire community.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for the immediate arrest and vigorous prosecution of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. We further call for the immediate arrest and vigorous prosecution of officers Thomas Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Keung for aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for an immediate de-escalation by police and an end to police violence against protesters.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 supports President Gabel's decision to sever the University of Minnesota's contracts with the MPD and we call upon other institutions to likewise disassociate.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for immediate and ongoing community oversight of the Minneapolis Police Department.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for a thoroughgoing review of law enforcement policies and practices by federal, state, and local authorities, followed by concrete and systemic reforms to ensure that all people in our society are granted equal treatment by law enforcement and criminal justice systems, regardless of the color of their skin.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 calls for an end to systemic racist police terror and the murder of black and brown people in our communities.

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that AFSCME 3800 will mobilize our members to safely participate in or otherwise support actions called for by those seeking Justice for George Floyd.

About Face: Veterans Against the War

UPDATE: Almost 900 Veterans have signed this open letter and we are receiving messages from dozens of troops looking to refuse orders or know their options if they get them. If you would like help spread the message, you can find printable fliers and posters, graphics and other resources at our website aboutfaceveterans.org. Share on social media, distribute them or post them up where they can be seen!

We write you as fellow veterans and service members with full knowledge of what's at stake as many of you are being asked to mobilize against civilians in your own country. As your neighbors fill the streets demanding the justice this country promised them, your command is undoubtedly telling you that you're being activated in service to your community. And yet, it is your community members who fill the streets, while your Commander in Chief tweets about using you to murder people over something as insignificant as property damage.

A moral choice lies before you. As veterans who have faced similar tests of conscience, only to realize too late that we chose wrong, we cannot stress enough the impact this decision will have on the rest of your life. We all took an oath to defend the country from enemies foreign and domestic. Are Black protesters the enemy of this country? Today you have to decide whether you are loyal to the values you swore to uphold or to the commanders who would order you to turn on your neighbors for demanding justice. You cannot be loyal to both.

We know that it is your intention to be of service and prevent more harm, but we urge you to remember the deadly legacy of the National Guard enacting violence against protesters -- Watts in 1965, Kent State in 1970, Los Angeles in 1992, and many other examples in recent history.

We urge you to have the courage to do the right thing. Refuse activation orders.

No amount of property is worth a single human life. Are you really prepared to carry out the violence President Trump threatened against Minnesotans and others? We ask that you stand up for Black lives by standing down. We know the consequences you may face for disobeying orders. Many of us have faced them ourselves. And many of us live with the consequences of following orders we shouldn't have, and can tell you that the cost of moral injury is far greater.

There is a long legacy of troops choosing what's right over what's ordered. You are not alone in your convictions. To discuss your rights and the options available to you, contact the GI Rights Hotline at 1-877-447-4487. You can also connect with veterans ready to support you as peers and stand with you in your decision by emailing support@aboutfaceveterans.com.

Courage to Resist

When you are in the Army National Guard, it takes courage to disobey a direct order from the Commander-in-Chief. But after being ordered by President Trump to deploy to cities around the country in preparation to attack and disperse protesters, violating the constitutionally guaranteed right to peaceful assembly, that is exactly what some National Guard members have decided to do. And now, facing potential disciplinary action and court martial, they need our support.

After failing to condemn the police murder of George Floyd, which has sparked protests in 430 cities and counting, on June 1 President Trump decided to use military and police to blast peaceful protesters in front of the White House with rubber bullets, noxious gas, and flash bangs. This is not an isolated incident. Trump has a history of praising authoritarians who have killed and brutalized protesters. [...]

Trump's threat to send the National Guard to cities around the U.S. to crackdown on protests poses a direct threat to our democracy and freedom of speech. Resisting these orders deserves our respect. But those who are willing to disobey these orders need your support now to fight back against the threat of court martial and imprisonment.

One young man who is resisting Trump's orders originally joined the National Guard with hopes to join medical missions assisting in natural disasters. Now he says, "I can't do it. Even looking at my uniform is making me feel sick that I'm associated with this, especially after [the National Guard unit] shot that man who owned that barbecue shop [in Louisville, Kentucky]." He added, "I live with the history of Kent State. I'm not being a part of that," referring to a 1970 incident in which the National Guard shot and killed students who were peacefully protesting the Vietnam War.

The weapons that police and the National Guard are today being instructed to use against protesters, like rubber bullets, are classified as "less-lethal" vs. non-lethal, and have already caused serious injury, permanent vision loss, and death. Tear gas, used in recent days across America, is banned internationally as a chemical weapon.

Another National Guard member who is resisting these orders says, "I feel that I cannot be complicit in any way when I've seen so many examples of soldiers and police acting in bad faith ... No aspect of my training has touched on this subject ... We have not had any training or conversation relating to de-escalation tactics."

We are living in a historic time. From police brutality, to the COVID-19 crisis, to growing economic inequality, to voter suppression, there are many reasons for citizens to mobilize to defend our democracy. Trump's threats to suppress protest are those of an aspiring authoritarian. It is essential we support those who set a strong example by resisting these orders.

Courage to Resist is assisting members of the National Guard who resisted Trump's orders to violently attack people on the streets of Washington, DC lawfully protesting racial injustice. Your contributions will go toward legal services, logistical support and public advocacy to defend these brave men and women against potential court martial and imprisonment. As Trump threatens to deploy more military service people against demonstrators nationwide, the number of those needing assistance is likely to grow. Thank you for supporting the troops with the courage to resist!

United National Antiwar Coalition

Defend Black Lives! NO Police State!
NO Military Dictatorship! Release All Arrestees!
NO More Attacks on Anti-Racist Protesters!

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) stands in solidarity with communities across the country who are rising up in protest against racist police violence. As Donald Trump calls for the deployment of the U.S. military in response to these national protests, UNAC condemns the use of any police and military forces being deployed to violently suppress these protests. We call on all anti-war activists to help organize or join in these actions demanding justice and an end to the state-terror being inflicted upon black and brown communities within this country.

The ongoing protests began in Minnesota on Monday May 25, 2020 in response to the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year old Black man, by four police officers in the city of Minneapolis. The horrific killing was caught on multiple videos which revealed two cops pinning an already handcuffed Floyd facedown to the ground, one cop standing over him, and a fourth one pressing his knee into the victim's neck for nearly nine minutes even as he cried, "I can't breathe," and soon became unresponsive. Floyd died moments later.

On May 29, only after FIVE DAYS straight of militant protests in Minneapolis and in major cities across the country, the cop caught kneeling on Floyd's neck was finally arrested and charged with third degree murder. His three accomplices have yet to be charged. [With determined demands raised across the country, Chauvin has now been charged with second degree murder and the three others with aiding and abetting second degree murder -- Ed Note.]

Of course, this tragic killing did not happen in a vacuum. It represents a trend that has gone on for too long in this country. There are over 1,000 victims of lethal force every year in the U.S. And unarmed black men and women and children have been terrorized and killed by police for over a century with hardly any of the cops involved ever facing charges for their crimes. Within the last years alone, only those cases caught on camera or other recording devices have caught the eyes and ears of those in power; and even then, justice is rarely served.

Most recently, cases such as that of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery have gained national attention weeks after they were killed by police and former police officers and only after videos and 9-1-1 recordings were leaked to the media. The police who murdered Taylor in her own apartment have not been charged, and Arbery's killers who shot him while he was out jogging were not indicted until video of the incident caused public outcry and protests weeks later.

This current nation-wide uprising has been characterized by a week of major protests and acts of civil disobedience in nearly every state throughout the country. Hundreds of actions have taken place in cities big and small, from coast to coast, to denounce not only the murder of George Floyd, but the long history of oppression and state-violence against Black Americans that never ended and that has never even been truly acknowledged by the United States.

Just as the antiwar movement has challenged the ongoing U.S. racist and imperialist wars abroad, the massive protests across the country today are challenging the institutionalized racist violence at home. The millions in the streets today are a harbinger of the broad and united mobilizations to come that have the potential of posing a fundamental challenge to the oppressive, racist, violent system itself.

CodePink

The case for Black Lives Matter should be applied globally and the push to defund police should be extended to the U.S. military.

On June 1, President Trump threatened to deploy active-duty U.S. military forces against peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters in cities across America. Trump and state governors eventually deployed at least 17,000 National Guard troops across the country. In the nation's capital, Trump deployed nine Blackhawk assault helicopters, thousands of National Guard troops from six states, and at least 1,600 Military Police and active-duty combat troops from the 82nd Airborne Division, with written orders to pack bayonets.

After a week of conflicting orders during which Trump demanded 10,000 troops in the capital, the active-duty troops were finally ordered back to their bases in North Carolina and New York on June 5, as the peaceful nature of the protests made the use of military force very obviously redundant, dangerous and irresponsible. But Americans were left shell-shocked by the heavily armed troops, the tear gas, the rubber bullets and the tanks that turned U.S. streets into war zones. They were also shocked to realize how easy it was for President Trump, single-handedly, to muster such a chilling array of force.

But we shouldn't be surprised. We have allowed our corrupt ruling class to build the most destructive war machine in history and to place it in the hands of an erratic and unpredictable president. As protests against police brutality flooded our nation's streets, Trump felt emboldened to turn this war machine against us -- and may well be willing to do it again if there is a contested election in November.

Americans are getting a small taste of the fire and fury that the U.S. military and its allies inflict on people overseas on a regular basis from Iraq and Afghanistan to Yemen and Palestine, and the intimidation felt by the people of Iran, Venezuela, north Korea and other countries that have long lived under U.S. threats to bomb, attack or invade them.

For African-Americans, the latest round of fury unleashed by the police and military is only an escalation of the low-grade war that America's rulers have waged against them for centuries. From the horrors of slavery to post-Civil War convict leasing to the apartheid Jim Crow system to today's mass criminalization, mass incarceration and militarized policing, America has always treated African-Americans as a permanent underclass to be exploited and "kept in their place" with as much force and brutality as that takes.

Today, Black Americans are at least four times as likely to be shot by police as white Americans and six times as likely to be thrown in prison. Black drivers are three times more likely to be searched and twice as likely to be arrested during traffic stops, even though police have better luck finding contraband in white people's cars. All of this adds up to a racist policing and prison system, with African-American men as its prime targets, even as U.S. police forces are increasingly militarized and armed by the Pentagon.

Racist persecution does not end when African-Americans walk out of the prison gate. In 2010, a third of African-American men had a felony conviction on their record, closing doors to jobs, housing, student aid, safety net programs like SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] and cash assistance, and in some states the right to vote. From the first "stop and frisk" or traffic stop, African-American men face a system designed to entrap them in permanent second-class citizenship and poverty.

Just as the people of Iran, north Korea, and Venezuela suffer from poverty, hunger, preventable disease, and death as the intended results of brutal U.S. economic sanctions, systemic racism has similar effects in the U.S., keeping African-Americans in exceptional poverty, with double the infant mortality rate of whites and schools that are as segregated and unequal as when segregation was legal. These underlying disparities in health and living standards appear to be the main reason why African-Americans are dying from COVID-19 at more than double the rate of White Americans.

Liberating a Neocolonial World

While the U.S. war on the black population at home is now exposed for all of America -- and the world -- to see, the victims of U.S. wars abroad continue to be hidden. Trump has escalated the horrific wars he inherited from Obama, dropping more bombs and missiles in 3 years than either Bush II or Obama did in their first terms.

But Americans don't see the terrifying fireballs of the bombs. They don't see the dead and maimed bodies and rubble the bombs leave in their wake. American public discourse about war has revolved almost entirely around the experiences and sacrifices of U.S. troops, who are, after all, our family members and neighbors. Like the double standard between white and black lives in the U.S., there is a similar double standard between the lives of U.S. troops and the millions of casualties and ruined lives on the other side of the conflicts the U.S. armed forces and U.S. weapons unleash on other countries.

When retired generals speak out against Trump's desire to deploy active-duty troops on America's streets, we should understand that they are defending precisely this double standard. Despite draining the U.S. Treasury to wreak horrific violence against people in other countries, while failing to "win" wars even on its own confusing terms, the U.S. military has maintained a surprisingly good reputation with the U.S. public. This has largely exempted the armed forces from growing public disgust with the systemic corruption of other American institutions.

Generals Mattis and Allen, who came out against Trump's deployment of U.S. troops against peaceful protesters, understand very well that the fastest way to squander the military's "Teflon" public reputation would be to deploy it more widely and openly against Americans within the United States.

Just as we are exposing the rot in U.S. police forces and calling for defunding the police, so we must expose the rot in U.S. foreign policy and call for defunding the Pentagon. U.S. wars on people in other countries are driven by the same racism and ruling class economic interests as the war against African-Americans in our cities. For too long, we have let cynical politicians and business leaders divide and rule us, funding police and the Pentagon over real human needs, pitting us against each other at home and leading us off to wars against our neighbors abroad.

The double standard that sanctifies the lives of U.S. troops over those of the people whose countries they bomb and invade is as cynical and deadly as the one that values white lives over black ones in America. As we chant "Black Lives Matter," we should include the lives of black and brown people dying every day from U.S. sanctions in Venezuela, the lives of black and brown people being blown up by U.S. bombs in Yemen and Afghanistan, the lives of people of color in Palestine who are tear-gassed, beaten and shot with Israeli weapons funded by U.S.-taxpayers. We must be ready to show solidarity with people defending themselves against U.S.-sponsored violence whether in Minneapolis, New York and Los Angeles, or Afghanistan, Gaza and Iran.

This past week, our friends around the world have given us a magnificent example of what this kind of international solidarity looks like. From London, Copenhagen and Berlin to New Zealand, Canada and Nigeria, people have poured into the streets to show solidarity with African-Americans. They understand that the U.S. lies at the heart of a racist political and economic international order that still dominates the world 60 years after the formal end of Western colonialism. They understand that our struggle is their struggle, and we should understand that their future is also our future.

So as others stand with us, we must also stand with them. Together we must seize this moment to move from incremental reform to real systemic change, not just within the U.S. but throughout the racist, neocolonial world that is policed by the U.S. military.

Medea Benjamin is cofounder of CODEPINK for Peace, and author of several books, including Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Nicolas J. S. Davies is an independent journalist, a researcher with CODEPINK and the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq.

National Nurses United

In the wake of the recent police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the killing of Ahmaud Arbery by armed white residents, protests for racial justice have swept across the country. With them have come tear gas, flash-bangs, rubber bullets, and other weapons used on protestors by this country's increasingly militarized police departments. The protestors are our patients, and they are being harmed by ongoing police violence and brutality. National Nurses United condemns all forms of police brutality, including the use of war weapons on protestors by officers who are duty bound to protect people, and we call on every level of government and every police force to respect the First Amendment right to protest.

"During the recent protests, we have witnessed the devastating injuries caused by so-called ‘less-lethal' weapons of force. Nurses have seen these police tactics before, including during deployments of NNU's Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN) to Occupy Wall Street, Standing Rock, and to the U.S.-Mexico border. As nurses, we make a vow to protect public health and safety, and that means putting an end to the use of militarized force and weapons of war on people protesting injustice," said NNU President Jean Ross, RN who is also a member of the Minnesota Nurses Association/NNU.

"We stand with the Movement for Black Lives Matter in the struggle for racial justice," added NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo, RN. "Police brutality in black communities must cease immediately. Nurses are committed to challenging the systemic racism that is endemic in our country."

Nurses are standing up and saying, "Enough!" to police use of the following:

Tear Gas

Nurses are horrified to see tear gas being used as a weapon on our patients, while they are exercising their right to assembly. The various chemical agents known as "tear gas" can cause symptoms including coughing, sneezing, vomiting, blurred vision, shortness of breath, tearing, difficulty swallowing, temporary blindness, pain, and in documented cases: death. That's why for over 20 years, it has been banned for use in warfare under the Chemical Weapons Convention, signed by nearly every nation in the world, including the United States. Yet, it's used liberally at protests by U.S. police departments.

The use of tear gas is especially concerning to nurses during a pandemic, given that it causes protestors to cough and sneeze, while already in close conditions, more easily spreading the virus causing COVID-19. For protestors standing up to systemic racism, in many communities where black residents are three to four times more likely to contract COVID-19, police use of a weapon impacting the respiratory system is especially cruel and dangerous. But that did not stop police officers from Minneapolis to Oakland, and even in our nation's capital, from indiscriminately launching tear gas on protesters, including children as young as a toddler.

Although the specific impact of tear gas on children is not as well documented as the impact on adults, a 1989 study in the Journal of American Medicine found that an infant exposed to tear gas fired into a house by police "developed severe pneumonitis requiring therapy with steroids, oxygen, antibiotics, and 29 days of hospitalization." A 2011 study by the University of Chile also found that tear gas can harm children in the first few years of life and can harm a developing fetus.

As nurses who vow to advocate for the health and safety of all people, we strongly condemn the use of tear gas on people who are standing up for racial justice, including crowds containing mothers and children. Just as it's banned for warfare, it should be banned for police use -- period.

Flash Bang Grenades

Nurses were appalled to see the use of flash-bang grenades on protestors of George Floyd's death. With heat exceeding 1,000 degrees fahrenheit and a blast of 175 decibels, flash-bangs or "stun grenades" can cause burns, hearing loss, temporary blindness, injuries from shrapnel, and death. Between 2000 to 2015, according to a ProPublica investigation, at least 50 Americans were seriously injured, maimed or killed by flash-bangs.

With their ability to stun, blind, and deafen protestors, flash-bangs can also cause harm to our patients by putting them at risk for secondary injuries, such as being hit by a car, or being knocked down by crowds. Nurses strongly condemn the use of this war weapon by militarized police.

Rubber Bullets and "Less Lethal" Ammunition

There is no "safe" projectile to shoot at protesters. Just ask Brandon Saenz, whose eye was shot out at a May 30 protest in Dallas, or Linda Tirado, a freelance photographer whose eye was shot out at a May 28 protest in Minneapolis. Nurses were reminded that this is a trend, not an anomaly, by our time in Standing Rock in 2016, when water protector Vanessa Dundon's eye was shot out by police.

Rubber bullets, which often have a metal core, are also responsible for deaths, often from head, neck, and torso trauma–and internal bleeding, organ damage, and bruising. Nurses call for the end of rubber bullets and other ammunition police departments claim is "less lethal" because protecting people at a protest should not be lethal in any amount.

Nurses are duty bound to protect people, and we know what it takes to keep our patients safe. Weapons of war have no place in a caring society, especially not at peaceful protests.

Other Forms of Police Violence

Throughout the country, police have consistently engaged in additional forms of violence including kicking, pushing and beating of protestors. Tactics such as kettling protestors have trapped people with no way to escape brutal violence inflicted by police. Nurses condemn the use of police escalation during protests.

The expanded use of weapons of war is also a troubling step of domestic militarization that represents a threat to democracy and a colossal waste of public resources that would be far better spent on public health and other social programs that are especially essential in the midst of a pandemic and economic crisis.

National Nurses United is the largest union and professional organization of registered nurses in the country, with more than 150,000 members nationwide.

San Francisco Bay Area Organizations

On June 2nd, 2020, on the eve of a major protest against the curfew in Oakland, this statement was written to help organizations unite around a common understanding at a moment when the government and much of the media are looking to divide us from within. There are real conversations to be had about strategy and tactics, and the hope is this statement will help to begin that process in a way that moves away from blaming and criminalizing to acting with discipline, integrity and understanding. As we look to a future of powerful movement building in the interest of justice, let us also hold ourselves accountable to each other in new ways. Thank you for taking the time to read this statement, and please consider endorsing.

The murder of George Floyd has sparked a nationwide movement, and our cry for justice is echoing internationally. Powerful protests are erupting worldwide. And the global police state is pushing back.

The main method the government uses to suppress major protests is overwhelming force and aggression, including flash bangs, chemicals, projectiles, and tanks.

During every period of upsurge and resistance -- from Rodney King, to Oscar Grant, to Occupy, to Standing Rock -- the government has exploited differences between us to divide and suppress the growth of our movement.

After the first night of every upsurge, the police and government officials use the exact same playbook and blast it through the media:

- Send in provocateurs and thugs to cause harm and send in infiltrators to learn our weaknesses and differences so they can exploit them later.

They discredit our movements and keep us looking for enemies from within instead of building solidarity and our movement.

The most extreme example of this today is classifying "Antifa" as a terrorist organization. Make no mistake, the target is "Antifa" and "white anarchists" now, but they are going to apply the label of "Black Identity Extremists" to others next. And black and brown anarchists could be labeled as both.

These are the same red baiting tactics of the 1950s and the violence baiting used against the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, and Puerto Rican independence movement, which left comrades still serving out life sentences today.

We cannot resolve every difference of opinion regarding protest strategy overnight -- and we must always consider how various approaches impact those already most targeted by police -- but we can agree to engage in good faith questioning and principled struggle when differences arise.

We can agree to resolve disagreements in private and offline, and to not share footage that could be harmful to the movement. Our strength and solidarity should be public and our differences should be kept amongst ourselves.

The brutal murder of George Floyd has unleashed fury and pain in ways we haven't seen before. We still have waves of coronavirus infection to survive and over 100,000 funerals to attend. We are heading into an economic crisis worse than the Great Depression, and the United States is jockeying for world domination in an election year. And the military is literally occupying our communities.

But the repression we face is only happening because the people have stood up and stood together. In a few short days we have made one thing crystal clear: there is no going back to so-called "normal." Let us keep our sights on the world we want to create, while we continue to build and grow and heal. Let us all meet the challenges ahead with discipline, integrity and understanding.

It is our duty to fight for our freedom.
It is our duty to win.
We must love and protect one another.
We have nothing to lose but our chains.

Call for UN to Open Human Rights Case
and Sanction U.S. (Excerpts)

The lawyers for the family of George Floyd sent a letter to the UN on June 3, submitted to the United Nations on behalf of their clients to seek sanctions against the United States for violating the human rights of African Americans. It reads in part:

"The family of George Floyd, his legal representatives, and concerned members of civil society are appealing to the Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Special Rapporteur on minority issues, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and all relevant mandate holders to request urgent action regarding the torture and extrajudicial killing of George Floyd, an African American and person of African descent, that occurred on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America."

After recounting the details of the killing of George Floyd, the firing of the police officers and the criminal charges brought against them, the letter points out that:

"The United States of America has a long pattern and practice of lethal police violence disproportionately applied to persons of African descent. Many of these cases have resulted in the failure of state and local governments to hold accountable police officers who commit human rights violations. For example, in 2014, unarmed African American 18-year-old Michael Brown, accused of stealing from a convenience store, was killed in Ferguson, Missouri and shot six times with his hands up. No police officer was criminally charged. In 2014, unarmed African American Eric Garner was killed in New York City; police accused him of unlawfully selling cigarettes and held him in a chokehold despite the fact that he told the officer 'I can't breathe' eleven times before he died. None of the officers involved were convicted of any wrongdoing. On March 13, 2020, Breonna Taylor, a twenty-six year-old African American woman was shot and killed in her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky by police officers executing a 'no-knock' warrant; she was unarmed and not accused of committing any crime. No officer has been charged in her death.

"The extrajudicial killing of African Americans by police officers in the United States constitutes such a pervasive and widespread pattern that White Americans have been emboldened to act as vigilantes. In 2012, seventeen-year-old African American Trayvon Martin, who was unarmed and not committing any crime and was shot and killed by a 'neighborhood watchman.' On February 23, 2020, unarmed twenty-five-year-old African American Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed by White men while jogging in a Georgia neighborhood. He was committing no crime and evidence revealed that his killers acted on some apparent authority from local law enforcement.

"On June 1, 2020 President Donald Trump addressed the nation and asserted that he would protect citizens' second amendment rights, or right to bear arms. Shortly following this statement, Sheriff Grady Judd in Polk County, Florida issued the following statement: 'The people in Polk County like guns...if you try to break into their homes to steal, to set fires, I'm highly recommending they blow you back out of the house with their guns.' We believe that such statements from authorities further incite vigilante behavior and incite extrajudicial killings of African Americans by police and citizens.

"The United States of America's failure to appropriately respond to and address police violence and extrajudicial killings of persons of African descent constitutes an abridgement of their human rights.

"We urgently request that you support our call for the United States and its state and local governments to:

1) Seek full justice for Mr. George Floyd with all officers involved being charged with 1st degree murder; we further call for systemic changes including but not limited to:

3) end provision of military equipment to, and military-type training of police;

5) establish civilian review boards to aid in the pursuit of justice for victims;

6) mandate the use of body cameras for all police officers and the immediate release of video footage and audio recordings following incidents involving police killings;

9) increase restrictions on no-knock warrants and use of non-uniformed police in citizen interactions;
10) establish an independent commission to review, investigate, prosecute and conduct independent autopsies in all police extrajudicial killings;

11) immediately implement and follow recommendations made by special procedures of the United Nations that ensure the United States upholds its human rights obligations, including in the context of policing and the elimination of racism."

Actions Across the U.S., Canada and
Around the World, June 7-13

United States

Minneapolis, Minnesota

June 7, 2020

The statue of Christopher Columbus is removed from the Minnesota Capitol Building, June 10, 2020, under police guard.

June 11, 2020

Washington, DC

George Floyd's brother testifies in front of Congressional hearing, June 10, 2020.

The temporary fencing erected to keep protesters away from the White House has been covered with posters and signs. On June 11, 2020 some sections of the fence start to be dismantled by Park Service crews.

Hamden, Connecticut

Boston, Massachusetts

Dover, Delaware

New York City

Health care workers at the New York Presbyterian Hospital honour George Floyd,
June 11, 2020.

Brooklyn, New York

Romulus, Michigan

Ohio

Louisville, Kentucky

Vigil and balloon release held to mark Breonna Taylor's birthday -- she would have turned 27 on June 5, 2020. Breonna was killed by Louisville police in her home in March.

Charlotte, North Carolina

Charleston, South Carolina

Rome, Georgia

Columbia, Missouri

Little Rock, Arkansas

Prairie Village, Kansas

Houston, Texas

George Floyd's funeral takes place in Houston, June 9, 2020.

Phoenix, Arizona

Tempe, Arizona

Los Angeles, California

Mass rally outside City Hall, June 7, 2020.

Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union working on the west coast stop work and lay down their toolson the morning of June 9, 2020, for an 8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence in memory of George Floyd and all victims of police brutality. Meanwhile, their counterparts at ports from the Gulf coast to east coast from Texas to Maine stop work for a "peaceful protest hour."

Defund police rally, June 10, 2020.

Bay Area, California

Meeting calls for police to be removed from Bay Area school classrooms.

Tracy, California

California Nurses Association stand with Black Lives Matter, June 10, 2020.

Victor, Idaho

Eugene, Oregon

Seattle, Washington

Youth occupy Seattle City Hall for an hour, June 9, 2020, calling for the Mayor to resign for the city's actions in tear gassing those protesting George Floyd's killing.

Hawaii

Anchorage, Alaska

Juneau; Nome, Alaska

Utqiagvik, Alaska

Canada

Montreal, QC

Halifax, NS

Charlottetown, PEI

Toronto, ON

Mississauga, ON

Niagara Falls, ON

Windsor, ON

Thunder Bay, ON

Vancouver, BC

Around the World

Bristol, England

Statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, is toppled from its plinth and rolled into the river, June 7, 2020.

London, England

July 10, 2020

A statue of stave trader Robert Milligan is removed from outside the Museum of London Docklands on June 9, 2020. London Mayor Sadiq Khan earlier announced a review of all of the city's statues and street names, saying any with links to slavery "should be taken down."

Brussels, Belgium

Protestors at anti-racism rallies in Belgium have been demanding the removal of statues of King Leopold, responsible for colonizing the Congo. During the June 7, 2020 protest in Brussels, some climbed on his statue with a giant flag of the Democratic Republic of Congo, chanting "murderer" and "reparations." A statue of King Leopold in Antwerp has since been removed.

Dusseldorf, Germany

Paris, France

Madrid, Spain

Barcelona, Spain

Palestine

(Photos: TML, Xinhua, I. Omar, Unicorn riot, T. Eytan, A. Duarte, J. Farmer, H. Taylor, D. Cram, F. Davis, A. Quintano, Sieu 1199, K. Ives, Ohio Freedom Coalition, Office Congresswoman A.S. Adams, Southern Workers Assembly, C. Lao, Queen of Pweebs, Indivisible LRCA, D. Ferguson, Shawn in Arizona, D. ExDesign, Youth Justice Coalition, ILWU Dispatch, People's City Council, B. Anderson, California Nurses Assn, Diablo Rising Tide, D. Geitgey, J. Rosenblum, I. Quai, Z. Pratt, Frankfurt Schoolgirl, A. Querry, D. Balcon, Ebony, R. Jensen, X. Cameron, Civic U.S. Alliance, T. Nguyen, J. Burch, J. Hurst-Morrison, L. Herrera, W. White.)

March in Louisville, Kentucky, June 12, 2020, where police recently shot and killed Breonna Taylor while she was sleeping at home.

Demands for Community Control of the Police, George, Jamar & All Stolen Lives!