Last Friday, Minnesota business Catzen Coffee wasn’t open for purchases — but it did invite customers in to hang out with cats and find community as part of a statewide economic blackout to protest ramped-up ICE actions.
This Friday, the general strike is going nationwide.
At least that’s the aim of activist groups, unions, and some celebrities who have called for no work, school, or shopping after fatal shootings by immigration officers in recent weeks in Minnesota.
In a post promoting a “National Shutdown,” actor Hannah Einbinder wrote on Instagram that “withholding our labor and capital is our most effective leverage. national general strike spread the word!”
Actor Pedro Pascal shared a graphic of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the two Minnesotans shot by federal agents, that says “Pretti Good Reason For A National Strike,” and posted in support of a larger strike on the 30th.
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It’s unclear how widespread participation in the blackout will be or what impact it may have on ICE operations. A website for the “National Shutdown” lists hundreds of organizations as endorsers.
“Last week’s march brought out tens of thousands of people, lets make this Friday even bigger,” the University of Minnesota Graduate Labor Union wrote in an Instagram post.
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Minnesotans took to the streets and closed businesses on January 23 to protest ICE
The January 23 action in Minnesota was endorsed by a slew of regional labor unions, whose demands included ICE leaving the state and no additional federal funding for the agency.
“Working people, our schools and our communities are under attack. Union members are being detained commuting to and from work, tearing apart families,” Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, the president of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, said in a statement ahead of the January 23 Minnesota strike. “Parents are being forced to stay home, students held out of school, fearing for their lives, all while the employer class remains silent.”
Local news site Bring Me The News compiled a running list of more than 200 businesses that posted on social media about their participation.
In a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said that the Trump administration’s immigration operations “have resulted in countless dangerous criminal illegals being removed from the streets.” Jackson said that will “create a safer environment where all businesses can thrive in the long term and their customers can feel safe.”
Ultimately, thousands of Minnesotans took to the streets on January 23, and an estimated 700 businesses closed their doors in solidarity, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
“I thought the strike was extremely successful. There were so many who participated that it served as a true roadmap for a larger general strike,” Vanessa Beardsley, the owner of Catzen, said of the January 23 strike. “For me personally, there was overwhelming comfort and gratitude that I live in Minnesota and that we are all standing together in this time of history.”