By Richard Mellor in California
The murder of Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a member of local 366g of the AFGE union in Minneapolis, by Trump’s neo-fascist militia (ICE), has forced some important figures atop organised labour to speak out.
Pretti was shot some ten times while helping another person who was shoved to the ground by an ICE Agent. He was in possession of a firearm but never took it from its holster or threatened the ICE officer with it. It should be pointed out, especially for readers abroad, that Minnesota is an ‘open carry’ state which means Pretti had a legal, constitutional, right to carry a firearm.
Pretti was shot after he was disarmed, and as he was pinned to the ground by numerous ICE Agents. He was shot in the back. I don’t need to go into detail here, but we have seen the videos and this is in my mind murder and not the first murder by these masked thugs.
Pretti’s murder comes after the murder of Renee Good, who was shot three times by an ICE Agent as she was in her car. The third shot to the head was the one that killed her.
The heroic defence of our democratic rights, of immigrant rights and of the US constitutional right to protest by the people of Minneapolis has been lauded throughout the world, not just in the US. If there is anything that makes Americans feel proud to be American, it is the people of Minneapolis and Minnesota. What they have faced, and are clearly winning, is a war against a neo-fascist regime in Washington that is intent on driving the US working class back to an era before the rise of the CIO in the 1930s.
Lives have been lost in this battle that is being fought for all of us.
The people of Minneapolis put the Trump Administration on the defensive and Trump has removed the head of Border Patrol, Greg Bovino, apparently not pleased with his handling of the Pretti murder. Trump is also sending border czar Tom Homan who also held the position under Obama who himself was referred to as the “Deporter in Chief”. There are also calls for Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, to be impeached.
As far as the statements from AFL-CIO head, Liz Schuler, and National Union of Building Trades head, Sean McGarvey, go, we have to take them with a grain of salt and see them within the context of the massive resistance to the Trump
State violence and resistance on the ground
Administration’s action by the people of Minneapolis.
I have included both statements (see insets). McGarvey refers to Nancy Pelosi as a “working-class warrior” and is very closely allied with management in the ‘Team Concept’ that is such a disaster for working people and all union members…which gives us a little insight in to his world view.
The state violence, but more importantly, the resistance on the ground in Minneapolis has not only backed off the state somewhat, it has forced these conservative trade union leaders to say something. But for those of us who have spent years active in the trade union movement, we are used to weak statements like these from the labour hierarchy. They are crafted in a way they cannot be opposed, but will amount to nothing.
The statement from Sean McGarvey, the president of NABTU, is very similar to Liz Schuler’s statement as head of the AFL-CIO in that they “mourn the senseless killing” of another Minneapolis resident.
“America’s unions” he writes, “join the call for ICE to immediately leave Minnesota before anyone else is hurt or killed. We demand local authorities conduct a full, transparent investigation that will lead to accountability for this tragic and violent act, and for Congress to use its power to hold ICE accountable.”
Supporting the demand for independent investigation and accountability from congress is safe and of course we would support it, but it is not enough.
Young workers in particular should consider that there are 14 million members in organised labour. The North American Building Trades Unions have three million workers affiliated to it, most of them members of the AFL-CIO. These workers alone have the economic power to shut down the US economy.
It is without doubt true that from the George Floyd murder to the present resistance to ICE, the folks on the ground in Minneapolis have learned a great deal and honed their skills in dealing with this type of state repression. They have developed methods of communication, of how and when to appear and how to warn each area of impending danger and so on.
I am not there personally, so can only speculate, but as a person who has been involved in some serious strikes and community battles, we learn a lot in these struggles.
The need to spread the protests and activity to other cities and other areas of the country is crucial. My guess is, they already have them in Minneapolis, or they are in formation as the days go on, but community defense committees have to be expanded.
As a friend pointed out to me today, many of those activists on the ground in Minneapolis are union members, and it is crucial we take this struggle into our unions and build these defence organizations, community and organised labor together.
Those of who have been around a while are well aware that the labour hierarchy will not use the resources at their disposal to take this path, or help spread the resistance to the present administration’s violence, beyond the harmless statements included here. They will, as they usually do, temper an independent movement of the working class and direct it into the Democratic Party.
Regardless of the immediate outcome, the Trump Administration has been given a bloody nose, and the people of Minneapolis have brought to the fore some of the great radical traditions of the US working class.
From the US socialist website, Facts for Working People, the original is here.
[Feature photograph is from the mass demonstration in Minneapolis on the day of the very successful city-wide general strike on January 23, against ICE. From Wikimedia Commons, here]
