Northwoods Socialist Collective

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Local Activists Take On Government Surveillance

The City of Duluth has announced that it will not be renewing its contract with Flock when it expires on September 7. Flock is a private corporation that installs surveillance cameras in communities and then sells the data. The Duluth Police Department had been using its Flock contract for reading license plates. The announcement comes on the heals of a growing public backlash against increased government surveillance, and the abuse of this technology (for example, there have numerous documented instances of police around the country stalking their exes with these cameras). Citizens have turned out at city council meetings, and some even took matters into their own hands and destroyed six of Flock's nine cameras in Duluth. Similar waves of camera destruction have taken place in Winona MN and Milwaukee WI recently. Back in July, after a similar community outpouring of opposition, the Minneapolis City Council opted not to sign a contract with the Israeli comp...

MN Groups Unite to Defend Anti-ICE Protesters Victimized by Government

A broad coalition of civil society groups responded with a call to unity in the face of reports that the Trump administration’s Department of Justice may have investigated without reason and engaged in surveillance of community and labor groups who helped organize tens of thousands of Minnesotans to peacefully defend their neighbors and constitutional rights during the lawless, chaotic ICE and CBP operation that terrorized countless Minnesotans. These organizations were engaged in the broad, peaceful civic response that brought hundreds of thousands of us together to protect our neighbors and our constitutional rights. Amid the continued weaponization of the Justice Department, we still have zero accountability for the ICE and CBP agents who terrorized countless Minnesotans and murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti in broad daylight. Even then, they tried to lie about what happened despite video evidence. Today, groups representing Minnesotans across parties and places, rac...

Panel Discussion on Student Activism in the Northwoods

This past Wednesday, student and community activists came together to for a panel discussion on campus organizing. This was the first in a series of online meetings designed for college and high school activists from the Northwoods to come together to network, talk about their experiences and share lessons from their organizing. This first panel featured students from the Changemakers Club at Lake Superior College and from the LatinX Student Union at the College of St. Scholastica. It was chaired by a student from the University of MN and questions and comments were shared from community activists from the Northwoods Socialist Collective (who hosted the event), Duluth UNIDIOS and Veterans for Peace. Sam from LSC Changemakers gave a how to guide on how they set up this new club, along with useful tips about how campus groups can make decisions and keep everyone informed. He also summarized the groups work around raising funds and awareness about the WE Health Cent...

Steelworkers Protest Essentia's Failure to Care for Their Workers

On July 30, approximately 250 workers and community members picketed in front of Essentia Health's St. Mary Hospital in Duluth from 1 to 6pm. The informational picket was organized by United Steelworkers Local 9460, and was held as part of their contract fight over Essentia on behalf of 850+ tech workers. Below is a statement by the union's negotiating committee that summarizes where negotiations are at. The union and company are slated to go back to the table in early August, with the assistance of a federal mediator. Union statement: Some of you will ask: if mediation is coming, why picket first? Here's the answer. A mediator has no authority to impose terms on anyone. What moves negotiations is both sides arriving ready to settle — and Essentia understanding that our members are united behind our proposals. We picket before mediation so that message arrives ahead of us. Where wages stand. We opened at 7% per year. We are now at 4.5% per year, with full ...

Summary of the Lester Golf Course Ballot Initiative Fight

A group of awesome activists called Our Park, Our Vote has been working hard to save the public land that used to house the Lester Park Golf Course from private development. They collected enough signatures to bring the issue before the voters, but are now facing a clumsy attempt by the City to block it. We're posting below a great summary of the issue that was written by Hardian DeMaioribus: Wow, the Lester Golf Course debacle drags on. This has been an atrocious political effort by the City: - After Right to Repair passes by ballot initiative, Mayor Reinert writes to City Council recommending the City Charter be amended to remove ballot initiatives. - Going against years of comprehensive planning, the City pushes a fast sale of Lester Golf Course. - City rushes vote after election but before new councilors are seated. - Mayor Reinert + aligned councilors tell councilors they will cut bus service, library staff, and go nuclear on all other priorities unless the...

Climate, Famine & Imperialism: Forgotten Lessons of the El Niño of 1877

Major weather agencies have already confirmed the onset of a super El Niño in 2026, and scientists worldwide are warning of devastating consequences. Many fear that the phenomenon could change the course of the Earth’s climate system. I have a lot to say about the 2026 super El Niño and the impacts it may cause. But in this article, I’m going to discuss the consequences of another super El Niño—the one from 1877—which many point to as the best historical parallel for what may be coming. That weather event triggered one of the greatest human catastrophes in history. It is estimated that more than 30 million people died as a result of the severe famines that struck Asia, Africa, and parts of Latin America. However, there is one fundamental detail: it was not El Niño that killed those people. What turned a drought into a tragedy of colossal proportions was the emergence and expansion of colonial imperialism, which destroyed peasant economies, subordinated entire peoples to the ...