Students across the Twin Cities walked out of school virtually every day of the week after Renee Good’s murder. Shutting down schools was an important part of building this mass movement that quickly led to the city-wide general strike on January 23. As we go to print, Minneapolis students are calling for more walkouts on January 30, and to expand the strike across the country. The Minneapolis general strike was a historic escalation in the anti-Trump movement, but to shut down ICE we need another strike—and bigger.
If the leaders of the labor movement are dragging their feet on organizing strike action, then rank-and-file union members and the broader movement need to apply pressure. For students this means going all-out for walkouts on January 30 and beyond, and using these actions to call on the labor movement to join us in a bigger nationwide general strike that shuts down profits.
Young people are at the forefront of the crises of the capitalist system. We face imperialist wars, climate change, and grim job prospects despite crippling student debt. Meanwhile, ICE and CBP get $170 billion to terrorize our streets and immigrant neighbors. We call to kick ICE out of every city, abolish ICE, and use that money to fully fund public schools, free public college, forgive student debt, and more!
Students in Socialist Alternative organized actions in solidarity with the January 23 strike. Below are two reports from students on the ground:
University of Washington
On January 23rd, Socialist Alternative and UAW 4121 (the campus grad student and researcher union) coordinated a walkout and sick-out at the University of Washington in Seattle. We proposed the walkout to the union’s membership meeting, convincing the union to mobilize their members to it because an injury to one is an injury to all! As a result, nearly 200 UW students and staff gathered in solidarity with the Minneapolis strike to demand ICE leave our communities. A Socialist Alternative member spoke about the need for workers and students to work together, and a student organizer talked about building rapid response networks to know when ICE invades our communities.
A teaching assistant, who was a DACA recipient, also spoke about their recent unjust firing by UW for being unable to submit their work authorization in time. With the Trump administration threatening to overturn even birthright citizenship, being fired by UW threatened both their livelihood and their tuition coverage. We knew that the only thing UW admin listens to is organized action, and planned a walkout in coordination with the January 23rd Minneapolis strike to demand the reinstatement of the TA. This was a critical first step in building the fight to defend this TA and fightback against attacks on immigrants everywhere!
Yale University
The week before January 23, Socialist Alternative members at Yale reached out across campus to gauge interest in a student walkout. The response was striking—one of my roommates who had never been to a protest before ran up to me at lunch asking when the walkout was. We organized quickly and creatively, securing endorsements from other campus activist groups, but even non-political groups like the rock climbing team. We hung up posters all over campus, handed out flyers, and made announcements in our classes.
The action was electric, with 50 students walking out on less than a day’s notice. Protesters came in on the open mic about the fear of ICE in their family and community.
In my first-ever speech, I said, “If ICE comes to campus, students, and workers need to walk out and the unions need to call for a strike against ICE. That’s how we get ICE off campus, not relying on our millionaire university president, campus police, or either corporate party.”
“Fuck Trump, shut down ICE, organize a general strike!” we chanted, as we marched to the New Haven Green to join a larger 400-strong citywide rally. We channeled students’ deep-seated energy towards the kind of actions we need to build the fight against Trump. When ICE shows up on campus or in our city, students and workers are ready to shut it down!
If you want to get involved with Socialist Alternative on your campus, join here!
