Duluth for Justice and Liberation

05/19/2026

Over the past weeks there has been controversy during the MN legislative session over gun control bills, such as HF3874/SF4067. The bills, if passed, would have included a ban on the sale of semiautomatic military-style assault weapons and magazines over 17 rounds. As Socialists, we support the ownership of these tools by the Workers. This is because we do not envision a future where capitalism will be reformed away, as the social democrats and liberals who support these measures might. We know that the fight to end capitalism will be decades long and require every tool at our disposal. By examining history, we know that giving the fascist imperium a monopoly on violence is a horrible idea when our goal is the complete abolition of capitalism in this land.

As socialists, it has been frustrating for us to sit between the two sides of this debate: Social Democrats and Liberals (our supposed allies) want to deprive The People of one of that tools that make revolution possible. They have an extremely short memory on the subject, as just a few months ago we saw images of the People holding down city blocks with fi****ms in Minneapolis while the police and national guard did nothing but help ICE enforce their reign of terror on the city.

On the other hand, we have conservatives and fascists who are against these laws for wholly different reasons from us: When Alex Pretti was executed in the streets by an ICE thug, these same fascists were winging over the fact that he was carrying a pistol while defending the lives and freedoms of his neighbors. These fascists desire for firearm ownership only extends as far as it advances an agenda of fascism and white supremacy. We can see this pattern repeated in history when California, under the governorship of Ronald Reagan, passed strict firearm laws in order to suppress the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.

We cannot ignore the violence that has lead us to this debate. School shootings and other forms of violence are abhorrent, and are a sign of social decay under capitalism. We must fight for concessions for the Workers that will make healthcare, crisis intervention, and safe firearm storage more accessible for all Workers. But we must never forget that We Keep Us Safe. Not the police, not the capitalist state (no matter how outwardly progressive).

As Socialists, we believe that All Power belongs to The People, and that all of our efforts must go towards increasing that power, not decreasing it. For these reasons, we do not support the surrender of fi****ms to the capitalist state.

05/15/2026

Pushing for warrantless searches for existing grandfathered in gun owners is a huge contradiction when we just fought the state over ICEs extrajudicial killings and terror in the streets with those same fi****ms…and they were doing warrantless searches too.

Gun bans that only target aesthetic features, rather than the actual mechanics of the gun, are meaningless anyway. What really matters is not banning guns, but imposing red flag laws, more extensive background checks and restrictions for people with violent histories, a more comprehensive application process for open/concealed carrying, and actually addressing social decline, poverty, and meeting people’s needs by expanding access to social services and mental healthcare.

RIGHT NOW: A sit-in over gun legislation is underway at the Capitol. Duluth Rep. Liish Kozlowski is leading it and it’s likely to last 36+ hours.

Just before 9 p.m. a vote to take up gun legislation failed on a 67-67 vote. It was followed by Rep. Kozlowski saying they will begin a sit-in until the next gavel-in, which is noon Saturday. “Until we hold a vote, we will sit.”

Then, when a Republican member tried holding what they called a moment of honor for Annunciation victims, some DFL members started chanting “hold that vote.” Speaker DeMuth gaveled out.

We’ll show you the dramatic end to the day and remarks from Rep. Kozlowski on the Northern News Now at 10 on channel 6.

05/15/2026

05/14/2026

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

The people of Superior are tired of fear, silence, and unanswered questions.

In less than 5 months, our community has witnessed multiple police shootings, and people are demanding accountability. We are coming together to stand up against unnecessary violence, abuse of power, and the way some members of the Superior Police Department treat members of this community.

Badges should never protect misconduct, excessive force, or deadly actions without accountability.

The shooting of Dave Menton has left this community heartbroken and angry. Many people have serious concerns about changing stories, missing footage, deleted evidence allegations, and why the officer involved remains on paid leave while the investigation continues.

We refuse to stay silent.

We are demanding:
✊ Full transparency
✊ Independent investigation
✊ Release of all available evidence
✊ Accountability for misconduct
✊ Better treatment of community members
✊ Real change before more lives are lost

📍 Location: outside of police department/ court house
Bring signs, candles, pictures, and your voice.

JUSTICE. ACCOUNTABILITY. CHANGE.

05/12/2026

Justice for David Menton! We must know the truth and we know that cops always lie (lying is woven into police culture and how police unions protect their own).

May his mother’s bravery and strength remain strong through her immense pain and grief. And may her bravery and strength inspire us all to organize as a community to hold our law enforcement accountable, fund alternatives to militarized policing, and put an end to state violence.

05/10/2026

Dear APEX and Rachel Johnson,
Profit does not equal progress and corporations do not bring about prosperity. “Progress” without transparency isn’t progress, it’s damage with better marketing.

We are watching 👀 and we will work to ensure Duluthians negatively associate your parasitic firm whenever they see headlines about it in the future.
-Love, DJL

“…if you want to see an organization that actually represents the oligopolistic ideology, look at APEX. [...] They are a one track org for economic expansion that doesn’t pursue inclusion work, anti-poverty action items, nor do they hold policy positions that advance community prosperity and encourage citizen oversight/engagement.” -A Prominent Duluth Area Business Leader (guess who in the comments section ⬇️…hint: he works for the duluth area chamber of commerce)

05/09/2026

Show up 🗣️‼️ to the Duluth City Council meeting on Monday May 11th at 6pm to publicly out Arik Forsman and demand his resignation!

Forsman has long perched himself on the profit side against the interests of the people. Now Arik can add Google as another of his Oligarch Behemoth Buddies, along with BlackRock Capital. One might rationally ask how Forsman can justly serve two diametrically opposed bodies, International Capitalism and Duluth’s working people? Whose interests are ultimately served by this Faustian bargain? Spoiler alert: not ours!

From supporting NTEC, to selling off our public land to DEDA, to fighting against democratic rights for his constituents, to undermining the potential for municipal broadband service, to voting for more local surveillance, and now to being outed as a lobbyist working on behalf of private equity instead of his constituents, and everywhere in between, this man has always served capital interests over the people’s and has long over-served his time in elected office and needs to be removed.

05/09/2026

Big time commercial real estate broker in the Twin Ports region with a huge huge asset portfolio that is now speculating on locations and developers planning AI data centers.

These people carry no shame when they sell us and the planet out for profit. Why aren’t they more focused on real community oriented and human-driven development?

Greg Follmer, a commercial real estate developer out of Duluth, is eyeing Silver Brook Township as one of three possible locations for a new AI data center.