January 2026
Minneapolis: For a Real General Strike!
The Murder of Alex Pretti: “It’s a Question of Power, on Their Side and on Ours”
Speaking to the crowd that rushed to the scene of where ICU nurse Alex Pretti was killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, January 24.
(Internationalist photo)
We print below the remarks by an activist of the Labor
Committee to Defend Immigrants and Class Struggle Education
Workers from New York who spoke from atop a dumpster at an
impromptu protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 24,
on Nicollet Avenue and 26th Street half a block from where
Alex Pretti, a Veterans Administration Intensive Care Unit
nurse, was executed by DHS / Border Patrol agents a few
hours earlier.
A video of the speech can be seen at: https://youtu.be/Urq-SLksrxs
[Crowd chants:] Say it loud, say it clear – immigrants are welcome here!
Can you hear me? Hello – I want to bring some words of solidarity from New York City. Can I bring some words of solidarity from New York City? I’m a teacher, I’m a member of an education union in New York City. I’m not speaking officially on their behalf, I am part of a group called Class Struggle Education Workers.
We saw, yesterday, the many thousands of people that came out to denounce the murder and the terror by the ICE Gestapo here in the Twin Cities and to join our voices as unionists saying ICE Out of Minnesota, now!
And not just ICE, but the Border Patrol – the ICE and Border Patrol Gestapo. In New York City [on January 23], about 15,000 people marched, including many unionists, in solidarity with Minnesota.
But what today seems to be the response of the ICE and Border Patrol Gestapo? It looks like, it seems like, even though the facts are still rolling in – to everyone’s horror, it looks like this execution was their answer. It looks like this execution was their answer to the massive protest that occurred here and in many other places [yesterday].
Memorial for Alex Pretti at the location where he was murdered by federal immigration agents. (LCDI photo)
There is no question of appealing to their morality, sense of humanity or any such thing. What they are showing and keep showing is that it is a question of power – and they seek to use their power and their weapons to terrorize and to silence and to make everyone afraid.
Are you afraid? [Crowd responds: No!] Are you going to let them silence you? [Crowd: No!] Are you going to keep chanting? [Crowd: Yes!] Are you going to keep marching? [Crowd: Yes!] That's good.
[Say his name!] I do not know his name. [Voice from the crowd: They just reported an hour ago, his name was Alex Pretti. He was a nurse who had a permit to carry a gun. He was a 37 year-old white man.] Before coming up here, I asked a bunch of people his name, which they did not know. [Crowd: Say his name!] Alex Pretti! [Crowd chants “Alex Pretti.”] Renee Good! [Crowd: Renee Good!] George Floyd! [Crowd: George Floyd!]
But I want to also talk about those whose names are never mentioned. What about those whose names are never mentioned? What about the at least 40 immigrants who have died in ICE detention? What about them? What about the immigrant who was murdered in detention in Texas [in January], and it was ruled a homicide?
I want to just say two more things, with your permission.
It is a question of power on their side, but it’s also a question of power on our side. What I believe, as a unionist, is urgent is a real general strike, like in 1934 here in Minneapolis, which shut down the city and in which the working class and youth and oppressed people use our power to completely shut it down.
A real general strike, in which the unions go on strike. And in any goddamn strike, there’s two sides: which side are you on is always the question. And the question is to make sure to use our power so our side wins – it is a class struggle.
Internationalists call to bring out workers’ power against ICE at January 24 protest. (Internationalist photo)
The last thing I want to say, is it’s not just the federal repressive forces. It’s the state and the city repressive forces. How many of you were at the airport yesterday? Who did the arrests? [Crowd: The state!] The state of what? [Crowd: Minnesota!] Who are the police that killed George Floyd? [Crowd: MPD! The city!]
Okay. So, who are their bosses, at the state level and the city level? Democratic Party politicians. It is the allegiance to the Democratic Party, the party of genocide in Gaza, the party of racist police terror. It is that allegiance by the unions and social movements that keeps the unions’ power chained. We need to unchain that power. Speaking for myself, I think that that means not only a genuine general strike here and mass strikes elsewhere, but a revolutionary workers party. I am a supporter of the Internationalist Group. Thank you. [Crowd chanting: ICE OUT!]