At 1pm on January 28th, people working in solidarity with the Occupy movement will participate in a day of action that includes a march and the opening of a predetermined abandoned building for a dance party and food-share. This event will coincide with a similar event in Oakland, and other solidarity actions around the country. The march will begin at Stevens Square Park in Minneapolis.
In an environment in which property is cut up and manipulated by those with money and power, we are forced to recognize that our homes are not ours and our community centers are not either.
People are struggling. People are being thrown out of their homes, they cannot pay the rent, and are forced to compete with, rather than provide for, their neighbors. People are gasping for air under this stifling system driven by the profit motive and the militant defense of property over people.
Given the circumstances, it is necessary to empower individuals and communities to break down the physical and social borders which are responsible for the current paradigm. By assembling and standing in solidarity with one another, this community will occupy an unused and decaying building for just this day to demonstrate that people have the power to reclaim and liberate spaces.
The idea of reclaiming and liberating space has taken root. It is happening in the community gardens of Detroit, the bottom up rebuilding projects of post-Katrina New Orleans, the recent public square occupations around the world, and by people finding shelter and community in vacant structures everywhere. As in all of these places, the power exists within the people of Minneapolis to create positive and joyous action out of abandonment and dis-empowerment.