Zenith City Indivisible Updates
2025-08-20
Greetings
In this newsletter you will find information about:
News & Analysis
- Learn more about Flock & ICE
- U.S. profoundly changed by authoritarian leader
- How to Counter Right-Wing Disinformation
Inspiration:
Action Items & Events
Bridge Brigade Fridays
- When:
- Fridays, 4:30–5:30pm
- Where:
- Bridge at 25th Street East
(park behind Perkins)
Bring a sign. Everyone welcome.
Defend Democracy!
I-35 Bridge Rally
Forest Lake to Duluth!
- When:
- Friday, August 29
"If we want Democracy to flourish, we will have to fight for it."
— Barack Obama
Forest Lake
- When:
- 4:30–5:30pm
- Where:
- 11th Ave and Broadway Bridges
- Presented by:
- Indivisible Brigade
Chisago Lakes Area
- When:
- 4:30–5:30pm
- Where:
- Wyoming and North Branch Bridges
Pine and Kanabec County
- When:
- 4:30–5:30pm
- Where:
- Pine City County Road 7, Exit 169
- Presented by:
- Blue Brigade
Cloquet Area
- When:
- 5:00–6:00pm
- Where:
- Moose Lake and Esko Bridges
- Presented by:
- Cloquet Area Indivisible
Duluth
- When:
- 4:30–5:30pm
- Where:
- 35th Avenue West pedestrian bridge — Duluth 50501
16th Avenue East pedestrian bridge — Good Trouble Indivisible
25th Avenue East pedestrian bridge — Zenith City Indivisible
Feed Gaza/Free Palestine Hwy Banner Project
Hosted by the Northwoods Socialist Collective
- When
- Thursday, August 21, 5:00pm
- Where
- Overpass by the M&H gas station
Organize in Solidarity
a 5-week training series on organizing our communities to resist ICE
from SURJ
- When:
- Tuesdays, Starting August 26, 7:00-8:45pm (CDT)
- Where:
- Online
"The 5-week solidarity organizing training program is focused on getting you the information, skills, and support you need to take action in your community right now to do something about the Trump regime's terror campaign of brutality. Over the course of five weeks of training and coaching you will learn how to connect to, and speak from the heart about, why it matters to act courageously and stand in solidarity, to make a plan to speak to your peers and recruit them to join you, to run a campaign to make institutions in your life places of solidarity, and to stand up for your immigrant neighbors."
Ongoing
Immigrant dignity rally & sign holding
Duluth Anti-ICE, anti-deportations pro-immigrant dignity rally
- When
- Every Wednesday, noon–1pm
- Where
- 60th Ave E & Superior Street
Duluth Hilltop weekly protest
- When:
- Every Tuesday 4:30–6:00 pm
- Where:
- 230 East Skyline Pkwy
Protest map below. Green parking. Purple Protest site. Red no parking on church property.
News
Thousands join US ‘Fight the Trump Takeover' protests against Republican redistricting plans
Protests against redrawing of electoral maps in Texas and other states take place in 34 US states on Saturday
from the Guardian
"'Texas House Democrats are blocking a redistricting vote in the Texas House right now to Stop the Trump Takeover,' a website for the protests says. 'But Trump has made it clear that he's not stopping at Texas. He's targeting Missouri, Ohio, Florida and every state he can twist to help him steal Congress.'"
Surveillance Company Flock Now Using AI to Report Us to Police if it Thinks Our Movement Patterns Are 'Suspicious'
from the ACLU
"The police surveillance company Flock has built an enormous nationwide license plate tracking system, which streams records of Americans' comings and goings into a private national database that it makes available to police officers around the country. The system allows police to search the nationwide movement records of any vehicle that comes to their attention. That's bad enough on its own, but the company is also now apparently analyzing our driving patterns to determine if we're 'suspicious.' That means if your police start using Flock, they could target you just because some algorithm has decided your movement patterns suggest criminality."
Agencies that use License Plate Readers (LPR)
from Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (MN)
"This page contains information provided by Minnesota law enforcement agencies about their use of License Plate Reader (LPR) technology. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) publishes this information on the BCA website as required by Minnesota law."
Surveillance locations in St. Louis County
Flock Camera Locations
- Co. Rd. 7 S/B @ Co. Rd. 133 (Meadowlands, MN)
- Midway Rd. N/B @ Seville Rd. (Hermantown, MN)
- Lavaque Rd. S/B @ Martin Rd. (Duluth, MN)
- Co. Rd. 7 N/B @ Co. Rd. 101 (Iron, MN)
- Rice Lake Rd N/B @ Martin Rd. (Duluth, MN)
- Co. Rd. 21 S/B @ Wahlsten Rd. (Embarrass, MN)
- Co. Rd. 4 N/B @ Co. Rd. 16 (Aurora, MN)
- US Hwy 53 S/B @ MN 194 (Duluth, MN)
- Co. Rd. 77 N/B @ Lost Lake Rd (Tower, MN)
- US Hwy 5 S/B @ Hobson Lake Rd. (Hibbing, MN)
Minnesota sheriff's departments seek to cooperate with ICE
from Minnesota Post
"While Minnesota has been derided as a ‘sanctuary' by the Trump administration, seven counties have agreed to help implement federal immigration law."
U.S. profoundly changed by authoritarian leader; 'We're beyond waiting and seeing now'
Thanks to a new contributor!
from Rachel Maddow
"Rachel Maddow points out that the thing most Americans were dreading has come to pass, and the United States has changed profoundly in only six months of authoritarian rule. "We have a consolidating dictatorship in our country." With freedoms likely to continue to be curtailed in deference to Donald Trump's power, that means Americans have the most tools for democratic resistance right now."
Fighting the Firehose (part 2)
How to Counter Right-Wing Disinformation Without Playing Their Game
"The modern right's media strategy is built on volume, speed, emotion, and repetition.
"It borrows from Russian propaganda playbooks, supercharges them with American capitalism, and distributes it through everything from podcasts to Facebook groups to memes. It's powered by think tanks, billionaire donors, fringe influencers, and culture war entrepreneurs.
"The goal isn't to persuade people logically — it's to shape the entire information environment. To confuse, demoralize, distract, and isolate."
So how do we fight back?
"Not by shouting into the void. Not by trying to fact-check every lie. But by using strategic, tested, and community-driven techniques - many drawn from how Eastern European democracies pushed back against Russian disinformation without becoming authoritarian themselves."
Inspirations
Signs of Solidarity
Canvassing Toolkit
from NO Kings
"When businesses and communities stand together, we send a powerful message: immigrants are essential and welcome here. This guide will help you organize locally, engage business owners, and build visible, united resistance.
"Download our printable signs — one designates a private area for employees that ICE cannot enter without a judicial warrant, and others show public solidarity with immigrants. Print them, bring them to businesses, and help send a clear message that our community stands together against fear and intimidation."
Use the following link to download your choice of high-resolution posters.
A Model for Successful Resistance
Free DC models effective resistance to Trump's takeover
from Waging Nonviolence
"Washington, D.C. residents' rapid response to Trump's National Guard deployment is a masterclass in how to prepare for crises and fight authoritarianism...
"On Monday, President Donald Trump ordered 800 National Guard troops to the nation's capital — a move Princeton University professor Khalil Gibran Muhammad described as 'a slide towards fascism' and 'textbook' authoritarianism. Claiming emergency powers from the D.C. Home Rule Act, Trump also announced a takeover of the Metropolitan Police.
"As is typical with authoritarians, the pretense for these orders was an invented crime emergency...
"Free DC made clear, 'No single event or protest will fix this. What works is disciplined, connected organizing.' And they are already showing the way forward."
New data shows No Kings was one of the largest days of protest in US history
The historic number of No Kings Day protesters and their expansive geographic spread are signs of a growing and durable pro-democracy movement.
from Waging Nonviolence
"No Kings Day on June 14 was one of the largest single days of protest in United States history, and it was probably the second-largest single day demonstration since Donald Trump first took office in January 2017. The number of participants and expansive geographic spread that day are both signs of the persistent popular opposition to the second Trump administration."
ICE Resistance Information Expands
The amount of information and examples of successful resistance has expanded considerable. We have attempted to compile some of the available materials on our website.
Know Your Rights & Rapid Response
Forms of Resistance and Reasons to Believe It's Working
from Heather Cox Richardson
"We are entering a period, I believe, where you are seeing both Trump and the people around him him trying to cement as much power as it is possible to do as quickly as they can because they see that it's crumbling."