money.power.land.solidarity.

As the anniversary of the 1934 Minneapolis General Strike approaches, and as the people search for tools in our battle against fascism, we sat down the the FirewithFire blog to discuss thier piece The Big Break: General Strikes in the Past and Present. This interview offers an introductory sweep of General Strikes in U.S. history, labor history and some recent international examples of general strikes that may be instructive.

*Producer Isaac is out of town, forgive the dimished audio quality on this one.

We sat down with author of As Public As Possible: Radical Finance for America's Public Schools David Backer with the intention of gaining a better understanding of how our public schools are (under)funded today in capitalist America and how we can take control of that finance to create the schools we deserve. We talk about local property tax, the role of private credit and Wall Street in public school debt and some near term changes that familis and educators can fight for.

Big shout out ot Minneapolis Families for Public Schools for the book recommendation.

We might have a few more drops for you this summer, stay tuned:)

We are joined by South Minneapolis neighbor and emergency room doctor in training Jamey Sharp to talk about the financial crisis facing HCMC (Henneppin County Medical Center), which is facing imminent closure if nothing is done. Beyond the accute crisis facing HCMC we discuss the chronic crisis of health care in capitalist America, the interlocking nature of the attacks on health care and education and the power of our community to transform these systems for the better.

Urgent - https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/save-hcmc - sign the petition to save HCMC and contact your state lawmaker this week!

We continue our coverage of the resistance to Minneapolis Public Schools cuts to staffing and student services in the wake of Operation Metro Surge by focusing in on our powerful and crucial performing arts programs that are on the chopping block. Long time Social Justice Theatre teacher Crystal Spring sat down to talk us through her two decades of work in Minneapolis Public Schools, the power of art and expression, how theatre and culture helped our students through Covid, the George Floyd Uprising and Operation Metro Surge and the devestating cuts to performing arts being proposed by the district.

This episode opens with a clip from South high sophmore Ramsha testifying to the power of her theatre classes at the May 6th day of action for public eduation at the state capital organized by Minneapolis Families for Public Schools.

This episode ends with a poem I (jake) wrote in late February.

UPDATE: Our organizing is making an impact! Last week MPS announced a reversal to all the proposed cuts to the Adult Ed program we talked about two weeks ago, as well as an additional 10 Million to K-12 education that will save some jobs of Education Support Professionals. This is good, but not nearly enough!

In the third installment of our emergent series covering the mass layoffs and budget cuts by Minneapolis Public Schools in the wake of Operation Metro Surge we sit down with multi-lingual ESPs Felix Pablo Muñoz and Jules Barivan who both had their jobs cut this year after standing shoulder to shoulder with thier students in resistance to ICE. Tune in to the hard faught wisom these rank and file educators share and keep your eyes and ears open for action opportunities as MPS moves to finalize thier budget in the next month.

See you in the streets on May 1st!

We continue our coverage of the aggressive budget and staffing cuts proposed by Minneapolis Public Schools in the wake of Operation Metro Surge by sitting down with 3 Rank and File educators from the Adult Eduaction program. The proposed cuts hit Adult Ed particularily hard, eliminating the jobs of 1/2 of thier teachers and all of thier Somali speaking support staff. Said Hassan, Ashley Zimmerman and Amy Elliott join us to talk about how thier school community supported each other during the invasion of our city, the importance of Adult Ed and thier demands of the school district.

Follow Save Adult Education Minneapolis to support thier organizing

Check out this recent reporting on the dysfunction in the MPS finance department - which makes these cuts all the more grotesque

https://minnesotareformer.com/2026/04/14/minneapolis-schools-withheld-money-from-employee-health-plan-account-for-10-months/

https://sahanjournal.com/education/minneapolis-public-schools-finance-leaders-shakeup-missing-funds/

During Operation Metro Surge Minneapolis Public Schools became powerful hubs of organizing, mutual aid and community. In the immediate wake of the draw down of Operation Metro Surge Minneapolis Public Schools announced massive budget cuts that are another form of attack on the same communties that were in the crosshairs of I.C.E. On today's episode we talk with rank and file educator Kate Percuco about her experience during Operation Metro Surge and her thoughts on these proposed cuts to vital student services.

Keep an eye on this feed and social media for more reporting on this struggle and for opportunities to get involved.

The Money Power Land Solidarity Podcast is brought to you by producor Issaac Specktor, social media and back of the house organizer Diana Seegal - Garcia and host @G.P.jacob.

Rent Control Radio episode 4 is here! On ep 4 the M.P.L.S. team walks through the final recommendations from the Rent Stabilization Working Group, which includes a surprisingly strong policy framework, and returning guest Tram Hoang joins us to familiarize us with some rent control struggles happening across the nation and we also have some great listener voicemails sprinkled in.

On today's episode we have the pleasure of talking with Saxaphonist, Educator and Activist Jose Antonio Zayas Caban. Jose gives us a window into his upbringing in Puerto Rico and move to the Midwest, his Grammy nominated collaboration El Pais Invisible, US colonialism and more. You can here the enitre extended interview where we dive into Jose's activism, including his participation in the Minneapolis Rent Stabilization Working Group and his work on the Bring Back 6th campaign with Open Streets MN on our Patreon.

Check out all of Jose Antonio Zayas Caban's incredible work on his website.

This episode contains clips from Estaciones Porteñas and Un Tom Para Jobim, both tracks from the forth coming El Pais Invisible album.

The landlord class was able to successfully snipe Jake with the migraine laser this month, but have no fear because Issac, Diana, B and Erin are back on episode 3 of Rent Control Radio to bring us up to speed on Minneapolis Rent Stablization working group meetings. We start and end this episode with voicemails from the Rent Control Radio hotline and we also have the live audio recording of the Minneapolis United For Rent Control direct action from the November 17th meeting (at just about the one hour mark).

Sign MURCs petition for a strong Rent Control

612-424-2512 Call the Rent Control Radio hotline with your thoughts on Rent Control, your landlord, housing in general, really anything you want!

support us on Patreon so we can afford to self medicate after attending these incredibly tedious meetings