In “Homage to Catalonia”, his book about the Spanish civil war, George Orwell wrote about turning up in Barcelona and sensing revolution everywhere. Arriving in Minneapolis in mid-January, ten days after the killing of Renée Good and a week before that of Alex Pretti, I got a small sense of how he must have felt.

Walking downtown, I saw a group of protesters come past me carrying signs, bicycle helmets and gas masks. On almost every lamppost and bus shelter there were flyers denouncing Donald Trump and his administration’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Cars had similar signs affixed to their rear windows. Graffiti reading “Fuck ICE” covered every patch of bare wall. Virtually all independent businesses had signs in the window saying federal agents were not allowed in. Almost everyone seemed to be involved in the resistance.