Muslim Community Meeting Takes Up the Call to Stop the Trump-Pence Regime Before It Starts

January 3, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Monday, January 2 a very important meeting brought together over 50 immigrant Muslim community leaders and activists from different organizations in the Chicago area to hear a panel from Refuse Fascism and get organized to stop the Trump-Pence regime before it starts.

Everyone got a copy of the call to action “NO! Inthe Name of Humanity, We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America!” Many people read it as they waited for the program to start. At the end, 30 people signed the group endorsement of the Call.  Urdu media with national and international reach covered the event.

The host, who organized the event, introduced the panel by speaking of the urgency of the situation with the election of Donald Trump. He said the outcome of the election was “not what we expected” and Trump has made clear he is committed to his promise of attacks on our community and other communities. He said the reason he invited RefuseFascism to speak was because “they speak in the name of all humanity… to prevent what WILL happen under Donald Trump.” He cited the facts that Hitler was legally elected, that the Japanese Americans were legally rounded up and put in concentration camps in the U.S. in World War 2, and that the aftermath of 9/11 and the Patriot Act threatened the liberty of all Americans. “We have to act to preserve the institutions that preserve human dignity from collapsing. We can’t do that alone, we have to come together. This group (Refuse Fascism) is doing this because they think it is the right thing to do. These speakers were all born and raised in America but that’s the spirit I have found them taking—everyone working together.” He emphasized the importance of action, and called on everyone to donate to refusefascism.org and organize people to act to stop this fascist regime.

Panelist Rev. Gregg Greer, from the Faith Committee of Refuse Fascism, read from the Call to Action and said “this event tonight is critical.  We have a common bond and face a common threat. If we look at the actions and promises of Trump, he has promised mass deportations of immigrants… Four weeks ago I was on a train in the middle of Indiana when the Border Patrol came on board and pulled people off the train. This was nowhere near the border, and Trump is not even in office, yet this is already happening. We cannot wait to act, we must band together now.”

Dee Williams from the Revolution Club of Chicago emphasized the dangers of fascism and why we have to do everything possible to stop the Trump-Pence regime before it starts. She laid out the PLAN to do this and why mass resistance is the only thing that can stop it, and why you need to be part of it.  She addressed the real fear that people feel, and called on people to find their courage and act decisively, that it will make all the difference for humanity if everyone who understands how dangerous this is stands up in resistance and calls on others to stand with them. She painted a picture of what millions saying NO! in the streets, refusing to accept a fascist America, would look like and called on them to take this up right now. 

Ted Sirota, organizer of Degenerate Artists against Fascism, compared Trump’s program with the fascism in Nazi Germany. He said the biggest problem in Nazi German was the “Good Germans” who didn’t stand up. “Trump is spreading hate against Muslims, Mexicans and Black people… He promotes militarism, climate denial and a Christian fascist agenda that aims to clamp down on anybody that doesn’t fit in their world… These fascists have brought us together, we must resist them before they attack us.… We face the most perilous three weeks in U.S. history. But the media is not talking about that, they want you to look away. Michelle Obama said today, ‘I promise to be there to help Donald Trump succeed.’ NO! We have to be there to make sure they don’t succeed.” 

The audience paid close attention to the presentations, which were then summarized in Urdu. Another strong call for people to act now was made. The quote from Martin Niemöller on the “Urgent Message to all Faiths” was also read in English and Urdu. $325 was raised on the spot and people were urged to go online to donate. 

There was some initial group discussion in Urdu and then the group broke for dinner and informal discussion about outreach and action. A “What You Can Do” flyer for this meeting was also distributed. One woman said, “This is right on the pulse of what people are thinking about.” She talked about the great fear in their community, including among the children, and wrangled over the ways for people to take a stand. She planned to take the Call to Action to her Sunday school of grade school and high school students to read and discuss and make plans. One person said it will be important to get the Call out to the mosques on Friday where many more people can be reached to spread it and organize thousands more. Another person volunteered to quickly translate it into Urdu.  Others took NO! signs to get up in the windows of stores in the area. A high school student took buttons and stickers.

This meeting was an important step in spreading the message of RefuseFascism into a section of the people who are already being terrorized by the Trump program. And more importantly of people seriously taking up the task of spreading this broadly to the Muslim community together with all the others who oppose a fascist America.

 

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