Voices from November 4: It Begins

Revcom.us was out in the midst of November 4: It Begins, talking with a wide variety of people across the country. We spoke with people who have been organizing for Refuse Fascism and with people who just heard of Nov 4 and took up the demand: This Nightmare Must End! The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! People protesting came from a wide range of views, perspectives, and perceptions of the problem and the solution. But they were united in their commitment to ending this nightmare for humanity, advancing in the face of fascist thugs and a heavy police presence. We are publishing here both full interviews in some instances and excerpts of others done in a number of the cities where there were protests on November 4. Our readers will find that they get a picture of many different people who stepped out on November 4, why they did step out, and how they look at the battle ahead to drive out the Trump/Pence regime. This is a glimpse of both the potential forces who can come together to make the vision of millions of people in the streets in continuing protest a reality, and of the challenges we face.

Also read the November 4 Keynote speech from Refuse Fascism:
“Who will end this nightmare? WE WILL”

Click for interviews from:

New York City

Chicago

Austin, Texas

Los Angeles

San Francisco

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New York City

Interview #1

Q: Are you part of Refuse Fascism?

A: I just signed up today. Internet murmuring let me know about the event.

I’ve been engaging in civil disobedience and protesting since Trump’s election every chance I get. I think it is the most reliable and effective way of showing opposition at this point. And it’s important for me to do something so that nothing is done to me or my friends by people who are in power.

We’ve seen it before. History doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes, as they say. If you’ve read enough books, there’s a lot of things going on right now that should worry you. And I’ve read enough while I still can that, yeah, something has to be done. This is a step, a start, and the end for me is obviously seeing the removal of the Trump regime from power and moving the United States towards more of a social democracy. To unfold socialist policies in the U.S. that help working people and poor people instead of propping up a rotten oligarchy that only works for those in power, only helps maintain them.

Q: The orientation has been “November 4: It Begins.” What message do we send from here to people that should be here?

A: Well, I think you have a range of people. You get it instantly, you get people who need something that personally infringes upon their day-to-day in order to get involved, and you get people that need to have it explained to them... or need an offer to get out. I think it starts small, people in your life, friends and family, and people close to you and trying to bring them into it. I think it’s all causes, ‘cause some have some more personal attachment to LGBTQ rights, some people have more attachment to race issues in the United States. Some people have more attachment to economic issues. All of them at this time are allied against the same enemy. And that is something that I think in more modern history, the targets have been more diverse, they have been more spread out, they have been more obscured behind organizations and more indirect language. And now it’s pretty direct, and it’s pretty obvious, and it’s pretty in your face. And if you can build that network of allies, then I think it’s an opportunity to save the country before it’s too late.

Q: What you said is very important, and it’s also a hurdle we have to get over. There have been very powerful demonstrations, but in and of themselves, this regime can deal with them. So what this is very clear about, is they have to be driven out. Nothing short of that.

A: Yeah, definitely, definitely. I think the reality is on the side of the people working against Trump. And it starts small and it needs to grow. If reality is on our side, and the truth resonates with people, then it will be successful.

Q: When you leave here, do you have groups of people you are gonna go to?

A: I have very politically active friends, no specific organizations. On social media, I have people who I’ve been Instagramming about whole thing. I mean every single individual just has to organically start to be an impetus to move forward the cause.

I just graduated from the university with a degree in economics and philosophy. And I live in New York, so I’ll be at all these events. I just signed Refuse Fascism card. I’m excited.

Interview #2

Q: When did you hear about Refuse Fascism?

A: Well, I just went out to protest the day the elections happened, and I have been going to protests ever since, and you guys have always been around, ever since elections I assume. I think I ran into you guys in some Black Lives Matter.

Q: So what made you decide to come today?

A: I’ve been trying to get out and protest whenever I can because the regime is unacceptable and dangerous for the planet. It’s everyone’s problem. So that’s why I’m out

Q: The slogan of Refuse Fascism is “In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America! This Nightmare Must End: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!”...

A: Yes. Exactly... well I’m a socialist, and I come from a country that is founded on socialism, but also on racism.

Q: Where...

A: Israel... and I tried to stand up for the oppressed there and I’ll try to do the same here. So I think the slogan is great. It is very universal. It is a problem for humanity and for humanity’s future. And having fascism and fossil fuels are one and the same at the end of the day. So ... wanting a future for future generations is I guess why we’re all here.

Q: What message do we take out of here in mobilizing more and more people to become part of a movement to drive them out?

A: I would like for people to feel empowered as individuals to change, on account of the fact that in this sad corporate country individuals have been feeling stripped of their agency and their voice and their basic rights, and their civil rights, and hopefully.... Well, we do have our bodies and we can put our bodies on the street, and hopefully we will inspire each other to do more of that. And I also think to do that you do want to remain you.

Interview #3

Q: Tell me where you’re from, what country.

A: I’m from France and I’m here with my daughter.

Q: You heard about it two days ago. Is that right?

A: Yeah, we were walking in Harlem, we got the flyer, and then we went to a bookstore in Harlem, a revolutionary bookstore. We just passed by it and I went in and we talked to a woman there and she told us about it. Today, we just went by and we came down with them.

Q: What made you decide to come here?

A: Well, I’m against Trump, like most people in France, but I was also curious. We wanted to know what is going on in the States, really, rather than just being a regular tourist, in Times Square, and demonstrating, and walking around. So that was interesting talking to people, you know.

Q: What did you learn?

A: That there were communists in America... I mean, I knew a little bit, but I never talked to anyone, like that. And other things they told me I had already heard. Other people share these opinions, not only against Trump, but how Trump happened. They told me their point of view about Obama. I don’t have really an opinion on that because I’m not qualified for it since I’m from France. But this isn’t just here, you know. You read things like that in France, you know. In France, I guess, we get more left-wing point of views from abroad than right-wing point of views at least from what I am reading. It’s always interesting to talk to people and to meet them. It was nice to see also, we were like 10 maybe in the subway all together, and multi-racial, we had like Black people, white people, Latino people, it was 10 people, and so that was nice.

Interview #4, with an ex-prisoner

Q: Which of the nightmares most compelled you to come out here?

A: I know that if it can happen to you it can happen to me. I mean I understand that this man is nuts, not right. I want to be a part of what’s right. I done did wrong in my life too many times. I want to stand up for what’s right, and if I have to be wherever you are I want to be here.

Q: You know that call has gone out: November 4: It Begins! What do you think it will take from here and do you see your role in it from today?

A: From today I just see us speaking up, standing up and seriously walking the walk. Whatever it is that I have to do I’m going to do it.

Q: In going out to bring more people to this movement, what message do you think we should bring to them?

A: Real simple. First of all, stop with color stuff. If you’re right, you’re right. If you’re wrong, you’re wrong. Because right comes in so many beautiful colors. And negative come in the same thing. But we must stand up for what’s right. Don’t talk about it, be about it. That’s what I’m saying. I don’t care what color you are, come and be a part of what’s right. That’s all. What happens to you is going to happen to him. But if we stand up, then these people know that we do care about what’s going on.

Interview #5

Q: Tell me your role in this whole movement.

A: I basically participate in helping set up. I’m passing out flyers right now. I’m here representing my organization and I’m also going to march with everyone else to basically refuse fascism.

Q: The slogan of Refuse Fascism is In The Name of Humanity We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America. This Nightmare Must End. The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!

A: I think it’s great. And specifically awesome for the national role of this country. Me, I believe that in order to truly provide a peace and loving world we need to expand beyond America. We need to be able to expand into the entire world and instead of being very divisive by nationalism we instead could be able to gain leeway and break the boundary of race, religion, ideology, gender and how much we make, in terms of economically.

Q: What message do we take back to people to actually bring more and more people into this movement?

A: Instead of focusing on who’s suffering more, we should just focus on being able to come together as one group, unite in solidarity in order to be able to succeed in destroying fascism for what it is. And then after we could be able to resolve each other’s problems peacefully without the hate, without the division, without people trying to get us to go against each other.

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CHICAGO

A Black woman

Q: So the idea here for November 4 is This Nightmare Must End! Which part of the nightmare brought you here today?

A: The whole injustice of this whole administration. They are so blatant with their thoughts and actions that they think that they can get away with it. They now think they’re in power. When we had Barack Obama as president that’s where we wanted America to be. But what Trump has showed us is really where some parts of America still is. We’ve come a long way but we still have a long way to go. So, whenever we can come together and to show that we are against this, that’s what I’m supporting.

Q: Where do you see it going from here? Refuse Fascism is talking about massive and sustained demonstrations until they’re driven out.

A: Well, I think that we’re going to have to do the same thing we did in the ’60s. No one event changed. It was many events that brought about the change. So we have to continue to have events, and even though, small or large, we have to continue to do this. I think that the masses are the makers of history, so with that I know that wherever we come together against injustice we will win.

Q: Well, that might be the answer to my next question. What would you like to say to other people to get them involved in this?

A: Oh, you gotta do something. You can’t stand on the sidelines. You have to be involved. You can be involved, maybe you’re not the one to be out here on the front lines of protest, maybe you the one to help make the signs, help making the banners, making the phone calls, and also making sure that other people hear about. But you have to do something. We cannot just not do nothing.

Q: Anything else you want to add?

A: Getting ready for the revolution!

A DACA student

Q: Refuse Fascism says this is a nightmare for humanity and it has to end. Are there particular pieces of this nightmare that brought you out here?

A: Um, basically the thing that tore me apart is Trump took my DACA, the DACA of all the students that were here. And I am basically afraid to walk to school or even being taken away from ... my parents who worked so hard for it. Why would you do that? To people who basically worked so hard for this country and you’re just doing that and it’s pissing me off, I need my voice to be spoken. Don’t just be quiet for this.

Q: What do you think it’s going to take for the thousands today to turn into millions?

A: We need to build. What we really need is to stop fighting and really start putting your hands together because if you start seeing that the country and the economy is going down you really need to open your eyes to know that your child and your son is in danger. This is basically repeating history all over again. We don’t want history to repeat again. We want it to be much better than what it was before.

Q: Is there something you especially want to say to people?

A: What I personally want to say to people is: people, please stop being blind, stop having your eyes closed for so long, say something, open up, walk yourself and make this happen. Get him out of here!

Woman and her grandson, a high school student

Q: A slogan for Refuse Fascism is This Is a Nightmare—We Owe It To Humanity to End It. Is there a piece of this nightmare from Trump/Pence that you are most concerned about?

Grandma: I think I’m most concerned about the division I see taking place in the country. I think that’s the part that’s most concerning for me. It’s just widening the division of races, of people, period. That’s the part that I don’t like. It’s the confusion, it’s the anger, the rage that I see amongst the people. That’s the part that troubles me.

HS Student: Well, I’d say that it’s this, in my case... it’s not really about America at all to him [Trump], it’s more about what’s best for his rep and his life and he’s not really focusing on America’s unity anymore. It’s more about him, I think. And that’s really worrying me because he’s kind of using and manipulating his people, all the people in the United States with his words that are false, and it’s kind of, again, supporting the division of races. Priorities of things that actually really matter, he’s really bringing down and shading over that shouldn’t be shaded over.

Q: The plan behind this today is that this is the beginning and in the following days thousands of people will grow to tens of thousands, there’ll be demonstrations big and small until we get to the point where there’s millions of people in the streets saying this regime has to end. Here’s my question: What would have to happen for things to grow from thousands to millions? For millions of people to be in the streets, what would have to change?

HS Student: People would have to know the result of it, and I think if they find their reasoning for being out in the street is worth it and that there will be a change then the number of people that are willing to be supportive of it will increase. So they’ll know what they’re doing is really going to spark a change in the U.S.

Q: How old are you?

HS Student: I’m 14.

Q: What would you personally like to say to all the people that are starting to wake up to this?

HS Student: Oh, I’d probably say that you have to really look at the things that Trump isn’t really saying and look at the people that are going against him and listen to what they’re saying because that’s really the truth. Because he’s really saying things that aren’t true about what he’s trying to promote, in order for people to get on his side again, because he’s really focused on supporting himself. And that you should probably really listen to the people that are going against him, that have some intellectual evidence about it, because that’s really what matters, and most of it is the right thing to listen to. Because his words are really false.

Q: Grandma, I want you to answer that too: What do you have to say to the people... you know some stuff, you’ve been around... what do you have to say to the people today to make this grow into the movement it needs to be?

Grandma: I think that one of the things that’s going to cause it to grow is awareness, just like you shared with us today, just a little bit of what’s going on. I think awareness is really important and helping people to see how this is impacting not just our nation but them on an individual level. I think when things begin to touch people on an individual level, they move to action much quicker than they may on a corporate level. I think that’s important that they understand what some of the legislation... how it’s going to affect them, not just short term, but long term, how it’s going to affect them on a personal level.

Q: Thank you very much.

Tio Hardiman, Violence Interrupters

Q: What part of the nightmare brought you out here today?

A: I’m out here because Donald Trump is racist. Pence is a racist. We’re tired of racism, discrimination and privilege, white privilege in particular. Trump has set the country back, as far as the healing process. Because he’s brought policies and his racist agenda to change a few of the things from the past and then if we don’t stand up to guys like Donald Trump, racism will consume the United States. And we got a lot of good white people, a lot of good Black people, a lot of good Hispanic people. And we’re all human beings. Asian people, African people. There’s no time for racism. There’s no way in the world that a president of the United States should be in that office if he’s a known racist. It’s unacceptable. That’s why I’m out here—speaking truth to power.

Q: It begins today. How do you see... what’s it going to take to get them out of power?

A: Well, that’s a good question. It’s going to take millions and millions of people that are fed up with these billionaires out here trying to gain more power by running for elected office, especially the president, even the billionaires running for governor of Illinois. We got to say no to these billionaires. But what is going to happen is this: as long as we organize millions and millions of brothers and sisters, working class, poor people, middle class people, people that are really concerned about change, we can get Donald Trump out of there and get him impeached. We have to put pressure on the congressmen, pressure on the U.S. senators and make sure they’re doing their jobs to impeach this hypocrite. A lot of information is coming out now about the Russian involvement in the election, a lot of information coming out about some of his own staff are being... you know, like they had to step down. He keeps changing staff every other day, like playing a piano, a different chord on the piano. We gotta get rid of this racist bastard as president. That’s the reality. That’s why I’m out here. That’s my contribution to the movement.

A cisgender straight woman and a transgender woman

Q: How did you hear about this demonstration?

A1: We actually just heard about it yesterday on social media and we wanted to join in because we obviously do not agree with anything that Trump is doing. This is kind of a last-minute thing but we still wanted to participate.

Q: This is a nightmare for humanity. That’s what the unifying thing is. Is there a particular part of this nightmare that drew you to be here?

A1: I think for me, personally, it was everything that’s been going on with transgender people in the military because I support the military very much, and then I also have so many good friends who are transgender who want to join the military but they are facing so many difficulties and issues. And so I wanted to be here to kind of support them in that mission.

A2: I think his sexism and racism that’s happening right now have become very strong recently, and the homophobia. I’m a transgender woman and I’m like really scared to leave my house because I’ve had bad death threats. I’m also an immigrant, so it’s like a lot of things. It’s just like one after the other. It’s just like the fear of losing my rights in this country.

Q: What do you think it will take for the thousands to turn into the millions it’s gonna take to drive out this regime?

A1: I think it’s going to take continued work and it’s gonna take continued sharing of correct information and exposing of the Trump/Pence regime.

A2: I agree. I think if we all get together and we have more protests and we make it known that we’re not happy about this....

Q: Is there some personal message you’d like to send to people about why you’re here?

A2: I’m here because I’m a transgender woman in America and I don’t want my rights taken away from me. And I want other transgender women not to be scared.

A1: And I’m here because I’m an ally. I don’t experience... as a cisgender straight woman, I don’t experience everything that minorities go through but I want people to know that I’m an ally and that I’m here to support you and that there are plenty of allies out there who may not understand completely what you’re going through but who still back you up and still want equality.

Chicago high school student who spoke at the rally

Q: So here we are with one of the speakers. She’s a student at Lane Tech High School. What part of the nightmare brought you into this movement and how did you get involved?

A: Well, I’m LGBT, so that obviously made me aware of the problem for those people, but essentially I’m not here for myself. I am a white student. I’m someone with tremendous privilege and I came out because I see the policies that are happening, especially I started coming out here after seeing the Nazis organizing in Charlottesville and seeing them murder Heather Heyer. And it’s just... the evil... we have to all do something to stop it. Nobody can be a bystander, nobody can just sit back and let evil take over the country.

Q: You’ve been involved for how long?

A: Specifically with Refuse Fascism for about two or three months. I mean, I came out to protests on Inauguration Day, but I wasn’t with Refuse Fascism then and I kind of dropped off during the school year. I saw the event they organized after what happened at Charlottesville. I just saw the rally downtown and I saw the event on Facebook and then after the rally I just started talking to a member of Refuse Fascism.

Q: What do you think we need to do going forward to bring about our goal?

A: I think the best thing we can do is keep getting the message out there that this is fascism and that nobody can be a bystander, we all have to do our part to act. And I think that includes getting in the streets. I think that includes reaching out to our friends and our family and educating them and trying to get them to come out here too. So, the whole one-body-becomes-ten kind of thing. And so we can organize this movement so eventually there’s enough people that the government’s going to have to listen to us.

Q: What would you say to other people to get them involved?

A: I would say to look at what Trump and Pence’s policies are doing, really look at them. Even if you aren’t personally affected by any of them you have to know somebody who is, you have to have a friend or family member who is gay or Black or Latino, an immigrant, disabled. No one except a very, very, very few are unaffected, and injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere. And there’s no freedom if there’s someone who’s enslaved. There’s no freedom for anyone if there are people who are enslaved in this world. So we all... to ensure freedom for every human being we all have to... goddamn, tell these fascists that we’re not going to stand for this. We’re not going to stand for these policies that rob people of their humanity.

Q: In your speech you said something about how you came to understand something about history that helped you understand Trump.

A: I’m someone who always liked history and has always studied history. I mean, I’ve done... I’ve learned about the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and 1930s through class, taking European history and things like that. We have to memorize the cause, like what caused this? Learning those, it’s easy to see how the same sort of causes, the same things that were happening in 1931 and 1932 are happening now. And I think, yes, knowing history has made me more aware of the warning signs, yes. I encourage others to do the same. I mean, open a book. History is out there, it’s free to read about.

Two women who went to Standing Rock

Q: Refuse Fascism says that we gotta drive out the Trump/Pence regime and this nightmare must end. What part of the nightmare brought you guys out here today? How did you find out about it, as well?

A1: We look for people, things like this. We started at Standing Rock and it changed our lives. And we know that we have to clean up our act. That’s why we came. We heard about you guys on Facebook, I think.

Q: What do you think it’s actually going to take to drive out this regime?

A1: I think it’s going to take a lot of people and the more people the better.

Q: Do you see yourselves having a role in making that happen?

A2: Oh yes, we’re doing everything we can, we go to different places. We’re here for everybody, we put our energy out there every day.

Q: One last question. If there’s a message you wanted to put to other people who aren’t here today but should have been—what would you want to tell them?

A1: You should be here. It’s important.

A2: We’re trying to save this planet; we’re trying to get rid of this government.

A1: We need something new, that’s what we need.

Q: How did the situation at Standing Rock change your lives?

A2: Well, one thing, we’ve seen the spirit of people. It woke us up on what’s going on and what the military force there was doing and what kind of power they’re trying to push on us. Things they’ll do to unarmed people that were peaceful in their own lands, and grabbing.... We pay attention to a lot of things that are happening now.

Flint, Michigan, has no water for three years, going on the fourth year. No water for three years, poisoned, the lead poisoning, all kinds of bacteria poisonings. They’re corrupt. The local government’s corrupt, right down to their mayor, right down to their governor. They’re starting to get some indictments now for manslaughter. We go there frequently.

Four high school women

Q: What part of the nightmare brought you guys here today?

A: Just all the encompassing events that Trump has navigated, I guess, just like... I don’t want to name specifics. Do you guys want to jump in?

A: The part of the nightmare that called me here and into action and stuff is that me myself feeling powerless and the people I care about, people that I don’t know, and people that are just people feeling powerless because of systems put against us. And I honestly believe that the entire system needs to be fucking overthrown and that this is one of the steps to doing so and protesting is one of the steps to doing that. So, getting power in other ways, like it all needs to happen at once. And you can participate as much as you can and, like, and it’s just your responsibility if you want to have empathy for other people and you want to take action, you just do it how you can and however you’re able to and what resources and stuff. These for today are my resources to come here and be out here, so, yeah.

A: Actually as a collective society, like I don’t know how we’ve allowed ourselves to put a man into power who is not for us as a whole, like at all, like he doesn’t... he has no moral compass, really. I mean, he does, but just like it doesn’t navigate him to a point where everyone is going to be satisfied and taken care of. And just like I think it’s our responsibility now to reverse that, but what we have done. So that’s what’s brought me here. We have to correct our own society’s actions. And that might be something that’s hard to do because we did it. Like I was not a part of that, but others were very much a part of that. We have to be bigger than that, do you know what I mean?

Q: How did you find out about this?

A: I’m here on behalf of Fempowerment, which is an intersectional feminist youth-led organization that’s been around for about a year. And we come to protests as a group, and so part of what the organizers do is we look up and check our resources online, newspapers, upcoming protests, and then we go on all the networks and get people together. And so, yeah.

Q: How do you see your role in helping to actually take this regime down?

A: Well, especially with teenagers, we can’t vote, so this is one of the only times that we get a say. And not even a say, I guess that’s the wrong word—but just like a voice, which I don’t know....

A: His [Trump’s] job is so much bigger than who he is and that’s something he doesn’t understand. And also, like, he’s driven by spite a lot of the time, like with his policies, they come from reversing whatever Obama had done. Like it’s not even like he has his own independent ideas, it’s just like: fuck you, Obama, this is what I’m gonna do. So, like, you’re not like... you don’t even have the capability to be a thoughtful individual and so just like...

A: Make a better choice...

A: Make a better choice. It’s really about making a better choice. Because I don’t want to be somewhere like... it’s 2017... that doesn’t mean anything, you know. It’s like there’s the 1950s, but it is 2017. There’s been hellalong and we’re still talking about the same thing, and it’s time to find something new to talk about. We shouldn’t have to fight for fundamental rights. You know, Black Lives Matter—that shouldn’t have to be a movement. People should just know that. Like everybody should just know that lives matter, like if you’re... and not even human lives. Like the planet, the Earth—that is a fucking life. But we just took over this shit and people disrespect it constantly. And putting Trump in office is one of the biggest offenses. Yeah, because like who are we to decide the fate of something that was before us? I don’t know, I have more to say, but.... I also have a really big headache from all of us.

Q: There is a system that’s behind all these horrors—it isn’t going to stop unless we deal with that. Getting rid of the Trump/Pence regime is something we have to go through because if they consolidate this fascist power it’s going to be a lot harder to ever make a revolution.

A: Oh yeah.

A: I love how we call it a regime, just because that’s what it is. Like with Columbus Day, let’s not call it Columbus Day, let’s call it the Killing of Indigenous People Day. Just like once you identify what it is people automatically become more aware and more keen to wanting to fix the thing. Like I think that’s why people still have barbecues on Columbus, because it’s like: oh, this dude who colonized America you probably wouldn’t have a happy meal with your family if you knew what it is actually about. We need to do more of that.

A new member of the Revolution Club, Chicago

Q: Refuse Fascism put out the stance that in the name of humanity we must end this nightmare.

A: The nightmare for human lives brought me out here to be amongst the people to fight for a cause that’s... it’s insane. I mean, people are dying everywhere. All lives matter, Black lives matter, LGBT matters. And as far as Trump’s concerned, we all don’t matter. We’re like nothing—minorities, he wants to put walls up, people’s not getting relief—it’s tragic. And if we all love each other I feel we all need to come together in the name of humanity to get him and Pence out of the office. And anyone who follows.

Q: How’d you find out about this?

A: Refuse Fascism. So, I became a part of the revolution.

Q: We’re talking about we have to drive this fascist regime out. How do you see what it’s going to take to do that?

A: Continue doing what we doing, coming into the streets, spreading the word and we won’t stop, we won’t lay down for fascism. Just won’t, we can’t.

Q: What do you think your role is in that?

A: To be out here, help out. I don’t know... you kind of put me on the spot. Help out wherever I can, to enlighten people about what’s going on. If I can go out to help those who need help, I plan on traveling to wherever I can to help out. I’m not young anymore. I’m out of school. I have children, and if my children have to grow up in this country I want to make it the best country that it can be. And it starts with me just going out to the street and bringing everybody else with me, explaining to my children. It starts with the family first.

Q: What message do you have to people who need to be out here?

A: In the name of humanity, come out. Come to the streets, don’t stand for somebody who wants to walk up to a woman, grab her pussy or do whatever he feels he can just because he’s the president or just because he has money. Our lives matter. Somebody who’s dying, someone who’s sick—just because it’s the color of our skin we do NOT not matter. We matter. We’re not minor, there’s nothing minor about us. No minority.

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Austin, Texas

Interview #1

Q: You were part of organizing for the November 4 event—why was that important to you?

A: Knowing what I know of the history of Nazi Germany, and what Donald Trump has done and said they want to do since they took office, pretty much they’re going the same route as the Nazis did in Germany, with the only difference they have their finger on nuclear weapons. But I’ve seen also in the past rallies in Houston and Austin, these groups coming out, Texas Freedom Force, whatever, there are several groups. And they want to come to the streets and scare people off so they get their foothold on the ground, and establish pretty much what Trump is trying to do, and establish a fascist society, a fascist environment so people won’t be able to speak up and they’ll be scared to speak up. So if we don’t stand against this right now, and back off and go to our homes and get scared, for sure what we’ll have to face is what Jews and others, communists and others faced in Nazi Germany.

Q: What troubles you most about Trump and Pence and their whole regime?

A: Well, number one, they’re threatening to attack North Korea, and that’s 25 million people. I mean, these are human beings on the other side of the world. I don’t know any single one of them, but they’re people like us. So, if they’re threatening to drop bombs and kill 25 million people, what’s to stop them from doing it in other places, from doing it here?

Q: What did you think of the rally and march yesterday?

A: I think even though we were outnumbered, we were very powerful, we stood our ground, we got our message out there. They (the fascists) were the ones who were frustrated, and they couldn’t stand what we were doing and saying. We stuck to our message pretty much, and we showed them we’re not gonna back off, we’re not scared of them.

Q: What was that message, when you say we stuck to our message?

A: That the Trump and Pence regime has to go. It’s a fascist regime, and people in their millions need to come out in the streets to make this happen--for humanity.

Interview #2

Q: Why did you think it was important for you to be part of November 4?

A: It was important for me, because I believe when people see an injustice, we should stand up, and we need to challenge ourselves to stand up, refuse to accept injustices happening in America. We should all challenge ourselves, and have courage, so that’s why I went, because I felt my courage had to outweigh my fear.

Q: What troubles you most about the Trump/Pence regime?

A: What troubles me most about the Trump Pence Regime is that I believe there’s gonna come a time when we’re not allowed to stand up and oppose the wrongs that we see happening around us. That’s what troubles me the most, the fact that I see people supposed to be the opposition, not standing up and saying something is wrong, they’re being silenced in many ways. And I feel like there’s gonna come a time when we’re not gonna be able to speak, strictly because of what type of regime this is, and how they feel about the opposition. For instance, the Black Identity Extremism, the protesters who were arrested at the inauguration, and are facing charges with many years. That’s what I fear the most about this regime.

Q: What did you think about the rally and march?

A: I think we were very powerful. Our message was very clear, it shows a very stark contrast between the people who were standing for humanity, and the people who are supporters of Trump. They reflected what Trump represents, they reflected Trump’s words. Violence, misogyny, right wing extremism, white supremacy. And we represented humanity, we had a clear focus, a clear message. And ours was way more powerful, though we were outnumbered.

It’s important for people to come out, and support this movement to get rid of the Trump/Pence Regime. Everybody I’ve talked to even at Texas Southern University, my family, everybody sees that there’s a problem, but people have to overcome the fear they have. Right now, we can’t ignore there’s a problem. The real question is, what will people do. Are people going to overcome their fear and stand up instead of cowering? We need more people that’s gonna have courage and stand up against this, instead of so-called leaving it up to Congress. We have to get rid of this administration.

A young woman from Austin suburb

Q: Why did you participate and organize for the November 4 demonstration in Austin?

A: Well, I got involved through a protest for health care, and I met some people there from Refuse Fascism who were there as well. And I started listening to their message, and doing some research on it, and decided to get involved. I went to a meeting they were having, got to hear more about it, got some more information, and started hearing about this march. And through talking to other organizers, just got more and more upset about what’s going on, and wanted to be a part of that. Even though towards the end it was apparent there was going to be a lot of opposition to what we were doing with the march.

I felt it was really a moral duty for myself to not let the fear and the fear mongering and the threats and all that get over…I felt it was probably, for me anyway, kind of an empty threat since I felt so strongly about being there and getting our message through. I’ve had a lot of good response in the outreach we did. I know in my heart there are a lot of people who feel this way as well, although I think those people were probably scared by the rhetoric from the other side. I still feel it’s a very important message to get through.

Q: You said you had done some research into the meaning of fascism?

A: Growing up, going to high school, you learn about history, you learn about dictators, I don’t remember the word fascism being really defined for me. Maybe that’s my fault, maybe the education system. But when that was being used, when I first started reading the literature, I thought, wow, that seems a little inflammatory, what is that? And how does it relate to what’s going on. I really had to do my research, and looked up exactly what it is, and the history on all that. And how it pertains to what’s happening now. And I saw a lot of similarities.

And when I went to that first meeting, there was a lady there talking about her country was occupied by the Hitler regime way back when. She grew up in this country, and knew what fascism is, what nationalism is, here in this country, we’ve never been occupied, never experienced those things. For me, this was kind of a wake up, these things have happened and they are happening, and they’re things Trump and Pence and this whole regime are really going by the playbook of how to turn this country into a fascist country. I’m just amazed that they’re really doing it, that’s really their goal. I’m shocked that its happening here in America. And I can’t let it happen.

Q: What did you think of the rally and march yesterday?

A: I knew it... I hoped it would be something like the Women’s march, where everyone gets behind it…but with the rhetoric and the threats out there, I kind of understand where people were coming from. Not everyone has the conviction to go up against hate. But I thought it was very important and thought it went off really well. Austin police were serious, but in turn they made such a barrier that even people who wanted to participate were discouraged, kept away from crossing that line. It could have been better if that other element wasn’t there. But the ones there were really determined.

I appreciate all that everyone has done. I know there are so many people out there. I feel like we have to keep trying to reach them. One other thing—I was so glad to learn about Eve Ensler. I’d heard the name but didn’t know what she had done, and I’ve been reading about her since I got home after the march!

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Los Angeles Interviews:

Black man, early 30s, part-time worker in marketing department of an HMO

I had to come out today because the Trump/Pence agenda is killing America. It is killing America! And I’ve been watching this madness without doing anything active and Connie (his partner) said that we have to get out, we have to do something. I got involved with this because of the Refuse Fascism outreach. Listen, it’s really important. It’s really important. This is all over Nazi Germany coming again. I’m sorry but when you have people that are picking off the freedom of the press, they’re picking off minority groups, their picking off immigrants, they’re picking off homosexuals. They’re picking off lesbian, gay, bi and transsexuals. They’re asking law enforcement to do things that law enforcement should never do, which is to apply the law unequally. And the president, of all people, wouldn’t show his damn taxes. What the hell is that? And he wants to reform taxes. Come on, how you gonna reform taxes when you won’t show your own tax returns? And this man is the leader of our country. He is an embarrassment, he is a total embarrassment when he speaks, when he tweets and it makes us sick just to see him being the president of these United States. He’s a divider and not a uniter.

Responding to question about staying in the streets day after day until the regime is driven out.
I think it’s a great goal! Fascism is where we’re looking at now. All we have to do is look back in history, and we don’t have to look back that far. I look at the South American fascist regimes, I look at the fascist regimes in the 1930s and ’40s and if you just look at the grassroots, if you just look at how things started, this is how they start. This is how it starts! So we have to say No More. We have to say No More! And this is grassroots, this is how it begins. We don’t have a tidal wave, a swell, yet but I’m believing that it will swell.

It’s a goal and a very high and lofty goal to reach. But let me say this: if we don’t do something, if we don’t do something, it will happen to us just like they said. First they came for the trade unionists, then they came for the disabled, then they came for the homosexuals, then they came for the Jews. And then there was no one left when they come for you. So I say this, step out now! I don’t know if we will make it happen the way we think it should happen, but I know that we have to do something. Our conscience, as patriotic Americans, should not allow us to just stand and do nothing, or sit and do nothing. And listening to the lies from the White House, listening to the lies from the fake news at Fox that more Americans listen to and watch than anyone else, it’s just sickening. We’re just getting used to lies, we’re getting used to disinformation and it’s just being twisted so that the truth will be hardly recognizable when they are done with it.

Roger, teacher in San Bernardino

What brought him to this movement.
Having a perspective on what’s happened in the past and being able to see trends and the road we’re on and how we’re very close to a very dangerous situation of a fascist state. We’ve been on this road for a while, but the election of Trump and the movement that got him into power has activated a sleeping monster. If you see this alt-right, it has all the characteristics of fascism—rabid nationalism that makes anything that is not their conception is un-American, less valuable. It’s dehumanizing to the rest of the world. There’s a racist character to it. There’s just so many aspects of it that are really terrifying and I just feel that it is so important that we drive them out as a part of anything that we can do to make the world better has to involve this.

Responding to a question about the threat posed by the regime to the continued existence of humanity.
I think it is possible. I mean we’ve got enough nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal to basically wipe our all human life on this Earth. And he has shown a terrifying willingness, even eagerness, to use those. I mean he has made statements saying “why can’t we use our nuclear weapons?” And he has made comments about trying to go to war with North Korea and threatened to completely obliterate them and wipe them off of the face of the Earth. And that is a terrifying statement. That could very easily spread into something that would be catastrophic for all of humanity―not just for the United States, not just for the people of North Korea who he plans to use them on, but something like that could very quickly escalate into something catastrophic for all life everywhere on the planet.

Responding to the point that movement is calling for removal of Trump and Pence.
Yes! Because Trump is almost like the last piece of the puzzle as far as creating a fascist dictatorship that we’re on the verge of here. And Mike Pence is part of an older and more deeply rooted fascistic tradition in America which is that of the Christian fascists. This has been revived in Dominionism and we’ve had threads of this going out for quite a long time. We’ve seen in Mike Pence... I mean he has advocated conversion therapy to basically electrocute gay people to “turn them straight.” And he has advocated using Christian values as an excuse for stripping rights from women and LGBT people. This kind of biblical literalism can lead down some very dark roads that can impact everyone, not just our LGBT communities and not even just women—as if that was not enough on its own, with women making up half of this world. That should be enough on its own. But even without that, if you follow this biblical literalist tradition to its extreme, you can have people, children killed for rebelling against their parents, for acting up against their parents. If you followed this to its logical conclusion this is the kind of society that they would be willing to implement in order to maintain their control. Ultimately, I see this fascist movement is a deeply flawed and deeply dangerous attempt to resolve the contradictions of capitalism that have failed. And I think that the people who have been drawn to it, some of them are absolutely true believers but others have been suckered into accepting a kind of populist demagoguery that has promised them a fix for some very real problems. But this kind of Orwellian fascism that we’re headed towards only resolves the contradictions of capitalism for those at the very top. And it uses brute force destruction to continue the cycle of permanent growth that is unsustainable. And so they are trying to force it to continue by destroying so that they can then build on the rubble.

Responding to the movement being in the streets day after day, week after week until this regime is driven out.
I think it’s important that we actually occupy space that demands action because a mistake of so many soon, after mere hours, we all go home. This is not something that can actually expect to affect real change. This is not putting pressure on the system in the way that it needs to and so in order to actually cause something to happen, we need to occupy important spaces. We need to stop the system. We need to shut things down and basically take over and assert our power as the masses because it has been that the people have too long given up their power and their will and their influence by giving it up to a simple vote on things that have already been chosen by the ruling class, options that have been handed down to us. So we need to make these decisions for ourselves, the people.

Harold, Black man, 60

Responding to what brought him out to the demonstration.
The Trump/Pence regime. They’re bought off by the Koch brothers and all the billionaires in the United States and my personal opinion is that the United States should not be sold to the billionaires of this country.

Responding to question re whether he has been involved in other demonstrations around this.
All my life!

Responding to the point that people need to be in the streets, today and every day after this until the Trump/Pence regime is driven out.
Correct! The citizens of the United States have to stand up against this regime or it won’t change. We have to convince our Democrats to keep pushing, keep pushing to expose the Trump regime.

Responding to how he heard about the demo.
I followed it on Facebook, television... love the movement.

Responding to aim being to get the whole Trump and Pence regime out.
Definitely! The GOP ideology is bizarre! It’s white supremacist. They always have been that way and always will be. I’m a longshoreman, have been for 35 years. This hand has shook Harry Bridges’ [Founder of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union] hand.

Responding to have you taken this campaign out to people you work with?
Oh yeah! We definitely stand against the GOP, we definitely don’t want that.

Responding to the longshore workers having a history of standing against all kinds of oppression over the years. This effort relies on people coming out week after week, month after month until the regime is driven out. Do you think the Longshore Union would get behind that?
Well, our constitution stands for creating jobs for our community. We will not survive without the community. So I understand that. Sooner or later we are going to have to, we’re under attack—automation, the billionaires want to squeeze us out, take all our benefits away. So, we have no choice. We discuss this amongst ourselves very much. We need to get more of us out here and I believe the longer people stay out, sooner or later we will be out here.

74-year-old Black man

Responding to what brought you out here today?
Well, I came to protest because Trump is out of control. You know, he’s against all the minorities. You know, frankly I’m afraid that this is the beginning of the end. You know what I’m talking about? Yeah, absolutely! I know it’s hard to impeach him because of Amendment 25, that’s difficult. The regular impeachment process is difficult because they in charge. You know, the only way to get him out legally is to wait until we take over the Congress and the Senate. That’s the only way. So I’m here to just do my thing and let people know that everybody is welcome in America and do the right thing.

Responding to point about the march and movement to drive the Trump/Pence regime out, not just Trump.
Well of course, all the cabinet. You know, especially the attorney general, you know, Sessions. I mean he is a racist son of a gun! You know what I’m talking about? You know Obama tried to put in to have less prison sentences for drugs and Sessions want to make it as hard as it could be. And most people who is convicted of drugs and in prison for it is people of color. Absolutely!

Responding to this movement being about people being out in the streets, day after day, week after week until the whole regime is driven out. What do you think about that?
Well, you got to sustain this thing. You can’t just do it one time and then sit down. It’s got to be continuously and sustained and get more people because the people will be heard. The people’s thing! You know, that’s it! So let’s keep this going day and night. Talk to your relatives, talk to your friends, you know and let’s do it endlessly! I worked for government for about 50 years and when I see inequities, prejudice, racism and so forth... man I don’t care who you are. Most Black people, of course, is good. But to see that Trump [got elected] it was a shock, you know that, how he got in there. And of course, Mrs. Clinton, she did her best, you know and so forth. But you know, that electoral college... I want the popular vote to come back. You know, we lost twice. We lost with Clinton’s running mate several years ago and now and now Mrs. Clinton. You know, if you think about it, he [Trump] got in legally. Now like I said before, it gonna be tough. It gonna be tough. I mean he getting foreign money, you know, this guy is corrupt.

Responding to this movement is about you look at this crowd today, this is the beginning. This movement is talking about day after day, week after week, month after month and building until there’s millions, tens of millions in the streets.
Exactly! Exactly! All over the country. Matter of fact, even in the territories! Look at what they doing to Puerto Rico. They treat them like non-Americans, non-citizens. You know, treating them like non-humans. I mean those people are there suffering. You know, I could go on and on but you know what’s happening. It’s nice talking to you.

Man who works in film industry

Responding to what brought you here today.
Actually, this is my first protest. I work in the film industry and I didn’t know about this until it blocked my production from being able to schedule some scouts and actually put us a little bit behind. When I read about it in the newspaper, it actually said that there were 10,000 people planning to come down here and that this was going to be the antifa apocalypse. I’ve really not liked Donald Trump since he’s been elected. I’ve always found myself as sort of a centrist or a moderate and through this event I’ve met a lot of other people who are a little left of me but I think what we can try and do is bring it all together and get some of the groups who maybe would be on the fence to look at some of the extreme things that he’s done, some of the things that would be far beyond, you know, maybe the Watergate scandal and things that other presidents have resigned for in the past. I mean we’re looking at this massive list of injustices and what’s happening is that the press is just running over it, steamrolling over it for the next one. I think the administration and Donald Trump note that and through the normalcy of the press cycle can allow peoples’ conscience and psyche to relax a little bit and through that they’re able to come up with another injustice.

Producer of non-fiction television

This is not normal. This is not normal! This is not my America. How far do we have to go before people stand up and say this is not normal and enough is enough. I value the fact that I live in a country where I can come out and protest on the streets and not fear being arrested.

Where do I start? The corruption, the nepotism, the abandonment of our role around the world, the dismantling of the State Department, the waste of money so he can golf every weekend. The forcing through of his buddies, his billionaire buddies, we have the richest cabinet in the history of this country, not a single one is worth less than a billion dollars and all they are doing is passing rules and regulations to make themselves richer.

Responding to: Going beyond that, this regime, with all of its talk of wars and nukes, could spell the end of human civilization.
Oh, absolutely. You know, when there are this many nuclear weapons in the world and this many irresponsible people with access to them and when one of them is the president of the United States, we should all be terrified. This is the first time in my life that I honestly do not know how this is going to end. And I know this could end very badly for a lot of people, and that’s scary. I’m scared, you should be scared. And if you’re not scared, you’re not paying attention.

Pence is scary because he is an extreme fundamentalist and he supports everything I don’t—he’s anti-gay, he’s anti-women, he’s anti-choice and he was one of the most conservative homophobic, anti-woman governors we have ever had in this country in modern times. However, under Pence at least we’re not gonna die in a nuclear holocaust. You never know, but as much as I appreciate that Trump is so incompetent that they are not actually able to accomplish anything although they are doing a pretty good job of dismantling everything, at least under Pence—though I am fearful of what they may accomplish under him, we would be less likely to go off in a nuclear holocaust because of a misunderstood tweet at North Korea.

Responding to: Look Trump is a fascist, Pence is a fundamentalist Christian fascist and he is just as wedded to U.S. domination of the world, including through a nuclear holocaust as Trump. He believes that he is doing his god’s work.
OK, this is 1936 Germany. How do you think Nazis came to power in Germany—they take over the government, you have good people unwilling to stand up and confront their leaders and you put your judges in place and your judges start rubber-stamping your regulations. It starts with ICE raids in the night that are not covered by the media and where does it end? You know, people who say that it can’t happen here are people who are not paying attention and haven’t studied history.

Responding to: this movement is calling for people to be out in the streets all over the county, day after day, week after week, month after month until this regime is forced out. What do you think of that?
Oh, I think it’s the only way! As much as I appreciate our Democratic leaders, they are not doing enough. You know, when there is this much blatant corruption and injustice and lies and twisting of fact and reason and they are standing back and letting it just happen, where’s the outrage, where’s the opposition party? And if they’re not going to do it, we have to.

A massage therapist who, when she heard the chants from the march, grabbed her friend and ran out to join the march

Just to get him out, you know, to fight for the future. It can’t stay like this. We got mixed babies. We got brothers and sisters that are different, that like different stuff, and we’re being subjected to people who are so closed minded. You know, it’s gotta change now, this is our future. You know, I didn’t even know this was happening. I live right here and we came out of our house and we were like “YES!!!!” Yes, let’s get in this. You gotta be part of the change if you want the change.

We live right here. We’re planning on coming down every day. So, let’s do this!

C, a young Black man, just recently out of high school; and I, a young Black woman, just out of high school who works at a nursing home and is taking courses to be able to do more for people with Alzheimer’s

C: I wanted to come. I always liked protests. This is my first protest. We saw it chalked on the ground, it said November 4 so we found the information and came. I want to make a sit-in. I’m interested in fighting against white supremacy because if that took over then I wouldn’t be able to live my normal life anyway. I’d be forced to fight.

I: I found out about this on Facebook, someone shared it to me and I shared it with others on public social media. I just think it’s important for everyone, especially our generation. If we want to have a future we don’t need wars because America is headed to nuclear destruction I believe. And I’m just afraid of my future. We need to stop this. We need to stop all this stuff happening to the planet. We can’t just sit and do nothing. If we ignore it, it’s gonna get worse.

Responding to: What do you think about what’s involved here, not just Trump but Pence too, the Trump/Regime and it’s got to go.
C: If Trump was gone and Pence took over, it would be the same thing, we gotta get rid of the whole operation.

I: I want to get rid of all this. We have to find another way, you know. I’m not against white people, I’m not against Hispanic. We have to find a better way to run our country because everyone is looking at us like we are idiots. People look at America like we’re idiots because we have diversity issues and we’re causing war in other countries. We need to stop all this or we are all gonna die. I believe we are all gonna die if this continues.

Responding to: This isn’t just today but coming out day after day, week after week, month after month until this Trump/Pence regime is removed

C: We got to do what we got to do!

I: We have to do this. It’s our lives. Our lives are at stake! We cannot allow the government to try and kill us—through food, pollution, nuclear war. To me it sounds like they want to kill mankind, humankind, all of us. None of us―white, Black, Hispanic—none of us are exempt from all this. They want to exterminate us all and we have to stop this. We Have To Stop This!

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San Francisco interviews

Interview #1

Q: You came all the way from Reno, Nevada?

A: Yes. I just moved there. But, in my job I took care of people. So I knew we are experiencing the beginnings of fascism. People these days, they don’t really know. They don’t realize it. We have a chance, because a lot of us know what fascism is and we are protesting. Okay, because in Germany, before Hitler came to power and even during when Hitler came to power there was no resistance. There was some minor resistance underground, but there wasn’t. We have a chance. And that’s why I’m here.

Q: What drew you here?

A: OK, I’m against all the manifestations of fascism that we are seeing by the Trump administration. I am against what they are doing to the environment and how he is giving a go-ahead to the Alt-Right and to all these killings that are happening now because of him. I want him out.

Interview #2

Q: Why did you come out to the protest today?

A: To completely eliminate, or you know, end this nightmare. And it is gonna take a lot of grass roots coalition building. It’s gonna require Americans from all walks of life, from all different political beliefs, on all ends of the spectrum to come together and agree that this regime is unacceptable, and that fascism is unacceptable, and completely contrary to American values. I mean, I think we’re all Americans, and proud to be Americans because of our freedoms and our liberties, and the fact that this regime is trying to curtail our liberties in a variety of ways, whether it’s policing our bodies by eliminating birth control, or by telling us that we shouldn’t be here, whether you’re a Mexican undocumented immigrant brought here when you were five months old, or whether you’re a PhD student from Saudi Arabia, I’ll give a better example, from Yemen which is on the ban list, like it’s just fucked up and I think we all need to stand together and call that out, and not only to say with our words that it’s wrong, but also to demonstrate with our actions that we believe it’s wrong.

Interview #3

Q: Why did you come out to the protest today?

A: As a Muslim-American who was born in America, the daughter of an American citizen, I am here because in the name of humanity, I find it unacceptable to have a Muslim ban categorically denying millions of the people looking for a better life and barring them entry from entering America. And I think my friends here are with me because they agree and they stand with me and my classmates. I wouldn’t be here today if Trump had his way. And it’s that simple.

Interview #4

A: Why did you come out to the protest today?

Q: You know, it’s all good to be disgusted with Trump. Many, many, many people in this country are disgusted with Trump, but that’s not enough. If you really wanna change things, you have to do more than be disgusted. You have to translate your disgust into action... you have to get out and try to do something to mobilize people. And that’s why I’m here today, and I hope a lot of other people are gonna do the same.

Interview #5

Q: How did you hear about today and what made you join?

A: I think we heard about this thing from Facebook. We’re part of Indivisible SF and Indivisible CA-14 so we kinda know what’s going on. That’s one of the reasons we’re down here to support our brothers and sisters in the city.

I wanna make sure that we get a change in Congress in the next election. I wanna make sure that next spring, summer, these protests only become better, or become greater such that next November, in a year from now, that we elect a democratic representative Congress and take back from what I believe was an illegal grab of power, bring it back to a democratic approach (with a small “d” not a big “D”) to really give voice to the people. Cause right now it’s a voice to the corporations, a voice to the billionaires.

Interview #6

Q: Why did you come out to the protest today?

A: What brought me out here was the constant fear that people are living in, and that I’m personally worried that my rights as a woman are being taken away, and I don’t want to see that happen, and I don’t believe a lot of the things that Trump supports, and I think maybe not fascism is what’s happening, but I do believe that our voices need to be heard that we don’t support this president and this vice president, and that next year... or not next year…  next election there should be a change.

Well, I guess the fact that the word fascism was in there was a lot of it, because very soon after Trump began his run, I began noticing as somebody who had done a lot of study of for instance, World War 2 and Hitler’s Nazi Germany, I realized that he was lining up with the encyclopedic definition of fascism. And you don’t wanna believe that a fascist is gaining currency for the U.S. presidency, but when it jumps in your face you can’t ignore it. So I said, alright, he’s a fascist. That means he absolutely has to be stopped. And that’s what I’ve been spending the last two years trying to do.

Interview #7

Q: What brought you out here today?

A: This is one of the few organizations that is trying to do what I think is needed which is sustained protests. The Women’s March, the March for Science... all those things were wonderful, but then they were over and there wasn’t any official follow-up. There were little groups that atomized and split and there’s lots of groups that formed up until the election, and then went their separate ways. What we need is a broad-based coalition that is united around what we are united around, which is that this regime has to go. And I don’t think that we can afford to be... we can’t afford to be distracted by our partisan disagreements. We can have those disagreements but we need to not be distracted, and we need to be persistent because they’re counting on us to get fatigued or give up. So those are the two things we have to defeat. We have to defeat destroying each other, and we have to defeat fatigue.

Interview #8

A: This is not a movie. The one man, the savior, the hero… whoever it is that they’re hoping will come and be the savior or the obvious person to rally around... that’s not happening. We’ve had a few people that tried to make that and it didn’t work. I think eventually you have to sit down with yourself and realize that we’re the ones we’ve been waiting for, as they say. That’s ... this is a collective action problem. Nobody’s going to jump up and be the obvious savior. We have to jump up ... either one of us will become a great leader, several of us will be a great leader... hundreds of us will be great leaders, or maybe we’ll just all be awesome together. But one way or the other, the more of us that jump in, the more chance we have to reverse this before it’s too late.

Interview #9

A: So I think the phrase, a nightmare is quite indicative of what is going on. It’s a constant state of fear in which we live under cause of the unknown, and potential catastrophic consequences that we can suffer underneath this presidency. I think that alone is enough to bring me to the streets, but it’s the consistent undermining of constitutional norms, situational norms, that we’ve seen him institute with the Travel Ban, undermining with Betsy DeVos, disability rights, and transgender rights in our schools, I think that is the first signs of a fascist regime, which is why I’m here.

Interview #10

A: I heard about it through my daughter, who is here beside me. She heard about it through Facebook.  And then passed the word on to me. I think the thing that I worry the most about is the environment because he is basically sabotaging the whole Environmental Protection Agency, and putting really a watch-dog on there who really is hand-in-glove with the oil companies, and hand-in-glove with all of the major industries that are polluting our earth. And I feel that it’s really really worrying to think what’s gonna happen, you know, the environment and the fact that he really doesn’t care about it...

I’m just really worried about the future of not only our nation but the world, and America’s impact on it. We’re just a horrible example for the world. There’s no peace, there’s no freedom any more. Everyone’s saying “Make America Great Again” when was America great? When we were enslaved? When we had no rights? We still don’t have rights? There’s still enslavement in the prisons all over. So I mean we need somebody who actually cares about the well-being of the people, and can stand for America, and not stand for fascism and hate.

Interview #11, with two gay men

A: I think people should put down their Facebook and get out of the house and come and see that a protest in person makes a difference, it actually really makes a big difference. And to see, and be with other people that feel the same way and are alarmed about our current political situation, it’s important to do that in real life and not in your digital...

I think it’s gonna take... my role is to talk to people, especially people that don’t agree with me, friends and family that don’t agree with me and talk to them about my feelings and how the current government impacts me directly, and what I see it taking is just a lot of people in the middle changing their perspective to force him out.

Interview #12

A: I started going to demonstrations in January, going to the Women’s March, the whole situation seems really, really, we’re on the brink of some sort of totalitarian massive takeover and oppression, and so we have to come out and say something because otherwise the situation can become dire.

Q: What do you think the next steps are?

A: I think the people in Washington have to grow a set of balls. Those guys in the Republican Party... Both sides.... Both sides are sucking... the Democrats should have stopped this. They have to go outside the box when it’s not working inside the box.

Q: Let me amend the question... what are the next steps we in the movement have to take?

A: We just have to be out in the streets like they do in Europe until it falls.

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