Voices from the DC Kavanaugh Protests

September 10, 2018 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Revcom spoke with two members of Refuse Fascism about why they traveled to Washington, DC, to protest and disrupt the September 4-7 Senate confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Their views are their own.

 

Lillian, a volunteer with the Refuse Fascism NYC chapter

Revcom: What did you do and say in the hearings?

Lillian: I was the second wave coming in of spectators at the hearing. I stood up. I’m not used to doing this kind of thing. There were all these flashbulbs going off. I said, “With all due respect Senator, do not let Kavanaugh become a member of the Supreme Court. He will confirm Trump as a fascist dictator. For the sake of humanity refuse fascism.”

As I said this the police were hustling me out. A German Facebook friend of mine said I was on German TV [although] the Senators were talking over the activists.

Revcom: How do you see the danger represented by Kavanaugh?

Lillian: There are multiple dangers. The danger of depriving us of our rights. And probably the scariest to me is locking down the Trump administration as fascist. For young women, of course, it’s Roe v. Wade. For women in general, including me, it’s lowering the position of women in general. And the man lied, according to many of the commentators. He lied under oath, and that is very scary, that someone like that would be on the Supreme Court.

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Mark—a member of Refuse Fascism

Revcom: What did you do and say in the hearings?

Mark: I wasn’t arrested, but I was outside protesting with Refuse Fascism. I brought my guitar, did my song “Fuck You Donald Trump, New York Hates You.” This time I added “Stop Brett Kavanaugh.” Outside the hearing you had a line of women who had traveled—a group from Alaska, from Arkansas. Lots of women from the Women’s March.

I talked to a lot of people, specifically to the danger of Brett Kavanaugh. It’s suspected that with his confirmation to the Supreme Court abortion will no longer be legal in the U.S., and that means women will start dying from illegal abortions. So women are very concerned about their right to do as they choose with their bodies. Roe v. Wade was obviously an issue that brought a lot of women down. And an issue very important to me, and to other people.

Kavanaugh is on record saying [former President Richard] Nixon could have been handled differently ... His sound bite: a president can’t be indicted. So let’s say the Mueller probe takes two years and has everything they need on the man in the White House. Guess what, it won’t matter because the Supreme Court [with Kavanaugh] decides you can’t indict a president, so you’re still stuck with a fascist.

Where I differed with a lot of people on line, as I was signing people up for Refuse Fascism, was about voting. I was able to turn a lot of people on to the point that the vote actually brought us this problem... But the thing I ran into with people from the Women’s March is they are mad, they are ready, and that means fill out the circle and vote. My desire is for people to get in the streets and demand removal. That worked in Armenia most recently, and in South Korea. Why is it when we have a problem we look to elected officials to solve it for us? That doesn’t make sense. We should be fighting our own battles, and especially now because our future is in danger because of elected officials.

I met so many amazing people ready to go into that hearing, to go in and raise hell. It was inspiring and rejuvenating.