New York Organizing Meeting Makes Big Plans for New Year’s Eve: “No Fascist 2017!”

December 22, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

On December 21, 50+ people met in New York City to bring into reality the plan that had been laid out two days earlier at the Emergency Organizing Meeting at Cooper Union . Those who came included people who came off Monday’s organizing meeting; at least a dozen students from different high schools and colleges/universities; people in the environmental movement; alternative media people; those involved in the stop police brutality struggle; and others. Some were there who have already been organizing protests against Trump on their own and now want to kick in on this whole vision of “Stopping the Trump/Pence Regime Before it Starts.”

Carl Dix, one of the initiators of the “Call for a Month of Resistance,” opened the meeting, talking about just how serious the situation we face is... with the fascist Trump/Pence regime and how we have to act, starting right now, to organize to stop this regime before it starts. He said someone had said to him, “You’re laying out a monumental task,” and Carl said, “We have a monumental problem.” He talked about how we have to get this “NO!” out there everywhere, starting now—at family gatherings, cultural events, everything that’s going on. And a very important nodal point here in New York will be New Year’s Eve—where there should be demonstrations, vigils, rallies—all focused on putting out “No fascist 2017!” This is a day where New York becomes a big focus all across the country and even the world, with millions of people coming into Times Square. And this has to be a day where the message of “NO!” gets out really big and hits the TV coverage and newspaper headlines.

Sunsara Taylor, another initiator of the call, also made some opening comments. She talked about how there are millions of people deeply upset and agonizing over Trump/Pence and how it is up to the people now to stop this; how in this society people are trained that what it means to be politically involved means just voting and then if you don’t like it you can write a letter, etc. “But that this effort is fundamentally different, that we have to rely on ourselves, the masses of people, to reach out and stop looking up to some savior in the political establishment and instead look to the millions and millions here who feel like we do, and hundreds of millions around the world who will be affected by what they [Trump/Pence] would do.”

There was lively discussion with lots of people kicking in different ideas, creative ways for how to get this message out all over the place, and starting the very next day—how to reach out to all kinds of different people, people involved in different struggles, points of view—but around one over-arching theme: No! No Trump. No Pence. No Fascist America. People broke into working groups—students/youth; social media; outreach; New Year’s Eve actions; media. In the student group there was talk about organizing walkouts at high schools right away. One person who has been organizing protests at Nike Town to move out of Trump Towers , one of Trump’s big assets, made plans with others to go the next night to get the “NO!” out to as many people as possible. People were figuring out creative ways to get the “NO!” logo out—like there was one idea to make something where it would be lit up on a lantern that could be carried at night; another person said they were going to get it copied on acetate so that people could shine it out from their phones. There were at least a half dozen people who signed up to have house meetings to have someone come and talk about the plan and get others organized into this whole effort, as well as raise money. Someone who works in public access TV said they could try and use this to get the “NO!” message out.

The biggest focus of the group discussion, and then when people broke up into working groups, was making concrete plans for New Year’s Eve—to really figure out how to make the biggest impact on that day/night, that will reverberate throughout the country and the world—starting the whole year off with the “NO!” message reaching many, many millions of people who need to join in and make a New Year’s resolution: “No Fascist 2017!”

At the end of the meeting people lined up to make “NO!” messages and challenge people to be in the streets on New Year’s Eve and then the whole group gathered to send a video “NO!” message.

 

 

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