Drive Out the Trump/Pence Regime National Tour
NO! In the Name of Humanity – We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America

“The Trump/Pence Regime is a Fascist Regime. Not insult or exaggeration, this is what it is. For the future of humanity and the planet, we, the people, must drive this regime out…

“Fascism has direction and momentum. Dissent is piece by piece criminalized. The truth is bludgeoned. Group after group is demonized and targeted along a trajectory that leads to real horrors. All of this has already begun under the Trump Regime. History has shown that fascism must be stopped before it becomes too late.”

RefuseFascism.org is organizing people across the country to rise to the challenge of driving from office the fascist Trump/Pence regime, before it is too late. A key part of RefuseFascism’s plan is the Drive Out the Trump/Pence Regime National Tour. Organizers set out on February 26 from NYC in a van to go to the South heading to Texas – areas where the two futures for the country and world are starkly contested.

The Tour is going to hotspots where the lines are sharply posed. The Tour is reaching out to campuses and small towns that want to get organized to put a stop to fascism. This Tour will be a dynamic factor on the national terrain with people following its progress, learning of its impact taking inspiration and redoubling their own efforts. As people are resisting the outrages of the Trump/Pence regime around the country, as people are building Refuse Fascism in the big cities and campuses, the Tour can galvanize the hearts and minds of people who want to say NO! to the fascist Trump/Pence regime and oust it from office.

The Tour pulls up to college campuses and rallies students in the quad. It meets up with and work with people who’ve been following Refuse Fascism on social media. When it arrives at hotspots that are on the frontlines of struggle against different aspects of Trump’s fascist program, the Tour connects up with individuals and groups who have been resisting… religious organizations, student groups, immigrants rights activists, new anti-Trump groups, and more.

Those who encounter the Tour directly, or hear about it and reach out to it, will be worked with by the National Office to go out and organize even more people to become organizers. The Tour is not just inspiring people nationwide, but is a seeding machine to build organization and movement to make history by driving out this regime.

RefuseFascism.org features photos, reports, and lessons of the Tour as it travels so that people nation-wide can follow it, bring it to their area, and join its efforts. Through social media and media coverage it generates, the Tour will project its message out into society.

There are several key ways people can help make this Tour a success:

• Donate generously. This Tour will cost tens of thousands of dollars for transportation, food, and lodging; for materials and displays; and for national communications capacity; your donation will make a very big difference in reaching thousands across the country. Go Fund Me Campaign for Tour
• Volunteer to travel with the Tour. To apply, email us with your name, phone number, potential dates you are available, and why you are interested in being on the Tour: tour@refusefascism.org
• Volunteer to help host the Tour in your area. This includes housing the Tour, setting up speaking/organizing events, joining the efforts of the Tour in your area, and working with the National Office after the Tour leaves. Between Feb 24 and March 10, the Tour will travel from NYC through North Carolina, Georgia and other places in the South, ending up in Texas – contact us if you are in these areas. After that is yet to be scheduled – get in touch. tour@refusefascism.org
• Email us with your ideas and to help in other ways. tour@refusefascism.org

tour@refusefascism.org
646-851-6739

To follow the progress of the “Drive Out the Trump/Pence Regime Tour”, visit RefuseFascism.org

Day 5 – Charlotte, North Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia:

Charlotte N. Carolina: There is Nothing More Positive than Saying NO! Right Now

March 5, 2017 by Refuse Fascism

Hi everyone!

The Refuse Fascism National Tour volunteers woke up early this morning to travel from Greensboro to Charlotte, NC, where we attended an organizing meeting and Tour send-off at a coffee shop. We were joined by activists from Indivisible and MoveOn.org, the organizers of Resist Trump Tuesdays in Charlotte, some college students, a high school student, people from a communist collective, and a Greenpeace activist who had been arrested for protesting the Rex Tillerson hearing (we originally met her in court in DC because two of our Tour members were arrested for protesting Jeff Sessions confirmation hearing). The meeting began in “a very Southern way,” as one Charlotte activist put it. A Reverend, who also works as a professor and is affiliated with the NAACP, led a prayer about the importance of equality and rights for all people. We had a great turnout and were all blown away by the strong enthusiasm of the crowd, their powerful sense of urgency, and consistent participation throughout the meeting and afterwards.

One Volunteer began with a presentation on the Call to Action, emphasizing examples of the manifestation of fascism in the Trump/Pence regime and building on the crowd’s excitement and willingness to get to work right away. After another Volunteer gave a compelling fundraising pitch, she was immediately followed by a community activist who stood up to drive home the need for financial support for our food, transportation, and materials. The atmosphere of the meeting reminded some Tour members of a church service; all attendees openly affirmed the points we were making, clapped and nodded in support, and participated freely to contribute their own ideas, concerns, and goals.

We spoke about the implications of fascism for the United States broadly, but we also discussed some of the issues in North Carolina specifically. The state received extensive media attention and came under fire from reasonable people around the world for denying our transgender siblings—especially young children in schools—the human right to use the bathroom corresponding with their gender. After former President Obama outlawed this shockingly cruel action of the state, Trump wasted no time in his first month repealing this motion and stripping protection from an entire group of people, who are absolutely, unquestionably deserving of equality and safety. We also discussed voter suppression and the movement for redistricting the state because of the illegitimate gerrymandering that benefits the right wing.

An important question came up during the meeting from the Reverend, who commented that the widespread message of NO!, while powerful and useful, may be overwhelmingly negative. He asked, because we are advocating for refusal so much, what exactly are we saying “yes” to? It is implicitly clear that, as we deny fascism the rise to power they hunger for, we promote human rights, love, and equality. One Tour Volunteer, though, gave our audience an unbelievably moving and very significant response: “Imagine if everyone in Nazi Germany stood up and said NO!, and stopped the Holocaust before it started. Think of the Abolitionist movement. We do not remember the Abolitionists as the people who said ‘yes’ to no slavery. They said NO! We will not accept this. There is nothing more positive than saying NO! right now.”

One of the greatest outcomes of this meeting was the concrete organizing we were able to do. Each of the Volunteers shared their own story and then linked it with a direct plan of action the people of Charlotte could take to join the movement to drive them out. We were actually able to create a Refuse Fascism Charlotte chapter on the spot by interacting very personally with the audience. One Volunteer asked for each person who would be interested in joining the new chapter to raise their hands, and she then asked who would be able to host the first meeting. By the time we left, the new chapter was set up and had planned a conference call with the Refuse Fascism national office for the next morning.

On top of this accomplishment, we inspired two people to join us on the Tour. There were also talks of the Charlotte chapter holding a fundraising with the goal of raising money for a NO! billboard in the city. We received donations and distributed more materials than we had at any other meeting. Afterward, all of the Volunteers had more intimate conversations with attendees, gathering detailed information about what brought them to our movement and what can help them in moving forward from here. Once we got back on the road, we received a text from two women who attended the meeting with pictures of posters they put up all around the city after leaving the coffee shop. We are enlivened by the spirited mood of all the Charlotte organizers we met, and we’re proud to have been able to inspire them toward actual, quick action to move millions now. We left them with an understanding of the necessity of working now to remove their power because fascism moves at a rapid pace, actively seeking any opportunity to dismantle democratic and human rights.

We spent the afternoon traveling to Atlanta, where several kind and welcoming hosts greeted us. We all had a group dinner at a nearby Nepalese restaurant, and we were able to discuss recent events in Atlanta, upcoming protests, and all of the meetings and events we have planned, including a Tour welcoming party we’re looking forward to tomorrow. The food and conversation were wonderful, and we were able to begin preparing for our radio interview, activist training session, teach-in with Sunsara Taylor, and the other plans we have for our stay in Atlanta. We are so grateful to the awesome activists in Charlotte and our hosts from the Refuse Fascism Atlanta chapter for their hospitality, support of the Tour, and passion for organizing and spreading the unifying NO! message. Together, the existing chapters and the new ones we’re initiating in the cities we visit on Tour will guide organizers to recruit more leaders to educate the entire nation and the world on what fascism is and why it is undeniably present in this unacceptable, horrifying Trump/Pence regime. These are the people who will bring millions into the streets to refuse. With their amazing dedication and fervor pushing us forward, we will organize, we will mobilize, and we will drive these fascists out!

Follow the tour every day at refusefascism.org