From Revolution Club Chicago

Running with the Revolution Club, Refusing Fascism

November 27, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

The Revolution Club in Chicago has been throwing all in with the movement of protests to drive out the Trump/Pence regime, moving with the urgency of stopping the consolidation of fascist rule. We have been part of all the major protests and events called by RefuseFascism.org, contributing to the organization and spirit of the marches, and organizing people from the oppressed neighborhoods as well as college students to come to these protests, with some running with the Revolution Club and wearing the REVOLUTION, NOTHING LESS! T-shirts.

On November 4, the day of nationwide protests that kicked off the movement to drive out Trump & Pence, one person wearing the REVOLUTION, NOTHING LESS! T-shirt was a young guy who has been running with the Revolution Club on and off since the beginning of the summer. He is someone who decided after being shot a couple years ago that he wanted to get out of the trap of people fighting and killing each other, and he is drawn to the message and mission of the Revolution Club Chicago project: get out of this dog-eat-dog madness and get with the revolution to emancipate all of humanity. After the protest, he was happy he’d been part of it and commented on a number of things: He was moved by the high school student who spoke from the stage and her courage to openly say that she is gay; he felt what he saw that day was people really getting organized; and he reported that he went up to all kinds of people at the protest and introduced himself so people would feel welcomed and know that we are all doing this together.

That week, as we continued to get the word out at high schools and neighborhoods, transportation hubs and colleges, we were also part of RefuseFascism.org’s daily mini-rallies downtown. One of these was a #MeToospeakout we helped to MC that drew forward people on the spot to get on the microphone on a busy corner and speak out against the degradation of women and LGBTQ people and an openly woman-hating regime. A college student stopped to watch the speak-out, and some of her friends passed by a few minutes later and also stopped. They listened to what was being said and they were invited and challenged to speak themselves. Finally, one gathered the courage to come up. She angrily talked about how she is tired of being talked down to because she is Black and female, and she is tired of not having the freedom to walk the streets at night without fear of assault, and Trump and Pence MUST GO! She ended her speech making a roaring sound and everyone listening repeated it as she walked away from the mic. A student who had come to the Nov. 4 protest and joined in at the mini-rallies all week spoke a bit later. He wrapped up his comments with something very powerful in its simplicity: YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO TOUCH WOMEN WITHOUT THEIR PERMISSION!

With Trump’s threats of nuclear war hanging over Korea and all of us, and as people in South Korea persistently and creatively found ways to protest Trump’s visit there, we went to the Nov. 11 protest, joining people around the country in the ONLY national protest against war on Korea that has yet happened. An artist who met the Revolution Club on the South Side and has thrown in wholeheartedly with the movement to drive out Trump & Pence brought a beautiful painting she’d made replicating the art in the RefuseFascism.org billboard, a mushroom cloud in front of a silhouette of a Trump.

Then, in the freezing rain on Nov. 18, we were part of the raucous, joyous BREAK THE SILENCE, BRING THE NOISE! march to break through the atmosphere of people normalizing a NOT NORMAL regime. As the march made its way through downtown, heard from blocks away, the Revolution Club crew included college students and ex-prisoners drumming on buckets together and calling out to all to join us.

Thousands and millions ARE needed to join us. Now and more urgently than ever. We are putting out the word to everyone: watch the speech and Q&A from Bob Avakian, The Trump/Pence Regime MUST GO! In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America, A Better World IS Possible.

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