300 Gather Nationwide and Decide:
#OutNow Protests to Begin October 19 in NYC & LA and Then Spread Nationwide

October 7, 2019 | revcom.us

 

In the last week and a half of September, RefuseFascism.org convened meetings in a dozen cities that drew some 300 people and came to a momentous decision to launch mass nonviolent protests starting on October 19 in NYC and Los Angeles and then spreading across the country each Saturday for the next four weeks of #OutNow protests, demanding: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go—NOW!

As the newly published call for these protests states: “The Trump/Pence Regime poses a catastrophic danger to humanity. Concentration Camps on the border... environmental devastation accelerated... the danger of war, even nuclear, threatened... white supremacy rules... fascist mobs and racist mass murderers... truth and science erased... the right to abortion near gone... the rule of law and democratic and civil rights are stripped away... THIS IS FASCISM UNFOLDING.”

And now, with impeachment unfolding, the stakes for humanity have just escalated further. The Trump/Pence regime is lashing back, raising the specter of execution against those who expose their wrongdoing and tweeting about a new civil war. Meanwhile, the Democrats—who have actively facilitated the fascism of Trump/Pence for nearly three years—are fighting to ensure that impeachment proceeds on extremely narrow grounds. To quote again from the call for these protests, the approach of the Democrats “would legitimate the whole Trump/Pence fascist program, leaving the cancer in place to grow more dangerously, especially if his Christo-fascist VP Pence is then allowed to take the presidency. Moreover, Trump has threatened that he may not leave office.”

All this underscores why RefuseFascism.org came to the historic decision to launch sustained, mass, nonviolent protests in October aimed at driving out the Trump/Pence Regime:

This is a moment when we—people of many different views and experience—must act together in mass, sustained, non-violent nationwide protests that continue until the Trump/Pence regime is removed from power. We begin with protests in NYC and LA on October 19 that announce four more consecutive Saturdays of protests in cities and towns across the country that gather more people and momentum so that in the weeks and months that follow, the movement grows to tens and hundreds of thousands and millions. What unifies all the diverse streams of people that need to pour into the streets is the single demand: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go—Now!

Those who gathered in the late September meetings included students who were only recently awakened to political life through the Climate Strike, activists who had traveled to DC for the We The People March on September 24, individuals who were inspired by the mass struggle that drove out the governor of Puerto Rico, members of the Revolution Clubs around the country, a few representatives of local organizations, people who are involved in supporting different Democratic Party primary candidates but feeling they can’t just wait until the elections, and quite a few others who in different ways were feeling the existential threat posed by the Trump/Pence regime and the need to seize the time to act now to stop the whole regime and the drive towards fascism.

At the Los Angeles meeting, Andy Zee gave a substantive presentation on the catastrophic danger posed by the Trump/Pence regime, the momentous fight that has broken out at the top of society in the current impeachment hearings, the roots and stakes of all this, and the need and possibility of a movement of the people from below that drives this fascist regime from power. He also brought to bear some of the lessons and common arguments RefuseFascism.org has already run into in arguing for this approach, and how to answer those questions. Around the country, other meetings showed a film of this presentation and attendees listened deeply, often taking notes and responding audibly along the way. These meetings also sent a powerful video greeting from Sarah Roark of the Refuse Fascism Editorial Board.

These presentations, which can be viewed here and here, provided deep grounding for people from many different political perspectives and life experiences to join together in wrestling with and planning for outpourings unlike any we have yet seen in this country. In the days that followed these meetings, RefuseFascism.org began posting protest locations and times, plans for local screenings of the speech 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, as well as other materials to start organizing and spreading the word.

Spreading this call for these protests—getting the word out to hundreds of thousands—is one of the most pressing needs now before all who want to see this movement succeed.

RefuseFascism.org will also be holding weekly webinars for organizers. Learn more and register for these at RefuseFascism.org.