Mass Campaign to Drive Out Trump and Pence Launches in Bay Area

Mass Campaign to Drive Out Trump and Pence Launches in Bay Area
By Jonathan Nack
November 5, 2017

OAKLAND – Chanting, “Drive out this nightmare, Trump and Pence must go” a rally and march in San Francisco on Saturday kicked off Bay Area activities of a national campaign. Protests were held in twenty-two cities including: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Seattle and Portland. To promote the day of action, a full page ad was taken out in the New York Times.
https://www.facebook.com/RefuseFascism/photos/gm.136022230383445/1763342337293108/?type=3&theater

The campaign is organized by Refuse Fascism, a new organization. It has the ambitious goal of bringing millions out into the streets in a series of mass actions to call for, “the end of the Trump and Pence regime.” https://refusefascism.org

A sign proclaimed, “#Nov4ItBegins.” Eight more events in S.F. are scheduled to follow the march through November 19th. They include “outreach assemblies,” “mass organizing meetings,” and three more protests.
https://www.facebook.com/RefuseFascism/photos/gm.136614153657586/1764490397178302/?type=3&theater

The goal is to bring out ever increasing numbers of protesters, “hundreds, then thousands, then millions, day after day, night after night” until “the fascists are removed from the White House.”

Approximately two hundred protesters attended the rally in Union Square on Saturday. A long and spirited march snaked through the city following the rally.

The campaign has quite a way to go to achieve its goal, but a number of things were done well on Saturday. A nonpartisan note was struck as a welcome was extended to Berniecrats, Clintonites, communists, anarchists, Antifa, and even Republicans. The mobile speaker system was loud and clear (a pet peeve of mine are marches and rallies with inadequate sound). The rally and march route were chosen so as to be seen by many thousands. Union Square was packed with tourists and shoppers and the march proceeded from downtown up Market Street to the Castro, and then into the Mission district. Volunteers eagerly distributed leaflets about the campaign every step of the way and the march was greeted enthusiastically by many.

The campaign has a clear objective and it’s dual focus on outreach and street mobilizations are positive. The campaign could become a nice compliment to counter-protests organized by Antifa and others against the street presence of the fascist and racist right.

The campaign professes a commitment to nonviolence. No physical confrontation with right-wing provocateurs occurred on Saturday despite some attempt on their part to provoke an incident.

Incidentally, right-wing corporate and social media went wild spreading misinformation/fake news prior to Saturday. TruthDig reported that rumors were spread that it would be an Antifa uprising. Fox News warned of an impending “Antifa apocalypse.” Alex Jones of InfoWars said, “we have a flood of antifa saying that they’re preparing with weapons, knives and guns to kill conservatives, patriots and white people en masse.” A YouTube video, which TruthDig reported as going viral on right-wing social media, said: “On their website, they are calling for an open civil war that they will start here in the United States in November. They are fundraising for weapons, training, ammunition, suppliers. They are not hiding this. They are openly fundraising so they can attack.” All of this proved to be false.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/rumors-antifa-uprising-spread-youtube/

Rafael, an organizer with Refuse Fascism Bay Area, told IndyBay that, “we don’t know exactly what success would look like.” “We’re looking at the example set in South Korea about six months ago. It was a mass nonviolent movement to remove the president. It started with hundreds of protesters, then thousands, then millions. The president was eventually impeached, but it wouldn’t have happened if not for the mass movement from below.”

“If Trump and Pence are driven out due to a mass movement of people that refuse to accept a fascist America, then whomever comes next will have to deal with that movement,” said Rafael.

When asked if Refuse Fascism plans to reach out to other organizations to be co-sponsors and organizers of the campaign, Rafael responded, “Absolutely.” “We want to build a united front against fascism. We need the radicals, but also the liberals that recognize the danger, Bernie people, Hillary people, even Republicans against Trump. The fight needs to be taken up by many organizations. We want many co-sponsors.”

The campaign envisions the formation a very powerful united front. To get there from here will require overcoming so many challenges. It will have to show that it is inclusive, that its decision-making process is democratic, and that it can work well with other organizations. It’s one thing to say all anti-Trump forces are welcome, and that Refuse Fascism will reach out to other organizations to take up the campaign, but quite another to demonstrate that successfully in action.

Refuse Fascism Bay Area’s Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/RefuseFascismBayArea/