World · CrimethInc. · 1970-01-01
cwc-2017-01-30-30000-march-through-manhattan-against-trump
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With his first string of executive orders, Trump is leading an assault on all of us, on all fronts at once. He’s gambling that he can break our spirit and set a precedent for obedience over the years to come. In courageously filling the streets, blockading airports, and interrupting business as usual, we are setting a precedent for resistance that could ultimately enable us to block his agenda.
We will be continuously posting narratives and updates from this weekend’s actions here. Please send us reports if you can: tips@crimethinc.com
This weekend has set a precedent for confrontational protests targeting essential infrastructure as people spontaneously gathered at airports around the country in response to Trump’s ban on Muslims.
Despite posting reports from ten cities, we have only been able to report on a small fraction of the demonstrations and actions taking place across the US. We received reports that I-95 was shut down in Philadelphia, while thousands marched through downtown Seattle. Hundreds gathered in St. Louis, Detroit, and countless other cities.
All this establishes a good example for the future. It is essential that we fight back against Trump immediately, before any of his programs can become normalized.
But we must not rest on the laurels of a few airport shutdowns. Even winning a small rollback on some aspect of the ban should not satisfy us. A real victory would mean pushing back immigration controls that date from Obama’s administration and earlier. Let us not forget that Obama deported more people than all the US Presidents of the 20th century added together.
These immigration controls are only one aspect of the Trump agenda, only one of the many executive orders he has already signed. As our comrades at itsgoingdown.org report,
“These orders call for the construction of a massive border wall, the hiring of 10,000 ICE officials to speed up expected massive deportations, and the beefing up of border guards by 5,000 officers along the Mexican border. While liberals and celebrities have laughed at Trump’s fascistic ambitions from the start of his Presidential run, there is no sign that Trump will back away from his plans, as he has set in motion all of his previous goals so far. Moreover, in true proto-fascist fashion, Trump is also hoping to play up the reality that with racist repression (as with massive resource extraction projects), also comes jobs; ‘good jobs’ that are part of police associations which are also loyal to Trump himself. In this way, Trump can to a small degree, begin to make ‘a new deal’ for at least part of the working-class that is willing to take part in his attempt to redefine who is included, and who excluded.”
We should scrutinize the dynamics within the state itself right now as Trump carries out an internal power grab. The state has not been this internally divided in the United States in living memory. This creates new opportunities for us, but it also makes the terrain less predictable. We may suddenly face an unexpectedly severe crackdown, or find ourselves with unlikely allies, or discover that some of the people beside us in the streets aren’t allies at all.
In “Trial Balloon for a Coup?” Yonatan Zunger draws four conclusions from the machinations of the Trump regime throughout the past week:
We should not be so busy reacting to the most obvious of Trump’s assaults that we fail to craft a long-term strategy that can ultimately outflank and defeat him. The ways we fight now should position us for a long struggle, equipping us do more and push further than we have before in our efforts to abolish the state.
Read the full story at the source →
Source: CrimethInc.