Grand Rapids, MI: Protest for Palestine follows Trump election
Grand Rapids, MI – On November 6, the day after the U.S. presidential election, demonstrators gathered on Rosa Parks Circle to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Gathering nearly 150 participants, they persisted through the cold and rainy evening delivering chants and speeches to the downtown community.
The event, organized by Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids (PSGR), shows Michigan that the fight still continues, even after the election season. PSGR Chair Emerson Wolfe told the crowd, “This fight has persisted for generation – there is still hope.”
The backdrop of the occasion was the somber news that Donald Trump will be given four more years in office. But the group’s condemnation of Trump was not a celebration of Harris. Mamie Graziano of the Kent County Green Party told onlookers, “Neither party is representing me. Neither party is willing to cut the military budget and stop imperialism.” In 2024, alone, the Department of Defense was given $1.94 trillion in funding, a 24% increase from the prior year.
The incumbent candidate of District 20, Ivan Diaz, stated in his speech to the demonstrators, “The establishment expected us to stay quiet and fall in line while images of dead women and children filled our newsfeed and timelines.” He continued, “We live in the imperial core here in America. Unless we tie anti-imperialism to anti-corporatism, we’re not going to get anywhere.”
A member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) told the crowd that Palestine was a “tragedy at the intersection of human rights, human dignity, profit hungry capitalism, imperialism, racism, poverty, minority rights, and so much more.”
Both Harris and Trump have displayed unequivocal support of the Zionist entity, each attempting to outcompete one another in their championing and courting of Israel.
Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s (FRSO) Owen Frassetto left scathing remarks of the Harris campaign’s attempt to pressure votes from the anti-Trump public, stating “The Democrats tried to convince us that we had to vote for Kamala Harris to save this so-called democracy. They expected us to stand with the butchers of Gaza”.
In total, 12 different organizations and progressive political candidates took the stage.
The evening ended with invigorated chanting with many honks of support from passersby. As Owen Frassetto declared to the demonstrators, “It is the large majority, the working and oppressed people, that drive history forward.”