Seattle emergency rally against Trump
Seattle, WA – 200 protesters took to Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park the day after the U.S. presidential election to rally against the racist, reactionary program of president-elect Donald Trump.
Valerie Marriott, an organizer with the University of Washington chapter of New Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), warned, “Our local students and community members could be at risk of deportation. Trump could attack anyone in the student movement with immigration status if he deems them to be ‘dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States.’ This is on top of all the current ongoing oppression faced by pro-Palestinian protesters who face mass arrest, expulsions, police brutality, firings, and more under the current administration.”
Dre Say, who spoke for Seattle Against War, a new organization united on ending the genocide and calling for an end of U.S. aid to Israel, stated “As president, Donald Trump set the stage for this current genocide with the Abraham Accords, and I believe he will continue this Biden-started genocide.”
Anxious at the prospect of renewed people’s struggle, 50 to 60 bicycle-mounted police officers looked on from various points in the park. Speakers and attendees were unfazed, and chants of “SPD, KKK, IOF, they’re all the same!” rang out all the more loudly in defiance of Seattle police’s halfhearted attempt at intimidation.
“Resisting imperialism is a matter of survival for all,” emphasized the speaker from the International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS). “Now, more than ever, we have to resist, care for our communities, break through the MAGA propaganda, organize workplaces, block the war machine, and stand with socialist and revolutionary struggles for liberation.” ILPS called on audience members to mobilize to the Space Needle on Saturday, November 9 at 1 p.m., to stand up and fight back against Trump and the war machine.
Gemini Gnull, a proud member of the Osage Nation and of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, stated, “We are going to win by getting organized.”
Gnull continued, “We are going to organize to overthrow the U.S. like they did in Vietnam, like they did in Cuba, like they did in Laos. It worked there, it can work here too.” She called on audience members to “join the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Become a revolutionary. Join me and my comrades every day as we fight shoulder to shoulder to unite all who can be united, win all that can be won while striking blows against our enemy, unite the working class with the oppressed nations to overthrow the US, free us from the oppressive shackles of capitalism, and build a future that we, our children, and our children’s children deserve.”
Organizers included the International League of People’s Struggle, Bayan USA, SDS at UW, Seattle Against War, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
The people of Seattle will continue to take to the streets to defend against the attacks on women, immigrants, and others that will come from a second Trump administration. With other such rallies taking place simultaneously in cities all over the U.S., there can be no doubt that the people are ready for the battles to come.