Santa Ana, CA – Over 100 community members, activists and organizers rallied in Santa Ana to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20.

Despite cold gusts of wind, the crowd filled the intersection of S Bristol Street and W McFadden Avenue, a location people have rallied at for years, such as on Trump’s first inauguration or during the George Floyd Rebellion.

Erica Gonzalez of Chicanxs Unidxs (CU) said, “I stood on these streets in September 2017 with my four kids, all under the age of 14, to rally against the Trump administration for putting kids in cages and separating families at the border. It was during that rally that I felt the power of community for the first time. Here we are all these years later, except this time we’re much more organized and better prepared.”

Rachael Pozos of TransLatinx spoke on the danger posed to the LGBTQ community by Trump, stating “We are part of this community. They want to segregate and silence us, but we are raising our voices too. We demand that hormone replacement therapy continue to be carried out. We are not going to back down: on the contrary, we are going to fight!”

In his second administration, Trump will likely ramp up police spending and repression of the people’s movements. During his campaign he suggested harsh crackdowns on the Palestine solidarity movement, and in his first administration he responded to the George Floyd Rebellion with heavy repression. Last week Trump’s Department of Justice suggested halting consent decrees requiring reforms of police departments around the country.

Donna Acevedo-Nelson spoke about her son, Joel Acevedo, who was only 21 years old when he was killed by Anaheim Police Department, stating, “My son Joel was dragged, beaten, handcuffed and then shot in the back of the head. The police changed their story a few times. They lie. They go into the media. People believe what they read in the newspaper and there’s always more to the story.”

Protesters visible to passing cars held signs that read, “Indict! Convict! Send these killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!”

Emma Gottfried from Community Service Organization (CSO) spoke about the killing spree by Anaheim and Santa Ana police over the years. In December, SAPD killed Noe Rodriguez moments after arriving at the scene, giving commands only in English and firing at least 30 bullets even as he collapsed.

Gottfried said, “CSO has launched our ‘24/48’ police accountability campaign. We are fighting for more transparency, demanding the public releasing of officer names when they are involved in misconduct or a shooting within 24 hours, and for releasing unedited footage of the incident within 48 hours. Families deserve to see what happened and know who was involved so we can hold them responsible!” Protesters waved signs saying, “Justice for Noe Martinez Rodriguez.”

Labor activist Manaal Subhani warned of Trump’s legacy of attacking workers, stating, “During his presidency, Donald Trump systematically undermined worker protections and unions. His National Labor Relations Board repeatedly sided with corporations over workers, making it harder to form unions and easier to decertify them.”

Subhani continued, “Workers built this city, workers run this city, and workers will fight back against the Trump administration and the cop administration!”

Abraham Quintana of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) reinforced the importance of the working class struggle, stating, “The billionaires depend on our labor for their profits. It's not Elon Musk on the assembly line building those ugly, explosive trucks. It's not Gavin Newsom out there fighting wildfires. It’s workers!”

Quintana spoke of FRSO’s task of building a political party of the multinational working class, saying, “Instead of living in a world where we live to make profits for the billionaires, we can build a society that meets everyone’s needs and puts the power in the working class's hands instead of the hands of the 1%.”

Sandra de Anda, coordinator of the Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN), encouraged the crowd to call their hotline if ICE is spotted in Santa Ana (714-881-1558). She cautioned people to correctly verify sightings to avoid panic and shared about their participatory defense work to stop and reduce detentions, deportations and incarcerations.

Sandra de Anda said, “We are here as a reminder that everyday people can organize: mothers, hermanos, everybody can learn how to get their loved ones out of cages. Right now is the time for regular people to do courageous things!”

Protesters waved signs that read “No to deportations,” “Protect Immigrants” and “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” The crowd shouted, “Up, up with liberation! Down, down with deportation!”

Vinny Mansoor of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) stressed the importance of solidarity across different movements, telling the crowd, “I find myself for the life of me unable to see the difference between a child in a cage in California and a child in a cage in Gaza! Our children are being taken from us and we have to stand united!”

Erick Landeros of Guerrero, a solidarity organization supporting the National Democratic Revolution in the Philippines, connected the struggle between immigrants in Santa Ana with oppressed peoples around the world: “From here in Santa Ana with migrant, working class families, to Palestine, to Mexico, to the Philippines, we all face a common enemy: U.S. imperialism.”

Jensen Walsh of Orange County Democratic Socialists of America (OCDSA) called the audience to action, stating, “Right now, we are mobilized, but what we must do is organize for greater mobilization in the future.”

The crowd marched around the intersection, hoisting signs in the air and shouting over the gusty wind and traffic. Spirits were high as people raged against the Trump administration. The rally highlighted the importance of solidarity between all of the people’s struggles and the importance of joining an organization for long-term organized struggle against this administration.

The event was organized by CSO OC in coalition with CU, OCEJ, USPCN, FRSO, OCDSA, TransLatinx, Guerrero and OCRRN.

#SantaAnaCA #PeoplesStruggles #Immigrantrights #InJusticeSystem #LGBTQ #Palestine #AntiWarMovement #Environment #CSOOC #CU #OCEJ #USPCN #FRSO #TransLatinx #Guerrero #OCRRN

Santa Ana, CA – “Capitalism has no interest in ending women’s oppression because it benefits from it! We must eradicate gender-based oppression at its source,” declared Rain Mendoza to over 30 attendees at Community Service Organization Orange County’s (CSO OC) first International Women’s Day on Saturday, March 9.

Chants of “When women’s’ rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!” and “Si tocan a una, respondemos todas!” filled the park as community members and leaders alike gathered around the stage. Speakers addressed their demands for International Women’s Day including reproductive rights, LGBTQ liberation, equal pay for equal work, ending gender violence, and standing in solidarity with the women of Palestine.

Emma Gottfried, member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), spoke on the history of International Women’s Day, explaining how it originally commemorated the labor struggle of garment and needle workers of New York City in 1908. Gottfried also spoke on reactionary attacks on LGBTQ people across the country and in California, explaining that recently defeated bill AB 1314 “would have forcibly required teachers and faculty members to out children to their parents if, while they are in school, they identify with a different gender then they were assigned or engage in activities designed for the opposite sex”. Similar bills have since passed, endangering trans youth. Gottfried ended with a call to action, “We have to fight for systematic change for full LGBTQ liberation!”

Diana Terreros, member of CSO OC spoke of a California law that until 2010 legally allowed forced sterilizations of countless Chicana, African American and other oppressed nationality women. She ended her speech with a demand, “We need comprehensive reproductive rights that include not only the right to abortion but also the right to have children without economic barriers and an end to forced sterilizations.”

Jenny Bekenstein, shop steward and active member of the Teamsters union, bridged the roots of International Women’s Day in the labor struggle to the present. She spoke about the recent UPS contract fight. “Because we posed a credible strike threat, the company gave into almost all of our demands a week before the strike was going to happen.” She explained the significance for women, pointing out “the part-time classification has the most women because they have to take care of their families and take on the household work. We were at minimum wage and we won a 50% wage increase over the next five years.”

Noor Aljawad, member of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), described how islamophobia paints Muslim men to be “barbaric oppressive creatures,” and Muslim women to be “agentless, powerless and oppressed.” She pointed out the hypocrisy stating, “there is fake concern for humanity and liberation of Muslim women that has historically been used to justify killing Muslim people.” Referring to Israel, she asked, “If they care about queer rights and women’s rights, why are they so willing to kill them en masse?”

The event went on with more chants, “When Palestinian women are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

Jay Perez recounted heroic stories of women in her personal life defending other women from male violence, statiang, “May we all fight for each other the way my mom fought for a stranger. May we be as fearless and unstoppable as the woman that protected my mom. May we not hesitate to scream and shove and fight back at the forces oppressing us with everything we have!”

The event was organized by CSO OC and included attendees and speakers from USPCN, OC Environmental Justice, Sullivan en Accion, and FRSO.

#SantaAnaCA #OCCA #CA #WomensMovement #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #InternationalWomensDay #Palestine #CSOOC #USPCN #OCEJ #FRSO