The past has shown that the stance we take on elections can either prepare us for future struggles or leave us on the sidelines of history. There are four major questions we can ask about elections. Is there a special danger present? Is the election a referendum of sort on a key issue – such as a war or economic crisis? Is the election important to the oppressed nationality movements and the struggle against national oppression? Is there a significant political option besides the two parties of the ruling class, the Republicans or Democrats?

Different forces may have different answers to those questions. Freedom Road Socialist Organization believes that this November, it is important to defeat the most reactionary and backwards candidates whether they are running for the House or Senate, for governor or for local office.

There are several criteria we can use during the upcoming elections to determine who the most backwards candidates are. Politicians running for office have different stances on democratic struggles like reproductive rights, voting rights, the police and the crimes they commit in oppressed communities, policies on immigration and other important issues.

We must defeat any politicians running for office this November who hold a favorable view of Trump. It is likely that the Republican candidate for president in 2024 will be someone like or very similar to Trump and his terrible politics. Defeating reactionary politicians at the ballot box is also important because we want to see the most favorable conditions for organizing in the streets and in our workplaces after the elections.

We want the people’s movements to focus on winning demands and advancing struggles to new heights. We want to avoid a situation where people are led astray into thinking that the solution to our problems is replacing one ruling class politician for another. We can promote a real people’s agenda as we prepare to protest the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in the summer of 2024. We will also demonstrate at the Democrat National Convention.

Our approach regarding the elections will take different forms in different places. Often, this will mean that those who are working in swing states must work to defeat Republican candidates. In places where the Republicans are very unlikely to win, organizers should vote against right-wing or centrist Democrats in favor of candidates with more progressive stances. Elections do matter and it would be a mistake to ignore them, even when both of the major parties represent the interests of the ruling class. Ultimately, Freedom Road Socialist Organization believes that our hope belongs with the people’s struggles and real change will be won on the streets.

The United States has seen a high level of political struggle this past decade. Many have been drawn into the streets for the first time, and that is wonderful. It is our duty to continue fighting for peace, justice and equality. In the final analysis, both the Republican and Democrat parties serve the 1%. Neither of those parties represent the interests of working and oppressed people. This November, let’s defeat the worst enemies on the ballot and continue our work among the people.

Struggles and organizations are blossoming, and we have a world to win. We are building revolutionary organization and understand that only a revolution and socialism can bring about a new world.

#UnitedStates #Elections #Editorials #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #DonaldTrump #midtermElections2022

Tampa, FL – Hundreds came out to protest the right-wing, billionaire-funded “student group” Turning Point USA summit, July 23. The Turning Point summit featured a gaggle of reactionary, racist and chauvinistic speakers, not the least of whom was Donald Trump, looking to build momentum for a possible second presidential run.

Shouts of “shame!” echoed through downtown as speaker Laura Rodriguez from Tampa Bay Community Action Committee spoke about the conference’s police protection, stating, “They’re paying cops to protect those racists and bigots in our city.”

Rodriguez continued, “This city is in a housing crisis whether the mayor wants to accept it or not. Tampa is the fourth worst city in the nation for rent affordability.”

Who these cops protect couldn’t have been clearer than when the protest moved to the convention center where the hatefest was taking place. The bigots attacked, shoved, pushed down and assaulted protesters as cops looked on in tacit approval, intervening only when it looked like the reactionaries were in danger.

As David Jones of TBCAC described, “We sat there and watched them protect those conservatives while they were attacking us, because whose side are they on? Not ours.” The reactionaries attacked protesters as young as 11. After a tense standoff, protesters returned downtown.

The Tampa community took to the streets to let these hatemongers know that they and their brand of bigotry were not welcome. This event took place in the context of not just the repeal of Roe v. Wade, but also other state level attacks on women, African Americans, and LGBTQ folks, with Florida’s ban on abortion at 15 weeks, whitewashing the history of U.S.'s oppression and slavery, as well mandating LGBT discrimination in the education system with the “Don't Say Gay” bill.

It is no accident that this event took place in Florida – both of these bills have been the pet projects of Trump ally and potential successor, Governor Ron DeSantis, who was also in attendance. The virulent national agenda of those at the conference was to further roll back political and workers' rights, continue environmental devastation, enable attacks on women and LGBTQ folks, and suppress national liberation movements.

Speakers from a wide range of community groups attacked the agenda and attendees of the conference. Harrison Lundy, local activist and organizer with Democratic Socialists of America, said, “They get billions in dark money to keep poor people poor, to keep houseless people houseless, and keep birthing people from their autonomy, and so they’re scared to see us out here.”

The protest was hosted by Women’s Voices of Southwest Florida and Tampa Bay Community Action Committee, with speakers from Students for a Democratic Society, Democratic Socialists of America, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The same coalition of workers, oppressed nationalities, immigrants, LGBTQ folks and women, that united to deliver Donald Trump a crushing defeat in the 2020 election came out today, and is what is needed to continue the struggle to defeat the agenda of groups like TPUSA.

#TampaFL #ImmigrantRights #StudentMovement #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #WomensMovement #US #Antifascism #DonaldTrump #TurningPointUSATPUSA #TampaBayCommunityActionCommitteeTBCAC #AbortionRights

Milwaukee, WI – On the morning of January 10, a coalition of left-wing organizations and community groups came together in downtown Milwaukee to put forward a people’s alternative to the chaos of the past week in the U.S. Capitol. The protest featured a speaker officially representing the Milwaukee Area Labor Council. The event, called “Rally Against the Far-Right – Build the People’s Movements,” drew nearly 100 people on foot and in cars.

There were three points put forward by the coalition: 1) “Trump out” and all who are complicit in his crimes; 2) Relief for the people now; and 3) End police crimes, including ICE detentions and deportations. The speeches from the different represented organizations centered around these three things.

“A lot of people have been talking about unity, but it’s important that we understand what unity means,” said Jacob Flom, a member of the executive board of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council and co-chair of the Young Workers Committee. “We don’t want unity with fascists; we want unity against fascists.”

The event featured a march from a meeting place in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward and ending outside the Milwaukee Federal Building where Senator Ron Johnson’s office is. Johnson is an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump and a voice for the racist mob that stormed Capitol Hill this past week. He also was directly responsible for blocking the increase of the second round of stimulus payments several weeks ago. Senator Johnson made the perfect local target for the rally.

Many of the speakers saw lessons of the past and shadows of the future in the events that transpired on January 6 in DC.

“We should expect to see more of this type of response from the far right in this country as the hangers-on attempt to stave off the final descent of this wretched system into the dustbin of history. History shows us what can happen when reactionaries organize to seize power amid crisis,” said Ryan Hamann, a leader with the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

Hamann continued, “We also know what it takes to prevent that from happening. We need to build the people’s movements, keep the struggle in the streets, and deliver the people’s justice to Donald Trump, his allies, and his enablers!”

#MilwaukeeWI #Coup #DonaldTrump

They literally wore custom made t-shirts broadcasting a coup they planned and orchestrated, at the urging of President Donald J. Trump.

Trying to make sense of this situation as I scrolled endlessly on my phone. The more I scrolled, the angrier I became.

I am angry because not only did police arrest 14 people in Tallahassee on September 5, 2020 but because they continued to ambush and arrest protesters, bringing the number of those with warrants for our participation at the September 5 protest up to 19.

I am angry because my wife is facing a felony charge with ten years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

I clearly remember the afternoon of September 5 – across the street from the Old Capitol Building – I was arrested, along with 13 others, by hundreds of law enforcement officers clad in riot gear and equipped with military weapons and canines.

I remember holding on to my wife, surrounded by waves of dark uniforms; it was like being engulfed in a shadow. Batons flailed in the air as the police attempted to break up a peaceful protest against a grand jury decision absolving Tallahassee police officers for the murders of three Tallahassee men earlier in 2020. Police weren’t just trying to break up a single protest on September 5, they were out to hobble the growing movement for Black lives and distract from demands for community control of the police.

I remember holding my wife’s hands, the tears full in their eyes, the tiredness worn on their face and the absolute terror of it all. As our hands slipped, and dozens of others watched in horror as the police broke us up, I screamed as hard as I could, just wishing I could just...hold my wife.

I remember being scared of what would happen next.

What happened next was more police beatings, draggings, mass-arrests, forced and costly hospitalization, misgendering of arrestees, disgusting jail conditions, delayed bail processing, repressive release conditions, additional late-night follow-up arrests, and humiliating diversion offers made to some – but not all – of the #Tally19. There are two Tally19ers still facing felony charges.

Fast forward to January 6, 2021. In what seems like increasingly stranger yet less shocking days, we witnessed a moment sure to be etched in history books. As I write this, hours into an undisrupted racist, reactionary siege of the U.S. Capitol, the hypocrisy is blatant.

I am angry because multiple trucks ran into Black Lives Matter protests in Tallahassee. Yet Democrat State Attorney Jack Campbell let the drivers all go and holds firm on prosecuting BLM organizers.

I am angry because Trump’s ally, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, is crafting legislation to make it legal for drivers to hit and kill protesters.

We have a ‘democracy’ wherein the first Black senator in the South since Reconstruction is finally elected and then the next day, elected far-right Republicans support a literal white supremacist siege of the U.S. Capitol building.

We must demand the end of political repression faced by Black activists across the country.

From the Tallahassee 19, to the Minnesota 646: Drop all charges against those fighting for a better tomorrow in the face of police violence.

If you wish to support the Tally 19, head to our GoFundMe

Additionally, you can send a letter to Tallahassee officials to drop the charges against the Tally 19.

#TallahasseeFL #PeoplesStruggles #PoliticalRepression #Elections #DonaldTrump #Tally19 #646Arrestees #TrumpPutsch

This afternoon, January 6, racist and reactionary supporters of President Trump followed up a rally at the White House by marching and seizing the U.S. capitol building. Egged on by Trump, they brought to an end to the congressional certification of the election. An armed standoff took place outside the House chamber. The media has been filled with images of Trump supporters occupying offices of congresspeople. New developments are taking place with the passage of every hour.

There is no doubt that capitol police and security forces allowed the reactionary mob to take over the building – and that if it were the case of protesters under a “Black lives matter” banner, or revolutionaries, doing the same thing, police would have unleashed a bloodbath. The reason these racists got a far as they did was because they had support from the White House and many others in power.

The racist and fascist grouping had made it clear that they were coming to DC from across the country at Trump’s request. They joined the “Save America” rally and brought their guns with them. Any time these racist and reactionary forces show themselves they need to be opposed. This scum represents anti-democratic and determined advocates of racist discrimination. They think their votes should count, but not those African Americans and other oppressed nationalities – who were crucial to Trump’s defeat at the polls.

Freedom Road Socialist Organization has been helping to organize and build the movement against Trump since day one. We helped to lead the mass march on his nomination at the Republican National Convention in 2016, and we have been helping to spearhead opposition to his agenda every step of the way. Trump should be removed from power. Now. And everything he does should be opposed until that happens. We also need to be alert to any attempt to use these events to curtail our democratic rights, including those guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

This attempt to keep Trump in power says a lot about the direction this country heading in. The U.S. empire is eroding, and monopoly capitalism is a sick and dying system, and its failed political representatives were front and center in Washington DC today. It is imperative that all of us who yearn for better future act. We need to stay in the streets and fight for an agenda that represents the interests of the people. The road ahead will be a difficult one, but the future is bright!

#UnitedStates #DonaldTrump #DumpTrump

U.S. role in the world and its election

In spite of its decline as the superpower of the world, the United States continues to be the major imperial power of the planet. Its economic and military power allows the U.S. to influence and to even directly intervene in crucial scenarios of the world.

It is inevitable then, that most major mass media outlets of the world, as well as the world’s citizens, closely follow electoral processes in the U.S. In fact, after the November 3, 2020 election, street protests against police killings continue and there is no remedy at hand for the gross human rights violations in U.S. cities. Imperial brutality and discrimination against oppressed nationalities, especially African American, Chicano and Latino people have enjoyed impunity for a long, long time.

Uncertain elections?

Election day passed, and people were expecting to obtain the final results of the election during the early hours of November 4. Experts and polling companies were offering their initial numbers and percentages with arrogance and certainty, as if coming back from the future to tell us what is going to happen.

Fact is, Trump, trying to discourage participation in the electoral process, began calling it a fraud even before November 3, and many days after he continues to tweet “I won the election.” What happened? Why the uncertainty and the delays?

U.S. elections are a very sloppy process, with almost as many procedures and regulations as states composing the union. Although it is a national election, there are neither national standards nor a national electoral council to lead and supervise it, like in Venezuela. Every state carries out the election with its own technology, procedures, methods, and verification and security standards.

Does this aid and abet Trump’s electoral fraud claims?

The United States is one of the most technologically advanced countries, nevertheless, the human factor is a fundamental aspect of its electoral processes. Why?

In another country with one of the most advanced electoral systems in the world, Venezuela, the vote for president is universal, direct and secret. There is no “Electoral College” like the U.S. Nobody elects a body, which in turn elects the president. Instead, voters receive a confidential confirmation of their vote, that is used in the after-election audits to verify the electronic results that voting machines produce. The National Electoral Council uses technology to cut down on fraud. They use a mandatory fingerprint reader to activate the voting machine and to allow for a one voter, one vote policy. It is difficult to beat.

In Venezuela, all political parties participate in software and hardware audits of the voting machines; they also audit energy backup systems, data transmission and protocols. Procedures are also implemented to safeguard secrecy while using the voting machine. The National Electoral Council in Venezuela works with all parties, but is independent of them, its own branch of government, like the judicial, legislative or executive branch.

In the United States, elections are indirect, because as Alexander Hamilton argued in his writings (see Federalist papers #68), the Electoral College was “most likely to have the information and discernment” to make a good choice and to avoid the election of anyone “not in an eminent degree endowed with the requisite qualifications.” Neither Hamilton, nor any of the wealthy members of the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, 49% of who were slave owners, trusted the popular vote.

Today of course, women, African Americans and working people can vote, but because of the lack of a unified national electoral system, men like Trump can still take advantage and disavow the process, distracting attention from his own defeat and faults. Even with evidence lacking.

What Trump claims appeals to some people’s fears. There are potential weaknesses and heavy dependency on human factors throughout the U.S. electoral processes, but there are also cultural traditions that allow for the system to work. In the United States there is a tradition of respect for other people’s mail, and property. Violators are heavily punished.

Trump’s claims of fraud run counter to these traditions, and he has not been able to present any proof. If any tampering with the election arises, like during the Bush “hanging chad” election in 2000, it is likely to be on every news station, and in court.

From my perspective, the African American vote played a fundamental role in Trump’s defeat. It is very important to understand that in the near future, African Americans, Chicanos and other oppressed nationality peoples will be the majority around 2050. It is not my belief that race determines ideology, but in a racist country, it is a significant fact.

African Americans together with antifascist and other progressive organizations are leading the struggle currently taking place in the United States against ruthless repression, systemic racism and the extrajudicial executions of defenseless civilians. All in the midst of a hyper-criminalization of the right to protest, secret military maneuvers in the underground of U.S. big cities, militarization of the police forces, bolstered state surveillance of activists, support for emboldened neo-Nazis and other right-wing paramilitary forces.

What is the role of the Chicano and Latino vote in Biden’s victory?

It is complicated. Latin Americans in the United States lack a common project of their own. They are a quilt of different nationalities, cultures, traditions, languages and accents, and also political beliefs. The U.S. government treats people very differently, so colonized Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, while Cubans had privileged immigration status until 2017. However, most immigrants go through a lengthy process, sometimes ten years, to obtain their citizenship and to be able to vote.

Wealthy and middle-class South Americans find it easy to obtain a legal status or are quickly made U.S. citizens. They either ignore or reject the Latin American project of unity proposed by Simon Bolivar, and restarted by Chavez, Castro and others at the beginning of this century. For most of them, there is no alternative for the region but to be a dependent on U.S. imperialism. As long as they are making money, they are fine, even if it means supporting Latin American dictators like Pinochet, Somoza, Stroessner and Videla, among others. They support and even call for U.S. invasions and support sanctions, blockades and other measures to cause hardship on people and to try to subdue countries like Cuba and Venezuela.

Mexicans are by far the biggest nationality in the United States, contributing to the growing Chicano nationality. They are right at the current border, and they have been crossing it for centuries. They were inside the territory the United States stole from Mexico, and pretty much in every big city across the U.S. nowadays. About 5 million lack legal permission to reside in the United States. Mexicans and people from Central America are the ones suffering most of the discrimination and hardship. They are also the ones receiving most of Trump’s backlash and dirty talk. It is their kids who have been put in cages; it is they who Trump accuses of being criminals, drug traffickers, people with low IQ, and other pejoratives. Most people reject Trump’s statements.

It caught Chicano, Mexican and Central Americans’ attention that, when protests against the assassination of George Floyd erupted, it was the neo-Nazi groups who, with police support, came out to defend the system and to harass and insult them. There is no doubt that Trump’s tongue and the neo-Nazis’ harassment played a role in increasing Mexican and Latino participation in the electoral process and in their support for Biden.

Why then Trump’s fraud claims? Is he serious about it?

Since the beginning of his term in office, Trump has rejected the idea of making his tax return records available for public scrutiny. It casts a shadow over his financial status. It is true; Trump and his son have been very active in business with Arab sheiks, which may have had a highly positive impact on his finances. He is also trying to divert corporate investments from China to new places where his political influence may get him a share of the profits.

But if Trump had hope of using the presidency of the United States as a platform to reignite his finances, the COVID-19 crisis threw everything out the window. Because his businesses are related mostly to hotels and tourism, the pandemic affected his wealth really hard. That may explain why Trump continues jokes about the pandemic and his calling it a “cold”? Trump never took real measures to control the pandemic and it backfired against him, and harmed the American people.

Just before the election, Trump contracted the virus and was even quarantined in a hospital, only to soon emerge, appearing healthy. Even that he treated like a joke!

So, with Trump’s fraud claims, lawsuits and his “I won the election” tweets still coming out, three weeks after the election, it may be his financial status driving it more than any other thing?

What to expect from Biden?

Biden has been already recognized by the majority of the countries of the world as the next U.S. president. U.S. elites trust him with using his political and diplomatic skills to placate street protests in exchange for morsels. They know that throughout his political career, he has supported them in their imperialist wars and invasions of other countries.

Biden is aging, so we have to consider the possibility that Kamala Harris may become the first woman, an African-Asian American woman, to become president of the United States. What does her record say?

The truth is…Biden won. A difficult election, with no Cambridge Analytica that could decipher the election for Trump this time around. People in the United States gave a strong showing of participation, dignity and bravery. They are still on the streets across the United States, demanding change. Will Kamala and Joe understand and appreciate this?

Dozthor Zurlent is a Venezuelan activist who previously lived in Chicago, Illinois and El Salvador. In 2000, he moved back to Venezuela after the massive victory of President Hugo Chavez.

#Venezuela #International #US #Americas #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #DonaldTrump

The American people deserve praises for voting against US President Donald Trump in the recently concluded presidential elections and preventing another four years of Trumpian fascism, militarism, racism, misogyny and bigotry. While the electoral contest was tight, it saw the defeat of a sitting president. Any attempt by Trump to question and overturn the results through legal maneuver will surely be met with greater resistance.

The elections were carried out amid widespread criticism of the Trump government’s disregard and response to the Covid-19 pandemic which has resulted in large numbers of deaths and infections among the American people. He implemented economic policies that promoted tax cuts and further concentration of wealth in the hands of monopoly capitalists and causing millions of working-class Americans to suffer widespread joblessness, low wages, lack of access to public services, indebtedness, homelessness and other social ills.

Under Trump, US imperialist militarism and aggression intensified. He continued to employ and expand economic sanctions against countries asserting independence. He expanded the US “war on terror” to push US military aggression. He ordered armed strikes in Iraq. He supported resurgence in production of nuclear weapons. He aggressively pushed for sales of US weapons to oppressive regimes. He walked back on US commitments against the proliferation of nuclear weapons, ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles and contact-detonated mines, as well as to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

US President-elect Joe Biden rode on the crest of a gigantic wave of democratic mass movement which has engulfed the entire country. The Black Lives Matter movement since the start of May is the latest display of mass opposition following the show of mass resistance by American workers, immigrants, women, youth and other sectors of American society. Over the past few months, hundreds of thousands of workers have taken to the streets to protest racism, police brutality and attacks against civil rights, as well as to amplify the clamor for jobs, higher wages, work safety, subsidies for health and education, housing, proper public health response to the pandemic and other urgent demands.

The American working class and people must continue to organize and mobilize in their numbers to make the Biden government act swiftly to respond to these urgent demands. Conditions are ever favorable for proletarian revolutionaries to strengthen their ranks and expand the scope of their leadership.

Biden will now head the US imperialist state amid worsening crisis of the global capitalist system. Over the past two decades, the US has been reasserting its global hegemony through military might to protect and expand its economic interests to the detriment of workers and people and sovereign countries around the world. For more than ten years now, the US government has deployed its troops and its armada of aircraft carriers in the Middle East, Europe and Asia and has waged wars of aggression and intervention. It continues to build up military presence in the Asia-Pacific as it counters the build-up of China’s military and economic strength.

In the Philippines, the US military continues to maintain facilities and troops across the country, and extend military funding, training and support to the AFP and the Duterte government. US military support to the Duterte regime goes to expanded and intensified drug war sham and counterinsurgency operations that have resulted in thousands of killings, widespread abuses of human rights, incessant murder of activists, unlawful arrests, torture and imprisonment of critics and opposition forces.

With the ascendancy of Biden, the Filipino people and their friends in the US must strengthen the call for an end to military support to the Duterte fascist terrorist regime. They must double their efforts to convince the American people that continuing US military support for the Duterte regime equals support for his tyranny, his bloody reign of murder and state terrorism against the Filipino people.

They must demand an end to the Operation Pacific Eagle-Philippines under which US military troops are deployed in the country in the name of “counter-terrorism” but which actually provide support to the AFP in its campaign of suppression against the Filipino people. At the same time, the Filipino people must demand complete abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) and other military treaties which perpetuate unequal military relations between the US and the Philippines.

As the global capitalist crisis and imperialist conflicts intensify, the Filipino people must continue to carry forward their struggle for genuine national freedom and seek an end to US neocolonial rule in the country.

#Philippines #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #DonaldTrump #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippinesCPP

New Orleans, LA – On November 4, a coalition of progressive groups took to the streets under the slogan “Defeat Trump!” As the rally moved through the central business district, speakers highlighted local issues and areas of action in the city.

While the march came after the national election, it made broad demands. The group united around a shared progressive agenda and the need for more coalition actions. Marchers chanted, “Count the votes!” and “No justice, no peace, no racist police!” They also shouted their demands for housing, quality healthcare, economic relief, safe education, prison abolition and more.

The rally began at Lafayette Square with speakers from Democratic Socialists of America and Real Name Campaign. It was a cool, sunny day, and the crowd was small but enthusiastic. Mutual aid groups provided water, snacks, masks and hand sanitizer, and attendees were responsibly distanced. The crowd then moved to the street with several groups carrying large banners and began to march.

The next stop was in front of the New Orleans Civil District Court, where Frank Southall from the Renters Rights Assembly highlighted the eviction crisis facing the city and the country, and elected officials’ lack of action to protect housing in the middle of a global pandemic.

“The same system that created Donald Trump, the slumlord rat president, is the same system that creates artificial scarcity and evictions. Stopping evictions locally is fighting back against the same neo-liberal and authoritarian forces that create slumlords such as Trump,” said Southall.

The group continued to occupy the street and marched to the front of the city hall building to present the coalition demands, including that local elected officials must denounce Trump, and provide housing and healthcare for all.

A representative from Step Up Louisiana spoke about the need for unemployed workers to organize. A speaker from Louisiana for Personal Freedoms made a moving plea for increased cooperation among progressives to defend reproductive rights. This came after an anti-abortion amendment was put on the state’s constitution.

Local groups present were: Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Sunrise Movement, Real Name Campaign, Democratic Socialists of America, Step Up Louisiana, New Orleans Renters Rights Assembly, Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition, Louisiana for Personal Freedoms, Unite Here Local 23 Hospitality Workers Union, and New Orleans Mutual Aid Society.

After the rally ended in front of city hall, small groups formed in the street as individuals connected with different organizations, exchanging phone numbers and contact info. A few street medics who had attended individually shared information to coordinate for future actions. As the first public demonstration by this large coalition, it provided a valuable space for cooperation towards building a mass movement. The groups have already scheduled future coalition meetings and will continue to strategize and support each other locally.

#NewOrleansLA #PeoplesStruggles #Elections #DonaldTrump #NAARPR

“This election is going to have some serious consequences,” said David Jones, a member of Tampa Bay Community Action Committee (TBCAC). “The result of who is going to be president might not even be clear until weeks after if Trump tries to steal the election.”

Tampa Bay Community Action Committee plans on participating in the countrywide day of action on November 4 with demands of pandemic relief for all, justice for victims of local police crimes, and an end to the racist attacks on all minorities in America.

“Trump’s defeat is what we’re fighting for,” stated another member of TBCAC, Will Blake. “But a Biden presidency doesn’t mean we are done with the fight against police terror and justice for all.”

#TampaFL #DonaldTrump #TampaBayCommunityActionCommitteeTBCAC

Overall, the group condemned U.S. interventions abroad under Trump’s leadership, and affirmed the need for change. But panelists agreed that the anti-war movement would need to push back against a Biden administration for similar reasons.

“Trump has done a lot of posturing as anti-war, and sadly some people have fallen for it in a big way,” explained Drake Myers. “Most Americans oppose war, so the snake oil salesman says he's anti-war and people want to believe it. Other times, when he wants to appeal to his base, he plays up xenophobia and supports torture.”

Myers continued, “The Biden campaign is putting out ads where he’s saying that he'll support the troops, and how more national security officials and generals support him than Trump. These are not good endorsements. These are a signal of Biden cozying up to the exact wrong people there in Washington.”

Panelists agreed that none of their remarks should be considered endorsements for a particular candidate. Topics ranged from Venezuela to Palestine to Trump’s new Cold War with China.

“Biden believes we should be supporting the Venezuelan people while continuing the sanctions – something that makes zero sense,” Tracy Molm explained. “The sanctions are what are causing hardship in Venezuela.”

Molm was part of a delegation to Venezuela in 2019 where she witnessed the failed April 30 coup led by U.S.-supported political operative Juan Guaido. Despite Biden’s stance, she said, “Biden has some better positions domestically and I think it would create a better atmosphere for us to be able to continue to fight for Venezuela. But we must continue to stand up, no matter who’s in charge.”

Meredith Aby-Keirstead saw grounds for hope in the growing criticisms of U.S. aid to Israel in political discourse. “We need to be ready to continue our protests in the streets for a free Palestine regardless of who is elected in November. The Anti-War Committee is ready to do so and we hope you are too,” she said.

Autumn Lake highlighted Trump’s vilification of China, which continued the Obama-Biden administration’s Pivot to Asia military buildup in the region.

“The Trump administration’s framing of the COVID-19 crisis as the fault of China has directly caused the recent rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans,” Lake said. “With this in mind, it becomes clear that the Trump administration doesn’t have human rights in mind when it escalates conflict with China.”

South High student Zach Moore spoke for the newly formed Climate Justice Committee (CJC). Moore connected impending climate disaster with the U.S. military’s greenhouse gas emissions and record of environmental destruction. “Biden wants to speak of a U.S.-led effort against climate change when he won’t even discuss the military’s leading effort in causing climate change,” he said.

“In the end we know that yes, we must defeat Trump. But we cannot give into illusions about who Biden is or what he will do,” Moore continued. “We cannot just demand small action decades in the future. We must demand climate justice now!”

Both the Anti-War Committee and the Climate Justice Committee plan to join a large demonstration set to take place on November 4, the day after the election. That event is part of a nationwide call by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression for protests to enact a people’s mandate for change in policing, the pandemic response, and the economic system. The Minneapolis event will start at 6 p.m. at May Day Plaza in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood.