To All Who See the Urgent Need to Stop the Great Danger of the Trump/Pence Regime:
A Vision Statement from RefuseFascism.org:
60 Days of Struggle
Updated 9/10/2020
On September 5th we made a LIVING DECLARATION to the world that we are uniting, we are organizing, we are determined, we are preparing to struggle with all we’ve got, starting now and not stopping until the Trump/Pence regime is driven from power and its fascist program brought to a halt.
Driving out this regime is in the interest of humanity. On September 5th under the unifying demand of Trump/Pence Out Now, we saw a diversity of people who don’t want to live in a fascist America.
- Front line health workers who have seen first-hand the human cost of fascist regime’s science-hating response to COVID-19.
- Teachers who fear their schools becoming sites of mass infection.
- Youth who don’t know if they’ll have any future on this planet.
- Black people who must not be forced back to Jim Crow terror and everyone who knows that Black lives do matter.
- Immigrants whose families & communities have been terrorized & who don’t know if they can make a home here.
- Women and LGBTQ people whose right to be full human beings this fascist regime is taking away
We must build on the strength of the September 5th protests and bring forward more broadly all different kinds of people, different communities and organizations bringing their banners, their causes, their demands all joining together with others to raise this unifying demand, Trump/Pence Out Now! with the determination to remove this obstacle that every struggle for justice faces.
Imagine mass protests of different gathering points and people coming in groups – people who were enthusiastic in a certain neighborhood taking it upon themselves to organize a feeder march or a neighborhood contingent. Sign and banner making block parties in different neighborhoods creating a buzz about driving out the Trump/Pence regime through sustained non-violent protest. Everyone who has responded positively to this call and demand should be unleashed to make this their mission through the next two months leading to the November election. Everyone has a role to play, and everyone should aim to play the biggest role they can.
The Pledge to Resist should become a major statement in society, spread by growing numbers of people with platforms of disproportionate influence – artists and celebrities from Hollywood to HipHop and Sports, social media “influencers,” religious leaders, community, social, legal and environmental justice advocates, scientists and doctors… using their voices to amplify and popularize the demand Trump/Pence Out Now, spread the Pledge to Resist, and take up this mission from as their own.
Every show of unity must be amplified. This is a moment when every cause and movement for justice acts on the understanding of the reality that we are at a “Both”/“And” Moment – for crucial struggles for immigrant, women’s, or Black, brown, native people’s rights AND for driving out the regime without which those rights will be demolished on a whole other level than people have seen before. This is not a time for “either/or,” my struggle not yours. Fascism has meaning. That is what we face. The regime has told you this. They have shown us this. From now till the regime is gone, every attack on every section of the people must build up the power and strength of masses of people of all nationalities in the streets in non-violent protest.
The fascist thugs unleashed by the Trump/Pence regime are stepping out. Backed by the regime, paramilitary and police, they are creating the conditions for a Trump/Pence “second” term. We can wait no longer for the side of justice to mobilize and act, or just cheer those on the frontlines in Portland and other places.
SEPTEMBER 5 MARKED A BEGINNING
The protests held in 24 cities on September 5 must orient, organize and mobilize hundreds and thousands of people prepared to build this non-violent movement in many different ways through the next 60 days – aiming for the time as soon as possible where everyday people will be standing against the regime actively in the streets. September should see people all over organizing vigils, town halls, salons, plastering their city with signs and posters saying Trump/Pence Out Now, outdoor concerts, videos, writing, artwork and taking mass actions in the streets – giving a sense that we are uniting, we are organizing, we are determined, we are preparing to struggle with all we’ve got.
For Refuse Fascism’s (RF’S) point of view we are looking to inspire and unleash a dynamic where this movement goes far beyond the reach of RF – and in which the stand of RF: In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America! takes root and Refuse Fascism itself grows into a force that reaches and plays a crucial role in leading masses to demand Trump Pence Out Now.
By October there needs to be a situation in this country where protests happen day after day. Protests that make visceral the demand that Trump and Pence Must Go.
RF does not see that all, or even most of these would be called by RF – but that unity is built on the basis of the growing determination of people to stay in the streets and refuse to accept this illegitimate regime. No one can say that this can’t lead to a situation where Trump is driven out before the elections – but short of that, sustained protests in October can and must lead to a situation where on Election Day people don’t just vote against Trump in big numbers but there are mobilized people/forces prepared to oppose – with massive, sustained non-violent protest – the fascist forces we know Trump regime is planning to unleash.
We must defend the right to vote and protest all attempts to sabotage the elections and suppress voter turnout. And, if Trump attempts to postpone or delay the election, then masses of people must pour into the streets in even greater numbers and not let this go down. Or, if Trump challenges the results of the election up to and including refusing to leave office… the struggle, unity and determination we have forged in the streets during the 60 days up to the elections will need to be mustered on a whole other level of massive non-violent sustained protest in the streets all across the country.
We should not foreclose the possibility that the Trump will “win,” by hook or crook, whether by voter suppression, intimidation, manipulation, or by the “normal” workings of October “surprises” and the electoral college. We must never forget that a fascist regime is always illegitimate however it comes to power and must be met by mass protest to demand its removal.
Humanity all over the world, and the survival of the planet depends on what we do. Will it be said, when facing an American fascism, in the most powerful country in history, armed with nuclear weapons which it brandishes, that people here could not put aside their differences to stop a great horror? Or, will this time history tell that people rose, as many acting together, and stopped a great horror?