As the Drive Out the Trump/Pence Regime National Tour heads South and Southwest, those of us not on the tour can also go out to new areas – nearby areas beyond where RefuseFascism has had a presence and make new connections.

Two of us went to such an area yesterday, an area where there are many people from the Middle East, including tens of thousands of Arabic speakers and many thousands from Turkey.

This is an area where the Muslim ban and the attacks on Muslims and immigrants have hit hard, but it has not been center of actions against Trump/Pence. When we first arrived we were a bit put back by what appeared to be the “fear-factor” – people seemingly afraid to talk, afraid to show their opposition to all the vicious shit that Trump and Pence and their fascist program are rapidly bringing forward.

But very soon, we learned to go beneath the surface of this, and while the fear was/is real, there were other factors at work as well, factors we could overcome and really uncork people’s desires to speak out and stop this:

For one a lot of the people we were approaching spoke little or no English but didn’t say anything – just stone silence. We changed so that when we entered a store or restaurant we were holding and showing people the two NO! posters we had brought in Turkish or Arabic (depending on the store) and giving people the Call. These NO signs in their language were our bridge and our introduction to people. Usually there would be a least one person who knew some English and we engaged with them, with the Call and they would explain to others why were there and call on them to also support it.

Secondly, it was important to go to basically every store and restaurant and to put up some posters also on the street – so an owner did not think that they would be the only one doing this – fearing that they would be singled out for harassment. And there were bold ones who didn’t care if they were the first, and made it easier for the rest to get on board.

Third, we gave people a chance to share their questions and get into it. Big questions were: do you really think this regime can be driven out, how? In answering that we needed to bring out that they were not alone – they feel so isolated – many had no sense that already hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets and millions more are deeply troubled and angry about what Trump/Pence are saying and doing and that there is a basis to turn that anger into action. We emphasized the need to draw together not only those like them who are immigrants and Muslims that are direct targets of Trump’s initial attacks, but EVERYONE with a functioning heart and a conscience – EVERYONE who does not want to live in or accept a fascist America, regardless of their nationality. Over and over again people would ask us “where are you from” – expressing surprise and initial disbelief that others beyond those immediately targeted would argue and act for such strong action against Trump/Pence regime.

Often we would bring up how the Egyptian people stood up and drove out Mubarak as an example of how such a regime could be driven out. People were not at all happy with that example – many Arabic speakers argued, but who would replace Trump and Pence? In Egypt, we now have a regime even worse than Mubarak! We tried to get into what a fascist regime is and how we will not accept another taking the place of Trump and Pence, but this was often a point that made some people hold back. And one we need to grapple with how to better answer this question.

We encountered more Arab than Turkish-speaking establishments engaged and won to support DRIVING OUT the Trump/Pence Regime in various ways – it is important to note that the response was significantly different among Turkish people we saw. Someone who could read English would stop and read the whole updated Call on the spot and then say things like “this is really important.” It came out in a number of ways that while others we talked to (including many Arabic speakers) initially had no idea what fascism is and had as a starting-points fighting against specific attacks, such as the Muslim ban or round-ups of immigrants – among those we saw from Turkey, there is/was a deep knowledge and deep hatred for fascism as an overall program from their experience in Turkey – in fact some indicated that fascism is what drove them to leave Turkey and now they have to confront it here! These people would then push to have their non-English speaking family members, co-workers and customers to get the material from Refuse Fascism.

While most of the Arabic-speakers were Muslims – they were actually a very diverse group – we saw people from at least five Arab countries – including Sudan, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. Some were Muslims, but also a significant number were more secular. One Syrian woman who spoke more English spoke bitterly of the suffering of people in Syria in which the U.S. has been a major player and then the bitter irony of having loved ones prevented from coming to the U.S.

Altogether 8 stores or restaurants agreed to have us put up posters in their front windows – often just in the language that their customers speak, Arabic or Turkish, but sometimes also in English, and twice also in Spanish. Another 4 stores expressed support, but said that the owner was not there and they felt they needed to consult before putting it up, so posters and flyers were left for them to ask the owner/manager later. Another 10 found their way onto light poles in Arabic, Turkish, English and Spanish. At least 25 other people in the stores and restaurants also took materials, including posters to put up elsewhere. Thirteen people signed on to the RefuseFascism email/contact list. Everywhere we went, we asked for donations, and dozens of people donated, collecting $39.

We had to get back to our home city, having only been able to get to one quarter of the area of Arab and Turkish shops and restaurants and never getting to the large Spanish-speaking area of the city at all. We would like to go back, and at the same time, think of ways to take things to another level – people expressed that it was too long a distance for them to travel to our home city Refuse Fascism meetings. There needs to be a cohering of people in that city for a RefuseFascism group there. And there are dozens of other areas within an hour ride that we also need to go to.

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Signs of the conflict between what Bob Avakian has termed “the two-outmodeds” – the conflict and the mutually building each other up of Western imperialism and Islamic fundamentalist forces were also something we observed indirectly there, particularly among Arab speakers. Trump’s blanket attack on all Muslims has presented the fundamentalists who tell people that all people in the Western imperialist countries are their enemies with a recruiting bonanza. But more fundamentally, the importance of people in their millions taking action to actually drive out this fascist regime could be a real inspiration to people in the Middle East and elsewhere to bring forward another way – opposed to both the Western imperialists and the reactionary fundamentalists.

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The whole experience brought home the importance of the first part of our slogan, “In the name of humanity… “People from all over the world are also facing the menace of a fascist America and we are fighting to move heaven and earth to drive out this fascist regime not only for people in the U.S., but for the 7 billion on the planet.