Nadia Prupis, staff writer Common Dreams 1/4/17
Thousands of activists, journalists, scientists, entertainers, and other prominent voices took out a full-page call to action in the New York Times on Wednesday making clear their rejection of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence with the simple message: “No!”
“Stop the Trump/Pence regime before it starts! In the name of humanity we refuse to accept a fascist America!” the ad states, followed by a list of signatories that includes scholar Cornel West; author Alice Walker; Chase Iron Eyes of the Standing Rock Sioux; educator Bill Ayers; poet Saul Williams; CNN’s Marc Lamont Hill; Carl Dix of the Communist Party USA; and numerous others.
Trump is “assembling a regime of grave danger” that is an “immoral peril to the future of humanity and the earth itself,” the call to action continues. “Millions must rise up in a resistance with a deep determination such that we create a political crisis that prevents the Trump/Pence fascist regime from consolidating its hold on the governance of society.”
Countering Trump and Pence’s “regime” will require a month of resistance leading up to the president-elect’s inauguration on January 20, the ad states. That means refusing to accommodate or work with the administration, as well as taking part in “protests that don’t stop—where people refuse to leave, occupying public space, and more and more people stand up with conviction and courage.”
Such movements are taking shape elsewhere, as the Women’s March on Washington is now poised to be the biggest inauguration demonstration despite a shaky start and bureaucratic roadblocks.
The Times ad calls for concerned citizens to support the call to action—or commit to it themselves. More than 2,000 people have already signed the declaration.
“Our only recourse now is to act together outside normal channels,” the ad states. “Every faction within the established power structure must be forced to respond to what we do—creating a situation where the Trump/Pence regime is prevented from ruling.”