By Daniel, Refuse Fascism volunteer
What would a world look like where noise disruptions operate as a show of support for the removal of the fascist Trump regime? And how can these demonstrations ultimately contribute to Trump’s removal?
When Refuse Fascism mentions nonviolent mass noncompliance, we’re talking about collectively and individually disrupting business as usual, refusing to accept a fascist America. A fascist regime requires our silence and our cooperation in order to consolidate power. From now into the early fall, Refuse Fascism is organizing noise disruptions with “Blow the Whistle on ICE” and 15-minute “Bring the Noise” demonstrations every Wednesday at 6pm.
During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 making noise each evening eventually grew into a recognized collective approach for sharing appreciation for heroic health care workers. In our context, noise disruptions send an urgent message regarding the illegal and illegitimate abductions and imprisonment of Black and Brown individuals by ICE, and the burning need for the TRUMP FASCIST REGIME TO GO NOW!
Let’s envision a country where daily noise demonstration has grown in popularity as an anti-MAGA fascist action, to the point where, much like noise making for healthcare workers during COVID-19, it has become fully synonymous with the message: “Trump Must Go Now!” A substantial portion of the country would be pouring into streets, making a persistent, determined demand heard around the country. Neighbors would be blowing whistles and banging drums in their crowded cul-de-sacs. On trains, buses, and subways, passengers would be banging pots and pans and playing harmonicas from their seats. In city squares, anti-fascist musicians would riff on guitars as part of their daily disruption. And writers and poets would passionately deliver over megaphones and microphones their fiery and critique-filled anti-MAGA poems and essays.
Based on this vision, there are multiple paths for noise demonstrations to evolve into a broader nonviolent action against the fascist Trump regime (see Refuse Fascism website). These noise demonstrations spreading to more neighborhoods and into workplaces, attracting more and more people, and going from weekly to daily demonstrations … all this can foster a desperately needed culture of peaceful mass non-compliance that would set an expectation, standard, and duty to non-violently stand against fascism in this country. Establishing such cultural norms could lead to other acts of non-compliance, such as general strikes, and it can bring forward the time that must come soon when millions are in the streets day after day demanding the removal of this regime.
Imagine how all this could put crippling pressure on the gears of the fascist machinery, making it impossible for the regime to carry out its full program. Imagine how this society-wide refusal could make the splits in the institutions even worse, giving initiative and backing to those who once went along with fascist orders now themselves refusing to comply. Imagine how, in the interest of getting back some legitimacy and stability, the rulers are compelled to make the calculation that Trump must resign. This would be a tremendous victory for the people and in the interest of humanity as a whole – and create many openings for the people to continue their struggle for a better world.
To conclude, by modeling mass non-compliance via noise demonstrations, we can transform the culture of normalization into a culture of noncompliance, building to a tipping point (MILLIONS in the streets demanding Trump Must Go Now) where the Trump fascist regime will no longer be able to remain in power.
It is on US to make this happen.