May 30: Report from Memorial Day protest at Texas State Capitol by Austin Refuse Fascism
On Memorial Day, the last day of the Texas legislative session, more than a thousand protesters converged on the Texas Capitol from different parts of Texas, as well as from other states, to fight the passage of the viciously anti-immigrant Senate Bill 4 (SB4). SB4 is a big step in a fascist program to criminalize and remove immigrants. It is designed to terrorize and silence immigrant families. It compels law enforcement to ask for immigration papers when they stop someone for any reason. When Texas Governor Greg Abbot signed the bill into law he declared, Texas has now banned sanctuary cities”.
Every level of the Capitol Rotunda was filled with protesters all morning, our loud and determined chants echoing through the halls and spilling into the House Chambers. Dozens of protesters disrupted the proceedings inside the House chambers and were escorted out by state troopers. Women dressed in Handmaid’s Tale costumes also staged a powerful silent protest against SB8, which the fascists call the “Pre-Born Protection and Dignity Act”. It requires the burial or cremation of fetal tissue, and bans the safest method of second trimester abortions, without exceptions for rape and incest.
The protests were raucous, unified, and defiant. Chants included, “SB4, Shut It Down!” and “Undocumented, Unafraid!” and other creative ones such as a roll call of the various cities, after which people from those cities called out “Presente.” State troopers would swoop down on anyone attempting to drop their banners over the railings, so at one point, when a beautiful banner of an immigrant family unfurled over the railing, the whole crowd erupted in cheers and applause. Refuse Fascism’s banner was also draped over the railing, and the NO! signs were held high by many. This was kept up for hours, until shortly after noon when the crowd marched out of the capitol and took over the south lawn for the rest of the afternoon, with speakers, music and dancing. It was a wonderful display of the message that immigrant families are here to stay, that we must fight for their right to live and work with dignity and we must celebrate this culture and language that is enriching to all of Texas.
Members of Refuse Fascism from Austin and Houston were in the mix throughout the day. We did our first street theater – two of us dressed as Donald Trump and the Grim Reaper, and we got a lot of attention and photographs. We performed a script a few times in which the grim reaper hands out tombstones to Donald Trump with various groups of people (i.e. women, immigrants, etc.), and Trump explains how his policies will kill groups of people and satisfy the grim reaper. It was a success in that it drew attention, but we need to practice it more and figure out the best spots and times to do these during rallies. We also want to get more audience participation. My favorite moment was when we got some kids to help “drive out” Trump and the grim reaper.
Here in Texas people are very much fighting reactively by responding to each attack and issue independently of another, and not seeing them as connected under one fascist program.
The Need to Change the Dynamic
Refuse Fascism Austin and Houston have a role to play in changing this dynamic. Recently two of us in Austin organized a meeting of a few different groups, including Grassroots Leadership, Workers Defense Project, ICE (Immigration Customs and Enforcement) Out of Austin, 350-org, and Muslim Solidarity ATX to talk about what we all are facing under this regime, and the need for a broad citywide resistance network. There was a lot of unity in this meeting about the need to create a political crisis through mass protest. People responded positively to our message and presentation. But there is a lot more work that needs to be done here. Right now, people at the meeting wanted to keep this as a loose network over email and to get some more groups to join up.
Refuse Fascism in Texas also needs to get more active participation from the hundreds of people we have on our Texas email lists. We are planning to have an organizing meeting and will try to coordinate some phone banking soon. We need to get our core together and get some commitments on actions and responsibilities going forward.