This past weekend, an estimated seven million people took to the streets in 2,700 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. states, D.C., and several U.S. possessions including Puerto Rico calling for “No Kings” and “No Billionaires.” The attacks waged by the Trump regime are leading to the transfer of even more massive amounts of wealth and power to the wealthiest corporations and individuals. Those are the real kings in this society: the kings of capitalism.
Along with trillions of dollars in tax cuts for billionaires, we see huge cuts to food and housing assistance and healthcare for the poor and elderly. Tens of thousands of government workers have been fired and entire agencies that supported health, climate, and other research have been eliminated, even eliminating funding for cancer and pandemic research. These cuts will mean that the poorest and most vulnerable will get sicker and die sooner.
At the same time, this administration is doubling down on U.S. domination around the world. Funding for military spending is now a record one trillion dollars, and funds for Israel’s genocide continue. Politicians are threatening to invade Venezuela, sending the clear message that they will prop up regimes that will bow to U.S. interests and get rid of ones that won’t. And since China poses a challenge to U.S. domination of the globe, the U.S. is using trade tariffs to penalize those that don’t prioritize the U.S., and to charge a fee to do business with the U.S. empire. This is throwing the world into greater chaos and instability and increasing the risk of military conflicts around the globe.
This administration knows that all of their policies will make the lives of most people in this country worse and more difficult. What they fear the most is that the majority of the population could unite and fight back together. They are trying to divert attention to the so-called problem of immigration, claiming that immigrants are responsible for crime. Their attacks on immigrants terrorize immigrant populations and hold up a false enemy, a group to blame for the economic inequality and misery of this system.
The politicians have nothing to offer us except hatred and fear. The goal of the increased political repression throughout the country is to frighten people into submission. They want free rein to send federal troops wherever they want and arrest and deport anyone they want. They want to police what we say or post, what we teach, what we research. They want a climate of fear where people are too terrified to resist.
We have to resist. The election of Democrats is not a real resistance and definitely not a solution. While there are differences between the Democrats and Republicans, they both share many of the same goals. They both uphold the same system of capitalism. They both militarize the border and attack immigrants. They both oversee the destruction of the environment through resource extraction and expanding the fossil fuel industry. They attack workers in favor of corporate profits. They both have been relentless supporters of Israel’s genocide. The Democrats have been in the White House 12 of the past 16 years, overseeing the very policies that helped pave the way for the election of Trump. They too have nothing to offer working people.
There is no way out of this mess through the ballot box. Our power depends on ourselves and our numbers. The day-to-day functioning of this system is already in our hands — we are the ones who do the work to make this system run. But to use that power, we must be conscious of that power and be far more organized so we can rely on our own forces and not get trapped into the dead-end of electing political parties that oversee this system.
We are not alone. All around the world, many people are facing similar problems and confronting increasingly authoritarian regimes that are accelerating their attacks on the majority of the population. Many people are coming to see the limits of trying to resist through elections. And like here in the U.S., people are responding. Young people and workers are taking to the streets in massive numbers in Italy, Spain, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Peru, Morocco, Indonesia, and beyond. Some of these movements have forced governments to resign. There is still more to do, but they are opening up possibilities.
Last weekend showed our possibilities. We need to increase our numbers and organize ourselves in our neighborhoods and workplaces. Workers run the economy and have the power to bring it to a stop. We can stand up to Trump and put an end to this system of exploitation and oppression he represents.
That is the task that is ahead of us.
