Quite honestly, I am so worried and concerned about a number of things that are happening that I am having trouble writing, disconnecting from what is happening is extremely difficult.  This is not helped by the fact that I am unwell and trying to get my diabetes under control – having a diabetic specialist tell me to avoid stress is laughable. I asked them have they seen the news lately?!

The situation in the US is getting more frightening by the day. These American citizens are protesting against ICE sweeps through their city. Living in a sanctuary state of California,  people are reacting to the behaviour of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) who are following the orders of Stephen Miller.

 ICE have moved onto raiding hospitals, churches, schools, and workplaces to search for immigrants. The government is deliberately upping the attack on migrant communities. It is not only “illegal” migrants that are getting caught, American citizens and permanent residents are being picked up. So, no more “oh, we are just looking for migrant ‘criminals’ to illegally deport them to a concentration camp in El Salvador” (in clear violation of US law ).  

Criminalising migrants

One obvious point, it is not a crime to be a refugee. It is also not a crime to attempt to migrate to another country. If your government decides that people who become refugees or migrants for any reason, e.g., wars, political, economic, environmental are “illegal” then they make all of these people criminals.  This is yet another point demonstrating Trump’s rejection of basic international humanitarian law and treaties that the US government signed and ratified (and hence is US law).  The fact that other Presidents cracked down on immigrants or refugees does not excuse this. We should have opposed that as well irrespective of the political party doing it.

Trump’s federalising the California National Guard and then sending them and the Marines into LA against protestors opposing the sweeping attacks on Latino populations looks like an attempt to provoke a military attack on American citizens. If successful, it will be the first blow in the end of the US republic. Certainly, Newsom, the governor of California, did not request their presence and has complained. If you want to compare what is happening now to the enforcement of Brown vs the Board of Education against white supremacists, the speciousness of your argument is rather obvious.  

What could the purpose of Trump doing this actually be? Is this yet another attempt to frighten non-compliant Americans who oppose his reign?  Or is it more than that? I honestly was not expecting an actual attempt to declare martial law until the midterm elections.  His position against birthright citizenship and the deportation of people notwithstanding, no one believes that the US is in a state of war due to “immigrant invasions”.  Incidentally the President cannot even declare war, that power belongs to Congress.

Constitution threatened

Yes, he is trying to break down the separation of powers embodied in the US Constitution; he has actually made that perfectly clear. If the SCOTUS (Supreme Court) upholds this nonsense, then you know that they have abandoned the Constitution and all bets are off and the US quasi-democratic experiment is over.

I still have memories of the National Rifle Association (NRA) ads from when I was young (I found them rather funny honestly) accusing “evil” liberals of wanting to Change the Constitution (said very ominously). Despite their “constitutional expertise” they never heard of Prohibition (Amendment 18) or its Removal (Amendment 21).  What would these people say now as the President is attempting to override the separation of powers which is in effect, the Constitution. We need to note they are not clutching their pearls or their semi-automatics about Trump’s behaviour.

“I rise. I remember. I walk with pride.”
– Soni López-Chávez @soni_artist

Declaring martial law this early in Trump’s reign would not be very clever as it will require a serious crackdown not against the non-existent far-left fascists, but instead against real American citizens. It may not work out the way he and his Christian nationalists, white supremacists , fascists and other far-right buddies want. Rather than proactively bring Jesus back and establishing his dominion on Earth under their control (as they are the ones saying what Jesus wants), the possibility is that this movement will actually be seen as a real threat rather than just something with which to scare secular people  To do this before it can be justified as “necessary” (do they control all 7 mountains yet?) and they are powerful enough could create problems that they may not be able to contain. They are not as powerful as they think they are despite having followers in the US House of Representatives like Marjorie Taylor Green, Mike Johnson and Lauren Boebert. We cannot wait around until they feel confident, it is already late.

Christian nationalist threat

There is nothing like waking up in a Christian fascist dictatorship to make everyone else actually move in opposition to save their lives. People do understand that the idea of their having dominion over the rest of us would be rather frightening. But let me say that Trump (and cronies) seem to delight in pushing to see how far they can go before they get their wrists slapped.  For the Christian nationalist, white supremacist and fascists, it is a religious mandate to remove the “demons” that they believe have taken over the cities and places where non-believers outnumber them.

We must unite and fight back! We cannot let a movement be diverted to weak reforms that do nothing to address the real problem that has led us to where we are today. The anti-King Day protests are a beginning of a wider fightback and they are great to see.

We need more of this and there is a lot of work that needs to be done. We need to recognise that people are contributing in many different ways. We need support on the ground both locally and at other levels. One protest is not enough and there must be connections made at many levels as well as cooperation to ensure that this is a movement; we can actually fight, there are times that are conjunctures which can create a revolutionary situation — this may be one of them.

The protests in response to the arrest of David Huerta of SEIU, California are important – they demonstrate the linkages between immigrant rights, trade unions and local struggles. That is what is needed to bring people together to stand in solidarity against repression,exploitation and oppression.

Downtown Los Angeles

United in struggle

We need to bring people together in unity not only against Trump, but also what his allies and backers are supporting. Much of their programme goes way beyond the economic tariffs and their impact on the financial markets. What is important are attacks on people’s standards of living – inflation, attacks on the values of pensions, or forcing disabled people to work to get healthcare, social care and benefits. Instead what we are seeing is a direct attack on marginalised people especially refugees and migrants (racism is at the heart of this movement). LGBTQI+ people are under attack — trans people are not the only ones whose existence is being denied, many of the legal changes and ideological hate being spouted also impact intersex people as well —  the right are deeply confused about biology as well as gender.

The discussions of how to get (white) women to have more children are issues of bodily autonomy that not only affect women (rights to contraceptives, abortion and the elimination of forced sterilisation for all). They especially affect women of colour, working-class women, disabled women (still forcibly sterilised and pressured to not have children), and they impact trans people and intersex people.

To build an opposition means that we must stand together in solidarity. We must build a united front across our communities  and must include those both in and out of trade unions, as well as unpaid workers and paid workers. We must bring progressives along, we must fight alongside each other in solidarity. We must listen to and learn from each other. We do not have the same history and experiences and that means that we must respect our differences and work together to fight against the hard-right coming to power as we are all threatened by this.

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