Build the anti-fascist movement: All out on the streets October 18

Every day we receive more information about America’s slide into whatever you want to call it: authoritarianism covers it; oligarchy is part of it; dictatorship is Trump’s goal; and most likely we should be calling it fascism. This is deadly serious. 

Just about everyone I know has deep concerns for what’s left of American democracy. Many of us are feeling overwhelmed at the ongoing tsunami of bad news and seeming inexorable advance of the MAGA agenda. Others are close to burning out over the level of activism the moment calls for. But whether you are hunkering down in your basement, hoping for it to blow over, or out on the barricades, there are two concrete tasks you can shoulder in the next few weeks, each of which places a brick in the anti-fascist wall. Neither is difficult, and both will help to turn the tide. 

One of these is covered in another article in this issue of California Red on Proposition 50. Vote YES on Prop 50, and better, go out and do some work to pass it by canvassing or phone banking. 

“No Kings”

The other just requires your body, although it wouldn’t hurt to do some organizing as well. Saturday October 18 will see the second “No Kings” demo this year. The one on June 5 drew millions of people into the streets, including thousands of DSA comrades across the country. Other protests have been called and have been big, but this one was the biggest, and the one scheduled for October 18 is promising to be—must be—even bigger. You can find one near you here.

Authoritarian rule depends on the widespread belief by the population it rules over that it is invincible. Big demonstrations prove otherwise. Building larger and larger protests creates a compelling public picture of a countervailing majority and encourages the formation of a growing pro-democracy, anti-fascist movement that can operate on many fronts—in the courts, in elections, in workplaces and institutions of civil society, all of which ultimately depend on power in the streets. 

Numbers are important. According to studies, when 3.5% of the population in a country is regularly protesting an authoritarian regime some kind of threshold is crossed in which quantity translates into qualitative change in the possibilities for stopping the anti-democratic forces. Here that would translate into something like 12 million people. Best guestimates of the June No Kings day came to about half of that. We need to build that number up. Judging by the number of co-sponsoring organizations, the anti-fascist coalition has been growing.

But beyond magic number theory, we know that mass movements have power; in some respects, it’s the only power that ultimately matters. Come on out and be part of it. See you on October 18 —in the streets.