Chicago: 2500 march in negative wind chill to stop the Trump agenda

Chicago, IL – Negative wind chill could not keep the Coalition to Stop the Trump Agenda from mobilizing 2500 people to Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump.

In the cold midday sun, protesters rallied at the Plaza, marched to Trump Tower, and then rallied a second time there – all to mark a new phase of struggle that will see the social justice movement face grave dangers in the agenda of Donald Trump and his fellow Republicans.

Over 80 organizations are members of the Coalition to Stop the Trump Agenda. They are united around the demands to fight the racist and reactionary Republican agenda; defend and expand immigrant rights; stand with Palestine; defend the right to unionize and strike; stop police crimes; defend women’s LGBTQ and reproductive rights, and defend education and academic freedom.

A number of the forces organizing today’s action led last year’s March on the DNC, including the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and Anti-War Committee. As in the case of the March on the DNC, the coalition is broad, containing forces from across the movement, including those in immigrant rights, Palestinian rights, Black liberation, labor, and more.

A plurality of march attendees were Latino immigrants, including three busloads of immigrant workers from the suburban DuPage County organization, Worker Center of Immigrant Solidarity.

The involvement of immigrant rights groups like Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and Mijente is important, especially since the Trump administration’s very first attacks in the U.S. will likely be directed against immigrants.

“We came here in spite of everything, we have paid our taxes, we’ve built our families here, our kids were born here, and we’re not going anywhere!” said Martín Unzueta, executive director and founder of Chicago Community & Worker’s Rights and spokesperson for Mijente.

Other immigrant organizations mobilized as well, including the HANA Center, a Korean American immigrant justice organization; and Anakbayan, a youth organization fighting for Filipino rights and liberation.

In addition to immigrant rights groups, some of the Palestinian rights organizations that led 16 months’ worth of protests against the Israeli/U.S. genocide on Gaza, including USPCN and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) – Chicago, took part in the march.

With a ceasefire in Gaza reached just last week, Palestinian rights groups have emphasized that such a victory was only the result of fierce resistance on the part of the Palestinian people and their allies across the world, and not the benevolence of Trump, Biden, Blinken, or any other figure in Washington.

“This achievement only belongs to the steadfast Palestinian resistance and the people of Gaza,” said Noura Ebrahim, USPCN member and co-founder of Boycott Divestment Sanctions – Chicago.

Also protesting Trump were Black liberation organizations like CAARPR, Black Lives Matter Chicago, GoodKids MadCity, Chicago Torture Justice Center, and more.

The involvement of Black liberation organizations is also important, given that Trump’s previous presidency saw Black people in the U.S. experience further economic degradation, the intensification of police repression (such as the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor), and more mass incarceration of Black communities. Trump will seek to continue that trend in his second term, though the resistance, as last time, will be fierce.

“We cannot allow Trump to carry out mass deportations of immigrants. If they come after them today, they’ll come after the rest of us tomorrow,” said Frank Chapman, field director of CAARPR and executive director of the National Alliance.

To mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Daryle Brown, a minister at the historic Trinity United Church of Christ greeted the rally with a prayer.

Organized labor is also an essential element of the coalition, with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and CTU’s Black Caucus, United Auto Workers Local 2320, and United Electrical Workers – Western Region among the endorsers of the rally. Many of their rank-and-file members were in attendance.

“Fighting for the rights of oppressed people is not new in Chicago! We stand united here,” said Dr. Diane Castro of CTU.

Other organizations in the Coalition to Stop the Trump Agenda include Anti-War Action Network, Community Renewal Society, Arab American Action Network, United Working Families 50th Ward and others.

#ChicagoIL #IL #PeoplesStruggles #ImmigrantRights #InJusticeSystem #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #CTU #Trump #J20 #Featured

Source: https://fightbacknews.org/chicago-2500-march-in-negative-wind-chill-to-stop-the-trump-agenda?pk_campaign=rss-feed