Interestingly, I've read 2 articles, one which also states that it was an
error to attempt to shut down Trump's rally, and the other which explains
the reasons why people chose to protest against the rally. The writer who
thought it was a mistake to protest it, felt that it is important to listen
to the trump supporters to understand what their concerns are and to be
empathetic. The article about the people protesting the rally explained that
black and brown people who live in Chicago, and who deal with the racist
policies of their city's government on a daily basis, felt that it was
imperative to communicate that Trump's racist attitudes are not acceptable
in America and should not be tolerated.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Saturday, March 19, 2016 11:43 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Breakup of Trump rally sets back working class
http://themilitant.com/2016/8012/801202.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 80/No. 12 March 28, 2016
(front page)
Breakup of Trump rally sets back working class
Socialist Workers Party campaign statement
The following statement was released March 12 by Alyson Kennedy, Socialist
Workers Party candidate for U.S. president.
On March 11, hundreds of people organized to disrupt and force the
cancellation of a Chicago rally where thousands had come to hear
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. This was a blow to free
speech - a vital conquest of working people and protection of our right
to speak, organize strike pickets, and mobilize protest rallies and
marches.
I was at the Chicago rally talking with workers and finding interest in
what the Socialist Workers Party has to say. Most of those who came to
hear Trump are working people, hard hit by the world economic depression
and fed up with a system that ignores persistent unemployment, employer
attacks on wages and job conditions and other indignities. They're
interested in Trump because he thumbs his nose at party bosses and says
he has a "winning" plan to create jobs.
Efforts to shut down those you disagree with set back workers'
struggles. The working class must defend free speech for all. We need it
to discuss and debate how to defend ourselves from employer and
government attacks. We need an independent working-class political
alternative to the rulers' parties. Shutting down political expression
is inevitably turned against workers, our unions and other organizations
by the capitalist government, courts, cops and hired goons.
Liberal and middle-class radical groups that call for thuggish actions
to shout down Trump play into the hands of his campaign and his
Republican and Democratic rivals. They put wind in the sails of Trump's
own thuggish rhetoric targeting immigrants, Muslims, women and protesters.
The arguments by such political groups go hand in hand with bourgeois
commentators of all stripes who say that those who attend Trump's
rallies are bigoted Caucasian workers. This is a slander, something we
confirm as the SWP campaigns, whether in workers' neighborhoods or
elsewhere, including Trump rallies.
Trump isn't a fascist. There is no growing ultrarightist or fascist
movement today. The bosses don't need one, because the working class is
not yet strong or organized enough to challenge their rule.
Some protesters in Chicago carried signs against deportations, defending
rights for Muslims, opposing cop killings and championing Black rights.
The working class has a big stake in these struggles. But strengthening
them is inseparable from defending space to speak and demonstrate.
The Socialist Workers Party urges working people to break with the
capitalist parties, to build our own party, a labor party based on our
unions.
Join us in campaigning for the socialist, working-class alternative.
Join us in the fight for $15 and a union and other labor actions,
protests against cop violence, rallies backing a woman's right to choose
abortion, against deportations and attacks on mosques, and in support of
ranchers and farmers defending their livelihood.
Without championing the right to speak out and organize, none of this
will be possible.
Related articles:
Socialist candidate gets hearing at Trump event
Socialist Workers Party launches state campaigns
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home
