Report from the Streets of Los Angeles

From a correspondent:

On Friday, 11 November, a protest of 3,000 people blocked the 101 Freeway that runs through the middle of LA, and marched through down-town. There were 200 arrests, in addition to hundreds of other arrests of protesters on Wednesday and Thursday. Other protests took place in cities and on campuses throughout Southern California.

On Saturday morning, well over 10,000 people from all over Southern California – shocked and outraged at the election of Donald Trump – came together at MacArthur Park, in the centre of the Central American immigrant community, and marched to the Federal Building in down-town Los Angeles. It was the fourth day in a row that anti-Trump protesters had taken to the streets of LA. People came from many different sections of society with all kinds of home-made signs, together delivering a serious, determined, and powerful message that the election of Donald Trump is unacceptable, and that his fascist program against the people has to be opposed.

College and high school students were there from many different campuses where protests, marches, and walkouts had taken place in recent days. There was a powerful outpouring of women of all ages expressing, together with men, a visceral disgust at Trump's vile and dangerous misogyny against women. And there were a large number of people from the LGBT community, whose lives are threatened by the Christian fascist programme that Trump and Pence openly support. The marchers strongly expressed their support for immigrants, including by chanting "Immigrants are welcome here" while immigrants from Central America lined the streets.

The sense was palpable that the country has just entered a new and dangerous period. In this moment, the headline on the statement put out by revcom.us, and on hundreds of posters – "In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept A Fascist America" – had a powerful impact on many, many people, and on the march as a whole. It expressed the seriousness and gravity of this historical moment, while raising people's sights to see that they are acting in the interests of all humanity. Before and during the march, hundreds of people grabbed for the posters and donated generously to pay for them. Over $800 was raised in donations for these during the day.

A vibrant Revolution Club contingent led hundreds and hundreds of people throughout the day to pledge, in a call-and-response way, that they would not conciliate; they would not accommodate; and they would not collaborate; that they would act in the name of humanity. And thousands of copies of the statement "In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept A Fascist America", together with the brochure "HOW WE CAN WIN: How We Can Really Make Revolution", were taken up by marchers and by immigrants who lined the streets.