Protesters march down Mission Street on Oct. 26, demanding that Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence step down. Photo: Gabriel Vargas

On Oct. 19, Dr. Cornel West, one of the founders of RefuseFascism.org, joined about 200 protesters in a march from NYC Union Square to Trump Tower to demand “The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go—NOW!” 

“We need a coalition — Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, traditional religion, agnostics, atheists,” said Dr. West to the crowd. “This is a question of what kind of human being you are going to be in this particular moment when the neo-fascists are not just here but all over the world … this is a profoundly human affair and that’s why we march.” 

The spirited demonstration launched the #OUTNOW! movement, beginning with a series of Saturday protests, nationwide, to grow an unrelenting, nonviolent movement of mass resistance that continues week after week to demand the removal of the Trump/Pence regime from power. 

The Trump/Pence regime poses a catastrophic danger to humanity and the planet. Concentration camps at the border… environmental devastation accelerated… danger of war, even nuclear, threatened… white supremacy rules… fascist mobs and racist mass murders… truth and science erased… right to abortion near gone… the rule of law and democratic and civil rights stripped away… THIS IS FASCISM UNFOLDING, reads the Refuse Fascism Call to Action. 

There is no hero or good knight on a white horse coming to save us, says one Refuse Fascism organizer. “Not one Democratic Party candidate, NO ONE, addresses the central question facing us and all of humanity,” adds activist Scott Gilbert, whose family’s experience with Nazi Germany is very relevant to what is happening today. “No one, NO ONE, not one of the democratic candidates uses the “F” word. With the largest platform in the world, not one of them acknowledges the greatest existential threat to the planet: fascism. For them, order is more important than justice.” 

During Refuse Fascism’s Oct. 26 #Outnow rally at 24th and Mission streets in San Francisco, a protester wears a sign of Donald Trump in jail, with the words reading “Lock Him Up.” Photo: Gabriel Vargas

Everywhere, the response from people on the sidelines of weekly OUT NOW! protests has been overwhelmingly positive. Yet, we have not yet begun to set off the kind of chain reaction of growth which we are going to need to achieve to succeed. This is something we are all going to have to work on together, how to reach more of the people who are hungry for a way to act now – and how to move many more into seeing the need to join us in taking to the streets to demand: Trump/Pence #OUTNOW! 

Bay Area protests started Oct. 26, and continue every Saturday until the fascist Trump/Pence regime is driven OUT. Last Saturday, Nov.2, Refuse Fascism intersected with local Dia De Los Muertos celebrations. Marching through the Mission District to the San Francisco Civic Center, the lively crowd chanted “Trump & Pence #OutNow! #¡Fuera ahora!”, spelling out the message with a choreographed display of individual letter signs. 

The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go — NOW! 

For three years the Democratic Party leadership facilitated the Trump/Pence regime, even voting funds for border security when children were being separated from parents. Now, they want to restrict impeachment only to national security and Trump’s violation of democratic norms to undermine U.S. elections. They have said they will not impeach on the whole array of fascist outrages, leaving the cancer of fascism in place to grow more dangerously, especially if Christo-fascist VP Pence is allowed to take the presidency. Moreover, Trump has threatened that he may not leave office. 

How Do You Remove A Fascist Regime? 

We must seize on the impeachment crisis now erupting, taking history into our own hands and turning dread for the future into a force for hope! 

The only people who can save our country and the world from a metastasizing fascist regime … are the people. Quoting from the title of Alice Walker’s book of meditations (subtitled Inner Light In a Time of Darkness), “We are the ones we have been waiting for.” 

In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse to Accept a Fascist America. Join Us. 

#OUTNOW! Nov. 9, 1 pm, San Francisco, Civic Center Plaza, north lawn