With the ongoing, unrelenting and unprecedented attack on our democracy from Washington, we have few political leaders able or willing to provide effective push back. The legislative branch is under the control of MAGA Republicans and the federal judiciary is increasingly under the sway of conservative Federalist judges.
Our last line of defense is an engaged and ORGANIZED populace. To this end, eight organizations have come together as to address the need to “Arise and Resist” to restore our democracy. On January 19, the day before this regime took control, over three hundred concerned citizens met at the Roxbury Community College to begin to lay out the foundation of a resistance strategy. On March 15, over 100 met again to further develop the strategy to build action coalitions around four primary efforts.
The day began with an overview on sources of the current crisis presented by Elin Boman. These include
- Protection of Palestinian rights both within the US as well as the Middle East.
- Creation of an ongoing Rapid Response Network with initial foci on protecting our immigrant population and opposing the war on Gaza – as well as other emerging crises as this onslaught continues.
- Direct Action efforts with initial focus on “Concord 250” celebration of the American Revolution ( possibly in the presence of Donald Trump) and ongoing planning for further direct actions. and
- The Budget and Tax the Rich planning and action group.
This is a collective effort to build maximum leverage for change and to combat an individualized sense of despair.
Following are brief synopses of each group’s goals and efforts.
Palestine Solidarity
The Palestine group’s initial focus is pressuring Congress to stop Trump’s arms shipments to Israel. Trump has approved $12 billion in new weapons since taking office. We are organizing a sign-on letter for organizations and an action campaign for individuals in support of the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval filed by Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Senate and by Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Rashida Tlaib in the House.
Please have your organization sign the letter! We will organize events at Senate and Congressional offices to present these letters in the next weeks.
After the JRD mini-campaign, we plan to move on to additional action campaigns, possibly including state divestment and ethics legislation, running candidates to challenge current members of Congress, a non-binding question on Israel aid for the 2026 ballot, and defending the right to free speech from spurious claims of antisemitism.
Rapid Response Network
At the breakout for the Rapid Response Network at the Arise and Resist Conference on Saturday there was strong support for creating of a Rapid Response Network. This would be a network that would send out alerts for a response to emergency events related to the comprehensive agenda of Arise and Resist: ICE abductions of immigrants, murderous attacks on Palestine, catastrophic climate policies, mass firings, assaults on our civil liberties, repression of the LGBTQ community, draconian budget cuts just around the corner, etc.
The RRN will be overseen by at least 4 Arise and Resist groups each of whom appoint a member to an ongoing emergency committee. When there is an event that necessitates a response, this emergency committee would issue an alert with specific information about how to respond. This alert would go out to a pool of people who have volunteered to respond to such events when they can and also to all the organizations in Arise and Resist who would forward the alert on to their members.
The emergency committee would also connect with other networks with close connections to threatened groups so as to make sure any emergency actions respond to the needs of those groups and do not put them at greater risk.
If you would like to join the pool of volunteers who would show up as possible when alerts are issued, please fill out this online form. Already at the conference 28 people in the breakout signed up. Even more important, if your organization would be willing to serve on the Steering Committee of the Rapid Response Network, please let us know asap.
Sign up for the Rapid Response Network
Concord250 demonstration and direct actions
We are planning an anti-authoritarian demonstration at Concord250 on Saturday, April 19, a commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution.
We will distriubute handouts that feature shocking statistics and a list of local organizations working to resist and confront the current crisis in our democracy.
We want to draw folks’ attention with anti-authoritarian sentiments that are widley agreed upon, and then encourage participation in local groups and organizations that are fighting back and assisting communities in need.
Sign up for the Concord250 Demonstration
Budget and Tax Cuts Group
You pay more taxes than Tesla does! Make Musk Pay! The Budget and Tax Cuts group is co-organizing a Tax Day protest with the Boston Tesla Takedown project, noon to 2 on Saturday April 12 at 888 Boylston Street in Boston. Please spread the word to your family, friends, and organizations you belong to. And join us to organize ongoing. pushback against budget cuts, billionaire tax cuts, firings of federal employees, the privatization of the Postal Service, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security.
Join the Tesla Takedown in Boston, April 12!
Send your contact info to mikeprokosch@verizon.net.
