Editor’s Note: The photos below are contributed from some cities where People’s Tribune and Tribuno del Pueblo and friends joined the No Kings Day protests.
Robert Koehler wrote in Common Dreams that at the No Kings rally he attended in Wisconsin he felt “a sense of connection and shared values, that isn’t going away.” Valerie Jean, a photojournalist writing on Facebook about attending the Detroit rally, said “There is something about masses of people gathering to speak loudly the truth of the moment.” One young woman’s sign in Michigan said, “My grandad fought fascism in Germany and I will fight it here.”
Seven million or more people came into the streets of some 2,700 cities and towns in the U.S. on No Kings Day. They came to defy the government’s threats and demand democracy, respect for immigrants and for everyone’s human and constitutional rights, that the troops go home, and that everyone’s needs be met. Some 200,000 people, many of them furloughed or fired federal workers, turned out in Washington, DC, and 250,000 in Chicago. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called for a general strike.
The protests were peaceful and characterized by music, laughter, cheering, chanting, creative signs and costumes, music and joy, but also by a determined spirit of resistance and a rising new awareness of how dangerous the situation has become. People are more and more commonly using the word “fascism” to describe what is going on, and are joining together with their neighbors in local organizations to fight the government’s brutality against immigrants and around other issues. Millions have become intensely aware of the attacks by the government and the corporations on everyone’s rights and standard of living, and on democracy itself.
The large, diverse crowds seemed mainly comprised of average, working class people of all ages and many backgrounds. The size and composition of the crowds gave people a sense of their collective power and made clear that Trump has no mandate for fascism.
While some observers complained that the Democratic Party played some role in organizing the marches, it appeared that most of the protesters came out on behalf of the people and democracy itself, not any particular party. As journalist Ken Klippenstein wrote about one of the No Kings rallies he covered, “Unlike the protests during Trump’s first term, this one doesn’t see a savior in the FBI or even the Democratic Party, instead putting their faith in ordinary people like themselves.” And a marcher in Austin told the People’s Tribune, “We are here because we are so discouraged that the Democrats haven’t stepped up and fought hard enough and I feel the Trump regime is trying to make us all feel that we have no power, it’s too late, the ball is rolling, so we get that. We all have to demonstrate that against this we are willing to do something extra.”
One marcher in DC told Democracy Now she sees hope for unity. “I mean, if you look at the actual polls, we are not divided the way they’re trying to present at all,” she said. “We care about the same things. We care about affordable healthcare. We care about affordable education. We care about a living wage. We care about fair housing and affordable housing. And those are things that unite us, not divide us. So, I think it’s super important for us to be out here and to demand a government that represents us and not the billionaires.”
It’s been said that a massive movement for fundamental change will occur in the U.S. at the juncture where millions of people feel their constitutional rights are threatened and their economic needs are not being met. It appears we are arriving at exactly that place.
