A couple hundred of us protesters showed up in front of the Supreme Court building yesterday as part of the “refuse fascism” movement to maintain a continuous presence in DC until the Trump regime is forced out, and the SCOTUS event was timed to coincide with the court’s private deliberations about whether to reopen Obergefell (we’ll find out the decision early next week; fingers crossed).
The SCOTUS event followed the kickoff rally and march on The Mall (near the Washington Monument and thence to Stanton Park) on Thursday, November 5th, and another march from George Washington U. to Georgetown U. on Friday the 6th. (I did not attend the event on the 6th, as I’d blown out my bad knee on the 5th and I definitely wanted to go show my contempt for the Roberts court majority on the 7th; and perhaps more germane, there were significant delays on the metro line I would have needed to use to get downtown on the 6th. I heard from a friend who did attend that many university students joined in the march.) There will be a march through one of the ICE-besieged DC neighborhoods today.
A couple of thoughts: I wish there had been many, many more people at the events on the 5th and 7th. I agree with the organizers that a large group of protesters in the nation’s capital is harder to ignore than protests in most other places. I absolutely cannot deny the urgency of doing whatever we can right now to dislodge the fascists from power, but the logistics of people coming into the capital and being able to stay for an indeterminate length of time are pretty tricky for most people, especially with those grappling with childcare and other potentially limiting issues.
I don’t have a solution to offer to make the continuous presence more doable except perhaps more subsidizing of bus tickets, coupled with a focused uptick in networking among people who would be willing to offer a room in their homes for others coming in — and for as many people who can (for example) do their day-to-day work long distance to come to DC. (So far as I can tell, most of the daily events are planned to last only a 2-4 hours.) I recognize my privilege to be able to come here, albeit briefly this time around, and that I have had a place to stay.
Part of me wonders if this is all too late, if it does any real good, and yet — not doing anything is not an option. To paraphrase the sign I wore on my back, I came to DC to protest because I don’t want my grandchildren — nor anyone’s kids or grandkids, nor any of us, citizen and non-citizen alike — to live under a fascist regime. Though I was heartened by the great turnout all across the country and in “my” Seattle on Oct. 18th (from 74K in June to 90K — and that did not include those who did not march after the rally), it’s not enough. Many more of us have to do more — we must stand up, speak out, and (peacefully) fight back while it’s still possible to do so. That is the only way we can ensure that it will be possible to continue to exercise our First Amendment rights going forward.
As I have gone to the regular weekly protests back in Seattle, my overall impression is that many, many people who are or would be sympathetic to the cause simply have not yet awakened to the horrifying danger our country is in. I don’t know what it will take to wake enough people up. I hope that the “blue wave” this past Tuesday is truly indicative of a tide that will, all Powers willing, sweep all of these evil Arschlöcher from our government before they do even more damage and destroy even more lives.
PS: One other sign I carried yesterday: “The SCOTUS Six love Project 2025 more than the Constitution. Shame on them!”
