Socialist Students, a social justice group that wants to remake the United States into a socialist country, say they will stage massive nationwide campus walkouts and protests to #ResistTrump on January 20 when Donald Trump is sworn in as nation’s 45th president.
These students claim “Trump and the Republican Party are preparing to unleash a storm of attacks on women, immigrants, the Muslim community, LGBTQ people, workers, and the environment.”
Socialist Students mobilized over social media with hashtags like #ResistTrump and #OccupyInauguration and a united voice for “a huge national student strike” on January 20 that intends to send “a clear message” to the new President, the billionaire class, and the Republican Party that “we reject their agenda of bigotry, hate, and division; that we reject their corporate policies to gut our social services and education.”
So far, Socialist Students list 11 participating cities including Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, and Seattle. On Facebook, protest pages exist for the University of California at Berkeley, UCLA, Western Washington University, University of Cincinnati, University of Minnesota, and Portland State University. The organization boasts affiliations with nearly 50 campuses across the country. Among them are the University of Texas at Austin, Temple University, the University of Arkansas, and the University of Utah. They claim high school students will also take part in walkouts. Socialist Students U.K. plan to stand in solidarity with their American comrades on Inauguration Day.
The budding collegiate radicals believe capitalism is based on the exploitation of the many for the profit of the one percent and does not meet their needs. “We need a socialist system where we have democratic control of our own lives,” they say.
Their centerpiece demands include:
- No deportations of undocumented immigrants!
- Black Lives Matter! End police brutality and mass incarceration!
- Unite against Islamophobia!
- Fight Trump’s sexism! Defend and extend reproductive rights!
- Tax the rich! Make college free and cancel student debt!
- Stop the Dakota Access Pipeline — Green jobs now! — #NoDAPL
- Fight discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ community!
The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) also issued an Inauguration Day #ResistTrump call-to-action. They demand sanctuary campuses everywhere, the preservation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), free tuition, the end of “racist testing,” and the lifting of alleged college admissions quotas for African-American, Chicano, Latino, Asian, or other “oppressed groups.” SDS says they strive for a “fair and just society” with no more wars, no U.S. intervention, no police crime, and no deportations.
Socialist Students are the collegiate wing of Socialist Alternative, a Trotskyist revolutionary political party, according to Discover the Networks. Socialist Alternative considers Republicans and Democrats both the parties of big business and blames “the global capitalist system as the root cause of the economic crisis, poverty, discrimination, war, and environmental destruction.” They support big unions, big government, big education, big green energy, Black Lives Matter, illegal immigrant rights, and a publicly-funded single-payer healthcare system.
Their very lengthy to-do list includes breaking up Wall Street and seizing democratic control of the major banks and energy companies. Socialist Alternative wants guaranteed pensions, a shortened work week with no loss in pay, and $600 per week salary for stay-at-home parents, the disabled, and the elderly. They believe that with continuously applied pressure they can build a resistance and “Trump can be defeated.”
“What’s most crucial is that we make the strongest possible statement that we’re not willing to give Trump a chance, or any head start in putting together attacks on working class people, people of color or immigrants,” said Keely Mullen, a national organizer with Socialist Alternative, to Mic.
Mullin helped organize the 2015 #MillionStudentMarch, which, similarly, demanded free college and considered higher education a basic human right, Breitbart Texas reported. Mullin rallied for the dissolution of existing college loan debt and a $15 per hour minimum wage for campus employees. She later stumbled in an interview with Fox Business host Neil Cavuto in explaining how to finance all this free college before finally offering up a solution — a 90 percent tax on top income earners.
Following Trump’s November presidential win, socialist Seattle Councilwoman Kshama Sawant waged a “nationwide wave of protests,” but she credited her Movement for the 99%, Socialist Alternative, and Socialist Students as the community organizers. The ANSWER Coalition, the Occupy Movement, and MoveOn.org also coordinated post-election protests, noted Discover the Networks.
Sawant has called upon protesters to shut down Trump’s inauguration, championing a “pledge of resistance.” It promotes massive, coordinated, nationwide protests and student walkouts on January 20 and 21. While Sawant decries capitalism and pushes for a replacement socialist state, she asks for $25,000 to keep these youth-led inauguration demonstrations afloat financially.
Recently, KING reported frustrated Seattle taxpayers petitioned to impeach Sawant. They felt the councilwoman did not respect the will of the people and used her platform to incite violence and call for protests and riots. In response to Seattleites negative reaction, Sawant claimed she was a victim of “right wing” media. It appears people from all over the country signed the online petition. As of press time, it had over 19,000 of its 25,000 signature goal.
On January 21, Socialist Alternative will host “Inaugurate the Resistance,” a Washington, D.C.-held how-to defeat the “coming wave of right wing attacks from Trump.” It features Sawant, former New York Times reporter turned Truthdig columnist Chris Hedges, who called for a full-scale socialist revolution in 2015, and Jill Stein, the failed Green Party presidential candidate, who shepherded a recount attempt that failed to change the results of the November 8 election.
This event is part of Occupy Inauguration’s weekend of resistance, sponsored by the Green Party, Socialist Alternative, Occupy Wall Street, Movement for the 99%, and the Stein/Baraka campaign, according to their Facebook page.
Follow Merrill Hope, a member of the original Breitbart Texas team, on Twitter.
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