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Millions of people in over 2,700 cities and towns took part in No Kings Day protests across the country on October 18th. Organizers estimate that seven million took part, two million more than the same actions in June. From the streets of big cities to the squares and streetcorners of smaller towns, this was one of the biggest days of protest in U.S. history and highlights the vast unpopularity of the Trump administration’s pro-billionaire and anti-worker policies as the government remains shut down and social programs continue to be cut while ICE raids won’t stop terrorizing our communities.
Signs, banners, chants and speeches on Saturday brought forward the call for a general strike as a way to defeat the ultra-right’s agenda and to do more—to win back the rights we’ve lost and win rights we desperately need. Even Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson said at a rally, “If my ancestors, as slaves, can lead the greatest general strike in the history of this country, taking it to the ultra-rich and big corporations, we can do the same today!”
A general strike involving workers, students and all people from across society could change the course of events, directly challenge the Trump regime’s ruthless and racist attacks, and even set the stage for a revolution. What would it look like and how would we get there? We’ll talk about all that today.
But first, last week we talked about how the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was opening the door for renewed U.S. military action against the Venezuelan revolution and government of Nicolás Maduro. Just a few days later, the Trump administration then said that it had authorized additional strikes on Venezuela, including on land, after it had already attacked six Venezuelan boats in international waters. Trump also announced that he has approved CIA covert actions in the country. While it’s long been known that the CIA has been a tool in attempting to overthrow Venezuela’s revolution under both Chávez and Maduro, the announcement of the use of CIA operations for regime change is unprecedented.
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About the Author
Rachel Hu is a journalist with “BreakThrough News,” a new independent media project, where she hosts the podcast “It’s Not You, It’s Capitalism.”
She is also a host on WBAI 99.5FM in NYC and has been an anti-war and anti-racist activist with the ANSWER Coalition for the last decade.
Rachel can be reached at: rachel@wbai.org.
Chris Garaffa has been an anti-imperialist and social justice organizer since joining the movement against the Iraq war in 2003.
Chris is a weekly guest on Sputnik Radio’s “By Any Means Necessary,” and co-hosts the podcast “The Reboot,” focusing on the intersection between technology and human rights.
Chris can be reached at: chris.garaffa@gmail.com.
