Fight!

Resistance Means Feeling Pretty Psyched

\ Feb 02, 2017

5 min read

As the Doomsday clock ticks closer to global catastrophe, protests break out across the country, an alt-right, white nationalist is given aegis on the National Security Council and an unconstitutional travel ban sends America into outrage. Fear not, citizens! People all over the country and in Albuquerque are organizing a chain of resistance movements designed to counter these backwards-looking developments while preserving democracy and working toward continued social and environmental progress.

Resisters Unite!

On Saturday, Jan. 28, one local group, Albuquerque Indivisible, held an in-person meeting to organize people to resist the Trump administration. This group is one of a handful of Indivisible groups organizing in the state. Indivisible is a national grassroots movement to resist the Trump agenda by applying pressure to members of Congress. Check out the national website at indivisibleguide.com/web/ to find a local group in your area along with a guide to action. At the latest local gathering, Albuquerque Indivisible organizers were pleased with the energetic standing room only crowd. Along with the adults there were several teens present wanting to know how they could be involved. “We believe that the next four years depend on citizens across the country standing indivisible against this administration’s agenda,” said local organizers.

March On

The nationwide Women’s Marches are likely to turn into a powerful movement. “The Women’s March on Washington was an example of democracy in action,” said Lorna Marchand, a New Mexican who attended the Washington, D.C. march. “We must build on the momentum,” she continued, emphasizing, “This is an unprecedented moment in history, as we witness a brazen assault on democracy and American values.” Marchand said that while the marches were tagged as “women’s” marches, they were about human rights and the energy is still building—as seen by the protests at airports across the country following Trump’s actions over the past weekend. During a call-in town hall meeting on Monday, Jan. 30, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall said that he was proud of those who have turned out to protest. He also encouraged citizens to get involved here at home by running for local offices or supporting qualified candidates for upcoming critical local and mid-term elections.

If It’s Tuesday …

As people organize themselves to do battle for democracy, there is one day a week identified for peaceful protests. The New Mexico Working Families Party, Moveon.org and the local Indivisible movements are organizing demonstrations every Tuesday. J.D. Mathews, political director for NMWFP, said Resist Trump Tuesdays (#ResistTrumpTuesdays) are held every week in front of the offices of local US Senators and Representatives. Mathews said they are putting pressure on all elected officials, from City Council on up, to take a bold stand for a government that represents more than those who are wealthy and well-connected, and to protest any attacks on fundamental American values.

Take on City Hall

Mathews also said his group will be at the Feb. 6 Albuquerque City Council meeting to ask the Council to approve a resolution opposing the Trump administration’s damaging policies on healthcare, immigration, public education, climate change, women’s and LGBTQ rights. This is a good time to show up to support local leaders and encourage them to take a stand. In this way Albuquerque can be like bigger cities such as Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, actively protesting efforts to enforce the administration’s discriminatory immigration policies and putting on notice the publishers of alt-right sites who continue to mischaracterize the nature of these essential expressions of patriotic protest.

Close Contact

Call, text, snail mail, email and fax all of your state’s elected Congressional officials at work in the nation’s capital. The numbers can be found on each congressional member’s webpage or at https://www.congress.gov/members.

It’s also just as important to add our Republican governor to the list of elected public servants who must be put on notice regarding Trump’s transgressions in order to ask that she step up and publicly refute damaging polices that will inevitably affect our state.

Notably, New Mexico’s Democratic Attorney General, Hector Balderas, joined with 15 other attorney generals to oppose the travel restrictions. Mayors and local governing bodies need to be petitioned and supported as well, to oppose the un-American and unconstitutional actions by the president.

By planning for the long haul, getting involved with like-minded citizens and continuing to move forward toward justice, we may yet succeed in saving this nation from Trump’s machinations. Pick your battles. Conserve your energy, it looks like it is going to be a marathon and not a sprint to freedom.

How to Make it Happen

If you have not set up a Twitter account, you should, if only to follow accounts from staff members of former President Barack Obama, as well as employees of NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Park Service and other government agencies whose web privileges have been cut off in the age of the Orange One.

Finally, There are many excellent resources at your fingertips. Here is a short list of resources to get you started on your path to righteous determination.

www.Moveon.org

https://www.indivisibleguide.com

https://www.womensmarch.com

http://workingfamilies.org

https://dailyaction.org

https://www.runforsomething.net

https://5calls.org

https://www.resistancemanual.org/Resistance_Manual_Home

https://www.aclu.org

Local resources include:

http://progressnownm.org

http://abqpeaceandjustice.org