Massive protests in the United States against ultra-right-wing Trump

     Thousands marched in major US cities on Saturday, April 5th, against Trump’s ‘chainsaw’, and his plan to tighten and cut federal public spending, which has led to some 121,361 layoffs of federal agency workers, according to a count by CNN as of the end of March. Protests were also replicated in Canada and Mexico, and European cities such as Paris, London, Lisbon, Berlin and Frankfurt.
More than 1,200 “Hands Off” protests were held in all 50 states. Billed as the largest since Trump’s rise to power, they were called by a coalition of some 150 civil rights organisations, trade unions, including the National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the Service Employees International Union, which represents some two million employees, environmental organisations such as Greenpeace, LGBTQIA+ rights advocates, including the Human Rights Campaign, the largest advocacy group for sexual minorities in the US, veterans, electoral activists, pro-Palestinian organisations, and many others.

     There were massive marches and rallies in New York and Washington, and in other major cities such as Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Boston, as well as in states such as Florida and Colorado. Demonstrators rallied at federal buildings, congressional offices, social security headquarters, in parks and city halls across the country.
In Los Angeles, protesters chanted slogans such as “Power to the people“, and “Hands off education“, a clear reference to Trump’s executive order to shut down the country’s department of education. In California, teachers’ unions have recently staged major strikes over pay and other labour grievances.
In Boston, the state capital of Massachusetts, thousands gathered on Boston Common with signs reading “Hands off our democracy“, “Hands off our Social Security” and “Diversity, equity and inclusion make America strong. Hands off!“.

     In Paris, some 200 people, mainly Americans, gathered at the Place de la République to denounce Donald Trump’s policies with the slogans such as “Feminists for freedom and against fascism“, “Save democracy” and even  “Resist the tyrant“.
In Berlin, hundreds of people demonstrated in front of a Tesla dealership owned by Elon Musk. Demonstrations also took place in Lisbon and London, where several hundred people gathered in Trafalgar Square shouting slogans like “Hands off Canada“, “Hands off Greenland” and “Hands off Ukraine“.

     The central objectives of the protests were to reject the massive layoffs in federal agencies, as well as the racist and xenophobic immigration policies of the far-right Donald Trump, who has deportd hundreds of immigrants in the framework of a discriminatory discourse, and has been useing deportation as political retaliation against pro-Palestinian activists, such as the emblematic case of Mahmoud Khalil, an activist of the protests last year at Columbia University, who is currently detained despite having residency, and awaiting a court decision on his eventual deportation.
The protests are also against the ‘trade war’ unleashed by Trump with the application of tariffs to most countries, against the closure of offices dealing with social security, against the threats to Medicare and Medicaid, against the reduction of protections for transgender people, among many other grievances.

     Elon Musk was one of the main targets of the protesters last Saturday at the demonstrations. He is the richest man in the world, for whom Trump created the a new federal agency to bestou him the head position, called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), through which this billionaire, completely detached from the needs and interests of workers, has dedicated himself to closing public offices, laying off thousands of workers, with the supposed aim of saving the government 2 trillion dollars.
The demonstrations are not an isolated phenomenon, but are part of a broader context of social discontent that has been growing in recent years, expressed in multiple strikes and protests of workers, in sectors such as teachers, dockers, car companies,  and even the film industry, involving actors and screenwriters.
This conflict with workers’ struggles has intensified social polarization, given the danger posed by Trump’s aggressive anti-worker and anti-grassroots policies to social rights and democratic freedoms. Since assuming the presidency of the United States, he has governed through executive orders (decrees), without congressional approval, and in permanent conflict with the judicial system, openly attacking social, health and immigration rights, as well as against women and sexual minorities.

     The political and social polarisation, exacerbated by Trump’s administration, is a kind of abhorrance, that can continue to increase social mobilisation, involving more and more people, who are becoming aware of the danger that a far-right, racist and misogynist like Trump is in the government of the main imperialist power.
From the International Workers’ Unity-Fourth International (IWU-FI), we say that it is necessary to continue the protests in the United States, and around the world, against the ultra-right wing Trump and his anti-worker and anti-popular policies, and to continue to promote the organization and fight to stop the adjustment plans, with which they intend to liquidate the social gains of the American people.