By Miguel Ángel Hernández, member of the leadership of Socialism and Freedom Party (PSL), IWU-FI section in Venezuela, and of the IWU-FI
The United States will be the epicentre of a major national and international day of protest on Saturday 14th, which organisers have dubbed as the ‘No Kings’ protest. Around 1800 protests are expected to take place across the United States. The call has been extended to other countries and regions such as Europe, several African countries, Canada and Mexico, among others.
This day of struggle will take place against the backdrop of the strong protests that broke out last Friday, the 6th, in the city of Los Angeles, against the violent raids carried out by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, popularly known as ICE.
Next Saturday’s mobilisation will have as its main motivation the rejection of the arbitrary and illegal deportations of migrants, implemented by the far-right Trump, and its main slogans will be: ‘Abolish ICE!‘ and ‘ICE out of our communities!
This national and international day of protest is being promoted by the Indivisible Movement, which emerged following the election of Donald Trump in 2016, together with the 50501 movement (‘50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement‘), which, in April, organised a national demonstration, with over 1,200 protests across the country, with the slogan ‘Hands Off’, rejecting the layoffs and policy cuts in federal offices, pushed by Trump and Elon Musk, while the latter was the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Originally, the aim of the ‘No Kings’ protest was to reject the military parade scheduled by Trump for June 14th, on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the US army, which coincides with his birthday. This led activists and social and political organisations in the United States to interpret this as a gesture of exaltation of his figure. The unprecedented and unusual parade will be carried out with public funds, amounting to around 45 million dollars, all whilst the government lays off thousands of state workers and cuts resources for social security, public schools, Medicaid (leaving 10.9 million people without health insurance), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), leaving almost 4 million people without the right to receive food stamps from this programme, among other social gains.
Following the popular outrage in Los Angeles, mobilisations in support of immigrants have spread and been replicated by thousands of people, including US citizens, across the country. Demonstrations have taken place in front of immigration courts, ICE offices, and city halls, in cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Austin, Atlanta and Washington, among many others. Besides support for immigrants, the protests are also a rejection of the militarisation of Los Angeles, where Trump has sent 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 marines as part of his increasingly authoritarian and repressive drift.
Next Saturday will likely become a new catalyst of the massification and raising of the protests against Trump’s racist immigration policy and could be a turning point against Trump’s anti-worker and anti-people policies. It will bring together the defence of immigrants and the repudiation of the militarisation of Los Angeles and Trump’s authoritarian tendencies, with the fight rejecting layoffs and cuts in social programmes. This great day of protest can be a propitious united stage to extend the mobilisations throughout the country, to stop the attacks on democratic freedoms, to demand the freedom of detainees, to abolish ICE and to end the persecution, detentions and deportations of migrants and working people.
From the International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI), we give our support to the ‘No Kings’ mobilisations, rejecting Trump’s authoritarian and anti-democratic pretensions, and support the slogans, shouted by the demonstrators from Los Angeles to New York: Abolish ICE! No to deportations! Free prisoners in Los Angeles and other cities! No curfew in Los Angeles! National Guard, Marines and FBI out of our communities! Down with Trump’s repression!
