Walk Out against Trump and Tories

Walk out against Trump

Walk out against Trump   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Walk Out against Trump and Tories

Donald Trump – the racist, sexist billionaire who currently occupies the White House – will be in the UK on Friday 13 July. He is not welcome. He must be met with protest on an unprecedented scale.

Trump’s visit comes not long after the mass mobilisation of young people and workers following the Parkland school shooting in February. Clearly National Rifle Association (NRA) funding is more important to Trump than school students’ lives.

By inviting him here in July, May is endorsing his disgraceful and callous behaviour. That’s no surprise – she’s cut from virtually the same cloth!

Campaigning in London

Campaigning in London   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

In answer to his visit, on Friday 13 July Socialist Students is calling a student strike. Socialist Students is calling for all working class and young people to join in mass protests against Trump’s racism and sexism, his prioritising of profit over lives, and the entire capitalist system he and May represent.

We need to show solidarity with those in America fighting for women’s and workers’ rights.

We need to show May what we think of her appeasement. The mere threat of mass protest saw Trump off in February – mass protest is now needed again.

Organise

Our fury should be directed not just at the US president as an individual, but at all the reactionary politics of hatred, division, and greed he represents. Any system which elevates a man like Trump to the position of the most powerful individual on the planet is one which is utterly broken.

Trumpism is a symptom of the rottenness and bankruptcy of capitalism, both in the US and internationally.

It was by cynically posing as an ‘anti-establishment’ candidate that he was able to win support from a minority of angry, disenfranchised voters, including from the working class.

But it is this broken capitalist system and the billionaire class it benefits that both Trump and May seek to represent.

While she may be less personally volatile and extreme, May also promotes the interests of the 1% at the expense of the majority. She also pushes racist and xenophobic ideas in order to sow division among working class people and take the heat off those really responsible for austerity and poverty: the capitalist class.

While May might have been forced to drop some of her worst sycophancy when it comes to Trump, this planned visit speaks volumes. That’s why in building a movement against him, we must also build the pressure on our own weak, divided government.

We must fight to kick-out the Tories out and force a general election.

Socialism

And we must link the fight against the divide-and-rule politics of Trump with the struggle for a society that is instead based on solidarity and equality.

The best antidote to Trumpism is not the ‘lesser evilism’ of corporate politicians like Clinton; it is a socialist alternative to politics which is conducted on behalf of the super-rich.

In place of Trump’s tax cuts for the mega-wealthy, we should campaign to take the wealth off the top 1%.

A socialist society would be one in which the vast wealth and resources currently concentrated in the hands of a tiny rich elite are instead publicly owned and democratically controlled by working class people.

If you want to help build a mass movement against Trump, and if you want to organise to fight for socialism – for a society run in the interests of the 99% – join the walk-out, join Socialist Students, join the Socialist Party, and get involved in the fightback today!

https://www.socialiststudents.org.uk/
For more on Trump click here for the editorial of the 30 May issue of the Socialist.

List of 13 July protests:

  • LONDON – 10:00am – TRAFALGAR SQUARE;
    THEN MARCHING TO PORTLAND PLACE, BBC STUDIOS, FOR THE 2pm DEMO ORGANISED BY ‘TOGETHER AGAINST TRUMP’ – LOOK FOR THE SOCIALIST STUDENT CONTINGENT;
    TOGETHER AGAINST TRUMP WILL ALSO HAVE A RALLY IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE AT 5pm
  • BIRMINGHAM – 12:00pm – VICTORIA SQUARE AND AFTER WORK PROTEST AT 5:00pm – VICTORIA SQUARE
  • COVENTRY – 12:00pm – ASSEMBLE BY THE LADY GODIVA STATUE IN BROADGATE;
    AND AFTER WORK PROTEST – 5:00pm – LADY GODIVA STATUE IN BROADGATE
  • BRISTOL – 12:30pm – MEET AT THE WATER FOUNTAINS IN BRISTOL CITY CENTRE
  • LEICESTER – 12:30pm – HAYMARKET TOWER CLOCK AND 5:30pm – HAYMARKET TOWER CLOCK
  • NOTTINGHAM – 12:30pm – SPEAKERS CORNER;
    AND 5:30pm – SPEAKERS CORNER
  • LEEDS – 6:00pm – DORTMUND SQUARE
  • HULL – 5:30pm – QUEEN VICTORIA SQUARE
  • HUDDERSFIELD – 4:00pm – MARKET CROSS, OPPOSITE THE MCDONALDS
  • MANCHESTER – 12:30pm – PICCADILLY GARDENS, MANCHESTER CITY CENTRE
  • MANSFIELD – 12:30pm – CONTACT 07779 205101 FOR MORE INFO
  • SOUTHAMPTON – 12:00pm – MEET AT THE BARGATE
  • READING – 5:00pm – BROAD STREET, OPPOSITE WH SMITHS
  • SWANSEA – 12:00pm – CASTLE SQUARE
  • BRIGHTON – 10am – CHURCHILL SQUARE