Local Action
We are a small group of friends and activists in NYC who have known each other for many years. Over the past months, we have witnessed almost daily assaults by the Trump administration on the individual liberties and political rights of immigrant communities, residents of large cities, queer and trans folk, colleges and universities and their students.
The disastrous impacts of the policies on migrants, people of color, the working class, and the earth itself have been frightening to contemplate. The intention to establish an authoritarian and possibly new type of fascist regime is plain to see. It doesn’t take a fortune teller to see that there is much worse coming down the road. As we write, the Trump administration is sending national guard troops into Chicago and Portland over the objections of local officials.
It has been heartening to see the outpouring of people in the streets protesting illegal deportations, mass layoffs of federal workers, the gutting of climate laws, the threats to Medicare and Medicaid, the relentless and continuing massacre of the populations of Gaza and West Bank, the increasingly open invocation of fascist symbols and language. Marches around the country, especially the No Kings demonstrations, and on-going anti-ICE actions give us reason to hope. Zohran Mamdani’s decisive victory in the June Mayoral primary and the mobilization of tens of thousands of volunteers in his campaign—around a platform speaking directly and unequivocally to the needs of working class people in the City—testify to the widespread desire for fundamental social change and the readiness of NYC residents to take action.
At the same time, the scale and speed of the Trump administration’s moves has been stunning; so much so that many of those who are angered by what’s happening have been inclined to defeatism and doubt that much can be done to reverse the rush to reaction and the support of that reaction by all too many Trump loyalists. That continuing defeatism must be overcome!
We know there are a lot of us who want to contribute, who want to be part of a movement to resist the authoritarian advance, to lend our voices and ideas to a movement that urgently needs to grow and develop. Our task is not just to show up, but to mobilize the people around us, to build the size and scope of a resistance, and to fight, not for the return of the Biden administration or whatever Democratic alternative is next, but for the kind of society we all want to live in and we want our children and grandchildren to live in.
We’re starting this substack to:·
keep people informed about things that are going on and how they can get involved;
link people to groups and reports of other actions;
invite and share thoughts and reflections about what’s happening;
help build the community of activists and bring people into action who may be sitting on the sidelines;
generate ideas about what might be done.
The Local Action team: Charlie Wertheimer, Ed Goldman, John Garvey, John Gordon, Judy Loebl, Paul Wasserman.
