Politics

Socialists Plan Anti-Trump Inauguration Day Walkout

Photo credit: Michael Volpe

Michael Volpe Contributor
Font Size:

High school and college socialists will walk out of class on inauguration day in protest of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The action is being organized by Socialist Alternative, and its student arm, Socialist Students.

“Donald Trump and the Republican Party are preparing to unleash a storm of attacks on women, immigrants, the Muslim community, LGBTQ people, workers, and the environment,” according to a press release by Socialist Alternative. “We must stand together in solidarity against Trump’s attempts to divide us!”

“A huge national student strike will send a clear message to Trump, the billionaire class, and the Republican Party that we reject their agenda of bigotry, hate, and division; that we reject their corporate policies to gut our social services and education.”

The face of Socialist Alternative is Kshama Sawant, the socialist Seattle City Council woman who in 2013 made national headlines winning a seat on the Seattle City Council running as a Socialist Alternative making the $15 per hour minimum wage her platform.

In 2014, the Seattle city council passed a law to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Sawant also took heat for hiring five people as consultants rather than full-time employees on her 2015 re-election campaign; by doing so, Sawant avoided paying payroll and social security taxes on those consultants.

Socialist Students plans student walkouts in eleven cities: Berkeley, CA, Bellingham, WA, Chicago, IL, Cincinnati, OH, Houston, TX, Los Angeles, CA, Minneapolis, MN, Philadelphia, PA, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, and Worcester, MA.

TheDC has also been tracking a separate protest organized by the radical Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), also scheduled for January 20 at the Freedom Plaza in DC.

ANSWER also favors socialism, along with open borders, and a one state solution with Palestine getting all the disputed territories.

As theDC has previously noted, ANSWER organized several of the anti-Trump rallies which occurred right after the election.

ANSWER also sponsored a rally in Chicago on Saturday which called for resisting Trump by any means necessary.

Socialist Alternative had a presence at that Chicago rally.

The two groups are part of a basket of like-minded radical groups like- People for Socialism and Liberation, the International Socialist Organization, the Workers World Party, etc., which often partner together for rallies and other protests.

Sawant was a featured player at the Seattle rally which ANSWER helped organize on November 9; here’s part of a New York Magazine story, “The march kicked off with a speech from Seattle councilmember Kshama Sawant, who called on the marchers to also attend the presidential inauguration in January and shut it down.”

An email to Sawant’s city council email was not immediately returned.