Socialist Students is calling on students everywhere to walk out of classes on January 20, Trump’s Inauguration Day. Mass protests and disruptions on his first day in office will begin the process of building a powerful resistance movement against Donald Trump’s racist, sexist, and altogether right-wing agenda. Along with other student groups across the country, our goal is to get hundreds of thousands of people in high schools and on college campuses to take part in the nationwide walkout to disrupt “business as usual” and to make clear that young people reject Trump’s agenda.
A Trump presidency represents a serious danger for millions of women, immigrants, LGBTQ people, Muslims, and all working people. His administration is preparing to further defund and dismantle our public education system. Like we have in the past, students will need to play a major role in building the fight-back against Trump’s attacks.
Many young people have grown up surrounded by a failing capitalist system. We’ve seen how the 1% gets bailed out while our families remain in hardship. We are told there is not enough money to fund education, community services, or affordable housing, yet we have been in wars for oil for 15 years, wasting trillions of dollars. Now, we have a billionaire bigot as president who has absolutely nothing in common with ordinary people.
We have already seen the incredible power of movements in the last few years, such as Black Lives Matter, the Fight for $15, the Bernie Sanders campaign, and most recently at Standing Rock. The night after the election, Socialist Students helped to organize the mass protests in cities across the country, from Philadelphia and New York to Oakland and Seattle, drawing over 50,000 into the streets. We have the power and the numbers to organize an effective fight-back to the Trump agenda, but that will require getting organized for determined mass actions on a huge scale.
Trump’s agenda specifically targets immigrants, women, and Muslims as well as attacking public education and promising further environmental destruction. Struggles against these attacks cannot be built independently of each other. We need a united mass movement of everybody who wants to fight against Trump’s attacks, and this starts on day one of Trump’s presidency.
How to Join a Walkout Near You!
This movement against Trump isn’t going to build itself. The Democratic Party failed to defeat Donald Trump, which puts the responsibility on our social movements. Already, students in dozens of cities are organizing walkouts, both in high schools and on college campuses. The only way to stop Trump’s agenda is with a mass movement of millions of people, and this starts on January 20, day one of Trump’s presidency.
Go to SocialistStudents.org and find the list of already declared walkouts to see if there’s one planned on your campus or in your city. If there’s not one already called in your area, call one yourself! All you have to do is make a Facebook event and send the link to [email protected], and we’ll send you templates for flyers, posters and sign up sheets, and we’ll post the event and help you start the organizing process.
Young people have been at the forefront of virtually every movement in the past five years, from Occupy Wall Street to Black Lives Matter to the Bernie Sanders campaign. Students played a key role in the Civil Rights Movement, and we’re going to play a key role in fighting back against Trump’s hatred and bigotry. Go to SocialistStudents.org and join the nationwide student walkout!