#airportprotest

Airport Shutdowns Confirm - People Power will bring Trump down!

by Sara Flounders, Workers.org

Tonight was a vibrant display of People Power. I was among many thousands of protesters at JFK International Airport in New York City.

Trump’s executive order, a racist ban on Muslims traveling from 7 countries, who are targets of the U.S. military, unleashed a firestorm. News swept the country that passengers from targeted countries with Visas were stopped at U.S. customs and were not permitted to enter the United States. The speed of Trump’s proclamation was intended to demoralize and overwhelm the whole population. The opposite happened!

Every minute of tonight was an incredible, empowering experience! Even going out to the airport other passengers on the platform as we waited for the subway and then on the subway cheered us and shook our hands, took pictures, posed next to us and wished us success. Usually, you only get stony stares or fearful glances if you are on a subway with other protesters carrying signs to a demonstration.

When we switched from the subway to the AirTrain to get out to JFK airport police formed a line to try to stop us. Only people with airline tickets would be permitted through the turnstiles. Our chants of “When Muslim Lives Are Under Attack, What do we do? Stand Up! Fight Back” was picked up by hundreds of people who were stopped. They finally backed down as we all chanted non-stop “Shut It Down! Shut It Down!”

This is when we suddenly realized that we would not just be a few hundred people at the Airport. Many thousands were on their way and were refusing to be stopped. With chants, cheers and raw determination they just swept past the police.

The entire International Arrivals Terminal was overwhelmed by the demonstrators. They lined the railing of the parking garages and blocked the traffic on the roads.

Even while chanting, everyone was also on their phones – texting, tweeting, networking, connecting to friends to hurry out to the airport to challenge Trump’s anti-Muslim Travel Ban.

Information swept the crowds and jumped over social media. Airport workers waved and cheered. The taxi drivers, so many of them immigrants, had called a work stoppage on trips to the airport in solidarity with the actions and against the ban.

The protests went viral! Word came of protests at airports across the U.S. Each protest, each city, its own eruption.

Then Federal Judge Ann Donnelly at U.S. District Court in Brooklyn granted a stay or stop of deportations of all those detained on entry to the U.S. at airports nationwide. This was a legal action filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Minutes later Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria VA issued a temporary restraining order to block for 7 days the removal of green-card holders detained at Dulles International Airport.

These rulings are a short legal pause propelled by sudden massive pressure from below.

Today was a giant step in a protracted struggle. The massive protests on January 20 and 21 gave new confidence.

But the lesson of today is that only the power of the people can force the courts to act. It is a valuable lesson. It is becoming increasingly clear to millions of people that voting won’t help them. The whole established order is frozen in crisis. Only massive people’s resistance can take on and take down Trump and his appointed nest of vipers.

The ACLU is getting “multiple reports” that federal customs agents are siding with President Trump — and willfully ignoring a Brooklyn federal judge’s demand that travelers from seven Muslim countries not be deported from the nation’s airports.

“The court’s order could not be clearer… they need to comply with the order,” Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s Immigrants Rights project, told The Post late Saturday.

“It’s enough to be a serious concern,” Jadwat said of the reports.

Amid tensions with U.S., Iran warns White House and lauds Americans opposing Trump

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians held rallies around the country Friday to mark the anniversary of the Islamic revolution as the main march in Tehran added a new twist: displaying placards praising Americans who protested President Trump’s travel ban.

The annual rallies traditionally feature anti-U. S. chants and burning American flags. But this year’s gathering paid notice to the deep U.S. political divides over Trump’s executive order to block entry from seven Muslim-majority countries including Iran.

Friday's marches included signs championing the Americans who protested Trump's plan, which is now suspended by U.S. federal judges.

“Americans are welcome and invited to visit Iran,” another sign at the rallies read. Many of the signs at such gatherings in Iran are printed and distributed by pro-government groups and the messages are pre-approved by authorities.

Addressing crowds in Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the demonstrations were a message to the White House that Iran will not bow to any threats.

Baltimore-DC area: ‘No Ban, No Wall!’ protest at BWI airport, January 29, 2017.

All India Anti-Imperialist Forum hails worldwide anti-Trump protests

The All India Anti-imperialist Forum (AIAIF) hails the massive protests against the inauguration of racist, anti-immigrant, sexist, misogynist and anti-democratic Donald Trump as President of the United States of America. 

Millions of people from all walks of life, students, workers, poor people, migrants, civil rights activists and vast number of women came out on the streets in an unprecedented act of protest. 

Donald Trump threatened that he would build a wall along the Mexico-US border, would deport millions of immigrants, would keep a registry of Muslims, would sanction torture of prisoners and even would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons. His words often sound like the ranting of a deranged person. The protesting people have legitimate grounds to reject his extreme right wing agenda and his proposed policies. 

Election of a person like Donald Trump is a reflection of the deep crisis of the of the capitalist system, and being unable to come out of the crisis, capitalism is trying to win the support of the people through ultra-right chauvinistic demagogy and by diverting their attention from the real issues. 

Neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party can offer any solution to the problems in the life of the people and both parties had followed in the past and would follow in future similar pro-capitalist and anti-people domestic and international policies. 

The All India Anti-imperialist Forum hopes that these protests would be first step in ushering in the realization in the American people that the root cause of their problems is the capitalist system, and the real solution would come through sustained movements for overthrowing this system. 

We hope that the present mass protests would advance step by step under the correct leadership for protection and extension of democratic rights and values that would pave the way for anti-capitalist socialist revolution and bring about true emancipation of the American people.

HAPPENING NOW: Baltimore-Washington International Airport

Solidarity with all immigrants! No ban! No wall! Abolish the police, ICE, and the Pentagon!

ON THE PICKET LINE: Workers file 33 complaints against Puzder

Restaurant workers filed 33 complaints on Jan. 25 and Jan. 26 against Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s franchisees owned by Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants Inc. and Trump’s nominee for labor secretary. The complaints charged wage theft with state departments of labor, sexual harassment with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board. (nrn.com, Jan. 26)

Millionaire Puzder opposes basic workers’ rights — a living wage, paid sick leave and overtime, safe working conditions and benefits like health care and pensions — for some of the lowest paid U.S. workers, mostly women and people of color. No wonder restaurant worker and activist groups have mobilized nationwide against him. (Workers World, Jan. 19) After coast-to-coast protests on Jan. 12, Fight for $15 organizers held protests on Jan. 26 at quick-service restaurants in 31 cities, from Los Angeles to St. Paul, Minn.

Uber: lies about driver earnings, attempts to break strike

Raleigh, N.C., raises living wage

Chicago: Thousands protest Trump’s Executive Order banning refugees and immigrants from predominately Muslim countries and detention of international travelers, O’Hare International Airport, January 27, 2017.

Protesters swarmed O'Hare International Airport after more than a dozen travelers were taken into custody, including green card holders. following Trump's executive order Friday to temporarily block refugees coming to the U.S. and placing a temporary ban on immigrants from seven countries.