On March 28, approximately 180,000 people attended the No Kings rally on the Boston Common. One of the many rallies that day in Massachusetts and around the country and the world, it took a slightly different tone from previous No Kings protests which had primarily focused on electing Democrats. While that message was still broadcasted, an antiwar and pro-union message joined the list of demands to defund ICE and oust Trump from office.

Notably, two speakers highlighted Netanyahu and Trump’s illegal war with Iran and the ongoing genocide of Palestine. Bahar Sharafi, a member of the Iranian-American Council, told the crowd, “It is quite something to see your city carpet bombed, to see places you love turned into dust and rubble…Every day I wait for a call from my family to let me know if they’re alive.”

“This is meant to destroy life, to destroy society,” she continued. “All this while the genocide in Gaza continues with weapons we provide and is expanding to South Lebanon. And for some reason, we are also torturing and destroying Cuba.”

“We need to be on the streets; we need to be disruptive — enough to make it painful for this regime to continue its course.”

Wearing a keffiyeh, Iraq war veteran and member of About Face: Veterans Against the War Jeff Parente pointed out that the Trump administration is eliminating jobs from the Veterans Administration, all while starting imperialist wars which will increase demand for its services. “They don’t care about the military,” he said. “They don’t care about veterans. They don’t care about you. And they sure as hell don’t care about the Iranian people. They only care about their corporate profits and stock dividends.” He reminded members of the military that they have the right to deny illegal orders.

It’s important to note that even speakers like Parente had to fight in order to be given speaker slots at the event, as did other sectors of the Left that participated in the No Kings protest. Although the organizers of 50501 and Indivisible tried to keep messaging aligned with the official Democratic Party strategy, growing contradictions in the movement forced them to allow more antiwar, anti-establishment rhetoric. Under the surface, a growing number of people seem to be connecting the dots between ICE, imperialist wars, and capitalism as a whole.

“Silence is not an option; despair is not an option,” said President of the Greater Boston Labor Council, Darlene Lambos. “Today we say in one united voice, ‘No’ to all would be kings, whether tech billionaires or war profiteers. Today we say in one united voice, ‘Solidarity forever!”

Presenters who focused on the tyranny of ICE included Jessica Tang, President of the Federation of Teachers, Massachusetts and the Boston Teachers Union. She told the tragic story of Dorchester resident Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian immigrant who died in ICE custody in Arizona last month after he failed to receive proper and timely care for an infected tooth.

Boston band The Dropkick Murphys sang several songs, including their version of the Irish song, “The Men Behind the Wire.” Written by Paddy McGuigan in 1971 during “The Troubles,” the song expresses solidarity with those imprisoned without trial for resisting occupation and apartheid in the north of Ireland. The Dropkick Murphys’ lyrics called for everyone to stand behind “the men, women, and children behind the wire” who suffer in ICE custody. The band concluded by performing “the special ICE edition” of their well-known song “Shipping Up to Boston” by prompting the crowd to sing with them “Let’s ship ‘em out of Boston.”

The final speaker was Congressional Representative Ayanna Pressley, who reminded people, “This is our country, so fight for it!” She concluded by quoting late activist and member of the Black Panther Party, Assata Shakur: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

That professional politicians are espousing such rhetoric is a sign of shifting politics at the base of the No Kings protests. Trump’s actions at home and abroad are creating more and more contradictions, driving people into more accurate conclusions about the bankruptcy of the imperialist-capitalist system as a whole. Although many on the Left have turned their backs on No Kings as an astroturfed, neoliberal movement, others are turning out in droves and looking for answers for how to carry the fight forward.

To transform this movement into one capable of threatening this administration’s agenda, it must become organized and sustained as a class-independent front taking up key issues, such as full legal rights for immigrants and liberation for people in Iran, Cuba, Gaza, and Lebanon facing the brutality of U.S. imperialism. In New York and Detroit, Left Voice joined protesters as part of an antiwar, socialist contingent — one that we can continue to build in future actions.

The post No Kings Boston Draws 180,000 People to the Streets Against Trump, ICE, and the War in Iran appeared first on Left Voice.

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