On Saturday, Sept. 6, thousands of local residents, out-of-state supporters, union members, and concerned citizens of all stripes marched through the nation’s capital to protest President Trump’s militarized federal occupation of Washington, DC. The “We are all DC” march was one of the largest protests—if not the largest—to take place in the US capital since the beginning of the second Trump administration. Reporting from Malcolm X Park for TRNN, Rattling the Bars host Mansa Musa and Edge of Sports TV host Dave Zirin give an on-the-ground account of the size, makeup, and significance of Saturday’s protest.
Credits:
- Producer / Videographer / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Mansa Musa:
I am here at Malcolm X Park in Washington, DC with Dave Zirin. Today we are looking at the birth of a mass movement around anti-imperialism, antifascism, anti-capitalism. Talk about what you see today, Dave.
Dave Zirin:
I’m so impressed right now. This is a demonstration to free DC and what we’re seeing out here is that it unites people of across all sorts of ways. You’ve got people here from all backgrounds, you’ve got people here of all ages. Multi-generational protests in this town are actually quite rare. And to see all of this is incredible. Also, incredible union delegations, which I have not seen yet at these demonstrations. That’s a big deal. Also a big deal. They’re masses of buses of here from Baltimore. There are masses of buses of here from New Jersey. There’s a whole Unite here union team from Jersey, like dozens and dozens of people. And what this says to me is that people are not looking at DC as a DC issue. That’s right. Or one, they’re just offering solidarity with us. People are seeing we could be next and DC will either be the first or the last city under Trump’s military occupation.
And we play a role in that by defending DC. So it’s amazing. I mean, this is huge. Right? And look, we can go into demos of dozens of people, 50 people, a hundred people to free dc and this is just over the top. Amazing. And can I just say one last thing? Come on. It is a tribute to the people of Washington DC and the resistance that they have already built because that’s the pole of attraction that’s brought so many people here today. If there was no resistance, if the vibe from DC was nobody cares that we’re now being militarized or we support that we are being militarized. No one would come here to support us. So the fact that we have created a pole of attraction on this is just incredible.
Mansa Musa:
And the fact they got it in Malcolm X Park. But talk about, you mentioned earlier, multi-generational, but talk about the international characteristics of this particular march because they start out saying, they start out saying it’s about free dc right? But then it turned into free people. NS turned to more or less getting around the issues of Palestine, getting around the issues of the immigration law, getting around the issue. What he getting ready to do in Venezuela. Talk about the international characteristics of this movement.
Dave Zirin:
Well, the international aspect of this demonstration and the international aspect of this moment are very real because what is happening overseas is boomeranging onto us back home. Authoritarianism, soldiers, children dying without repercussion, no investigations of things. Decades ago there would’ve been congressional oversight and demonstrations of, look, I’m not naive about how things used to be. I know there’s always been so much rotten in this system, but people have to recognize that it’s been turned up 15 to 20 notches under Trump. We’re talking about the militarization of our cities, and it’s international for a couple of reasons. Let’s start with Latin America. This is a crowd of people who understands that people are fleeing to come to this country. And we used to have a system in this country called asylum. And instead of people being treated as like, give me your tie, your poor, your huddled masses. People are being treated not just like criminals, but people who deserve to be tortured, people who deserve to be sent to South Sudan. How does a family from El Salvador that is starving, coming to this country know a damn lick about South Sudan, know a damn lick about a prison camp in Libya. How are they ever supposed to get home? These are people being disappeared by an international prison system. And that’s one aspect of this international development. It’s solidarity with the people of Latin America and saying, immigrants are welcome here. Another aspect of the internationalism that we’re seeing is a lot of Palestinian flags and banners.
Mansa Musa:
That’s right.
Dave Zirin:
I haven’t heard something yet from the front of the stage about it. And that’s fine if people want to keep a broader united message because on the ground, it’s flags in keffiyehs here. And I think we have to understand that there’s an anti-colonial solidarity. That’s right. That’s very real. And another aspect is that the Palestinian struggle and the movement against the massacres of children taking place in Gaza, the famine and Gaza, that is what animates the young generation to want to hit the streets, to risk arrest, to risk losing their college financial aid. And that is represented here today. That is why the Democratic party can’t even go to a college to campaign anymore because they’re so pro-Israel. And no student anywhere is going to have that even down south, even in the old Jim Crow. I mean, even at the state schools, people are protesting and they can’t have that.
