Cleveland, OH: Anti-Fascist Rally

Submitted to It’s Going Down

On November, Friday the 25th, Antifascist Cleveland held a rally at Cleveland’s Public Square to condemn the dangerous social damages of Donald Trumps campaign and the apathy of liberals who were up in arms about Bernie Sanders, but then laid down and took it when they thought there was no fight left for them.

Our intention is to bring people together to organize a way to combat the ramifications of white supremacy and fascism on a rise in the U.S. People in Cleveland live in a bubble and don’t realize the large presence of Nationalists who live here. We haven’t had a large influx of physical hate crimes spike however prejudice already is as a result of the election already. We’re not giving hate crimes a chance. We’re aiming to get folks involved with grassroots groups that bring the community together.

Through the support of folks affiliated with IWW and Food Not Bombs along with independent activists we had a great day with each other. We met new folks in the square to exchange contact information and ideas. Food Not Bombs as always kept everyone fed with hot food and even brought hot coffee, tea, and cocoa. We held discussions and folks shared pieces of writing with each other.

We took to the street and were met with the cavalry of the Cleveland Police Department who endorsed Trump and took part in the murder of Tamir Rice. They were expecting us as they had buses scattered around different streets along with golf carts and bicycle units in response to under fifty of us. They’re looking for an excuse to get physical as they did during the RNC using their bikes as weapons that led to walling people in and leaving them trampled. We didn’t have any incidents with this event but we were met with direct threats of violence during the first Anti-Trump that occurred last week. We took our march to the Justice Center to make our point loud and clear then reconvened back at Public Square.

Our biggest concern with the event itself was attendees. We came across number problems of speakers and guests who just didn’t show. It was demoralizing to attend a general protest last week with booming numbers and see that when push came to shove many people were otherwise occupied or uninterested. The goal was to speak to one another on a community level. We made a great deal of connections for future actions and goals.

In the greater scheme of things we need more people involved. Folks reached out to us to help because currently our group is small and their help and support has inspired us to keep working at it. We are small but mighty. I implore you; if you don’t have an AFA group in your area then start one. The support will come to you.

Follow Cleveland Antifa here.