Pic of the week…
A nice warm welcome for our president outside Trump Tower.
More than a thousand people gathered outside Trump Tower to protest against the president’s homecoming on Monday night.
It was a big show of animosity towards the president after he blamed “many sides” for the Charlottesville violence, before eventually condemning white supremacists on Monday. (Little did we know what he’d say on Tuesday.)
Protesters lined Fifth Avenue for hours before Trump turned up, variously chanting “shame”; “No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA” and “New York hates you”. And there was a big Trump-rat.
Taking action
We might have a president who thinks there were “very fine people” on a white supremacist/neo-Nazi march, but here are some ways to turn your anger into action.
Upworthy published a comprehensive list of “ways you can make a difference” in the wake of the Charlottesville tragedy. The list suggests finding a protest against white nationalism in your own community through the Indivisible guide, and finding out how your congressional reps have responded to Charlottesville and sharing your views.
It also draws attention to a fundraiser for the victims of Saturday’s terrorist attack, in which civil rights activists Heather Heyer died. Other options are to commit to volunteering through volunteermarch.org.
Refuse fascism
Refuse Fascism, an activist organization whose name pretty much sums up its aim, is holding conferences in five cities across the US on Saturday as part of its bid to eventually oust Trump.
The conferences – in New York, Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles and San Francisco – are part of Refuse Fascism’s preparations for nationwide protests on November 4. The meet-ups have taken on an extra urgency after Charlottesville.
What we’re reading
• “Neoliberalism is an old term, dating back to the 1930s, but it has been revived as a way of describing our current politics – or more precisely, the range of thought allowed by our politics,” writes Stephen Metcalf here at the Guardian. Metcalf has a long read on neoliberalism – “the idea that swallowed the world” – which seems relevant ahead of 2018.
• “It’s time to stop pretending that the same people fighting white supremacists are somehow exactly like them,” says Branko Marcetic at Jacobin. He’s writing about the term “alt-left”. For Marcetic: “It should go without saying that the label refers to something that doesn’t exist.”
