On February 2, about 15,000 people marched in Downtown Los Angeles from Placita Olvera to the Federal Building and ended at Los Angeles City Hall. They were marching in response to the deportations started by President Trump, as well as a flurry of anti-immigrant executive orders.
The crowd was primarily made up of young Latinx people tired of seeing their loved ones targeted through raids and anti immigrant rhetoric. Since all points in the march flank the busy 101 freeway, it is customary to protest over the bridges with signs looking out onto traffic. Emboldened by the numbers, the marchers, accompanied by activists in cars, decided to take over the freeway.
Freeway occupations have a proud history in Los Angeles. The George Floyd protests saw various freeways blocked. Given the size of the protests, these takeovers are shows of resistance that are in line with peaceful civil disobedience.
Since Sunday, daily protests and student walkouts have followed suit. On Monday, a National Day Without an Immigrant was called out online. People came out again on the streets and some businesses closed as well. Street protests with thousands of people taking over the freeways and city streets are now common.
This could signal the beginning of an ongoing movement in Los Angeles. The anger at anti-immigrant attacks has created a spontaneous response and it is up to activists to organize it into a powerful movement that can defend immigrants in the long run.
The response on the right has been to push back against these acts of civil disobedience. It is blatantly hypocritical given their history, especially after the events of January 6th, 2021.
Furthermore, they are criticizing the use of Mexican, Salvadoran, and other Latin American flags during the protests. However, this is a tired cliché always used when immigrants, long told to repress their heritage and embrace the symbol of their oppressors, are finally able to express resistance to their mistreatment. When we marched in 2006 to win DACA, these similar anti-immigrant flag sentiments were echoed by the mainstream media.
It is telling that social media formats, so heavily controlled by billionaires as well, follow the same playbook. It is usually the first line of defense used to demonize immigrants. The United States has a long history of European immigrants flying their flags and protesting for their rights.
In fact, it is this defiance, along with a healthy dose of civil disobedience, that won them their rights. Furthermore, the US has a long history of right wing protesters using Confederate and Nazi flags. These same talking heads lambasting immigrants for using their own flags are suspiciously quiet when right wing protesters fly their symbols of hate.
There have been continuous community-led immigrant rights marches and student walk-outs since February 2. However, we do not yet have political spaces where coalitions can come together to debate strategy and discuss the way forward. We learned during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020 that big marches, although crucial, can’t win what we need on their own. The movement needs to make deep connections with a broad range of organizations, particularly labor, in order to escalate the campaign against the deportations.
There are already moves towards this planning for the international day against racism on March 22 and May Day, which is historically an important day for immigrants rights marches, including the 2006 Day Without an Immigrant demonstrations and labor actions.
Victor Fernandez
Marx21 US 