CVO TALK -- for a revolutionary workers movement!

Rallies were scheduled in a dozen suburbs of Detroit today, but as far as was announced on the No Kings site, none were in Detroit itself. I went to the one in Ferndale, centered on 9 Mile and Woodward. Several hundred people were standing with placards mainly on the wide Woodward median and the west sidewalk, holding signs. There was good spirit, and a good response from cars on Woodward, lots of honking.

During the time I was there, there weren’t slogans, nor was literature distributed, and no left group had a presence other than a table for the Sierra Club (which had a sign to shut down line 5, which is a particularly dangerous natural gas and oil pipeline and the subject of an environmental campaign that has lasted years). The main signs were against Trump, or encouraging early voting, or combining the two, such as vote to preserve the republic or democracy. Probably rather more signs just against Trump, but note that they were the type signs made by individuals with their own slogans (including “there are too many things wrong with Trump to list on this sign”, “Trump is Putin’s bitch”, anti-ICE signs, about the Epstein files, etc. etc.), not some organization’s signs. There were several people carrying posters for El-Sayed, or wearing a shirt for him, but I didn’t see any for any other candidate. I was having a hard time walking, so I stood in one place, which limited what I could see, but I think the demonstration extended a block or two, and that what I saw was typical of the whole action.

About 15,000 people marched in Seattle. Lots of imaginative home made signs, and more Ukrainian flags than at previous No Kings events.

The only radical leftists I saw were ex-SA Dan, who I always have informed discussions with, and Ben. Ben was handing out the only leaflet I saw (except for small things agitating for voting). It was probably an edited version of the leaflet he posted on Marxmail, and I'll make a couple comments on it after I rest up. I've already made the main ones to Ben.

5-6 people from my buildings turned out.

I went to a No Kings rally here in Honolulu in front of the state capitol building. There was a small crowd, lots of homemade signs, and at one point even a bagpiper piping "Scotland the Brave". The main groups present were League of Women Voters, ACLU, and Refuse Fascism (which I see very often here). There are a lot of reform measures on the ballot for this election including ranked choice voting starting in 2032 for state offices. I note this because Trump has a special antipathy for ranked choice voting.

Facebook reels and comments indicate this was another successful No Kings Day, perhaps even bigger than past ones, as people are enthused about voting.