Cork Protest against Trump – June 2019

In response to the announcement that Donald Trump will visit Ireland in June, People Before Profit in Cork have called a demonstration in Cork City to coincide with the Presidential visit. The exact time of the protest will be updated to coincide with the visit. For updates please RSVP to the Facebook event page for the demo. If you would like to get involved in the organising of Cork protest, please contact us.

Why do we protest against Donald Trump?

We organised Cork protests against Donald Trump during his inauguration and against the Muslim travel ban. We will continue to proudly organise against his visit to Ireland in November. Here are four reasons why we will oppose Trump’s visit:

• At the core of our politics is an absolute rejection of racism of all kinds. This means that we are not simply ‘not racist’ — we are actively anti-racist. We call out racism wherever it manifests itself and we take a stand against it to prevent the rise of racist and fascist politics.
• It is important to send solidarity from abroad. Some say that because Trump is not our president we should ‘mind our own business’ and not protest the visit. We protest to stand in solidarity with immigrant, minority and refugee communities around the world whose lives are impacted by the rise of Trump. To give two examples: International solidarity was hugely important in bringing apartheid to an end in South Africa and is hugely important to Palestinians as they stand against the occupation of their lands. The importance of international solidarity with the communities oppressed by Donald Trump cannot be underestimated.
• We want to resist the normalisation of someone like Donald Trump. It should not be seen as ‘business as usual’ to welcome hard-right politicians like Trump to Ireland. We don’t want to damage international relations with communities around the world — and one way to do this is to ensure that we don’t normalise the racism, sexism and bigotry that is represented by leaders like Trump.
• Trump’s economics are truly sickening. He represents probably the most right-wing American political programme that the US has seen, with extreme tax cuts for the wealthy, slashing of public services and worsening of poverty for the remaining majority. We stand against the political programme of Fine Gael and their Fianna Fáil backers — a programme which also has a regime of low taxes and limited on spending on public services and welfare. We know that a different political path is possible.

Our position when it comes to protesting Trump

To clarify our position when it comes to protesting against Donald Trump, here are a few responses to some points that people have made about the protest we have called:

Why don’t you take action and protest about the housing crisis and the healthcare crisis instead?

Our response: We do — all the time. We organise campaigns around housing, the environment, women’s rights and health regularly. Every week, our volunteer activists take to the streets on these issues. If we are going to have a fair and just society, we know that it is of huge importance that we also stand against the racism and sexism that Trump represents.

Protesting is a waste of time.

Our response: History shows that protesting is not a waste of time. Oppressive regimes around the world have fallen because of the power of protests. Most rights that people enjoy around the world today were won by protesting and taking action. Clearly protesting sends a message to our leaders around the world and has an impact.

Trump is democratically elected; we shouldn’t protest against him.

Our response: All sorts of leaders have been democratically elected throughout history. This doesn’t and shouldn’t stop anyone from voicing opposition. When someone like Trump — who represents racism, sexism, bigotry, and right-wing economics — is elected, we see it as our duty to take a stand against it.

Trump isn’t our leader; we shouldn’t protest against him.

Our response: Trump is the leader of the strongest military and economic power in the world. The fact that the US is represented by a person with Trump’s politics should be alarming to everyone. Equally, the fact that Trump will be welcomed to Ireland with open arms by Fine Gael should drive us to take a stand against the ‘normalisation’ of hard-right politics.

You didn’t protest the Pope’s visit.

Our response: Actually, we did. We have been very active on the separation of church and state in Ireland and we joined the protests on the day of the Pope’s mass in Phoenix Park.

We shouldn’t protest Trump because Ireland gets so much investment from US multinational companies.

Our response: Realistically, decisions by US multinationals about investing in Ireland depend on whether it is profitable for them to do so or not. Jobs have been located in Ireland for a host of reasons — including the skilled English-speaking workforce and access to European markets. It is hard to believe that the shareholders of multinational companies would make decisions which would massively affect their profits based on whether or not we protest against a racist and sexist leader.