National purpose with local action
Next meeting: October 13 (🚫👑 Sign Making!)
Christ Lutheran Church
1701 Arroyo Chamiso Road, Santa Fe
Civil war approaches 💥 It is clear that the regime is pushing buttons as hard and fast as it can in order to create enough chaos that invoking the Insurrection Act becomes plausible. Keep showing up... incremental and steady effort is the best way for our grassroots, individualized force to resist the authoritarian takeover. We are now way past wondering how Trump 2.0 is going to play out – the regime has deployed forces across the federal government to rip apart our constitutional democracy as fast as it can, and our best hope to preserve the country we love 🇺🇸 is to keep resisting.
Trump’s people are again suggesting that he ignore judicial decisions instead of appealing ones he doesn’t like. [...] based on Trump’s statements this afternoon, turning to the Insurrection Act could be his next move if he keeps losing when he tries to use Section 12406 to federalize National Guard troops. When we get to that point, Trump will undoubtedly argue, again, that the courts can’t review his decision about invoking the Insurrection Act.
Joyce Vance
Now's also a good time to thank Senators Luján and Heinrich for standing up to the regime's effort to consolidate their power through the budget process. Activism works best when expressing both objection and gratitude! 🙏
Upcoming Events
📣 October 11: Speakers' Corner
After the success and fun/intense vibes of the inaugural Speakers' Corner, we're continuing at the same place and time this coming Saturday: Railyard Park at 10 am – see you there!
🎥 She Cried That Day Documentary
The film She Cried That Day, by documentary film maker Amanda Erickson, will be screened at the Santa Fe International Film Festival (SFiFF) on October 16th and 19th. The film is an important reminder to our government that Murdered and Missing Indigenous Woman have not been forgotten.
In addition to the screening, Amanda has asked us to join her at a Justice Rally on the steps of the Round House on October 16th at 3pm. If you can, show up and wear a red shirt to show solidarity with these women.
Please join us as we honor the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives of New Mexico and the families that continue to fight for justice.
Oct 12: State of the Free Press?
The Santa Fe Freethinkers are hosting a forum to explore the current state of the free press with Bill Church, the editor of our Santa Fe New Mexican, on Sunday, October 12, from noon - 1:30 pm at the Unitarian Congregation
Gary Kowalski
One million rising
The final call for One Million Rising will be this Wednesday, October 8th at 6pm our time. You can register on mobilize.us. Come learn about how we can concretely organize to challenge the pillars upholding this authoritarian administration. More info here:
Scott Romans
Banned Book Week
This week is Banned Books Week! Go check out or buy a banned book and exercise your right to a free press!
No Kings 2.0
Next week's meeting (Oct 13) will be a sign-making party.
The No Kings 2.0 event itself is October 18th basically everywhere. The one on Santa Fe with Santa Fe Better Together on point is starting at 10am at Federal Plaza and marching from the Plaza to the Roundhouse, where there will be a community engagement Block Party 🎉
Protests and Rallies
Showing up with the Body Politic
Heidi Li Feldman
Donovan Kolbly
Donovan Kolbly
Also, check out the web calendar of grass-roots events from around New Mexico. Filter by Santa Fe or your area of interest!
In the News
What folks are saying, of interest around here and elsewhere
Democracy under attack
Right-wing groups are pressuring the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to require a passport or other citizenship documentation in order to vote. They've generated more than 200,000 comments to the EAC. If they get their way, it will disenfranchise millions of people – disproportionately women since they often have a name change.
Register your own comment here – you can use something like this if you like:
I’m against requiring citizens to submit a passport, birth certificate, or other citizenship documents to register to vote! Only half of American citizens have a passport and 69 million American citizens don’t have a birth certificate with their current legal name on it, most of them women who changed their names when they got married.
(there are other short comment suggestions available for inspiration in this doc)
Dispatches from the Indivisible Santa Fe desk
Gary KowalskiHeidi Li Feldman
Debra Efroymson
Stay in touch with us
Check out our resources page with lots of links to useful information, constantly being updated as we find new web resources to help fight for democracy and the rule of law.
You can help our effort to expand our digital presence, including social media on Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram by following us and liking and re-posting our messages, or sharing our website with people who might be interested – they, too, can sign up and get this newsletter! 🎉 Help us get the word out!
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Indivisible National
This week, we're holding Republicans accountable for the Trump Shutdown, standing against crypto corruption, and building No Kings Day even bigger. But first, Ezra addresses the Portland/Chicago invasions and some welcome signs of growing Dem defiance. |
There are three major stories that I want to disentangle before we get to some action items this week:
- The regime’s escalation against blue cities and political opponents.
- The government shutdown, with Dems finally demonstrating some fight.
- The fast-approaching No Kings Day on October 18, which is on track to be the largest peaceful protest in modern American history.
I think this is all one story -- the story of an expanding and maturing defiance to an authoritarian regime. And in such a dark time, I find this to be an encouraging story.
Trump is escalating his assault on American cities. His attempt to deploy National Guard troops to Portland and Chicago -- and reports of alleged midnight kidnappings by helicopter, ICE terrorizing US citizens, and a judge’s house burned down -- are unbelievably frightening.
But they’re also a sign that Trump knows he’s rapidly losing time and popular support. He has to rush his consolidation of power before he’s debilitatingly unpopular. That’s what authoritarians do.
What we do is organize massive, peaceful resistance that unifies the opposition, retakes power, and ushers in an era of accountability and reform. And the way we do that is not just by reading political analyses of the day, but by taking action.
We’re building a unified opposition party. Eleven months after the election, we’re backing up real, unified opposition to the regime!
I’ve seen Dem leaders grow in three stages -- from trying to “find common ground” with a fascist, to performative half-hearted resistance to bolster fundraising appeals, to (finally) the organized opposition we’re seeing with the shutdown today. It’s not everything, but damn if that’s not progress.
Some Dems, like JB Pritzker, were strong and defiant from the start. Others, like Gavin Newsom, have gradually evolved from the feckless “common ground” approach to Big Defiance. I enthusiastically welcome anybody to the Big Defiance tent with us. And enough of the Dem coalition has made that leap that we now find ourselves actually contesting for power at the national level, so we have to do our part to support it.
The strategic value of No Kings on October 18. In all my conversations with congressional Dems about the Trump Shutdown, I make two things clear:
- We are backing them up. There is a time for debating strategy, and there is a time for executing the strategy. We are in execution mode.
- The cavalry is coming on October 18. We now have more than 2,200 events on the calendar -- even more than we had for the first No Kings Day in June.
No Kings is both a carrot and a stick. We can credibly promise that there will be millions of people in the streets celebrating Dems for defiantly taking on the regime. We can also credibly promise that if Democrats surrender again, millions of people will be out in the streets calling for new Dem leadership.
I’ll tell you based on all of my private conversations: it’s working. The difference between Dems surrendering in March and fighting back now is us.
I want to give you one more framework for our organizing work from the anti-authoritarian experts that I’ve found both helpful and reassuring. It’s this:
A defining feature of an emerging authoritarian regime is that it makes the opposition feel like shit on a daily basis. Every day, there is some new atrocity committed; some new institution attacked; some new democratic norm demolished. Some of it -- much of it -- we have little ability to stop in the moment.
But that’s not how to measure the health of an anti-authoritarian movement. Instead, we should measure it this way:
- Are we more unified than we were before?
- Are we bigger than we were before?
- Are our tactics proliferating?
- Is the regime’s popularity falling?
Every single month since the election last November, I’ve answered yes to each of those measures of movement health. Let’s keep it up with this week’s action items.
In solidarity,
Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible
Your weekly to-dos
- Choose a No Kings protest to make October 18 a massive and historic day of defiance. We now have even more events planned for October than we did in June -- putting us on track for the biggest day of political protest in modern American history! Make your plan to join today, and then invite a few folks to join you.
- Call your Democratic senator(s) and tell them to hold the line in this Trump Shutdown. So far, all but three Senate Dems and Independents -- Cortez Masto, Fetterman, and King -- have held the line against Republicans’ dangerous budget. We need to let them know we’re behind them as long as they continue to fight!
- Volunteer for a virtual phonebank to help Dems win big in Virginia this fall. We’re making 1,000,000 calls to voters to help VA Democrats build a vital defense against Trump’s authoritarian overreach -- a Democratic trifecta in his own backyard! All you need is your phone and a computer. Join a live phonebank training here.
- Take on crypto corruption at a virtual rally with Chris Murphy and Tina Smith this Tuesday, 6:30pm ET / 3:30pm PT. The Senate may soon take up a bill that’d enshrine crypto corruption and cement a massive giveaway to crypto billionaires. Join senators and partners leading this fight to expose what's happening and put a stop to it.
- Join a special Friday edition of “What’s the Plan?” for the latest on the shutdown, No Kings, and more. This week’s What’s the Plan? call was moved from Thursday to Friday, but Leah and Ezra will still jump online to answer your questions and host a candid conversation about this week’s big fights.
P.S. October 18 could be the largest day of peaceful protest in modern US history, and we’re doing the work to ensure it’s safe, successful, powerful, and fun! That takes a pool of resources as big as the day itself -- resources that come from folks like you. If you can spare a donation of any amount, please chip in to make No Kings Day historic!
Trump Shutdown update: House Republicans are AWOL
The Trump Shutdown is stretching into its second week, and House Republicans are missing in action. Speaker Johnson is so desperate to shield members from questions about huge healthcare cuts and health insurance premium hikes that he canceled House business so Republicans can hide.
House Republicans are still home for recess, so we need to put them on the spot about protecting healthcare and ending the Trump Shutdown! Many Republicans quietly agree that something needs to be done about the Trump-led healthcare cost crisis, and we need to get them on record to pressure GOP leadership into negotiating an end to the shutdown.
Don’t have a Republican representative? You can still take action to end this Trump Shutdown by calling your senators and speaking out in defense of healthcare. Call your Republican senators to demand they stop the partisan BS and work on a sensible funding deal, or call your Democratic senators and encourage them to hold the line! |
Spread contagious courage with One Million Rising
Indivisible launched the One Million Rising initiative this summer to train a million people in the practice of peaceful non-cooperation. That program concludes this Wednesday, October 8, with the fourth and final installment* of our training series -- leading directly into a NEW stage of our fight!
For previous One Million Rising participants, this call offers key updates on the work we’re doing together through Signs of Solidarity and the Ground Avelo campaign before diving into new ways to plug in. And for first-time attendees, it's an opportunity to join our efforts at an exciting turning point!
*This call welcomes everyone, regardless of past involvement in One Million Rising or other campaigns. If you couldn’t make our previous calls (or just want a refresher), you can click here to watch previous One Million Rising training sessions. |
Expose anti-migrant lies with the Truth Brigade
Indivisible’s Truth Brigade is the nation's largest grassroots disinformation-countering campaign, and this October, we’re combatting the lies being used to consolidate power through fear by lying about crime and villainizing migrants.
On Truth Brigade’s monthly call this Wednesday, October 8, Vanessa Cardenas of America’s Voice will join us to tackle the disinformation being used to justify military invasions of our cities by targeting the migrant community. We’ll lay out the truth and discuss our plans to expose these lies for what they are.
Follow Indivisible national on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads to keep up on the latest information, and text “INDIVISIBLE” to 59798 to opt-in to their text messaging program, where they send rapid response actions a few times a month.
