Extra

A Well-Attended Anti-Nationalist Rally

Harry Brill
Monday August 14, 2017 - 10:55:00 AM

Sunday evening (August 13) a few hundred mainly Berkeley residents marched to and gathered at the Martin Luther King Civic Center Park to protest the recent racist and anti-Semitic conduct of white nationalists in Charlottesville this weekend. Moreover, Donald Trump refused to condemn the violence perpetrated by these neo-fascists. The protest rally, which was one of several hundred nationwide held on Sunday, was organized by Berkeley Indivisible, which is part of a national movement to resist the agenda of the current administration and to support progressive alternatives. 

Among the major themes of the protest rally was the immense importance of working together to expose and denounce these right wing extremists. One of the speakers, Yoel Khan who is the rabbi of Beth El Synagogue in Berkeley cited the following warning: 

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out- 

Because I was not a Socialist. 

 

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out- 

Because I was not a Trade Unionist. 

 

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out- 

Because I was not a Jew. 

 

Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me. 

The Virginia Governor, Terry McAuliffe, called for the white supremacists to leave the city in the wake of violence that killed one person, injured others, and killed in a helicopter crash two State police officers. The officers were patrolling the area where the white nationalists were clashing with protesters. 

On Sunday, August 27th, 10:30am to 12:30pm, there will be a Bay Area Rally Against Hate. The rally will be on Crescent Lawn on the edge of the UC campus, Addison/Center & Oxford. Please attend and urge your friends and others to join this very important event.