On Wednesday January 6th, Donald J. Trump incited insurrections and physical attacks on our Nation’s Capitol and state legislatures across the country. Here in WA, far-right activists attempted to breach and occupy the Governor’s mansion. The Green Party of Washington condemns these actions by President Trump and his far-right supporters, including the complicity from the Washington State Patrol (WSP).

The Green Party has in the past supported organizers occupying the WA state legislature for their rights. In contrast to the friendly solidarity between police and brownshirts we saw on Wednesday, organizers from Black Lives Matter, Protectors of the Salish Sea, and anti-fascist counter-demonstrators have been consistently met with brutal, violent responses from the WSP. Just a few weeks ago on December 12, WSP coordinated with fascist demonstrators to intimidate and violently repress anti-fascist counter-demonstrators, ending with three counter-demonstrators arrested and one shot. In July, while WSP was hauling Black Lives Matter demonstrators out of their cars for “blocking traffic,” they mysteriously allowed a far-right activist to breach their blockade in his car and run over BLM protestors, killing one and injuring dozens.

The reason WSP did not respond to the actions on Wednesday the way they did to these movements is clear: WSP’s primary mission is not to protect the public but to protect the ruling class from popular movements. Fascists do not threaten the ruling class: they are the ruling class’s most zealous pawns. As a consequence of this, we also know that calls to tighten the security state in the name of “anti-terrorism” will only end in further repression of countervailing, pro-democratic movements rather than real and present dangers to public safety.

We must instead recognize that as long as we ignore the root causes of these reactions then we cannot defeat them. As long as our communities face growing poverty and inequality, as long as our public safety institutions are rooted in racism and overrun with fascist sympathizers, as long as we ignore the waste of human lives, conscience, and resources in war, as long the water levels continue to rise and our cities are threatened by cinder and smoke, the dangers posed by revanchist movements will only escalate.

Trump has conclusively (and repeatedly) demonstrated his unfitness for office and must not be permitted to remain in office even for two more weeks. WSP, and the capitalist system they protect, have done the same. Therefore, The Washington State Green Party demand:

• Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to immediately invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.
• The House of Representatives to act immediately to impeach him, and the Senate convict. This is the only legal method to prevent Trump from running again.
• Once removed, Trump must be criminally prosecuted.
• We must resist calls to increase state censorship and violence, which regardless of intent will be overwhelmingly inflicted on popular, anti-racist and anti-colonial movements.
• The Washington Legislature must pass a bill this session replacing the Washington State Patrol with a new, community-controlled Department of Public Safety built upon anti-racist principles of criminal justice.
• In the meantime, Governor Inslee must use all the powers available to him to root out and prosecute far-right infiltrators in the Washington State Patrol.
• The Washington State Government must enact deep changes to our economy to eradicate poverty and inequality. This must start with fixing our tax code so that the poorest people in WA do not pay the highest tax rates. Instead of sales and property taxes which hit the working poor and middle class the hardest, the Green Party supports taxes on capital gains, land value, and other sources of rent-seeking behavior that drive inequality.
• Governor Inslee must declare a Climate Emergency and begin immediate efforts to alleviate the Climate Crisis. While many Trump supporters are climate deniers, we in the Green Party have no illusions about the “opportunities” fascist activists will see in the climate crisis. We must say “no” to ecofascism before it arrives.
• We must take immediate steps to reduce polarization and build confidence in democratic institutions, including serious reforms to our elections such as the implementation of proportional representation, ranked-choice voting, and more opportunities for direct democracy.
• We must eliminate the large influence of corporations on individuals’ lives, and accompanying alienation, by seizing the assets of large monopolies like Amazon and empowering workers to directly manage their workplaces.
  
  
  “More of the same” will not defeat fascism, because more of the same is what gave us fascism. Anything short of radical action and direct struggle will fall short. We call on all people against the devolution of our Republic into autocracy to demand these immediate actions. Only we can save ourselves.

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