WASHINGTON—The Teachers (AFT) will take to the streets, if necessary, to defend U.S. democracy during and after the Nov. 3 election, the 1.7-million-member union’s Executive Council announced. And their resolution makes clear the threat comes from GOP Oval Office occupant Donald Trump.
But it’s not just Trump, Protecting American Democracy, adds. It’s also his armed white nationalist supporters and GOP-run state legislatures and GOP governors who could override popular vote majorities against the White House denizen.
Further, AFT predicts the rest of the labor movement will be out in the streets, too, the council’s Oct. 26 resolution says.
“We will organize and participate in peaceful, nonviolent mass protests against any efforts to thwart free and fair elections and to undermine American democracy,” the union said in a statement elaborating on the resolution.
“When democracy is in danger, we will be in the streets and in our workplaces with our colleagues in the labor movement and allies in the community, defending it against its enemies—foreign and domestic.”
“We take very seriously any threat to the sanctity of our elections and the peaceful transfer of power,” union President Randi Weingarten, a New York City middle school civics teacher, explained. “It is our job as…most importantly, human beings, to defend democracy, which requires fighting for Americans’ right to vote and CONTINUE READING: AFT warns Trump: We’ll take to the streets to defend democracy – People's World