One week after the terrorist attack in London that claimed 22 lives, Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, a favorite on the campus lecture circuit, spoke at the March for Truth rally here about another attack that concerned her. “You have to continue to be outraged when on your watch and the watch of the American people we drop the mother of all bombs on Afghanistan,” she said, in reference to the Trump Administration’s bombing of alleged ISIS training camps in that country.
Nevertheless, Sarsour is more concerned about the growth of the “resistance” movement in this country. “I also ask we all have some means, we all came here today in some form of transportation we probably picked up a bottle of water or we probably bought a coffee as we got here,” Sarsour told the crowd. “This organizing is not free and in this country freedom is not free so we need your support for the organizers of the Women’s March, of the Town Hall project, of the ACLU, of Moveon.org, of BMO, of Color of Change, all those who are on the frontlines of the resistance need your support whatever you can give 5$ 10$ we need to fund the resistance.”
She made clear, that despite the theme of the rally, her own “resistance” went beyond the White House to the very system of government it represented. “I’m not a loyal Democrat,” she said. “One of the reasons why I even vote as part of a two-party system is because that’s what’s available to me at the moment.”
“Knowing our country, we’ll have to resist regardless whether number 45 is president or not,” she said. “We’re only less than 6 months in so we got a long way to go. Let me say this. Let me say this to folks. Let me say this to the Impeach Trump folks. I’m with you. I get it. But please don’t tell me that you think what comes after him is going to be that much better. I think we’re going to have to still be out on these streets”
Sarsour also painted herself as a victim of the right and Israel supporters she said “I’ve been the target of right wing… I mean for God’s sake Milo come out of retirement to lead a rally against me. So I’ve been a target of right wing, alt right, right wing, Zionists they all got together.” She then went on to say that “particularly for women of color, dissent is dangerous” yet did not say what the specific dangers were.
She ended her speech with the announcement that “The women’s march is now a 501(c4) political advocacy organization. And that we are committed to running true progressives who align on our progressive platform. We are going to be putting money where our mouths are and we are going to be working with courageous women across our country to make sure that the same people who marched to the women’s march are the same people who march to the polls in 2018”
Sarsour also criticized President Trump for his arms deal with Saudi Arabia saying, “We have been in the bed with the Saudis for far too long…we need to be consistent in our outrage and the relationships that our administration is making on our behalf.” It should be noted that Sarsour has praised Saudia Arabia over the U.S. in the past, mentioning that we shouldn’t be worried about women not being able to drive in the country.
