On Sunday, Jan. 19 around 1 p.m., approximately 200 people gathered in front of the Wayne L. Morse U.S. Courthouse in downtown Eugene for a “We Fight Back” event rally.
Justin Filip, who ran for Congress as the Pacific Green Party candidate in 2024, spoke at the event.
“For the last fifty years the top one percent of Americans have taken 50 trillion dollars from the bottom 90 percent,” Filip said. “You begin to ask questions about the whole society.”
The rally was intended to “defeat Trump’s extreme-right billionaire agenda” according to a flyer shared on the Party for Socialism and Liberation in Eugene’s Instagram page.
The event started with the Raging Grannies, an activist organization dedicated to promoting peace and justice, singing an original song for the crowd.
Trudy Maloney, a member of the Raging Grannies, said that she participated today because she was “scared about what’s going to happen with Trump.”
“I want to do something about it,” Maloney said. “We will not be cowed and we’re not giving up.”
Participants carried various signs that read “Democracy Use It Or Lose It,” “Peace & Civil Rights for All” and “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent.”
Christa Knittle, a participant in the event, said that she came today to express her concern about the incoming administration.
“Since I’ve become a voter it’s just been getting more and more supportive of the investor class,” Knittle said. “Which involves a lot of war because the investor class profits off war and especially when the economy isn’t good.”
Laurie Harman, an organizer for the rally with Extinction Rebellion, hopes that the event will raise awareness.
“We’re hoping to bring people together as a community,” Harman said. “We’re hoping to talk about how we can work together to find back against the agenda that’s working against us.”
Similar rallies are taking place across the country before and during the inauguration, with the largest rally set to take place in New York City on Jan. 20 according to Harman.
