Nationwide protests planned for Trump’s Inauguration Day

As the nation braces for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, grassroots organizations across the country are mobilizing in protest. Under the banner of “We Fight Back 2025,” more than 700 protests are reportedly planned nationwide on Jan. 20. Initial conveners include the People’s Forum and the Palestinian Youth Movement, among others.

In a written statement, organizers from People’s Forum said that on Inauguration Day, “people from across New York City will come together in Washington Square Park to demand a future that centers the needs of the people over the interests of the wealthy elite. With voices raised for workers’ rights, immigrant rights, and environmental justice, we will call for an end to the genocide in Gaza, the U.S. war machine, and the rule of billionaires.”

In Miami, the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is leading the charge with other partner organizations to voice opposition to the incoming administration’s policies and its anticipated impacts on marginalized communities.

Adam Medina, the external co-chair for Miami DSA, highlighted the solidarity within this broader movement, which includes other DSA chapters and progressive organizations such as Black Workers for Justice and the Communist Workers Party USA.

The protest is scheduled to take place at the city’s Torch of Friendship at 6:30 p.m. ET and has been in the works for weeks. Medina said the protest aims to deliver a resounding rebuke to the Trump administration’s anticipated agenda.

Protests during Trump’s 2017 inauguration resulted in more than 200 arrests in Washington D.C., and marches across the country.

“As one of the biggest socialist organizations in the state of Florida, we wanted to present a left-wing rebuke of Trump and the far-right agenda that he will lead his administration with,” Medina said. “This is an administration that will no doubt threaten the livelihoods of countless marginalized people that have already suffered greatly, particularly undocumented people, transgender people, Gazans, Palestinians, queer people, African American people.”

Medina emphasized that the protests are both a reaction to Trump and a call to action for systemic change.

“We’re protesting Trump because of the policies that will be perpetuated and [be] awful, and that’ll surely make the lives of working people even worse than they already are, but we don’t want to make any illusions about the Democratic Party either,” Medina said. “We don’t want anyone to think that our response here will … be, ‘Just go and vote Democrat.’”

Medina said that organizers will have to be “tactful” and reminds folks that they cannot rely on the Democratic Party to be the saving grace for the country. 

“The Democratic Party is just another layer of the capitalist party that despite having some disagreements with [Trump], on his policies they, by and large, do represent the same ruling class,” Medina said. “So our alternative isn’t to simply tell people to vote Democrat and just get on a bandwagon to rebuke him using already established institutions. Our rebuke is that working people have got to build the alternatives that will liberate them.”

Medina also reflected on how the political landscape has shifted since Trump’s first term. 

“The fear of repression has magnified, particularly for comrades that are trans and are worried about what the ramifications for being arrested will be,” Medina said. “I think, in a broader sense, a lot of the dissent that we’ve seen over these past four years reached its zeitgeist, with the student protests over Palestine. That response from young people was palpable. They showed that they would not just be complicit and sit on the sidelines while [Joe] Biden was entirely complicit and supported this terrible year of human rights violation.”

Attendees at Monday’s protest in Miami can expect speeches, chants, and an emphasis on solidarity among all sectors of the working class. Notably, Medina said the action intends to center the struggles of transgender, Black, undocumented, and working-class communities, while rejecting a false dichotomy between two capitalist parties.

Looking ahead, Medina stressed the importance of building a stronger labor movement and fostering collaboration between labor and socialist organizations. 

“The labor movement is becoming something that sees itself as a vehicle for change that necessarily transforms, radicalizes, takes on a more socialist identity, and identifies that the problem isn’t merely the exploitation that workers suffer at the workplace, but that it’s a source of capitalism at a more fundamental level,” Medina explained. “A lot of the labor movement, in large sections of it, doesn’t see itself as socialist. We need to actually build the working class from the weak position that it’s in.”

Medina said there should be an escalation of strikes and protests as the Trump administration further advances and exacerbates its agenda. 

Medina concluded with a call to action for readers: “If you think that you want to effect change, please join DSA.”

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