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QuickTake:
Those working to organize Saturday’s protest against the Trump administration range from union retirees to socialists to environmentalists to clergy.
It started in a Eugene living room in mid-March, when 18 community organizers gathered to plan a protest they knew they couldn’t pull off alone.
The group, which has since swelled to 24 member organizations, later became known as the Activist Coalition of Eugene-Springfield. It’s the local force behind the Hands Off protest in April and the “No Kings” rally in June — both displays of nonviolent resistance against Donald Trump’s second administration that drew thousands in Eugene and millions nationwide.
Seven months later, the coalition is preparing for Eugene’s “No Kings 2” rally on Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Wayne Lyman Morse United States Courthouse on Eighth Avenue from 10 a.m. to noon.
Organizers include environmentalists, socialists, union retirees, clergy and trans rights advocates. They hope the rally strengthens a local social movement pushing back against what they describe as Trump’s consolidation of power.
They want to move from “protest into action” on four issues: protecting immigrant and trans rights, opposing Flock license-plate reader cameras, and supporting workers.
“Take political action outside of a voting booth,” said Rob Fisette, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. “It helps people feel good, but it also helps them feel experience in adding themselves as a drop of water to the wave of what actually creates political change.”
The coalition’s roots
When the leadership of Indivisible Eugene-Springfield — the local chapter of a national progressive grassroots group — changed hands this spring, new chair Stan Taylor’s first move was to call for help.
The national networks of Indivisible and the organization 50501 had announced plans for a mass rally in April, so Taylor emailed local activist groups to collaborate. Within three days, 18 people met in his living room, and a coalition emerged.
As they organized two large, peaceful protests, the network grew.
“I got involved after the April events, because the April event made me feel like, ‘Whoa, I’m not alone,’” said Dennis Reynolds, a “mostly-retired” affiliated community minister with the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene.
The coalition also includes organizations including Service Workers International Union Retired-Eugene, 50501-Eugene, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Community Alliance for Lane County, Eugene Trans Alliance of Lane County, Raging Grannies-Eugene and 350 Eugene.
Members say what unites them runs deeper than their differences, reflected in five “points of unity” that commit the coalition to principles like nonviolence and collaboration.
“This is a small community, and yet, despite us all knowing each other, we weren’t working together until the enormity of this threat made it really clear that we couldn’t just enjoy our own particular flavor of activism,” said Rose Wilde of Showing Up for Racial Justice Springfield-Eugene, part of a national network that mobilizes white people for racial and economic justice. “We had to branch out.”
The coalition runs without a formal hierarchy. Members make decisions in open meetings, hosted weekly at Taylor’s house — often by consensus, and when necessary, by vote.
“We’ve discussed it thoroughly, listened to each other, and we take a tentative vote to see how many people really can’t live with a decision,” said Sue Barnhart, a member of environmentalist groups Planet vs. Pentagon and Extinction Rebellion, as well as the Oregon Community Asylum Network. “So far, democracy has decided.”
Hatching a plan
The group began planning Saturday’s protest after Indivisible’s national leadership in September called for a second round of “No Kings” rallies this fall.
Members of the coalition debated which issues to elevate at the Oct. 18 demonstration in Eugene. They decided to center on groups they view as most currently at risk — immigrants and trans people — and oppose the city’s Flock license-plate cameras, technology that they feel threatens those communities. (The city paused the cameras on Tuesday.)
Organizers also chose to include workers’ protections as a priority, to build a greater solidarity with the local labor community.
“We had more campaigns suggested than we selected, but the four that we selected, we thought were the most urgent campaigns to address,” Taylor said.
Another recent debate took place over permitting. The first “No Kings” rally in June took place under a city-approved permit, which is required at least 48 hours before parades on city streets, though that decision sparked some internal disagreement, Fisette said.
This time, they decided to act on their own terms.
“For us, going no permit is saying, ‘This is big. This is important,’” said Jacob Griffin of Trans Alliance of Lane County. “We need to take to the streets, and we need to make a clear and loud statement about what is happening.”
Eugene police spokesperson Melinda McLaughlin said Friday that the city and organizers were playing “phone tag,” and that the coalition had not yet requested a permit.
Organizers emphasized that the event will be peaceful. The coalition divided into groups to delegate organizing responsibilities like safety, outreach and tabling. Wilde estimated there will be up to 100 volunteers, including a de-escalation team, medics and legal observers.
“We know that ultimately, when you have a crowd of 10,000 like last time, [one] really has to look around and pay attention to their environment and make thoughtful, responsible decisions,” she said.
There will be five speakers at the rally, including two union representatives. A local band will also perform and provide its own sound system. Organizers said the demonstration will run almost entirely on donations from local groups and individuals, though the cost is inexpensive, only in the hundreds of dollars.
(Wilde promised that liberal megadonor George Soros is not funding the rally, to which Griffin joked: “But if he offers, we’re taking it!”)
“There’s a tremendous pool of goodwill that has emerged to support the work we’re doing,” Taylor said.
Members said the issues they’re organizing around stem from what they describe as authoritarian overreach. They point to escalating deportations, federal crackdowns on gender-affirming care and the expansion of local police surveillance technology as evidence of a government turning against its own people.
Yet they agree: Fear won’t keep them home.
“I am less fearful when I am in action,” Griffin said. “The more that I am doing, the less afraid I am.”
