A group of protesters gathered on the corner of Sand Hill Road and Arboretum Road at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. The protest, called Signs of Fascism, was one of many protests that took place that weekend and was organized to draw parallels between elements of fascist governments and the recent actions of the Trump administration.
Each protester was given a sign from organizers, either depicting one of the 14 features of fascism or a ‘sign of resistance.’ “These signs that we’ve created are based on the 14 researched elements of fascism based on a variety of dictatorships over the last 75 years,” protester Stephanie, who did not provide her last name, said. The features of fascism include normalizing political violence, rewriting history, and attacking free speech. Signs of resistance included supporting independent journalists and helping immigrants.
Demonstrators stood on the corner of Sand Hill and Arboretum for around 45 minutes, until, from 12:15 p.m. until 1:30 p.m., the protesters marched to the Stanford Mall, where they continued showcasing signs as they walked in complete silence.
The protest was uncharacteristically silent, with no chanting, songs, or conversations. Noise only came from the honking of cars passing by. Organizers described the protest as a silent vigil part of a national campaign to bring visibility to the elements of a fascist state.
Several women dressed like characters from the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale, which explores women’s loss of autonomy in the wake of a right-wing authoritarian regime, refused to speak at all. “We are dressing some of us up as handmaids just for the visual impact and to pull people’s attention and also link to a fictional reality that is now, unfortunately, starting to reflect some of our actual reality in terms of control around women,” Stephanie said.
Demonstrators were motivated by a general dissatisfaction with the Trump administration, particularly recent ICE raids in Minnesota and across the nation that caused them to speak out. “I’m so depressed about what’s going on in our country, and I want to do something about it. Protesting makes me feel better,” protester Theresa Cross said.
“I think [protesting] is the biggest thing that I can do that has an impact right now. I don’t have a lot of money, and so I can’t donate to a lot of causes, but this is the second protest I’ve done like this,” one protester, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
“I’ve been worried about coming out for these protests. I don’t sleep well because of Trump,” protester Steve Eittrein said.
In the wake of Friday’s walkout, Eittrein spoke about the importance of the youth protesting against the current administration’s policies.
“We’ve all wondered why the kids—this is their world, it’s their country—why aren’t they more involved?” he said. “The answer is they don’t take Trump’s evilness as seriously as they should. They don’t understand how bad he could make it. I mean, just look at what happened to Hitler’s Nazi Germany, these are all frightening parallels.”
Friday’s walkout, in which thousands of kids across the country left school to protest ICE, was a pivotal moment for Eittrein. “Yesterday, the Palo Alto high schools got out, and we were flooded with about 1,000 people, suddenly, at the corner of Embarcadero and El Camino,” he said. “I had tears in my eyes. And the woman next to me started crying when she saw all the kids come out. It saved me.”
The next Signs of Fascism protest is planned for 11:30a.m. on Feb. 6 at the corner of Embarcadero Road and El Camino Real.
