Donald Trump is about to take office in the USA, and activists are challenging the regime of racist borders, unbridled corporate power and militarism that he heralds. This Friday, we’re joining the #BridgesNotWalls to drop banners from bridges across the country calling for a more peaceful and just world, free from oppression and hatred.
Come and join us on Lambeth Bridge at 8.20am on Friday 20th January, and add your voice to the call!
Donald Trump’s election – driven by hate and fear, lies and division – is the most significant moment yet in the rise of a new far right politics in western democracies. Trump has demonised migrants, Mexicans and Muslims. He has mocked disabled people and talks casually about assaulting women. He has threatened to take rights away from ordinary people, hand even more power to a corporate elite and reverse urgent action on climate change.
The rise of the far right isn’t confined to America- across Europe and in the UK, we’re seen a rise in racist and Islamophobic attacks, and the political scapegoating of migrants and minorities. In an age of fear, arms companies are poised to take advantage of this new political agenda. Military and security companies are making a killing providing the weaponry which fuels conflicts across the world, and then profit again from increased border security and the criminalisation of migrants.
As new research from Stop Wapenhandel shows, major arms companies like Thales and Airbus are making millions from Europe’s new ‘border wars’. And the militarisation of EU’s borders has however come at a terrible human cost, with the highest ever recorded yearly death toll of over 4700 known deaths in the Mediterranean sea in 2016, as refugees are forced to resort to ever more dangerous routes to enter Europe.
But there is another way. On the day of Trump’s inauguration, we’re uniting with groups up and down the country with a simple call: to build Bridges, not Walls. We’ll be joining hundreds who are dropping banners from bridges all over the UK with this simple, hopeful message- a call for a more peaceful and just world, free from oppression and hatred. Each bridge will have a different theme, and CAAT will be joining the anti-corporate power banner drop on Lambeth Bridge. If you’d like to come with us, meet us on Lambeth Bridge at 8.20am on Friday 20th January, and add your voice to the call.
For more information on the UK protests and the other bridges in London, see bridgesnotwalls.uk.
