Training session teaches Oaklanders how to resist President Trump

Hundreds of people — from toddlers to teenagers to seniors and everyone in between — spilled into Oakland Technical High School’s auditorium Sunday to learn how to resist the rise of authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

Nearly 1,000 people attended Get Ready: Noncooperation Training by Bay Resistance, a group advocating for racial, economic, climate and gender justice. Some participants sat on the floor or filed into overflow rooms. The session was meant to energize and inspire people as well as to mobilize them to work toward a better future.

“We know that when it comes to keeping our communities safe — that means fully funding our schools, that means good paying union jobs, that means health care as a human right, that means our communities working together hand in hand and not allowing any forces to come here and kidnap our most vulnerable people in communities,” Keith Brown, executive secretary-treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council, told the audience, which applauded in approval.

“We are a united Bay Area community, we are a united Oakland community, and we will not cooperate with hate,” Brown continued. “We will not cooperate with attacks against our communities. We are here to protect and uplift and love one another.” 

Bay Resistance, which formed during the first Trump administration, is part of a growing national movement that is working to counter the president’s policies on immigration, LGBTQ people, women, labor unions and the environment, and to address what they see as increasing threats to human rights in the U.S. and abroad.

Rona Fernandez, a Bay Resistance organizer and pod facilitator in Oakland, said the network went somewhat dormant during the Biden administration and was revived when Trump took office this year. A Filipino American living in Oakland and a daughter of immigrants, Fernandez said her involvement is personal and deeply rooted. 

“My folks, my community has a real history of fighting against authoritarianism and racial discrimination, so we know that it’s important to fight back,” she said.

Steven Pitts, a retired labor policy specialist from East Oakland, said he came to the event to “see how we can fight back.” He’s concerned about a variety of issues, including Social Security, the humanitarian crisis in Palestine and many of Trump’s orders and policies.

“The link between his attacks on democracy and the economic elite, how they used that to secure their position to get more wealth is terrible,” Pitts said, adding that it will take a long time to recover from the actions the administration has put in motion.

Noncooperation was defined as “the deliberate withholding of labor, buying power or other forms of participation in a government or other authority.” The term, organizers said, was borrowed from the Free DC Project, which advocates for many of the same issues as Bay Resistance and also supports making Washington, D.C., the 51st state.

Karla Zombra, a speaker at the event and an organizer with Los Angeles-based, We Are California, explained that noncooperation is not just general strikes or massive boycotts, it’s something that everyone can do. Correcting the course will take more than winning Proposition 50 (a Congressional redistricting that progressive groups support) or by Democrats taking control of the House and Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, Zombra said. 

The event shed light on ways to get involved, like joining a neighborhood pod that supports immigrant justice, labor rights, environmental justice and so on. Actions could include canvassing, adopting a day labor corner to protect day laborers, or documenting ICE arrests. Other tactics include providing food for families impacted by deportation or incarceration, speaking out against human rights violations, and finding constructive ways to communicate with people across the political spectrum.

Sakura Saunders, Oakland resident and Bay Resistance pod co-facilitator, said her pod has also worked to oppose the potential plan of reopening a former federal prison in Dublin as an ICE detention facility. 

Jane Martin, another Bay Resistance organizer, pointed to the “3.5% rule” that argues when 3.5 percent of the population engages in nonviolent direct action, “those movements win.” That means 1.5 million Californians would have to engage in more than just “symbolic actions” like hanging banners, picketing, or writing letters to Congress. They would have to build alternatives like community-led safety initiatives and to participate in mass boycotts, rent strikes and worker strikes.

The movement, Zombra said, is about building a more just and equitable world, a place where future generations are safe and thriving. 

Speakers invited attendees to imagine a great-great-grandchild of a young person present in their lives today, to see 100 years into the future, to a world centered on community and meeting the needs of all living beings. They were prompted to visualize what that child’s world would look like, smell like and feel like. 

U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon made an unexpected appearance at the event and was asked to speak.

Referencing the current government shutdown that came when Democrats refused to accept cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies, Simon said to the crowd, “Health care is not radical.
It is the floor.” The room roared with cheers and applause, as Simon continued, “But knowing American and global history, I will tell you, being on the left side of the aisle and looking right, even with my bad eyes, I can see evil.” 

She said, “I’m going back to Washington, but literally, you are the conscience of the country right here from California’s 12th District.”

The audience was asked to describe how they were feeling towards the end of the main presentation, which lasted two hours. Some of the words that emerged on the screen were: fired up, energized, overwhelmed, angry, hopeful, hungry, inspired.

Pitts expressed hope in the group’s solidarity. 

“It’s good to see old friends and meet new people — that by itself is a good thing, because being isolated on your phone watching headlines is horrific. So it’s good to just be in community, a small step we can make to do some good,” he said. 

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