Reflections on a Year of Resistance

It has been a hard year:

• a year of unimaginable cruelty and suffering,

• a year of witnessing the daily dismantling of decades of progress,

• a year of one devastating heartbreak after another.

But it’s also been a year of extraordinary love and resistance—a resistance that is beginning to crack the authoritarian system we are fighting. 

I came to politics through community organizing and social justice movements. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at how change happens in the face of dictators, tyranny, and repression. I take heart learning from people’s movements that have faced worse odds and succeeded in transforming society. 

While nothing is guaranteed, we can learn from that long history of people working together for successful societal change. Some guideposts to lead us on our way:

1) Build community.  Authoritarianism thrives on fear, division, and hopelessness. Hope, joy, and love increase our sense of unity and the likelihood we will continue to resist. Yes, potlucks and playdays are acts of resistance. Together we are strong.

2) Take care of each other and our community.  The dismantling of the safety net is part of the Trump administration’s plan and cruelty is their brand. Keeping people scrambling just to survive makes it harder for folks to fight for their constitutional rights or stop the unprecedented transfer of wealth from ordinary people to billionaires. Neighbors helping neighbors is more important than ever. Making sure everyone in our community has food, shelter, and basic needs has to be a shared central goal. 

3) Get in the streets.  Widespread public protest has been a critical part of every movement that has ever toppled authoritarianism. Not so much because it changes the mind of the autocrats, but because it shows their corporate backers, the institutions that have caved, and the politicians who are on the fence about where the population truly stands. It reminds everyone—people here and all around the world—this cruel administration does not represent the American people. 

4) Engage in economic non-cooperation.  Targeted boycotts show the power of the collective and shift the incentives of the corporate sell-outs. One clear example of success from this year was the swift rehiring of Jimmy Kimmel. 

5) Throw sand in the gears of the repressive machines.  First, don't cooperate with it. Montgomery County and Takoma Park police have long had a policy not to do ICE’s work, a policy more important now than ever. But we are also seeing grassroots groups tracking ICE license plates, identifying their movements, cutting them off at the pass, and diverting people from their traps.

6) And, of course, sue them.  So much of what they are doing is not just wrong, but illegal.  The Maryland Attorney General and several unions and advocacy organizations have done a magnificent job of pushing back against these overreaches and are winning many of these cases!

Friends, we are in uncharted territory.  There is not a roadmap for how we get from where we are today to where we want to be.  We will make the path forward while we walk it.  

What Path Am I Taking?

⇒ I am using my campaign infrastructure to organize in our community.  With the help of paid interns and volunteers, we are going door to door as we would in any campaign. Our focus, however, is on bringing people together for social gatherings and community meetings; taking care of people by organizing events to sign people up for safety net  services; and getting people out on the streets to protest. We have knocked on over 6,000 doors in the past few months.

⇒ I am introducing legislation to use the states’ power in innovative ways.  All of these bills push the envelope and may be challenged, but in the dangerous time we are living in, we cannot afford to play it safe.  

• To protect our neighbors and to throw sand in gears, I am bringing back my legislation to prohibit any state agency from sharing Marylanders’ private data with ICE. 

• I will also be working to add health and safety requirements for all flights involving individuals in restraints. This will both increase safety for any detainees flying through Maryland and increase transparency into the operation of these flights. 

• I have a bill to create a civil cause of action to allow Maryland residents to sue federal agents who violate their constitutional rights. 

  
  

⇒ I will continue pushing for clean energy.  It is no surprise, and in fact, part of the autocratic playbook, that the plutocrats and the polluters are in cahoots to build a petrostate. As Trump works to line the pockets of his billionaire fossil fuel buddies, we need to do everything in our power in Maryland to keep the clean energy transition on track. Last year we had great success with battery storage legislation and this year I will be focused on fixing our solar procurement processes to maximize solar development in Maryland. 

⇒ I will strengthen the safety net.  For the past six years, I have been successful in making many of the safety net services provided by the state more accessible and efficient. This year, I will once more be working to increase unemployment insurance benefits, so that workers who lose their jobs can live with dignity while they search for the next one. 

*7.  Express gratitude.  In all of this, I am so grateful to represent this amazing community:  a community steeped in resistance and a community that has my back. Thank you for all you have done and will do to build a more just and inclusive future.  

Courage and creativity are crucial in these times—

they are also contagious.

Let’s keep going. 

Thank You, Speaker Jones!

As Speaker Adrienne Jones steps down from her leadership of the House of Delegates, I am filled with gratitude for all she has done for the state of Maryland and for me personally.  It has been an honor and a privilege to have served under her wise and steady leadership.  As a former delegate wrote in an appreciation of her, “Good leadership in elected office is a daily effort to do right by your constituents on matters large and small.”  Speaker Jones has excelled at doing exactly this.

Need Help on a State Issue?If you need help with a state issue, please contact my office at Lorig.Charkoudian@house.maryland.gov or leave us a message at (410)-841-3423.

Onward,

Lorig