The nun, the bombs and Donald Trump

(Washington, DC) “Do you know that you have an American heroine before you?” “Asks me Alan Glick while we walk very close to the American Capitol. Ah good ?

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By his side, a little septuagenarian with white hair sketches an embarrassed smile. Sister Carol Gilbert. She wears a short sleeve sweater on which we can read “Stop killing the children of Gaza”.

Verification made, this Dominican sister is indeed one of the legends of the movement opposing nuclear weapons in the United States. Since the 1960s, the Catholic nun has opposed the establishment of nuclear centers in Michigan and has helped conscience objectors to escape the authorities. More recently, she took part in the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons (ICAN), crowned with a Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.

This long -term battle was not at no cost. In October 2002, with two other nuns, she signed her blood in protest on an intercontinental missile armed with a nuclear bomb of 20 kilotons in a field of Colorado. The three of them were declared guilty of sabotage – although a little blood has no impact on such a killing machine. Sister Gilbert was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment. A character from the successful TV series Orange Is the New Black Was inspired by his fighting companion, Sister Ardeth Platte, now missing.

“There has always been political repression in the United States. Especially against minorities. But since the return of Donald Trump, more people of the white majority have been aware of this, “she said near the Union Station, Washington Central Station.

From Hooverville to Muskville

Precisely, we stroll near “Muskville”, a “city of solidarity” set up in honor of the more than 100,000 federal employees who have lost their jobs since the creation of the department for government efficiency (DOGE) led by the Multimillionaire Elon Musk.

The installation, where militant events are regularly taking place, is a nod to the “hoovervilles”, homeless camps which have spread through the United States during the Great Depression.

“Many people will not protest on the street before being affected themselves. When the USAID funds were frozen in January, we were 100 or 200 in the street. But now that people lose their jobs, that they see their achievements attacked, there are more and more people who demonstrate, “notes Sister Gilbert to explain the chilly beginnings of the resistance to the new republican administration and the recent acceleration of mobilization.

The Awakening of Duffledis

“No justice! No peace! At the same time the crowd gathered in front of the White House, two kilometers further. In this 1^is May, they are tens of thousands to have swapped their meal break against a good relaxation session against Donald Trump and his entourage.

The causes are intertwined. We oppose the tax reductions for the richest, to the expulsions of immigrants without legal proceedings, to governance with decrees, to the cuts in scientific research.

“What we see is different from his first mandate. In 2017, there were a lot of barriers to stop Donald Trump, but this time, his goal is to destroy everything we have. Not to repair anything. And there is a lot of fear, ”says Marianne Scippa, who has herself seen her job in the development of leadership disappear after the arrival of the new administration.

At the start of the interview, she refuses to give me her family name, like many people I met at DC during the week, fearing the reprisals of a vengeful administration, but she looked together. “We have to fight this fear that holds us,” she says.

Her demonstration partner is also convinced that the resistance wakes up, that she finds her way. “At first, we were all stunned after the election. We had to understand what we can do since Donald Trump controls the two chambers of the congress and that he ignores what the courts say, “says Allan Thompson.

For a lasting movement

The demonstration in which they take part is one of hundreds that take place through the United States in this 1^is may. They echo the other major protests on April 5, which also swept the United States from east to west.

“What I hope is that the movement that is born will be more durable than that of 2017,” said Beth Johnson, sitting in the grass. She notably refers to the movement of women’s march, which after having gathered millions of demonstrators in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s first swearing.

“The answer will be stronger,” said Beth Johnson. “No kings in our United States,” reads his sign.

Lines that do not unroll

In the headquarters of International Amnesty USA, a few steps from the White House, Paul O’Brien has evidence every day of growing mobilization.

“We have nearly 1000 new members per week and people tell us that they want to take action,” said the director general of the organization of human rights for all the United States. Recently, a videoconference in which he took part to prepare for the reaction in the first months of the Trump administration was abruptly ended after 5000 people connected simultaneously, making Zoom flank.

Her organization has just published an overwhelming report over the first 100 days of the Trump administration, marked according to “chaos and cruelty”.

“What does that mean?” This means the targeting of migrants and the end of the asylum law. The detention of students on campuses because they say they want peace for all. It means going beyond the decisions of the courts and targeting the media that disagrees with the authorities. It means attacking women’s rights, the LGBTQI community and literally trying to erase the identity of transgender people, ”he lists.

Many causes of anger on the horizon, therefore.

An autumn that promises to be hot

Sister Carol Gilbert also believes that the popular sling is only in its infancy. That fall will be hot. “What will happen on American campuses will be very important,” she believes.

For her part, with her pacifist allies, she does not release pressure on administration and elected officials from Congress. She is fighting in particular these days to put an end in support of the United States to Israeli military intervention in Gaza, a support that has experienced a start since the arrival of Trump. On the day of our meeting, she campaigned for a bill, the “Antisemism Awareness Act” does not assimilate all the criticisms of Israel’s actions to anti -Semitism.

Does it fear being reached again by the authorities? “If Trump doesn’t like what we are doing, will he put us in camps?” We just don’t know it, ”she says. But hey, she saw others.

To read tomorrow: “Trump’s revenge on Washington”