NO KINGS.” “Stand Up, Fight Back.” “Stop ICE.” “Resist Authoritarianism.” “Save Democracy.”
Protestors held up signs with these messages while chanting outside the Palo Alto Tesla showroom on Labor Day Monday, as passerby drivers honked in support.
On Sept. 1, citizens from across the Peninsula gathered on El Camino Real in opposition of the Trump Administration. The nonviolent protest, the 17x17k March, aimed to stretch 17 miles along El Camino Real and attract 17,000 people. Protestors rallied to the current immigration crackdown, funding for Israel and local tech billionaires.
Indivisible is an activist group with goals of rebuilding democracy, and its Palo Alto branch was one of multiple organizations responsible for multiple protests. Some include 17x17k protest, the No Kings protest, which took place on June 14 and two Tesla Takedown protests in September.
David Waksberg, a protester at the latter event, explained that Indivisible is an organization that is against multiple pressing issues, including authoritarian leadership and racism.
“Indivisible’s mission is to restore democracy in this country, and it’s a grassroots organization,” Waksberg said. “[This means that] rather than being centered in Washington, DC, we have more than 2,000 [branches] all across the country.”
Jim Silver, a protester and member of the organization, was angered by the president’s spending.
“The fact that [the Trump Administration] took away the spending authority from Congress, and just that the president is seizing the authority to spend money or not to spend money is wrong,” Silver said. “That’s been something that’s been part of our history since before we were a country.”
Silver also said the government’s budget is going to the wrong places.
“I would like to have funding for science and medical care,” Silver said. “[Trump has] kicked like 10 million people off of Medicaid. I would like to see funding for science, for research, for medical treatments.”
Justin, who declined to share his last name, said he had attended a “Tesla Takedown” protest in February that attracted a large number of protesters. He decided to organize his own event after waiting for a follow up on the protest but not seeing one fall into action.
“We had about 1,015 people show up,” he said. “Then the next week it [the number] doubled.”
Since then, Justin has set up weekly protests across the Peninsula, from Tesla office buildings to the Redwood City courthouse.
“The latest [reason] is definitely the ICE abduction in East Palo Alto,” Justin said. “If we don’t get our act together, for example, with Prop 50 already, Republicans will fill our mailboxes with their flyers.”
The protest, meant to rally against Republican leadership, could affect Californians more directly through acts such as Proposition 50, which would authorize changes to California’s congressional district maps.
Proposition 50 is a response to Texas’s redistricting, which happened in August, and will most likely switch five seats in the federal House of Representatives from Democratic to Republican, according to KQED. Proposition 50 would also temporarily halt California’s independent redistricting commission and instead give the power to approve new maps to the legislature. The proposition would let voters decide to keep the independent commission’s maps or approve new ones drawn by the legislature. Californians will vote on the proposition on Tuesday, Nov. 4 2025.
Preserving democracy in America was a sentiment that came up often with protesters such as Julie Elmquist, a participant in the 17x17K March, who said it was the reason she decided to come in the first place.
“I’m out here because we need to fight for our democracy,” Elmquist said. “What is happening is not okay.
Waksberg agreed.
“I like to live in a democracy,” he said. “So I’m trying to restore democracy, and one of the ways to do that is by standing up and giving [sharing my] voice and public protest [protesting].”
Waksberg, along with many other protesters, said future generations will experience the effects of the Trump Administration more heavily.
He encouraged young people to come out to future protests.
“I have three grandchildren and I want them to grow up on a planet that is sustainable [and] a country where their freedoms are protected,” Waksberg said. “If there are any students at Paly are interested in fighting for democracy… they can reach out to me and I’ll connect them with other young people that are trying to do the same thing.”
(Leela Kulkarni)
