By Arnie Alpert, Active with the Activists
Arnie Alpert spent decades as a community organizer/educator in NH movements for social justice and peace. Officially retired since 2020, he keeps his hands (and feet) in the activist world while writing about past and present social movements.
CONCORD–The New Hampshire organizing committee for the grassroots group behind recent demonstrations at the State House had designated March 4 as a day for calls to Congress rather than a rally, but that didn’t keep people from thronging downtown Concord with American flags and signs critical of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
When I arrived at 2:45 PM, Janet Ebsen was sitting in a wheelchair by the corner of Park and North Main Streets with a home-made sign. Rather than specific issues like Medicaid or Elon Musk’s chainsaw approach to the federal workforce, she said her big concern was the way the President is over-powering the other branches of government. “I think that was something that the Constitution got really right,” she said. “It just worries me about what could come next if those things are being eroded.” “We [heart icon] checks and balances,” her sign said.
The Nashua resident said she had worked on Barack Obama’s election campaign, but isn’t usually an in-the-streets kind of activist. But this was her fourth protest in the past month.
Ebsen had made another sign, “No King. Time to Resist,” which was in the hands of her friend, Ruth Hannon, who also wore a “Stand with Ukraine” pin. “I think people need to get up off their sofas and get out and join us, or even just write letters or sign petitions, call their senators and representatives. Anything that they can do within their comfort zone, or even beyond, it would really help.”
It was the first protest Hannon had attended in her 66 years. “I just felt it was necessary because of all that’s been going on,” she said.
Their sentiments echoed those of other sign-waving and chanting protesters lining both sides of the block on North Main Street between Park and Capitol. Chants included “Stop the Dictator” and the popular, “Hey Hey Ho Ho, Elon Musk has got to go.” I counted 135 people.
What was different this time was more visible support for Ukraine, a reaction to Trump’s recent Oval Office encounter with Volodymyr Zelensky and the apparent switch in U.S. international alignment.
And a dozen people picketed the Tesla dealership in Portsmouth this afternoon, reported Jo Jordon.
In Manchester that morning, forty people prayed and sang in support of immigrants outside the Federal Building on Chestnut Street, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement has its state office. Eva Castillo of the NH Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees said ICE has been actively detaining immigrants in recent weeks.
On Main Street in Concord, Deb Gaudette from Boscawen carried a black American flag, which she said represented “the death of our country, the death of our Constitution.” I asked what could be done to revive it. “I think it’s going to take some people in prominent positions to stand up and stop kissing the ring.”
No one really knows what it will take, but more demonstrations are scheduled. “Stand Up for Federal Workers” will be the theme of a protest at 8:30 AM Friday at the Federal Building on Pleasant Street in Concord. 50501, the group which sponsored earlier demonstrations in Concord, will be back from noon to 5 PM on Saturday, which happens to be International Women’s Day. Janet Ebsen said she’ll be there.