Eugene weekly., March 16, 2017, Page 10, Image 10

NEWS
BY JORDAN RICH
INDIVISIBLE EUGENE
Launching an anti-Trump grassroots movement
I
ndivisible Eugene is playing defense against the Trump administration. The local
chapter of a grassroots effort of politically active individuals looks to pressure Or-
egon’s political representatives in Congress to continue their opposition against the
new president.
“We’re going to give people the tools to get a hold of their members of Congress
and influence them,” says Marcus Kauffman, media organizer for Indivisible Eugene.
This includes organizing and attending town hall meetings with congressional reps and
sending them letters as well as setting people up with apps like 5Calls, which uses your
location to find out who is your congressional rep and provide phone numbers to contact
them.
Indivisible Eugene is one of over 5,300 Indivisible groups across the nation, all tak-
ing inspiration from Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda.
Written by former congressional staffers, the guide details how to
employ the
organizational tactics that Tea Party Republicans used to
obstruct President Obama — but now against Presi-
dent Trump.
According to Indivisible’s founders, Tea
Partiers were successful because they were
entirely focused on saying “no” rather than
pushing their own policy agenda. They re-
jected concessions and called Republicans
who accepted them traitors while focusing
on local members of Congress.
But Indivisible differs greatly from the
Tea Party movement. Instead of radically
conservative ideals, Indivisible focuses on
government transparency, accountability and
inclusiveness.
And while Tea Party Republicans would
obstruct Obama even if he wanted to pass
something conservative, Kauffman says that
Indivisible Eugene would work with Trump
if he does try to pass something that they ap-
prove of, such as an infrastructure bill that
would pay to improve Oregon’s highway sys-
tem.
“A lot of Democratic voters have a ten-
dency to get depressed when they lose. It’s
disempowering. What I think people need to
— MARCUS KAUFFMAN,
realize is a good tonic for that is getting to-
INDIVISIBLE EUGENE
gether with other people who feel the same
way you do and doing something,” Kauffman
says.
Indivisible Eugene had an “Ides of Trump” event March 14 in conjunction with a
national movement to bombard the president’s office with postcards of resistance at the
Federal Courthouse.
The group will join the Community Alliance of Lane County April 15 for a tax justice
march and will join 350 Eugene on a sister event with the nationwide People’s Climate
Marches April 29.
‘We’re going to give
people the tools to get
a hold of their mem-
bers of Congress and
influence them.’
Find out more at IndivisibleEugene.org or join their Facebook group at Facebook.com/groups/indivisibleineugene. Find
the Indivisible guide in English and Spanish at indivisibleguide.com.
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March 16, 2017 • eugeneweekly.com