The following is a speech delivered by Portland City Councilor Wes Pelletier at the October 18, 2025 No Kings rally in Portland Maine.

Hi everyone, thank you for being here. What a tremendous turnout. 

For those who don’t know me, my name’s Wes Pelletier. I’m the City Councilor for Portland right here in District 2. 

I’ve always been into politics. I canvassed for Howard Dean when I was thirteen, and followed politics closely after that. It was fun, with crazy characters and plot lines. The fun was quickly sucked out of it in November 2016. Suddenly, my relationship to politics was just a spiral of dread and anxiety, of anger: of powerlessness. I think we’ve all become familiar with that feeling. 

What got me out of that spiral, though, was organizing. It was building community. In being a small part of a larger whole: taking notes at meetings to figure out how to get winter clothes to homeless folks, signing people in at the vaccine clinic, knocking doors in my apartment building to start a tenants union.

From the outside, these projects never seem like much. What could one meeting around a kitchen table mean in the face of such widespread, powerful, nihilistic cruelty. Why dedicate a perfectly good weekday evening to a Zoom Call to design a flyer?  

I’ll tell you why: because it gives you a sense of agency and control in a system that does not want you to have any. So now, rather than lying awake every night feeling directionless and powerless, I wake up every morning with an idea of what specifically I can do to move things forward, even in a small way.

But more than that: it creates the skills and the structure that we will need to overthrow Trump’s fascism. Fascism relies on fractured communities. It relies on us being afraid of other people on the street, of us not being able to resolve disagreements without calling the cops. It relies on us believing that if we just throw enough other people under the bus, we’ll be spared. 

Now, those of us here know that’s not true. We know that diversity is strength. We know that our fight is not with our immigrant neighbors, it’s not with the guy sleeping in a doorway, it’s not with trans folks who are just trying to be themselves in a world that wants to punish them for it. We know that our fight is with the billionaires, and the ruling class that would throw us all to the wolves if it meant that their stock portfolio went up a point or two.

We know all of that, but how can we build that sense of solidarity around us?

Here’s how. Get involved. If you’re fortunate enough to be in a union, talk to your Representative and find out how to get involved. Get involved with your local Parent Teacher association, or a mutual aid organization. When there’s an ask for help, raise your hand, and then use that opportunity to understand how the organization works and how you can pitch in. 

Yes, you’re signing up for work, but it’s work in the same way that a hobby is. It is work that’s gratifying and it’s work that grows in scope. A few years ago I was handing out granola bars at a Brett Kavanaugh protest. Now I’m a city councilor. 

It also helps to have a political home. Mine is the Maine Democratic Socialists of America, who right now has a working group fighting for reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. We’re building tenant power in multiple Cities, and here in Portland we’re fighting for question A, which will raise the minimum wage to help bring economic security to our most vulnerable neighbors. 

There is also Indivisible, who has done such important work in fighting to stop Avelo Airlines from being a part of ICE’s machine, and who has organized this incredible event.

These organizations teach us how to run a good meeting where we’re able to come together and make decisions. They show us that it’s possible to disagree but build something strong together. They teach us how to stand up for what we think and to take criticism with grace. They give us the skills we need to make our little corners of the world more fair, more connected, and more resilient to the fear and loathing that Trump feeds on.

But look, I get that not everyone has time for a new commitment. Maybe that all seems like a bit much. So start at home. 

Here’s an example. Say you don’t know anyone on the street you live on. Maybe there’s an elderly neighbor you know that could maybe use a hand every once in a while, and you’d love to help but it’d be weird to just knock on their door and ask. 

So you could just go about your life and feel idly disconnected from the people around you. Or maybe you plan a halloween block party. Make a flyer, knock on your neighbors’ doors, and see if they want to come drink some cider and maybe bring some donuts. Will they think you’re weird? Yes, almost definitely. But I will tell you that odds are good, that a few of them will show. 

And when they do, you don’t need to talk about politics, just eat donuts and get to know each other and your struggles. And next week, when your elderly neighbor needs help raking leaves, they feel okay asking you. Or when your next door neighbor is baking a pie and is a little short on flour, they can get some from someone on the street rather than driving to the store. 

And those little acts may not seem like much, but they build a community that cares and looks out for each other. A community that, when Trump’s goon squad comes to disappear the family living a few doors down, comes together and drives them out. That is the power of community.

So here’s what I want to leave you with: I want you to feel the power that we have here today. I want you to feel the solidarity and the sense of common purpose. Celebrate and commiserate. Then I want you to take that home with you, roll up your sleeves, get involved, and build the communities and organizations that will stop these wannabe kings in their tracks. 

Thank you all. Solidarity forever. Free Palestine!