November 30, 2025 Newsletter
News from INDIVISIBLE SAN MATEO
Nov. 30, 2025
Harry (Rick) Moody, Newsletter Editor
Mary Beavins, Founder of Indivisible San Mateo
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“The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.”
“The point of standing together isn’t to change something overnight. It’s to become the lighthouse that reminds others there’s still a way through the storm.”
(Cited by Indivisible Mid-Peninsula)
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COMING EVENTS
DIALOGUE FOR DEMOCRACY. Informal dialogue for Indivisible members and others (9:30 to 10:30 am PT, Monday, Dec. 1, 2025). In person, hosted by Harry (Rick) Moody at Paris Baguette coffee shop, 208 E. Third Avenue, San Mateo.
RESISTENCE. “Resisting Authoritarianism: What The People Can Do” by John Shattuck (Dec. 4, 2025, 2025, 3 to 4:30 pm PT). Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture, Boston University. On Zoom. For a digital link on Dec. 4 visit: https://www.bu.edu/cas/community/lectures/howard-zinn-memorial-lecture/
PUBLIC CITIZEN TOWN HALL. (Dec. 4, from 7 to 8 pm ET) Free and is open to all on Zoom: https://act.citizen.org/page/91353/petition/1
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GENERAL MEETING (Nov. 16, 2025)
At the meeting Mary Beavins reviewed the progress of Indivisible San Mateo in 2025: we have grown from 3 people in January to more than 4,000 attending No Kings Day on Oct. 18. After a formal meeting on Nov. 16 we danced around the room while The Freedom Strummers played music a great celebration.
A few of the 40 participants demonstrate
The Freedom Strummers Play
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MILITARY INVASIONS
Here in the Bay Area, we recently had good reason to expect a military invasion. I didn’t happen here (yet), but it’s already happened in Los Angeles, Portland, and Washington, DC. Others are planned. “This is what autocracy looks like.” The image above is from Robert Hubbell’s “Today’s Edition.” I’m a paying subscriber and I encourage others to subscribe, too (you don’t have to pay). Hubbell has promoted national Indivisble and they have featured his work. We’re all working together. Yes, we should be alarmed. And we should also be on the streets in protest.
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YES, PROTESTS ARE EFFECTIVE
“11 Reasons Why Street Protests Are Effective”
We’re showing everybody including MAGA people we’re not backing down. We’re courageous.
We’re showing Republican electeds we’re not backing down. We’re persistent.
We’re showing pro-democracy electeds they can play hardball; we have their backs. We’re supportive.
We’re showing pro-democracy people who see us on the street that they’re not alone. We’re comforting.
We’re showing horn-honking supporters what activism looks like. We’re modeling.
We’re meeting great people, making music; whooping and waving to the cars honking past; reading funny, witty, clever signs, sometimes even dancing. We’re having fun!
We’re inspiring those who see us to join us. We’re encouraging.
When people see us and honk their horn, they’re taking their first step toward activation. Just by honking their horn, people are doing something to voice publicly their support for defending our democracy and rejecting Trump. They took action–the action of honking their horn–to let us know that they stand with us. We’re activating people.
When we protest on the streets–every time we leave behind the things we want or need to do at home and go instead to a street protest–we’re strengthening our ability to mobilize. We’re practicing how to leave behind our homes and join the pro-democracy people on the street. It’s like basic training in the army. And the more we train by going to protests, the better we’re getting at mobilizing. We’re practicing mobilizing.
And the better we get at mobilizing the better we’ll get at answering the call for a national mobilization. And not just one national mobilization, or two, but as many as it takes to defeat the fascists.
We’re building community. We’re getting stronger and stronger every time we protest. We’re protecting our First Amendment rights to protest. If we don’t use it, we could lose it.
(From Mary Beavins)
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RESISTANCE, NOT COMPLACENCY
We will resist! The pillars of complacency will not stand:
“We’re in a moment of authoritarian breakthrough: The Trump regime is doing everything it can to rapidly consolidate power, stomp out dissent, and dismantle democratic checks and balances. But the regime can’t do all that alone.
Donald Trump’s authoritarian dreams rely on the complicity -- or at the very least, complacency -- of other powerful people and systems.”
“Our opponents are disgusting, cruel, and craven. They have real power to do real harm, but they are not inevitable or unstoppable. They are not the majority. We are. And we will defeat them with acts of solidarity small and large in defense of justice and truth. That’s how we win.”
In solidarity, Ezra Levin
Co-Executive Director, Indivisible
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FIGHT THE FASCISTS: DON’T BOW DOWN
“Aunt Tifa” is an inflatable frog costume, displayed by protesters at Indivisible events, in Portland, Oregon and elsewhere, including here in San Mateo.
“Antifa” itself isn’t an real organization. It’s a name invented by Trump to conjure up what he rejects. But it’s what we celebrate in this song “Call Me Antifa”:
My granddad fought the fascists
He came home scarred but grateful
For the flag still unfurled.
He said freedom isn’t easy.
It’s a promise, not a crown.
It’s the courage to stand up when others bow down.
Call me Antifa, if it means if it means I fight for love.
For every race and color, under heaven’s light above.
If liberty’s my language, and justice is my plea,
Then call me Antifa—that’s all right with me.
Lyrics from “Call Me Antifa” (Love is Stronger than Fear) sung by
The Freedom Strummers at Indivisible our San Mateo events.
To hear the song itself, see:
https://voxpopulisphere.com/2025/10/12/audio-call-me-antifa/
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLo5BgzXWtc
Another song sung by the Freedom Strummers:
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STAND UP FOR LIBERTY
“Aunt Tifa” is a fictional character, like Aunt Jemima. But a real aunt has been to Indivisible protests. Here is a real story about what she did:
“One our Indivisible members has a 91 year old aunt. She ALSO stood in protest, at both No Kings Day events, including October 18. She stood in protest, holding a sign stating “STAND UP AMERICA.” She understood this. She had experienced it and has stood up before.
In order to survive during Nazism, her German-Jewish family split up across three countries: America, the Netherlands, and Palestine. Education, dignity and freedom were three of the many characteristics of this strong woman. In November, 2025, she passed away… continuing to stand up.”
This statement was submitted by her niece, who I met at the November 15 rally on
El Camino and where I first heard the story soon after her aunt tied.
When I heard the story I thought of Jane Goodall, who also died at age 91. I met Jane Goodall myself just once when I introduced her to the national AARP conference, Jane Goodall said this:
"What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of a difference you want to make". She also stated, "Above all, we must realize that each of us makes a difference with our life. Each of us impacts the world around us every single day. We have a choice to use the gift of our life to make the world a better place – or not to bother."
For the funeral service for Jane Goodall visit:
https://cathedral.org/about/service-info/
After meeting Jane Goodall, I learned that each year she traveled more than 300 days, promoting social action for a better world. I then read her book The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, and I was inspired. Jane Goodall’s life and the life of the Indivisible Holocaust survivor who lived to the same age reminded me of what environmentalist David Orr said: “Hope is a verb with its sleeves rolled up.” It’s not too late and you’re not too old.
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YES, I.C.E. IS STILL AROUND
I.C.E. is in our neighborhood and they are going after our neighbors. Keep watching!
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TRUMP TALK
Corruption. “When Does Trump Become Too Corrupt for the GOP? He has tested every limit of decency and democracy, and every time he does the GOP bends a little lower. At this point, the question isn’t just about Trump’s crimes; it’s about their complicity.” (From The Hartmann Report) Trump has tested the limits, but Trump hasn’t stopped us. We will stop him, even if it takes time.
Mainstream Media. The ‘Easy Way’ to Crush the Mainstream Media.
FCC chair Brendan Carr is on a crusade to Trumpify the airwaves.
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ITEMS OF INTEREST
2026 Election. Important implications for our election work: “Trump Kicks California Republicans Into the Abyss” at:
Will Trump Designate Environmental Groups as Terrorists? He’s considered it, but backed away from it (background briefing from Climate Action Now). But Trump is pushing as far as he can: “Broadening Assault on the Left, Trump Designates EU Anti-Fascist Groups as ‘Foreign Terrorist Organizations’ “
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-antifa-foreign-terror-orgs
Grifting and Collapse. Always listen to Timothy Snyder: “The Grift Bubble:
A Political Theory of American Collapse” We can’t know the future, but we can see where corruption is already leading us, in the present:
https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-grift-bubble
We Won with Prop 50. The opposition to it is still trying to stop it, even if they’re not succeeding: “Trump’s redistricting campaign isn’t going well”
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The image below (from Hubbell) isn’t in San Mateo. But we do the
same call to “Honk for Democracy” each Saturday afternoon at 1 pm. Rally with us at Hillsdale on El Camino. A reservation is not necessary. Protest is necessary now.
