10 Ways to Fight Fascism in San Francisco
San Francisco belongs to us—not the billionaires, not the tech overlords, not the MAGA fascists. The only way they win is if we stay isolated—so let’s connect, organize, and fight back. Remember: there are more of us than there are of them. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, demoralized, or unsure of where to start, here are 10 ways to take action and fight fascism in San Francisco.
Every act of resistance, whether disobeying, disrupting, protecting, or protesting, matters. Authoritarians don’t seize power, it is handed to them by people who are too afraid to fight. But every day, people are standing up. You can too.
1. Know Your Rights and Your Neighbors’ Rights When it Comes to ICE
All over the city, people are standing strong to protect SF’s Sanctuary City status, something we fought for 35 years to uphold, and is now under attack. Learn what to do if you see ICE targeting or questioning someone. Watch a quick 5-minute video from the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, or download the PDF on what to do when you see ICE on our streets. Don’t just watch: get involved. Here are organizations leading the charge in SF:
Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights for ongoing workshops
DSA Immigrant Justice Know your Rights Canvassing, February 9 at 10AM, 24th and Mission
Know your rights workshop with CANA, February 18 at 10AM, 683 Florida Street
2. Protect Trans People
San Francisco has long been a stronghold of LGBTQ liberation, and we refuse to back down. The Board of Supervisors unanimously passed our resolution in March 2023 to protect queer and trans people from hate and violence. Trump and his enablers have cruelly taken aim at the trans community, denying their basic humanity and right to exist. As right-wing hatred creeps into California and into our very own city, we must fight back. Defend trans lives with action—check in on your trans friends, offer real material support, and stand unapologetically against bigotry. Speak out. Get loud. Condemn hate wherever it festers. Donate, volunteer, and throw your weight behind the organizations on the frontlines. Trans liberation is non-negotiable.
3. Stand with Workers
San Francisco is a union town – let’s keep it that way. After a strike and hard bargaining, the Alcatraz union just won their fight for their first union contract. UNITE HERE Local 2 hotel workers just won a huge contract after a months-long strike. In D.C., federal workers blocked Musk’s minions' illegal raid on federal offices and private information. Organized workers are showing that when we fight, we win.
Now’s the time to step up. Join a picket line. Honor boycotts. Spread the word and your support for workers rights. Unions are one of the strongest weapons we have against the billionaire class, and that’s exactly why union-busters like Musk and his cronies fear them. They don’t just fear strikes in their own industries—they fear a general strike, a mass uprising of workers refusing to keep their exploiters rich.
Get involved. Plug into the fight. Join the SF Labor Council’s support text list here.
4. Tune Out Corporate News and Support Independent Media
San Francisco’s news landscape is funded by some of the richest people in the country who have a major interest in pushing the city to the right. Just check the funders of the San Francisco Standard, the Examiner and the SF Chronicle — it’s the powerful, not the people. Tech broligarchs—standing dutifully by Trump’s side—own Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and have been funneling right-wing propaganda into those sites. Turn them off to the greatest extent possible. Starve their influence.
Instead, get your info from trusted channels and organizations doing the on-the-ground work, or local, independent news. Here are some news sources you should follow and amplify: 48 Hills, Mission Local, KPFA, Broke Ass Stuart, KPOO, SF Bay View, El Tecolote, KALW. If you can, donate to them — independent media survives because we make it possible.
5. Demand SF Act Like a Rebel City
There have been some encouraging early responses from SF leaders on immigration and transgender rights, but beyond that? Silence. Most city leaders think they can focus on potholes and clean streets and ignore the fascist threats closing in. They couldn’t even condemn Elon Musk for throwing up a Nazi salute on Inauguration Day, just as they stayed silent when Musk-bro Garry Tan called for the death of progressive supervisors.
Other progressive cities are taking a stand, and so should SF. Look at what Mayor Brandon Johnson has been doing in Chicago—this is the kind of leadership SF needs. We need to unite with these cities and fight back together. Coordinated resistance will spread Trump’s resources thin. Demand the Mayor and city leaders to speak out, take action, and refuse to comply with Trump and his billionaire enablers’ attacks on our communities, the rule of law, and basic human decency. Silence is complicity.
6. Back Up Elected Officials Standing Up to the Tech/MAGA Oligarchs
Too many elected officials are refusing to stand up to fascism. Some are just cowards—others are outright bought, funded by the same tech billionaires gutting this city and this country. Follow The Phoenix Project to track their dark money.
But some elected officials are speaking out with courage. Don’t let them stand alone. Get to know who’s got your back. Supervisors like Jackie Fielder are speaking out, and will be targets of the tech and republican billionaires who bankroll smear campaigns against anyone who goes to bat for working people and human rights.
Back them up. Sign up for Jackie's newsletter. Show up for public comment. Demand bold leadership against oligarchs and fascism. Let them know we’re watching—and we expect them to fight.
7. Reject Fascist Language, Don’t Adopt the Framing
Many city leaders are parroting the same reactionary, conservative talking points and tactics that have guided the Republican agenda for decades and, more recently, Trump’s MAGA movement.
While Trump calls for mass deportations, San Francisco “wants to bus more homeless people out of the city.” City leaders push misleading data and fearmongering narratives to justify criminalization and ousting of the poor. Meanwhile, while Trump is firing inspectors general who exercise independent oversight, our very own Mayor is removing a Black police commissioner with an independent voice for holding power accountable.
There is no question that the billionaire/MAGA agenda is alive and well here in San Francisco. We will not overcome these right wing extremists by adopting their misleading, offensive, and cruel framing which always seeks to punch down. Fighting fascism means rejecting its language, its tactics, and its relentless war on the poor.
8. Stop Displacement and Fight for the Right to the City
Making sure working-class San Franciscans can stay, vote, and continue to pressure city leaders to stand up to fascism is central to our fight. YIMBYS, neoliberals, billionaires, and astroturf “civic” groups like GrowSF and TogetherSF, have systematically displaced low-income and working class people from San Francisco to silence their voices, gut social services, and funnel wealth to the elite. This is class war — stay, fight, and refuse to be erased.
We cannot maintain progressive values in a city that’s losing its working class and communities of color. Volunteer and donate to these anti-displacement organizations, or reach out if you need help staying in your home. Our city belongs to the people—not the billionaires trying to buy it.
9. Join Protests and Rallies
Rallies and protests are about people power. Showing up, standing together, and making it impossible to ignore us. Don’t worry about whether you agree with every person, every speaker, or every message—what matters is solidarity. Just go. Bring a friend. Feel the energy. Be part of something bigger. Protest shakes the system, builds connections, and fuels movements.
Wondering where to start? There are sites that pull together upcoming events. Find one that resonates with you.
10. Don’t Lose It! Your Actions Make a Difference
The Trump administration’s strategy is simple: “Flood the Zone” and inundate us with so many actions, announcements and decisions that we feel overwhelmed and unable to fight back. In record time, we’ve faced mass deportations, the gutting of government services, attacks on reproductive freedom, Nazi salutes, elimination of government oversight, mass layoffs, and lawsuits flying in every direction. It’s a grotesque spectacle that’s impossible to keep up with. Don’t let it overwhelm you.
Your mission is clear: fight fascism wherever you can. Speak up! Loudly tell your neighbors that everyone has the right to a healthy, productive life. Show up for your community. Volunteer and donate if you can. They want you to feel powerless, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. We know that housing, healthcare, education, dignity, and clean food and water are human rights. We know these broligarchs should be taxed into oblivion.
You can’t do everything, but you can do something. Speak up, show up, and take a stand. When we fight, we win.