Time of Monsters: No Kings Rally Speech
This was a speech given by Dawood Bilal on October 18th at the local no-kings protest . The attempt was to encourage organization instead of just mobilization and invoke complex thinking on fascism.
Time of Monsters Speech (10/18/2025)
Background: This speech was given to a “No Kings Protest” on October 18th 2025. The goal of the speech was to build the connection between American foreign policy and the emergence of the neo-fascist MAGA movement in the United States and a call for organization instead of mobilization. The title “Time of Monsters” is a reference to Antonio Gramsci’s paraphrased statement “the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters.” Below is the script.
In the events of the last ten months the Trump administration has:
Threatened to occupy Shreveport with his fascist quisling Jeff Laundry’s full approval.
Molded I.C.E into his personal paramilitary organization, filled with right-wing freaks who are unleashed to terrorize the entire country.
Escalated the genocide in Gaza. Though a ceasefire has been agreed on, it looks to be on the verge of collapsing.
Destroyed any semblance of America’s upholdance of Human rights and international law
Openly engaging in acts of war with multiple countries including Iran and Venezuela.
Engaged in open corruption, accepting bribes openly from foreign leaders and American capitalists. Openly putting both domestic and foreign policy up for sale to the highest bidder.
Detonated the federal government. Destroying many of the few services and regulating agencies that took us decades to fight for.
Forced the prices of basic goods to increase as a result of his trade war with the largest economy on the planet.
Siphoned more wealth to the billionaire class at the expense of working people while we struggle to pay for simple things like groceries, electricity, rent, etc.
Point: Times are Dangerous
We live in a time of great pearls. The institutions that we were raised to believe would protect us and our hard fought rights are failing. In fact, they are facilitating America’s fall into fascism. The Federal government, of which the civil right movement became so dependent on to prevent abuses by the backward southern state governments, is used to destroy all of the gains of the movement. The Supreme Court has backed the Trump administration on almost every case brought against it, overturning many injunctions presented by federal judges, of special importance being the national guard deployments. They are allowing near complete consolidation of Trump’s fascist government. Now they threaten to completely gut the 1965 voting rights act. Destroying what’s left of black political power within the South and cementing Republican control of congress for generations. Congress is already dominated by a Republican party almost completely loyal to Trump, with its only opposition being a spineless Democratic party. A Democratic party seemingly unable and uninterested to fight for its vulnerable constituency. But who needs congress, Trump has wielded executive power like a monarch. He is able to do so because of the dramatic expansion of executive power by previous administrations, both republican and Democrat.
Point: Since things are unchanged for decades, Trump was inevitable.
Indeed we are living in a time of increasing terror. The terror that the United States has implemented across the planet is now coming home. That is what fascism is for a dying empire; what it does abroad, it eventually does to its own citizens. We must be very clear about this. The three evils of racism, excessive materialism and militarism have gotten worse since Martin Luther King Jr. outlined them in 1967. It was only a matter of time until those three evils would reach a tipping point. The Trump administration is the inevitable conclusion of America’s unchecked militarism, racism and excessive materialism.
Our time of terror has really just begun. The Trump administration has plans to start new wars, both internally and externally. From Venezuela, Palestine and Iran to Chicago, D.C and Shreveport, the neo-fascist movement threatens to engulf the entire planet in fire. But, it’s inevitable for empires to do such things. Trump is desperately trying to hold on to a world order that has run its course. His frequent tantrums are the tantrums of America’s ruling class struggling to sustain itself on brute force alone. They believe every social, diplomatic and political issue can be solved with enough military force. The fascist in Germany, Italy, Chile, Argentina, Greece, South Africa, etc. are some examples that prove that they are wrong.
The world that Americans have known for the last 70 years, of Liberal democracy and international primacy is coming to an end. Five hundred years of European dominance over the planet is slowly being undone by the logic of the system that European empires have forced on the planet. Trump and the chaos across the planet is a sign of a dying world worder. This old world is dying but the birthing pains of the new world may seem too much to bear. This interregnum period, our current position between the old world and new world has us facing monsters we haven’t seen in 70 years. Now is not the time to hide from monsters but to fight them. Running, hiding, and pretending nothing is happening is something we have been doing for too long in this country. It is exactly what fascist want and need. Complacency, Laziness, “focusing on yourself”, etc. is exactly what gives the fascist movement breathing room. To be complacent and docile in a time like this makes you on par with others who were passive and compliant during the time of other Authoritarian movements and the atrocities they inevitably committed.
Call to Action:
This terrifying moment brings us great opportunities. We as people of consciousness, as the anti-fascist, can make sure we never have to live through this moment again by organizing amongst ourselves. We need to push for a country not plagued by the three evils outlined by MLK of which the root cause is, an economic system based on greed and exploitation. We must uproot the current order and a new, just and equitable order is needed to take its place. This is what the Shreveport Socialist League and many hundreds of other organizations across the country are attempting to do.
Simple demonstrations like the one today alone will do nothing significant. Fascism doesn’t simply materialize out of thin air, but was a multi-decade process undertaken by organizations with massive funding, media control and oligarch backing. Fighting fascism does not start or end at the ballet box. It does not start nor end at a protest here or there. The fight against fascism is a long, tough and dangerous affair that requires tough, dedicated and morally righteous people to be a part of it. Do not just go home, but join us in being organized. As Kwame Ture stated, we must organize instead of just mobilize. Thank You.