Remarks at the Frederick Permanent Ceasefire now Rally on February 2nd 2025

 Good afternoon, 

What a beautiful room full of people fighting for justice!  

 I am excited to be here because Frederick is where I went to high school, TJ class of 94, and where my mom still lives, and I am excited to see this kind of movement building happening here.

I want to take a moment to thank Barry  for  starting us off, I worked for Pete Seeger for about 3 years at the height of the us wars during the bush administration and I know that a movement for freedom peace and justice comes with a soundtrack and often gets its power from church basements like this.

My name is Andy Ellis, and I stand before you  as a  candidate for governor, seeking the Green Party nomination, but also as a Marylander who believes deeply in the power of community to confront oppression—whether it’s in Gaza, across Maryland, or right here in Frederick.  

We gather here in dark times

We have all watched over the last 15 months as a genocide has unfolded before our eyes. We have all watched the people of the world, the people in the US, and the people right here in Frederick bravely confront this injustice, and we all watched as both major political parties in the US supported the Genocide, cracked down on protestors and criminalized dissent.

Calling for a permanent ceasefire should be the  easy part for anyone who can see what is happening , if our local, state, and federal  leaders didn’t have the courage to do that, what makes you think they will stand up now?. Injustice anywhere is injustice *everywhere*. When our state government has a joint venture to develop military equipment with Israel  that’s a Maryland issue.  When our tax dollars fund bombs dropped on Palestinian children, that’s a Frederick issue.

This cowardice in the face of genocide exposed the failure of our two party political system and ushered in a Trump administration that  runs on fear, isolation, and powerlessness. The shock and awe of the first month of Trump’s administration includes: 

- Mass deportations that will tear apart families and communities

- Attacking a federal workforce that employs  thousands across the region.  

- Slashing programs that will affect all of us, especially the most vulnerable.  

- And criminalizing dissent and deporting and  jailing protestors. 

.So far the national level Democrats are no where to be seen We are only a few weeks in, it will get worse

Meanwhile, the Democrats in maryland offer false comfort. Governor Wes Moore’s administration and the Annapolis Democrats are  virtue signaling to the people with one hand while shaking hands with the right wing with the other.  So far in 2025 this includes

- Continuing a regressive tax system and a  pro-corporate economic vision that has left the state at the edge of fiscal cliff, and slashing public services, for education, child care, and other much needed services.

From what i hear in Annapolis were they are one month into the 90 day legislative session, the Maryland Democrats agenda is  also likely to include   

- Cooperation with Trump’s deportation machine.  

- “Tough on crime” policies that fuel mass incarceration.  

- Siding with landlord corporations over renters.  

- And complicity and cooperation with Israel—and the ongoing apartheid in the West Bank and the ethnic cleansing plans for Gaza. 

Here in Frederick, from what I can see politicians are moving with a business as usual tone, when we are in a crisis. 

- Sheriff Chuck Jenkins is eagerly waiting the opportunity to  evict families as he is in aiding Trumps mass deportations.  

- The cost of living skyrockets every day, and is displacing our neighbors.  

- Services for working class people are vanishing—like the closing of the FCC childcare facility, leaving parents stranded

Both parties enable genocide. Both Parties support austerity.  Both parties choose power over people.  

**But today, we bring the antidote: Courage. Community. Confrontation, and a vision for a better world. 

We have the Courage to say: No more. No more complicity in genocide. No more empty promises.  No more saying “there is nothing we can do”

We are here as Community to declare: We see each other. We fight for each other.  We keep each other warm. We keep each other safe.

Confrontation means  we say Not in our name. Not in our City.  Notin our state. 

Frederick City and Frederick county must stand up now and have the courage to act, pass this resolution, call for a permanent ceasefire, and make that the start of a politics that can transform the world.

This isn’t symbolic. It’s strategic. It’s how we build our power. When we act locally, we ripple globally. When we divest from war, we invest in life. When we reject both Trump’s cruelty *and* the Democrats’ cowardice, we build something new: a politics rooted in justice, not jails; in peace, not prisons;in democracy, not deportations in people, not profits.  

This is how we transform Maryland:  

- From a war economy to a solidarity economy.    

- From despair to collective power.  

-From the ground up, we together build something better. 

Friends, this is our moment. Let’s march, let’s organize, let’s *win*. Not just a ceasefire, but a future where every child in Gaza and every family in Frederick can thrive.  

**Power to the people! Ceasefire now! End the occupation! Free Palestine!**  

Thank you.