WASHINGTON — Two groups of protesters with strikingly different objectives demonstrated outside the inaugural meeting of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, at which world leaders pledged a combined $7 billion for Gaza’s reconstruction.
One group opposed Trump’s foreign policies while the other asked for the administration’s help in establishing a Sikh homeland in northern India.
“We don’t have any illusion that institutions like the Board of Peace will actually bring justice for all the atrocities we see, especially in Palestine,” said Brittany Parong, a speaker at the protest from the BAYAN DMV, an anti-imperialist Filipino organization. “It’s the Palestinian people that will free Palestine.”
During the meeting, world leaders discussed the next stage of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza. Trump announced the U.S. would pledge $10 billion to the Board of Peace, and five countries agreed to deploy troops to Palestine to take part in an international stabilization force. He also suggested a 10-day timeline to make a nuclear deal with Iran.
“Board of Peace is one of the most important and consequential things I think that I’ll be involved in,” Trump said at the meeting. “It does not just convene countries, it devises and implements, and real solutions happen.”
The meeting was held in the U.S. Institute of Peace, which now bears Trump’s name. Trump attempted to shut down the institute last year when he fired its board members. Although a federal judge blocked him, the fate of the institute remains in the hands of the courts.
Outside, protesters chanted “board of lies” and raised an array of concerns over the Board of Peace. They objected to Trump’s offer to give board seats to Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, both of whom are wanted for alleged war crimes by the International Criminal Court. The Palestinian Authority, the internationally recognized body that controls parts of the West Bank, was not invited to join the group, according to the New York Times.
“I came out today because we know that fascists work together time and time again,” Parong said. “That’s what history teaches us.”
Parong said that regular people from all movements, whether it’s the Palestinian struggle for liberation or the Philippine struggle for national democracy, must be in solidarity and confront their “class enemies together.”
Near the U.S. Institute of Peace, about 50 protesters wore black and white keffiyehs, waved Palestine flags, pounded on drums, gathered in a circle around speakers and poured red liquid over a cardboard doll of Trump.
Right next to the group holding up Palestine flags, another crowd of protesters wore dastars, a type of turban worn by Sikhs, and carried yellow Khalistan flags, representing the separatist movement to create a Sikh homeland. They called on Trump to allow them to join the Board of Peace.
Jagdeep Singh was one of these protesters. He said Sikhs are asking for Trump to pressure the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, to have a referendum in Punjab, a region in northwest India, to gauge support for an independent Sikh state.
“We are homeless people,” Singh said. “Our land was before occupied by the British, now it’s occupied by India. So we do not have alternatives. We do not have the options. We can pray to the God, and we can request to the American administration to help the Sikhs.”
Protesters Don and Donna Powell held up signs reading “democracy dies with billionaires” and “worst government ever.” Donna Powell said that she feels that the Board of Peace is just another “Trump scam.” Don Powell added that the Board of Peace was another attempt by Trump to acquire money and power.
The protesters attacked Trump’s view of Gaza as good real estate for redevelopment.
“We don’t want his view where it becomes a luxury Rivera resort, and everybody that is currently there and now bombed is pushed out of the area,” Don Powell said.
Donna Powell said she wishes Trump would go through the United Nations to achieve peace through established mechanisms.
During the meeting, Trump said that the Board of Peace will work very closely with the United Nations and will “almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly.”
“His ceasefire is very tenuous, and so what we really want is we want peace there,” Donna Powell said. “We want it to be rebuilt. We want the United States to help out with that. Whether that’s gonna be happening is another question.”