New year brings pop-up protest to Vashon
Published 10:30 am Tuesday, January 6, 2026
Islanders took to the four-way stop in the center of Vashon on Saturday afternoon, protesting the surprise U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro.
The protest, organized by Indivisible Vashon and Vashon-Maury’s chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), drew between 75 to 100 islanders holding signs that condemned the action and President Donald Trump’s subsequent statements that the U.S. “will run” Venezuela for an indefinite period of time and open up the country’s state-controlled oil reserves to American companies.
The Vashon protesters — drawing a steady stream of approving honks and waves from drivers of passing cars — banged on drums, chanted and waved signs with slogans including “No Blood for Oil,” “Fund Veterans’ Healthcare, Not Big Oil,” and “Don’t Let Trump Send Our Children to War.”
Islander Sharon Nelson, who served in the Washington state legislature for more than a decade and led the Senate Democratic Caucus for four years, was among the protesters in town. Calling the U.S. action in Venezuela “unconstitutional and in violation of international law,” she praised the leadership of Indivisible, both nationally and on Vashon, for its continued efforts to hold Trump and other elected officials accountable.
“We’ll have to push Republicans in Congress to act like a Congress until we take back control of it,” Nelson said. “We have to take control. This proves it.”
For Kevin Jones, an Indivisible Vashon team leader, the day had begun with an early morning text thread calling for local action — joining other protests held in Seattle and Tacoma — in the wake of the military action.
“Trump is abandoning our friends in Europe and siding with brutal dictators like Putin, Xi and Kim Jong Un,” Jones said. “We are demonstrating today because we oppose Trump sending your kids to war for oil. We oppose these wars begun by and for one man but for which we will have to answer with our lives and our children’s lives.”
Janie Starr, of Vashon-Maury SURJ, also expressed resolve, saying that acts of protest like the one held on Saturday matter.
“As soon as we learned that Trump attacked Venezuela, without the consent of Congress, we felt it was critical that we collaborate with Indivisible Vashon in demonstrating our opposition to this illegal war,” Starr said.
Quoting activist and singer-songwriter Joan Baez, who said “action is the antidote to despair,” Starr added her own conviction: “Through action in community, we will stop this illegal assault on the people of Venezuela, an action based on racism and greed.”
For the mother-daughter duo of Ann Marie Carlson and Carrie Chambers, Saturday’s protest was a chance to stand side by side in agreement — and also celebrate the fact that their family’s recent Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday gatherings had included no political squabbles.
“We all think alike in our family,” Carlson said.
