By Calliope Anastasiadis
On July 30, 2025, the Providence General Assembly led a rally at Providence City Hall. Numerous progressive and revolutionary mass organizations came together to criticize Providence Mayor Brett Smiley. This comes as part of the rising wave of rebellion among the US masses, in which the people of Rhode Island are increasingly openly condemning both the federal, state and city governments.
Despite his “liberal” reputation, Brett Smiley is an unrepentant reactionary. Raised in suburbs outside Chicago, Smiley came to Providence working under former Lt. Governor of Rhode Island, Charles Fogarty during his 2006 election campaign. Charles Fogarty’s uncle, John E. Fogarty, was a Rhode Island congressman with ties to the Kennedy family.1,2 His reputation cemented a small political dynasty, with the Fogarty family still playing major roles in local politics. Charles Fogarty retired from politics in 2018, and began working as a Political Science professor for Johnson & Wales University.3 Students in Fogarty’s class reported that the professor spends his class time defending Bush-era war crimes in Iraq, as well as Israel’s genocide in Palestine, something that Brett Smiley does as well.4 In the Spring of 2024, students reported that Fogarty denied the rampant sexual abuse that occurred in the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, instead describing the rape and torture of Iraqi men and boys as simply “bad behavior.” As we can see from the Fogarty family, it is clear what kind of reactionary politics Smiley’s biggest supporters hold.
Smiley is currently married to Jim DeRentis, one of the biggest real estate developers in Providence. The media refers to Smiley and DeRentis as a “power couple”.5 In this way, among ruling-class and Democrat circles in Rhode Island, liberal identity politics are employed so that Smiley’s same-sex marriage is used to gloss over the fact that both men are actively exploiting and oppressing workers in the city. Providence’s median asking rent increased by 12.6% in December 2024 compared to previous year.6 Real estate brokerage firm Redfin recently ranked Providence the “Least affordable city in America.”7 Clearly anybody, gay or straight, can profit off of the working class as long as they are members of the ruling class.
At the July 30 Providence General Assembly rally on, several speeches were held that criticized Smiley: for the Providence Police Department’s brutality and their complicity with ICE, which continues to stalk Rhode Island’s streets and kidnap the working class to be put in concentration camps. Like many Democrat mayors, Mayor Smiley has paid lip service to ensuring Providence is a sanctuary city8. He claimed that Providence Police Department would not collaborate with ICE in May. This was immediately shown to be false when PPD assisted ICE with the abduction of Ivan Rene Mendoza Meza earlier in July.9
Members of the mass organization POWR demanded a rent strike. A speaker with Providence Workers Defense called for revolutionary unity among the people of Providence, and to take back the streets from the ruling class. An activist from Ocean State Youth Movement made a statement concerning the bourgeoisie’s attempt to create an atmosphere of fear and paranoia in order to scare the masses into compliance, through their use of institutions like ICE and the police.
Across the country the masses are protesting and raising their anger not only against the reactionary Trump government, but also against their increasingly reactionary state and local governments. The reactionary character of both Republican and Democratic Party politicians must be exposed before the masses, and new combative mass actions and united front work initiated so that the masses can be mobilized, politicized and organized by revolutionary forces rather than liberals and opportunists. We must resist attempts by the false “left wing” of the Democratic Party to co-opt and contain the masses’ fury, as the Democrats attempted to do during the first Trump term. We must instead deepen our revolutionary practice and application of revolutionary theory among the oppressed and toiling masses, from Rhode Island to Puerto Rico.
1 The John E. Fogarty Foundation. History of the John E. Fogarty Foundation. https://fogartyfoundation.org/history/.
2 John E. Fogarty with his daughter Mary and President John F. Kennedy. https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/hr/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-101743404X488-img.
3 Moorehead, J. Fogarty at retirement: Seniors are better off today. The Valley Breeze, Jan 13, 2018. https://www.valleybreeze.com/news/fogarty-at-retirement-seniors-are-better-off-today/article_845c0c2b-f1af-5d3e-8fe8-b0366e9a62f3.html.
4 Smiley Says Council Ordinance “Reeks of Antisemitism,” Promises Veto. GoLocalProv, June 6, 2024. https://www.golocalprov.com/news/smiley-says-council-ordinance-reeks-of-antisemitism-promises-veto.
5 McGowan, D. Meet Providence’s political power couple: Brett Smiley and Jim DeRentis. The Boston Globe, Dec 27, 2022. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/12/27/metro/meet-providences-political-power-couple-brett-smiley-jim-derentis/.
6 Bellanger, C. The median asking rent in Providence shot up 12.6% in a year. Boston.Com, Jan 29, 2025. https://www.boston.com/real-estate/renting/2025/01/29/providence-median-rent-skyrockets/.
7 Rashid, S. Providence named the least affordable US city for renters in Redfin report. The Brown Daily Herald, Feb 28, 2025. https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025/02/providence-named-the-least-affordable-us-city-for-renters-in-redfin-report.
8 Fenton, J. Smiley: “Providence Police Will Not Actively Collaborate With ICE” in Response to Trump Designation. GoLocalProv. Retrieved Aug 25, 2025. https://www.golocalprov.com/news/smiley-providence-police-will-not-actively-collaborate-with-ice-in-response.
9 Soriano, A. N. Rhode Island police under investigation over ICE arrest. NewsNation, July 18, 2025. https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/rhode-island-police-ice-arrest-investigation/
