Y’all. I’m horribly frightened. The threat of a fascist dictatorship isn’t hyperbole. It’s very real. It keeps me up at night.
“People need to realize it will be immeasurably worse than his first term. In Trump’s first term, his own instincts for authoritarianism and even physical violence were constantly blunted…People don’t remember how bad it was, but it will be much worse.”
Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a column we wish all the members of the media had to read word-for-word, out loud, before they could log on to their computer systems.
Since that seems unlikely, we're giving you a multi-post thread that reproduces the column in its entirety.
Maybe people who in one way or another know the horror of being treated as a second-class citizen understand the risk of #dictatorship in a way that #white dudes who’ve always been OK do not.
Most #journalists want to be seen as savvy (or not naïve, essentially the same thing) and influential. Many #editorial#writers and #columnists are still hurting from the fact that Trump was elected in 2016 with zero major #print endorsements.
They think calling for Trump to drop out would make them look foolish now that the #Republican Party has devolved into a dangerous #cult. But a demand for #Biden to drop out might actually happen — so that’s savvy, right?
Except maybe the dangerous cult is the more important crisis, especially when it carries a printed guide to #dictatorship and holds six #justices in its back pocket.
Today in Labor History May 28, 1968: Students occupied the University of Madrid (still under control of fascist dictator Francisco Franco). Cops raided the campus and removed the occupiers, and then shut down the University. At the time, all political parties had been banned, except the Falange. Franco had banned all protests and labor unions, too. Thousands had been rounded up and tortured, imprisoned or killed. Like much of the world at the time, a New Left movement had formed in Spain, though Spain’s was completely underground due to the repression of the dictatorship. Protests and demonstrations had been occurring for months. Most were met with violent repression and imprisonment.
“Why have large carbon-consuming countries allowed the systematic murder of thousands of children in Gaza? Because Hitler has already entered their homes and they are getting ready to defend their high levels of carbon consumption and reject the exodus it causes.”
--Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s speech at the COP28 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai in December.
Today in Labor History May 23, 1928: Anarchist Severino Di Giovanni bombed the Italian consulate in Buenos Aires to protest against the Italian dictatorship. He did it because the fascists were assassinating Italian antifascists living in exile. The bomb killed nine and wounded thirty-four. Prior to that, he bombed the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires in 1926 because a U.S. court had sentenced Sacco and Vanzetti to death. He also blew up a statue of George Washington, Citibank and the Bank of Boston, among other targets. At one point, he planned to assassinate Herbert Hoover. Many of the leading anarchists of the day criticized his bombings because they thought the backlash would facilitate a fascist coup in Argentina.
Today in Labor History May 18, 1980: Koreans rose up in Gwangju against the repressive U.S.-supported government. The uprising lasted from May 18 to May 27. According to official reports, 165 civilians were killed and 3,515 were injured in the uprising. 37 soldiers and 4 cops were killed and 253 were injured. Another 14 soldiers died from “friendly” fire. However, Gwangju’s death records for May of 1980 were 2,300 above normal. Many believe the actual death toll from the uprising is closer to 2,000. In addition to the casualties from the uprising, nearly 1,400 people were arrested and 7 were given death sentences. 12 were sentenced to life in prison.
The background for the uprising is complex. However, the country had been living under the 18-year dictatorship of Park Chun-hee, who was assassinated on October 26, 1979. A series of pro-democracy demonstrations developed in the wake of his death. But on December 12, Chun Doo-hwan led a military coup in order to quell the protests. He did not officially take over as “president” until after the Gwangju Uprising. But he was acting as the de facto ruler and the country was still under martial law from the coup.
In March, protests picked up again. People wanted democratization, human rights, minimum wage increases, freedom of the press, and an end to martial law. On May 15, 100,000 people demonstrated at Seoul Station. Chun Doo-hwan responded by extending martial law to the entire nation, closing the universities, banning all political activities and further curtailing the press. Furthermore, he dispatched troops throughout the country to suppress any potential demonstrations.
On May 18, students demonstrated at Chonnam University in defiance of its closing. At first, there were only 30 paratroopers and hundreds of students. They started to clash. By afternoon, at least 2,000 people had joined the protest. The government sent in hundreds of troops. Soldiers started to club demonstrators and onlookers. They attacked with bayonets and raped people, and they beat a deaf man to death. Outraged, the number of protesters swelled to over 10,000. Street battles continued for days, climaxing on May 21, when soldiers fired into a crowd of protesters. In response, citizens took up arms by robbing local armories and police stations, arming themselves with M1 rifles and carbines. By afternoon, there were bloody gunfights between ad hoc civilian militias and the army. By 5:30, the citizens militias had obtained two machine guns and used them, forcing the army to retreat.
The troops retreated to the suburbs to await reinforcements. However, they also blocked all routes and communications leading into and out of the city. Meanwhile, inside of Liberated Gwangju, the Citizens’ Settlement Committee negotiated with the army, demanding the release of arrested citizens, compensation for the victims, and a prohibition of retaliation in exchange for disarming themselves. The army demanded immediate surrender and some in the committee were willing to give it to them. But those who wanted to resist until their demands were met took control of the committee.
On May 27, at 4 am, troops from five divisions moved on the protesters and defeated the civilian militias within 90 minutes.
"As part of an extensive interview with Time Magazine, former President Donald Trump expanded on what abortion access would look like in the United States in a potential second term. Trump laid out a dystopian vision where pregnant women could be placed under state surveillance and then subjected to criminal punishment for any transgressions."
"Trump’s own words prove the truth of what careful observers have been saying about his plans based on their examination of MAGA Republicans’ speeches, interviews, Project 2025, and so on, often to find themselves accused of a liberal bias that makes them exaggerate the dangers of a second Trump presidency."
"On a day of many important stories, the most important news came from Donald Trump's interview with Time Magazine. See Donald Trump on What His Second Term Would Look Like | TIME. In the interview, Trump confirmed that he will attempt to exercise dictatorial powers in a second term.
We have been warned.
We ignore Trump's threats at our peril and the peril of our democracy."
#Trump has said that he thinks both #Russia & #Ukraine “want to save face, they want a way out,” [everything’s about ego to Trump] & that people in parts of Ukraine would be okay w/being part of Russia….
Accepting Russian control over parts of Ukraine would expand #Putin’s #dictatorship after what has been the biggest #LandWar in #Europe since #WWII. Some of Trump’s supporters have been trying to persuade him against such an outcome.
Today in Labor History April 2, 1903: Mexican police fired on more than 10,000 protestors, killing 15 and wounding many more. People had been protesting the reelection of General Bernardo Reyes as governor of Nuevo Leon, who was aligned with Mexico's brutal dictator, Porfirio Diaz.
Anti-surveillance sticker spotted in Burnie, Tasmania.
We've got a bunch of copies of these stickers, and numerous other designs.
If anyone is interested in buying a mix pack of radical slaps, check out: https://radicalstickers.bigcartel.com/
Stamp out government mass surveillance and censorship everywhere!
It's not just the Trumps, Orbans, Putins, Tusks, Modis, and Bolsonaros that we need to resist. Mass surveillance and censorship are hallmarks and weapons of totalitarianism police states. And both have been growing in popularity among liberals throughout the world, including most of the elected Democrats in the U.S.
Partner of #Trump’s Project 2025 calls for abolishing the 22nd Amendment, allowing Trump to be in office forever
The American Conservative headline: "Trump 2028" with the byline: "The Twenty-second Amendment is an arbitrary restraint on presidents who serve nonconsecutive terms-and on democracy itself."
"We face here in America an important election, probably the most important one in our lifetimes, no matter what age you are. We face clear choices this cycle about who we are as a nation, as people, and as what we want the nations’s future to be."
"The choices are stark, clear, and unmistakable. Dictatorship, fascism, racism, theocracy and xenophobia, or freedom of religion, freedom of choice, freedom to be educated, freedom to exist, and freedom to love.
I want the guy who is touched by prayer, not monetizing it."
🔴 Successfull dictator, Vladolf #Putin, has demonstrated the 'Kremlin Model' of transitionally taking over a country's #democracy via #elections, to #authoritarianism, to finally #dictatorship - and it's inspired others around the world to follow the #Kremlin Model - even in the #US
The new leadership team at the #RNC — handpicked by #Trump — started firing dozens of employees days after taking over
About 60 people were told they were no longer employed….
One of the people familiar w/the firings said data, political & communications staffers were affected, & notifications were made on Mon by #ChrisLaCivita, a snr Trump adviser.
Stephen Robinson challenges the meme that Tucker Carlson is Putin's useless idiot:
"He doesn’t cluelessly spout pro-Russia propaganda. His lies suit a larger, more insidious purpose. He’s spent the past decade convincing his audience that Democrats and liberalism have ruined a once-idyllic America, turning the country into a violent fascist state, where true Americans (white people) are actively persecuted."
"Now, Carlson’s twisted funhouse mirror depicts a version of Russia so benign it should 'radicalize' them against America’s Democratic leaders. In reality, Russia is a brutal dictatorship, but the people giving the orders look a lot like Carlson. There are few women or people of color in major positions of power — certainly no one who’s openly queer. Perhaps that’s the reality Carlson’s eager to embrace while shopping for melons in Moscow."
Well, I voted for Nikki Haley, because that was voting against Donald #Trump. I am 74 years old, I lived in a constitutional #democracy all my life. I want to remain that way, I want my grandchildren to grow up in one, not a #dictatorship — New Hampshire Voter #quotes#quote
From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation
This short, pithy, inspiring, and extraordinarily clear guide to overthrowing a dictatorship by nonviolent means lists 198 specific methods to consider, depending on the circumstances: sit-ins, popular nonobedience, selective strikes, withdrawal of bank deposits, revenue refusal, walkouts, silence, and hunger strikes.
Part of me can see how much nicer our world might be without any humans in it. Ecosystems could find their own equilibrium, unhindered by industrial pollution. Species could expand again and diversify, free of competition from the endless growth of factory farms, freeways, and parking lots.
It would take much time, centuries or even millennia, for the sky to regain its natural clarity, the forests to regrow, and the rivers to run clean. Even longer than that, probably, for all of the plastic eventually to degrade and disappear.
But someday, someday… the Earth would once again be a beautiful place.
It’s a lovely vision, and yet I’m torn. Because to get there means the suffering and death of billions of people. I wish there was a way to prevent that.
If we need to go extinct, that will happen readily enough. It seems to me inappropriate to cheer it on. If we have even a chance of survival, it's our responsibility to try. Giving permission to relax into it risks causing it unnecessarily. That would be a travesty and I cannot in any way feel comfortable even discussing it.
Like with fall of democracy, too many find the discussion too abstract. It sounds artsy or funny or peaceful, but really it is full of horrifying suffering and the crushing of the dreams of untold many.
Those people, in both cases, by the time it becomes less abstract, will realize they never meant anything like that and will feel bitter, tricked, trapped, and generally terrified. I want no part of having invited, promoted or indulged that.