Pat Taub
This past week America descended further into Fascist Hell, signaling the urgency to take action before protests become illegal aka Texas’ Prairieland Defendants, who received insanely large sentences for peacefully protesting at an ICE concentration camp. These draconian sentences are intended to shut down protests against Trump’s policies.
Praireland defendants, received a total of 450 years in prison, accused of terrorism
Echoing a recent (racist) Supreme Court decision eradicating voting rights, in a 6-3 decision the Court determined that the Trump administration can end legal protections for migrants fleeing violence and natural disaster in Haiti and Syria. The decision allows the Department of Homeland Security to swiftly end TSA (temporary protected status), a program that protects a total of 1.3 million people from 17 countries.
In her impassioned dissent Justice Elena Kagan accused Trump of “repellent and racially infected speech,” citing campaign smears that Haitians were “eating peoples’ dogs and cats” and “poisoning the blood of America.”
Justice Elana Kagan
This ruling strips legal protection of over 350,000 Haitians, who have proved vital to our work force, especially in health care, filling 111,000 positions in 2023. Furthering the cruelty is sending them back to an unstable country dominated by gang violence: a country so unsafe the State Department has issued a Level 4, “Do Not Travel” advisory for Haiti.
Esther Birnbaum, 96, with her Haitian nurse, Maryse Balthazar. whose care Birnbaum praises
The second Supreme ruling found Monsanto, not responsible for multiple cancer deaths caused by its weed killer, Roundup. Another victory for Trump’s corrupt corporate buddies.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at a time like this, retreating into Instagram and Netflix or that extra glass of wine, telling yourself individual actions are ineffective, defending your retreat as self-care.
At this pivotal moment, we need all hands-on deck. If we each do what we can, we can prevent a full-blown Fascist take-over—implementing Ralph Nadar’s words, “There are more of us than there are of them.”
Trump’s reckless administration is fast-forwarding a climate catastrophe, increased racial tensions and police crack-downs, dystopian living conditions and the threat of a nuclear war.
Where to start? First, recognize taking action engenders hope; social depression lessens when you join with like-minded others. Embrace the slogan, “Action is the best remedy for despair.”
Historian Timothy Snyder cautions against the limited strategy of focusing on a mid-term election win. Instead, he advocates broad-based reform over returning to the pre-Trump model led by old guard Democrats, bribed by fat checks from powerful corporations and AIPAC. Snyder’s vision resembles the populist agenda Mandami is building in New York City.
Synder suggests a winning strategy with broad appeal: go after the Trump administration’s unprecedented corruption where cronies, family members and cabinet members have reeked in millions, if not billions in shady deals.
Like Snyder, political writer and activist Chris Hedges advocates radical action. In Hedges case: a general strike to cripple the economy, rattling the establishment.
To bolster your spirits, look to grass roots actions like those in Albania where citizens have been flooding city squares for 30 days, protesting Jared and Ivanka’s plans to build a luxury resort on the Albanian coastline.
The Albanian protest aka the Flamingo Revolution, symbolizing fears for migratory birds that breed near Jared’s and Ivanka’s planned resort
Be inspired by the young Socialists in wins across the country with big wins in New York’s primaries, running on universal health care, affordable housing, a living wage and more. They were bold because our times call for bold actions.
Watch for push back from corporate Democrats when they go after the new breed of progressives. Legal scholar Katherine Franke predicts that Chinese affiliations will be trotted out to demonize progressives. Already the women-founded peace group, Codepink, has been accused of receiving monies from China.
Put into practice the slogan, “Think globally, act locally,” and join local progressive actions: support candidates running on affordable housing and medical care and cost-of-living wages.
Kshama Sawant, running for Congress as a progressive in Washington State
Get involved in state elections. In my state of Maine, progressive Senate candidate Graham Platner is running on a progressive platform while challenging Susan Collins’ long record of voting with Trump and breaking the tie that won Kavanaugh a Supreme Court seat, leading to the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
No one can protest continually. Make space to renew but don’t abandon the cause. We have only a small window to beat back Trump and Steven Miller’s run-away Fascist agenda. Future generations won’t forgive us if we look away.
