#DISSENT

[eklaysea]

Another from my Father Jean Juste protest shoot in Downtown Miami. Jean Juste was, at that time, jailed in Haiti by a tyrant at the helm. One thing I learned about the Haitian people is they have determination far beyond the average Millenial (us old farts too!)

https://wp.me/pfXTa2-o2

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[typhlonectes]

[ridenwithbiden]

PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY ie Trumps Immunity

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[Robert Scott Horton]

[originalleftist]

I'm going to be blunt: If you are in the US, especially the US government, and ESPECIALLY serving in the armed forces, you need to be thinking now about how far you are prepared to "just follow orders", and whether your loyalty is to the United States and its Constitution, or to Donald Trump/whatever SCOTUS says the Constitution is today.

Hopefully it won't come to that, but be thinking about this now, and discussing it (quietly) with any loved ones you trust.

[imaginarylands4000]

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

still thinking about crowley's fall.

That one quote, more specifically. "How much trouble can I get into just for asking a few questions?"

It's very possible I'm overthinking it. But it still reminds me so much of art and censorship, I wrote a poem on it just now, and I just wanted to elaborate on that, on why I said that an answer is judgement but a question is justice.

Back in Ancient Greece, Plato tried to outlaw writers, the storytellers. For millennia, those in power have feared people in arts, because we're not just dealers in aesthetics, we're dealers in ideas. Even in times of war, poverty, censorship, songs were sung, paperbacks exchanged in dark alleyways, stories whispered and walls covered with graffiti.

When stories are created, the writers have to balance both opposing ideas in their head, no matter how vile or repugnant. To prove that the protagonist is strong, you can't have a weak antagonist. The opposing idea has to be as strong as the one that will win for the victory to be meaningful.

Art, and stories, aren't about being right. People say we find answers in art, and maybe for some that's true, but I think what is infinitely more important are the questions it raises.

Because what is braver, what is more shattering to the status quo, than to question it? To dare to ask what if, to present an alternative, to pull an idea up to the witness stand and cross-examine it?

That's why when we see censorship, we need to look deeper. Because if an idea is truly that 'right', it will survive even the most intense of questioning, and even sceptics will have to accept its veracity. Why, then, are people so afraid of stories that question? Maybe it is because deep down, they aren't convinced themselves. They don't believe that their idea will survive the cross-examination. They are trying to keep a lie in power over the truth.

And art isn't about finding that elusive truth, it's about daring to look the lies in their face and say, maybe, maybe you're wrong. I don't know, you don't know, nobody may ever know, but maybe.

Like the Serpent of Eden, whispering, presenting that alternative of dissent to Eve. Not coercing. Not forcing her hand. But telling her that there is an alternative, whether good or bad.

That's why the writers, the artists, the musicians, those from every walk of the arts, are journalists interviewing society. We cannot allow ourselves to be silenced.

It's not about the answers offered, and whether someone agrees with them or not. It's about the questions, and if people fear the questions, maybe think about why that is.

[frances-baby-houseman]

With fear for our democracy, I dissent.-- Justice Sotomayor's dissent to Trump vs. United States, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson

The full decision, with Justice Sotomayor's dissent starting on page 68 and Justice Jackson's dissent starting on page 98.

[thepersonalwords]

You can control the visibility of my name and my popularity, but you cannot control the frequency at which people are quoting me. Truth always rises with time.

Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

[eretzyisrael]

By Hamza Howidy

I was born in Gaza Strip in the late 1990s, one of six children. At the time, the Palestinian Authority was the ruling party. My father, like most people in Gaza, was sick of the PA's corruption and was waiting for any alternative. Hamas promised "change and reform" and they won the Palestinian Legislative Council elections in 2006. One year later, I awoke to the sound of gunfire. Hamas gunmen were fighting Fatah, and they ended up killing of more than 600 Palestinians. It became clear very quickly that Hamas was not the "change and reform" that we hoped for.

To silence dissent, Hamas terrorized the citizens of Gaza. On the way to the Dar-Alarqam school I attended in the al-Shujaiya neighborhood near the Israeli border, a group of masked men carrying Kalashnikovs would check each car. At the end of the year, masked men opened offices in our school to promote Hamas's military camps and register students.

I graduated and began my studies at the Islamic University of Gaza, along with future Hamas leaders and current members. All art classes were replaced with radical Islamic teachings, and the elections of the student councils and clubs were only open to Hamas members, who hoarded all the privileges and distributed all the grants between themselves.

Voicing dissent was not an option. Hamas has a no tolerance policy for criticism or objections to any of its policies. Even discussion is forbidden Any journalist who objects or criticizes a policy is suspended and investigated. Demonstrations are strictly prohibited. Freedom of speech in Gaza is a fantasy. The dirtiest tool Hamas uses to silence citizens is character assassination through online campaigns accusing dissenters of working for hostile bodies or committing immoral acts. Hamas also routinely breaks into the homes of people deemed disloyal and humiliates them in front of their family and neighbors.

I observed all this with growing horror as a student. And as Hamas's oppression of the Palestinian citizens of Gaza increased, the quality of life deteriorated. Hamas's aggression toward Israel resulted in fewer and fewer job permits and limits on the electricity in Gaza, which we only got for eight hours a day. The economy cratered. Social and economic conditions collapsed.

[typhlonectes]

[u-mspcoll]

Next week! Voices of Dissent: Protests Against Richard Nixon

Flyer announcing protest of a Republican Party fundraising dinner. (Subject Vertical Files, Joseph A. Labadie Collection)

Join us on the 6th floor of Hatcher next Thursday, 17 October between 4-6p for our next Third Thursdays at the Library event of the semester! 

This event will commemorate the 50th anniversary of a pivotal moment in American politics: President Richard Nixon's resignation. Artifacts and narratives from the Joseph A. Labadie Collection illuminate an era that sparked a powerful and enduring anti-war movement and fueled widespread activism. Light refreshments will be served. 

While you’re here, pick up a Third Thursday Passport and collect a stamp from each of the three Third Thursday Open Houses — the Clark Library, International Studies, and the Special Collections Research Center — to win a prize!

[trump666traitor]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Great writing from Sotomayor in the Grants Pass dissent.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

It's also a good sign that you're the ruling overclass, not the underdogs.